Free Republic

A prominent Republican lawyer wants to put a proposal on the California ballot next year that could shake up the 2008 presidential contest to his party's advantage. California awards its 55 electoral votes to the statewide winner — the largest single prize in the nation. But under the proposal, the statewide winner would get only two electoral votes. The rest would be distributed to the winning candidate in each of the state's congressional districts. In effect, that would create 53 races, each with one electoral vote up for grabs. The state voted Democratic in the past four presidential elections. But...

A Republican lawyer who works as legal counsel to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has filed an initiative that would raise the minimum wage--but also abolish the eight-hour day for overtime. Thomas Hiltachk filed the "Fair Pay Workplace Flexibility Act of 2006" with the Attorney General on Feb. 10. If it makes it to the ballot and is passed by voters, it would lift the state's minimum wage from the current $6.75 to $7.25 on July 1, 2007, and to $7.75 a year later. The initiative does not include automatic cost-of-living increases known as indexing. The initiative would also codify several rules...

The Schwarzenegger for Governor campaign today announced 59 separate endorsements – from 22 Republican grassroots volunteer organizations and 37 state and federal officeholders – in support of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s campaign for governor. Following is the list of Republican endorsements for Arnold Schwarzenegger: Republican Grassroots Volunteer Organizations: California Young Republicans California Republican League California Congress of Republicans California Women’s Leadership Association Republican Leadership Council Republican Mainstreet Partnership SENECA NETWORK, Inc. The New Majority Committee Chinese American Republicans Council Filipino American Republican Council Iranian American Republican Council Laotian American Republicans Council National Republican Hispanic Assembly Vietnamese American Republican Council The Lincoln Club...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Despite promises to open up government and even his own calendar for public review, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's efforts to reshape California benefit from millions of dollars in spending by nonprofit groups that are not required to disclose where they get or how they spend their money. These groups have supported some of Schwarzenegger's most memorable events, including trade missions to Tokyo and Tel Aviv, bus tours up and down the state and even the wild July appearance at a shopping mall in Ontario where he called Democrats "girlie men" during the budget impasse. But quirks in state...

Political life since the Novemeber 2005 defeat of his “Year of Reform” special-election initiatives has been a whirlwind of change for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has thoroughly revamped his political operation. The Weekly has learned that just before the upheaval began, the governor received an anonymous letter alleging serious financial mismanagement and improprieties in his political operation. The letter triggered an unprecedented round of questioning of the governor’s political consultants by his legal counsel. The “letter was a stupid smear and 1,000 percent bullshit,” said Mike Murphy, who until last month was the man in charge of Schwarzenegger’s political operation....