In the interest of regional balance, here are a few things in the part of the state that gets sun (jus’ kiddin’, guys) which caught my eye:

• Full public financing of municipal elections will be on the agenda at tonight’s Santa Monica City Council Meeting.  Solidly progressive City Councilman Kevin McKeown raised this issue earlier in the year and couldn’t get a second, but they ran a staff report, and both Common Cause and the League of Women Voters are pushing this hard.  Just like everything else, we’ll need to win the Clean Money battle from the bottom up.

more…

• This complete crackup of the Minuteman Project is so hilariously predictable that it should be a reality show.  I can’t wait for the twists and turns and the backstabbing.  You put a bunch of power-hungry authoritarians in the same group, who knew that they’d start fighting each other for control?  Fascinatin’.

• You might want to think twice before eating in LA – the biggest produce wholesaler in the city, the 7th Street Market, was cited for multiple violations, including rat infestation.  Never been, not going now.

• I wish I had the time to write the badly needed very long series of articles about the proposed LNG terminal off the coast of Malibu.  This would be an environmental disaster for the coastline, yet the Governor has given tacit support to BHP Billiton to build it.  This blog is a great resource for this story.  Look at this part:

Environmental Protection Agency political appointees used non-existent analysis and misled the public when they reversed course and rejected tough smog rules for the proposed Cabrillo Port liquefied natural gas terminal off the Malibu coast, the chairman of the House Investigations Committee said Monday.

Rep. Henry Waxman also accused top EPA officials of refusing to hand over key documents detailing the 2005 decision by a White House political appointee to overrule regional EPA officials on a key decision about whether the Cabrillo Port proposal can go forward.

The news from Washington comes as BHP Billiton and its lobbying firm have hired another two close associates of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, to press the case behind the scenes for Cabrillo Port. That facility faces key licensing decisions next month, and could be operating on Malibu’s coastal horizon in three years.

It looks like Assemblyman Lloyd Levine has withdrawn his support for the LNG Terminal, which is key.

• New op-ed columnists at the LA Times.  Surprise, there are less now than there were – cost-cutting rulez!  Also, somehow, Jonah Goldberg kept his slot (then again, I actually like his op-ed today), though Arianna Huffington, Adam Hochschild, Gustavo Arellano (Ask a Mexican!) and Sandra Tsing Loh come aboard as “contributing editors,” which I think means they’ll write op-eds but won’t be paid as staff op-ed writers.

(Cross-posted from Working Californians)

The pension system for California’s teachers, firefighters, peace officers and others who serve the public is fundamentally sound, despite what you have been hearing from Arnold.  In many ways, this mirrors the battle over Social Security in 2005.  You have a Republican politician inventing a “crisis”, in an attempt to privatize a secure working system with a risky and untried plan.  In this case, they want to hike up the age of retirement and switch people over to inefficient 401k plans.  Arnold put together a commission to look at the problem.  They held their first meeting yesterday.

Dave Low, a representative of the California School Employees Association, told Fritz that his 58-year-old sister, a schoolteacher for more than 30 years, is fighting cancer and was recently forced to retire to deal with her illness. The proposal Fritz is backing, Low charged, would leave people like her with a reduced pension and no health benefits.

“This hits close to home,” he said.

Willie Pelote, a representative of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, his voice rising and falling like a preacher giving a sermon, followed Fritz to the lectern and told the panel not to mess with the status quo.

“You have a safe, secure system for working people,” Pelote said. “There is no crisis.”

(emphasis mine)

The Republicans may be blaming retirement costs on budgetary problems, but the reality is that the PERS and STRS systems are fundamentally strong and near full funding.  In January the Wall Street Journal said:

After years of steep under-funding, pension plans are now healthy, thanks to several years of double-digit investment gains and rising interest rates.

Simply put, PERS and STRS are excellent at earning gains for the retirement system and are much more efficient with money than private retirement funds.  The assets of the fund have almost doubled over the last decade and are at a record high of almost $230 billion.  While market volatility is a concern, CALPERS has instituted a smoothing formula, so that public employees can rely on more uniform pension payments whether stocks go up or down, unlike 401k plans.  On a percentage basis, CalPERS is allocated almost the same amount of public dollars that went into the system 25 years ago.

Funding levels are not perfect but we are at 90% of what we need to provide projected retirements necessary in the future.  That is higher than they were at before the stock boom of the 1990s.  We have a strong system, but there can always be improvements.  Public pensions can be made fairer and there is a package of bills, with labor support, that will provide greater predictability for employers, stabilize the system, eliminate abuse and crack down on those who would game an otherwise sound system.

Retiree health care is an issue that must be addressed, but it is the same problem that is facing all Californians.  Health care costs are increasing at astronomical levels and it is straining the system.  One must not conflate the retirement issue, with health benefits.  They are funded in two completely different ways.  Secure retirements are pre-funded, using employee, employer and pooled investment dollars.  The government has traditionally funded health benefits on a pay-as-you-go basis. 

We should start thinking about creating a new fund to put away money for retiree health care costs in the future.  This would allow the state to create a pooled, low cost, well-managed fund, like pension investments, to earn the vast majority of the money needed to meet projected expenses for retiree health care.  Secondly, but not any less important, we must fix the health care system as a whole, rather than eliminate health care for retired employees.

California already has a severe shortage of peace officers, teachers, and nurses.  Good pensions and benefits are key issues that allow us to recruit and retain the best possible public employees.  It is part of our social contract with these workers.  While they may earn more in the public sector, public employees are promised a secure retirement and benefits package.  We must not break that promise to our hard working teachers, nurses, firefighters, peace officers and others.

The governor’s commission has an opportunity to identify reforms that will provide greater stability and predictability for the well-earned and promised retirements of public employees.  Any attempts by the government and others in his party to invent a “crisis” will be vigorously opposed. 

There is no crisis.

(Video courtesy of atL3x on YouTube)

Here’s the latest update on the Windy Ridge Wildfire, courtesy of The OC Register:

It’s now contained. The fire is now 100% contained, and should by fully controlled by 6 p.m. tomorrow.

But we’ve still got plenty of firefighters on the scene. Over 400 firefighters and 800 total personnel are still there. However, crews are now being sent home.

Pretty big price tag. The cost of fighting this fire is estimated at $1.5 million, but expected to double.

Firefighters injured. Three firefighters had minor to moderate injuries. One was treated for smoke inhalation, while another had an allergic reaction to an insect bite. A firefighter who suffered an ax wound to the face had his injury upgraded from minor to moderate.

3 structures have burned. One single-family home with a shake roof in the 6800 block of Avenida de Santiago in Anaheim Hills was damaged. Two outbuildings in the 6900 block of Overlook Terrace in Anaheim Hills were destroyed.

2,740 homes still evacuated. 240 of them are in Anaheim Hills, while 2,500 of them are in Orange. All evacuees have been allowed to return to their homes.

The roads are open again. All roads are open, including all lanes on the 241 toll road.

Hopefully once the fire has been put out, everyone can return home safely. And hopefully, those three families who have lost their homes will be able to find new homes very soon.

“This morning, I kissed my children goodbye, dropped my daughter off at school, got on a plane, got here, found out I was locked out of my office,” said [Senator Lou] Correa, D-Santa Ana.

This is what Lou told Brian Joseph at The OC Register when asked about the lockout. Yes, you heard me right- Lou Correa, along with Sens. Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-Chino) and Ron Calderon (D-Montebello), were locked out of their own offices. And why? Because Don Perata was being a brat.

Follow me after the flip for more on this nonsense…

So why, again, did Senate President Pro-tem Don Perata lock my State Senator out of his office? And why were the other two locked out? Well, the three of them committed the “horrible sin” of attending a fundraiser for fellow moderate Democrats.

Perata, D-Oakland, declined to discuss the matter with reporters, saying it was an internal matter. But the Capitol buzz, including an Internet posting by Orange County Republican Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, said Correa and Sens. Ron Calderon and Gloria Negrette McLeod were shut out because they attended an event for moderate Democrats last week.

Moderate Democrats like Correa and the others sometimes support positions that are contrary to the official stance of the Democratic Party or its leaders. Perata has said he would not tolerate any members of his party organizing to block its agenda.

OK, so Lou’s a moderate Dem. And yes, he sometimes votes against legislation that I and other progressive Democrats support. Yes, we may not always agree with Lou. But lock him out of his office? Is that really a proper, grown-up response? And oh yes, this wasn’t even about a vote… It was about some silly fundraiser!

So why is Perata punishing Lou like this? Even after Calderon’s office was reopened yesterday, and McLeod’s office was reopened yesterday, Lou’s office remains locked. So long as Lou’s office remains locked, he can’t work for all of us in Orange County very effectively. He can’t receive our phone calls, or work on writing response letters to us. He and his staffers can’t decide on what legislation to support. Basically, we can’t have our Senator work for us, and we have Don Perata’s ego issues to blame.

Now I first found out about this lockout on Red County/OC Blog. And while I usually don’t agree with any of their right-wing agenda, I do have to thank Assemblymember Chuck Devore (R-Irvine) for his graciousness and compassion here.

Since my office is on the same floor as Sen. Correa and Sen. Calderon, I walked by a couple of minutes ago to check, and, sure enough, Sen. Correa’s office was locked. I stopped by Sen. Calderon’s office next and found it just opened and staffed by one tight-lipped staffer who seemed none too pleased.

I’ve called Sen. Correa on his cell phone to offer him use of my office as a place to hang his hat and make some calls, if need be.

Crazy place to work, Sacramento…

How nice of him. Really. Devore doesn’t have to do that, but he is. Too bad that Don Perata can’t act that mature, and work out his differences with Correa, Calderon, and McLeod in a mature, responsible manner. Nope, instead Perata has to act like a brat… And my Senator has to be punished for it.

Maybe Don Perata needs to face some type of consequence for his petulant, childish behavior. After all, it’s not like he’s the most blameless or most progressive pol of them all…

What is up with Gavin Newsom’s people making asses of themselves on SFist? First, Peter Ragone goes all sock puppet, says it wasn’t him, then admits he deceived and then lied to the press about the deception.

Now, the latest squeeze makes an ass of herself — surprise, surprise — on SFist, and again has to apologize to the San Francisco Chronicle.

While I like our colleagues at SFist, if Team Newsom wants to go out and spike themselves I would appreciate it if they could at least use a Democratic blog.

In some ways, I’m actually glad that there’s a contest for state Senate in San Francisco; Democracy is not a bad thing, even in so-called “safe” districts.

But the race between Mark Leno and Carole Migden has gotten ugly — really ugly — in a way that it doesn’t have to.

Let’s quit with the Fox-TV-style talk, while we still can.