Daily Archives: December 28, 2006

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Today is My Birthday

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Here is what I would like:

1. Please keep writing about Ellen Tauscher and encourage others to share their stories and ideas by starting accounts at Calitics.

2. Please sign up for an email subscription to the Ellen Tauscher Weekly so that you can see how each week developed even if you don’t have time to read everything, everyday.

3. If you have a blog, please add the following links to your blog roll (and start your own tag for ‘Ellen Tauscher’):

Prisons

3 Strikes and Sentencing Must be Tackled

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I was watching the Fox2 Morning Show as I woke up this morning. (Don’t ask me why.  I just was.)  They were discussing the governor’s “plan for the prisons”.  Yeah, I know, it’s kind of an oxymoron, but we’ll goo with it.

On comes one Daniel Vasquez, a former warden at San Quentin.  He spoke quite frankly on the need to review a) 3 Strikes and b) the sentencing guidelines.  He pointed out that we simply have too many non-violent offenders in prison.

I’ve argued in the past that we must address both of these issues.  Ultimately we cannot just lock everybody up and throw away the key.  It’s just not feasible.  We are already well on our way to locking up a full percent of Californians.  Right now we’re at about .6% and growing.  Pretty ridiculous.

We need to look for alternatives.  Prop 36 was a good start, but we are still thinking too small.  The prison system needs an overhaul on a more grand level.  We need to ensure that the people who emerge from the prisons will be productive citizens not hardened criminals.  We can’t have nonviolent offenders learning to be more violent in prison.  It’s just not helping us.

So, in the coming weeks, we will be having a discussion on a state level about what to do about our prisons.  It’s time to challenge our lawmakers to think big and work to design a new system that will actually be a rehabilitation system, not just an incarceration system.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

“Some say the governor should stop paying his staff with campaign contributions.”

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The LA Times has another stunning piece of investigative journalism.  It seems they found out that Arnold is paying his staff bonuses out of campaign funds! Shock!

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger paid two of his most trusted aides {Adam Mendelsohn and Clay Russel} a total of $33,000 in reelection campaign money in addition to their state salaries – meaning insurers, HMOs and other special interests that depend on government action were boosting the pay of his senior employees.

{snip}

Before Schwarzenegger took office in 2003, California governors seldom used campaign money for such purposes.

But Schwarzenegger has routinely tapped the $114 million he has collected from private donors to ensure that several of his most valued aides are well compensated for their political work. Some lawmakers and watchdog groups want to see him end the practice.(LAT 12/28/06)

Now, by some people, I assume you mean anybody who has a desire for good clean governance? More over the flip…

You see Arnold is really really good at raising money. It’s one of the reasons that the GOP would just love to have him run for president.  But, alas, it is not to be.  So, if you can’t run for president, why not use your campaign funds as a personal piggy bank for your friends.  You know give them $20 grand here, $15 grand there.  No big whoop.

And this certainly isn’t new. He’s been paying people on the side throughout his administration.  And when they leave, there’s a sweet spot on some do-nothing panel waiting for them…on the taxpayer dole.  So, yeah, some people would like him to “stop this practice.”

It may not be illegal, but it is certainly unethical.  But who needs ethics, right Mr. Schwarzenegger?