Daily Archives: February 11, 2009

Uncategorized

Los Angeles County Democratic Party soundly rejects endorsement of John Burton

Endorsements for CDP Executive Offices were considered at last night’s Los Angeles County Democratic Central Committee meeting.  As expected, the Committee voted to endorse Eric Bauman for Male Vice-Chair by voice vote; the committee did not take up the issue of Female Vice-Chair, as Alex Rooker was not in attendance and could not make it.

The endorsement for Chair, however, was very interesting.  Chris Finnie spoke on behalf of her candidacy, and got quite a loud ovation despite having laryngitis and having practically no voice.  After Finnie’s speech, someone made a motion from the floor to endorse John Burton for chair.  That motion was soundly rejected, with only 50 voting for, and more than 90 voting against.

At that point, the room was buzzing, and Eric Bauman made a motion from the podium that the issue be allowed to be reconsidered at the next month’s meeting when John Burton would have a chance to speak; that motion was accepted unanimously on voice vote.  I expect that John Burton will be easily endorsed at the March meeting, provided that he shows up to the meeting.  But if last night was any indication, the Los Angeles County Central Committee members aren’t going to roll over for Burton and they’re going to make him earn their support.

As a side note, the Controller’s race, which is hotly contested between current Controller Eric Bradley and Progressive Caucus favorite Hilary Crosby, was much closer than I expected.  Eric and Hilary had a very cordial, if brief, forum at the meeting, and I honestly felt that Hilary gave the better answers and showed a knowledge of the inner workings of CDP finances that I would have only expected a party insider to have.  Despite it being Eric’s home turf, Hilary nearly denied him the endorsement; Eric needed to get 71 of the total votes cast, and ended up getting 72.  Forcing the LACDP to go neutral would have been a big coup for Hilary, but the fact that she even got that far is a big testament to the strength of her campaign, and the big support she’s getting in the progressive movement.

Uncategorized

Not Just Numbers

2 Comments

(Welcome L.A. City Council President Eric Garcetti to Calitics. Full disclosure: I’m doing blog outreach for his re-election campaign. – promoted by Todd Beeton)

As I write this, the House and Senate negotiators are preparing to meet with the White House to hammer out a stimulus deal that can be delivered to the President’s desk by the end of the week. Unfortunately, by all accounts, the deal they’ve reached is an even smaller stimulus package than either the Senate or the House version, coming in at under $790 billion.

Watching the negotiations over the past week, I have to say I’ve been disturbed not only at the fact that at every turn more has been cut from an already inadequate stimulus package but also at where the cuts have been targeted. As the President of the Los Angeles City Council, I’ve been most concerned about the cuts — or should I say “adjustments downward?” — from aid to states and cities, namely the $40 billion that the Senate version cut from the state fiscal stabilization funds. This represented almost a 50% decrease in some of the most stimulative spending in the entire package including $25 billion in state block grants and $15 billion in education funding at the state level.

I was heartened to hear President Obama state during his press conference Monday night that he’d like to see some of the funding for states returned to the bill in conference. Unfortunately, as David writes below, it looks as though only $5 billion of the $40 billion will survive. This is disappointing, to say the least.

To me, these are not just numbers, they are very real. These spending cuts represent very real jobs lost, very real infrastructure projects left undone and very real people unable to stay in their homes. I was glad to hear the President strike the same note on the road in Virginia today:

“What’s at stake here is not abstract numbers… We’re talking about real families,” Obama said. “We’re at the doorstep of getting this plan through Congress, but the work is not over.”

Precisely, Mr. President, which is why it is my hope that this much needed funding to our cities and states will find its way to us through other means if it does not survive the stimulus compromise today.

There is clearly much more to be said on the subject — especially as this story is constantly evolving — and I look forward to engaging with this community over the next month leading up to the Los Angeles municipal elections on March 3 and beyond. To stay in touch with me, please join my campaign and visit my new blog. I look forward to the ongoing conversation about this and other issues in the months and years ahead.

Uncategorized

Senators Feinstein and Boxer Should Fight to Improve the Child Tax Credit Provision in the Stimulus

1 Comment

(We don’t quite know how this one turned out yet, but given the lower cost in the bill I’d guess the Senate provision stuck.  Read here for why that’s such a bad idea. – promoted by David Dayen)

Nancy Berlin is the Director of the California Partnership

With thousands of Californians losing their jobs monthly, families need help bridging the ever widening gap between their incomes and their monthly expenses.  The families I work with do essential work–they take care of children, they work in hospitals, and they take care of the elderly.  They benefit our community greatly–but many of them haven’t been able to take advantage of the Child Tax Credit due to the minimum income threshold of $8,500.  Senators Boxer and Feinstein have an opportunity to change this by using their influence with Congressional leadership and the White House to push for the House version of the Child Tax Credit provision in the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Now, it isn’t every day that Congress has the opportunity to enact policy solutions that are likely to feed two birds with one hand.  The Child Tax Credit provision in the House version of the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act, however, is the type of policy that could do just that.  The Child Tax Credit is both vitally important to the growing number of children whose families are suffering during the current recession and a highly effective tool for stimulating the economy.  Increasing the number of families who receive the credit and the amount of credit they receive should be a high priority as the House and Senate reconcile their economic recovery packages in Conference Committee.

As the CTC is currently structured a family’s earnings need to exceed $8,500 in order to qualify for the credit.  The credit is 15 percent of the amount exceeding $8,500.  So, for example, if the family’s earnings are $2000 higher, or $10,500, they would receive $300.  If their earnings are below $8,500, they receive nothing.  Under the house plan the earnings threshold would be eliminated for the next two years so that workers with lower incomes would be eligible – regardless of earnings – and would at least receive a partial credit for their earnings.  Families with two children who earn the full-time minimum wage of $14,500 a year could receive a $1,000 credit for each child or a total of $2,000.  The Senate economic recovery plan, which lowers the earnings needed by just $400 to $8,100, would result in that same family receiving just $960.

The difference between House and Senate provisions is quite stark when looked at in terms of impact on Children and families in California.  According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (pdf) waiving the $8,500 income threshold would provide the credit to as many as 1.8 million children in the state.  Given our current budget deficit in California, and the cuts in social services it is likely to cause, a more accessible child tax credit could not come at a more appropriate time.

In addition to the positive impact the House CTC provision would have on California’s families, increasing eligibility for the Child Tax Credit is also one of the best things we can do to give the economy a quick boost.  The reason is simple.  Lower-income families are currently in dire need of basic goods and services like food, transportation and energy.  By putting money into their pockets, we are effectively pumping money directly into the broader economy.

I’m calling on Senators Feinstein and Boxer to use whatever influence they have to fight for a stronger Child Tax Credit provision in the final economic recovery package.  California’s families, as well as struggling children and families nationwide, deserve a CTC that will put money back into the economy by assisting those who need it most.  I hope you’ll join me in this effort to improve the Child Tax Credit, for the sake of the nearly 2 million children who will be impacted the most by the nature of the provision.

Budget

SacBee says Big 5 has a deal

6 Comments

Few details have actually come out yet, but the Sacramento Bee says the Legislative Leaders & Arnold have come to a deal.

Legislative leaders and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have reached a tentative deal on closing the state’s projected $40 billion budget gap, according to sources close to the negotiations.

***

Details of the pact are still emerging, but the plan involves tax increases, cuts and borrowing. The state also stands to receive billions in federal stimulus money as the package approaches closure in Washington. (SacBee 2/11/09)

Well, this marks about the 437th time we’ve heard there is a deal, we’ll see if this is the real thing.  The outlines seem to be pretty much what Robert discussed earlier.

Budget, education, Health Care

The Raw Numbers From The Federal Stimulus

1 Comment

When the cuts to the federal economic recovery bill in the Senate were made public, my back-of-the-envelope calculation was that $5-$8 billion dollars in aid to California would be lost.  The San Jose Mercury News did the math and came up with similar numbers.

The $838 billion Senate bill would create about 400,000 jobs in the state by funding infrastructure projects, from schools to roads to broadband. But that’s 51,000 to 63,000 fewer jobs for the state than the $820 billion House bill, according to the Center for American Progress. The Senate plan puts a heavier emphasis than the House bill on stimulating the economy through tax cuts, in addition to direct government spending.

Funds for reimbursing state Medicaid costs are about the same in each bill, but the funding formula in the House bill favors states with higher unemployment. California would receive $11 billion in the House bill and $9.6 billion in the Senate measure. The House bill also has funds to help those who are recently unemployed receive health coverage. “On health, the House bill is significantly better for California,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a consumer advocacy group.

The Senate cut in half the House’s $79 billion fund to help states pay for education and other services. If the Senate version prevails, California would receive about $4 billion instead of the $7.9 billion in the House bill. In addition, the Senate eliminated $14 billion in funds the House allocated to modernize schools, which drew sharp criticism from Rep. George Miller, a Concord Democrat who chairs the Education and Labor Committee. He said the Senate version would cost 315,000 construction and other jobs nationwide.

“With more Americans losing their jobs by the day, we must make every effort to bring that figure up,” Miller said.

The Chronicle has a similar article.

The latest from the negotiating table is that only $5 billion of the $40 billion cut from the Fiscal Stabilization Fund will be restored in conference.  So that’s about $3 billion less, overall, for California from that fund, as well as the cuts to Medicare funding of about $2 billion.  The school repair funding will be restored to about $6 billion from $16 billion, which means that California probably loses $1 billion there.

So overall, we’re probably $5-$6 billion short from where we were with the House bill.  Which will make it that much more difficult to cut a budget deal.  In addition, if the formula for getting federal funds is in the form of block grants with a state match, California won’t be able to access any of them until the cash crunch is solved.

Uncategorized

Moving the People

The San Diego County Board of Supes is apparently tired of just doing the same ol’ talking elected to elected style.  They want to avoid the cut-off of funds to the county that John Chiang is threatening for March 1, and would put over 63,000 San Diego County at-risk youth, well, at risk. But the pleas are seemingly falling on deaf ears.  So, they’re going to the people:

SAN DIEGO – The county stepped up its offensive against the state this week by sending 35,000 letters to social-service clients, asking them to lobby Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators to keep the aid money coming.

The letters included names, office numbers and Web addresses for Schwarzenegger, State Controller John Chiang and state senators and Assembly members who represent the county. (San Diego U-T 2/11/09)

The letter was sent under a provision allowing taxpayer money to be used to inform clients of potential changes.  It is important that people from across the spectrum tell our leaders our opinions of any budget deal, but it is even more important that the generally quiet social service recipients speak up.  Good for the SD Supes for taking the initiative on this.

At the same time we are just trying to keep the lights on, the Republicans are reportedly demanding a corporate tax cut.  You read that right.  While the counties aren’t even getting the money owed them by the state, the Republicans want to dish out sweeteners to corporations in a side deal to mess with the somewhat arcane corporate tax formulas. The deal would likely increase taxes for out of state companies and decrease taxes for in-state companies, but the net result would almost certainly be a net decrease in revenues.

I’m thinking that the corporations are getting letters to lobby for the tax cuts, we need to ensure that they aren’t the only ones pressuring legislators.

Update by Robert: Monterey County plans to join the suit:

County Administrative Officer Lew Bauman said the litigation is an attempt to send a strong message to state lawmakers, including local legislators Anna Caballero, Jeff Denham and Abel Maldonado, that they need to approve a budget.

Supervisor Dave Potter called the state’s inability to approve a budget a “dereliction of duty,” noting that it is counties who are hurt the most because they are the “frontline of service delivery.”

Denham and Maldonado are key figures in this mess. They pose as “moderate” Republicans but have behaved as conservatively as anyone else in the Senate GOP caucus on this. If they want to have even a chance of a future in statewide office they need to stop obstructing and agree to the Democratic budget proposals.

Budget

Deal or No Deal?

3 Comments

Although a budget deal has been rumored for a few days now it has yet to actually materialize. Still, the Sac Bee reports on the outlines of a widely rumored agreement (h/t to surfk9):

Multiple legislative sources said Tuesday that it would raise revenues temporarily by these means:

— Increasing the state’s sales tax by 1 cent on the dollar.

— Increasing gasoline taxes by 12 cents per gallon.

— Raising the state’s vehicle license fee from the current 0.65 percent of a vehicle’s value to 1.15 percent, with 1 percent going to the general fund and local law enforcement getting 0.15 percent.

— Increasing the personal income tax across the board, either by assessing a surcharge on tax liability or increasing the tax rate.

The sales tax, personal income tax and vehicle license fee components would be in effect for either two years or five years, depending upon the fate of a ballot measure to restrict spending.

If voters approve the spending limit, the three revenue-raising components would be in effect for five years. If they reject the measure, the revenue would die after two years.

It was not clear Tuesday whether the proposed gasoline tax increase also would be tied to the ballot measure or how long it would remain in effect.

It’s worth noting that this proposal fits the Republicans’ lawless nature. It’s outright extortion – vote for our spending cap or the tax hikes die – and that ballot measure would likely violate the single-subject rule. Republicans are consistent in one thing – they know the public hates them and hates their ideas, so the only way they can impose their far-right ideology on the state is at gunpoint. This proposal shows that the only difference between the Mafia and the California Republican Party is Sicilian accents.

Democrats ought to have been more vocal about the Republicans’ tactics and refused to go along with them (though there’s still time to ask Jerry Brown to investigate Republican lawlessness, and even John Garamendi joined the Facebook group). It’s not clear whether the non-budget items the Republicans illegally demanded are part of this proposal or not.

What the Republicans are trying to pull here is a damned if you do, damned if you don’t move. If we kill their catastrophically bad spending cap, then we return the state to budget crisis by killing the taxes. But if we accept the cap, we advance their Hooverite, aristocratic agenda.

I wonder if that’s actually how it would work out though. I would enthusiastically campaign against the spending cap ballot measure and I doubt that it would be so difficult to get 51% of Californians to vote no – especially once they learn that tax hikes go away if they vote no. We would then have more time to make our case to voters for revenues and government spending. We’d have more time to target and ideally defeat Republicans in November 2010, taking us to 2/3. And hell, if we’re really lucky the economy might recover enough to where the budget isn’t so bad and we’re not saddled with a spending cap holding us back.

I have to believe that the Republicans are at the end of the line on all this. Obama’s successful framing of the federal stimulus will soon impact California politics as voters realize that mass layoffs of government workers, including teachers, is a monumentally stupid idea and that government spending is good and good for you. Anger at Republican obstruction in DC can be easily translated into anger at obstruction in Sacramento.

In short, Democrats have no reason to feel pressured to accept a bad deal. They just need to hold their ground and explain to the public what is really going on. The public is fed up with Republican lawlessness, whether that manifests itself in this deal or in the killing of their horrific spending cap.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Budget

Tuesday Open Thread

• Intel has plans to invest during the down-turn. They’ll be retooling some of their facilities for the next generation of chips.

• Supervisors from across the state will be lobbying for a budget in Sacramento. Perhaps some of them can convince a few Republicans.  If they did, it would be a greater contribution than Arnold Schwarzenegger has made to the process.

• And some leaders are heading to Washington. The Mayors of San Jose, San Diego, and LA will be pushing for aid to their cities in the stimulus package.  Perhaps Mayor Sanders could prevail upon Brian Bilbray to vote yes for once?

• There’s a very good investigative series going on by former UK Independent writer Andrew Gumbel at a new site called The Wrap.  Gumbel has two stories up about the Motion Picture & Television Fund and their closing of a convalescent home for aging actors last month.  Gumbel accuses the foundation of lying about the reasons for the closure, and he has the tax returns to prove it (their assets actually increased in 2006 and 2007).  In the companion piece, Gumbel finds that the CEO of the MPTF took a $600,000 salary right before closing the home due to the “financial strain.”  Six former residents have died in the past month, so this isn’t an abstract story.  The MPTF will respond to the charges in a tele-conference tomorrow.  This is a great example of online investigative journalism making a difference.

• Apparently there will actually be a bottom for the home prices in the Sacramento region, we just aren’t close to it yet.  While the crash just seems to continue, Moody’s thinks much of the Sacramento market will hit bottom by Q4 2009, with the remaining coming around by Q1 2010.

• You know how the crisis has been lead by residential foreclosures? Well, economists issued a report in San Diego yesterday warning about commercial foreclosures.  With rising vacancy rates, some commercial real estate interests might not be able to keep up with payments.  

• We have a full-fledged water crisis in Los Angeles, despite the fact that it’s rained almost every day for a week and another three-day storm is on the way.  The word “unsustainable” leaps to mind…

Uncategorized

Taking Action, Saving Homes, Starting the Recovery

“No homes for sale!”

“No homes for sale!”

“No homes for sale!”

It took me about 7 seconds to say that chant three times. Six seconds later another family in America entered the foreclosure process.

ACORN members know what that does to a family and to a community. So today, 300 ACORN members took over the Mitchell Courthouse in Baltimore, Maryland singing and chanting as they overwhelmed the 20 or so sheriff’s deputies assigned to “protect” auctioneers from selling off foreclosed properties.

50 miles away in Washington, DC, another 120 took over two buildings on the same block where foreclosure auctions were being held.

In Baltimore, Donna Hanks, a foreclosure victim who lost her home a year ago – a home that still sits vacant in the bank’s hands today – led the action and later talked to film crews about the turmoil she is going through. “I’ve moved six times in the last year – and I have a steady, union job. Families that are losing their jobs are even worse off than I am. That’s why I came out today to help working people keep their homes.”

In Washington, ACORN members snuck into one auction disguised as prospective buyers and then joined in the protest as marchers appeared outside the building. One of the building owners, angered that his property was being used to facilitate foreclosures, kicked the auctioneer out and ACORN members proceeded to follow him around refusing to let him sell homes out from under families.

13 seconds goes by pretty fast. We’re talking four families every minute. It is no wonder that ACORN members are stiffening their spines, gritting their teeth, and fighting back in the face of the economic maelstrom engulfing the country. With Treasury Secretary Geithner announcing today the prospect of a $50 billion package of aid that addresses the crisis, we are heartened, but know that we need to take action now to keep hard-hit families in their homes and to keep pressure on our elected leaders to do the right thing.

Fast.

Because it is one family every 13 seconds.

Today’s actions are the continuation of actions that ACORN members have been taking for weeks to keep families in their homes, including a coordinated Day of Action on January 15th, when members in over 25 cities blocked foreclosure actions.

As part of the campaign, ACORN members are in DC today for our annual Legislative and Political Conference talking with their Congressional representatives about the need for immediate action to get Americans back to work and save the homes of working families.

Next week we ratchet up the pressure. On February 19th, ACORN is launching the Home Defenders, a program that links members of local communities with families who have taken the courageous step of refusing to cooperate with the foreclosure process. It responds to the desperate calls for help made by one family every 13 seconds.

It echoes the sentiments of leaders like Toledo, Ohio-area Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur who recently said, “stay in your homes. If the American people, anybody out there is being foreclosed, don’t leave[.]”

The Home Defenders program is modeled on an ACORN action taken a week ago in Oakland, CA that saved the home of a West Oakland couple on the day of their eviction.

And we are partnering with the folks at Brave New Films in their launch of a new web-based resource for foreclosure victims and those in danger of foreclosure. Called Fighting For Our Homes, this is a way for people to have their own voice and tell their own stories about the foreclosure crisis – stories that show how real people and real neighborhoods are being affected.

If you want to join in the fight to get America back to work and end the foreclosure crisis in this country, you can join the Home Defenders, and sign this petition to President Obama asking for quick action. And visit Fighting For Our Homes to see foreclosure victims speaking for themselves.

Together we can get America back on her feet again.

Uncategorized

Solis Update

1 Comment

Politico reports that the recent tax issues surrounding Hilda Solis’ husband won’t derail her nomination for Labor Secretary, but they’re still going to obstruct:

Key Republican senators on the committee vetting the California Democrat’s nomination say they won’t blame her for the problems facing her husband, Sam Sayyad, who paid around $6,400 last week to settle tax liens against his auto-repair company.

But they are still exploring the congresswoman’s ties to a pro-union organization, and a vote on her nomination has yet to be scheduled […]

Solis has angered some Republicans’ on the panel for deflecting questions on her positions over controversial “card-check” legislation, which would make it easier for workers to unionize, and for whether she supports maintaining right-to-work laws that prohibit forcing workers to pay union dues as a condition of employment.

Those issues, however, are not enough to drag down her nomination and Republicans are unlikely to block the nomination, according to aides and senators.

Still, there is one last issue that could influence the HELP committee’s upcoming vote. The committee is waiting for additional information about her role as an unpaid board member and treasurer for the pro-union group American Rights at Work, while she was a member of the House.

Isakson said they are reviewing whether her role in an organization lobbying Congress violated campaign finance rules, “which I think would just come back to hurt her if we didn’t get that out and cleared out one way or another.”

These are just a series of stall tactics to drag this confirmation out.  Solis’ involvement with American Rights At Work has been gone over plenty of times.  It is a red herring.  Hilda Solis needs to be confirmed now.  Sign the petition.