Daily Archives: February 7, 2009

Budget

Mobilizing the Public Against Republican Lawlessness

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I work for the Courage Campaign

When we watched the helicopter carry George W. Bush away from our nation’s capital many of us hoped we had finally seen the end of lawlessness as governing policy by Republicans in our country. And though President Obama has moved to restore the rule of law in Washington D.C., California Republicans are demonstrating the problem persists here in the Golden State.

David Dayen has written about how Mike Villines’ insistence that Republicans would only vote for a budget deal by trading votes on new taxes for votes to gut labor and environmental protections were a likely violation of Section 86 of the California Penal Code:

Section 86. Every Member of either house of the Legislature…who asks, receives, or agrees to receive, any bribe, upon any understanding that his or her official vote, opinion, judgment, or action shall be influenced thereby…or offers or promises to give, any official vote in consideration that another Member of the Legislature shall give this vote either upon the same or another question…is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years and, in cases in which no bribe has been actually received, by a restitution fine.

The Courage Campaign is joining the California Labor Federation, the Sierra Club, and other groups in calling on Attorney General Jerry Brown to investigate the Republicans for violating Section 86 by offering to trade votes. Please sign our petition, to be delivered to the Attorney General’s office next week.

Republicans believe they can make whatever demands they want, regardless of their impact on the state’s economy, on its services, on its future, and without regard to the law, because the public hasn’t yet mobilized against them. It’s time we built a movement to stop Republican lawlessness. Sign the petition and join the Facebook group Bob Brigham created to generate the necessary public outcry.

If Republicans want to negotiate on the budget, they must do so without violating the law – something the Sacramento Bee seems to misunderstand. Their editorial against this investigation call seems to miss the fact that vote trading is already criminalized via Section 86.

Over the flip is the email we sent to our members this morning.

Dear Robert,

Are extremist Republicans breaking the law as they hold our state budget hostage?

California is broke. The state is printing IOUs — or what we are calling “Arnoldbucks” — instead of tax refund checks. Unemployment claims are not being processed. And yesterday, government offices were closed and workers sent home without pay.

This is an unprecedented crisis. Without a budget deal, the state cannot provide the economic recovery that we so desperately need. Democrats have already agreed to a package of new revenues and extremely tough spending cuts.

But that’s not enough for these right-wing Republicans. Republicans refuse to vote for a budget, unless Democrats agree to eliminate meal and rest breaks for workers and stop the fight against global warming.

The Republicans are proposing trading votes with Democrats to eliminate bedrock labor and environmental protections.

It may sound like politics as usual, but vote trading is against the law. Section 86 of the California Penal Code explicitly prohibits this kind of horse-trading. But Republicans, whose oath to anti-tax extremists supersedes their oath to the constitution, are ignoring the law. They are using the state’s financial crisis to explicitly trade their votes for a budget that would crush the California dream.

And now, a coalition of groups are joining together to call on California Attorney General Jerry Brown and United States Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate, including the California Labor Federation, Sierra Club California, State Building and Construction Trades Council and the Planning and Conservation League.

Time is running out. To stop what the Republicans are doing, we have to take action before it’s too late. That’s why we’re joining our friends in the environmental and labor community to ask Attorney General Jerry Brown to investigate Republican legislators for illegal vote trading on our state’s budget. Will you join us right now?

http://www.couragecampaign.org…

Just two weeks ago Americans watched with relief as George W. Bush left the White House and saw Barack Obama restore the rule of law to our federal government. Unfortunately California Republicans continue to follow Bush’s lead by ignoring the law in pursuit of a far-right agenda.

We need to put a stop to Republican lawlessness. Before it’s too late.

Thank you for helping to restore the rule of law to California.

Robert Cruickshank

Public Policy Director

P.S. Time is not on our side. And we need to show Californians – and Attorney General Jerry Brown – that the public demands action now. The best way you can help is by signing our letter to Brown and forwarding this message to your friends ASAP.

http://www.couragecampaign.org…

Environment

Columnist Morphs into Witty Ostrich in Under 600 Words

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According to an op-ed in the Ventura County-Star, apparently “even left-wingers are laughing at ‘global warming’ now.” Chuckle at this:

So-called “global warming” has shrunk from problem to punch line. And now, leftists are laughing, too. It’s hard not to chuckle at the idea of Earth boiling in a carbon cauldron when the news won’t cooperate: (Ventura County Star

He then goes on to a list a few data points on the cold side.  Congratulations, you are right, it snowed in the UAE, and you found a few occasional Democrats to criticize Al Gore.  Oh, and he found a University of Ottawa professor, Dennis Rancourt, to criticize global warming. Surely that’s a huge signal that global warming’s a mything:

“The most destructive force on the planet is power-driven financiers and profit-driven corporations and their cartels backed by military might,” University of Ottawa physics professor Dr. Denis Rancourt has written. “The global warming myth is a red herring that contributes to hiding this truth.”

Interersting thing about Rancourt, the dude was fired from U of Ottowa the other day and told to vacate the premises, stat. Apparently a third of the university faculty signed a letter asking administration to give him the boot in 2007.  I wonder how the other bright lights in this article are doing.

But, apparently the author didn’t bother to read the IPCC report. First, the term has been changed to “climate change” from global warming for a reason.  In some places, the climate will be changed for the colder. With a system as complicated as the weather, nothing is simple.

There will be idiots like this guy, and they do a real disservice to the nation and the world.  This guy is a writer for Scripps News Service, so this stuff goes out around the country.  He, and his fellow ostriches put us in grave danger. The longer we wait to act, the closer we approach the tipping point.  We aren’t a generation away, this is slamming down upon us. We ignore it at our own peril.

And by the by, if your dateline is San Francisco, did you notice that it was 80 degrees in January?

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Weekend Open Thread

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Well, let’s see what’s going on as we head into this weekend:

• Even more pushback against the cone of silence, from Timm Herdt of the Ventura County Star, and the SacBee editorial board.  It’s not often Calitics lines up with mainstream journalism so neatly.

• Our friends at the Communications Workers of America (CWA) seem like they may be headed for a strike against AT&T. Hopefully the situation will be remedied before it gets to that point, and all will turn out well.

• Just in case you missed it here or at the new site OC Progressive, we don’t have a spending problem.  And the author shows the work, too.  Also, rich people aren’t leaving the state in droves.  It’s hard to keep up with all the zombie lies…

• The State Bar apparently is not backing down on having their state convention at the Manchester Hyatt in November.  Doug Manchester, the owner of said Hyatt, gave $125,000 to the Yes on Prop 8 Campaign.  Other groups have moved their confrences out of the hall, some at great expense, but the Bar apparently got a great deal and won’t take a stand for equality over a bargain.  San Francisco’s LGBT Bar association, Balif, will be boycotting the event. You can check their letter here.

• The Governor nominated Karen Douglas to be the new Energy Commission chair. Douglas, a Democrat, was previously a commissioner and the director of the California Climate Initiative at Environmental Defense.  Seems like a pretty solid pick from Mr. Post-Partisan.

• Lots of stories about former CA Congressman, and CA Forward chair, Leon Panetta‘s hearings for CIA Director.

• The LA Times takes a look at whether a true banking behemoth, Bank of America, can save itself. Despite the fact that it is ridiculously large, it’s still an outstanding question.  George Soros has been saying that the most fiscally prudent response would be to simply do what the Swedes successfully did a few years back: nationalize the banks.

• Let’s close with a dirty story: San Francisco will be converting cooking grease to fuel in a biofuels program set to start this year.

Uncategorized

Bill Postmus Resigns

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Seemingly ending his slow motion train wreck of a political career, Bill Postmus resigned from his position as San Bernadino County Assessor:

Embattled San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus, once among the county’s most powerful politicians, resigned today under pressure of corruption allegations, an arrest on suspicion of drug violations and two investigations into his department.

Postmus’ attorney Stephen Levine delivered the letter of resignation about 2:30 this afternoon to San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors’ office. His resignation is effective at noon Feb. 13.

“It is with tremendous sadness that I submit this letter which announces my resignation from the office of San Bernardino County Assessor,” Postmus wrote. (SB Sun 2/6/09

Postmus was on his way out one way or another, with a recall effort picking up steam.  You would think this would be the end of Postmus’ political career, but he is a Republican, and they are into the redemption stories.  But, I wouldn’t hold your breath on this one, there are just a ton of skeletons in Postmus’ closet.  In a way, you have to feel for the guy, he is seemingly losing a battle to addiction. But with so many lies abound, there is no doubt that the county is better off without him.  You can find his full letter here(PDF), and a statement (PDF) from GOP SB County Board of Supes Chair Gary Ovitt.