Free Republic

Former South Bay lawmaker considers run at governorship SACRAMENTO - Former South Bay Republican congressman Tom Campbell - a fiscal conservative, social moderate and respected academic who twice before unsuccessfully sought statewide office, is eyeing a possible run in 2010 to replace Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Campbell, 55, filed papers last week to form an "exploratory committee" for governor, which allows him to begin raising money for a potential bid. He joins two other GOP moderates from Silicon Valley - state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and former eBay chief Meg Whitman - among Republicans who have expressed interest in running. On...

A celebrated green economy produces pollution elsewhere, ongoing power shortages, and business-crippling costs. Rancho Seco was once a nuclear plant generating over 900 megawatts of electricity; today, its solar panels produce just 4.In January 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stood before the California legislature in Sacramento and delivered his fourth State of the State address since his improbable 2003 election. It was a rhetorical tour de force that would win him widespread acclaim. “California has the ideas of Athens and the power of Sparta,” said Schwarzenegger. “Not only can we lead California into the future; we can show the nation and...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, responding to the mother of a Republican state legislator, said Wednesday it would be a "big mistake" to blame illegal immigrants for the state's looming $8 billion budget problem. The Republican governor was in San Luis Obispo to pitch his budget proposal to local officials and business leaders when he was asked by Diane Blakeslee, mother of Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, how the state should handle fiscal burdens created by illegal immigrants. "There is, you know, always a time like this where you start pointing the finger at various different elements of what creates the...

Conservative Christian leaders are outraged at the California appeals court decision last week rejecting a parent's right to educate their children at home. “What has occurred is another egregious decision handed down by a California appeals court that strikes at the very heart and soul of families and their children," said Focus on the Family founder and chairman Dr. James Dobson, in a broadcast Friday. "How dare these judges have the audacity to label tens of thousands of parents criminals – the equivalent to drug dealers or pickpockets – because they want to raise and educate their children according to...

Conservative, conservative, conservative. That was the word Mike Huckabee used again and again with reporters to emphasize his credibility as a contender for the Republican nomination... “There has been somewhat of - almost a national media spin that this race is a two-man race,” said Huckabee... “Last night, the CNN debate was very frustrating for me. There seemed to be an unequal level of time that was allocated, and if people look at the delegate count, one has to have 1,191 delegates in order to be the nominee. So far, no one has even broken a hundred; there’s only 8%...

On Monday, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "universal" health-care plan was shot down by a committee in the state's Senate, 7-1. The most vociferous opponents were not fiscal conservatives, but labor unions that launched a last-minute revolt against its most crucial feature: an individual mandate that would have forced everyone to buy coverage. This defeat has national political implications. Hillary Clinton, for example, has denounced Barack Obama for refusing to include an individual mandate in his health-care plan. Yet many California unions argued that a mandate would force uninsured, middle-income working families to divert money from more pressing needs toward coverage...

1. BILL CLINTON Former US president The 42nd president of the United States is now auditioning for the role of what his Scottish friends term “First Laddie”. Having been impeached for lying about his sexual misdeeds during the Lewinsky scandal, blamed by some for failing to kill Osama bin Laden and having left office in 2001 amid accusations of corruption in granting last-minute pardons, Clinton, 61, has made a remarkable comeback. Perhaps everything Hillary Clinton knows about politics, bar self-discipline, she has learnt from him. A peerless tactician, huge intellect and natural communicator, Bill Clinton was one of the great...

 XXV BORDER GOVERNORS CONFERENCESEPTEMBER 27 & 28, 2007PUERTO PEÑASCO, SONORA JOINT DECLARATIONPREAMBLEThe Governors of the states of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas, of the United States of America, and the states of Baja California, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, Sonora and Tamaulipas, of the United Mexican States, meeting in the City of Puerto Peñasco, Sonora on the 27th and 28th of September, 2007, having analyzed, within the framework of the XXV U.S.–Mexico Border Governors Conference, issues relating to Water, Agriculture and Livestock, Science and Technology, Logistics and International Crossings, Economic Development, Education, Energy, the Environment, Health, Border Safety, Tourism and...

"Everything is on the table," said Governor Schwarzenegger yesterday, when asked whether he would support a statewide sales tax, in this case, as part of a massive government intervention into health care in California. The Governor said that he could support placing a tax hike on the ballot on which Californians can vote. Presumably the Republican Governor, after negotiating such a "deal" for California taxpayers, would then advocate its passage as well. Shame on Arnold Schwarzenegger. I don't know how to sugar coat this, so I will just say it like it is -- he lied. He lied to me,...

(AP) INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Governor Schwarzenegger warns the Republican party must move back to the political center or risk losing voter support. Schwarzenegger spoke Friday night at the California GOP party convention in Indian Wells. He says the state party’s percentage of voter registration has been shrinking, and to reverse it the party must tackle issues with broad public appeal, like climate change and building highways, railroads and tunnels. He recently proposed distilling the state GOP platform into as little as a single page focusing on lowering taxes, limiting the size of government and building a strong national defense....

Sacramento, CA (LifeNews.com) -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is coming under fire today from pro-life advocates there because of his desire to weaken the Republican Party's pro-life stance. He is asking for a new state Republican platform that removes any mention of abortion. Schwarzenegger says he prefers to focus other political issues where Republicans have more consensus, even though recent polls show Republicans are pro-life by more than a three-to-one margin.The current state platform calls for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case that ushered in an era of virtually unlimited abortions.The governor is calling himself...

No Wonder... Published On 08-31-2007 , 2:27 PM Gov. Schwarzenegger’s drive to reduce carbon dioxide emissions got a major boost this week when the makers of Wonder Bread announced the total withdrawal of their bread products from Southern California. Interstate Bakeries, the makers of Wonder Bread, Roman Meal, Home Pride and Baker’s Inn breads announced the closure of four bakeries, 17 distribution centers and 19 outlet stores, leaving 1,300 Californians out of work. The iconic breads – that had been staples of Southern California grocery stores since the 1940s – will completely disappear from shelves starting October 20th. The parent...

The other night, as the Senate's Republicans were blocking the state budget, GOP Sen. Tom McClintock alluded to the driver's license pledge, sending an implicit but unmistakable message that a big impediment to a deal was mistrust of the governor's promises to cut enough spending to bring the budget into rough balance. Rightly or wrongly, Republicans believe that he'll sell them down the river in his eagerness to deal with Democrats. That mistrust, when coupled with Schwarzenegger's cavalier treatment of GOP politicians last year, made all but one of the senators impervious to his pleas.

By San Francisco O'Sullivan report (mp3) - Download 449k audio clip Listen to O'Sullivan report (mp3) audio clip United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Friday, and the two called for stepped-up global action on climate change. Mike O'Sullivan reports from San Francisco, the U.N. official praised the West Coast governor for his state's aggressive role in tackling the issue. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made climate change a priority at the United Nations. He had flattering words for Governor Schwarzenegger, who has set ambitious goals to reduce his state's greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to global...

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Mayor Bloomberg is decrying the state of the 2008 presidential race, faulting the major party candidates for offering shallow, simplistic prescriptions, and scolding the press for failing to demand more from those seeking the White House. During an appearance at Google's headquarters in Silicon Valley yesterday, Mr. Bloomberg said the televised debates among the presidential candidates have been, in essence, a waste of time. "They have absolutely nothing to do with the job and the qualifications. And they don't tell you anything about whether or not any of those candidates would be good or bad presidents....

The other day, six Anglican archbishops called for the church to bless the unions of same-sex couples. The Anglican Church of Canada is about to have a big vote on the issue, and depending which way they swing it will either deepen the schism within the worldwide Anglican Communion or further isolate the Episcopal Church of the United States. But never mind all that. What struck me was the rationale the archbishops came up with. This gay thing, they sighed. We've been yakking about it for years. Let's just get on with it, and then we can get back to...

Shun Spanish-language media, the governor says, and immigrants will learn English more quickly - SAN JOSE -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told hundreds of Latino journalists Wednesday that immigrants who want to learn English more quickly should shun various forms of Spanish-language media."You've got to turn off the Spanish television set," Schwarzenegger said at the 25th annual National Association of Hispanic Journalists convention, which included many who produce Spanish-language material."It's that simple. You've got to learn English," he said. "I know this sounds odd and this is the politically incorrect thing to say and I'm going to get myself in trouble....

You can read the transcript and listen to the audio here:

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made nice with Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday, calling in to his radio program a day after dismissing the conservative host as "irrelevant." Limbaugh, who a day earlier had accused the governor of abandoning the conservative cause, treated Schwarzenegger cordially. But he pressed him on recent political moves that have angered conservatives, such as his $12 billion universal health care proposal. The two had a back-and-forth discussion over extending health care to illegal immigrants and whether the money to pay for the governor's health plan amounted to new taxes or fees. Limbaugh said the compromises...

Respected fiscal watchdog state Sen. Tom McClintock, writing in The Sacramento Bee, criticized a state government spending rate that has grown “significantly faster than it did under Davis,” increasing 30 percent the last three years alongside 23 percent revenue growth. McClintock said “the governor’s spending spree has now produced the biggest operating deficit in California’s history -- $8 billion, compared with Davis’s worst year of $6.6 billion.” McClintock also cited $45 billion in pension obligations and “$40 billion to $70 billion in health care obligations” owed to state employees. Warning that “pressure for tax increases” will grow “as California approaches...