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*  Carly Fiorina is leading the Republican money race in the Senate primary. All three candidates are trailing Sen. Boxer.

*  Gov. Schwarzenegger is not pleased with Poizner’s latest ad, which goes after Arnold on immigration.

*  CSU-Stanislaus is in a fight with, well, everybody, over the speaking fees for Sarah Palin’s appearance. Today, the big news is that a contract was found in the dumpster, partially shredded.  The university’s position is rather untenable here. They are arguing that it’s a private foundation, yet the foundation is staffed by almost all faculty or administration. They can get whomever they want to speak, but they need to be honest with the state of California.

*  Care to take a guess at who pays the highest tax rate? It’s the poorest 20%.  With sales taxes, that quintile pays the highest percentage of their income to taxes. Meanwhile, the Cal Chamber cries crocodile tears about the high tax rates on income over a million dollars. You can find the details in a CA Budget Project Report.

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*  Several big labor unions have come up with a new IE: California Working Families 2010. That is a quite a mouthful, but so is the coalition. It will have the backing of SEIU, the state building trades, and the firefighters, amongst others.

*  The LA County Democratic Party’s ballot measure committee voted unanimously to oppose Prop 16, PG&E’s scheme to buy a monopoly. Considering that PG&E recently gave $175K to the LACDP, there were some uncomfortable moments. But hey, long live Jess Unruh!

*  Mercury Insurance Group, who has funded Prop 17, got a tongue lashing from a report out of Steve Poizner’s Department of Insurance. Seems they have been charging too high of rates for quite some time. Some customers will get rebates if they were overcharged.

*  Sen. Boxer has a big fundraising lead over her Republican rivals. She has an approximate 8-1 cash on hand advantage for right now.

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*  Not really politics, but if you happen to be in SF, the British Columbia tourist department is giving out zip line rides at the Embarcadero.

*  CalBuzz can’t get over the stench of the Chamber’s ad, and they want to know where the money came from.  Good question, guys!

*  The Legislature sent Arnold a bill that would eliminate taxes on modified home loans.

*  John Fensterwald thinks that districts, rather than the state, should decide on whether to apply for Race to the Top funds.

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*  Here is some good news: the latest attempt to silence labor failed to gather enough signatures and won’t be on the November ballot.

*  Disagree with Arnold on wanting to sell off state buildings? Say adios to that shiny commission appointment. Arnold got rid of two commissioners who opposed his plan to do a firesale on state buildings.

*  The Public Utilities Commission told PG&E and the other utilities to stop hindering the formation of community choice aggregation (CCA) programs.

*  Chris Kelly thinks that the electorate won’t hold it against him and Meg Whitman that they are trying to spend their way to victory.

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*  Dan Morain of the SacBee thinks John Eastman’s virulently anti-gay candidacy for Attorney General will help push voters away for the Republican party. Decline to state will soon eclipse the GOP anyway, but Morain argues that this will only hasten that development.

*  The immigration still poses a tough question for both Republican candidates. It’s not a high priority for the general electorate, but the Republican base is hung up on it. Poizner is throwing red meat, but Whitman is trying to sate their hunger by throwing some poultry in an effort to avoid sounding anti-Latino.  Not sure that’s working all that well.

*  Timm Herdt on ballot designations: two GOP AG candidates got their designations dinged and Herdt wants the process reformed.

*  There’s talk of a temporary BART fare reduction, but without a substantial new source of money coming in, this seems more like politics with a short view towards policy.  We need real revenue for our local transportation systems.

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*  Gavin Newsom picked up the endorsement of Sen. Dianne Feinstein today.  He’s also got the support of both state legislative leaders, in addition to Speaker Pelosi. Janice Hahn has asked for the CDP endorsement, going back on her previous commitment not to seek it.  So, there will be a vote at the convention. You think Garry South will be wrangling progressives for that?

*  Orange County is feeling the pain for their elected officials political stands not to seek earmarks.  And that goes for Tom McClintock, too. The people who suffer for your refusal to seek earmarks are your constituents. Yes, they aren’t the most efficient means of allocating federal funds, but until the system is replaced you either play the game or get the short straw.  It is particularly ironic for people like Ken Calvert, who has brought millions of dollars worth of earmarks to his district. Apparently, Calvert lets politics dictate rather than what’s best for his district. For some reason, Calvert wasn’t too indignant about W’s profligate spending. Funny, that.

*  Los Angeles has a new Catholic Bishop. Archbishop Jose Gomez was previously in Opus Dei, and has been known for his conservative views on social issues, even criticizing a Catholic college for hosting Hillary Clinton. In San Antonio he gained a reputation for alienating progressive Catholics, while standing firm on issues such as marriage equality and reproductive rights.

*  The GOP is in full attack mode on Boalt Hall Associate Dean Gordon Liu’s appointment to the 9th Circuit. Apparently they are outraged (!) that he didn’t recall every single brown bag lunch discussion he has ever attended. A bunch of Republican district attorneys also wrote a letter opposing the nomination because Liu takes a hard line on reversible error for death penalty cases. Heaven forbid we act carefully when we execute somebody. Incidentally, he’s been endorsed for the position by Clinton Inquisitor and Pepperdine Law School Dean Ken Starr, and was rated as “well qualified” by the ABA.

* J.P. “August” Longo, Regional Chair of the CDP for San Francisco and San Mateo counties, passed away last night. Rest in Peace.

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*  If you are in the Bay Area, on 4/10, the Commonwealth Club’s Inforum program will be hosting Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman.

*  Tom Campbell announced that he raised $1.6 million for his Senate bid, which is substantially more than he raised for his run for Governor. That doesn’t change that he wants to repeal the health care reform measure.

*  The Tea baggers haven’t really gained steam in California, so writes Anthony York. DeVore still languishes far behind in the Senate race, and Poizner’s pandering to the base hasn’t yet worked for him.

*  Former Dem. state Sen. Al Rodda passed away yesterday. He served in the Senate for 22 years and was known as a champion of liberal causes.

* Poizner is going to attack Whitman on immigration, and it looks like it’s going to get ugly.

* This is really bad news. Los Angeles will run out of money by early May and will deplete the reserve funds before the next fiscal year.

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*  Remember how many progressives were worried about the Bay Area Council’s redistricting reform measures, saying that it would limit progressives? Well, perhaps that was for good reason. Check out their June 2010 proposition endorsements. They’ve endorsed the PG&E measure (Prop 16) and the St. Maldo Open Primary (Prop 14), while opposing the fair (clean) elections measure written by Loni Hancock and signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger.  Let’s go ahead and scratch them from the progressive holiday card list.

*  A really depressing, but very important, story on food waste from CalWatch. A lot of edible food is being thrown away at grocery stores and restaurants that could be used to feed the hungry.

*  It appears that the National Organization against Marriage equality (NOM) ads against Tom Campbell are having an effect on the polling numbers. From a progressive standpoint, that’s probably not the end of the world, as he looks like the strongest candidate. From an LGBT perspective, that’s depressing.

*  The City of San Carlos looks at outsourcing their police and fire protection.

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*  Chuck DeVore really can’t take a joke.  Apparently, he didn’t like the idea that he was at the Voyeur Club at the heart of the recent RNC dustup.

*  The California Accountability Project has some information on Meg Whitman’s record with Latinos. And, as an added bonus, don’t forget that Pete Wilson, Prop 187 Champion, is her campaign chair.

*  Speaking of Whitman, she’s now spent over $40 Million, and CalBuzz has some suggestions for other uses for that kind of dough.

*  Oh, and Whitman appeared on Hannity, sans Poizner. She went all cliche, and alluded to the Tea Party/Glenn Beck slogan. Which is good, because apparently she’s all about repeal of the health care bill now.  Yay for her!

*  Sarah Palin is coming to CSU Stanislaus with her “populism for pay” schtick. The question is, how much is she being paid? And couldn’t that money have better gone to serving students instead of ideology.  

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*  If you are in SF this weekend, consider stopping by the Why Tuesday SF? kickoff event. They are launching a campaign to get elections on Saturdays so that everybody can vote. They’re trying to get a huge crew of volunteers together to gather the signatures necessary as quickly as possible. More details here.

*  Don’t throw away that Furlough Friday screenplay just yet, judges have put a stay on the order. That means that the furloughs will remain in place pending appeal.

*  David Onek, of Berkeley’s Center for Criminal Justice, has an interesting podcast series going. He interviews people who are involved in public safety. It’s wonky, but has that ever stopped us before?

*  Karl Rove made a book tour swing through California. While his goal was to sell some books, he ended up writing emails for various campaigns, particularly Senator Boxer, who Rove called an “obnoxious left-wing ideologue who doesn¹t deliver for California.”.