Quote of the Week: Don’t worry I didn’t forget a quote of the week this week, but it is really long…but it’s very good, so I decided to put it at the bottom on this missive, so scroll down!

We’re Baaaack: Last Wednesday, both Houses of Congress returned to Washington for the second session of the 111th Congress. So, your life, liberty, and property are once again in jeopardy. You haven’t heard from me for a while over the holidays, but I will make up for that soon. This is the first of 4blogs I willpublish over the course of the next week. Today I want to give you a little flavor of what people in California have been telling and asking me during the roughly 4 weeks that I was home. Tomorrow, I’ll do a quick review of where many pending issues are right now. On Wednesday, the President will give his first State of the Union address (although it is his 3rd address to a joint session of Congress in 12 months) and I’ll provide you with the insider’s view the next day. Then on Friday, Republican House members (including this one) will be at our annual retreat, which is in Baltimore, Maryland this year. The… Read More

Check out this short You Tube clip of Congressman Ted Poe (R-Texas) reading a letterwhich questions why the White House and others are so upset about the couple who crashed a state dinner in November, saying, "Is it appropriate and politically correct to call them party crashers just because they trespassed?" Too funny.… Read More

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It is clear the voters are engaged and angry. I say one thing they pine for is more humility from elected representatives. The atmosphere calls out for political leaders who are well grounded in reality. Independents who are coming back to the GOP are doing so because the Democrats are topping the collective baloney meter. America considers itself under assault by those who hold the reins of power and they are rallying to the idea that the whole enterprise of government is a cancerous lesion that hurts more than it helps.

I suggest Republicans engage the angry voters by modifying their rhetoric to be more humble and to acknowledge that America’s greatness is entirely owed to the freedom of its citizens. I cringe when I hear electeds of either party say that government needs to create jobs. Even the imperial, "we must create jobs" does not sit well. Why? Because the voters know that elected officials do not create any jobs except government jobs. When elected officials, all of whom have a job, engage in the claim they are the font and source of jobs it is off-putting to people who do not have a job. Face it: if the government could,… Read More

Later this morning the Fiorina for U.S. Senate campaign will announce the formation of 17 new coalition groups in support of her campaign. Those new groups, and their leaders, are listed below. Fiorina will announce that she has tapped Gayle Pacheco, Chuck McDougald and Evie Coss to lead her grassroots leadership team.

Pacheco is currently president and owner of Western Hardware Company, an industrial hardware manufacturer and distributor. In addition to serving on the Walnut Valley Unified School District Personnel Commission, Pacheco also sits on the State Rehabilitation Council and is vice chair of the Governor’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. Pacheco was previously an elected member of the Mt. San Antonio College Board of Trustees and has served as an appointee to the California Workforce Investment Board. Pacheco’s husband, Bob, served in the California legislature. McDougald, a Vietnam War veteran, served… Read More

FR readers will recall that recently there was some controversy over an idea floated by the California Air Resources Board to actually put into place regulations requiring that your car tire pressure be checked to make sure they are at a state-mandate pressure.

FR friend and San Diego U-T Editorial writer Chris Reed wrote about the regulation’s proposal,and withdrawal.

Conservative cartoonist Eric Eishammer drew this cartoon. We hope you enjoy it! Look for more great cartoons from Eric soon!… Read More

Over the weekend the Whitman for Governor campaign sent out a "campaign update" from Campaign Manager (and FR friend) Jillian Hasner. These broader campaign updates are released by both campaigns periodically and we try to put them up here on the FR Blog.

In this email, Hasner says that the campaign will be announcing an endorsement from former Secretary of State Bruce McPherson early this week. Actually, I suppose the email was the announcement, eh?

McPherson is controversial these days in GOP circles for his support of the so-called "open primary" — a measure which is a direct assault on the Republican Party. It is important that everyone understand that unlike previous "open primary" measures, this one would take away from the Republican Party the right to have a candidate on general election ballots. So literally huge swaths of California would have no GOP standard bearer every November.

That said, I’ll vouch for one immutable fact, McPherson is one of the nicest and most genuine people I’ve had a chance to work with in politics.

WHITMAN CAMPAIGN UPDATE… Read More

As Jon Fleischman hi-lited on the main FR page Saturday, the Union-Trib editorialized on the selection of Martin Garrick as the new Assembly minority leader, praising the decision, while asking a question in the headline:

Will he be the latest GOP leader to cave on taxes? Clearly, the UT gets it, or the editorial board wouldn’t be asking the question. They get the power of the GOP to hold the line on increased taxes and bad budgets, as long as Republicans stick together. They get the travesty of past budget votes, in which just enough Republicans were somehow enticed into a "compromise," thus leaving insignificant and meaningless the unifying clout of the rest of their fellow Senate and Assembly caucus members.

Even more clearly, the UT question is not meant as a question. It is meant as a challenge … to Garrick, hoping the result will be that the 74th District… Read More