In the openLa Suer 77th seat that is expected to be (ok, will be) a donnybrook of a race,but up ’til now has been relatively quiet while fairly even in fundraising,Joel Anderson got some attention last weekend on immigration issues.

Chris Simcox, co-founder of the Minutemen project, flew in from Arizona to show his support for Anderson at a campaign kickoff in Santee attended by nearly 150. Simcox, reviled by illegal immigration apologists yet whose endorsement iscoveted bymost any conservative, especially in a border district like the 77th, generatedTV coverage for Andersononboth KUSI andFox 6 Sunday nite.

"When it comes to public safety for the state of California, securing the border should be job number one. That means we need some leadership in the state capitol, and that’s why we are looking for good people like Joel," Simcox said.

In return, Anderson called Simcox a"great American Patriot," saying "There are so few people that are willing to take on this fight to secure our border and I am privileged and proud to have him… Read More

When you stand opposite your opponent and put a spear in the ground you are declaring that this is your territory and if they plan on taking it, they are going to have a fight on their hands. We can accomplish this by doing absolutely nothing on the infrastructure bond deadline tomorrow.

Yes, I want the Republican Assembly caucus to do nothing.

Let’s recap, shall we? Republicans are depressed. Really depressed. The President is the second biggest spender in American history behind LBJ. In a post 911 world we allow porous borders and are paralyzed on immigration even armed with the knowledge of over 155,000 border crossings last year by non latino "immigrants". Ports are being handed over to the cousins of terrorists. Despite controlling both houses of Congress, we don’t have the votes to make the tax rate cuts permanent or get rid of the death tax.

In California, our Governor is wounded. His poll numbers have rebounded in the absence of $25 million a week on TV with nurses, teachers, firefighters, cops and prison guards telling us how bad he is, so the rebound is… Read More

The legislature is in session as we speak — and does that mean there will be a vote tonight on putting a massive borrowing plan for infrastructure onto the June ballot? It’s not yet clear.

The Governor spent a few minutes (roughly four minutes) talking about how negotiations have been coming along. You can listen to his comments here.

That said, the first observation I had when listening to his remarks was the way that he refers to "the Republicans" in the third person throughout his comments. I’m sure that he means "legislative" Republicans versus legislative Democrats, given that he is a Republican himself.

Anyways, we’ll see what happens tonight. HOLD THE LINE, team.

_____________________________________________ UPDATE: My sources tell me there will not be a session tonight after all,… Read More

USA Today Online is featuring an interesting article about "Comeback Kids" — referring to Members of Congress who leave the institution (for one reason or another) and then come back. One example, referenced in the story, is California Republican Congressman Dan Lungren, who left Congress when he was nominated to be State Treasurer in the ’90’s. While that didn’t work out, Lungren went on to be elected State Attorney General, and was the party’s ill-fated nominee for Governor against Gray Davis in 1998.

The article talks about two more Californians attempting their comebacks — former Congressman Brian Bilbray is running in the donnybrook to succeed the disgraced Randy Cunningham — and up in the Central Valley, former Congressman Pete McCloskey is in an uphill Republican primary against popular Representative Richard Pombo.… Read More

While I often (or at least sometimes) agree with Fleischman’s posts, I’m going to have to take issue with the last one on former Congressman Brian Bilbray. Sometimes the Orange Curtain is pretty thick. First: disclosure on the table. I work for Bilbray. He was also MY Congressman for years when I lived in the City of San Diego. These comments are from my second role, rather than my first.

Congressman Bilbray was a consistent voice – often a voice in the wilderness – against illegal immigration throughout the 1990’s. Note that Bilbray represented a Democrat seat when he was defeated in the 2000 bloodbath. His ongoing crusade was not always an easy one.

After the 2000 elections Bilbray did not stop talking about illegal immigration. On the contrary, if any thing he upped the ante. He not only became a consultant and legislative advocate for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), he served on their Board of Advisors and helped them craft their national policy agenda. There is a reason the National Border Patrol Council (10,000 Border agents) choose to endorse Bilbray in the 50th district – his credentials… Read More

No, its not the famous actor Laurence Olivier – he’s not with us anymore. But there is another Olivier running for California’s top spot – and this one is the former Mayor of Bellflower, Art Olivier (pictured). Today, Olivier announced his candidacy for the Libertarian Party nomination for Governor of California. Olivier is a pretty big deal with the Libertarians, I guess — apparently he was their party’s nominee for Vice President in the 2000 national elections sharing the ticket with Harry Browne, who recently passed away. Olivier, a husband and father of four, is the former Mayor of the City of Bellflower in Los Angeles County. In reading about his announcement, there are a lot of things he says that make a lot of sense. That said, in the United States, we pretty much have a two… Read More

The single most important decision that the legislature will make this year is whether to put a massive infrastructure borrowing plan in front of California voters this year. There is a lot of pressure mounting in the Capitol right now as Secretary of State McPherson has said that the deadline for the legislature to place an item on the June ballot is tomorrow (although many have said there is a week of ‘cushion’ in there).

Everyone in the capitol, the Governor, the Democrat Leadership, the Republican Leadership, all agree on the need for infrastructure investment. However, HOW THIS IS DONE IS VERY, VERY IMPORTANT.

When FR contributor Barry Jantz and I met with two Deputy Chiefs of Staff to the Governor in the hours leading up to the State of the State Address in January, a few key points were stressed to us: the Governor would insist that needed reforms (such as revamping the CEQA process) would be in this package, that there would be a 6% hard borrowing cap in the package, and that the Governor was committed to making sure that this bond measure did not get ‘loaded up’ with spending that wasn’t for basic… Read More

The single most important decision that the legislature will make this year is whether to put a massive infrastructure borrowing plan in front of California voters this year. There is a lot of pressure mounting in the Capitol right now as Secretary of State McPherson has said that the deadline for the legislature to place an item on the June ballot is tomorrow (although many have said there is a week of ‘cushion’ in there).

Everyone in the capitol, the Governor, the Democrat Leadership, the Republican Leadership, all agree on the need for infrastructure investment. However, HOW THIS IS DONE IS VERY, VERY IMPORTANT.

When FR contributor Barry Jantz and I met with two Deputy Chiefs of Staff to the Governor in the hours leading up to the State of the State Address in January, a few key points were stressed to us: the Governor would insist that needed reforms (such as revamping the CEQA process) would be in this package, that there would be a 6% hard borrowing cap in the package, and that the Governor was committed to making sure that this bond measure did not get ‘loaded up’ with spending that wasn’t for basic… Read More