Sunday, February 5, 2012 – 06:00 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, February 6, 2012 – 10:55 a.m.

San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Chairman James Ramos must be wanting a seat on the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors in the worst way.

Since 2010, a whopping $592,000 has been funneled to two Ramos-controlled campaign committees.

By whom you ask?

Indian gambling interests.

An amount making up 82.41% of his total campaign war-chest raised.

Read the rest of this entry »

Supervisor Neil Derry left. San Manuel Tribal Chairman James Ramos right.

FROM STAFF REPORTS

Published: 05 February 2012 07:09 PM

Fun time is over in the increasingly rough race between San Bernardino County Supervisor Neil Derry and San Manuel tribal Chairman James Ramos for the 3rd District seat.

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Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Created: 02/04/2012 12:16:42 AM PST

While the GOP primary battle moves full steam ahead, local political observers and Republican lawmakers agreed this week that Gov. Mitt Romney is likely to face President Barack Obama in November.

Experts and Republican lawmakers from the Inland Empire said Romney has what top contender Newt Gingrich doesn’t have electability.

Read the rest of this entry »

Smith

**Administrator’s Note: Another candidate with absolutely zero chance of winning.

Bob Smith increases 1st District candidate field to seven
February 04, 2012 12:00 PM
Natasha Lindstrom, Staff Writer

A retired sheriff’s deputy of Helendale announced his intentions Friday to run for San Bernardino County 1st District Supervisor in the June election.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mitt Romney greets supporters in Las Vegas after winning Nevada’s Republican caucuses. (Gerald Herbert, Associated Press / February 4, 2012)

By Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times

February 4, 2012, 9:33 p.m.

Reporting from Las Vegas— Mitt Romney spent years cultivating voters in Nevada, and it paid off with a commanding victory that not only pushed him closer to the GOP nomination but laid a strong marker in a state both parties will fight to carry in November.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Created: 02/02/2012 05:36:15 PM PST

Fundraising data for Rep. David Dreier, D-San Dimas, from the last quarter of last year suggests he’s likely to retire this year, according to local political experts.

The Federal Election Commission database reports Dreier collected only $10,160 in campaign contributions in the period from October to December. The figure is paltry compared with the $207,450 received in the same period in 2003, and the $137,600 in 2009.

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Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
Published: Friday, Feb. 3, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Many years of partisan wrangling over the state budget reached a climax in 2010 when public employee unions and Democratic politicians persuaded voters to pass Proposition 25, eliminating the two-thirds vote for budgets.

It gave the Legislature’s majority Democrats the power to pass budgets without having to garner Republican votes. But that’s not all it did.

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Neil Derry left. James Ramos right.

By Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 02/01/2012 07:16:08 PM PST

Document: James Ramos Flier

San Bernardino County Supervisor Neil Derry has launched an assault on the character of his major opponent, San Manuel tribal chairman James Ramos, in a campaign mailer tying Ramos to “gang members,” “drug dealers” and “killers for hire.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Money & Politics | Daily Report

February 2, 2012 | Will Evans

If super political action committee dollars were votes in the Republican presidential primary, California would already have voted resoundingly for Mitt Romney.

Read the rest of this entry »

BY JIM MILLER
SACRAMENTO BUREAU
jmiller@pe.com

Published: 31 January 2012 07:12 PM

SACRAMENTO — The major parties’ share of the Inland Southern California electorate dipped in 2011, new state figures show, with a significant increase in the percentage of voters who lack a party affiliation.

Read the rest of this entry »

BY BEN GOAD
WASHINGTON BUREAU
bgoad@pe.com

Published: 31 January 2012 05:44 PM

Candidates for contested Inland House seats raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash at the end of 2011 as they jockeyed for position heading into the current election year.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

When a political party achieves dominance of any government, one expects that it would use its hegemony to enact its public policy agenda.

That’s the way democracy is supposed to work.

Read the rest of this entry »

By David Siders
dsiders@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 – 6:57 am

Jon Fleischman, the conservative blogger, was brooding the other day on Facebook, underwhelmed by the presidential candidates he has left to choose from.

Read the rest of this entry »

George Skelton

Gingrich bristled at Romney’s L-word tag, but it’s all semantics.
By George Skelton Capitol Journal
January 30, 2012

From Sacramento

Without picking a side in the entertaining Republican presidential contest, let us stipulate that Mitt Romney was smack on target when he called Newt Gingrich an influence peddler.

A lobbyist? No, not in a legal sense. But did he lobby? Yes, in the common usage of the word.

An influence peddler? That pretty much covers it.

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By Jim Sanders
jsanders@sacbee.com
Published: Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

A California Supreme Court ruling Friday significantly raised Democratic Party prospects of gaining the supermajority needed in the state Senate to pass tax or fee increases.

The high court decided that Senate maps drawn recently by a 14-member citizens commission will be used for this year’s legislative elections, even if a pending referendum qualifies for the ballot.

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Rep. Mary Bono Mack

BY BEN GOAD
WASHINGTON BUREAU
bgoad@pe.com

Published: 26 January 2012 11:52 AM

WASHINGTON — Newt Gingrich is an “erratic” thinker who “abandoned his conservative principals” before leaving Congress, Inland Rep. Mary Bono Mack said Thursday on behalf of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.

Read the rest of this entry »

Assemblyman Curt Hagman

Assemblyman Curt Hagman
Created: 01/26/2012 11:31:48 AM PST

California’s Legislature has a full plate this year: crafting a responsible budget, protecting our schools, encouraging job creation, reforming public pensions and much more. Gov. Brown has just proposed a 7 percent increase in his 2012-13 budget and again asking voters for more tax increases when the state’s economy remains stalled by already high taxes and slow growth. Yet in my time in the state Assembly, it never ceases to amaze me when liberal politicians introduce unnecessary legislation that has nothing to do with the priorities of California’s citizens.

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Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
Published: Friday, Jan. 27, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Last Tuesday, the Public Policy Institute of California issued a new poll that found, among other things, just 17 percent of the state’s voters like the Legislature’s performance.

Simultaneously, the Legislature’s top leaders provided another reason for Californians to harbor such scorn.

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POLITICS

By Shane Goldmacher
Updated: January 26, 2012 | 5:34 p.m.
January 25, 2012 | 9:30 p.m.

A sleepy race for a California Legislature seat is turning into a fractious family feud that pits a former top staffer to Buck McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee, against the congressman’s wife.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mitt Romney left. Newt Gingrich right.

By Mark Z. Barabak and Maeve Reston
January 26, 2012, 7:11 p.m.

Reporting from Jacksonville, Fla. and Miami, Fla.— Picking up where their last debate left off, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich resumed battling Thursday night over personal integrity and the tenor of their respective campaigns, each accusing the other of unfair character attacks.

Romney, clearly itching for a fight, turned an early discussion on immigration policy into an assault on Gingrich over a radio spot he ran earlier this week on Florida’s Spanish-language airwaves. Gingrich pulled the ad, which described Romney as “anti-immigrant,” after it was criticized by Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a rising national star in Latino politics who is staying neutral in the primary.

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Details of the president’s annual speech to Congress came under harsh fire from members of the Inland region’s Republican delegation./AP

BY BEN GOAD
WASHINGTON BUREAU
bgoad@pe.com

Published: 24 January 2012 09:18 PM

WASHINGTON — The central initiatives laid out in President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night seem tailored to address Inland Southern California’s largest problems: unemployment and the home foreclosure crisis.

Yet the details of his plan raised concerns from some area officials and came under harsh fire from members of the region’s predominantly Republican congressional delegation, signaling a contentious election year in Washington and a tough road ahead for the president’s agenda.

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Looming retirements, especially of the Inland area’s Rep. Jerry Lewis, could leave the region without political heft for years

BY BEN GOAD
WASHINGTON BUREAU
bgoad@pe.com

Published: 22 January 2012 08:39 PM

WASHINGTON — When Inland Rep. Jerry Lewis leaves office at the end of the year, he’ll take with him one attribute that none of his potential successors can promise to replicate: seniority.

Read the rest of this entry »

Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley/The Press-Enterprise

THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
Published: 22 January 2012 07:52 PM

Workin’ It

When Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. visited Riverside last week, a lot of the discussion was about the jobs created by goods movement and related construction projects such as the Magnolia Avenue underpass.

Add Laurence Parker to the job-creation list. Parker, waving an American flag and dressed as the Statue of Liberty, crashed Boxer’s presser to get a little attention for Liberty Tax Service, which has an office on Magnolia just north of the underpass. Usually he just stands in front of the office to draw the attention of drivers, much like a sign-spinner.

Read the rest of this entry »

Neil Nisperos and Benjamin Demers, Staff Writers
Created: 01/22/2012 06:22:41 PM PST

For two Rancho Cucamonga businessmen, the road to victory on Election Day in November got a tad easier in the wake of Rep. Jerry Lewis’ retirement earlier this month.

But before being able to represent the newly drawn 40th Assembly District, Republican Mike Morrell and Democrat Russ Warner will have to get past each other.

Read the rest of this entry »

Derry

Saturday, January 21, 2012 – 06:15 p.m.

The highway funding arm of the U.S. Department of Transportation has cleared San Bernardino County Third District Supervisor Neil Derry to resume voting on federally-funded expenditures in his duties as an elected official.

The Federal Highway Administration gave Derry the green light effective Friday.

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Gingrich left. Romney right.

Saturday, January 21, 2012 – 06:00 p.m.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who sported a double-digit lead just ten days ago, has lost the South Carolina Presidential Primary to former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich by double-digits Saturday night.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bob Dutton, left. Gary Miller, right.

Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/19/2012 11:19:19 AM PST

The race for the 31st District got more interesting this week with state Sen. Bob Dutton officially tossing his hat in the ring.

Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, will face a field of contenders that includes Rep. Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar; Renea Wickman, the cofounder of a nonprofit aimed at helping juvenile offenders readjust to society; Justin Kim, an attorney from Loma Linda; and Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar.

Read the rest of this entry »

Rep. Gary Miller

By PE Politics
January 19, 2012 12:37 PM

Days into his campaign for a new San Bernardino County-based congressional seat, Rep. Gary Miller is touting endorsements from area electeds.

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Thursday, January 19, 2012 – 08:05 a.m.

The latest candidate to jump into the election fray is State Senator Bob Dutton (R-Rancho Cucamonga).

After toying with the prospect of challenging Assemblyman Mike Morell, Dutton will now take on Rep. Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar) for the 31st Congressional District seat being vacated by Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands).

Read the rest of this entry »

Thursday, January 19, 2012 – 07:15 a.m.

The latest results from the circus known as the Iowa Caucuses now has former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum over Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney by 34 votes.

Read the rest of this entry »

Thursday, January 19, 2012 – 06:35 a.m.

Texas Governor Rick Perry has dropped out of the race for the republican nomination for President of the United States.

Perry is expected to throw his tepid support behind former Speaker of the  House Newt Gingrich.

Expect Rick Santorum to bow out after Saturday’s South Carolina Primary.

State Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, has announced he will seek election to the 31st Congressional District.

BY JIM MILLER
SACRAMENTO BUREAU
jmiller@pe.com

Published: 18 January 2012 04:17 PM

SACRAMENTO — State Sen. Bob Dutton declared his candidacy Wednesday for the redrawn 31st Congressional District, setting up a June showdown with veteran Rep. Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar.

Read the rest of this entry »

Warner

Staff report
Created: 01/17/2012 10:11:29 AM PST

Russ Warner announced Monday he had dropped out of the race for Congressional District 31, and will instead run for State Assembly District 40 against Republican Mike Morrell.

Read the rest of this entry »

Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
January 17, 2012

Republican legislative leaders rolled out their response to Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2012 State of the State address Tuesday, slamming the Democratic governor for telling Californians that the”sky will fall” without higher taxes.

Read the rest of this entry »

Former U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman endorsed Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney Monday morning.

Monday, January 16, 2012 – 09:45 a.m.

GOP Presidential candidate and former U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman officially pulled the plug on his foundering campaign Monday morning.

A campaign that never really left the ground.

Read the rest of this entry »

U.S. Representative Howard “Buck” McKeon

By LARRY MARGASAK
Associated Press
Published: Friday, Jan. 13, 2012 – 7:45 pm
Last Modified: Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012 – 12:50 am

WASHINGTON — Two veteran House Republicans received discounted mortgage loans from the now-defunct Countrywide Financial Corp. under a VIP program, a congressional official said Friday.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mitt Romney is the man to beat – but any of his rivals to emerge as a serious challenger will have a tough time playing catch-up to the front-runner’s national campaign operation. (Andy Jacobsohn, MCT / January 15, 2012)

By Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times
January 14, 2012, 7:55 p.m.

Reporting from Greenville, S.C.‬— Five Republicans are fighting mightily to deny Mitt Romney a quick coronation as the party’s presidential nominee. But if one of them emerges as his top challenger, a monumental task lies ahead: building a national campaign operation on the fly.‬

‪ Read the rest of this entry »

Dr. Jerry Slater in a treatment room of the gantry at the Proton Treatment Center at Loma Linda University Medical Center on 6/21/06. The university has been a major recipiant of money earmarked by Rep. Jerry Lewis. (kurt miller/ the press enteprise)/KURT MILLER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

BY BEN GOAD
WASHINGTON BUREAU
bgoad@pe.com

Published: 13 January 2012 08:28 PM

Four-year-old Jerry Lewis was standing at the back window of the small San Bernardino house where his family lived. There was water everywhere.

Read the rest of this entry »

Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/13/2012 07:42:42 PM PST

When Rep. Jerry Lewis retires, he’ll apparently have at least one admirer on the other side of the aisle.

Rep. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino, said that they’ve had disagreements over the Dream Act and on immigration issues, but he and Lewis found common ground on many issues that pertain to the area.

Read the rest of this entry »

Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer
Created: 01/13/2012 11:29:33 AM PST

SAN BERNARDINO – State Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, teed off on a variety of issues Friday during a legislative breakfast at Shandin Hills Golf Course, but his biggest swing came at the end, when he hinted at a possible run for Congress.

Read the rest of this entry »

PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
January 13, 2012 | 1:47 pm

By election guru Allan Hoffenblum’s reckoning, there could be a record number of open seats up for grabs in this year’s elections, including 33 of the 80 state Assembly posts.

Read the rest of this entry »

U.S. Rep. Gary Miller (R-Brea)

By Frank C. Girardot, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/13/2012 09:16:01 PM PST

Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea, is moving on.

The longtime congressman has spent 13 years on Capitol Hill representing his hometown of Diamond Bar. And, those who live there know, Gary’s a fixture around town when he’s not in Washington.

Read the rest of this entry »

Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, works the phones in this 2005 photo. Lewis, who has represented a Southern California district in Congress for more than 30 years, will not seek re-election in 2012, he announced Thursday./AP

BY BEN GOAD
WASHINGTON BUREAU
bgoad@pe.com

Published: 12 January 2012 10:17 PM

U.S. Rep. Jerry Lewis, the dean of California’s House Republicans who was both celebrated and criticized for the hundreds of millions of federal dollars he sent to his Inland district, said Thursday he would retire after more than three decades in Congress.

Read the rest of this entry »

Lewis

Neil Nisperos and Joe Nelson, Staff Writers
Posted: 01/12/2012 10:24:20 AM PST

Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, announced his retirement on Thursday, after 46 years in elected office and 33 years representing San Bernardino and Riverside counties in Congress.

Read the rest of this entry »

Congressman Gary Miller

Neil Nisperos and Joe Nelson, Staff Writers
Posted: 01/12/2012 12:13:10 PM PST

Rep. Jerry Lewis’ retirement announcement on Thursday prompted a a throng of local politicians to announce their plans to run for new congressional district seats in the region.

Read the rest of this entry »

By PE Politics
January 12, 2012 2:20 PM

The Inland area will have no shortage of candidates for two open congressional seats following today’s announcement by Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, that he will retire.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mitzelfelt

January 12, 2012 10:33 AM
From Staff Reports
Four locals declare bids for 1st District Supervisor:

First District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt announced he’s running for Congress to represent the newly formed 8th District.

The announcement came minutes after U.S. Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, announced he’s retiring after 17 terms representing portions of the High Desert.

Read the rest of this entry »

PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
January 12, 2012 | 5:41 pm

Republican state senators say Gov. Jerry Brown is overstating the need for new tax hikes, according to an internal analysis.

The 61-page report, which examines Brown’s proposals from a Republican perspective, said state tax revenues will bounce back without the temporary taxes the governor wants.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Richard Simon and Phil Willon, Los Angeles Times
January 13, 2012

The retirement of Rep. Jerry Lewis, dean of the California House GOP, marks the sixth and most significant departure from Congress in the wake of a new redistricting plan, portending a dramatic shake-up of the state’s delegation.

Read the rest of this entry »

Thursday, January 12, 2012 – 05:30 p.m.

Whew…..

Congressman Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) has finally announced he won’t seek another term in the republican-controlled House of Representatives.

An expected move based on the congressman’s recent indecision.

Read the rest of this entry »

U.S. Representative Jerry Lewis, (R) 41st District spoke during a Town Hall on Health Care Reform held at the IEHP Building in San Bernardino , Aug. 2009. (File photo)

Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/10/2012 10:25:35 AM PST

Two San Bernardino County lawmakers said Tuesday they are planning to seek the Republican nomination to run for Congress in one of two newly-drawn districts, although in at least one case, plans depend on whether longtime Rep. Jerry Lewis retires or seeks reelection.

Read the rest of this entry »

Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands

BY BEN GOAD
WASHINGTON BUREAU
bgoad@pe.com

Published: 09 January 2012 09:29 PM

WASHINGTON — The field of Democratic candidates for California’s new 31st Congressional District is quickly solidifying, but potential GOP candidates appear to be awaiting a decision from incumbent Rep. Jerry Lewis before entering what is certain to be a high-profile race for the seat.

Read the rest of this entry »

U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield

BY JIM MILLER
SACRAMENTO BUREAU
jmiller@pe.co

Published: 09 January 2012 08:26 PM

SACRAMENTO — Republicans are well-positioned to win two newly drawn congressional swing seats in Inland Southern California this fall, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy said Monday.

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U.S. Rep. David Dreier

Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
January 9, 2012

With less than six months to go until the June primary, viable Republican challengers to Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein aren’t exactly rushing to file nomination papers.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the No. 3 ranking House Republican, suggested Monday that fellow House Republican David Dreier could be a formidable challenger.

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Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley

Monday, January 9, 2012 – 10:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, January 9, 2012 – 11.24 a.m.

According to the Z107.7 website in Morongo Basin, Assemblyman Paul Cook (R-Yucca Valley) has dropped his bid for a seat on the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.

The radio station apparently let the cat out of the bag early.

Read the rest of this entry »

Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Twin Peaks.

THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
Published: 08 January 2012 07:02 PM

Last week started badly for Inland Assemblyman Tim Donnelly and only got worse.

The Twitter-verse erupted Tuesday after security officers found a loaded handgun in Donnelly’s carry-on luggage at Ontario International Airport. Donnelly, R-Twin Peaks, said he forgot he had put the gun in his briefcase and believed he was carrying his laptop computer.

Read the rest of this entry »

Lawmakers will take on legislation sure to please most constituents and unlikely to alienate many at election time

BY BEN GOAD
WASHINGTON BUREAU
ben.goad@yahoo.com

Published: 08 January 2012 08:26 PM

WASHINGTON — Entering a contentious 2012 election season, Congress isn’t expected to tackle many of the nation’s most divisive issues.

Inland lawmakers hope to take advantage of the void left by shelved debates over immigration reform, health care, climate change and other battles by pressing forward with less controversial legislation focused on improving the region.

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By David Siders and Torey Van Oot
dsiders@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Jan. 9, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Monday, Jan. 9, 2012 – 7:05 am

Jeff Miller, Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s presidential campaign chairman in California, was in Iowa with a handful of California lawmakers for last week’s caucuses. He may find himself in South Carolina when the race arrives there later this month.

He isn’t missing much back home.

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Monday, January 9, 2012

When the dust settles in New Hampshire, the 2012 Republican nomination for president will be written in granite and the name will be Willard Mitt Romney, according to the Calbuzz Advisory Board of Leading Authorities on Practically Everything, the greatest assemblage of political minds since Thorstein Veblen dined alone.

Read the rest of this entry »

Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, center, Rick Santorum, left, and Ron Paul pause during a break in Sunday’s debate in New Hampshire. Sharper attacks on Romney reflected divisions within the party. (Alex Wong, Getty Images / January 8, 2012)

By Paul West, Washington Bureau
January 8, 2012, 6:26 p.m.

Reporting from Concord, N.H.— A fusillade of attacks on front-runner Mitt Romney presages what is likely to be at least a month of internal warfare among Republicans as the presidential candidates head for the South, the heart of the GOP’s restive base.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Mark Gutgleuck
Friday, January 6, 2012
Originally Published: Friday, December 30, 2011

As of earlier this week, former state assemblyman Brett Granlund had actively avoided several attempts to serve him with a subpoena relating to the Colonies Settlement case.

Read the rest of this entry »

In this April 4, 2011 file photo is Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Hesperia, in Sacramento. Donnelly, who previously sought the right to carry a loaded weapon inside the state Capitol has been cited for trying to bring a loaded handgun onto a Sacramento-bound flight. Transportation Security Administration spokesman Nico Melendez says Donnelly had a Colt .45 with four rounds in it inside his carry-on luggage at Ontario International Airport. He says another magazine with five rounds also was in Donnelly’s carry-on bag. The lawmaker was passing through a security checkpoint at 6:45 a.m. Wednesday. (Associated Press file photo)

By Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Created: 01/06/2012 10:52:55 AM PST

Assemblyman Tim Donnelly said Friday the effort to repeal the California Dream Act had fallen short of gathering enough signatures needed to get on the ballot.

Read the rest of this entry »

Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
January 6, 2012

Complying with a court order, the California Assembly released thousands of pages of documents about its members’ expenditures today that it fought against providing to the public.

Read the rest of this entry »

Published: Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 4A

A Republican group backing a referendum challenging newly drawn state Senate districts believes they have inched closer to qualifying just days before the California Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether it should intervene.

Read the rest of this entry »

Staff Reports
Created: 01/05/2012 05:38:23 PM PST

Assemblyman Tim Donnelly on Thursday said he was assaulted and threatened on Dec. 26 by a man in Rancho Cucamonga due to his opposition to the Dream Act.

Read the rest of this entry »

Money & Politics | Daily Report
January 6, 2012 | Will Evans

Behind the legislative record of newly chosen Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff is a host of special interests that have funded his campaigns and given him expensive gifts.

Read the rest of this entry »

Huff

By Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Created: 01/04/2012 06:30:30 PM PST

The state Senate Republican Caucus on Wednesday unanimously selected Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, to lead state Senate Republicans in 2012.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Torey Van Oot
tvanoot@sacbee.com
The Sacramento Bee
Published: Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Lawmakers returned to Sacramento with a bang Wednesday, kicking off 2012 with a flurry of new bills, a leadership transition and no shortage of drama involving members’ personal troubles.

Read the rest of this entry »

PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
January 4, 2012 | 1:23 pm

State Sen. Sharon Runner (R-Lancaster) said Wednesday she will be working indefinitely away from her office as she awaits a lung transplant because of complications from an autoimmune condition.

Read the rest of this entry »

George Skelton

By George Skelton
Capitol Journal
January 5, 2012

From Sacramento– California’s distant spectator seat in the presidential nominating arena is, in part, the result of misplaced spending priorities in Sacramento.

We bought a ticket in the nosebleed section because Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature refused to spend an estimated $100 million for a separate presidential primary early in the nominating process.

Read the rest of this entry »

Wednesday, January 4, 2012 – 11:00 a.m.

Here’s the latest from last nights Iowa contest.

U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) is out after garnering just 5% of the caucus voting.

Governor Rick Perry (R-Texas), after saying last night he would re-evaluate his campaign, is now looking ahead to the South Carolina primary later this month.

Read the rest of this entry »

Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Twin Peaks, was cited and released today after being found with a .45 caliber handgun in his luggage at Ontario airport.

BY JIM MILLER
jmiller@pe.com
Published: 04 January 2012 10:38 AM

Assemblyman Tim Donnelly was stopped at Ontario airport this morning after security line officers discovered a handgun in his luggage, his office said this morning.

Donnelly, R-Twin Peaks, was cited and released, a spokeswoman said. He faces a misdemeanor charge.

Read the rest of this entry »

Morrell

By PE Politics
January 3, 2012 8:56 AM

Assemblyman Mike Morrell ended 2011 with a $67,000 ball-drop into his 2012 re-election campaign, records show.

Read the rest of this entry »

Romney

By Michael A. Memoli and Paul West
January 3, 2012, 11:37 p.m.

Reporting from Manchester and Des Moines— In the closest finish in the history of the Iowa caucuses, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum wound up in a virtual dead heat in the first battle for the Republican presidential nomination, with Romney emerging as the apparent winner by a margin of just eight votes.

When results from the last of the state’s 1,774 precincts were tallied Wednesday morning, Romney had 30,015 votes to Santorum’s 30,007.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Created: 01/02/2012 03:10:55 PM PST

The California Supreme Court will hear arguments on Jan. 10 about redistricting lines that will be used in 2012′s state Senate elections.

A Republican group had asked the California Supreme Court on Dec. 2 to shelve the newly drawn state Senate district map, even though the court previously declined to take up such a challenge.

Read the rest of this entry »