Our California political system makes party nominees and the party the focus of the November general election. However, for the June primary election the candidates are on their own. Although the state and local parties have the legal power they rarely intervene in a primary fight and should never do so without some overriding reason where the endorsement helps the party.

Never until a week ago when the Ventura County Republican Central Committee endorsed a candidate for my job, and I am told they did so with no candidate debate, and in fact only one candidate invited. I am termed-out of my position on the Board of Equalization and there are 4 candidates pursuing the campaign. There is no reason in the world that the Republican Party voters in the 2nd District should not be allowed to choose their own nominee without party interference. This is an insult to the Republican voters in the 2nd District.

Now Barbara Alby (whom I have endorsed), Alan Nakanishi, and Roy Ashburn will have no political choice but to go after county central committee endorsements. I… Read More

Carla Marinucci looks at Meg Whitman’s 2004 endorsement of Barbara Boxer.Whitman not only endorsed Boxer and donated the maximum $4,000 to the junior California senator’s 2004 re-election campaign, but the former eBay CEO also served on an exclusive committee of Technology Leaders for Boxer in her re-election battle against Republican California Secretary of State Bill Jones, according to election records obtained by The Chronicle.

Umm……. this is like endorsing Harry Reid or Al Franken. Same deal. So, she’s now the second coming of Reagan? We have a RINO in Sacramento already and we’ve seen how that has worked out.

So Meg doesn’t vote before 2002 and she makes her debut in the political world by not only supporting Barbara Boxer, but being heavily involved in her campaign.… Read More

Health Care Update: As you have probably heard, the Senate Finance Committee last week rejected attempts to put the government-run "option" in the Senate health care bill by a vote of 15-8. What you probably did not hear was that only about an hour later, Speaker Pelosi held a press conference and stated that the House version that she intends to bring to the floor would have the government option in it. So what gives? It takes 218 votes to pass a bill in the House. Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) has introduced a health care bill that is a full-blown, complete "single-payer" system with the entire health care system being run by the government and private health made illegal. This bill hasnearly 100 cosponsors – all Democrats. Since Republicans are being excluded from the health care billdesign & negotiations, thereis no Republican thatwill vote for what they have now. That means thatnearly half of all the people who will vote for the Pelosi bill are on … Read More

Last week I had a chance to sit down with Gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman for the better part of an hour. Our interview covered a number of policy areas including global warming/AB32, eminent domain, gun control, abortion, and philosophy about government. Because we had the handy FlashReport digital recorder along, we’ll be able to bring you some direct excerpts from the interview. Because of the location at which we met in Menlo Park on the San Francisco Peninsula, we’ll call these "Excerpts From The Peet’s Coffee Interview" — and here is a segment where we discuss the environment, global warming, and the implementation of AB32, California’s legislation that requires strict reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of all sorts… Enjoy! Flash.… Read More

Last week I had a chance to sit down with Gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman for the better part of an hour. Our interview covered a number of policy areas including global warming/AB32, eminent domain, gun control, abortion, and philosophy about government. Because we had the handy FlashReport digital recorder along, we’ll be able to bring you some direct excerpts from the interview. Because of the location at which we met in Menlo Park on the San Francisco Peninsula, we’ll call these "Excerpts From The Peet’s Coffee Interview" — and here is a segment where we discuss the environment, global warming, and the implementation of AB32, California’s legislation that requires strict reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of all sorts… Enjoy! Flash. … Read More

UPDATE: Longtime FR friend and national talk show host Hugh Hewitt rips the Sacramento Bee a new one in this lengthy blog post on his website. Worth a read for those following this issue (which based on reader feedback would be everyone).

Just off the transom — the Meg Whitman Campaign sent the following letter to Amy Chance of the Sacramento Bee in response to piece on Whitman’s (lack-of) voting record that ran September 24th…

Letter from the Meg Whitman Campaign to The Sacramento Bee … Read More

Testimony of then 14-year-old female victim against alleged 49-year-old perpetrator:

– She said he plied her with alcohol and drugs to lower her resistance.

– "After that, he proceeded to rape me.”

– “Anything I showed resistance or hesitation to, he would say, ‘…you have to experience the lowest form of humanity…’”

– She said he was motivated by sex and used his supposed position to get what he wanted.

Testimony of then 13-year-old female victim against admitted 43-year-old perpetrator:

– She said he plied her with alcohol and drugs.

– She said he then performed oral, vaginal and anal rape on her.

– She told him she wanted to go home. "I was ready to cry. I was going, ‘No. Come on. Stop it.’” – She said that after he found out she was not using birth control, he anally raped her.

It doesn’t really matter which of the two testimonies is from the… Read More

Today, the Wall Street did a story on recent all night sessions of the legislature. While not a new occurrence, there has been an increased frequency of sleep deprived legislators being asked to vote on legislation that few have had a chance to review. It isn’t a good trend. Legislators, their staff, the public, and the press have a right to be involved in the legislative process. Next year, I’ll be introducing legislation to require all bills to be in print and online for 72 hours before they can be voted on. It will include a prevision for a natural disaster or unforeseeable situation that would require quicker action. But in my 11 months in the legislature, I can’t remember a single vote that could not have waited a few hours for the proper sunshine.

Check out this link to read the entire… Read More