( – 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?

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.

Today’s California Blog Roundup on the flip.  Teasers:  Schwarzenegger’s steadfast commitment to saying whatever he thinks people want to hear, Westly & Angelides, immigration / mother tongues / National Guard, CA-04, CA-11, CA-50, other fun stuff.

Race for Governor

• At Alliance for a Better California, Juila was whacking Schwarzeneger like a piñata over the weekend. First, she notes that Arnold seems to be trying to buy off the voters with his sudden leftward shift. Then, Arnold abandons George Bush for the election, at least. Last, Arnold’s consistent first person singular followed by excuses.
• Bill Cavala (guest-post, CPR) thinks that the way the Democratic gov’s primary is being fought won’t really make a difference in the November general.
• Scott Clayton of Get Your Blog Up is not so optimistic. He thinks that Californians (especially the SoCalis) are pretty much “and a pony” thinkers, and worries about the tax-and-spend attacks from Schwarzenegger.
• Dan Ancona at Speak Out California responds (implicitly) to Scott. Did you know that California’s tax system is regressive overall? Also, Angelides’ people respond to the Westly “$10 Billion” ad at Speak Out CA.
• The Mad Professah endorses Angelides.
• The Pragmatic Progressive semi-endorses Westly (and makes some endorsements in other races as well).

Immigration Issues

• Ariel doesn’t like the Senate’s recent vote to make English the official US language. Nope, not one bit.
• Martini Republic thinks that we should purge the Spanish place names. I agree, and since the Catholic Church is immigrant-friendly, let’s get rid of the Catholicism as well. I, for one, want to live in Frank, California.
• And a post you really should read on this language issue: “ The Language Policy Debate” By US West (a Citizen).
• Marc Cooper reprints a NYT Editorial on the immigration mishigas (that last is a foreign word). It’s shockingly sensible.
• Frank Russo collects a variety of source materials on the issue of deploying the California National Guard at the Mexican border.

Paid-For Pombo / CA-11

• CQ Politics gives us their view of the CA-11 race. The anger at Paid-For Pombo’s reflexive hatred of the planet is center-stage.
• In that vein, it appears that Paid-For Pombo is feeling the heat. He’s started to be for destroying the environment in committee, but against destroying the environment on the floor of the House. Come on, Paid-For! Be a man! Destroy the environment all the time or not at all. And don’t forget to lie about how much the environment hates America.
• Down With Tyranny on the importance of the CA-11 primary for grassroots politics.
• Jonathan Singer of MyDD interviewed Jerry McNerney.
• The CA-11 Blog tells us that the Cook Report has moved CA-11 into “Lean Republican” from “Likely Republican”.

15% Doolittle / CA-50

• It’s possible that the Auburn Journal (15% Doolittle’s hometown paper) has endorsed Mike Holmes in the Republican primary. And this sort of thing may be why.
• Words Have Power reminds us that 15% Doolittle has already pocketed $37,500 of the $250,000 that Dick Cheney has raised for him. I wasn’t aware that it was possible for money to be tainted in that many ways.
• One more time: 15% Doolittle is corrupt.

CA-50, Miscellany

• Down With Tyranny on the importance of the CA-50 special election runoff for grassroots politics. Yes, it’s the same post.
• Dogged Blog asks the question nobody dares to ask: “ Is Gavin Newsom pretty enough to be President?”
• Robert Haaland of Left in SF takes Debra Saunders to task for her attacks on the LGBT community. Frankly, Saunders’ work is barely worth the pixels it takes to display her name, but I can understand why Robert was ticked.
• Loni Hancock, guest posting at California Progress Report, explains that the high school exit exam is not a best practice.
• The Santa Clara County Dems blog finds the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commmerce crossing the line in their recent mailer for the San Jose mayor’s race.
• Good gravy, mandated term limits are stupid.

The Buzz from the SacBee mentioned an article in the Washington Post about Doolittle’s wonderful campaign finance practice of using campaign funds to pay for baby-sitting for his 14 year old daughter:

CHILD CARE, most any parent knows, can be a huge expense. Some members of Congress, though, have found an innovative — and brazen — way to defray the cost: Their campaign funds pick up the tab when child care is needed because the candidate is out campaigning. A leader in this creative billing is Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.), who has had his campaign reelection committee and his leadership PAC pay $5,881 in child-care costs since 2001 for his daughter, now 14. This election alone, Mr. Doolittle’s campaign committees have paid almost $975 in child-care bills to a woman who lives near his family’s Oakton home.
***
This may be permissible under the lax guidance of the congressional enablers at the FEC. That doesn’t make it right. It’s the attitude of congressional entitlement to a subsidized lifestyle — cut-rate private jets, lavish private travel — that drives public disdain for Congress. Mr. Doolittle makes $165,200 a year as a member of Congress. His wife has already taken in close to $100,000 in commissions this election as his fundraiser. They should just pay the sitter, as other working parents do.(Washington Post 5/16/06)

But Doolittle has a habit of using campaign funds as his own personal piggy bank.  He, like many other GOP congressman, see the letter of the law as the only boundry, and only their vision of the law.  That they violate the spirit of laws, or any ethical constraints that most people would stick to seems to be a nonissue.  Doolittle is amongst the most egregious examples of this.  And it appears that the only thing that will stop him from running his own little fiefdom is a loss in November.

The DCCC is a really great bunch of people who are very successful.  Ok, sorry, I need to stop laughing now.  Anyway Rahm and the crew are finally considering supporting a candidate against 15% Doolittle:

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said Wednesday that it thinks it may have a shot at unseating Rep. John Doolittle, who is listed as among the most powerful members of the California congressional delegation in a nonpartisan survey out this week.

“The DCCC is very interested in this race and will possibly invest in it,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., the committee’s recruitment chief. Citing the Roseville Republican’s associations with key players in two congressional corruption scandals, Van Holleen said, “All the signs are good in this district.” (SacBee 5/18/06)

How forward looking of the DCCC.  They are challenging a corrupt Republican.  Wow, how ever did they come up with that idea?  Ol’ 15% has been cheating hhis consituents and the country as a whole, and you are going to think about sending some money in this direction.  Well, Representative, I suggest you think real hard about it.  California has been very, very good to the DCCC, perhaps it’s about time that the DCCC returns some attention in this direction.

And to the Democrats in this race: they are Lisa Rea, a Sacramento-area insider who has worked at the California Legislature, Charlie Brown, a retired Air Force helicopter pilot, and Mike Hamersly, a former whistleblower on large tax shelter fraud and employee of the California franchise tax board.  While it wouldn’t take much to improve upon 15% Doolittle, both Rea and Brown would be welcome additions to the California Congressional Delegation.

(Bumped for visibility over my long front-pager(s) – promoted by SFBrianCL)

Today’s California Blog Roundup is on the flip. Teasers: November initiative preview, the race for governor (money and TV ads, same as always), the budget process, education stuff, reform stuff, 15% Doolitle, Paid-For Pombo, immigration, typical Republicans, CA-50, CA-45, urban living.

Initiative Preview

John Myers runs down the likely November ballot initiatives, which apparently don’t include the initiative to constitutionalize religious opposition to homosexuality. We’ll be writing more about these as the summer wears on.

Governor’s Race

• More money for Schwarzenegger from the usual suspects.
• More money for Westly from the usual suspect.
• New ad from Phil Angelides, and a promised new pro-Anglides IE ad from the unions. And one more new ad each from both the Angelides and Westly campaigns.
• Greg Dewar wants you to tell him about the campaign mailers you get.

Education

• Assembly Democrats lay out their differences with Governor Schwarzenegger with respect to, vis-a-vis, and regarding the new budget. Alberto Torrico (AD-20), chair of the Assembly Transportation Committee thinks that Schwarzenegger is shorting transportation costs.
• Educational Justice Blog reminds us that the big chunk of education funding in Schwarzenegger’s budget is only there because ABC and the CTA browbeat the Governor into actually keeping his promise. Why is it that Schwarzenegger needed to be pursued by the very people he attacked last year in order to keep a promise he made to the children of California?
• California Progress Report has a guest piece expressing concerns about the high school exit exam.
• The Mad Professah has written a thoughtful (and brief) post on the high school exit exam.
• Randy Bayne is not so impressed with Sheila Kuhl’s proposal to call out the contributions of GLBT folks in California textbooks, arguing that it perpetuates labelling. I would have agreed with Randy once, but the problem is that almost everyone assumes that people (historical or otherwise) straight unless it’s pointed out that they’re not. Not mentioning a difference like that continues the assumption that GLBT folks haven’t contributed.

Reform & Reformers

• Californians are interested in non-partisan redistricting: SCA 3, Common Cause, and the League of Women Voters.
• Debra Bowen would like $25K from the grassroots (which one has to assume includes the netroots). If you give, throw on a penny so they know where it comes from.

Immigration

• Marc Cooper reacts to Bush’s immigration speech: tried to steer a middle course without offending anyone, and in the process, offended his base. The discussion in comments is worth reading as well.
• Tom Hilton points us to a story in which an undocumented immigrant is paid below minimum wage, fights her employer on it, and then, surprise surprise surprise, is “anonymously” reported to INS. To the extend that undocumented immigration may depress wages in certain sectors, that would be why.
• Ms. Geek has Round 2 of an immigration discussion she’s been hosting / having.
• Old Hickory’s Weblog is talking sense, and so is sure to be ignored.
• David Neiwert is not in California, but this post is worth a glance.
• Does anyone remember Cheech Marin in “Born in East LA”? The Republicans do. Papers, please.
• Ooooh, shiny!

Paid-For Pombo / CA-11

• Apparently, Paid-For Pombo is feeling the pinch on his sacrifice of the California salmon fisheries. So, the correct response is? You guessed it: destroy marine sancturies. The guy is a one man cascade failure.
• Paid-For Pombo is all about stifling dissent, both in committee and in his campaign.
• It seems that the Pombo-McCloskey debate was a slugfest. Good.
• If I lived in CA-11, I would not vote for Pete McCloskey in the general, although I don’t think he’s a bad guy. I think a Republican majority in the House is a bad thing. The Republican Party is just too corrupt and too destructive for the few remaining honest Republicans to try to rein in. Pete McCloskey is not really a modern Republican, a charge also made by Pombo’s people. McCloskey takes umbrage and responds, proving that he’s not a modern Republican.
• Jerry McNerney on renewable energy, at Daily Kos.

15% Doolittle / CA-04

• Courtesy of Down With Doolittle, this SacBee graphic showing the CA-04 candidates.
• It’s GOOD to be on the Appropriations Committee!
• 15% Doolittle hearts sweatshops. And sweatshops heart 15% Doolittle.
• 15% Doolittle also hearts his kids, so much so that he pays for their child care out of his campaign funds. Y’know, if 15% Doolittle’s wife didn’t work outside the home collecting the family kickbacks, if they had a more traditional marriage and better family values, maybe 15% Doolittle wouldn’t have to rely on his campaign donors to take care of his children.

General Purpose Republican Corruption

• Just so we’re all clear about Paid-For Pombo and 15% Doolittle, VP Dick Cheney is coming to California to raise funds for them. Three of a kind: self-dealing extremists with nothing but contempt for democracy and civil liberties.
• Still more corruption from California Republicans. This time it’s Ken Calvert (CA-44), with a classic scam: buy some land, legislate to increase the land value, sell some land, repeat until wealthier.
• Down With Tyranny continues to do yeomans’s work on the avatar of Republican corruption that is Jerry Lewis (CA-41). See also this from Pacific Views. California Republicans must be so shameless proud.

The Rest

• Now Bill Hauf is in the CA-50 primary race. Jon Fleischman must be very happy.

Also, AnthonyLA at DailyKos documents the Republican lies in CA-50 and asks, inter alia: “This is the guy that isn’t conservative enough for the California Republicans?”

• Uneasy Rhetoric puts up a good discussion of the perceived costs and benefits of living in a far-flung suburb vs. living in a city center.
• That Mad Professah is talking about AD-45 again. This time it’s about LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s endorsement.
• California Republicans at their finest.

It’s big, it’s belated, it’s bloggy. Today’s California blog roundup is on the flip. Teasers: Republican corruption, Angelides, Westly, Schwarzenegger, 15% Doolittle, Paid-For Pombo (and CA-11 generally), CA-50, immigration, net neutrality, voting machines, auto insurance.

Republican Corruption

• Now-classic Republican corruption from Jerry Lewis (CA-41). Bottom line: if you elect people who say they don’t believe in government, you shouldn’t be surprised when they steal from the taxpayers.
• Down With Tyranny has more … lots more … on Jerry Lewis’s corruption.
• Even more interesting: Schwarzenegger has taken over $87K from Brent Wilkes and associates. Seriously, pretty much every dollar Wilkes gives is tainted. It’s all gotten through bribery of politicians, and generally intended to be bribery OF the recipient politician.
• Pombo corrupt? CREW (and pretty much every vertebrate on the planet) believes that to be the case. Now if only a congresscritter would file CREW’s ethics complaint…
• Let’s see… 15% Doolittle took $82,000 in “campaign contributions” from Brent Wilkes (favorite bribery partner of many Republicans) which nets out to… $12,300 for Doolittle personally. I’m told that every man has his price, but it’s interesting that Doolittle’s is so very low.
• Wow, just wow. The House Republicans actually demanded that Nancy Pelosi remove Mollohan from the Appropriations Committee. I think that may be the paradigmatic example of gall.

Governor’s Race + A Little About Bonds

• Schwarzenegger continues to run away from his party in the hopes that everyone will forget his 2005 power grab. Today’s issue: offshore drilling. I wonder how he feels about the intentional throttling of refinery capacity to increase oil company profits?
• Run away, Arnold, run away. Maybe we’ll forget.
• This is interesting. Schwarzenegger ensures light regulation of levees to ease the way for developers to make money building behind them. No concern for the people who buy the houses, though. The developers will have already made their cash.
• Julia Rosen on the air war in the Democratic gubernatorial primary.
• Randy Bayne on the bonds in the race for governor. Frank Russo on the same topic.
• Frank Russo on the divisions on the Republican side over the bonds. Also, Frank thinks that the bonds were the right thing to do for the state, regardless of the fallout. Me too.
• The Mad Professah is happy that both Westly and Angelides are supportive of equal rights for GLBT Californians. He promises an endorsement next week.
• California Observer has a rundown of the consultant situation for the three major candidates for governor. In exponentially increasing order of consultant-richness: Angelides, Westly, Schwarzenegger.

Paid-For Pombo / CA-11

• Richard Pombo’s hometown newspaper comes out for McCloskey in the Republican primary in CA-11. So does the Sacramento Bee (and they endorse Filson in the Democratic primary). The Merc endorsed McCloskey and McNerney.
• The League of Conservation Voters has endorsed Pete McCloskey, as has the California Teachers’ Association.
• The Progressive 11th has a summary of McNerney & Pombo news.
• Down With Tyranny endorses McNerney… again. No, seriously, it’s worth a read.

CA-50

• SD Politics has Busby tied with Bilbray on June 6 in a SurveyUSA poll. Could be an outlier, though. SD Politics also asks a good question: if Bilbray can’t get his party to line up behind him, can he get voters to do so?
• Speaking of that, apparently another extremist Republican is considering running against Bilbray.

15% Doolittle / CA-04

Dump Doolittle has one of the best letters to the editor that I think I’ve seen. Also, they’ve got the SacBee’s endorsement of Mike Holmes in the CA-04 Republican primary.

Immigration

• Ms. Geek walks through some of the issues that should be considered in thinking about immigration policy.
• So does janinsanfran.
• It’s not from California, but let’s be clear: Nativism has a long history in the US and it almost always sounds exactly the same.

Net Neutrality

• Nancy Pelosi comes out for net neutrality. We are pleased.
• Greg Dewar has a long piece on why net neutrality is important, given that individuals have very little choice about their internet provider. Actually, it’s an extended rant on how his ISP has failed him, but it amounts to the same thing.

Other

• Someone explain to me again exactly why electronic voting machines are a good idea. I’m just not seeing it.
• I’m stoked. Dave Johnson at Seeing The Forest has a rare post on California politics, and it’s even on auto insurance. Specifically, it’s on the auto insurance companies’ anti-Garamendi IE campaign.
• The Educational Justice Blog posts on Governor Schwarzenegger finally starting to keep his word on repaying the money borrowed from school funding. (A word to the wise: Just because you can do all kinds of fun things with font size and color, doesn’t mean you should.)
• John Drzal rips into Wally Herger for the classic bait-and-switch Republican tax tactic.