Daily Archives: August 16, 2008

San Francisco

SF: Should We Move The Election for Mayor?

After going though the 22(!!) local ballot proposals put before San Francisco voters this November, I have pretty much made my decisions except for one: Moving the elections for Mayor, District Attorney other city-wide offices to even-numbered years.  

On one side of the ledger, it will increase participation and save the city the costs of holding elections in odd numbered years. On the other hand, it can be argues that the issues before the city are so important that we should avoid the distractions that are naturally caused by presidential and gubernatorial races. All these arguments are valid and I thought I would open up this diary to discussion among fellow San Franciscans and others who may hold their local elections during even-numbered years.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Budget

Still No Sign Of Land

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There are budget votes scheduled for Sunday, but given that the Republican effort to impose an unworkable spending cap died in committee yesterday, it’d be hard to see how this all gets resolved in a matter of days.  Clearly the GOP’s ACA 19 overreached to the extreme, throwing in practically every goodie on their wish list and expecting the majority Democrats to roll over.  This time, they didn’t.

They are holding out for a strict formula written into the state Constitution that would limit how much spending can grow in a year. They unveiled their plan, ACA 19, written by Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines of Clovis, at a legislative hearing Friday. Democrats spent much of the 3 1/2 -hour meeting tearing it down, saying it would strangle government.

“It seems to me the objective of this proposal is clearly to promote less government,” said Assemblyman Sandre Swanson (D-Alameda). “I don’t think your proposal allows any practical flexibility to deal with real-life crises.” […]

An analysis by the California Budget Project, which advocates for low-income Californians in the budget process, concluded that the GOP plan would make it impossible for the state to keep funding schools at the current levels approved by voters through Proposition 98.

The nonprofit further said the GOP plan would “ratchet down the state’s ability to support public services” as government spending failed to keep pace with the state economy.

Republican lawmakers argued that the naysayers were basing their criticism of the spending cap on unrealistic revenue scenarios. Democrats responded that the entire GOP plan is unrealistic. And so it went. The plan was ultimately rejected by the Democrats who control the committee.

This just doesn’t sound like two sides reaching an endgame, but of course stranger things have happened in Sacramento.  Plus there are deadlines for the state ballot that hit in a matter of days.

The worry here is that, as Frank Russo notes (and he’s a must-read in these times), the lobbyists who hold much control over what happens in the state will use the chaos to carve out some treats for their industries.

A prime example (pun intended) is California’s response to the subprime mortgage mess, where our state is experiencing one of the highest rate of mortgage foreclosures-something that has kicked our economy in the gut-and has exacerbated the fiscal problems we have with our budget.

Even Halper of the Los Angeles Times exposed in an article yesterday that the Schwarzenegger Administration at the bidding of the powerful banking industry in California is trying in closed door meetings, with the connivance of legislative Republicans, to hold the budget up and extract hundreds of millions for their friends. The article starts off:

“One reason California still has no state budget is a closed-door dispute over a tax proposal that could be a multimillion-dollar boon to banks that engage in subprime lending.

“The proposal, according to legislative sources and industry lobbyists involved in the private budget talks, was brought to the table by the Schwarzenegger administration at the urging of lenders and other corporate interests. The proponents argued that it would help offset costs to businesses that could result from other tax changes under consideration. “

Essentially this would happen by refunding tax hikes to those companies who did poorly in 2008, i.e. subprime lenders.  It’s complicated but the beneficiaries are clear.  High-tech industries are trying to repeal some worker rights as part of a deal.  In the waning hours there’s going to be a lot of opportunity for mischief.  And then there’s Schwarzenegger’s blue pencil to deal with.

It almost makes you think it’s a GOOD thing there’s no budget yet.

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Weekend Open Thread

• There is a tremendous, albeit heartbreaking, diary about the history of the Northern California Native Americans over at dKos. It shouldn’t surprise anybody that high school textbooks omit the part about Americans essentially committing an ethnic cleansing, but the fact that we haven’t done more to shed light on our own history is just sad.

• Wow, $143 Million worth of lobbying in Sacramento. Just, wow.

• The California unemployment rate has hit a staggering 7.3%.  Of course, that excludes those that have given up trying to find work.  The real estate bubble collapse and the associated credit ills have really hit our state particularly hard.  In the Sacramento area alone, about 100,000 jobs have disappeared in the last month. The worrying part is that it’s spreading:

“The story behind the job numbers is that the state’s economic weakness is spilling outside of real estate,” said economist Jeff Michael, director of business forecasting at the University of the Pacific in Stockton. “It’s the same theme for Sacramento.” (SacBee 8/16/08)

Retail and restaurants have been weak as consumers cut back on spending. Now is not the time to slash spending on infrastructure and education in a pathetic attempt to sell our future for a few votes and Grover Norquist’s undying affection.

• What’s on your mind?

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CA-50: Help Nick Leibham take down GOP lobbyist Bilbray

In 2006, a corrupt GOP lobbyist, Brian Bilbray, took over the congressional seat of another corrupt GOP lobbyist, Duke Cunningham.  Both are buddies of Jack Abramoff.  Bilbray faces a tough re-election fight this year against Nick Leibham.

Let’s help get Nick Leibham elected.  Nick was a high school teacher (he taught government and U.S. history) and criminal prosecutor for the County of San Diego.  (After the fold, I’ll provide a little more background about Nick Leibham and what he stands for, and what he’s up against.)

DONATE TODAY to help Nick Leibham (and other forgotten candidates).

In addition to donating, please help optimize this article about Brian Bilbray, who is the incumbent GOP congressman.  (To help do this, simply link to the articles on your own blogs / blogrolls / websites just like I did, using Brian Bilbray as the link text.)

Despite the generally conservative slant of the district, Nick isn’t running away from what he stands for, as evidenced in this interview.  Take for example his take on Iraq:

Each and every day we remain in Iraq we’re compromising our national security further. It’s a blood feud that goes back 1400 years between the Sunnis and Shiites. American military forces are not going to be able to sort this out for them and at the end of the day they’ve got to want peace; they’ve got to want their own stable form of government; they’ve got to want democracy more than the American Marine Corps wants it for them

The longer that we’re there, the more strain it puts on our own men and women in uniform. They’re going out on third, fourth, fifth tours of duty, and you read about it all the time of course because we’re just miles away from Camp Pendleton

We need to come out and we need to set a date certain for when we are going to redeploy out of Iraq.

Nick understands what makes this election different:

We win this fight because their platform is old and it’s worn out…The Reagan Revolution…which started really in 1964 with Goldwater’s defeat…it culminated in 1980 and 1994 and the end of the Bush years are a bookend. It’s tired, it’s played out, and it no longer offers up a positive agenda for America. This isn’t just a change election in the sense of Democrats or Republicans.  This is a paradigm shifting election and Democrats can capture that…they’ve got a lot of work to do but we can capture it and I think the pendulum is swinging our way.

Regarding current hot button issues such as FISA, Nick has taken a stand:

What’s much MUCH more disconcerting to me is the entire FISA bill…As somebody who has been a prosecutor and dealt with the 4th Amendment, I can tell you that this happened to have been the one amendment in the Bill of Rights that all the Founding Fathers could agree upon; that in order for government intrusion there had to be probable cause signed off on by an independent magistrate that says you may have committed a crime. I find the entire FISA process to be constitutionally dubious. That doesn’t mean that it couldn’t be made constitutionally valid but I think that anytime you have wiretaps involved…that deals with an American citizen, you’ve got to have a court sign off on it.  The only question in my mind is whether or not that has to be done prior to the warrant being executed or whether or not there is some grace period.  There is no doubt in my mind that the executive branch itself cannot act as both overseer and executioner (of warrants or wiretaps). That, I think, is constitutionally impermissible; I think it’s a violation of the judiciary’s proper role of interpreting laws.

As a former prosecutor [and] law clerk in the US Attorney’s office in the Major Frauds and Economic Crimes section…I’ve never heard of anybody being given immunity when you don’t know what they’ve done. It’s not how the immunity process works.  You don’t say to somebody “Whatever you’ve done, don’t worry about it.”…It’s unthinkable to me as a lawyer and as somebody who will have…sworn to uphold the Constitution that I could ever support that.

Nick is running in this North San Diego county district against the corrupt incumbent Brian Bilbray (who is a former Washington lobbyist and beneficiary of none other than Jack Abramoff).  The CA-50 district, shown below, is a traditionally Republican district that is on the verge of going Democratic.

The district is a bit of a mix of things: it has several wealthy cities in the Southern half of the district and several middle-income cities with more military voters in the Northern half of the district (in part due to the military base to the North).  However, Brian Bilbray, the incumbent GOP congressman, isn’t particularly popular, perhaps in no small part because of the district’s trouble with previous GOP representatives (say, Duke Cunningham).  Here’s an excerpt from an article on Bilbray from the local San Diego paper:

Perhaps it is also rough being Brian Bilbray. He’s the congressman-turned-lobbyist-turn-ed-congressional candidate who must convince voters that he is part of the solution to the ethically challenged climate on Capitol Hill, rather than part of the problem.

…

The Hill, a Capitol-area newspaper, reported last summer that several sources, including one GOP lawmaker, complained that Bilbray used his floor privileges as an ex-member to lobby in the House chamber. Bilbray denied the allegation. “I’ve never done that. That’s not right,” he said.

Several Washington scandals, including Cunningham’s, have focused new attention on relationships between those in Congress and the people hired to influence their votes. The most high-profile lobbying corruption case of late involves Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty to defrauding his clients and conspiring to bribe members of Congress.

Bilbray was also among those who benefited from trips that Abramoff arranged for members of Congress, once accepting an Abramoff trip to the Pacific Islands. Bilbray said he knew Abramoff through a surfing buddy, and that the relationship was “very tenuous.”

Now that you see what Nick is up against, please consider helping in one of the following simple ways:

1.  Help optimize articles about Brian Bilbray.  (This is similar to the Searching for John McCain project.)  Link to this article about Brian Bilbray.

2.  Donate to Nick Leibham.

3.  Visit Nick Leibham’s webpage to learn more.

4.  If you live in San Diego County, Volunteer for the Leibham campaign.

(Note: I am not affiliated with the Leibham campaign in any official way.)

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Schwarzenegger form letter: thanks for your passion, but I’ll hold you hostage anyway.

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I sent an email to Governator Schwarzenegger urging him to reconsider his pledge not to sign any bills (with specific reference to AB3034) until a budget is passed.  Here’s the form letter I received in reply (insert your favorite bill here, I’m sure the reply would be the same):

Thank you for sharing your thoughts about Assembly Bill 3034.  I appreciate your passion, and I always love getting input from my fellow Californians.

California, however, is now the only state in the nation without a budget, and it will only become harder for the state to function as our stalemate continues.  Because I know that California deserves better, I won’t sign any bills until the Legislature passes a budget.  We are now almost two months into the new fiscal year.  The legislators have come back from vacation and have been working on multiple bills that have nothing to do with the budget.  I understand that many of these bills may be good for California, and I understand that there are people like you all over who feel strongly that they should be passed.  But our focus right now must be on getting a budget passed – otherwise, we will run out of money to pay for services and goods and the state will suffer.

It’s time to send a message that we are tired of missed deadlines and business as usual.  Let me be very clear: the next bill that I sign will be the budget, and anything else that reaches my desk will have to wait.  I hope you’ll contact your local legislators and tell them that it’s time to pass a budget.  You can find their contact information at www.leginfo.ca.gov.  Your voice is important, and I’m confident that when legislators hear the concerns of their constituents, they will act and do what is right.

Thanks again for your enthusiasm.  When we’ve passed a responsible budget with meaningful reform so that this doesn’t happen again, I will remember your letter when I consider this bill.

Sincerely,

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Ah appreeciate your pahssion and enthoosiasm.  Now go taake a big fat hiiike.  I love Cullyfoornyah.

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SD-15: Independent to challenge Maldonado

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Despite Don Perata’s extreme efforts to keep Democrats off the ballot to face his BFF Abel Maldonado in a plurality-Democratic district, Jim Fitzgerald has succeeded in getting enough petitions to mount a challenge on the November ballot.  This is from his press release:

Independent Candidate, Jim Fitzgerald, is building support to unseat Abel Maldonado on November’s Ballot.

“I am running for office to bring independent thinking and change to Sacramento.   Our state is still operating without an approved budget.  The price of gas is out of control.  Schools should not pay the price for wasteful government spending.  These are just a few of the issues that are important to me and the citizens of our district.”   (Independent Candidate Jim Fitzgerald)

Fitzgerald is not a career politician beholden to any party. He is an ordinary citizen who wants to breakup the gridlock in the State Senate divided on party lines.

Fitzgerald has worked for UPS for over 30 years ending his career as an account manager. He had personal dealings daily with small businesses throughout the Central Coast.  Working from the ground floor up, he knows what it is like to work long days in order to support a family.  Fitzgerald is not a professional politician but rather a hard working individual who will give back to the very people he is supposed to be representing.

Now, Fitzgerald is an independent candidate, not a Democrat.  But his issue positions certainly lean Democratic.  His main proposal on his website concerns modernizing the government fleet to make every state-issued car a hybrid or electric vehicle.

This is obviously longer than a longshot, but I appreciate Fitzgerald’s efforts if only to force Don Perata to make good on his word to walk precincts for his good buddy Abel in the fall.  That’ll be a good use of time for the guy who just got $250,000 for his legal defense fund from the CDP.

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Poll shows David Dreier below majority support

Beacon Media News, publishers of Sierra Madre Weekly, Monrovia Weekly, Pasadena Independent, and Arcadia Weekly, note the results of a Russ Warner-paid-for poll of the 26th district that shows Dreier’s vulnerability in the district.

Link to story: http://beaconmedianews.com/?p=…

Republican Congressman David Dreier falling below the crucial 50% support threshold for re-election. After voters hear biographical statements on both Warner and Dreier, the race pulls into a statistical tie.

The poll was conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, a respected national polling firm, with a sample size of 400 likely voters in California’s 26th district.

 

There’s more in the article w/ highlights from the poll. Bush’s high disapproval rating (63%).

And…

After hearing balanced statements about each of the candidates, Democrat Russ Warner pulls into a statistical tie with Dreier (44 percent to 47 percent).

The key there is “balanced statements.” There’s a risk to that. I listened as David Dreier, in a conference call w/ people in the district, smoothly mentioned that the leadership in congress wants to see gas prices go up to $10/gallon. Color me skeptical and not-hoodwinked. It’s true that I have not fact checked that statement. But I have no trouble imagining the same kind of calmly reasonable voice coming out with statements — unbalanced statements, lying statements — about Warner.

He certainly has lied about his own record. Voting against the GI bill and then touting his support for veterans.

So here’s the challenge for the remainder of the campaign: If Warner can get the word out about himself so that voters can truly make a comparison between the two candidates, he has a chance to win this race.

That’s the hopeful part.

The challenge is that  Mr. Smooth Liar Dreier may sandbag things by unbalanced statements.

Russ Warner’s Campaign Home Page: http://www.warnerforcongress.com/

Cross posted at DKos: