All right, here we go:

• Apparently SEIU, whose workers stand to be devastated by many of the In-home support services cuts, was involved in lobbying the Obama administration to advise California’s leaders that our IHSS cuts violated the terms of the stimulus. Note to GOP, that is the job of a union, to look out for their members.

• Following up on Dave’s post, Matier and Ross point out that sports teams are donating because the package doesn’t tax services, like, say, sports tickets. Note: I (Brian) work on the No on 1A campaign.

• Speaking of the special, the good folks over at CalBuzz provide their take on why “voters really, really hate the budget props.”

• I’m excited about “Meg Whitman Week,” coined by HuffPo blogger and Bill Maher writer Chris Kelly.  In this installment, we learn that Whitman uses the word “actually” a lot, actually.  She still needs media training.  Actually.

• Elected officials and other leaders on the North Coast are intrigued with the news that Arnold wants to debate the legalization of marijuana. In theory, if the drug was legalized, it is a reasonable possibility that California farmers would be the new Virginia tobacco farmers.

• And speaking of marijuana legalization, the Board of Equalization has estimated that Ammiano’s bill to legalize and tax marijuana would bring in $1.3 billion per annum for the state’s coffers.  Mark Kleiman, a UCLA public policy professor who runs the blog Reality-Based Community, says that the math is…a little hazy.

• Long-sought legislation to allow employees laid off from small businesses the same COBRA subsidy in the stimulus package as those laid off from big companies finally passed the Assembly.  The Governor is likely to sign AB 23 and allow it to take effect immediately.

• Mendota may finally get a federal prison if Obama’s budget, which appropriates it to the tune of $49 million, passes.  Mendota has over 40% unemployment, so while the prison-industrial complex shouldn’t be a means to economic security, they need the jobs.

• Mike Villines is thinking about the Insurance Commissioner’s gig. The Fresno Bee’s News Blog has him hinting at it during an event in Fresno. I love his chances to win the nomination in that race.  Against either of the two very credible Democratic candidates, Assembly members Dave Jones and Hector De La Torre.

• The Dept. of Transportation announced $67 million dollars in funding for the Metro Gold Line Eastside Light Rail Extension, which would add about six miles of light rail track through some underserved communities in East Los Angeles, expediting funds from the original 2004 grant.  The light rail line should be ready for customers by June.  This was always the hope of the stimulus package, that it would increase infrastructure and in particular mass transit.  Great decision by the DOT.

• I swear, it’s like Meg Whitman is trying new ways to make herself look ridiculous every day.  Today, she claims that she’s trying to woo non-GOP voters, especially young voters and Latinos. Oh really, Meg? Then perhaps you should work on that immigration red meatyou are tossing to the GOP base. It’s like she doesn’t think people remember what she says in different parts of the state.

• UC Berkeley’s University Health Services was hacked. Unfortunately, I (Brian) am amongst those who was in that database. Let me say how thrilled I am.

• John Myers has his Capitol Notes podcast up.

• Sam Blakeslee is the only legislative Republican in the 2008 cycle to have received money from SEIU 1000.

• San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders announced an effort today to spend $5 million in federal stimulus money on solar energy projects in Balboa Park. Joining new affordable housing projects 100% powered by solar and a program set to begin in July providing up-front costs for home solar installation, it’s another encouraging step towards utilizing green energy in an extremely sunny city.

Links:

• The new Assembly Republican Leader Sam Blakeslee is respected in the chamber. He is an interesting man with some interesting opinions. One that might intrigue our readers is his support of a constitutional convention.

• Brian McGowan takes on the myth that California businesses are fleeing the state.  It won’t work, of course, and McGowan, a Deputy Secretary for the Governor, sounds a bit like a California tourism ad, but there you are.

• The UC Regents voted to approve a tuition increase. Among the four dissenting votes was LG John Garamendi.

• A new report blames the Coast Guard, the captain, and the bar pilot for the Cosco Busan oil spill.

• We have two lawmakers at the highest levels of rewriting US energy policy, and while I generally believe in them, both appear to be faltering.  Barbara Boxer is teaming up with James Inhofe to foreground highway funding in the transportation bill instead of carving out more space for transit, and Henry Waxman has offered free permits to polluters as a means to save his wide-ranging climate and energy bill.  We have to make sure they get pressure on this from the left as well as the right.

• The recall petitions for Anthony Adams are on the streets.

You know how this works:

• Meg Whitman <3’s Van Jones? Apparently she “got to know him very well” but struggled to remember his name.  Sounds like a politician already.

• Jane Harman is really rather mildly peeved by all this wiretapping, especially when it happens to her.

• I’m trying to muster up the gumption to feel bad for Miss California, but I just can’t.  Inserting yourself into the private lives of others means that you give up the ability to be shocked when your private life becomes news.  

• Similarly, this pitying article about the downfall of Arnold Schwarzenegger does little more than make me laugh.  I guess I’m supposed to feel bad that the post-partisan action hero of the national media was “taken down.”  Of course, Schwarzenegger did it entirely to himself.  

• This may be controversial, so let me say that I, Dave, have no objection to performance-based budgeting.  Progressives should demand competent government more than anyone, because we believe that government can work to improve people’s lives.  It’s conservatives who use government as a profit-taking machine for corporate cronies.

• Pete Stark is in the hospital for a case of pneumonia.  Best wishes!  Of course, Stark is using the incident to promote health care reform.

• Apparently the OC Register thinks newly announced candidate Asm. Van Tran’s race against Loretta Sanchez will be “one of the hottest races.” The district’s PVI rating is d+4.

Despite the swine H1N1 flu scare in Mexico gradually easing, they are still canceling events. So, how about a festive open thread! Oh, wait this is California in budget crisis, so let’s just get to the links, depressing as they may be:

• Everybody in local government, grab your wallets. Arnold wants to raid local governments to the tune of $2 Billion.  Thank Prop 13 for this lovely mess, as it brought about the situation where local governments were dependent upon the state’s ability to tax.

• Repealing Prop 8 in 2010? That’s the opinion of Gavin Newsom and Rick Jacobs of the Courage Campaign.  Of course, the Supreme Court could save a lot of hassle here.

• CSU fees are going up 10%. And the shift to a government by, for, and of the rich continues…

• The No on Prop 1D campaign has some web ads on YouTube

• It is generally not a good idea for one’s sanity to read many of the comments on newspaper’s websites.  This article featuring Dan Walters answering questions about the special election has some of the most offensive I’ve seen.  Beyond the fact that apparently there are a big crew of conspiracy theorists think that there is going to be election fraud to pass the props (um…what?), the one that got me was a comment by “GNBGMO” suggesting that we scrap the school system and instead create a two-tier system. One system would simply  “wharehouse and babysit incorregibles where minimum money is spent to house the unwilling; and a superior system with small class sizes and highly motivated educators providing the very finest output for the benefit of industry and society.” This advocates for some sort of either socioeconomic division of the school system. Sure, it is never going to happen, but just the concept that somebody would think of this is offensive.

• In more promising news, the state has applied for $1 billion dollars in stimulus money for broadband development with the goal of wiring every household in California.  Closing the digital divide will increase access to information, knowledge and civic participation for a traditionally disenfranchised group of citizens, and may even lead to better newspaper comment sections!

• Carla Marinucci has the sad tale of Michael Savage’s ban from the United Kingdom.  Yup, the San Francisco dean of hate is officially not allowed in Britain. His company on the banning list includes Muslim and Jewish extremists, Fred Phelps, the homophobic preacher from Topeka, and some Russian gang leaders.

• The city of San Diego today approved the first round of mandatory water use restrictions, limiting car washes and lawn watering. It’s overdue, and likely to be just the beginning.

• Finally, it’s ugly to link to Michelle Malkin but, if you want to feel the warm flow of schadenfreude wash over you, her assessment of the California GOP is fun.

We’ve been focused on the Special today, but there’s other news from around the state:

• Joel Kotkin, one of the many Chamber friends in the media, doesn’t like AB 32, calling it a “draconian Assembly bill aimed to offset global warming by capping greenhouse gas emissions–a measure that seems designed to discourage productive industry.” Apparently Mr. Kotkin hasn’t seen or heard any of Al Gore’s work, or looked around the world for a while. Green jobs are the next big growth industry, and AB 32, designed and supported by major Republicans and Democrats, is California’s ticket to being a leader in the industry.  Either way, Kotkin doesn’t really take a long view, apparently a little sea level rise never hurt anybody, or, um, wait…

• Shane Goldmacher is leaving the Bee for the LA Times Capitol Bureau.

• The Sac Bee ed board has decided that the worst thing any company could possibly provide for their employees is time to eat lunch.  I mean, of all things!  Can’t they keep working while we hook them up to feeding tubes?  Clearly this is worth going to war over.

• An inmate in Imperial County has contracted swine flu, leading to a total suspension of all prison visits.  Fortunately we have such a crackerjack prison health care system that this will all be cleared up in a matter of days.  Meanwhile, George Skelton is right – anyone in California affected with H1N1 deserves treatment, as a medical imperative to protect the rest of the state.  Which of course is where the right-wing arguments about “illegals” always breaks down.  I look forward to reading about Skelton’s mail on Thursday.

• In addition to Jane Harman, the Swing State Project’s PVI/Vote index shows that Howard Berman votes well to the right of his district, while Bob Filner votes well to the left.  The data also show multiple Republicans in moderate districts voting like total wingnuts, such as Dana Rohrabacher, Brian Bilbray and John Campbell.  Check it out.

• The Feds want Wells Fargo to get some additional cash, as the stress tests show that they are undercapitalized.

And off we go:

• Interestingly enough, despite all the economic troubles, Dan Walters points out that California’s population is still increasing. The best estimate of population is now 38,293,000.

• Cleve Jones and Robert Haaland explain why LGBTs should support labor and the Employee Free Choice Act.  We need more progressive coalitions like this.  And Dianne Feinstein, take note of who you’re pissing off here.

• Following up on Miss California Carrie Prejean’s new gig as a spokesmodel for anti-gay marriage forces, Digby has a great history lesson on fellow beauty pageant contestant Anita Bryant and what happened to her.

• There was a bomb scare at the Capitol today.

• Oooh, an interesting campaign for a seat on the CalPERS board.

• The Governor is finally pushing for a bill offering education breaks to state National Guard members.  We’re the only state in the union that doesn’t do this.  Schwarzenegger also has a crush on Obama.

• TPMMuckraker’s Zachary Roth has been doing great work on the Jane Harman story, and he delves further into the evidence that former CIA Director Porter Goss was behind this recent leak.

Some stories that we haven’t gotten to today:

• Asm. Portantino’s AB 53 salary freeze for state employees making $150K+ got the kaibosh in Committee today. I’m still fairly ambivalent about the bill, but my concern about recruiting and retaining good people remains.

• Following up on a story from a few weeks ago, Orange County supervisors have restored some sex ed funding for Planned Parenthood, after sparking outrage for taking it all away.  This isn’t a perfect fix, but the Supes did back down somewhat.

• Sen. Boxer likes the look of her poll numbers against potential opponents. A Field poll in March (PDF) showed her with just 42% of voters “inclined to re-elect” her.  However, dig down to who might actually run against her, and that poll shows her with huge leads over both Arnold and Carly Fiorina.

• Asm. Nancy Skinner, in the wake of Arlen Specter’s party-switching, sent out a funny invite to her Yacht Party colleagues that read in part:

I want to invite all my Republican colleagues in the California State Assembly and Senate to join the Democratic Party in honor of United States Senator Arlen Specter’s decision to become a Democrat and run with us for re-election… if you act quickly, California can lead the nation rather than following.  We need 54 Democrats in the Assembly and 27 in the Senate to match this.

To RSVP, go to http://www.sos.ca.gov/nvrc/fed… and change your party registration.

Somehow I don’t think she’ll get many takers.

• Schools all over the state are closing due to swine flu. Closings included Visalia and two schools in the Bay Area.  There was also a possible case at Cal State Long Beach.

• CalPERS and STRS are pressuring Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis to resign.

• Arnold’s VA Secretary, Tom Johnson, is retiring. I admit that I don’t know too much about the man, but he seems like a stand-up guy.

To the links:

• Lawrence Lessig’s Change-Congress.org has a website arguing that the DSCC should not reject PAC money for just one Barack Obama fundraising event, but every day. Calitics Ed Board members David Dayen and Brian Leubitz were two of the original signatories.

• Gray Davis on Arlen Specter‘s party switch: “The tide goes in, the tide goes out. Times change, attitudes change. … It’s great news for now — but no one should get complacent.”  On the other hand, Yacht Party Chair Ron Nehring tweeted: “Just waiting for the professional whiners to say its’ Republicans’ fault Specter left the party. Give me a break.”  As an amateur whiner, I want to step in and say that Ron Nehring has the worst Twitter wallpaper I’ve ever seen.

• A key informant alleges that the FBI monitored Orange County gyms to obtain information on Muslim members of area mosques.  Just another reason why I love the Patriot Act!

• Asm. Jim Beall’s alcohol tax was pulled. You can queue up every bad pun, but it would have brought in a bit of cash.

• The U-T takes a look at Prop 1C.   Not only does it allow $5B in securitization now, but in theory the state could borrow additional cash in the future and changes the way the lottery works. All these changes, however, do not bring any certainty that the performance of the lottery will actually improve.

• The CA Budget Project reminds us that “the plural of anecdote is not data.” Just because one CA business leaves, does not mean there is a pattern.

• Noted real estate industry expert Robert Shiller gave an interesting reminder of California’s boom and bust housing markets and the lack of historical memory at a recent talk at Seattle Pacific University:

One amusing part of the afternoon session was a story Dr. Shiller related about a localized Los Angeles housing bubble in 1885. In describing the mentality in 1885 Los Angeles, he said that people thought “Los Angeles is special!” He also quoted from an article in the LA Times which was published during the aftermath of the collapse in 1886:

We Californians have learned something. And that is that home prices can’t just go up forever-they have to be supported by something. Never again will Californians make this mistake.

Links from around the state:

• You can say a lot of things about Lynn Woolsey (D-Sonoma), but any description almost certainly includes the words “progressive” and “fighter.”  She proves she still embodies those words today, as she was arrested outside of the Sudanese embassy after refusing to move while protesting the situation in Darfur. Donna Edwards (D-MD), Jim McGovern (D-MA), and Keith Ellison (D-MN) were also arrested with her during the protest sponsored by the Save Darfur Coalition, the Enough Project and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. Woolsey has a long record of fighting for progressive causes, and has fought for civil rights in and out of the US during her long career.

• We have not discussed the biggest political news of the weekend, the adoption by the California Air Resources Board of a low-carbon fuel standard.  This news reminds me of California’s adoption of the catalytic converter, which led to the rest of the nation following suit.  The same could happen here; but the key question is how the fuel producers will respond.  Adding ethanol to the mix would be the wrong road to go down, for example.

• Anthony Woods is getting some good press for his run at CA-10.

• Everybody panic! There have been seven reported cases of swine flu in California! Ok, maybe panicking isn’t the best approach, as all seven have fully recovered while only suffering mild flu symptoms. Swine flu is the new SARS.

• Well, Asm. Alberto Torrico’s anti-lobbying bill would surely piss off Jess Unruh. In a clear contradiction to his quote of “if you can’t take their money, drink their whiskey, [sleep with] their women and still look the bastards in the eye and vote against them, you don’t belong [in the legislature].”

• The Loma Prieta & SF Bay Chapters of the Sierra Club are trying to make fees for building permits for solar installations cheaper. Apparently there is a massive price difference across just three counties. For one system, it would cost over $11,000 in Cupertino, but less than $500 in Morgan Hill.

• Before the convention, a number of noble bills passed the State Senate, including protecting tenants when their landlords lose their buildings to foreclosure, and a bill first brought up by Fabian Nunez last year, that would be an Employee Free Choice Act for farmworkers.

• Yet more problems for the California budget – rich victims of the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme, who want refunds for state income tax on money they never received, and they have a pretty good point.  States – or more likely, the federal government – will probably lose billions on this deal.

• Joe Matthews thinks Assembly Leaders Bass and Villines might not survive a defeat of the special election.