I just received an email from Project Bluebridge nofifying everyone that Phil Angelides returns to the bay Area tomorrow to talk about Tax Relief for the middle class.

Phil Angelides in Berkeley Tomorrow

(This just in…)

Join Phil Angelides and UC Berkeley Economist Robert Reich as phil brings his fight for middle-class tax cuts to the bay area Coplan Home.

2928 Wheeler Street

Corner of Ashby & Wheeler (enter on Russell Street)

BERKELEY

Thursday, August 24

9:30-11:00am

STREET PARKIING AVAILABLE

My suggestion is leave your car behind and use BART or AC Transit. Get the words straight from Phil’s mouth and spread the word so we can Terminate Der Gropenfuher.

(Minor edits for space and form – promoted by SFBrianCL)

This could be big — here’s a just-posted story from today’s Ukiah Daily Journal, “County loses out on $165,000 from state in election funds”.

Apparently AB 1634, a bill that would have reimbursed CA’s counties $39 million for the costs of Schwarzenegger’s failed special election back in November, never came out of committee, so it has failed.

this according to a report yesterday by Mendocino County’s savvy interim general manager Al Beltrami to the county board of supervisors.I don’t see any other news coverage of this (yet?)

The bill was reportedly put into suspense back in June by the state Senate Appropriations Committee, on the theory they’d pull it back out in August, then it never was pulled back out. Is the Legislature too busy raking in the cash at fundraisers to pay attention to the peoples’ business? same with Schwarzenegger?

this 8-1 alert from the CSAC, CA association of counties, urging members to contact the Legislature  in support of AB 1634, states: “Today, in the midst of the 2006-07 budget year, the Governor has assured CSAC that the $38.8 million appropriation in AB 1634 – which represents a more than $5 million in savings for the state over estimated costs – will be available.”

http://www.imakenews…

here’s a SacBee editorial from 8-13, “Editorial: State must repay counties for special election,” the only other item that results from a News search for AB 16634. This editorial suggests “many county officials” fear that Dems in the Legislature might vote to reject the funding to “punish” the governor, but in fact the move to rerefer the bill was unanimous, and committee members aren’t all Dems.

http://www.sacbee.co…

here’s leginfo link to the bill

http://www.leginfo.c…

you can find a list of each county’s expenses here:

http://www.leginfo.c…

the UDJ reporter Katie Mintz mentions that the cost of the recall election was born by local counties, too. but no details. anybody remember more about that?

If somebody could jazz this up, and edit it into shape — and possibly do some real reporting — this could be a good story.

for one thing, find out who the chair of the committee where the bill got buried is, and call their office to confirm the UDJ report and ask why this happened. also, possibly Schwarzenegger’s office already has some plan in place to live up to his promise?

I’m busy with work (shoulda gotten started an hour ago), so I’m posting what i’ve got, and I hope somebody agrees it’s got good potential. thanks!

here’s the lead of the UDJ story:

“A bill that would have boosted Mendocino County’s budget failed to deliver.

“Stuck in the Senate Appropriations Committee for too long, AB 1634 — which would have reimbursed counties for actual costs of the November 2005 special election — will not be able to provide its nearly $39 million of proposed payments to California’s 58 counties.

“Mendocino County was allotted $165,000 of that total, but will now begin its final budget hearings for the 2006/2007 fiscal year Friday without the added help.”

(Some info from the Good People over at Yes on 89. – promoted by SFBrianCL)

Dan Walters has been covering Sacramento politics for decades. In California, state senate seats larger than congressional seats create a reality where the most populous state is the most expensive state when it comes to campaigning.

Last week, a solid measure for re-districting died in the legislature. The big money, special interests have a strangle-hold on Sacramento and won. Dan Walters wrote:

Redrawing their own districts to fix elections and insulate themselves from voters’ whims is generally and accurately regarded to be the most cynically self-serving act that state legislators can perform.

However, strangling redistricting reform after months of pledging to place it before voters and thus elevate the level of lawmakers’ civic standing may be even worse — and that’s exactly what California’s legislative leaders did late last week.

The comic-opera end to the redistricting saga — leaders of the Legislature’s two houses pointing fingers at each other while continuing to insist that they really wanted reform — confirmed anew that even the most jaundiced view about the petty, self-interested motives of California legislators is merely realism.

It should be evident to any even halfway objective observer that the Legislature is an abjectly dysfunctional body, chronically incapable of responding effectively to the issues that arise from a fast-growing, fast-changing state. That malaise has many roots, but one of them is the essentially closed nature of legislative politics, which are disconnected from the socioeconomic reality of the state and driven by the wishes of a relative handful of powerful interest groups.

If government assigns value to money, we have an auction. If goverment assigns value to people, we have a democracy. That is the goal behind clean money, the reason for Proposition 89. Prop. 89 ends the fundraising madness with constitutional limits so regular voters aren’t drowned out by big money. To return democracy to the voters and stop the Sacramento auction, Proposition 89 bans contributions from lobbyists and state contractors.

But more importantly, Proposition 89 levels the playing field so new candidates can win on their ideas, not because of the money they raise. With Proposition 89, candidates who agree to spending limits and to take no private contributions qualify for public funding.

Proposition 89 stops candidates from hiding behind negative ads and punishes politicians who violate the law. Prop 89 makes wealthy self-funded candidates disclose the amount of personal funds they will spend. Under Proposition 89, publicly financed candidates must engage in debates. Prop. 89 imposes mandatory jail time and provides for removal from office of candidates who break the law.

Sacramento is broken, even long time observes like Dan Walters are disgusted by what is going on. It isn’t the same-old, same-old — things have gotten worse.

This fall, we can reform Sacramento by passing
Proposition 89.

—–
Yes on Proposition 89 ~ Proposition 89 Blog
Sign Up | Downloads | Tell Your Friends

At Phil events in Fresno and Bakersfield, the California GOP decided it would be a brilliant idea to put some volunteers up on tractors to harass the Angelides campaign.  One problem, these actors didn’t have tractor permits.  Carla Marianucci was all over it on the SF Chron’s blog:

Some Republicans in the Victory ’06 effort to re-elect Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had a king-sized campaign idea: getting huge tractors to drive back and forth today in front of Democratic candidate Phil Angelides’ “front porch” sessions in Fresno and Bakersfield. The tractors were carrying “Schwarzenegger” campaign signs to highlight the charge that Angelides, the state treasurer, would raise the “tractor tax” to a Central Valley audience.

But they forgot one tiny detail: No farmers these, they didn’t have the appropriate permits or licenses — or the required “pilot” car — for the big vehicles, which roamed back and forth in the residential neighborhoods.

Result: In Fresno, the tractor drivers, with “Schwarzenegger” signs on the big rigs, ended up getting stopped by officials and ticketed — and in Bakersfield, they were told to hit the road for the big booboo. (SF Chron Politics Blog 8/22/06)

The team responsible for this little stunt apparently got the tractors from a local tractor dealer (who happens to be a big GOP donor).  They also didn’t bother to ask anybody how you drive a tractor or the regulations about tractors.  You see tractors are actually heavy machinery that can be dangerous.  No big whoop for the GOP, as they continue to flaunt California laws.  First Arnold’s motorcycle now the GOP’s tractors.  What’s next, perhaps some unlicensed pilots?