U.S. Politics

California Assembly Passes Immigrant-Friendly TRUST Act; OC's Dem Assemblymembers Join GOP in Not Voting for It

The Trust Act made its way once more through the California Assembly yesterday by a final vote of 44-22. The legislation was vetoed late last year when it reached the desk of Democratic Governor Jerry Brown. Supporters say the bill authored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano will limit deportations fueled b ... More >>

John Boehner, House Speaker, to Give Irvine's Great Park Ballon a Run for the Orangey

On April 4, the orangest thing in Irvine will not be the Orange County Great Park balloon.It will be a certain speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.[INSERT BOTH FILLED WITH HOT AIR JOKE HERE.]

Gabrielle Jane Nestande Trial's Jury Selection Draws Once-Politically Powerful Dad Bruce

For the first time in 16 months, a powerful former Orange County supervisor watched his daughter in court.But Bruce Nestande was not in the Austin, Texas, courtroom to see his 25-year-old daughter try her first case. Gabrielle Jane Nestande is accused of drinking after being honored for her work wit ... More >>

OC-based Tea Party: Impeach Obama Over Gun Control Executive Orders ... or Benghazi

Before President Barack Obama just announced 23 executive orders he will issue and a $500 million package and changes in law he will seek from Congress in the wake of the mass shooting in Connecticut that killed 20 elementary schoolchildren, the Laguna Woods-based California Tea Party called for hi ... More >>

OC GOP's Apocalypse Now

The party's over for Republicans in Orange County and California

Tony Rackauckas Is a Robo Cop

[Moxley Confidential] DA's election-eve robocall for Irvine Democrat Larry Agran angers Orange County Republicans

[UPDATED with Occupy vs. Tea Party results] Mitt Romney Cruising into Newport Beach For Friday Fundraiser!

Both Occupy and pro-Ron Paul protesters were on hand outside of the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach for a Mitt Romney fundraiser. Members of Occupy Orange County organized a Billionaires for Mitt Romney demonstration, encouraging participants to dress up and act like the 1%, as Occupy protesters ha ... More >>

Mitt Romney Cruising into Newport Beach For Friday Fundraiser!

Watch out 99%, a notorious 1 percenter is coming into town...again.  Mitt Romney is scheduled to appear at a fundraiser at the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach on Friday night, less than three months since his last Orange County fundraiser. According to the Daily Pilot, the Republic ... More >>

Fred Karger Presidential Campaign Set For Saturday Walk in Laguna Beach

A reporter calls a Republican presidential campaign this afternoon hoping to speak to the candidate, but is given an excuse:The candidate is working out at the gym.Yeah, right.Think: Newt Gingrich or Herman Cain.But, bless their sweet souls, the Fred Karger for President campaign, specifically the e ... More >>

Rick Santorum's Catchy Campaign Song 'Game On' Reminds Us of Prussian Blue

​ Yeah, yeah, so Mitt Romney was the big (or not-so-big) winner of Super Tuesday, but Rick Santorum didn't do too bad; he at least made off with an uber-catchy pop jingle written by two home-schooled teenagers, Camille and Haley Harris (aka First Love), called "Game On." By the way they're cheeri ... More >>

Fred Karger Makes Home State's GOP Ballot

​Many California gays (and non-gays) celebrated this week's federal appellate court ruling upholding a district court decision that found Prop. 8 violates the U.S. Constitution.Those waving rainbow-colored flags have another reason to celebrate: a gay man made the presidential ballot in California ... More >>

PETA Loses Whale of a Slave Suit But Still Crows

​A federal judge Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) that argued five orcas should be freed from SeaWorld under the anti-slavery 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.Judge Jeffrey Miller of the U.S. District Court in San Diego reasoned in ... More >>

Rick Santorum, Hot Off Victory, Laps Up Praise From Santa Ana Religious Freedom Nonprofit

​Last night, Rick Santorum trumpeted his solid GOP presidential primary defeats of Mitt Romney in Minnesota and Missouri and narrow win over the former Massachusetts governor in Colorado.This morning, a Santa Ana-based nonprofit boasted that the former Pennsylvania senator was the first--and so ... More >>

'Anonymous' Hack Emails of American Third Position Party, Show Proof of Meetings and Calls Between Neo-Nazi Group and Ron Paul

​The Orange County-based white supremacist American Third Position Party finds itself in the headlines again as Anonymous defaced its website yesterday, with the flag of the Soviet Union serving as backdrop with superimposed images of the seal of the amorphous hackers and a rainbow-maned pony! The ... More >>

[UPDATED with Ex-Veep's "Arrest":] Dick Cheney Greeted by Protesters at Nixon Library

​UPDATE, SEPT. 8, 9:56 A.M.: As Dick Cheney was lauding his profound role in Bush administration wars on terror, the Geneva Convention and the U.S. Constitution before a polite Nixon Library crowd Wednesday evening, he was "arrested."Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans rose from her chair in the East ... More >>

Backers of Mandatory Helmets for Kids on Ski Slopes Think Gov. Brown Has Rocks in His Head

​Governor Jerry Brown has vetoed legislation that would have required skiers and snowboarders under 18 to wear protective helmets.State Sen. Leland Yee, a San Francisco Democrat and child psychologist, authored SB 105, which had received bi-partisan support in the state legislature.

Jerry Brown Criticized For Not Going Latino With California Supreme Court Pick

Goodwin Liu​​​Today, Gov. Jerry Brown nominated UC Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu to the California Supreme Court. Shortly after, Assemblyman Tony Mendoza, whose district includes Buena Park, issued a statement about the pick. In it, he congratulates Liu, yada yada, and then tak ... More >>

[UPDATED with Register Tongue Bath:] Rick Perry, Texas Governor and GOP Presidential Possible, Shakes the Newport Beach Money Tree

​UPDATE, JULY 1, 8:11 P.M.: The Orange County Register Editorial Board loves them some Texas Gov. Rick Perry.After the Republican met in Newport Beach's Pacific Club with big GOP donors and the likes of Orange County GOP Chairman Scott Baugh, Flash Report publisher Jon Fleischman, OC GOP Chairman ... More >>

Will Gov. Brown Kill Garden Grove's Fantasy Hotel Resort Project?

​For Garden Grove city officials, who've been trying for years to transform their benighted Harbor Blvd. corridor into a world class resort destination, the good news is that Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the state budget last week. If it had passed, the budget would have killed local redevelopment agen ... More >>

[UPDATED with Promotion for Liar:] Deanna Fogarty-Hardwick Wins Supreme Court Ruling Against County Taking Her Daughters

​UPDATE, APRIL 26, 11:52 A.M.: You might assume--wrongly, it turns out--that lying to a juvenile court commissioner so a woman's two daughters would be taken away from her for years would cost two County of Orange social workers their jobs. Even if you didn't believe those workers lied after the f ... More >>

Fair Games Over the OC Fairgrounds

The huge swath of public land is in play. But is the whole thing rigged?

[UPDATED] Irvine 11 Charged With Misdemeanors, Face Jail, Probation, Community Service if Convicted

​UPDATED, FEB. 28, 8:33 A.M.: The Islamic Institute of Orange County hosts "Stand With the Irvine 11: Community Town Hall and Action" at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the IIOC Multipurpose Room, 1220 N. State College Blvd., Irvine.The event flier follows after the jump. (Also, scroll down a couple posts i ... More >>

Steven Greenhut Left The Orange County Register for Sacramento, But His Poison Pen Still Stings Jim Silva

​The Orange County Register's longtime columnist and senior editor Steven Greenhut left the Santa Ana daily in 2009 to open a Sacramento news bureau for the Pacific Research Institute, a free-market, individual liberty think tank based in San Francisco. But it's obvious he misses Orange County, o ... More >>

Long Beach Says Goodbye to Annual Celebrity-Studded Women's Conference

​The annual, superstar-studded women's conference that brought speakers like Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Diane Sawyer, Sandra Day O'Connor, Sarah McLachlan and Suze Orman to Long Beach, along with major tourism dollars, will not be back to the city this year.    It is uncerta ... More >>

Scott Baugh: The Manchurian Party Chairman?

[Moxley Confidential] Are Republican insiders mad enough at Baugh to vote in an outsider to replace him?

Fantasy Voter Fraud

Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was dissed by Russell Pearce over Arizona's Prop. 200 dismissal

Meg Whitman, Chuck DeVore's Choice for Governor, is Now a "Self-Funded Dilettante"

​Chuck DeVore, who is leaving his Irvine-based state Assembly seat for private life after losing the U.S. Senate GOP primary to eventual general election loser Carly Fiorina, posted this on his Facebook page Oct. 4:"If we are to win and provide an opportunity to enact our ideas, we need to vote fo ... More >>

Long Beach's State Senator Jenny Oropeza Passes Away at 53

​State Senator Jenny Oropeza, who championed public health legislation and was expected to easily win reelection next month, died Wednesday night of complications from a blood clot. She was 53.The Democratic lawmaker represented Long Beach, first in the state Assembly and later in the state Senate ... More >>

$100 Million Orange County Fairgrounds Sale OK'd by State, But Fight is Just Beginning

​The state is moving forward with plans to the sell the Orange County Fairgrounds to Facilities Management West, a Newport Beach-based company formed solely to operate the 150-acre property, for $100 million, officials disclosed today.To say the sale, which is aimed at easing California's budget w ... More >>

Racist OC Register Reader Fustercluck of the Day

​Headline: First Mr. Gay Orange County CrownedComment by TAKEITNOMORE: Keep pushing your Gay agenda, All you do is Pi$$ NORMAL people OFF. That's Right I said NORMAL.! No I'm not a "homophobe" I don't FEAR you, I just think your perverted!Comment by DREWSKI: I am assuming they are not Tea Party me ... More >>

White House Dribbles Out Obama's Iraq Speech Tonight, Anti-War ANSWER Coalition Answers

​The Washington Post is reporting that in his speech tonight to announce the end of major combat operations in Iraq, President Barack Obama will say it is time to "turn the page." "Ending this war is not only in Iraq's interest-it is in our own. The United States has paid a huge price to put t ... More >>

Today's Best Quote

Goodbye guv​"He calls himself the green governor and I would agree with that. He's molding."--Irvine insurance broker Ira Forkish in today's Washington Post article, "Arnold Schwarzenegger on the outs in California's Republican Party." Among other points, Sandhya Somashekhar's story notes that Sch ... More >>

Mi Casa Es Mi Casa

How Fullerton resident Alex Bernal's 1943 battle against housing discrimination helped change the course of American civil rights

Tea Party On!

The county's GOP central committee is in hot water with the tea party movement

Tea Bagging With a Marine. This Could Get Ugly

Facebook/ArmedForcesTeaParty​Gary Stein, a 24-year-old active duty Marine Corps sergeant based at Camp Pendeton, created his own Tea Party group, then announced its arrival on the national Tea Party scene in a press release.Two days later, some of his "brothers" are calling for a court martial.

Meg Whitman: Spend It If You've Got It

Photo by Christopher VictorioMeg Whitman campaigns in Buena Park.​Money is not an issue for Meg Whitman as she seeks the governor's office. She has vowed to spend $150 million of her own money, if that is what it takes to win. With seven months until election day, she's well on her way.Chase Davis ... More >>

The Party's Over

State GOP chairman Ron Nehring: "Lease, don't buy..." The state GOP's "Victory Night Party" (hah!) was over before it started. Driving over to the Hyatt Regency Irvine to make the 8:30 p.m. start time, I was talking on my Bluetooth to my brother in San Francisco when he informed me John McCain was ... More >>

Obama Wins Presidential Election Thanks to Baby Hewie!

The New York Observer is reporting that Orange County conservative yackmouth Hugh Hewitt unsuccessfully tried to sell a book proposal involving Republican presidential candidate Sarah Palin. We'd usually laugh at any Baby Hewie gaffe--the proposed title was How Sarah Palin Won the Election ... and S ... More >>

Survey Says...Not Much

We recently heard from a reader in Santa Ana who received a copy of the "Republican Party Census Document," along with an introductory letter from the RNC stating that "your answers will represent the views and opinions of ALL Republican voters living in your voting district...Unless we hear from YO ... More >>

CA GOP Sure Knows How to Pick OCers

The Republican Party of Orange County's Weekly Squeeze e-letter (guys: drop the cutesy orange metaphor, por favor) tells me today that longtime local GOP activist Kathy Tavoularis is now Executive Director of the California Delegation to the 2008 Republican National Convention. "A well organized del ... More >>

Ackerman Wins

At the end of last week, it appeared that OC's Dick Ackerman was about to lose his position as Minority Leader in the State Senate. He stood accused by many of his fellow Republicans of being too ready to cut deals with Governor Schwarzenegger and too pro-infrastructure bonds. Sure, voters had alr ... More >>

Dumping Ackerman

There's tension inside the world's smallest big tent. Following the lead of their fellow Republicans in the Assembly-- who bounced alleged Schwarzenegger-appeaser George Plescia out of his position as leader of the Assembly's GOP, and replaced him with the allegedly unbending Mike Villines-- the rig ... More >>

The Short Shelf Life of Rev. Lou's Man

What's a frothing-at-the-mouth preacher, who's been named one of the Top 10 Power Broker of the Religious Right and can squeeze more than $6 million a year out of the faithful (and/or gullible), got to do to get a public display of affection from the California Republican Party? If you know, you sh ... More >>

Tom Fuentes,

An open letter to the former GOP chairman, current college trustee, forever self-destroyer

Northern Exposure

By trashing Spitzer, Register protects GOP, Catholic Church

The presidents conservative critics

We Live in Paradise!

California Republicans want to do for you what theyve already done for Orange County

Primary Madness

An OC election time line

Party Pooper

Doris Allen: 1936-1999

The Abortionist Who Funds Pro-Life Republicans