Free Republic

'The Parsky team" is now famous -- as well as infamous -- in Rancho Santa Fe. There is another "Parsky team" in the secrecy- shrouded Caribbean tax haven of the Cayman Islands, but that's barely known at all, just as its creators intended. Until recently, multimillionaire Gerald "Gerry" Parsky -- chairman of the University of California board of regents and George W. Bush's main advisor in California -- was better known in the state than he was in Rancho Santa Fe, where he has occupied a horsy estate for 16 years. He takes his own jet in the morning to...

Politics: State leader Shawn Steel speaks his mind, even when Bush team advises against it. Shawn Steel threw himself into politics on the streets of the San Fernando Valley in 1964 by ripping down Lyndon Johnson posters at construction sites. In the Youth for Goldwater brigades, it was known as "sniping." "You peel off their stuff and trash it, and you put up your stuff. I loved it," Steel recalled. "I learned to be confrontational pretty early." Decades later, Steel, now the state Republican Party chairman, still has a knack for confrontation, even when others—important others—would like him to back...

A panel designed to take the political rancor out of selecting federal judges finds itself heaped in rancor as California Republican Party leaders squabble over whether the candidates are conservative enough for the bench. It is the latest in a power struggle between White House-backed moderates trying to steer the party toward more election victories and conservatives who resent the intrusion. And it threatens to deepen the chasm between warring Republicans when they need unity to win back the governor's office. "The conservative base of the Republican Party is very unhappy with this process," said Michael Schroeder, a former state...

"As Simon made the rounds Wednesday in Washington, a behind-the-scenes shakeup was quietly taking place back at his campaign headquarters in Sacramento. As with the Washington tour, that move was orchestrated by the White House." "Ron Rogers, the strategist in charge of the campaign's day-to-day operations, was ousted in favor of John Peschong, a veteran California Republican Party operative and close ally of Gerald Parsky, the Westside businessman who acts as Bush's chief political emissary in the state." "White House political operatives, including chief strategist Karl Rove, have been privately critical of the Simon campaign, echoing widespread concerns in GOP...