Well, we turned the page to another month. Not a really productive month on the California front. We spent a bunch of money to approve a worthless proposition (1F) and decided that separate but equal was cool for some. But on we go, so here are the links:
• Arnold will be presenting his budget to the Legislature tomorrow in what his people say will be a short speech.
• Governor Dean will be in SF on Thursday for a low-dollar fundraiser for DFA. Deets here.
• Sen. Obama officially honored LGBT Pride month. Sometimes the small, symbolic gestures are meaningful. And this is one of those times, however it would be nice if Pres. Obama went ahead and followed up on his commitments to the LGBT community on policy goals. Oh, and Cheney supports marriage equality. Great, there’s an ally everybody loves.
• AD-10: Jack Sieglock will seek a rematch against Alyson Huber, who won by a scant 400 or so votes in 2008. Huber’s district has actually grown slightly more blue since the election, Randy Bayne claims she’s winning the respect of her constituents, and she’ll have the incumbency advantage. But more and more I’m thinking 2010 will be a crapshoot, so this race should be competitive.
• CA-10: In other news of 10th Districts, Ellen Tauscher will have her confirmation hearing for a State Department position next Tuesday. They won’t set a date for the special election until she is confirmed, but the district will get the jump on that – the first candidate forum has already been scheduled.
• The Senate rejected SB 250, the pet sterilization bill. Sen. Florez had taken over the bill from Asm. Levine after he was termed out.
• Last I remember about Tucker Bounds, he was being slapped around by every anchor on cable news when he ran communications for the McCain campaign. Now he’s going to fill the same role for Meg Whitman’s campaign. Great hire!
• From Cal Budget Bites‘s reporting of testimony in the Joint Budget committee: Elimination of CalWORKS would lead to the “complete destitution” of 1 million California children.
• The California Progress Report has a post from Nevada City USD board member Paula Campbell calling the education cuts a “massacre.”
• SF DA Kamala Harris posted about Judge Sotomayor over on the Big Orange.
The Republicans have been very good about not letting the people vote on what they would pass–a 10 billion/year tax increase on the rich/corporations. Here’s how to get around it.
1. Pass the majority fee budget fix–gas tax swapped for fee and taxes on top 1%/corporations to make up for it.
This won’t make up all the deficit but it will raise more money (and on a continuing basis) than selling the lottery, which was supposed to save us.
2. Send it to Schwarz. If he vetos, announce that this is our last offer and put money into the recall (it’s already qualified). The recall would happend next June. California will have a hellacious 9 months until the recall, but it will be all of California, not just the poor, who is thrown under the bus.
3. The winning candidate on the recall will be the candidate who announces they will sign the majority-rule fee increase. All of the Democratic candidates for governor will fall over themselves to be that one, putting them on record on taxes.
4. It will never come to (2) above. Schwartz will not veto if he is faced with a recall. He hates dying at the box office.
Well, perhaps it missed a few minor candidates, but DFA held a forum that was attended by Garamendi, DeSaulnier, Woods, and Buchanan. That was on 5/13. I’ll have to post a comment over on Lisa V’s blog.