The next several days on this blog will probably devote a lot of time to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s relationship with the Republican Party. But before we descend into this weekend’s state GOP convention bubble, it’s worth taking a quick look at this past weekend’s news coverage of the two Democratic candidates. Both Phil Angelides and Steve Westly have had great fun riding the coattails of the nurses and the public employees’ unions for several months of sustained Arnold-bashing. But over the last few days, both have taken their turn in the barrel. Which probably wasn’t nearly as enjoyable for them.

The Sacramento Bee went after Angelides, describing how the environmentally conscious candidate wasn’t nearly as green during his days as a developer, when he fought with local, state, and federal agencies over threatened species and wetland protection to the point where the EPA threatened him with criminal penalties.

Westly took it on the chin… Read More

I have written several times about the Governor’s seemingly inability or I think unwillingness to appoint Republicans to the bench in Los Angeles County. While, LA County is one of the worst in terms of GOP to Dem ratio, the rest of the state isn’t that great either. On Friday the “Republican” Governor appointed three judges to the LA Superior Court. Jon the masterful owner of FR posted about them here. He asked for counts on judges appointed by Arnold. I did have an unofficial count at one time. See it here. An alert FR reader alerted me to the fact I had under counted some of the appointments. Her count is accurate and she had some releases I did not. … Read More

THE CELEBRITY AND THE IDEOLOGUE Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom McClintock are shoo-ins for their respective GOP nominations for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, respectively. Being from the same political party may be the strong tie that bind these two unique individuals, who are very different from one-another. In Schwarzenegger, you have the ‘larger-than-life’ movie star who loves to take on BIG projects and put on a show. He is moderate on social and (apparently) economic issues. He enjoys smoking cigars, and driving his Harley Davidson motorcycle. In McClintock you have much more a policy-wonk. A strong conservative, McClintock will often be the lead voice from the legislature on any move away from the right (which has included, at times, criticism of the Governor – such as his signing the ballot arguments against Proposition 57 & 58).… Read More

THE CELEBRITY AND THE IDEOLOGUE Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom McClintock are shoo-ins for their respective GOP nominations for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, respectively. Being from the same political party may be the strong tie that bind these two unique individuals, who are very different from one-another. In Schwarzenegger, you have the ‘larger-than-life’ movie star who loves to take on BIG projects and put on a show. He is moderate on social and (apparently) economic issues. He enjoys smoking cigars, and driving his Harley Davidson motorcycle. In McClintock you have much more a policy-wonk. A strong conservative, McClintock will often be the lead voice from the legislature on any move away from the right (which has included, at times, criticism of the Governor – such as his signing the ballot arguments against Proposition 57 & 58).… Read More

FR friend John Howard, the Editor over at Capitol Weekly just shot me an email, apparenly having scooped the MSM and the cyber-core on the newest hire over at the California Republican Party. Apparently the CRP has hired Patrick Dorinson (pictured at the podium in the photo to the right) to fill the very large shoes left behind with the departure of Karen Hanretty, who decided to stand up her own public relations firm. I don’t know Mr. Dorinson – I don’t believe that he or I have ever met. That said, I will tell you that he certainly represents an ‘out of the box’ hire for the State GOP. I have to admit, before going over to Capitol Weekly, I did what so many others do when they are trying to find out something – I "googled" Patrick Dorinson. The third item that came up was some… Read More

In the post immediately below this one, I talk about the newest hire of the California Republican Party, Patrick Dorinson. Dorinson replaces Karen Hanretty, who did a great job in that difficult post. Here is what she has to say:

"I have a great deal of respect for Patrick Dorinson and consider him a good friend and Republican colleague. I met him on the recall campaign when he came to work in the press office, booking Schwarzenegger on conservative talk radio shows. Almost immediately we forged a bond as only two people who can’t stop ranting about Democrats can forge. Since then, we’ve exchanged countless email and phone calls about how the world is versus how it ought to be. Patrick is always good for advice on a pithy soundbite and has a talent for putting current … Read More

RICHARD POMBO: A REAL HERO You never know what you are going to find as you sift through almost 50 websites early each morning – that’s a big part of the fun of putting together the main page of the FlashReport each morning. Will it be a crisis? A scandal? A major piece of breaking news? Well, today I was extremely pleased to see a major profile in the San Diego Union Tribune of one of California’s greatest assets, Congressman Richard Pombo, who hails from the Stockton area. I’ve known Richard Pombo since he was ‘just’ a rancher, with his modest 500 acre spread in Tracy. Pombo is just the kind of politician that you would expect a conservative like me to really like. With the strongest foundations possible — his faith and his great family — Pombo went off to Washington to try and make a difference. His commitment to voters was straight from his conscience and… Read More

RICHARD POMBO: A REAL HERO You never know what you are going to find as you sift through almost 50 websites early each morning – that’s a big part of the fun of putting together the main page of the FlashReport each morning. Will it be a crisis? A scandal? A major piece of breaking news? Well, today I was extremely pleased to see a major profile in the San Diego Union Tribune of one of California’s greatest assets, Congressman Richard Pombo, who hails from the Stockton area. I’ve known Richard Pombo since he was ‘just’ a rancher, with his modest 500 acre spread in Tracy. Pombo is just the kind of politician that you would expect a conservative like me to really like. With the strongest foundations possible — his faith and his great family — Pombo went off to Washington to try and make a difference. His commitment to voters was straight from his conscience and… Read More