I served for three years as a Committee member of the Republican Party of San Diego County (RPSDC), two of those years as an Executive Committee member. After those two years, I wrote a series of posts about the good things I experienced and some of the problems I detected. Three problems I identified were: 1- RPSDC endorsed in R …
Inside baseball on GOP rules changes leading to a brokered convention
I checked with some friends who are deeply involved with convention politics … the Rules Committee meets in April and can change any rule they want, including the rule that candidates must win a majority of delegates in eight states in order to be nominated at the convention. If the candidate does not hit that threshold, then none of delegates representing …
Central Committee Ballot Order
With the candidates qualifying for the Republican Central Committee being final, and with the Secretary of State releasing the randomized alphabet lottery results, I went ahead and put together the list of candidates for Central Committee, based on that alphabet. This would be seemingly important, as popular opinion seems to be that ballot order is strongly correlative to electoral success …
Republican Party makes endorsements
From GOP Chairman Tony Krvaric On Monday night the Republican Party of San Diego County met to finish up June endorsement considerations and get a head start on the November elections. For the June election these candidates were endorsed: CA Assembly, District 76: Rocky Chavez (majority vote) U.S. Congressional, District 51: Juan Hidalgo, Jr. (majority vote) U.S. Congressional, District 53: …
Beautiful rendition of my ugly “California Is doomed” fact sheet
Every so often the California Policy Center takes my turgid, wonky, POORLY formatted “California Is Doomed” fact sheet and converts it into a thing of beauty — reformatted and posted online. The ONLY advantage for my tiny print, narrow-margin Word file is that is squeezed onto a two page handout — a handout that few can bring themselves to read. …
Republicans Will be Challenged If They Support SANDAG Tax Ballot Initiative
Let’s start here; the Republican Party is the “no new taxes” party. The glaring reason is well, obvious; the federal, state, and local governments collect plenty of taxes already. The secondary reasons are: governments are horrible stewards of money and they have too much power over our lives. Thus, the Republican Party is the “no new taxes” party. Nationally, we …
Ellis campaign: Lightner stole website, infringed copyright
From: Taylor Bloom, Ray Ellis for San Diego Council 2016 To: Bruce Lightner VIA EMAIL AND FEDERAL EXPRESS Re: Unauthorized Exploitation of Intellectual Property and Copyright Infringement Dear Mr. Lightner: I represent Ray Ellis in his campaign for San Diego City Council, District 1. This letter concerns your misappropriation of my client’s intellectual property for use on your campaign website. …
More scarce CA manufacturing jobs moving to TX — and WHY they are moving
It’s a story too common to even make the news in California anymore: Pegasus Foods, a Los Angeles firm, announced it is building a new food plant in Texas, employing 325 people. It’s unclear if the company’s CA HQ will also move — but it seems likely, based on the CEO’s positive comments: “I can’t tell you how excited I …
Time for the Republican Party to Unify Behind Randy Voepel
“Santee is a great success story. When it comes to leading by example and upholding conservative principles, there is no better candidate than Randy Voepel.” — Bill Baber, Councilman, City of La Mesa. “In Santee, we have proven that conservative government policies work!” – Randy Voepel, Mayor of Santee Santee Mayor Randy Voepel – The Only Candidate With A Proven …
Republican Party of San Diego County Should Back Leo Hamel For Assembly
Remember the tea party movement? Way back in 2010, while conservatives were rising up to oppose the Bush bailouts, the Obama stimulus plan, and Obamacare, some people were fed up with the Republican party and re-registered to “decline to state”. Santee Mayor Randy Voepel was one of those guys — Voepel made a very public statement about leaving the party: In …
Lincoln Club endorses Randy Voepel in AD71
The following went out from the Lincoln Club in late February, prior to the AD 71 candidate line-up being in the midst of changing so dramatically the last few days. It still reflects the reasons the club is strongly supporting Randy Voepel for the seat… This week, the Lincoln Club of San Diego County voted to endorse Santee Mayor Randy …
Republican Organization Backs Leo Hamel For Assembly
The Republican Liberty Caucus of San Diego (RLCSD), a local chapter of The Republican Liberty Caucus, endorsed Leo Hamel’s bid for California Assembly in the 71st District. The Republican Liberty Caucus is a 527 voluntary grassroots membership organization, dedicated to working within the Republican Party, to advance the principles of individual rights, limited government and free markets. Hamel, a successful …
Graham out too: His full statement
The full statement from Phil Graham… Friends, I declared my intent to run for California Assembly last summer because I got tired of California entrepreneurs looking to Texas or Nevada as friendlier places to do business. I’d seen one too many comparisons of California’s once-great education system to that of Mississippi. The California Dream had become something to reminisce about, rather …
It’s Official: Leo Hamel Announces Candidacy for State Assembly
Well-Known Jewelry Store Owner Makes Announcement on the DeMaio Report Leo Hamel appeared on the DeMaio Report today to make the surprise announcement that he’s running for the California State Assembly. Hamel will run for the District 71 seat currently held by Assemblymember Brian Jones (R) which includes east county San Diego. Hamel is well-known in San Diego for his …
Rocky Chávez Running for Re-election Unopposed Now
Phil Graham is the latest domino to fall. From Joshua Stewart at the Union Tribune: “While my motivation for running for Assembly has not changed, nor my vision for a better California dimmed, 2016 is not my time,” Graham said in Thursday’s statement. “Being part of a divisive and expensive intra-party fight that takes valuable resources away from electing Republicans …
Leo Hamel For California Assembly
We might be saying Assemblyman Leo Hamel next year — that could be a very good thing for the Republicans in San Diego. I met Leo Hamel in 2012 at a Lincoln-Reagan dinner. I knew his name because of his high-profile jewelry business but I had never met the man. During our conversation, I realized that Leo was a libertarian. …
Why Immigration Is THE Issue
I was challenged on Twitter two days ago by Benjamin Katz as to why immigration is my number one issue. So I thought that a little recap is in order. 1. It’s about fairness and the rule of law. The culture of this country is sliding towards conditions that foster dictatorship. Specifically, how one is treated before the law depends …
Leo Hamel eyeing State Assembly seat
Updated 3/9/16 with a quote from Leo Hamel Yesterday Michael Harrison announced he was ending his bid for the 71st Assembly District seat, potentially leaving Santee Mayor Randy Voepel as the clear front runner in the contest to succeed a term-limited Brian Jones. But, today jeweler Leo Hamel — also a Republican — pulled nomination papers at the Registrar of …
Carl’s Jr, an iconic CA corporation, is moving its HQ to Tennessee
Carl’s Jr. IS a California company. Always has been. But now it’s a nationwide business, and there’s millions and millions of reasons for the company to move its HQ out of the uber-anti-business Golden State. Tennessee won the HQ sweepstakes — and Carl’s Jr. is only their latest business acquisition. The HQ’s employ only about 150 people. But many if …
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