U.S. Politics

OC Deputies Union Gives to Boston Victims, Reward Funds and Lobbies Sanchez to Boost Homeland Security Dollars for Local Agencies

The Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs (AOCDS) has contributed to a fund for victims of the Boston terror attacks and to the reward for the capture of whoever planted the bombs. But the Santa Ana-based AOCDS wants to loosen up even more funding, calling on Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Gr ... More >>

Can World of Warcraft Survive the Inevitable Political Backlash from More Positive Research?

Another day, another World of Warcraft study, another opportunity for Republicans in Congress to lash out at government spending on research associated with the online role playing game from Irvine's Blizzard Entertainment. The latest finds those who play WoW for socialization are more open, agreeab ... More >>

Orange County Republicans Outraged That DA Tony Rackauckas Aided Larry Agran's Campaign

The most historic, local moment of Tuesday's election happened around 9 p.m. when elated (literally jumping up and down) Orange County Republicans realized they were finally on their way to not just finally defeating Larry Agran but also taking control of Irvine.But the GOPers were also fuming becau ... More >>

Greg Diamond: In the Rough

[Moxley Confidential] The Brea resident prefers digging into another man's marriage rather than focusing on his California senate race

Christian Legal Eagles Vow to Fight Enacting of State Law Ending "Pray the Gay Away" Therapy

Governor Jerry Brown over the weekend signed a bill championed by the LGBT community that make California the first state to outlaw therapy to "pray the gay away." "We're grateful to Governor Brown for standing with California's children," reads a statement from Chad Griffin, president of the Human ... More >>

Fifteen Men in a Smoke-Filled Room

Long Beach Playhouse

Sounds of Truth Festival

Mason Regional Park

Fred Karger Gets More Votes Than Ron Paul in Puerto Rico GOP Primary

​Mitt Romney easily won Puerto Rico's Republican presidential primary Sunday, but the bigger news, especially locally, came near the bottom of the ballot."LOOKS [sic] WE BEAT RON PAUL IN TODAY'S PUERTO RICO PRIMARY" reads the Twitter feed from the presidential campaign of Laguna Beach's Fred Karge ... More >>

Jon Fleischman's FlashReport For California Republicans Gains LA Times Attention

​Orange County's Jon Fleischman, the grand daddy of powerful California Republican bloggers, earned a noteworthy news story in today's Los Angeles Times.Though he has plenty of critics, routinely treats me with outright contempt (I wasn't good for his onetime boss Sheriff Mike Carona) and strictly ... More >>

Testament Guitarist Endorses Obama After Dave Mustaine Picks Santorum

​Last week, metalheads across the country shook their heads in disgust when they found out that Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine endorsed Rick Santorum in the Republican presidential race. In Music Radar, Mustaine said, "I think Santorum has some presidential qualities, and I'm hoping that if it ... More >>

Remember When OC Republicans Loved Rick Perry? He Needs Them in Texas

​Remember last fall when Texas Governor Rick Perry packed 1,000 supporters--including former Orange County Republican Party chairman Tom Fuentes, rising from his death bed--into Roger's Gardens in Newport Beach? Perry also scooped up cash for his presidential run at some private affairs with Orang ... More >>

Mitt Romney Abandoned for Newt Gingrich by Hispanic Leaders including OC's Miguel Orozco

​A Hispanic business and community leader in Santa Ana has joined other Hispanics around the country in signing an open letter to Mitt Romney that essentially accuses the GOP presidential candidate of hypocritically running away from his Mexican heritage. "Our purpose here is to advise you that t ... More >>

State Supreme Court Upholds Abolition of Redevelopment Agencies

​Governor and Norcal Democrat Jerry Brown and Assemblyman and OC Republican Chris Norby don't agree on much, but they do see graying eyebrow to graying eyebrow on abolishing local redevelopment agencies to help close the state budget gap. Today, they and other RDA opponents scored a victory when t ... More >>

Bill Targeting Nonprofits That's Inspired by Jerry Sandusky-Penn State Scandal Gets Legs

​In the wake of the Penn State-Jerry Sandusky controversy, a California assemblyman has answered a Newport Beach attorney and retired state senator's call for legislation targeting the tax-exempt status of nonprofits that foster, enable and cover up child sexual abuse. The proposed bill would stri ... More >>

Last Christmas II—The North Pole Strikes Back

Theatre Out

Gov. Jerry Brown Funded By OC Unions For 2014; Loretta Sanchez Nabs Dentist Support

Pay to play​Gov. Jerry Brown's trip to Orange County last month for a speech to Democrats nabbed $30,000 mostly from local organized labor unions, according to a report this week in the Sacramento Bee.Among those contributing were the Orange County Employees Association, which organized "a small, ... More >>

Fred Karger Delights OC Crowd in Presidential Bid

This is Fred​With a sparkling blue Pacific Ocean backdrop at his Laguna Beach house before sunset tonight, Republican presidential candidate Fred Karger delighted a politically diverse crowd with his trademark humor and determination to make gay and lesbian equality an acceptable stance within the ... More >>

[UPDATED with Alcohol Cited:] Ex-OC Supervisor, Assemblyman and Booze Hound Bruce Nestande's Daughter Accused of Fatal Hit-and-Run

UPDATE, JUNE 8, 12:30 P.M.: ​The first post on this story began by tying in a drunken driving crash caused by former Orange County Supervisor and state Assemblyman Bruce Nestande in Newport Beach a few years ago with a hit-and-run death blamed on his 23-year-old daughter, Gabrielle Jane Nestande, ... More >>

OC Fairgrounds: Revenue-Sharing Plan Gains Traction; Governor Releases Revised Budget; Costa Mesa Mayor Would Rather the Land Go to Highest Bidder

In breaking news, Assemblyman Jose Solorio's bill (AB 35) passed the Appropriations Committee--with a vote of 10-2--which allows for a revenue-sharing option if Governor Jerry Brown decides not to honor the $100 million bid by Facilities Management West for the Orange County Fairgrounds.That's but a ... More >>

Why Don't Mexicans Want to Learn English?

[¡Ask a Mexican!] And is Mexico a Tea Party paradise?

Todd Spitzer Versus Chuck DeVore for OC Supervisor?

DeVore​This is not a trick question: If almost all of our county's supervisors have been conservative Republicans dating back to the Paleozoic Era, what difference does it make which conservative Republican fills any one of the five board slots?I'm asking you, Chuck DeVore and Todd Spitzer. B ... More >>

OC Legislators Seek Pension Reform, Attack Collective Bargaining in California

​With union-backed Democrats holding the governor's office and both houses of the California Legislature, it's unlikely collective bargaining for public employees will be torpedoed or pension-ending reform will be enacted.But, God bless 'em, three Orange County Republicans are going to try to acco ... More >>

Lou Correa Lets Online Poker Bill Ride

​State Senator Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) has introduced a bill that would help cut into California's budget deficit by installing an online poker system that aims to generate $1 billion in state revenues and 1,100 new jobs over the next 10 years.Vegas gives it 3-5 odds to pass--or at least Vegas d ... More >>

Sacramento Bee Slams OC's Tom Harman On Anti-Gay Marriage Idea

Harman: pro-zealot?​We learned this year that Orange County state Senator Tom Harman shamelessly used personal connections in the local district attorney's office in a plot to steal the weighty if deceitful ballot designation "prosecutor" in his campaign to win the Republican Party primary for Cal ... More >>

Carly Fiorina Goes From a Hospital Bed to a Retirement Village

​Fresh from a hospital bed, where she was being treated for an infection tied to her reconstructive breast surgery after cancer, Carly Fiorina brings her U.S. Senate campaign to Laguna Woods this afternoon.The Republican nominee for the seat held by Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer is scheduled to ap ... More >>

Prop 8 is Illegal Because All California Ballot Propositions are Illegal: Appellate Lawyer

​An appellate lawyer has filed a brief before the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco that argues same-sex-marriage banning Prop 8 should be struck down because all ballot propositions are illegal.As Arthur Kirkland (Al Pacino) put it in ... And Justice for All, "You're out of order! You're out of or ... More >>

Meg Whitman, Direct From My Mailbox

​Four fliers delivered to my mailbox this afternoon bring to mind instant images of Meg Whitman, your Republican nominee for governor of California. What follows is the actual order I pulled these fliers out of the box at Casa de Coker:

Duane Roberts, Green Party Nominee for U.S. Senate, Says Democrats are "Anti-Immigrant"

​Duane Roberts sounds downright Republican."Beware of the Democrats" warns the Anaheim Green Party member running in November for the U.S. Senate seat held by a Democrat, Barbara Boxer.However, when Roberts explains his proclamation, he does not sound very Republican at all. He accuses Dems of bei ... More >>

Orly Taitz Says Vote for Carly Fiorina, Don't Trust Jim Lacy

John Gilhooley / OC Weekly​Orly Taitz, the famed Laguna Niguel dentist and serial suer of Barack Obama, has had her issues with the Republican party in the past. Take, for example, her bid for California secretary of state earlier this year: She ended up suing her opponent in the Republican primar ... More >>

Solorio: Latino Lawmakers Won't Block OC Fairgrounds Sale

​We told you here that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed off on selling the Orange County Fairgrounds to Costa Mesa but that the California Legislature's Latino caucus was still threatening to block the deal because of the city's stance on illegal immigrants. Assemblyman Jose Solorio (D-Santa ... More >>

OC Republicans Think Tom Campbell Is Running For Governor!

R. Scott MoxleyNote the lower left corner of the OCGOP website​Earth to Republican Party of Orange County Chairman Scott Baugh. 

Erik Brown, GOP Fall Guy?

​Is Erik Brown--a pillar of his church and the Orange County Young Republicans political director--the hypocrite who spent nearly $2,000 in Republican National Committee funds at the bondage-themed club Voyeur in West Hollywood?

Tea Party 'Founder' Hates on Sarah Palin

Chris Victorio / OC Weekly​If you're a journalist who has written about the "tea party" movement ever, chances are you've been added to a half-dozen e-mail distribution lists affiliated with it. At least, after covering the party in Santa Ana last April, I was. Or maybe I signed up for these e-mai ... More >>

Anti-Warriors Respectfully Wait to Crap On Obama's Afghan Surge

​Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) was criticized in some quarters today for crapping on President Barack Obama's Afghanistan surge announcement before the speech was even delivered tonight.So credit the anti-war movement for at least waiting until Obama was waving goodbye from the West Point podium ... More >>

Anti-Obama Vandals Target Obama HQ in HB!

When local Democratic Party activists showed up at their west county office in Huntington Beach this morning, they found evidence of some last-minute desperation among local McCain supporters: a plywood sign calling Obama a "racist" and equating the "liberal media" with un-Americanism. One of our f ... More >>

Mile High Sanchezism

"It's really an important issue to acknowledge that women are important." --Orange County Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Santa Ana) tells the New York Times today what she wants from Barack Obama before she'll switch from backing Hillary Clinton's already defeated campaign. — R. Scott Moxley / OC Week ... More >>

Hugh Hewitt Announces Most Anticlimactic Announcement Ever

Over the weekend, Orange County's own nationally syndicated yack-mouth Hugh Hewitt announced what everyone who follows the fool already knew: He'll be voting for Mitt Romney in California's Republican primary. Even crazier, Baby Hughie spouted off this gem: We need another Reagan. I think that is ... More >>

Why Does Hugh Hewitt Spin for a Liar?

Heard about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's claim that his father marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. during the 1960s? The Boston Phoenix rips apart that claim nicely, then Hugh Hewitt tries to provide cover for his book boy--but it's just not enough.

The Party's Over

Our R. Scott Moxley reports that, by the end of the night at the Hyatt Regency Irvine, the older Republicans in the room showed on their faces exactly what they felt: worry, frustration, indignation. But the Young Republican types in their 20s and 30s were not missing a beat--or a drop of hooch--as ... More >>

Look to the Skies

In a column in yesterday's Los Angeles Times, Ray Lemoine, co-author of Babylon by Bus, recounted his recent brush with the Department of Homeland Security. Lemoine was stopped at JFK airport while returning from Dubai. He'd been red-flagged because of a former job. Lemoine isn't a retired shoe-bomb ... More >>

Tom Fuentes Taking 2000 Florida Vote Nationwide?

Our buddies at Dissent the Blog are following up on announcement made at the most recent South Orange County Community College District Board of Trustees' meeting that former Orange County Republican Party chairman Tom Fuentes has been appointed to the agency that "certifies" electronic-voting syste ... More >>

Burning Bush

The presidents conservative critics

The presidents conservative critics

Burning Bush

The presidents conservative critics

Reading & Righting

Look, kids! The world according to the Orange County Republican Party!

You Are Surrounded by Idjits, Mostly

Our cruel but insightful wrap-up of OC Elections

Way Far Right

Likely new chairman promises to make state GOP the Party of God

The Weekly's Week in Review

White Trash Disco

Bob Dornan's shameful final hours

Sister Act Two