A Mexican Border Town in LA County. Is that some right-wing opinion or stereotype? This article in the LA Weekly, a liberal independent newspaper is a must read. Drugs, corruption, violence, we have it all here in LA! Read it here.… Read More

I spoke with a prominent California pollster yesterday who called to inquire about whether or not Decline-To-State voters would be able to vote in the Republican primary for President, should they choose to do so.

The question is not as silly as you might think. Several years back, after the United States Supreme Court tossed out California’s open primary law as being unconstitutional, a state law was passed that allows any political party to "opt in" to allowing Decline-To-State voters to participate in their primaries.

The California Republican Party made a decision to allow DTS voters to particulate in GOP primaries for federal and state legislative, as well as for statewide constitutional office, which has been taking place for multiple election cycles now.

But the Party Bylaws relative to the Presidential primary is abundantly clear. Delegates are awarded based on a tabulation of ONLY the Republican votes.

Of course, the CRP could always change its rules, but to do so at its next convention might very well place the CRP in violation of the Republican National Committee deadline for submitting its rules on selecting delegates to… Read More

I spoke with a prominent California pollster yesterday who called to inquire about whether or not Decline-To-State voters would be able to vote in the Republican primary for President, should they choose to do so. The question is not as silly as you might think. Several years back, after the United States Supreme Court tossed out California’s open primary law as being unconstitutional, a state law was passed that allows any political party to "opt in" to allowing Decline-To-State voters to participate in their primaries. The California Republican Party made a decision to allow DTS voters to particulate in GOP primaries for federal and state legislative, as well as for statewide constitutional office, which has been taking place for multiple election cycles now. But the Party Bylaws relative to the Presidential primary is abundantly clear. Delegates are awarded based on a tabulation of ONLY the Republican votes. Of course, the CRP could always change its rules, but to do so at its next convention might very well place the CRP in violation of the Republican National Committee deadline for submitting its rules… Read More

More Bills: Continuing last week’s theme, here are more of the bills that I will be working on this Congress. Just a reminder that some of these will not become law this Congress, but I will be working with my colleagues to increase support and move them forward. Here they are in no particular order:

Energy/Fuel Choice Bill – This is a big bipartisan effort to deal with the problem of energy security. The main motivation behind the leaders of this bill (myself included) is to reduce dependence on foreign oil for reasons of national security. We want to stop funding the efforts of countries around the world where the people want to kill us. There are also inherent environmental benefits. The overlying concept behind this legislation is that you really only have one choice today to fuel your car and that is an oil based product. This bill would require both infrastructure and car manufacturers to transition over the next five years to a significant percentage of vehicles having the option of running on some fuel other than 100% oil. These could be ethanol, methanol, bio-diesel, plug-in hybrids, or any combination thereof that… Read More

At the CRP convention a couple of weeks ago, I was interested to see Rudy Giuliani’s speech. Though he did not electrify the crowd the way Mitt Romney did at the last CRP convention (arguably one of the best speeches I have ever witnessed), there was something in Mayor Giuliani’s speech that will remain with me for a long time. He enumerated many reasons why we must prevail in the war on terror, most of which we hear on Fox News everyday. But he gave one reason that is often overlooked, but no less important: women’s rights. Our nation has come a long way in ensuring that women have every opportunity to reach their God-given potential as men, and we don’t want to take a single, solitary, nano step backward. Yet look at the way women and girls are treated in countries where Islamic extremists rule with a heavy hand. I can’t help but wonder how quickly the war in Iraq and Afghanistan might end if we gave superior fire power to all the women who’ve been treated worse than cattle in those countries.

So, I appreciated Giuliani’s rationale that one of the many reasons America must prevail in the war against Islamic extremists is to… Read More

If you were to believe numerous newspaper headlines from late last week, you would think that the ultimate "Nanny State" bill by Democrat Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, to criminalize the spanking of children by their parents, was dead and buried. Not so, I found out. Here’s the scoop for FR friend Karen England (pictured below) over at the Capitol Resource Instutute:

Last weekend, the annual Pollie Awards were handed out by the American Association of Political Consultants – the “campaign world’s version of the Oscars” as FR advertiser SchubertFlint Public Affairs put it.

Despite almost 3,000 entries in 80 categories, the FlashReport’s stable of contributors and advertisers took home (by my count) 20 Pollies.

FR Contributor Tom Ross’ firm, Meridian Pacific, grabbed two.

FR Contributor Duane Dichiara’s firm, Coronado Communications,won one.

Your humble author took homeone as well.

FR advertisers Bieber Communications, JohnsonClark Associates, SchubertFlint Public Relations, and Visteva each also were award winners.… Read More

ANALOGY WARNING: I have been told by those closest to me that when I try to wind up a lengthy analogy, sometimes I miss the mark. That said, I am going to try to equate the Governor’s behavior with California Democrats to a football game. Wish me luck: