In my old stomping grounds of Staten Island New York….it’s called omertà ….at the Republican retreat it means no freaking blogging about what happened at the retreat.

But by now, you know I am a little on the anti authoritarian side of things. But rather than provide specifics on some of the policy discussions that a) I didn’t understand, and b) I didn’t understand…..I thought I’d pass on what I do understand.

It’s no big revalation that Ronald Reagan means a lot to us as a party. Yet I was struck that you could not only see, but feel the dynamic change when these guys came back from the Ronald Reagan Library. Oh sure…Air Force 1 was cool they said…but here was a renewed sense of purpose after reliving the… Read More

You can access all past commentaries here, though. Enjoy your Saturday! Jon… Read More

Working to format the interview with Arnie Steinberg that leads the main page today ate up my prime ‘commentary time’ today. So I will encourage you to read that piece. That said, there are a lot of crazy things in the news today, all featured on the main page.

President Bush talks of a foiled attempt by terrorists to attack LA. Susan Kennedy took $10k a month last year from a developer and someone it took the LA Times to let us know. Rep. Richard Pombo took his family on a 5,000 mile motorhome tour of national parks and billed the government? Then he called the trip a vacation on his website. Dumb. The Los Angeles Angels bested the City of Anaheim, 9 to 3. Barry Munitz, the high-spending head of the Getty Trust, is out. Much more more.

Did you miss my ten cents on Arnold and the upcoming GOP Convention? It is here.

Have a great day!

Jon

**There is more – click the… Read More

Yesterday, the release was issued from the Governor’s office that he has tapped a prominent personal injury lawyer, a Democrat, to be a judge on the Santa Cruz Superior Court – Paul Burdick.

Burdick’s appointment comes in the County of Santa Cruz where the Santa Cruz Sentinal had reported that a Democratic Women’s Club of Santa Cruz County was lobbying for the appointment of a Democrat, and a woman. I guess they got 50% of what they were looking for.

Burdick has some history as a public defender, according to today’s Sentinal article:

At the start of his legal career in 1979, … Read More

Working to format the interview with Arnie Steinberg that leads the main page today ate up my prime ‘commentary time’ today. So I will encourage you to read that piece. That said, there are a lot of crazy things in the news today, all featured on the main page.

President Bush talks of a foiled attempt by terrorists to attack LA. Susan Kennedy took $10k a month last year from a developer and someone it took the LA Times to let us know. Rep. Richard Pombo took his family on a 5,000 mile motorhome tour of national parks and billed the government? Then he called the trip a vacation on his website. Dumb. The Los Angeles Angels bested the City of Anaheim, 9 to 3. Barry Munitz, the high-spending head of the Getty Trust, is out. Much more more.

Did you miss my ten cents on Arnold and the upcoming GOP Convention? It is here.

Have a great day!

Jon… Read More

California is a very hard state in which to elect a Republican to statewide office. And by that, I mean ANY Republican. With occasional exceptions, we have seen Republicans of all stripes – conservative, moderate, liberal – lose at the polls to the most outrageously socialist Democrats. I can throw out Tom Campbell, Bill Jones, Matt Fong and Bruce Herschensohn (pictured) as examples of GOPers of all stripes who have lost – and these are just nominees for the United States Senate. We can debate the reasons for the losses, but I am just trying to illustrate that electing a Republican in California is a challenge. The fact that we have a Republican Governor in California is a great thing, and I don’t have to remind you of the convergence of amazing things that all took place to achieve this… Read More

I hate to be flippant but I can’t help myself. I spent six years toiling on the State GOP Board as regional Vice Chairman and than Treasurer. During this time we "managed" the State GOP Convention messages and tried to come out of every convention with a positive spin. In reality, that process is of little consequence to election outcomes.

The last GOP candidate for Governor to have a pre-primary endorsement got absolutely slaughtered in the general election. What hurt him the most was the security of not having to answer to his GOP base during the general election when it seemed everyone knew he was going to lose except him. And while Dan Lungren has gone onto a good place in the Congress, he’s been made even better by having to go through a tough, tough primary in 2004. You don’t forget lessons like that if you are smart.

Whether or not the Governor has our endorsement pre primary is irrelevant to his chances of prevailing in November. Voters don’t care whether we endorse him and neither do most conservatives.What they care about are issues and whether their nominee is true… Read More

California is a very hard state in which to elect a Republican to statewide office. And by that, I mean ANY Republican. With occasional exceptions, we have seen Republicans of all stripes – conservative, moderate, liberal – lose at the polls to the most outrageously socialist Democrats. I can throw out Tom Campbell, Bill Jones, Matt Fong and Bruce Herschensohn (pictured) as examples of GOPers of all stripes who have lost – and these are just nominees for the United States Senate. We can debate the reasons for the losses, but I am just trying to illustrate that electing a Republican in California is a challenge. The fact that we have a Republican Governor in California is a great thing, and I don’t have to remind you of the convergence of amazing things that all took place to achieve this… Read More