In response to my commentary this morning, where I call on Governor Schwarzenneger to can ultra-liberal Rob Reiner from the state’s Children and Families Commission, one reader suggested that the Governor cannot ‘terminate’ Reiner because he has been appointed to a four year term.

Actually, if you go to page 183 of this document available on the Governor’s webpage, it shows the the Governor gets three appointments to the commission. Reiner was appointed by now-recalled Governor Gray Davis on December 13, 2000. His term expired on December 12, 2004!

So, Rob Reiner, who is Chairman of this important and influential commission, is only there because he has not been replaced (apparently you serve until you are replaced)!

His term is done, and the taxpayers of California can’t afford to have this hold-over from the Davis Administration as chairman of the Children and Families… Read More

I’m not sure how I did it, but in the 2004 primary election, I was chosen by GOP voters in the 70th Assembly District to represent them on the Orange County Central Committee. Even better, our Chairman, Scott Baugh, appointed me to OC GOP’s Executive Committee.

Well, today at lunchtime, I took a trip to the Orange County Registrar of Voters to fill out paperwork and pull my papers to run for re-election – for the first time I get to run as an incumbent!

While I was waiting for the appropriate paperwork to be prepared, I took a gander through the printout on the desk of candidates who have filed for the various offices in the county.

When I turned to the 34th State Senate District, I was not surprised to see on the GOP side that Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher had pulled her papers and paid her filing fee on the 17th. Another candidate, Lupe Moreno, had done the same. But AWOL in the area of pulling papers was GOP Assemblyman Van Tran.

Whether this is because he had not… Read More

THREE AND A HALF CONTENDERS FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL I am a huge fan of contested primaries. I think that the whole argument that a candidate is better off because they have "cleared the field" is a misnomer and misplaced. Of course the challenge of winning a party primary means that resources will need to be raised and spent in order to do so. But it is this process that makes a candidate the best they can be for the general election. A primary hones a candidates speaking skills and fundraising skills. A primary allows a candidate to understand who really supports them. A primary also causes candidates to have to make some very real decisions and choices that allow party members to appreciate the candidate who becomes their nominee. I think the same holds true whether we are talking about candidate for the Democrat or Republican nomination. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a stronger candidate for re-election this… Read More

THREE AND A HALF CONTENDERS FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL I am a huge fan of contested primaries. I think that the whole argument that a candidate is better off because they have "cleared the field" is a misnomer and misplaced. Of course the challenge of winning a party primary means that resources will need to be raised and spent in order to do so. But it is this process that makes a candidate the best they can be for the general election. A primary hones a candidates speaking skills and fundraising skills. A primary allows a candidate to understand who really supports them. A primary also causes candidates to have to make some very real decisions and choices that allow party members to appreciate the candidate who becomes their nominee. I think the same holds true whether we are talking about candidate for the Democrat or Republican nomination. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a stronger candidate for re-election this… Read More

"If the United States didn’t have a military, all in all we would be in a much better place." – San Francisco Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval on Hannity and Colmes.

Former State GOP Communications Director Karen Hanretty appeared last night on Hannity and Colmes to talk about this startling statement from a prominent Bay Area Supervisor. You can click here to see Sandoval’s outrageous comments and hear Karen talk with Hannity and Colmes. (Once you click through, then you need to select the program, "Fighting for the U.S.S. Iowa.")

This Democrat Supervisor was such a nut that on this program, even Susan Estrich, who appears with Hanretty doesn’t want anything to do with him.

This is Sandoval’s… Read More

Dr. Phil Kurzner has decided to end his quest to become California’s next Insurance Commissioner. During my opportunities to talk with Phil, I found him to be an intelligent, engaging and savvy candidate. While I understand the politics of his departure, I do lament a process that causes some of our better candidates to decide not to run.

Phil’s departure, combined with the very low-key candidacy of Gary Mendoza appears to leave the doors wide open for businessman Steve Poizner from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Here is a statement released today from Dr. Phil Kurzner on his departure from the race:

Based on a ton of emails that I have received since my post yesterday afternoon on the California Republican Party hiring Patrick Dorenson to be its new Communications Director, I felt like I needed to follow up with a note.

You see, I thought it was incredibly newsworthy that the CRP has hired a prominent former Democrat political operative to head up their Communications effort. I first heard about this hire from reading about it in Capitol Weekly, who also thought that Dorenson’s past work for the campaigns of Al Gore and Bill Clinton were worthy of note, leading with that in their story.

The reason for this note is that many are assuming that because I pointed out this ‘unique’ (to say the least) background for Dorenson, that this means that I am unhappy or displeased with his being hired. That is not the case at all. As a matter… Read More

A laugh for the day….read the San Francisco Chronicle’s story on the Richmond music teacher who is so upset that the kids in his community are gang-bangers with asthma that he felt compelled to chain himself to a park bench in Oakland for the week to protest the war. He’ll be getting up for bathroom breaks at the nearby Grand Lake Theater, which regularly posts diatribes on the marquee which alternate between calling for President Bush’s impeachment and deploring the use of Diebold voting machines. The protester was going to chain himself to a federal building, but decided he didn’t want to get charged under the Patriot Act. Like most of us, he couldn’t get a phone call returned from the Oakland police (after calling to see how much trouble he’d get into chaining himself to a city bench, so he just went ahead and did it).… Read More