All posts by jsw

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Blog Roundup, Health Care

California Blog Roundup, 6/18/06

June 18, 2006 jsw

Today’s California Blog Roundup is on the flip. Teasers: Phil Angelides, Arnold Schwarzenegger, CA-11, CA-50, Richard Pombo, Jerry McNerney, John Doolittle, Buck McKeown, corruption, health care, immigration, reform.

Governor’s Race

Julia Rosen notes the new Angelides TV ad, and points us to Steve Maviglio’s advice for Phil.

Randy Bayne points out that Americans want universal coverage for health care. Phil Angelides thinks single payer is the way to go (California is larger than Canada, and 60% the size of France; I think we could do it). Governor Schwarzenegger thinks that universal coverage is a good idea, but has no plan to get there — now that’s some governing, huh? (Oh, and this is why universal coverage is important: real people with real problems.)

Frank Russo asks if Californians are willing to be honest with themselves and pay for the government they want. I tend to put it a bit less politely: are Californians going to continue to fall for Schwarzengger’s Republican “and a pony” thinking, where the Republicans promise services without paying for them, and everyone gets a pony?

Julia at ABC on the same topic.

Our press kinda sucks on policy — they get bored. But just wait for the endless articles on the importance personality in November. Yippee skippee.

CA-11

Jerry McNerney gets a Progressive Patriot $5K from Russ Feingold’s PAC.

Interesting: Tom Delay said that 63% of his primary wasn’t good enough for him, while Paid-For Pombo thinks 62% is an excellent showing . I wonder who’s right. Does that mean that CA-11 is more gerrymandered than Sugarland (believable)? Or maybe it means that California Republicans are more loyal to corrupt leaders than Texas Republicans are (I’d hate to think so).

CA-50 / Voting Integrity
CQ Politics explains that CA-50 will have to share pride of place with a lot of other races in November.

CannonFire wants to know why there’s not a hand recount of the votes in CA-50, since the security procedures used in handling the CA-50 voting machines did not meet the requirements set by Bruce McPherson in order to compensate for the lack of security built into the machines. Pen and paper, folks, pen and paper.

Martini Republic is also ticked off about the voting security fiasco in CA-50.

At least Barbara Boxer thinks paper trails are important. DiFi? Where are you, DiFi?

Other Electoral

From California Progress Report, the ED of the California League of Conservation Voters is happy with the outcome of the primary.

Republican Paradigms

If the House Republicans think a COLA increase (to $168,500 / year + perks) is good for them, why isn’t it good enough for the working poor? I’d like to see someone ask Governor Schwarzenegger that question.

More on 15% Doolittle and his ties to felon Jack Abramoff. Also, a love letter from the Marianas Island sweat-shop lobby.

And just we’re all clear what family man 15% Doolittle is supporting in the Marianas: the “free market” at work, enabling sex-slavery.

Blue Santa Clarita notes that Buck McKeon’s staff (R-CA-25) seems to like travelling on the dime of companies with an interest in McKeon’s committee assignments.

Mary at Pacific Views has a little trailer for the blockbuster of corruption that is Republican Jerry Lewis’s biopic.

Immigration

Governor Schwarzenegger would like some reimbursement from the Feds for border security, etc. Right, just like with No Child Left Behind — the Republican-run federal government will get right on that.

No matter how much the Republicans try to dress it up as “rule of law”, using immigration as a wedge issue has a nasty undercurrent of nativism.

Randy Bayne notes that the Republicans in the State Legislature who refuse to fund healthcare that might go in some small part to undocumented children are just mean-spirited. That’s right… punish the children for the alleged sins of their parents. That’s the way of the Republican leadership.

Same topic, humorous take.

CannonFire on reverse wedgifying immigation: if the Republicans were serious about border security, why aren’t we spending some of the money wasted in Iraq on actual border security?

Reform / Miscellany

Greg Dewar has kinda had it with “reform”. Maybe he’d be OK with reform, though?

In the context of noting that the cable industry hired two former legislators have been hired as unregistered not-lobbyists to not-lobby legislators on the legislature floor, Shane Goldmacher does a good job summarizing the issues at stake in AB 2987, which would allow a statewide franchise for telephone companies to offer TV and internet services.

Lenny Goldberg of the California Tax Reform Association explains why the budget process is so hosed, and how the supermajority requirement for expenditures or taxation is a one-way ratchet. The more I read about how state government, the more I’m convinced of the need for structural reform — the endless critiques of personality in the legislature are wide of the mark and destructive.

Erik Love posting at the Courage Campaign on the importance of Labor. Hey Courage Campaign — how about a freakin’ RSS feed?

Buck McKeon CA-11 CA-50 California Republicans Corruption Immigration Jerry McNerney John Doolittle Phil Angelides Reform Richard Pombo voting integrity

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Blog Roundup, Prisons

California Blog Roundup 6/13/06

June 14, 2006 jsw 1 Comment

Today’s California Blog Roundup is on the flip. Teasers: Phil Angelides, Arnold Schwarzenegger, CA-50, Richard Pombo, Jerry McNerney, John Doolittle, Marcy Winograd, prisons, immigration, biodiesel, redistricting, reform.

Governor

Frank Russo is excited about Angelides.

Remember, folks, when Schwarzenegger’s not running for office, he’s a slash-and-burn bully-boy Republican. He’s no moderate.

The California Observer notes that Phil Angelides has hired on Bill Carrick. That is, of course, an inside-baseball story, but it will be interesting to see what effect Carrick has on Angelides’ campaign.

Ms. Geek has some words of wisdom for Angelides to counter the bogus “borrow to balance” Schwarzenegger plans and canards about “moving backward“.

It appears that Schwarzenegger’s campaign managers (almost all Bush/Cheney alumni) have adopted the campaign model of “if we say it, it’s true“, no matter how bogus the attack. This is par for the course from a Bush crew, of course. See, for example, nukes in Iraq, Iraq’s involvement with Al Qaeda, jailing American citizens, asserting state secrets defenses whenever challenged. It’s all the same mode of operation.

Martini Republic on Angelides on smart growth. And GM on subsidizing stupid growth.

Live from the Nuke Free Zone asks some really good questions about where the votes are going to come from.

Bill Cavala on Schwarzenegger’s deferral of deficits through debt (i.e., taxing our children).

CA-50 (Finally, the end of the post-mortems)

Brian Bilbray: nativist and fundamentalist. Sounds like he’s planning to run exclusively on culture war wedge issues. And the Republican line is that Democrats are negative and don’t have any new ideas…

Idiotarian Savant thinks that Bilbray’s win wasn’t much of a win.

Nicholas Beaudrot posts at Ezra Klein’s blog with YACA-50PM.

Other Electoral

Say No To Pombo on McNerney’s chances and the chances that the DCCC will participate (productively) in the CA-11 race now that Filson’s out. Down With Tyranny asks the same question, and makes a great populist pitch for McNerney.

Also from SNTP, Paid-For Pombo attacks Jerry McNerney for McNerney’s answers to a Project Vote Smart survey that Paid-For apparently thinks he’s too good to answer at all.

15% Doolittle puffs out his chest, after outspending his challeger 13 to 1 and still losing a third of the Republican vote in CA-04. And 15% Doolittle’s ~~minions~~ fellow travelers in Placer County aren’t doing so well either.

I wonder if 15% Doolittle got his cut?

Down With Tyranny writes about Marcy Winograd, and the value of challenging a complacent incumbent.

Ariel on Cynthia Matthews challenging David Dreier in CA-26.

Miscellany

From Fish Wars on Cars, BioDiesel, baby. Blue Santa Clarita points us to a Mark Schmidt piece explaining the “no gubmint never did nothing for me delusion” under which Western Republicans labor. It ain’t just the Sun Belt, either. I grew up in Alaska, and despite almost always being a net recipient state, most Alaskans are convinced the government does nothing for them.

Frank Russo went to Sacramento yesterday to visit the taxpayer-funded Republican media event, in which they invited a lot of Republican-friendly talk radio hosts (and to be “fair”, Air America) to set up shop.

Brad DeLong points out a WaPo Op-Ed that talks some sense on immigration. And of course, border security is not really the issue.

Ned Wigglesworth, guest-posting at California Progress Report, on the IE campaigns’ distortions of the political process.

Ah, a good piece on narratives for a change.

Our prisons are a train wreck. I’d love to see a breakdown on how much of the overcrowding is attributable to 3 Strikes and the war on marijuana.

Kathay Feng of Common Cause on the case for neutral redistricting. Bill Cavala against.

Brian Bilbray CA-04 CA-11 CA-50 Election 2006 energy.Immigration Jerry McNerney John Doolittle Marcy Winograd Phil Angelides Redistricting Richard Pombo

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Blog Roundup, education

California Blog Roundup, 6/9/06

June 9, 2006 jsw

Today’s California Blog Roundup is on the flip. Teasers: Angelides, Schwarzenegger, CA-50 post-mortems (almost the last of those, I think), 15% Doolittle, freedom, facts, education, and marriage.

Governor

Joe Scott says both Angelides and Schwarzenegger are running to the center, but only provides evidence for the latter. And even the feeble attempts Scott documents, as Brian noted and Schwarzenegger’s history from the 2005 election (Remember that, just a few short months ago?) should teach us, is just a steaming heap of horse-shit concocted by the Schwarzenegger campaign in the hopes of hoodwinking Californians just long enough to win in November.

Jen Ancona says: Run progressive, run strong.

I think all of Schwarzenegger’s campaign will be summed up by this: look at the pretty colors, ignore the history.

One last post-mortem.

CA-50 (the likely end of the post-mortems)

Frank Russo is at YearlyKos (sadly, your hosts were unable to attend, but we feel comfortable with Frank representing prog-bloggers who focus on CA politics), and summarizes the discussion he had with other California folks on CA-50.

SoCal Grassroots: run local, don’t oversell.

Turnout failure or just a bad voter registration disadvantage? I cast my vote for some of each.

Ken Grandlund does the depressing math on exactly what percentage of eligible voters decided CA-50.

Jonathan Zazloff at The Reality Based Community finds the pony buried in Adam Nagourney’s oeuvre: a piece about CA-50, which notes the difference in the parties’ turnout machines.

BradBlog: paperless voting machines stored in election worker’s homes at least overnight.

The Democratic Daily pooh-poohs Brad Friedman’s questioning of the CA-50 result, arguing that complaints about the reliability of the voting system depresses turnout. Yeah, maybe. Or maybe it gets people to pay attention.

Of course the Democratic Daily are DLC-style moderate Dems for the most part, and argue that a nice don’t-rock-the-boat triangulated third way is the secret to picking off just enough independents to slide by. That won’t depress turnout among Dems. Nope.

At least one person at The Blue Voice thinks that the Dems should pander to the nativists, and that Busby’s failure to do that cost her CA-50.

See also David Corn on illegal immigration as a wedge issue, and Ruy Teixeira’s commentary on Corn’s commentary.

Other Electoral
Dump Doolittle on 15% Doolittle’s poor showing (despite outspending his opponent, the mayor of Auburn — really a city council member 13 to 1) and the poor showing of one of 15% Doolittle’s local ~~minions~~ proteges.

Miscellany

Dan Ancona on meaningful freedom.

Jack O’Connell explains his support for the CA High School Exit Exam.

Not California politics, but I happen to know that The Editors are California-based, and this is just too good to ignore.

Dunner makes the case that standing up to the anti-freedom-to-marry bigots doesn’t hurt the Dems. (And seriously, is there any significant overlap between voters who would vote for a Dem and voters who would be in favor of carving bigotry into the Constitution?)

CA-50 Election 2006 freedom to marry Immigration Phil Angelides

Blog Roundup

California Blog Roundup (Post-Mortem Edition), 6/7/06

June 8, 2006 jsw 2 Comments

Today’s California Blog Roundup is on the flip. It’s almost all post-mortems, with just a couple other pieces.

Governor

Frank Russo on the Governors’ race and other statewide races

Poverty Barn is happy about the Angelides win, and reports that he treats the little people with respect.

Oh, and Garry South is a jackass. I’m with Tom Hilton — not one damn dime to any campaign who hires him.

Julia from ABC notes that Schwarzenegger is taking a step toward the now-traditional Republican opacity fetish.

Riffing off of a surprisingly fair Weintraub column, Julia predicts that November will be a base-driven election, and Angelides will drive a pro-working person populist message to victory.

And, in a blog new to us, Joe Scott (a reporter / campaign manager / California pundit, so we’ll see how this goes) looks forward to the November race, questioning Schwarzenegger’s authenticity.

Statewide Races Generally

Some more Frank Russo, not just on the Governor’s race, but the whole shebang. And a bit more.

Cannonfire on several races, but mostly Debra Bowen in the Secretary of State race.

CA-50

Bowers feels good that Busby improved by 18 points over her last run, but thinks this is not as well as we should be doing.

Stoller argues that Busby ran a bloodless, technocratic campaign on competence and Republican corruption, and that just isn’t enough at the end of the day.

Kos agrees with Stoller, noting as well the lack of motivation in the Dem base.

MyDD diarist Lucas O’Connor disagrees, in part. He’s a San Diego local, and says that Busby ran a purely national campaign in a district with its own local issues.

D-Day mostly agrees with Stoller that Busby could have run a more progressive campaign, or at least drawn a sharper contrast with Bilbray. He also notes the impact of Bilbray’s anti-immigrant run, and the amount of resources the Republicans poured into the race. So he’s not all that bummed by the loss.

Steve Soto is on the same page as D-Day.

PGL at Angry Bear focuses on those resources (which is fitting).

Get Your Blog Up doesn’t find the CA-50 result all that disheartening, and also isn’t that interested in spin.

Martini Republic says it’s all about boots on the ground year-round. And boy, was turnout low for this race. On both sides. Ouch.

James L. of Swing State Project ponders the reasons for the CA-50 result, finally wondering if perhaps Busby didn’t fire up the base.

Dunno who this guy is, but he says it’s all about using brown people as the wedge issue to get voters to the polls.

Words Have Power is just bummed. Sorry, man.

CQ on CA-50.

BradBlog doesn’t trust the results; there’s certainly no reason to trust any outcome without a paper trail. Why this is a partisan issue continues to puzzle me. You’d think Republicans would want verifiable balloting too.

Other Electoral

These next few are all from Congressional Quarterly. First, they wrap up the Nation / Woolsey CA-06 race, where Lynne Woolsey’s incumbency overpowered Joe Nation, though the 66 / 34 result is a drop from her prior showings.

15% Doolittle outspent his opponent 13 to 1, but still only beat him 66 / 34. Charlie Brown will face 15% Doolittle in the primary. We’ll see if Doolittle’s corruption will sour the Republican (former?) faithful.

Marcy Winograd made a strong showing, losing to Jane Harman 38 / 62, after entering the race late, and being outspent 3 : 1. Harman is a shoo-in for the general, but with some luck, she will have heard the discontent from her constituents.

CQ’s take on CA-11.

Say No To Pombo on CA-11 (Give McNerney money.)

Some local SF info on AD-12 and Prop D.

Poll Workers

US West from the Citizens.

Donna Woodka of Changing Places

Miscellany

Don Perata on some legislative initiatives that the Senate majority is working on to help regular Californians.Cannonfire shows some California Pride.

Oy. Me too.

I learned this a long time ago, but I don’t think it’s common knowledge: lotteries are essentially a tax on hope (or less charitably, desperation), and transfer money from poor to rich.

angelides CA-04 CA-11 CA-50 Debra Bowen Election 2006 Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Blog Roundup, Economy

California Blog Roundup 6/5/06

June 6, 2006 jsw 1 Comment

Today’s California Blog Roundup is on the flip. Teasers: Angelides, Westly, Schwarzenegger, Paid-For Pombo, Francine Busby, Winograd v. Harman, new David Dreier blog, CA-42, Prop 82, Jerry Lewis / CA-41, immigration, minimum wage, and the economy.

Endorsements for Tuesday

First, Frank Russo overwhelms you with resources, not just once, but twice.

Bill Cavala endorses Jackie Speier for Lieutenant Governor.

Kid Oakland supports Ron Dellums in the Oakland mayoral race.

AnthonyLA from DailyKos (and he wants help with the Lt. Governor’s primary)

Greg Dewar

The Mad Professah

Beep

Craigorian Chant

State-Wide Races Generally

Bill Cavala: “Independent” really means “disinterested”.

Frank Russo on the Field Poll’s portents for Schwarzenegger.

Bob Brigham is writing at his own shop again, and he’s not happy about the recent Westly attack ads. Not even a little. Also, he’s got a discussion of what the Angelides & Westly campaigns’ relative MySpace profiles say about the younger folks’ vote.

It’s not just the Democratic side where the primaries are nasty. Here, for example, is a fun bit of Republican infighting from the controller’s race.

Alliance for a Better California has a sampler of commentary from the consultants running the campaigns for Angelides, Westly and Schwarzenegger. If only there were term limits for these people.

Paid-For Pombo / CA-11

Green Boy at Needlenose tells us that commercial whaling may be making a comeback. Fun fact: Paid-For Pombo is actually PRO-WHALING and has helped in the effort to re-establish commercial whaling. Who is pro-whaling? Seriously, Pombo just hates the planet.

Say No To Pombo (perhaps unintentionally) on the importance of narrative and standing for something.

CQ Politics on the Republican primary in CA-11.

Other Electoral

Slate Mailers Suck.

CQ Politics has a rundown of the Winograd / Harman matchup.

MyDD interviews Mark Hull-Richter, write-in Dem for CA-42.

CQ Politics asks whether identity politics will trump constituent service in the CA-51 Dem primary.

Seth Flaxman is going to cover David Dreier / CA-26 while he’s there at a Harvey Mudd summer program. Good on ya, Seth. Even if he can’t continue when he returns to school, with some luck it will inspire a permanent local.

Dump Doolittle has a link to a great WaPo graphic laying out both the nature of the Abramoff theft from the American people and 15% Doolittle’s participation.

It’s opposite day for Republican Jerry Lewis of CA-41. The real story is more like this. Lewis’s corruption is par for the Republican course — any interest by the Republican leadership in stopping this kind of corruption could have ended it.

There’s got to be a better use for this kind of cash than fighting over a safe Dem Assembly seat.

Propositions

Cab Drollery catches David Brooks using some of the Grey Lady’s real estate to opine against Prop 82. Prop 82 must have really gotten the attention of some national Republican funders in order for them to pull Brooks off his ordinary pop-sociology-by-false-dichotomy shtick.

From Angry Bear, the National Review comes out against Prop 82. Seriously, Prop 82 must have really scared the Republican funder base. Of course, it’s a use of progressive taxation for the common good, and that must be stopped at all costs, or the masses might get the idea that government can actually do something to help them.

Reform

Minivery Cheevy on Robert Cringely on the stupidity of electronic voting vs. pen and paper. Electronic machines are less reliable, less certain, and more expensive. What’s not to like? (Side note: In a former life, I knew Bob Cringely, and he’s one of the smartest observers of technology and the tech industry I’ve met.)

Cannonfire likes the Popular Vote option for California’s electoral votes.

Immigration

Cab Drollery suggests that we might try to understand some of the root causes of the massive immigration from Latin America to the United States.

Not directly related to immigration, but Blognonymous notes that the national permitted-to-work database could have other uses. Wasn’t it conservatives who used to warn us about the law of unintended consequences and the dangers of invasive government? More proof that the Republicans aren’t conservatives in any recognizable sense.

Legislative Action
California Progress Report has the transcript of the weekly state Dem radio address: they’re arguing for the minimum-wage increase with indexing, the only sane option for the working people of California. Schwarzenegger, of course, is trying to undermine the effort and take credit for the cheat.

Miscellany & Economy

Riffing off of the LA Weekly’s endorsements, Down With Tyranny explains the difference between corporatist Dems and progressive Dems.

John Kerry was in LA last week. SteveAudio, Hollywood Liberal, and Dem Daily.

From Angry Bear, we learn that the working people of California have not done well under Republicans.

Fair warning: California’s housing-based economic boomlet will not last.

Why did people think that free-market fundamentalism applied to an essential service would be a good idea? When has it ever been a good idea?

CA-11 CA-26 CA-41 CA-42 CA-50 David Dreier Election 2006 Francine Busby Immigration minimum wage Phil Angelides Proposition 82 Richard Pombo Steve Westly

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Blog Roundup

California Blog Roundup, 6/2/06

June 2, 2006 jsw 1 Comment

Today’s California Blog Roundup is on the flip. I’m having a hard time keeping up: more people are writing as the election approaches. Teasers: Angelides, Westly, Schwarzenegger, Bowen, Paid-For Pombo, Francine Busby, Winograd v. Harman, Props 81 and 82, Jerry Lewis / CA-41, discussion of various reforms,immigration, and recent legislative actions.

Statewide Races

Get ready for the independent expenditure smears of the Democratic candidate for governor in the general — the Swift Boat Veterans’ main contributors are jumping in. As I’ve said before, this is exactly what should be expected, given the campaign team Schwarzenegger’s assembled. What is interesting (and *may* be different from my prediction) is that Schwarzenegger seems to be backing away from close and obvious association with Tom McClintock. Of course, this may just free up McClintock to play hatchet man; we’ll see.

And here are the locals responsible for Schwarzenegger’s campaign in your county.

Mr. Schwarzenegger, could you please define “special interests” from whom you won’t take money in something other than a Humpty Dumpty sort of way?

Allegations that Westly flat-out lied about Angelides in a recent ad.

Angelides and Westly are both really good on a number of issues (most of them, actually), and the freedom to marry is one of them. The Citizens have a post up about that issue, and discuss recent polling which suggests that knowing someone who is GLBT is the biggest factor in whether or not you support equal rights for them. It’s tough to look someone you actually know right in the eye and tell them that you won’t give them the same privileges you enjoy.

Alliance for a Better California is happy that the Democratic gubernatorial primary is happening, but is ready for it to be over, at least the way it’s being conducted. ABC also rounds up the newspaper endorsements in the Dem primary.

Randy Bayne has had it with the primary.

Jonathan Zazloff of The Reality-Based Community endorses Angelides. I’ll let you go read why.

Hugo Schwyzer explains why he (as a feminist) chose to endorse John Garamendi over Jackie Speier.

Kid Oakland (a very smart guy and a good read) endorses Debra Bowen.

Bill Cavala gives us his take on the Field Poll.

The California Observer points us to the current state of the California electorate.

Ms. Geek is going to vote for Colleen Fernald in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, instead of DiFi.

Paid-For Pombo / CA-11

Dr. Forbush likes Pete McCloskey in the Republican Primary for CA-11. Mostly because Pete’s sane, in contrast to Paid-For Pombo.

The Tracy Press is apparently pwned outright by Paid-For Pombo.

Progressive 11th has some tasty excerpts from a Nation piece on Paid-For Pombo, Delay Acolyte.

Paid-For Pombo is pretty much all about the smear and the terrorism-baiting. I wonder if the Republican party will ever wean itself from appeal to fear as a primary campaign tactic.

Jonathan Singer of MyDD interviews Steve Filson.

Busby / CA-50

This is amusing: Busby running ads in CA-50 offering a more extremist candidate to the Republican voters.

Howie is bullish on Busby. The Republicans seem to be breaking apart on the rocks of their own internal conflicts and the corruption inherent in their philosophy.

Winograd / Harman / CA-36

This Paul Rosenberg diary at MyDD re Marcy Winograd’s endorsement by another Democratic Club and the ensuing discussion are interesting. I’ll keep pressing Paul to crosspost his stuff.

The BradBlog interviews Marcy Winograd. Unsurprisingly, there’s a lot of stuff in there about election reform and voting machines, but also a lot of other topics, so don’t be afraid to go read it.

Alicia of Last Left Before Hooterville spent a night phone-banking for Marcy Winograd, and feels really good about it.

Other Electoral

Republican Jerry Lewis (CA-41) seems to be corrupt. Shocking! It would be easier to count the California House Republicans who aren’t corrupt at this point. It’s to be expected: no moral compass, no sense of the common good. More at Down With Tyranny.

Elena Popp has received both the LA Times and the La Opinion endorsement in the AD-45 Dem Primary. So has the LA Weekly.

The SCCDP blog reports that the San Jose Elections Commission ruled that the Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce violated the law by directly attacking Mayoral Candidate Cindy Chavez in the guise of “issue advertising”.

Dump Doolittle has an interesting piece on how 15% Doolittle is building his local machine, and how some people who actually care about Placer County are pushing back. It’s worth a read, but those of you who know how Republican Fundamentalists ran stealth candidates for school boards and local offices through the 80’s and 90’s will find some familiar themes. One notes as well that it should serve as an object lesson for how Dems ought to build their local organizations — without the cronyism and corruption, of course.

Propositions

Tom Hilton of If I Ran the Zoo says yes to both Prop 81 and Prop 82.

Hannah-Beth Jackson at Speak Out CA runs through some of the groups opposing Prop 82. There are a startling number of pro-big-bidness groups involved. Why would they care? Prop 82 levies a tax on the personal income of very few people. Oh, wait. That’s right — those people are likely to be big-bidness executives. Funny that.

Beep takes the Next Ten state budget challenge and finds that she probably can’t support Prop 82, because she’d rather use the tax imposed for other things. Well, fair enough, but Beep, there is nothing else on offer today, nor is there likely to be in the foreseeable future. The anti-government groups who prevent any kind of sensible fiscal policy have seen to that.

Reform

Frank Russo reports on the Assembly’s passage of AB 2948, which would throw California’s electoral votes to the national popular vote winner. Assuming it gets by the Senate and Schwarzenegger, it won’t take effect until enough states to make a majority of the electoral college also pass a similar law. I like this move. Bill Cavala doesn’t, though his objection doesn’t quite make sense to me, especially the bit where “the electoral college magnifies the voice of people from large urban states”. Last time I checked, it was the opposite. I’m open to hearing more, though.

Bill Cavala gives us the pragmatic argument against a non-partisan method for redistricting California.

Fred Keeley, contra Bill Cavala, and for non-partisan redistricting.

We may be making some headway on at least turning the rock over to expose the supporters of the astroturf advocacy that industry groups shovel our way from time to time.

Greg Dewar engages in a pleasant pipe dream where politicians don’t follow the structural incentives created by our completely FUBAR campaign finance system.

RJ Eskow takes a really smart look at an ancillary effect of state office term limits: attacking the US Rep in your district after you’re termed out of your state legislature seat. The case in point is of course the Nation challenge to Woolsey.

Immigration

Marc Cooper has an excerpt of a Republican immigration memo to the RNC from Matthew Dowd (Schwarzenegger campaign strategist). The upshot is a wall + a gastarbeiter program. See also this Frank Luntz memo on his recommended positioning for the Republicans.

Mayor Sam’s Sister City reminds us of the Prop 187 attack on immigrants in 1994. I don’t generally link to MSSC on the immigration issue, because it’s doctrinaire anti- in a generally uninteresting way, but it’s worth reading if folks want to hear from the anti-immigration crowd without as much of the Save Our State viciousness as one usually gets. (Disclaimer: all bets are off in the comments and in anything by Jennifer Solis — a reconquista conspiracy theorist.)

left i on the news has two pieces of recommended reading for those interested in the history of immigration in the United States, and the Southwest specifically.

I wonder if the nativists would sign onto a plan to put a chip in immigrants, so they can be tracked, like we do for dogs. No, seriously.

Speaker Nuñez is not happy with the deployment of the California National Guard to the border. It honestly seems ridiculous. Guard members aren’t trained for this, and it’s really just a sop to the nativist “build a wall, build it high” crowd.

Skippy points us to a USA Today editorial by Ruben Navarette on the effect of attacks on undocumented immigrants. Helpful hint: it’s not making anyone with any Latino heritage feel very welcome… now why could that ever be?

Legislative Action

In the general category of “this is interesting”, the State Senate continues to push back on Schwarzenegger’s most recent appointment to the California State Teachers’ Retirement System board. This is fallout from Schwarzenegger’s 2005 attempt to change the pension fund from a traditional pension to something more like a 401K, shifting the risk from the state to the individual teachers. Remember, he wants to put the screws to the unions, just like any hard-right Republican extremist.

Anthony Wright of Health Access California has a guest post at California Progress Report summarizing recent state legislative actions on some health-related bills. Of note: lack of Dem discipline on one bill, Republican-schmibertarian fantasies about the nature of health care and insurance in discussing another.

Skippy informs us that the Assembly has passed the Vampire Slayer Act, regulating the amount of energy that electric devices can draw on standby. I always wondered why TVs, set-top boxes, and tuners couldn’t just use a little-bit of flash memory to save settings. That way, you could actually turn them OFF without losing every pre-set you have. Couldn’t increase cost much, and you’d make the money back in the first year of electric bills.

Frank Russo has a list of pretty much everything the legislature actually got through yesterday.

Miscellany

Not specific to California politics, but here’s Jack* just because he’s smart and it’s an interesting, literate post.

daraka kenric @ hoverbike has some interesting things to say about the interface between movement politics and electoral politics.

Uneasy Rhetoric: it’s all about the schools. Isn’t it always?

If you’ve gotten this far, you deserve a reward. Props to Frank Russo for getting Will Durst to post at California Progress Report.

CA-11 CA-36 CA-41 California Legislature campaign finance Debra Bowen Election 2006 electoral reform Francine Busby Immigration Jane Harman Jerry Lewis Marcy Winograd Phil Angelides Proposition 82 Redistricting Richard Pombo Steve Westly

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Blog Roundup, education

California Blog Roundup, 5/30/06

May 31, 2006 jsw 1 Comment

( – promoted by jsw)

Today’s California Blog Roundup is on the flip. Teasers: The Enron convictions, Angelides, Westly, Schwarzenegger, Jerry Brown, Paid-For Pombo, 15% Doolittle, the CAHSEE and California’s rankings, immmigration, several interesting think posts, and more.

The One To Read

Lest we forget, Robert Silvey reminds us that the conviction of Ken Lay (devoted Bush supporter) is related to their company’s predation on California, abetted by Dick Cheney and the Republican Administration, which led in turn to the recall election of Grey Davis and the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yes, this stuff is all connected. No, that’s not a conspiracy theory.

Statewide Races

Marc Cooper plugs his own LA Weekly article on the Dem gubernatorial primary. Go read it: it goes well beyond the ordinary “how much money” and “how many ads” coverage that seems to dominate political reporting.

To paraphrase both loosely and badly from Shakespeare, Governor Schwarzenegger learns the hard way that he who pisses away his money loses only his money, while he who pisses away his reputation loses everything.

Julia Rosen from ABC posts on the amount of money the Dem candidates have put into the primary (too much, frankly). She also quotes Bill Bradley opining that without the IE campaign run by his friends, Angelides would not be doing as well as he is. I find this puzzling. By this logic, Arnold Schwarzenegger would not do well without his personal fortune or his contacts. Westly would not do well without his personal fortune ~~or his contacts~~. I see no distinction.

Randy Bayne comes out for Angelides. Oh, and Garamendi.

Julia Rosen of ABC on indecision and turnout.

Bill Cavala thinks we’re nostalgic for Jerry Brown. Could be.

In addition to Brian’s great response to Kos’ frustration with the Dem candidates for governor, you should also read Delta’s take on the atmosphere created by the negative campaigning.

15% Doolittle / CA-04

I think a “Heh, indeed” is appropriate here.

The more I read about the Republican involvement in protecting the people who were exploiting women in the Marianas (sweatshops, forced prostitution, forced abortions, rape), the more I wonder how people like 15% Doolittle can sleep at night. Family values, indeed.

Good news for the 15% Doolittle family! They’ve made up to $150,000 from their campaign contributors this election cycle!

Paid-For Pombo / CA-11

McNerney and McCloskey both want to know what Paid-For Pombo knew about the exploitation of women in the Marianas by Jack Abramoff’s clients, and when he knew it.

Paid-For Pombo: Objectively pro-global-warming.

This is disappointing. Progressive 11th reports that Filson’s FEC report suggests he’s paying for astroturf slate mailers. (More about why this is so disappointing below.)

Say No To Pombo has an interesting post about the shibboleths of “centrism” and “electability”.

Education

The Educational Justice Blog reports that the Cal Supremes have reinstated the California High School Exit Exam. They’re not pleased.

The Citizens are happier with the reinstatement of the CAHSEE.

The Capitol Observer reports on the recent National Assessment of Educational Progress state rankings: we’ve beaten Mississippi, and only Mississippi. No-one should be happy at that.

Immigration

D-Day thinks that the recent Senate compromise on immigration doesn’t suck all that much, though he doubts that anything good will come out of the conference committee. Tex Sensenbrenner provides support for that hypothesis.

Marc Cooper comes down in roughly the same place as D-Day.

Politics in the Zeros doesn’t like it.

The Talent Show is not thrilled with the Senate’s immigration bill, and gets its flaws (in the real world) just about right. The comments are worth reading, as they descend into nativist nuttery pretty fast. More from the real world here.

Other Electoral

Remember, it’s not just Republicans who are a wee bit too friendly to corporate interests. It’s certain Democrats as well. In a lot of races. The difference is that we expect better from Democrats.

Shane Goldmacher of the California Observer crossposts a Capitol Weekly piece on the nastiness of some campaign direct mail. It is useful to read this piece in conjunction with the descriptions of Gary South and Tom Mulholland in Marc Cooper’s LA Weekly piece.

Assembly Member Tim Leslie (R – 15% Doolittle) shows why he needs to be termed out, even if nobody else does.

Keeping one’s eyes on the prize in CA-50.

If you want to know what a male feminist Christian professor is voting for this June, here’s your answer.

Here are Progressive 11th’s picks.

The SCCDP blog has been following the dustup over the Silicon Valley CofC’s false attacks on Cindy Chavez, San Jose mayoral candidate. The chair of the SVCOC has resigned, and a former chair has made public his resignation from the SVCOC. Still no apology for the lie, though.

Think Pieces

Bill Cavala has a short piece at California Progress Report that nonetheless manages to be a glorious mess. He seems to be advocating public financing, redistricting reform, and the elimination of term limits as a unified platform, even while admitting that the public only supports the first of those.

Joe Dunn explains the oligopoly problem in California’s gasoline supply.

janinsanfran thinks that Mi Familia Vota is looking to go national from Florida and has some thoughts on the matter. The piece is worth reading, and not just because I agree wholeheartedly with big chunks of it.

Howie Klein on the bogus slate mailer problem. Man, I hate these things — first up against the wall when the revolution comes. I think the slimiest version I have personally seen was put out by the pharmaceutical industry last year, which recommended progressive positions on every Proposition except Props 78 and 79. Here’s a good one, though.

Incidentally, the California Club For Growth is sending out its slate mailer with the discount for “non-profit philanthropic organizations”. Related, did you know that AEI and the Heritage Institute are officially 501(c)(3) non-profits, so contributions to them are tax-deductible. Couldn’t make that up if I tried.

Other

Randy Bayne explains exactly why indexing the minimum wage to inflation is important.

Kvatch, from Blognonymous (and a few others) have been pursuing an interesting anti-war campaign.

We bloggers is journamalists. Is that a step up, or down?

CA-04 CA-11 Election 2006 Immigration John Doolittle Phil Angelides Reform Richard Pombo slate mailers Steve Westly

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Blog Roundup

California Blog Roundup, 5/24/06

May 25, 2006 jsw 2 Comments

Today’s California Blog Roundup is on the flip. Teasers:Angelides, Westly and Schwarzenegger of course, Debra Bowen, Doolittle, Pombo, Filson, Harman, Winograd, immigration, a long list of other interesting items.

Statewide Races

From ABC: Rasmussen shows Angelides & Westly each tie with Schwarzenegger, blame Schwarzenegger immigration waffling.

Down With Tyranny writes a nice long piece on the Governor’s race, explaining both why Schwarzenegger is bad news and why he likes Angelides. He’s also got an interesting anecdote in the middle about his experience with Westly.

Kos handicaps Governor’s races: not incredibly optimistic about the Dems’ chances in CA. Amusing side note: Bill Bradley calls Kos “hyperliberal” in referring to that post. Leaving aside the agenda that shows, calling Markos hyperliberal indicates a certain lack of familiarity with Markos and smacks of uncritical acceptance of Republican spin. Markos is hyperpartisan, but not so much hyperliberal. In fact, that is a point on which he’s taken a lot of grief.

Down With Tyranny endorses Deborah Bowen in the Secretary of State Dem primary and the General. He’s also got a good explanation of why the Secretary of State is an important position.

15% Doolittle / CA-04

15% Doolittle is going to be championing single payer health insurance, including vision and dental coverage. No, I’m just kidding; that would reward the undeserving poor. He thinks that’s the sort of thing all of us already have.

So of course, 15% Doolittle wants even more. See also Down With Tyranny for a bit more on 15% Doolittle’s sense of entitlement to his lobbyist lunches.

Dump Doolittle has an awesome LTE up from the Auburn Journal. This guy’s cranky, and it’s excellent.

Dump Doolittle reports that another CA-04 newspaper has endorsed Mike Holmes in the Republican Primary — this time it’s Gold Country Media, which runs several newspapers in 15% Doolittle’s District.

Paid-For Pombo / CA-11

The CA-11 Blog (a For-Filson production) has an interview with Steve Filson about Iraq. As before, I expect that Say No To Pombo will probably ask Jerry McNerney the same questions and will post the answers.

Paid-For Pombo invites big oil into the people’s house. Not just metaphorically this time.

Paid-For Pombo is also on the subpoena list in the investigation into Jack Abramoff’s ~~lobbying~~ bribery for favors for various wealthy investors in the Marianas. Pombo Watch has a press release from Pete McCloskey that outlines the issues pretty well.

The list of contributors to Paid-For Pombo is astonishing: oil, pesticide, whalers, the trapping and fur industry. Has Pombo ever seen a wild thing he didn’t want plowed under, chopped down, shot dead, or paved over? Seriously, it’s as if he’s trying to get even with the whole planet for something he thinks it did to him.

And in that vein, the SCCDP lets us know that Paid-For Pombo wants to drill in ANWR. Screw you Planet! Pombo’s going to get you for that hay fever!

Harman v. Winograd / CA-36

Journeys with Jood is not stoked about Jane Harman. She is stoked about Marcy Winograd.

So is Hoffmania, with a bonus of a commenter who reports (second-hand) about Jane Harman’s picture of herself with George W. Bush. Hoffmania also runs down (by way of the LA Times) the issues at stake between the two candidates.

Last, skippy has several people’s experiences with Rep. Harman.

Immigration

Ellen Dana Nagler on the immigration stories of two different families.

janinsanfran points out that we’ve been down this silly English-only road before.

And…

Terry Preston suggests that California apportion electoral votes by House district. It’s interesting, but kind of a crappy idea (sorry, Terry), because it requires that some other states which vote Republican and have a total of 57 electoral votes do the same thing. Ain’t gonna happen.

The Exec Direc of the California League of Conservation Voters, guest-posting at California Progress Report, points out that some consistent supporters of conservation in the State Legislature are termed out, while others are running in the primaries. Their endorsements here.

Spocko’s Brain thinks it got push-polled by Fiona Ma or an IE committee supporting her.

Terry Preston notes that Prop 73 is rolling around again, as we’ve mentioned before. Yes, well, the singlemindedness of the wealthy men bankrolling the anti-choice movement in California is notable, isn’t it.

Uneasy Rhetoric suggests that Sacramento should establish a local business incubator to encourage a unique local flavor and assist small business owners.

Guest post at California Progress Report advocating the passage of AB 651, the Compassionate Choices Act. I’m wholeheartedly in favor of people being able to choose the time and means of their passing, having had to deal with this kind of thing myself.

Randy Bayne: Fair Share Health Care rhymes, and may lead to universal health care, if played well.

One voter at a time.

Greg Dewar has the initial version of the his campaign mailer archive up and running.

Pax Nortona has an interesting post up about the effect of hardship on character and by extension, politics. Turns out (as is often true) the reality is not the myth.

Construction employment is down in absolute terms. Not so good, that.

CA-04 CA-11 CA-36 Debra Bowen Election 2006 Immigration Jane Harman John Doolittle Marcy Winograd Phil Angelides Richard Pombo Steve Westly

Uncategorized

[From NCP] Bill to propose moratorium on death penalty in CA

May 24, 2006 jsw

[Originally posted at NorCal Politics by Cheryl on December 19, 2005]

The recent execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams at San Quentin prison has brought the death penalty issue home for all of us. Many in the CA State Assembly are on board with re-examining the death penalty process in our state, and a bill has come up for a vote to re-evaluate how capital punshiment is carried out here. The bill, Assembly Bill 1121, would institute a two-year moratorium on the death penalty in Caliornia, and many assemblymen in NorCal need to hear your thoughts on this issue before the bill comes up for vote in January 2006.

According to the San Mateo Daily Journal:

The statewide commission began meeting this fall to look at potential flaws throughout the process and has 24 months to complete a final report. However, much of the work has been overlooked by those who believe it will play a role in the future of the death penalty.

“The charge of the commission is to review the criminal justice system and determine if there are cases where people are wrongfully convicted. Many believe a reversal means it was a wrongful conviction but that’s not always the case,” [San Mateo County District Attorney Jim Fox] said.

Fox, who personally opposes the death penalty, feels that the bill is unnecessary.

On the other side of the fence, Leland Yee, assembly speaker pro tem (D-San Francisco), supports the bill and believes, somewhat optimistically, that many inmates on Death Row have the capacity for rehabilitation. "We should hold them accountable and get them back to society, not simply warehouse them for the rest of their lives."

Assemblyman Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood), who co-authored the bill, says that with more than 600 inmates currently on death row in California, the bill looks to reduce the chance that a person who is innocent is executed.

"Basically, my concern about the death penalty is the accuracy of it more than anything else," Koretz said. "There is nothing more horrifying then the state committing what in essence is the murder of an innocent person."

Koretz said the bill works to exhaust every effort in making sure if someone is on death row that they are guilty of the crime they are accused of committing.

In the Bay Area, the following cities and counties have already passed moratorium resolutions:

San Francisco county

Santa Clara county

Marin county

Alameda county

Salinas

Palo Alto

Menlo Park

Oakland

East Palo Alto

Santa Cruz

Sebastopol

Berkeley

The bill comes up for vote in January. Not very many Assemblymen have given their opinon on the bill as of yet. Probably because of the holidays. Here’s your chance to make your voice heard on this issue. Write your state assemblyman today.

California Politics Death Penalty

Arnold Schwarzenegger

[From NCP] Can’t Resist A Chortle

May 24, 2006 jsw

[Originally posted at NorCal Politics by Chuck Dupree on January 10, 2006]

No doubt you heard about Ahnold’s little accident the other day, colliding with a car in Los Angeles with his twelve-year-old son in the sidecar, and receiving twelve stitches in his lip as a result. Well, according to the LAPD he was driving illegally.

There appears to be some dispute about this. Schwarzenegger’s spokeswoman Margita Thompson claims to believe that the basic Class C driver’s license allows der Gropenführer to operate a motorcyle. A CHP spokesman agreed:

“We’re not criticizing the LAPD,” Tom Marshall, a CHP spokesman, said after learning of the Los Angeles Police Department’s finding. “We haven’t seen the report. … But that’s how we read the Vehicle Code as applying.”

A quick check of the California DMV web site seems to support the LAPD.

More amusing is the CHP’s excuse for not checking for a proper license at the scene of the accident:

Another highway patrol spokesman, Steve Kohler, declined to discuss if officers had checked, or would check in the future, whether the governor had a proper license. Kohler said he could not disclose such information because it involved Schwarzenegger’s protective detail.

So, national security reasons, or the local equivalent.

Not to worry, though, the relevant licensing procedures will be followed.

Earlier Tuesday, Schwarzenegger acknowledged that he never bothered to obtain a motorcycle license because he “never thought about it.”

“I just never really applied for it,” he told reporters during a state budget briefing. “It was just one of those things that I never really did.”

You know, one of those things like considering the state budget deficit honestly, or approaching California’s energy problems without backroom deals. That kinda stuff.

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