FYI for inquiring minds. The State GOP has hired crack political operative Kathy Tavoularis as its ne Statewide Field Coordinator for the Victory ’06 program.

Victory ’06 is the coordinated Get-Out-The-Vote political effort of the whole Republican Team – from the Governor’s political operation to the Congressional, legislative and state and local GOP committee efforts.

Cathy will be teamed up once again with her old boss, Bill Christiansen, who is the Victory ’06 State Director.

Both are former Executive Directors of the Orange County Republican Party.

Congratulations, Kathy!!… Read More

I’m sure that we could put together a top-ten list of reasons why Elton Gallegly is running for re-election. Instead..we’ll just say that one of the top reasons would be the telephone call from WH uber-strategist (and Deputy CoS) Karl Rove.

Makes you wonder if Michael Tenenbaum was a Gore supporter in ’00… Just kiddin’. I think his candle just blew out.

(I dedicate the Elton song title to Joe Justin.)… Read More

Just in….. The Assembly has been called into immediate session to vote on what appears to be a mini-version of the Infrastructure plan. Driven by Assembly Reps, the new plan will only focus on the issues of school and levee repairs, leaving other issues presumably to be picked up in a follow up measure for November. We got to this point because legislative Republicans, committed to fiscal common sense, drew a line in the sand. Who says the minority party can’t make a difference?… Read More

The Governor has made some new appointments. The release is here.

REPUBLICANS

Angela Chi, 51, of Fresno, has been appointed to the Board of Accountancy. Bill Maile, 38, of Sacramento, has been appointed deputy press secretary for the Office of the Governor. Cynthia Mitchell, 48, of Folsom, has been appointed to the Contractors State License Board. Robert Petersen, 66, of Saratoga, has been appointed to the Board of Accountancy. Anne Searcy, M.D., 52, of Oakland, has been appointed executive medical director for the Medical Unit of the Division of … Read More

GOP Source: Gallegly to Switch Course, Seek Re-election By David M. Drucker Roll Call Staff Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.) has reconsidered a last-minute decision to retire and will announce Tuesday that he intends to seek re-election this year after all, a move that comes at the urging of House leaders and members of California’s GOP delegation, a knowledgeable source said late Monday. … Read More

Polling off the wire in Congressional District 50 (802 likely special election voters/Competative Edge Research). For those of you outside Southern California, Competative Edge is legit.

First Ballot:

Busby 33.5% Bilbray 14.8% Roach 7.9% Kaloogian 7.1% Morrow 4.7% Uke 3.6%

Leaning:

Busby 5.3% Bilbray 4.3% Roach 4.3% Kaloogian 2.7% Morrow 2.1% Uke 1.1%

What should concern observers the most is the surprising run-off numbers:

Bilbray 40.9% Busby 38.2%

Roach 35.8% Busby 35.2%

And here’s where it gets interesting…

Busby 43.8% Kaloogian 32%

Busby 40.7% Morrow 35.5%… Read More

Oh the twists and turns. Even as Darrell Issa is trying to get Elton Gallegly to campaign for re-election, the Chairman of the Ventura County GOP sent out the following e-mail yesterday, rallying support for Michael Tenenbaum, the only other Republican on the primary ballot with Gallegly:

Dear Central Committee Members, Alternates, and friends: This has been a trying week for Ventura County Republicans. Many of us have felt frustrated, surprised, saddened, betrayed, challenged and/or confused. The sudden news that our 10 term congressman, Elton Gallegly has had to withdraw from the race due to serious health issues has caused us sadness and concern for him and his family. This was obviously not planned by him, and I can only imagine how… Read More

INFRASTRUCTURE PACKAGE Governor Schwarzenegger continues to lead negotiations with legislative leaders towards the goal of putting a massive infrastrucuture bond proposal on the June ballot — it isn’t clear if today is actually the last day to get something worked out — the ‘last day’ keeps sliding, it was last Friday. Based on my math, I think a deal could be worked out as late as Friday, but that would create a real time-crunch. I was with Senator Tom McClintock for a few minutes yesterday, and he was recalling that with Props. 57 & 58, they had like less than 72 hours to put together and turn in the ballot arguments they submitted. The primary sticking point in negotiations is stemming from the fact that legislative Democrats insist on loading up this bond package with billions of dollars in non-infrastructure spending, and are solidly opposed to spending reforms. From my perspective, the most movement has come from legislative Republicans who, frankly, have good reason to be skeptical and opposed to a massive borrowing… Read More