The GOP seems to be spending a lot of time weeping and gnashing our teeth over Susan Kennedy. As a committed conservative, and supporter of the Governor, I understand the symbolic issues here. Her presence on his staff is a tough one to digest. But I have a suggestion, once we get over this issue – let’s deal with our REAL political problem. How do we defeat teachers, nurses, firemen, prison guards and cops, politically speaking? I don’t care who the chief of staff is, if we don’t deal with this challenge, none of our candidates can win. As a matter of fact, unless we come up with a realistic strategy soon, we shouldn’t even field candidates for Statewide office. Why put donors, volunteers and candidates through another losing political season? Sure, the Kennedy appointment depresses the GOP base. But even an energized base faces defeat every time against our well regarded adversaries. Not the Democrats. They aren’t well regarded. It’s the teachers, nurses, firemen, prison guards and cops. Any time spent apart from developing a strategy to neutralize and defeat them is a waste of time. My ideas will follow. I would love to… Read More

John Fund pens this in today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail:

Two years ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger stood before thousands of supporters outside the state Capitol in Sacramento, waved a broom and told the cheering crowd, "We’re going to clean house!" Voters overwhelmingly backed him in a recall election that swept discredited Governor Gray Davis out of office.

The more things change, the more they remain the same. This week, Governor Schwarzenegger attended a state Capitol ceremony in which Mr. Davis’ official portrait was unveiled. In a gracious statement, the governor extolled the man he replaced as someone he’s come to… Read More

CRP Inland Empire Vice Chairman has said he will resign today at 5 p.m. unless the Governor reconsiders his appointment of Democrat Susan Kennedy as his Chief of Staff.

Ed just sent me the text of his resignation letter:

My roots are deep in California. My family has been in the Los Angeles region since the late 1700’s. I have not always been a Republican. When I first registered to vote, I registered Democrat as all of my family were in the steel mill town of Fontana, CA. I became a Republican in 1980 in order to vote for Ronald Reagan and have been a Republican ever since. I was newly married and the Carter malaize was in full bloom. Reagan offered hope and a vision in a time of despair, that is what drew me to the Republican Party. … Read More

Today there were more changes made at the senior-most levels within the Administration. Governor Schwarzenegger, presumably with the advice and sign off of his Chief of Staff, controversial Democrat Susan Kennedy, moved Fred Aguiar (pictured to the right) from his post old post of Secretary of California’s State and Consumer Protection Agency to the position of Cabinet Secretary, displacing Terry Tamminen who will now be a senior advisor (read: still in the Governor’s office, but in a lower-profile role). Also, Dan Dunmoyer (pictured below, to the right) comes onboard as a Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor for Policy Development.

Aguair and Dunmoyer have… Read More

Ed Laning is the California Republican Party’s Vice -Chairman Inland Region. Last year he ran for Congress against Joe Baca in a horrible district.

This is the text of an email he sent the CRP Board of Directors on 12/4/05

"If the Governor doesn’t withdraw Ms. Kennedy as his pick for COS by the end of next week 12-9-05, I will resign in protest."

As of midnight tonight, it looks like the CRP’s Board meeting with the Governor on the 15th will be short one. It looks like no clemency for Laning.

[Publisher’s note — I just got off of the phone with a very concerned and demoralized Ed Laning. He did confirm for me that if Susan Kennedy is still the Governor’s Chief of Staff today at 5 p.m., he plans on resigning his elected post as Vice Chairman of the California Republican Party for the Inland Empire. This is the most high profile and startling turn of events in this saga… Read More

Today. Governor Schwarzenegger named Justice Carol Corrigan to the Supreme Court of California. Corrigan is currently a Justice on the First District Court of Appeal. Among other things, the Governor’s says this about his appointee: "Justice Corrigan is conservative, thoughtful and a brilliant jurist. She believes that the law belongs to the people, not to judges and has a proven record of being supportive of victims’ rights."

Over the coming days, the FlashReport will be bringing some analysis of this pick and what it means. Our political law correspondent, Michael Houston, will weigh in, and I have already reached out the the FlashReport newtwork of lawyers who study things like the rulings of Judges (I am more focused on the rulings of NBA referees).

The Governor’s office issued a Press Release that starts out:… Read More

As a follow up to my post the other day on the Grossmont Union High School District charter proposals, lots of media since then:

U-T: Support for charter plan urged

U-T EDITORIAL: Spectacle and substance at Steele Canyon High

NEHRING OP-ED: A plan for more charter schools in East County

On a side note, it seems the Grossmont donnybrook that took place the other night during the meeting on the Steele Canyon charter proposal, included some contentiousness over the election of board officers.President Jim Kelly retained his seat on a 3-2 vote, but only after an “attempted” nomination of board member Priscilla Schreiber.Attempted, in that – apparently – her nomination was somehow out of order, and a parliamentary challenge… Read More

Conventional wisdom is that the major issues facing the Congress leading up to the 2006 elections will be immigration, the deficit, and the war in Iraq. From where the Republicans sit today, we are in big trouble with less than a year to go, but a year in politics is three lifetimes. The GOP has a real opportunity to show improvement on all three defining issues in that year.

Today, the House Judiciary Committee will mark-up immigration reform legislation. This legislation, a Judiciary-Homeland Security Committee bill, will deal with border security and law enforcement and will likely sail through the House. The Senate could take up immigration reform in the next few weeks but likely won’t deal with it until next year (I know, it’s shocking that the Senate is moving too slow, but hey, they had to take this week off). Expect to see a bill signed by the President by spring at the latest, with a Senate-sponsored guest-worker program.

With modest deficit reduction ($50 billion over 5 years) working its way through Congress and a humming economy, the deficit is going to drop further. In fact we could see impressive… Read More