Republican Board of Equalization Member Bill Leonard has been fostering an ongoing discussion about the California Republican Party’s Victory Program (Get-Out-The-Vote). He posts over on his blog here, but gives me leave to post his stuff over here, too. So his latest thoughts are below, and a few blog posts down, Brandon Powers has posted a memo from the CRP Board of Directors on some of these issues… FROM BILL LEONARD In my November 20th newsletter I asked for a financial and performance audit of the California Republican Party’s 2006 campaign effort. While I have learned a lot since then thanks to conversations with key party and Schwarzenegger campaign officials, it is still important that we look at what happened, what worked, and what did not work and why. … Read More

Assemblyman Villines has so far done a great job in leading the Assembly Caucus. This announcement of the makeup of the Assembly GOP Leadership Team seems to be another solid step in the right direction.

ASSEMBLY REPUBLICAN LEADER MIKE VILLINES ANNOUNCES LEADERSHIP TEAM AND VICE-CHAIRS SACRAMENTO – Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines, of Clovis, today named a dynamic group of Assembly Republicans to serve as members of his leadership team and as committee vice-chairs for the 2007-08 legislative session. The new members of his leadership team represent a diverse array of backgrounds and communities. “I am honored that such a respected group of Republican leaders from across California have agreed to serve our party as members of my leadership team,” Villines said. “I look forward to working with them as we set our legislative priorities and work to build a stronger California.” The Republican Caucus Chair is the second-highest ranking Republican in the State Assembly, assisting the Leader in advancing the Republican policy agenda and achieving the Caucus’ political… Read More

Based, at least in part, on questions raised on this blog about the performance of the CRP’s Victory Program, the CRP sent out the following email today. I anxiously await the thoughts of Mike Spence and the otherswho’ve joined in questioning the Victory program.

TO: Republican Activists and Donors

FR: California Republican Party Board of Directors

RE: California Republican Party Board of Directors Meeting:

December 8, 2006

Some people, through comments and other communications, have raised questions of the California Republican Party (CRP) Board of Directors they wanted addressed at our December Board Meeting. The Board of Directors met on December 8, 2006 to discuss… Read More

On Tuesday, Valerie, Ella, and I squeezed into the Volvo and began the long drive home. We had beeninSan Diego for over 120 days, and it was time to clean up the yard before the neighbors rose up as an angry mob and took their pitchforks and torches to us.

At 9:30am we left downtown San Diego. It was 60 degrees. Actually, I thought recording the weather might be interesting but it turns out, as you may read, the temperature was pretty constant everywhere we passed through.

At 10:00am we passed through Oceanside. Other than a short pause on the 805 in Sorrento Valley, we averaged around 70mph through the county, and about 10mph faster through the Marine Base. The immigration check point was closed, but we actually saw what I imagine was an illegal alien being detained in the middle of the freewaynext tothe dividing fence, so I guess the signs that warn drivers against running down folks running across the road actually have a reason. It was 62 degrees.

At 10:30am we hit the 405/5 interchange in Irvine. It was 67 degrees and there was no traffic. We decided to take the 405 north.

At 11:15 we passed LAX, where it was 69 degrees. Readers will… Read More

The Orange County Registrar of Voter is a nice guy. Neal Kelley breaks the mold of the chain smoking, old school government employee.

I have written about him before and praised his use of technology. Today I have to mention it again.

On Election Day I voted using a provisional ballot because I had moved and not re-registered. I could have just voted the absentee ballot that was sent to my office–I knew that my new house was in all the same political subdivisions all the way down to water district. But it was the “signing under the penalty of perjury” that I could not bring myself to do. Because it specifically states that you must LIVE in the precinct in which you are voting.

So I ended up going to my old polling place and voting provisionally. The nice poll workers gave me a card with a “provisional retrieval code” and a call-in number. They said to wait a few weeks and then call to see if my vote was counted.

I forgot about it until today when I came across the card. All I did was call the number 1-888-OCVOTES and press ‘4’ to check the stats of my provisional ballot, enter my code and it… Read More

Bravo California Coastal Commission!

Peter Douglas, Executive Director of the CA Coastal Commission, put forward a staff report that was soundly rejected by his Commissioners yesterday. In a room packed with Sierra Club activists and Mothers for Peace who joined Mr. Douglas in his apparent quest to “stick it” to PG&E, I witnessed some very level-headed Commissioners go against the staff report, and do the right thing in the face of tremendous pressure.

There is a 74 page staff report on the issue, but in a nutshell…

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has a nuclear power plant in San Luis Obispo that is licensed by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission to operate through 2024-25. All environmental impact has been taken into consideration, and has been mitigated. The plant provides… Read More

Former Orange County GOP Assemblyman Ken Maddox has been tapped by Board of Equalization Member Michelle Steel to be her Sacramento-based Director of Legislative Affairs, looking out for the insterests of her office in relation to the goings on of the legislative process taking place in the State Capitol.

This selection is a good one for Steel, who is a strong fiscal conservative. Maddox, as a GOP legislator, was a strong voice for fiscal sanity.

Maddox served three terms in the State Assembly before being forced to retire from the legislature due to term limits. Prior to serving in the Assembly, Maddox was a long-time member of the Garden Grove City Council.

Interestingly, California’s other Republican member of the Board of Equalization, Bill Leonard, also has a former Republican legislator on his team — his Chief of Staff is Barbara Alby, who has also served since 1996 as California’s Republican National Committeewoman.… Read More

From Board of Equalization Member Bill Leonard:

***Huge Tax Hike on Beer Drinkers***

State law is full of gray areas and ambiguities. One old one is now the real culprit in this week’s headlines. When the Legislature wrote the first alcohol laws after Prohibition was repealed in 1933, California defined what a beer is and what wine is. The definition was simple – anything added to beer or wine renders it something else. Sometime thereafter beer and wine producers started adding things such as preservatives, flavor enhancers and other things. So narrowly reading the law there is NO such product as either beer or wine sold in California today. Now common sense and alcohol regulators know that is not true and so for years have ignored this narrow… Read More