Dan Weintraub of the Sacramento Bee has the makings of a great policy idea Here is his proposal, which I have reprinted below, and I have some brief comments at the end:

Walnut, Salifornia is one of those places that isreally hard for teachers to work in. The place has the highest test scores in the San Gabriel Valley. If you drive through Walnut you see plenty of businesses that offer tutoring. (Which makes you wonder if the teachers or the tutoring are responsible for the high test scores?)It is a Republican area to boot.

Now the union there really has it rough. Despite all the allegededucation budget cuts, the district is offering a 4 percent raise. The union bosses wants a 5 percent raise. See article here. What’s a union goon to do?

I knowthey should vandalizethe homes of board membersand threaten them andother districtemployees.See the article here.What the articles don’t tell you is thatthe head of union made the statement that they can’t be held responsible for what someone might do two nightsBEFORE the vandal(s) struck.

That makes the uniontotally responsible.… Read More

Arizona Rep. John Shadegg, former chairman of the Republican Study Committee and currently chairman of the House Policy Committee, announced today that he will be seeking the post of Majority Leader. A product of the class of ’94, Shadegg has been an effective and respected conservative voice within the GOP Conference and his entry will certainly shake things up immediately.

Shadegg will pull together an interesting coalition that can make him very viable in the contest, even with the late entry. As an active and trusted conservative, he will get significant support from the RSC but since he has been an honest broker with the moderates, he can appeal to them without compromising on principle. Further, many members have refrained from endorsing either Roy Blunt or John Boehner waiting for a "clean break" or "fresh face" candidate. Amazingly, given the impact of the class of ’94 on the Congress, no ’94 member sits in the leadership. Shadegg might also appeal to his colleagues… Read More

The follwing appears in Roll Call Magazine today. Writer David Drucker has been writing on California politics for a long time, and recently joined RC as their West Coast Reporter:

By David M. Drucker

Roll Call Staff

January 9, 2006

With enough Republicans to fill a passenger van running in California’s 50th district open primary, Democrat Francine Busby is likely to emerge from the April 11 contest on top, though well short of the 50 percent-plus one needed to win the seat outright.The special election to replace disgraced former Rep. Duke Cunningham (R) in the heavily Republican, northern San Diego County-area district has attracted at least eight Republicans. They are almost certain to divide the GOP vote and open the door… Read More

San Diego Congressman Darrell Issa, will be announcing later today his intention to seek the position of House Policy Chairman in wake of John Shadegg’s announcement that he will resign as he seeks the Majority Leader post.

The Policy Committee chairman is responsible for formulating the majority’s policy directives and works directly with the GOP leadership.

Letter from Issa to the GOP Conference:

January 13, 2006

Dear Republican Colleague:

Today, I am announcing my candidacy for Policy Chairman and I ask for your support.

I have served as a member of the Policy Committee since my election in 2000. I believe in the need for this very important committee and I want to continue to make it relevant in the policy discussions that our conference will have in the 2nd Session of Congress; specifically, in the issues of Immigration, Health Care, Telecommunications and Tax Reform. These and many other issues of importance to our Conference need to be outlined and discussed, because our constituents demand… Read More

The Republican National Committee is made up of about 165 or so members (a rough estimate), which includes the 50 State Republican Party Chairmen, and a Committeeman and a Committeewoman from each of the 50 states and the U.S. Territories. So California’s three representatives to this body are CRP Chairman Duf Sundheim, Tim Morgan, and Barbara Alby. As a practical matter, when there is a Republican in the White House, the RNC members, in practice, defer the running of the National Committee to the President, who exercises this faith by naming the Chairman of the Party (in this case, Ken Mehlman), who goes through a ratification vote by the full committee (but I don’t think the committee has ever turned down the pick of a President). The Chairman runs the day-to-day operations of the party. The Republican National Committee meets from time-to-time as the policy-setting body of the RNC. Under party rules, they are involved with budgetary issues, matters concerning party rules, the… Read More

The Republican National Committee is made up of about 165 or so members (a rough estimate), which includes the 50 State Republican Party Chairmen, and a Committeeman and a Committeewoman from each of the 50 states and the U.S. Territories. So California’s three representatives to this body are CRP Chairman Duf Sundheim, Tim Morgan, and Barbara Alby. As a practical matter, when there is a Republican in the White House, the RNC members, in practice, defer the running of the National Committee to the President, who exercises this faith by naming the Chairman of the Party (in this case, Ken Mehlman), who goes through a ratification vote by the full committee (but I don’t think the committee has ever turned down the pick of a President). The Chairman runs the day-to-day operations of the party. The Republican National Committee meets from time-to-time as the policy-setting body of the RNC. Under party rules, they are involved with budgetary issues, matters concerning party rules, the… Read More

Throughout the day, I’d been hearing rumors that there may be a new chief strategist coming to Schwarzenegger-land — that the venerable Mike Murphy was out, and that Matthew Dowd was in. I have my little "Rule of 6" that I use, where if I can’t get something on the record, I wait or seek out six sources that can at least tell me that they have heard what I have heard. Well, if I was really interested in ‘breaking’ news, I should have a "Rule of 5" — in this instance, my 6th source was none other than columnist Bill Bradley, who posted on his blog about the Dowd rumor ("Chief Strategist Dowd?" he writes, with the question mark.).

Who is Matthew Dowd, you might ask? Here is the first couple of paragraphs of his biography from a speaker’s bureau website (if you want him to talk to you personally about his background, a $10,000… Read More