Links for your weekend:
• Equality California got ad time donated during the Miss California pageant. This is the ad they will be airing. The closing line: “Give Now.” Sounds about right for EQCA.
• Yesterday Carly Fiorina got the endorsement of the very influential OK Sen. Jim Inhofe. Today, Meg Whitman gets the endorsement of former Lt. Gov. Ed Reinecke. Don’t recall that name? That’s because he resigned office 40 years ago in disgrace over some Watergate related corruption issues.
• San Jacinto City Councilman James Ayres lost an Assembly GOP primary, and now he’s about to lose more than that as he faces corruption charges. The P-E has an interesting story on the background on the story.
• An election date hasn’t been set yet, but propenents of a Santa Clara stadium for the 49ers sent out a mailer supporting the project.
• CalBuzz agrees with Calitics about Jerry Brown actually announcing for the Governor’s race.
• PG&E cut off 75% more customers than last year. Yay!
I was on campus today. IMO the students need a little leadership.
Background: The regents won’t go back on the fee increase. U C Berkeley used to be rated at 2nd in the nation, second only to Harvard – in course offerings etc. UCB is dirt cheap at $3400 a semester compared to $16,900 for Harvard. The budget this last year has dropped UCB to 39th in the nation. So the regents raise the fees to $5800 a semester (starting in the Fall), still a bargain.
On the students side – who can plan for an education that doubles or triples in price as one goes along (matriculates) – not very many, I would guess.
My thought is that the students need to protest to the larger body of voters, and that the general community could use their energy, to wit: get the students to ask for a state constitutional convention (no more of occupying buildings and setting off fire alarms ad infinitum (yee haa that’ll really show ’em)).
Make it a majority rules agenda – no more can any minority group hold the budget hostage, no more can the majority hide behind the minorities’ skirts (they wouldn’t let us raise taxes). IMO the students will come off looking like they have the large picture in their grasp (instead of looking self interested). And maybe the Regents will compromise – one graduates paying the cost of the first semester plus a cost of living increase each year. Bonus: students can be persuasive: maybe we would get a constitutional convention out of the deal.
Without the big money from Issa and the big dollar consultants like Gilliard and Gorton, turns out that John and Ken are just blowhards.
Recall FAIL