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Flap’s Election Coverage on Twitter Tonight
Flap will be leaving for an anniversary dinner with Mrs. Flap in an hour or so as the first East Coast polls close.
But, will be making comments on national and California election results throughout the evening.
Watch the right sidebar under Twitter Updates —————>
Technorati Tags: Election 2008
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Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Fading Latino Star – Another Alleged Affair Leaves Questions
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa arrives for a news conference about his relationship with Telemundo newscaster Mirthala Salinas. He was at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to attend the swearing-in ceremony for the Los Angeles school board.
A Latino star shines less brightly
His career may survive, but many are disappointed by Villaraigosa’s involvement in scandal
Felipe Mares groped for words Thursday morning as he tried to explain his complicated feelings about the mayor he voted for with such high hopes just two years ago.
“I feel like a kid. I’m confused,” said the Boyle Heights jewelry store owner, lamenting recent revelations of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s affair with a Telemundo newscaster.
Villaraigosa is “a person in a very important position,” Mares said. “I think it’s embarrassing. It’s not supposed to be like that. He’s supposed to be pro-family.”
Over the last decade, the city’s government has finally started to reflect its demographics. Los Angeles, with a Latino population of nearly 50%, has a city attorney named Rocky Delgadillo and a City Council on which five of 15 members are of Mexican descent.
But the telegenic Villaraigosa, one of the highest-profile Latino politicians in America and a likely future candidate for governor, has been the undisputed star. Shortly after his election as the first Latino mayor of modern Los Angeles, he made the cover of Newsweek, with the headline: “Latino Power.” Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton bragged in May when she snared his endorsement.
Villaraigosa and Salinas wait out a pause in filming on the north steps of the state Capitol. Salinas is now a news anchor on Telemundo 52, June 19, 2006.
Flap wonders if Latino and Democrat leaders would be more nonplussed if the rumours sweeping Los Angeles are true:
Mayor Antonio Villaragiosa’s affair with Mirthala Salinas was disclosed by Salinas herself because Mayor Villaraigosa was having an affair with another woman – unnamed Korean female developer.
The story goes that the “girlfriend” of a particular member of the City Council has “disclosed” that it was none other than Mirthala Salinas herself who allegedly leaked news of the affair she was having with the Mayor. Salinas’ motivation? The Mayor had allegedly already moved on to a new relationship with an unnamed Korean female developer – and as they say “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” (One of our readers posted a similar claim.)
And apparently it was the rumored relationship with the developer – and not necessarily Salinas – that was the final straw for Corina Raigosa, prompting her to file for divorce.
Yesterday various political consultants apologized for Hizzoner and said he reamained politically viable for the California Governorship.
Flap doesn’t think so.
Mayor Villaraigosa is DONE – PUT A FORK IN HIM.
Mirthala Salinas, a Telemundo newswoman, interviews L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at the state Capitol on June 21, 2006. Villaraigosa has now acknowledged that he has “a relationship†with Salinas.
Related:
TV anchor put on leave while ethics studied
Previous:
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Mirthala Salinas Placed on Leave by Telemundo
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Still A Contender for California Governor in 2008?
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: The End of a Political Career
Technorati Tags: Antonio Villaraigosa, Mirthala Salinas, Telemundo Fabian Nunez
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Condoleezza Rice Watch: Condi for California Governor?
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice shake hands with students at the Peninsula Boys and Girls Club in Menlo Park, Calif., Thursday, May 24, 2007. Rice visited with students at the Center for a New Generation, an after school program, which she help start.
Flap says she is IN……..
Technorati Tags: Condoleezza Rice
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California Representative Elton Gallegly Watch: Retiring in 2008?
California State Senator Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks and California Representative Elton Gallegly – (R) CA 24th
Gallegly retiring?
Doubtful.
Though he reversed himself and committed to the 2006 campaign, Gallegly stated publicly that he would serve only one more term if elected. But shortly after his re-election that November, his staff said “retirement is not an option†in a comment to the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call that was picked up by many other publications.
Gallegly already has filed a statement of candidacy for the 2008 race with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and had a hefty $800,000 on hand in his House campaign account at the start of April, according to his most recent campaign finance report.
But, should he……the heir apparent is Tom McClintock.
Previous:
Tom McClintock Watch: McClintock for Congress?
Technorati Tags: TomMcClintock, EltonGallegly
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Rudy Giuliani Watch: California’s Model for 2008
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks at a press briefing about a security project which his security consulting company is undertaking Sunday Sept. 17, 2006 in Singapore. Giuliani Security & Safety LLC will serve as security planner and adviser in Casino company Eighth Wonder’s bid to build a casino resort on Singapore’s Sentosa island.
David Broder: California’s Model for The Middle
The likely victory of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in next month’s election could change the dynamics of California government and the way both national parties think about this mega-state.
Broder has it partly right.
He fails to mention the extreme leftward migration of California Democrats with the mega-influence of the public employee unions on the state budget.
And he fails to mention that most California Republicans will hold their nose and vote for Schwarzenegger because the alternative, Phil Angelides, is a far-left ideologue – a Gray Davis clone.
But, what does this all mean?
It means California will be in play for the GOP in the 2008 presidential race – the first time in 20 years. And the Democrats will have to defend the 55 electoral votes that have routinely shifted to the blue column.
Why?
Rudy Giuliani
Giuliani will be competitive no matter who the Democrats nominate. There are no other potential Democrat candidates that can match the stature and leadership qualities as the former New York Mayor.
Flap pictures Rudy as a GOP candidate in the mold of Pete Wilson and we all know how successful Wilson was.
When the GOP nominates Giuliani, unless there is a major GAFF, the Fat Lady has sung for the 2008 election. No one will beat him.
Stay tuned……
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (C) speaks at a news conference as he is joined by California’s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (L) and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca (R) in Santa Monica, California, August 17, 2006, urging California voters to support Proposition 83, Jessica�s Law on the November 2006 ballot. Proposition 83 calls for electronically monitoring sex offenders for life via a GPS system as well as allowing prosecutors to charge criminals who posses child pornography with a felony.
Previous:
Rudy Giuliani Watch: No Blame Game for 9/11 – Defends Clinton and Bush
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani Leads Iowa Poll
California Election 2006 Watch: Schwarzenegger Hears Rumbles From the RIGHT?
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Can Rudy Win the Southern GOP?
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Latest Poll – Rudy Beats Hillary in New York
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Giuliani Leads in Gallup Poll
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Wildcard in 2008?
Rudy Giuliani Watch: On the GOP Fundraising Road
President 2008 Watch: Rudy Giuliani IS Running
Rudy Giuliani Watch: America’s Mayor Leading in Gallup 2008 Presidential Poll
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Fox News Poll Rudy Beats Hillary
Technorati Tags: RudyGiuliani, ArnoldSchwarzenegger
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Senator George Allen Watch: Allen Apologizes for Offensive Remarks – FLAP
AP: Sen. Allen’s remarks spark controversy
Sen. George Allen (news, bio, voting record) apologized Tuesday for remarks that offended a man of Indian descent who was tracking the Republican’s re-election campaign for Democratic challenger Jim Webb.
S.R. Sidarth said he felt Allen was singling him out because of his race when the senator called him “Macaca” during a GOP rally Friday at Breaks, Va., near the Kentucky border.
“In no way was it meant to demean him, and I’m sorry if he was offended,” Allen said in a telephone interview.
Allen, who is positioning himself for a possible run for president in 2008, said the name was “just made up” and that he had no idea that macaca is a genus of monkeys including macaques. The name also could be spelled Makaka, which is a city in South Africa.
Webb’s campaign distributed to reporters a video clip of Allen’s remarks about Sidarth, a 20-year-old University of Virginia senior who spent last week videotaping Allen’s “listening tour” for the Webb campaign.
The video is here and the reader can formulate their own opinions:
The Flap is concerning Senator George Allen’s character and certainly the intemperate if not offensive remarks made about an Indian-American. The manner in which Allen conducts himself in full campaign mode and under stress is not conducive to a favorable opinion by anyone.
Does Flap think that Allen used a racial epithet?
NOPE
Was Senator Allen racially incorrect, stereotypical and condescending in his manner?
YOU BETCHA – much like Senator Joe Biden, also a prospective Presidential candidate, who Flap reported on here.
Were his explanations/excuses lame and un-redeeming?
YES
Will this Flap derail Allen’s re-election to the United States Senate?
Probably NOT
Will Senator Allen ever be a Presidential or Vice Presidential nominee of the GOP?
VERY DOUBTFUL – who wants a hot-head and someone who wilts under pressure to be the leader of the “Free World?”
Captain Ed agrees with Flap
Regardless of the motivation, one has to ask a couple of embarrassing questions about Allen and his fitness for higher office. First, anyone who uses a demeaning nickname to an attendee during a stump appearance probably has some judgement issues. It doesn’t exactly give one warm fuzzies about the candidate’s ability to think on his feet. The same can be said about using words one doesn’t understand, doing so in very public settings, and then doing it repeatedly. That’s the mark of an intellectual lightweight.
And speaking of intellectual gravitas, Allen should have just apologized and then shut up. That explanation only makes him look worse. Mullets, mohawks, and macacas, oh my!
I’m terribly disappointed in Allen. I don’t think it’s enough to kill his political career, and it’s no reason to stop supporting him for the Senate. However, I do think that we need someone with a little more on the ball for the GOP ticket in 2008, and unless the macaca really hits the fan, Allen should focus on keeping his Senate seat.
Stay tuned for more Macaca to hit the fan……
Technorati Tags: GeorgeAllen, JimWebb
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California Primary Election 2006 Watch: California Conservative Hosts Open Posts
California Conservative Blog, a fine member of the Bear Flag League is hosting an open post and trackback fest featuring tomorrow’s California Primary Election.
Flap knows you will be glad you did.
Technorati Tags: California, California PrimaryElection2006
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Elton Gallegly Watch: Will Not Seek Re-election or Will he?
Ventura County Star: Gallegly says he won’t run again
Rep. Elton Gallegly, the Simi Valley Republican who parlayed a successful real estate career into a 20-year stint in Congress and became one of the nation’s most ardent conservative voices on illegal immigration, announced Friday that he will not seek re-election this fall.Gallegly said he was bowing out because of a potential medical condition. He declined to elaborate.
The Congressman’s Press Release is here.
But, will he be forced to run anyway?
Probably.
He will NOT be able to take his name off of the ballot and Gallegly is too much of a politician to throw this SAFE Republican seat to the wind.
Look for Gallegly to run in the June primary and again in November unless health concerns force a resignation.
The most likely scenario:
Gallegly runs for re-election, wins and then resigns allowing the next California Governor to call for a special election.
It is a shame that Elton’s distinguished Congressional career comes to an end in this fashion. However, nothing comes before your own health.
And the Stricklands…….does crass political opportunism come to mind?
Technorati Tags: EltonGallegly, Congress, Election2006, CaliforniaEelction2006, TonyStrickland, AudraStrickland
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Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Reaction to Governor’s Speech – NEGATIVE
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger gives his ‘state of the state’ address in Sacramento, California, January 5, 2006. A year after picking a bitter fight with legislators that he ended up losing at the polls, Schwarzenegger unveiled a massive 10-year spending plan on Thursday aimed at winning back Californian support ahead of his November re-election effort.
San Francisco Chronicle: BOLD AGENDA FOR STATE
BIGGEST BUILDING PLAN SINCE ’60S: Some lawmakers are skeptical Schwarzenegger can pull it offGov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ambitious 10-year plan to invest an additional $222 billion in California’s aging transportation system and other public works is the first major commitment by a governor to rebuild the state since the 1960s.
During that decade, primarily under the administration of Democrat Edmund G. “Pat” Brown, California created university campuses, the state water project and a network of highways that helped fuel the state’s economic growth.
“This state was built on those big water projects and highway projects. Since then we haven’t done anything on a scale like this,” said Dennis Oliver, a spokesman for the California Alliance for Jobs, an Emeryville organization that represents highway construction companies and unions and has backed increased public works spending for more than a decade.
Over the next five election cycles, beginning next June, Schwarzenegger wants to parcel out bonds for highways, transit systems, flood control projects, port improvements, jails, courts, levees, and construction and modernization of public schools and universities.
Lawmakers reacted with caution to such an overwhelming proposal.
The reaction to Governor Schwarzenegger’s is NEGATIVE. Some will wait for the budgetary details next week but………
Dan Walters: Schwarzenegger may be putting himself into a political pitfallClearly, however, it was ginned up as a vehicle to restore Schwarzenegger’s popularity. He is, in effect, putting his political eggs into a single basket, hoping that he can move the “strategic growth plan” through a Legislature dominated by those who really want him to fail and then persuade skeptical voters to accept the massive debt that it involves.
John Fund of the Wall Street Journal
It is striking to watch a governor who called for ‘blowing up bureaucratic boxes’ a year ago now say that the answer to the state’s problems is to “build it” and the solution will come. The governor’s new tack may indeed get him through the 2006 election but the contrast with last year’s State of the State speech is so dramatic that the Los Angeles Times was moved to note that “a central question (of the coming campaing) is apt to be whether Schwarzenegger is motivated more by core beliefs or a quest for personal success.†The early evidence isn’t encouraging.
“I applaud his grand vision,” said Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco. “But sometimes too much is less valuable than focusing on a few doable issues.”
“He talked about putting out a framework for the next 20 years,” said Assembly GOP leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield. “Now the whole debate will be, what reforms can there be so that the money gets used efficiently, and then how do we pay for it?”
Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata and other lawmakers expressed skepticism at putting many bond measures on ballots for several election cycles.
“It’s impossible to grasp,” the Oakland Democrat said. “People are so skeptical — if you don’t tell them specifics, they don’t believe it. They have earned the skepticism about our ability to improve things. I would much prefer to put something reasonable on the table that they believe in that outlines what they are interested in.”
Mark Williams of KFBK (1530 in Sacramento) called the Governor a liar, someone who can’t be trusted–that he wasted the last two years and was going to waste this year.
John Ziegler of KFI (640 in Los Angeles) called it a “surrender speech” and that the Governor sounded like a Democrat, not a Republican.
Inga Barks of KMJ (580 in Fresno) wanted Senator McClintock to run instead of Schwarzenegger, saying this is not the guy we supported in the Recall–that he sounded more like Gray Davis.
Steve Frank of the California Political News and Views
This much I know and believe, that while the Governor was correct in his vision and needs for the future, the financing is no where near complete. To be complete it must also include the enforcement of immigration laws along with the needed changes in pension funding–otherwise this will be a vision without a possibility. And time is running short. With the explosion in the costs of illegal immigration and the crisis in government pension plans, a complete re-financing of the State, not just the infrastructure, is needed now. Hopefully, the budget will provide the answers next week.
Orange County Register: What was he thinking?EDITORIAL: Gov. Schwarzenegger wants to spend more – but where will the money come from?
But with state bond debt already stretching a prudent limit and the state still stuck in a rut of a $4 billion yearly structural deficit, how can the state sustain so much more spending and maintain fiscal discipline?
He noted that this is the state of the California Dream. Yes, but which one?
Developing as budgetary details details are released………
Previous:
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: California 2006 State of the State
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Toll Roads in California’s Future?Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Infrastructure Bond Trial Balloon – $25-27 Billion
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Governor Expected to Propose College Fee Freeze
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: California Infrastructure Bond Will NOT Include Tax Increases
California Taxes Watch: Builders and Politicians Pushing Bond PackageArnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Here Come the Tax Increases
Technorati Tags: ArnoldSchwarzenegger, CaliforniaElection2006, California, AllianceforJobs, Californiabondissue, CaliforniaTollRoads, GrayDavis
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Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Hometown Terminates Schwarzenegger from Web Sites
The stadium at Graz, Austria, on Monday Dec, 26, 2005, after the name of California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was removed from the stadium overnight. Officials in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s hometown Graz, removed his name from the soccer stadium overnight, complying with the California governor’s demand in a bitter dispute over his death penalty stance. Schwarzenegger had written to the mayor of Graz a week ago, asking that his name be removed after local activists called for the stadium to be renamed because of Schwarzenegger’s refusal to block the execution of convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams in California.
The ASSociated Press has Schwarzenegger Deleted From Web Sites
The Terminator has been terminated in his hometown. On Tuesday, a day after officials in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Austrian birthplace of Graz removed his name from a soccer stadium to comply with the California governor’s wishes, they deleted references to him on the city’s Web sites. Schwarzenegger earlier this month wrote to Graz officials asking for his name to be removed from the stadium and ordering the city to stop using it for promotional purposes.
He was reacting to fierce criticism from opponents in his hometown who denounced him for refusing to block the Dec. 13 execution in California of Stanley Tookie Williams.
Late Sunday or early Monday, Graz officials took down the large metal letters spelling out Schwarzenegger’s name on the 15,300-seat arena. On Tuesday, the mayor’s office said references to the actor-turned- politician were scrubbed from Graz’s main Web site and from a sister site devoted to the region’s sports scene.
“It’s all settled,” Thomas Rajakovics, a spokesman for Graz Mayor Siegfried Nagl, told Austrian media.
Although special folders and presentations devoted to Schwarzenegger were expunged from Graz’s official site, http://www.graz.at , the site still carried a news account of the renaming of the stadium, which had borne the governor’s name since 1997.
Graz officials are as immature as the Governor.
Good Grief!
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Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Graz Removes Schwarzenegger’s Name from StadiumStanley “Tookie†Williams Executed: The Austrian Retribution – The Response
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Executed: Goodbye to a “Homeboyâ€
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Executed: The Austrian Retribution
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Executed: The Funeral
The Execution of Stanley Tookie Williams: Tookie Saves Lives?Technorati Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Stanley Tookie Williams, Crips