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San Gabriel Valley Tribune Article Last Updated: Monday, February 11, 2002 - 12:24:54 AM MST --> Simon's stock rises in GOP circles By Chris RizoStaff Writer Monday, February 11, 2002 - -->SACRAMENTO -- Calling himself the only "true conservative" in the race to be California's next governor, Bill Simon Jr. is rapidly gathering the support of the Southland's Republican loyals as Richard Riordan is assailed for his moderate political views. Simon is running against former Los Angeles Mayor Riordan and Secretary of State Bill Jones for the Republican nomination to face Gov. Gray Davis on Nov. 7. Conservative stalwarts ...

California Critical for Republican Future Christopher Ruddy Monday, Feb. 11, 2002 LOS ANGELES – The great state of California, a bulwark of Republican electoral strength for decades that served as the launching pad for Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon, has lost its way. California voted solidly Democratic for Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election. With other significant electoral states like New York in their back pocket, the Democrats could soon have a lock grip on winning future presidential races. This weekend, state Republicans gathered in San Jose to help decide the future of the party and to hear the ...

Steve Sailer deserves credit for coining the term "Riordanism," as apt a description of the latest Republican electoral strategy as any. Riordanism holds that if Republicans find beating Democrats difficult, the answer is to nominate candidates who essentially are Democrats themselves in terms of their issue positions. Its namesake is of course the front-runner for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in California, Richard Riordan. Republicans rarely become mayors of large cities with diverse populations, yet Riordan was elected mayor of Los Angeles twice without any prior experience in elective office. He was a decent mayor, a respite from the loony ...

<p>SAN JOSE -- As the weekend unfolded at the California Republican Party convention, it became increasingly clear what really gets under many GOP activists' skin about former Los Angeles mayor and gubernatorial candidate Richard Riordan.</p> <p>It's not so much that his support of abortion rights and views on a range of other issues place him on what his rivals call the "liberal" wing of the party. It's not only that they suspect he'd be more likely than Gov. Gray Davis to raise taxes at some point in the next four years. And it isn't that he has so much crossover voter appeal that he's many Democrats' favorite Republican.</p>

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sunday, February 10, 2002 Simon Wins GOP Vote 'Simon Overwhelming Choice at GOP Convention Straw Poll' SAN JOSE - Bill Simon's campaign for the Republican nomination for Governor received another boost as the delegates to the California Republican Party Convention voted overwhelmingly for Simon as their choice for Governor. "It wasn't even close," exulted Simon campaign head and former Republican Party Chairman John Herrington. Despite three major candidates in the race, Simon was the clear choice of the delegates, winning 40% to 32% for Jones in second place. Trailing behind at 28% was Dick Riordan, whose liberal ...

Photo by Jim Evans Gubernatorial prospect Richard Riordan. Is Dick ready? The man who could be governor blows a fuse at an L.A. Times reporter who asked about the tragic death of his daughter By Jim Evans By most accounts, former mayor of Los Angeles and current Republican candidate for governor, Richard Riordan, is a nice enough fellow. Like every candidate, he has his faults--leaving his politics aside, Riordan can be inarticulate, self-conscious and is not particularly an expert on public policy. But, by and large, Riordan overcomes his deficits as a candidate by a seemingly sincere desire to ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sunday, February 10, 2002 Simon Wins GOP Vote 'Simon Overwhelming Choice at GOP Convention Straw Poll' SAN JOSE - Bill Simon's campaign for the Republican nomination for Governor received another boost as the delegates to the California Republican Party Convention voted overwhelmingly for Simon as their choice for Governor. "It wasn't even close," exulted Simon campaign head and former Republican Party Chairman John Herrington. Despite three major candidates in the race, Simon was the clear choice of the delegates, winning 40% to 32% for Jones in second place. Trailing behind at 28% was Dick Riordan, whose liberal ...

<p>They're called "IECs," and while most people have never heard of them, they are fast becoming a critical piece of California's body politic.</p> <p>An IEC, or Independent Expenditure Committee, is simply a committee that is formed to raise or spend political money, and the committee's management is barred from consulting with the staff of any candidate. There are no limits on how much an IEC can raise, no limits on its spending, no limits on individual contributions.</p>

<p>SAN JOSE -- Round two. Better punches. Another draw. An overflow crowd of the Republican faithful -- who are attending the party's annual state convention -- gathered Saturday in the Fairmont Hotel here, as California's three top GOP gubernatorial hopefuls tangled in the second of three debates heading up to the March 5 primary.</p>

<p>SAN JOSE, Calif. - Republican gubernatorial candidate Richard Riordan attempted Saturday to calm the doubts of party conservatives about his loyalty.</p> <p>Riordan faced Secretary of State Bill Jones and businessman Bill Simon, along with an audience of the GOP's most faithful activists, during a debate at the Republican state convention less than a month before the March 5 primary.</p>

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - GOP gubernatorial candidate Richard Riordan is using the Enron scandal in two new commercials attacking Democratic Gov. Gray Davis for taking money from the now-bankrupt company. In one ad, Riordan also explains his position on abortion - answering charges from Davis' ads that Riordan can't be trusted to support abortion rights. Riordan says he strongly dislikes abortion but "just as strongly, I respect and support the right of a woman to make her own choice." Riordan criticizes Davis' record on energy and the budget and accuses Davis of taking "more money from Enron than any ...

SAN JOSE – The California Republican Party convention opened on a rancorous note yesterday when former party officials denounced gubernatorial front-runner Richard Riordan as being so liberal that they would not vote for him if he wins the nomination. "I will not vote for Dick Riordan," said former state Sen. Richard Mountjoy, president of the conservative grass-roots California Republican Assembly. "If it came down between Riordan and Davis, I would have to vote for the conservative." The state GOP is going ahead with a controversial gubernatorial straw poll at its weekend convention despite efforts by Riordan to kill it. Unable ...

<p>SAN JOSE - Prominent Republicans openly rebelled Friday against the notion of former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan becoming their party nominee for governor.</p> <p>On the opening day of their state convention here, three former California party chairmen and a conservative former state senator blasted Riordan as a traitor who has undermined the GOP by supporting Democratic candidates.</p>

The gubernatorial candidacy of the Californian who called Bill Clinton “the greatest leader in the free world” and rescued the financially troubled 2000 Democratic National Convention proceeds apace, raising money, buying television time and soliciting the advice of experienced Democrat pols. The only problem is, that candidate is running as a Republican, and what will one day be a fascinating case study for political science classes will probably result in one of the most disastrous lab experiments in California election history. Democrat Gov. Gray Davis is already running for re-election, but it’s quasi-Republican Richard Riordan who may have the more ...

<p>The state Republican Party convention opened in San Jose yesterday with the traditional announcement that this year -- for sure -- the party is really, truly unified. Then the fistfights started.</p> <p>"Conservatives have happily embraced moderates," party Chairman Shawn Steel said. "The old arguments have dissolved."</p>

<p>Please help me. I really want to be inclusive, but I simply do not know how to do it. The word, which means "broad in orientation or scope," is the catch-phrase of Republican Richard Riordan, the former Los Angeles mayor who is the leading candidate to represent the Grand Old Party in a gubernatorial bid against the odious Democrat Gray Davis.</p>

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, February 8, 2002 Former State GOP Chairmen: Riordan Unacceptable as Republican Nominee SAN JOSE - Three former chairmen of the California Republican Party - John Herrington, Michael Schroeder and John McGraw - today issued the following statement concerning the candidacy of Dick Riordan: "For the past few months, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan has campaigned across California asking Republicans to support him in the upcoming state Primary Election. As former chairmen of the California Republican Party, we feel it is our duty to weigh in on the unusual candidacy of Mr. Riordan. "After careful review ...

Former U.S. Rep. Jack Kemp, the 1996 GOP vice presidential nominee, endorsed GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon today in Sacramento. Kemp later headlined a fundraiser for Simon in San Francisco. "I have been fortunate to have great leaders like Jack Kemp and Rudy Giuliani not only endorse my candidacy, but actually come to California to campaign on my behalf," said Simon. "The national attention we are getting is proof positive of our momentum." At the Sacramento press conference, Simon joined with the renowned supply-sider Kemp in renewing his call for a cut in the capital gains tax to stimulate ...

<p>Former Gov. George Deukmejian is quite clear: He won't support Richard Riordan in November even if the former Los Angeles mayor is the Republican Party nominee.</p> <p>"I couldn't vote for him," Deukmejian told the Times this week. "I don't believe in him. I don't believe that he would support Republican principles."</p>

SACRAMENTO -- Californians like Republicans a lot more now than they did two years ago, when Al Gore trounced George Bush here in the presidential race and when Democratic congressional candidates out-polled their GOP rivals by 14 percent, according to a Field Poll released today. President Bush's party has closed the popularity gap in California on a couple levels. First, fewer Californians (40 percent) think Congress should be controlled by Democrats than thought so a year ago, (44 percent). Second, more Californians say they would vote for a Republican congressional candidate (40 percent), than said so in December (34 percent). ...