Jimmy Camp sent an email out over the weekend: He's found himself a job.
The punk rock Republican, a regular fixture in Orange County politics, has been appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as the new deputy director of communications for the Dept. of Fish and Game. Pay is $91,128 a year, which should supplement his music career nicely.
Camp, 42, was the political director for Bill Simon for governor and the California Republican Party, and a consultant for newly elected O.C. supervisor Janet Nguyen. And he recently released a new CD recorded solely on an iPod. Camp's folk-rock album includes "White Trash Weekend" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Hate," which has these lyrics: "Well there's lots of Jews and Mexicans.
You got Japanese and lesbians,
people rolling around without no legs.
"There's candidates who won't shut up,
rich girls that drink from silver cups,
people with 12 items in a line that's meant for nine.
"Well, there's hippies smokin' pot all day,
children gettin' in the way,
somebody on my telephone.
Well, he's got a deal for me."
In his email to friends, Camp said Fish and Game "is a perfect fit for me. ... Could you imagine me working for the
Department of Corporations or the Department of Health and Human Services? Me
neither. Although I expect that I may need to buy at least one suit. However, I
did tell the Governors Communications Director that I would only take the
appointment if I were able to wear a 'Smokey the Bear' hat. He said 'no problem.' "
 I'm sorry I missed the spring convention of the United Republicans of California at the Embassy Suites in Arcadia. The $45 registration fee and a complete ignorance that the United Republicans of California even existed kept me away, unfortunately. My bad.
A featured convention speaker Saturday was Dr. Stanley Monteith, who is currently selling water filtration systems, home-schooling CDs, Miracle II soap and "Bible Bars" on his Radio Liberty website.
"The Bible Bar is a complete, wholesome food jam packed with nutritional and spiritual goodness. It is based on the seven foods from the Book of Deuteronomy 8:8 'A land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey.' The Bible Bar is a great way to control hunger pangs while still providing your body with the highest level of biblical nutrition. Case of 18 for $32.95, plus shipping. (priority mail $8.00--UPS call for quote)"
Created in 1963 to support Barry Goldwater over "liberal" Nelson Rockefeller, the United Republicans believe "God is the source of the rights and freedoms of the individual," and that "the threat of the evil of Communism must be met and overcome by a determination to achieve victory for the free way of life." Score one for the United Republicans of California (except in North Korea, Cuba and north Berkeley.)
This week, the group announced it was supporting Dr. Ron Paul for president. "The unanimous endorsement from the United Republicans of California proves what the campaign has been saying all along," said Paul's campaign chairman, Kent Snyder. "Ron Paul is the only true conservative and real Republican in the race."
The "gala" fundraiser for the California Republican Party last night in Beverly Hills was absent one important guest: the chairman of the California Republican Party.
The event featuring Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was organized to help the GOP retire some of its $4.5 million in debt from the 2006 election. The Republican governor agreed to host two fundraisers for the financially struggling party, but the first one in Sacramento was canceled two weeks ago for lack of interest. The Beverly Hilton event, according to one Republican source, was pared down as well.
The new state chairman, Ron Nehring, was in Germany visiting relatives for his birthday. He just turned 37. And he is attending the St. Gallen Symposium in Switzerland, which is a sort of mini Davos conference from May 31 to June 2 that promotes the "interfaces between business, politics and society," according to the group.
That means he'll also miss the next California GOP fundraiser, in Napa.
The St. Gallen forum is chaired by Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach, who also is a vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International, and this year features multiple seminars on energy, water and the exploitation of natural resources. Judging from some of the panel participants, they are for it. Seyed Mohammad Khatami, the former president of Iran (pictured), is a featured speaker, along with various business and political leaders, and oil and steel barons. International buffet at 8 p.m.
Nehring said he was using a ticket purchased with frequent-flyer mileage that was difficult to change.
"Today is my birthday (37th) and I travel each May in conjunction with my birthday, and visiting with family overseas," Nehring said in an email. "This trip is part vacation, visiting with family in Germany, and part participating in the St. Gallen Symposium in St. Gallen, Switzerland next week, as I have every year since 2003."
(Photo: Franco Origlia/Getty Images)
Republican Assemblyman Paul "Nice Guy" Cook of Yucaipa suffered with the Capitol's smallest office for several months with a sense of humor. His domain was a drab 391 square-foot, two-room suite on the fifth floor. According to the Speaker's office, Cook was assigned the "doghouse" office at the beginning of the session by Republican leader Mike Villines, who had supported Cook's opponent in the primary.
It was only a matter of time before Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez rearranged the pecking order himself by moving Cook out and cramming Republican Assemblyman Todd Spitzer of Orange County into the doghouse office. Spitzer's cocky and impolitic comments about Democrats, and his subsequent punishment by Nunez, offer another compelling example of why a top aide in the Senate refers to the Assembly as "the trailer park next door."
Spitzer likes to mouth off. His language is not precise. He's frequently not interested in nuances.
Spitzer (pictured with Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian) recently took a prison tour near Sacramento and
emerged to say: "I personally want people to be scared, because that's
going to motivate people to act." After Los Angeles lost its bid for the Olympics, he said: "And let me pause on that
for a moment to say, it wasn't because Los Angeles didn't deserve to
host the Olympics. ... Los Angeles isn't safe." He said a San Francisco assemblyman was "pro-criminal." And he's said liberals are soft on crime because they want sentencing reform.
"Democrats have a consistent record of killing substantive bills in the Public Safety Committee, putting the rights of career criminals over those of law-abiding citizens, especially children. Bills attempting to deny conjugal visits to inmates who have committed 
violent felonies, deny early release credits to inmates who have committed a violent sex offense, and to make the use of hard drugs in the presence of a child classified as felony child abuse all stalled in committee due to Democrat opposition by the same members who have opposed Jessica's Law."
This time, there is less humor about getting assigned to the doghouse. Villines' spokesman, Morgan Crinklaw, said about Nunez's action: "This petty bullying by the Democratic leadership is not going to stop him from continuing to stand up for California families and crime victims." Hector Barajas with the state GOP said called it a "childish stunt."
Steve Maviglio, a deputy chief of staff and spokesman for Nunez, noted that Spitzer was recently given the chairmanship of a prison reform panel. And, he said, Spitzer now has a nice view of Capitol park.
When do we get to vote on the term limits initiative?
(Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP)
A major fund-raiser planned with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last night to raise money for the debt-ridden California Republican Party was canceled because it failed to generate enough interest, sources told Political Muscle. The official line from the state GOP is that Wednesday's fund-raiser in Sacramento was "consolidated" with another event planned for May 22 in Los Angeles.
The cancellation comes as the California Republican Party is making a significant internal shift with a new top staff and a new focus.
Chairman Ron Nehring of San Diego is considered more conservative than former chairman Duf Sundheim, who worked closely with Schwarzenegger for three years. Nehring has hired a new chief operating officer and is working to pull the state GOP out of a $4.5 million campaign debt.
To put it mildly, the ideological gulf between Schwarzenegger and the California GOP leadership is wider than ever. Schwarzenegger, who was the keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention in 2004, has since courted deals with Democrats and openly declared he doesn't care about complaints from his GOP "base."
Rank-and-file members also have grumbled that Schwarzenegger did little to help conservative candidates such as Sen. Tom McClintock. In addition, the state party was asked to pay a friend and aide to Schwarzenegger, Walter von Huene, more than $100,000 in consulting fees, even though there was little evidence he was doing work for the party.
Because the Republican Party helped Schwarzenegger so much in last year's reelection campaign, the governor promised he would be the star attraction at GOP fund-raisers this year.
Meanwhile, he has been busy raising money for himself. The San Jose Mercury News reported recently that "since January, Schwarzenegger has pulled in $3.5 million in three different political committees — an average of $700,000 a month in this non-election year. Additionally, more than 100 private donors — including AT&T to Chevron and Oracle — paid $2.7 million total into a non-profit that paid for the governor's two-day inaugural soiree."
California GOP spokesman Hector Barajas said Schwarzenegger is still scheduled for the May 22 California Governor's Gala in Los Angeles. Another GOP fund-raiser, without Schwarzenegger, is scheduled for Napa on June 1 and 2. The event, hosted by Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines and Senate GOP leader Dick Ackerman, costs $7,500 for a day trip and $10,000 for an overnight at the posh Silverado Resort.
(Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Howard Fineman at Newsweek saw something in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's body language during the recent GOP presidential debate at the Reagan Library. Although Schwarzenegger cannot run for president, the California governor could be a leading actor in a new "independent for president" movement. Fineman writes:
"As California governor, Schwarzenegger has
prospered in the role of centrist, hybrid 'Repubocrat' — an independent
force. As he watched the ten GOP presidential candidates take turns
bowing to the GOP's conservative base, the Governator bore the fixed
smile of a man who had a desire to be elsewhere.
"If
I were a GOP strategist — or a Democratic one — I would be worried by
Arnold's body language. He and other major independent actors on the
political scene — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Vice
President Al Gore, chief among them — comprise a Third Force that could
upset two-party politics as we know it in the 2008 presidential race."
Fineman says that Schwarzenegger, Bloomberg and
Gore "have formed a mutual admiration society that has huge potential
implications for 2008. They have come to share similar visions on the
urgency of the global warming and health care crises, and a similar
impatience with politics as usual."
Schwarzenegger has said repeatedly that he remains a loyal Republican, despite obvious splits with the core of the conservative California Republican Party. I don't see him as the next Ross Perot spoiler - or, rather, as someone who would have to stand on the sidelines supporting an independent for president. It's an intriguing proposition, but MotherJones says the Schwarzenegger-Bloomberg-Gore theory should be taken with a grain of salt.
(Photo: Mark J. Terrill/AP)
"Gil was straight up. He was on
of my mentors. We didn't agree on everything – he was frustrated with
what he called 'the machine' (of the local GOP). I'm not sure I agree
with that conspiracy theory. … (But he) wasn't afraid to take on the
establishment and that endeared him to a lot of people." Orange County supervisor John Moorlach on the death of former Republican Assemblyman Gil Ferguson.
Ferguson served in the Assembly from 1984 to 1994, and started an O.C. tradition - People Over Politics, which sponsored conservative speakers and eventually turned into a monthly breakfast club. Ferguson was 84, and suffered from leukemia. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered the Capitol flag lowered to half staff.
 The Sacramento News & Review says California Rep. John Doolittle's career is over, no matter what happens with the FBI's investigation into wife Julie Doolittle's fund-raising business and its connections to jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff. In a particularly harsh assessment of the embattled Republican, the newspapers says:
"Whatever the ultimate outcome of the U.S. Department of Justice's ongoing investigation ... it's been going on for three years now--clearly his political career is over. Even if he and his wife unexpectedly locate some loophole to avoid indictment or imprisonment for the two corruption cases in which their fund-raising activities are inextricably entangled, the Doolittles' unsavory skimming of campaign contributions and personally pocketing more than a quarter-million dollars have forever finished off their reputations among their own conservative kith and kin."
Ouch. The article also includes a mockopoly game to track the various demi-scandals and intrigue surrounding Doolittle. The congressman, meanwhile, maintains he intends to run for reelection next year, with the caveat that the FBI shadow may change his mind. As for the search of his Virginia home, Doolittle has said: "While I do not think the search of our home was necessary, I do believe it will demonstrate that she has been completely forthcoming and has had real clients with real work."
Hollywood cash isn't just for Democrats. The Associated Press looked at the entertainment industry's donations to Republican presidential candidates, who are arriving in California this week for a debate at the Reagan Library. Rudy Giuliani has the highest-profile donors:
"Adam Sandler, who shares a love of the New York Yankees with Giuliani and
tapped him for a cameo in his 2003 movie 'Anger Management,' contributed $2,100. 'Frasier' star Kelsey Grammer and his wife donated $6,900.
Mark Vahradian, who produced 'Annapolis' for Paramount, gave $2,100.
Writer- producer Lionel Chetwynd, an Oscar nominee for co-writing 1974's 'The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz,' gave more than $4,200. Brad Grey,
who helped the mayor negotiate a book deal, kicked in $4,200 to
Giuliani's campaign. Grey, the former executive producer of a Giuliani
favorite - the acclaimed HBO mob drama, 'The Sopranos,' also
contributed to Clinton and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn."
U.S. Sen. John McCain scored mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer and "Saturday Night Live" creator Lorne Michaels. "Romney had only a single donor in the
first-quarter report listed as an actor, Tamara Gustavson, though he
collected money from producers and writers," the AP reports.
The Simi Valley debate tomorrow is allowing the major Republican candidates to hold fundraisers to scoop up more California cash. McCain has a reception in Beverly Hills today, while Giuliani has events in L.A. and Orange County. Romney held a fundraiser last night in Sacramento, and is planning an appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" tonight.
(Photo:
Kevork Djansezian/AP; Matthew Peyton/Getty Images)
In 2000, then-Secretary of State Bill Jones did something surprising for such a seemingly mild-mannered politician from Fresno. In the middle of a tough Republican primary battle, Jones yanked his support from Texas Gov. George W. Bush and switched to U.S. Sen. John McCain.
Jones, a former Assemblyman who lately has been running an ethanol business, was the highest-ranking Republican in California at the time. The defection embarrassed Bush loyalists who saw the switch as a betrayal - but Jones said McCain was "clearly the Republican Party's best hope for
attracting new voters and winning back the White House this
November."
Bush spokeswoman Margita Thompson, who later worked for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, dismissed the 2000 switch was
insignificant. "Californians are going to respond to Governor Bush's message," she
said. "I don't think this is going to be that significant."
Seven years later, look where Bush is now. Nowhere! And McCain is running for president again - with Jones as his California chairman, the campaign announced today. "He and I share a belief in the need for renewed
leadership in America and I look forward to the discussion with Californians
about what our country can be capable of in the future," McCain said in a statement.
Jones, according to the campaign, "will take the lead on Sen. McCain's political outreach and
use his years of statewide experience on major issues to help advise a
successful statewide effort."
(Photo:
Charlie Neibergall/AP)
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Jimmy Camp sent an email out over the weekend: He's found himself a job.
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