Have you emailed Boxer and Feinstein yet?

• Speaking of Sen. Boxer, hats off to her for putting that general in his place and demanding some respect.

• Let the games begin in CA-10, as Ellen Tauscher easily passed through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today on her way to confirmation in the State Department.  She could be confirmed as soon as next week.

• The CRP is enraged that an SEIU member would call for action against legislators who don’t stand up for services in this state. They’re using her words in a YouTube ad that she wants pulled down. The funny thing about the ad? Most of the ad is about SEIU intimidating people who vote against them.  Umm…should a party where every legislator has signed a pledge of inflexibility really be calling this particular kettle names?

• Arnold wants to tackle water after the budget.  Fresno residents apparently disagree. You can catch the video of Arnold’s speech here, with the angry calls for action on water at the end.

• Arnold’s idea of a gift for Sen. Steinberg: a metal sculpture of bull testicles. Seriously.  Sen. Steinberg returned them, saying that it took fortitude to protect those who needed protection.

• Some good news on high-speed rail, as indications suggest that California is on track to win a substantial chunk of stimulus money for its HSR efforts.  We should know before the end of summer.

• This is just a lame scaremongering effort by the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association, who are protesting $20 million in budget cuts and the loss of 70 agents by running statewide ads that blare “California Legislature surrendering to drug lords in Mexico”.  Really, it takes 70 agents to fight all Mexican drug lords?  I’m all for staving off cuts, but this is a bridge too far on hyperbole.

• It’s a little old, but I did want to mention that a 90-day moratorium on all foreclosures in the state took effect on Monday, welcome news for people facing the loss of their homes.  The way it works it the moratorium stays in effect unless the lender works out a modification program with the borrower.  Assemblyman Ted Lieu, who created the bill, said “We must put a stop to the unending tidal wave of foreclosures that has crippled our economy.  This law will help people stay in their homes by giving lenders a serious incentive to modify loans.”

• And some news of our always batshit crazy Congressional Republican delegation, John Campbell (CA-48) signed on to the nutjob “birther” bill suggesting that Obama wasn’t born in this country, and the dearly departed Duncan Hunter Sr. spoke during his Presidential campaign at a Minuteman event put on by Shawna Forde, the woman who has been charged in a double-homicide of an Arizona man and his daughter.  They’re a classy bunch.

• While the UCLA forecast calls for a gradual rebound in the second half of the year, Chapman U. thinks it might be into next year.

• Joseph Palermo doesn’t like the odds that Democrats will win many concessions this budget season.

• Some poor performing charter schools would be closed under a new plan for a ratings system.

Links!

• Gov. Schwarzenegger is deferring to the federal court on Prop 8. The opinion doesn’t really have much impact on the case, but it’s noteworthy nonetheless.

• It’s been clear from here in Los Angeles that Antonio Villaraigosa wasn’t running for Governor, but his election as second VP at the US Conference of Mayors almost clinches it.  Villaraigosa would be in line for the Presidency of the organization in 2011 – if he stuck around as LA Mayor.  And he probably wouldn’t run for this office if he wasn’t.

• From the Wow department, Josh Richman has a story on Prop 36 today. Essentially, cuts to Prop 36 funding will deny treatment to eligible offenders. However, they can’t be forced to prison, so they just move along back into the same environment that created the problems in the first place.

• One budget cut I didn’t notice in the Democrats’ version was phasing out the completely failed enterprise zone program, which would save $500 million dollars, not bad for one program.

• We’re actually down an Assembly seat right now, and the Secretary of State set a date for the election to replace Curren Price.  The primary would take place September 1, and if nobody wins a majority, the general election would be November 3.

• Charter schools do not provide the performance results that advocates claim?  Math results are significantly lower in charter schools than public schools?  Get out of town!

• There are rumors that the Fremont NUMMI plant, a joint project of Toyota and GM, may make the Toyota Prius. Well, they say that manufacturing will be part of California’s recovery, so maybe this is the start of something.

• A group of lobbyists were booted from court in their attempt to remove the clean money initiative from the ballot in June 2010. If it passes, the SoS election in 2014 will be a clean money election and would be paid for by a tax on lobbyists.

• Is this the first actual good economic news I’ve seen in a while? – median SoCal home prices actually increased last month.  Well, no, as Calculated Risk explains, prices are still dropping, it’s a matter of a different mix of sales raising the median.

• Mark DiCamillo of the Field Poll thinks that what will happen after the budget crisis will be more ballot box budgeting. We’ll get some more revenues for specific programs, and the budget will be even more difficult to manage.

Brian will be on KALW’s Your Call Radio again at 11 AM to talk budget.  Listen live or grab the podcast here.Links!

• Greg Lucas has a good story on the “Tax Commission”. Apparently the big plan is to RAISE taxes on people earning less than $100,000 and decrease taxes on people earning more than $100,000 by imposing a flat 6% income tax. That is freaking insane, immoral, and just plain wrong. Simply put, the idea is a non-starter.  If this commission had any courage whatsoever, they would simply say what no Republican dares to say, but the Washington Post did today: Fix Prop 13.

• Jerry Brown sent out a very campaign-y email today.

• Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson denies that he asked President Obama to fire a federal inspector general.

• George Tsakopolous, noted developer, Phil Angelides supporter, and patriach of the Tsakopolous clan, died at the age of 81.

• Arnold seems to think he had a deal with the legislative Dems not to raise taxes again.

Links for your weekend:

• CA-10 Candidate Anthony Woods appeared on CNN to discuss Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (right). Incidentally, if you are in SF and would like to meet both Tony and Lt. Dan Choi, why not come to this fundraiser on June 29. You can find the ActBlue page here. Both will also be at the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club Annual Pride Fundraising Breakfast. Methinks everybody will be interested in coming to both events!

• Asm. Paul Fong (D-Mountain View} is working to get an apology from the state to the Chinese population it treated terribly in the early part of the 20th Century.

• The always exciting CalBuzz Friday Fishwrap has got news on the budget, and ahem…other matters.

• A sign of the times: the Sierra Pacific sawmill is shutting down. That being said, the mill is not without its share of controversy.

• PPIC says enterprise zones haven’t been all that effective.

• Want to buy a department store? THere are still plenty of Gottschalk’s stores available.

Links!

• Cruz Bustamante’s campaign manager, Lynn Montgomery, was appointed to the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) by AG Jerry Brown.  Wow, well at least she has some experience in the field.

• Curren Price opted to stay in the Assembly a few extra days. It might have made a big difference on a few bills in the Senate if he were there.

• The OC Registers looks at Steve Poizner’s handling of some insurance executives. A bit of coddling perhaps?

• A rumored Guv candidate, Sunne Wright McPeak, says she doesn’t plan on running. It’s too bad, because if you wanted California Backward in the Horseshoe, she was your candidate.

• Sen. Carole Migden got a big infusion of cash in her legal defense fund. The $100,000 donation came from a committee controlled by former Migden aide, and ClearChannel big shot, Michael Colbruno.

• Next10 has released their updated budget challenge. Good luck with that.

It’s been a busy day around the state. Here are a few links:

• Arnold Schwarzenegger thought better of eliminating survivors’ benefits for police and firefighters who died in the line of duty, calling it a “terrible screw-up.” You know, one thing you can’t pin on Arnold, he doesn’t really mind admitting that he was wrong.  Trouble is that he’s wrong a lot more than he’s right.

• Rep. Pete Stark (D-Fremont) thinks President Obama’s faith based initiatives might be unconstitutional. There certainly is a strong argument that the state shouldn’t be dealing so closely with religious institutions.(h/t Carla Marinucci) Incidentally, what is up with Politico and their crazy Obama headlines?

• Because Curren Price is moving to the Senate, here are the changing Assembly Committee rosters.

• A terrific column on the misry created by the budget and economic crisis, from Peter Shrag.

• Arnold wants you to tell him where the government waste is. Terrific, isn’t this what that whole California Performance Review was for?

News from around the state:

• Ellen Tauscher’s confirmation hearing was today. No real surprises here. The Right has been making news about her lack of experience in the field of nuclear disarmament, but it appears there won’t be more than a handful of random votes against her.

• Noted San Francisco politico Clint Reilly’s take on why the mighty are falling.

• The LA County Probation Department has been exceeding its overtime budget big-time over the last few years.  One of the problems in laying off so many state workers is that we’ll end up with more overtime to ensure the work that must get done actually gets done.

• Sen Leland Yee has been shaking some trees over the management of the state university systems for a while now.  CalBuzz takes a look at the issue and Yee’s suggested cure, more legislative oversight.

• In San Francisco, pressuring parents on truancy has paid off with substantially lower truancy rates for elementary school students.

Hey, a caller on Talk of the Nation mentioned Calitics in a story about the budget crisis and state budget problems across the nation. Story and Audio here, our mention comes at about 15 minutes in. (h/t to Wes)  We always love good press.

• Euna Lee and Laura Ling, the CurrentTV journalists,  were convicted by the North Korean Central Court. Lisa Ling, a host on The View, spoke at the commencement of National University. After the commencement she spoke to reporters about her sister, Laura.  Meanwhile, Secretary Clinton is pressuring the North Koreans to pardon and deport the journalists.

• George Skelton gets at the Nightmare scenario that the proposed budget cuts will bring, and closes with a totally dishonest statement, that those who accused Arnold and the legislature of “scare tactics” with respect to the May 19 election are getting their comeuppance.  He knows damn well that the special election would have only dealt with just a fraction of the near-term budget gap, including through making cuts in other programs (mental health and First Five), and that saying the world will end if we don’t fill less than 25% of a huge budget gap with wrongheaded solutions having the effect, through a spending cap that would have filled 0.0% of that gap, of keeping those SSI cuts you mention permanent, is a scare tactic.  Thanks for enabling it through losing the context, George.

• Calbuzz has a new URL.  Set your bookmarks.  And then tell them to offer full-post RSS feeds, because to do otherwise is absurd, and certain Calitics editors won’t bother to click through and pad your stats.

• A well-written story about a California Budget Project Report concerning the billion corporate tax cut that the February budget created.

• Wow, talk about bad timing, CalSTRS is coming, hat in hand, to the legislature. Due to the downturn in the markets, they need additional contributions to close the future gap.

• After the LA Times finally brought notice to the fact that there were enough medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles to make pot practically legal, the City Council has finally decided to engage in a crackdown, thus going after one of the only growth small business sectors of the local economy.

• Apple held a big hullabaloo in San Francisco this morning. Silicon Valley’s big man on campus revealed a new iPhone. Perhaps with all that money banging around Cupertino, you think they could hook a state government up?

• Arnold’s solution for community colleges? Why, that would be replacing full-time instructors with part-timers. Part-time instructors are cheaper, yes. But quality variations are enormous, as well as the question of accessibility. This is not a simple swap that he is trying to suggest will be a boon to the districts.

• Newt Gingrich thinks because voters rejected Prop 1A with a No Vote of 64% that all of these people will vote for Republicans.  Um, think again.

• Condolences to CA-48 candidate Beth Krom and her family on the tragic passing of her son.

• And if you want to be truly embarrassed for your state, watch LA and Orlando politicos Maxine Waters and Corrine Brown talking, um, “smack,” about the NBA Finals.

It’s always good to re-emphasize this: please let us know if we can help with anything. As we’re frequently accused of being too “inside baseball”, please tell us if we get a little too deep in the weeds. To the links!

• It looks like we’ll have a couple of electric cars to choose from next year. In addition to the Chevy Volt, CODA says they will be selling their electric sedan in California next year for a bit over $30,000 after government incentives.

• A group of grassroots activists have formed a new group: Fix the CA budget Now. They’ve got a Facebook group and are working on setting up a website.  There certainly is a lot of work to be done on fixing that budget.

• Indian gambling revenue in the Sacramento region is slipping. There’s no data in that article about the rest of the state, but it’s down by almost 5% nationally.

• Is “funemployment” (the condition of enjoying being unemployed) really newsworthy?

• CDP Chair John Burton came out swinging against Arnold’s May revise.

• Republicans got Capitol Weekly to write up their press release about a poll showing support for right-wing budget “reform” ideas, but Noreen Evans put them in context.  “If voters were really with Republicans on the issues, how could their numbers be shrinking so rapidly?” Evans said. “We know that voters want better schools, health care reform, and better transportation systems. Achieving these goals costs money. Polling abstract budget concepts which undercut these goals is not useful unless the questions are linked with the consequences of the concepts.”

• Pedro Nava officially announced his run for AG. Here’s the Pedro Nava for AG website.  I can’t wait to see a debate for that gig. We’ll have to rent out an auditorium just for the people running.