Today’s Blog Roundup features entries from the last couple days. Teasers: CDC Council, ABC vs. BRT, minimum wage, health insurance, recent governor’s race polling, lots of CA-11 coverage, emission regulation, and immigration.

• The California Democratic Council just finished their convention, and they have a slate of endorsements. How they got missed on our blogroll / resources list is beyond me. Mea culpa.
• Alliance for a Better California does a little chest-beating over the recent ruling concerning the California Recovery Team’s campaign finance violation. It’s cool. One should be allowed to celebrate victory. In related news, ABC responds to the Republican whinging about ABC Chair Joe Nunez’s appointment to the State Board of Education and the continuing action by ABC with respect to CRT’s campaign finance violations. What were the Republicans expecting, exactly? Did they think that Schwarzenegger was buying Nunez off?
• Frank Russo of California Progress Report places in context the Governor vs. Legislature blame game and polling results.
• Randy Bayne posting at ABC discusses PPIC’s polling on Schwarzenegger’s “likability” quotient. Julia Rosen at the same shop compares the PPIC poll to another poll this week from Zogby.
• California Progress Report on the fundamental justice of inflation-indexing the California minimum wage. Schwarzenegger and the Republicans of course want to make this a continuing political football, rather than just doing the right thing for working people.
• Say No To Pombo has a discussion of the significance (or insignificance) of the presence of Pete McCloskey at recent Latino immigration rallies, and the absence of the Democratic candidates. PomboWatch has its own contribution to that conversation. There’s also an interesting post at SNTP about expanding the environmentalist base through outreach to the reasonable religious.
• SNTP also has a beef with some of the uncritical coverage of Richard Pombo’s creative relationship to the truth. Pombo Watch explores Richard Pombo’s creative relationship to science and the truth.
• Not a blog, exactly, but the NorCal Young Dems Action Caucus is planning a voter registration drive in CA-11.
• The CA-11 Blog posts an interview with Steve Filson on last year’s bankrupcty bill. CA-11 supports Filson, so don’t look to that source for a similar interview with McNerney.
• San Diego Politics does a rundown on the finances of the candidates for the CA-50 special election. Lot of self-funded Republicans there — it’s like a vanity press for revanchist political aspirants. La Prensa has apparently endorsed Busby and her sane immigration policy. Watch the Republicans lose their minds.
• nyceve at My Left Wing has a diary up about California Blue Cross running a “retroactive review department” to cancel health insurance for people who get sick. Nice. Single payer, single payer, single payer.
• Marc Cooper republishes an email from a reader of his. It’s not really pro or con on any of the various immigration proposals. It’s just really interesting.
• The Democratic Daily reports on the California Senators’ request that the EPA allow California to set its own auto emission standards. Dem Daily is a pretty heavily DLC shop — they only give Feinstein props in the headline or the lead paragraph (where they add Republican Olympia Snowe), even though both Boxer and Feinstein (and 18 other Senators) signed the letter to the EPA. So, it’s good to read to understand that part of the party.
• Old Hickory holds forth on nativism and the Mexican flag. Bouphonia reminds us of some earlier immigration concerns, which were also entirely justifiable and based on nothing but respect for the law. And Hoffmania reminds us that most of us are immigrants without proper permission — after you check that post, you should know that I’ve seen “conservative” commenters saying that Native Americans have no cause for complaint, since they didn’t have a shared language or official immigration law. Ah, principle is a fine thing.
• D-Day points out that most business don’t even try to determine the immigration status of their workers, and the government (currently run by Republicans, remember) doesn’t seem all that interested in pressing the question.

Sorry for the late blog roundup. Been nonstop on other projects today since I posted the News Roundup this morning. Teasers for the flip: More Immigration, Dumptruck of Doolittle, Deep Thoughts on CA-11, Arnolds Ads, Miscellany.

Immigration

• Apparently Arnold Schwarzenegger, or at least his staff, had some things to say about immigration in an LA Times Op-Ed. Frank Russo at California Progress Report puts Schwarzenegger’s remarks in context, which is, ah, unflattering to the Governor. Bill Bradley (occasional commenter here — Hi Mr. Bradley!) is more supportive of Schwarzenegger (Bradley’s pick for Governor in the recall), and he just can’t resist an old-old-old-school jab at people who don’t care for the term “illegal immigrant”.
• Marc Cooper has some good thoughts on immigration, including a note to the effect that the big marches around the country were driven by Spanish-language media, which went right under the radar of the English-speakers in traditional media. I think I speak for Calitics when I say that we would welcome a Spanish-language blogger to Calitics. My Spanish is good, but not good enough.
• Politics in the Zeros says we need to take it to the streets, and wonders why Kos (as a high-profile Latino immigrant) hasn’t been more active on the immigration front. I’ve wondered why Kos doesn’t have a Spanish version of the front-paged posts.
• janinsanfran has a great series of pictures from San Francisco.
• The Idiotarian Savant thinks that Bradley and Kaus have the “blowback” narrative exactly backwards.

Doolittle, Doolittle, Doolittle

• Words Have Power on the Doolittle trickle-down economics of corruption.
• Nite Swimming, riffing on the same source material, talks about the effects of that trickle. And yet again, focusing on the Auburn Dam project as reflected in local letters to the editor.
• Dump Doolittle reports an endorsement of Doolittle from what may be the most inappropriately named newspaper on the planet.
• AnthonySF at DKos has a story on what a class act Doolittle is. The punch line is awesome.

CA-11

All of these links are from Say No To Pombo:

• Time for Thomas to Drop Out?
• More McNerney Endorsements.
• Wes Rolley’s thoughts on the primary, which I can’t summarize so you just need go read them already, ok, just go.

Everything Else

• Alliance for a Better California has some good critiques of the new eentsy-weentsy Schwarzenegger ad buy: Arnold on jobs, then and now, synchronization with “non-campaign” stops, old old news. I think Dowd is reprising the Swift Boat strategy, without the vicious lies yet: make a small ad buy the story, and get the press to do your advertising for you as part of the horse-race coverage.
• Arnold hires still more consultants from Bush/Cheney 2004.
• The California Observer points us to a new California Budget Project report on the minimum wage. I’ve downloaded, but not yet read.
• Julia Rosen (Jay Rosen’s niece — whaddya know?) on Carla Marinucci’s climbing the learning curve from reporter to blogger.

Today’s California Blog Roundup is on the flip. Too much stuff for teasers. Just have a look.

Today’s blog roundup is on the flip. Teasers: Pombo’s immigration failure, BradBlog on the radio, more CA-50 Republican shenanigans, and some more Arnold doublespeak.

• Pombowatch discusses the problems that the Republicans and Richard Pombo have got with immigration and Latinos.
• Brad Friedman of the Brad Blog spent some time on-air with Carolyn Wilson Crnich, Elections Registrar of Humboldt County. Have a listen.
• The Swing State Project catches Eric Roach, one of the CA-50 Republican pack? bunch? swarm? in what looks like a pretty flagrant violation of campaign communications law. That Republican Primary is nasty, but I have to admit, it’s fun to watch Republicans play dirty tricks on each other for a change. I hope Busby’s campaign is ready to be on the receiving end of the same stuff.
• Alliance for a Better California reminds us that Candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new education pitch is more than a little different from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s education policies. Remember folks, watch what Arnold does, not what he says.

That’s all, folks.

Today’s CaliBlogger roundup below the fold:

• Daddy, Papa & Me notes that the San Francisco Archdiocese is looking at preventing SF Catholic Charities from placing children for adoption with GLBT couples. In related news, the SF Chronicle tells us that a new Field Poll finds a significant positive shift in Californian’s views of same-sex marriage, relationships, military service, and adoption. Can’t happen fast enough.
• Left I on The News draws a contrast between the amount that the proposed Santa Clara County sales tax bump would raise, and the amount of money already spent in Iraq. Bottom Line: Santa Clara County residents have spent way more on Iraq.
• Santa Cruz for Change notes that Christine Pelosi (Nancy Pelosi’s daughter) will be offering her perspective tomorrow night on the Reid / Pelosi plan for the 2006 mid-terms. I look forward to hearing that. Perhaps Ms. Pelosi can explain where regulating bloggers, coming out against Feingold’s censure resolution, and enforcing an ethics truce in the House play into that plan.
• On that note, one should read Robert Shaw’s piece in BeyondChron, and the resulting letters.
• Say No To Pombo has two good posts. First, Richard Pombo gets new House Ag Committee leadership role, no doubt to show that some good Pombo pork will come to the Central Valley should he be relected. Second, VPO suggests that some Dems switch their registration to Decline to State for the primary in order to vote for McCloskey in the Republican primary.
• The BradBlog (the place to go for all your voting machine news) points us to a great summary of the suit against Secretary of State Bruce McPherson to prevent him from certifying the Diebold voting machines for the upcoming elections. The summary, unsurprisingly, comes from State Sen. Debra Bowen, herself a candidate for Secretary of State.
• The California Observer points us to this handy list of the contributors who ponied up at the Schwarzenegger / McCain Corporate Interest Festival earlier this week.
• The Left Coaster’s paradox rips into Carolyn Lochhead of the Chron for failing to call Bush out on a flat-out lie. Note as well, toward the end of the article, the verbatim reprint of Bush’s Luntz-approved “Democrat Party” sneer, without even a [sic]. Maybe Lochhead and the Chron don’t know that the name of the party is the Democratic Party, now matter how many times the Republicans call it something else.

There’s lots of California bloggy goodness from the last couple days.

CA-50

There’s really only one story for CA-50 today. Francine Busby is coming up to the special election on April 11. She’s posted a diary on MyDD, and is asking for one more push for cash and phonebank volunteers. (Email to volunteer)

CA-4

Democratic candidate Charlie Brown receives the Californa Labor Federation’s endorsement in the Democratic primary. I note as well that Charlie Brown will be at the Plough & Stars this Sunday for a fund-raiser. That might be worth the price of admission.

CA-11

• Buzzword Alert: Pombowatch discusses the soundness, or lack thereof, of the “sound science” that Richard Pombo touts in support of his natural resource pillage plans.
• Pombowatch also points us to Richard Pombo’s real record on supporting the troops: Veterans Shortchanged I and Veterans Shortchanged II (now with extra McCloskey). Remember folks, what they do, not what they say. A scoundrel will be more eager to wrap himself in the flag than a patriot.
• Delta of Say No To Pombo has a good discussion discussion about the CA-11 Republican primary. The post is just the jumping off point — be sure to read the comments as well.
• Similarly, Matt Lockshin at SNTP posts on the California Labor Federation’s endorsement of Jerry McNerney, and contrasts it with Steve Filson’s backers. Again, the discussion in comments is worth reading.
• Down With Tyranny, by contrast, has an interesting discourse on the intervention in the CA-11 Democratic primary by Senator Boxer, Representative Pelosi, and the DC Dem establishment generally.

Statewide

• Bill Bradley tells us that the Angelides and Westly campaigns are going to stop the attack memos emailed to bloggers and reports. We at Calitics are grateful — now we can take our fingers out of our metaphorical ears.
• Shari of An Old Soul reminds us that partisan rancor in state capitols is a Grover Norquist goal, and points out some of the structural problems that help create that rancor in California.
• Alliance for a Better California points us to an LA Times article on Schwarzenegger’s big-money, fat-cat big-spending ways.
• And last, Cab Drollery points us to an LA Times Op-Ed on the political money trap generally, and the need for public campaign financing.

Think Piece

Kid Oakland on the absolute necessity of change whether we want it or not.

[Originally posted by Chris Clarke on Norcal Politics, October 19, 2005]

Tracy’s congressional representative Richard Pombo is having a bad week. Today’s Stockton Record has a prominent story – echoed in a few other local dailies – about the House Resources Committee Chairman getting into hot water for not paying taxes on junkets to New Zealand and Japan given him by an anti-environmental front group, the International Foundation for the Conservation of Natural Resources.

This comes on the heels of speculation that he may have a formidable GOP challenger in the primaries. Pete McCloskey, a moderate GOP environmentalist and rancher in the Capay Valley west of Sacramento, is speculating that unless "someone better" pops up, he is likely to challenge Pombo for the Republican candidacy in 2006. McCloskey, who once represented Anna Eshoo’s district from a sort of Green Rockefeller Republican position, is probably best known for being the first Representative to call for Nixon’s impeachment over the Watergate scandal.

Pombo is currently pushing a "rewrite" of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) through Congress that would gut many important protections for wildlife, including the already-straightjacketed Critical Habitat provisions of the act. Though the ESA has long been a Pombo bete noire, a recent poll of his constituents indicates that his advocacy of gutting the landmark law may prove a liability in his increasingly urban district. The poll, commissioned by the environmental group Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, found that nearly 60 percent of Pombo’s constituents support a strong ESA. A mere 31 percent of his constituents oppose the Endangered Species Act.

This support for the Endangered Species Act is so strong that even when respondents were read competing proposals for changing the act, a solid majority of 61 percent of constituents in Rep. Pombo’s district agreed with supporters of the Endangered Species Act. Pombo, the scion of a family that got rich buying ranches and subdividing them into bedroom communities for liberal-trending San Francisco Bay Area commuters, may yet find his family’s success has ensured his eventual political failure.

Californa Blog Roundup for March 16, 2006

All on the flip…

• Following up on yesterday’s California Observer report on Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez asking the Secretary of State about the June ballot deadline, we find that Secretary of State McPherson has responded. The answer seems to be that the deadline can probably move if the Legislature and Governor are willing to pay extra and provide somewhat less public input.
• R’s Rant asks why we need to rush the bond measure through. This seems like a good question. If we’re going to create tens of billions of dollars of new debt for ourselves and our children, maybe we should really take our time on it.
• And by default according to New West Notes (and others), it appears that we may be taking our time on it. Bradley’s follow-up post from 6.:46 this morning lays out exactly how FUBAR this process was. I know that one should never see legislation or sausage being made, but this sounds far too much like “The Jungle” for anyone’s comfort
• The CA-11 Blog (On the blogroll today, I promise), tells us that Richard Pombo (CA-11) really has no truck with the reality-based scientific community, and is apparently in favor of mercury poisoning. When politicians and corporate leaders take these kinds of stands, I always want to know what they feed their children.
• Marlene Rose at Down With Tyranny reports that John Doolittle (CA-4) is shilling for social security privatization. Doolittle has apparently never seen a bad idea he didn’t like.
• reid fan at Daily Kos attended the recent CA-50 Special Election debate and reports back, with pictures. And now, crossposted to Calitics… thanks, CarlsbadDem. Please keep coming back.
• ortcutt, also at Daily Kos, summarizes (and handicaps) the current candidates for the various California statewide offices.
• And last, but by no means least, Pombowatch has been paying attention to what looks like some below-the-radar politics by Pombo affiliates in the CA-11 campaign. It’s a little complex, so just go read it.

That’s it for today. Use the comments to let us know of other bloggy California goodness.