Links:

* Peter Schrag wonders when the current Governor and the wannabes are going to pay attention to education.  He is simply dead-on. Our leaders have failed our eduction system, and all Arnold has to say about is that we need to get rid of the Sup. of Public Instruction? Nothing about his administration totally ignoring its own report calling out the failures of the system. If you have time to only read one California blog post today, this is the one.

* George Skelton wants to trade pension reform for majority vote budget. Joel Fox thinks Prop 25 is too friendly to increased spending (shock!).

* Ronald Reagan Day is a go. Wear a red ribbon.

* The FPPC is going to look at “issue” ads that are more specific as to what you should do about the issue. Under the previous guidelines, the standard for issues ads were broad and required little disclosure.

* The New York Times looks at the divide over Prop 19 (marijuana) in the African-American community.

Hey, it’s the Ides of July, and the CDP E-board is coming up tomorrow! What could be better? Let’s get to the links:

* SF Assessor/Recorder Phil Ting is holding an Oakland town-hall to discussing the split roll. The move would take commercial property off the Prop 13 system and allow them to be taxed at their current valuations. The idea is very much in the nascent planning stages, but why not head out to Laney College and talk about it on Tuesday, July 27.

* The SacBee AdWatch finds Meg Whitman’s latest attack ad to be either deceptive or outright wrong.

* The delay of the water bond is going to get wrapped up in all of the other legislative fights.

* CalBuzz wonders why Obama isn’t embracing his inner Omar.  

* There will be money to protect AB 32 by defeating Prop 23.

Links:

* Senate Leaders Steinberg and Hollingsworth are doing some side discussions on the budget.

* CalBuzz points out that DiFi has alwasy been anti-fun

* Juan Vargas hasn’t exactly won yet, but the LA Times looks at who gets credit for the win.

* The Nurses and the Queen are having quite the battle.

* Bill Lockyer says Wall Street is skeptical of high speed rail. Wall Street is ignorant of HSR’s global success but they’re ignorant of many things. Still, maybe we don’t need Wall Street at all, since China is interested in funding California HSR.

Links:

* Sen. Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks) passed away today. Best wishes to his family and friends.

* A new initiative has been qualified to gather signatures: a constitutional amendment to ban divorce. Wow, that would be something…

* Meg Whitman “invested” a million bucks in Mike Murphy’s TV/movie production studio. Kind of funny that she threw her money down that hole. It’s not clear if the move brings up any campaign finance improprieties, but it does show how stinking, filthy rich she is.

*  John King marvels at the new Bay Bridge span, but wonders about priorities. Of course, digging up the wrangling of the Bay Bridge tears at old wounds, but the fact that we will have a statement bridge will be a big positive for the Bay Area, especially for the East Bay and Oakland.

* Are you a member of CalPERS? Did you know you own a big chunk of BP? Yup, that BP.  Oh, and the pension fund lost over a billion dollars on the supposed “blue-chip” stock.

Links:

* Attack the messenger…Whitman goes after the unions because they dare challenge her.

* Voters want a little bit of everything and a lot of neither. The most recent Field poll shows voters want a governor with one crazy profile.

* Peter Shrag explains that profile polls can’t explain everything.

* New York Times takes a look at the bundle of paradox that is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Links:

* In Oakland, the after-dark “riots” basically involved a few bad actors who wanted to break and steal stuff. They weren’t, generally, the Justice for Oscar Grant people.  It’s a shame that these people interfere with the true passionate outcry from justice denied.

* The revenues for May were $54 million under expectations (.5%).  The financial statement and the summary analysis can found on the Controller’s Web site at www.sco.ca.gov.

* Mike Carona, who was convicted of corruption charges as OC Sheriff, is still collecting $215K/year from his pension.

Links:

* Darrell Issa gets written up in the NY Times as the President’s “Annoyer-in-Chief.”

* The GOP Candidate in the seat of termed out-Sen. Dean Florez wants to allow his Democratic opponent on the ballot.  Long story short, Democratic nominee Sup. Michael Rubio, lives one house outside of the district, but the Kern County elections officials had told him that he was in the district.  It should get sorted out through litigation shortly.

* Speaking of Sen. Florez, he’s working to get the Governor’s support for his overtime for farmworkers bill that has passed through the Legislature.

* RAND did a study on the effects of Prop 19’s marijuana legalization efforts. Summary: costs down, usage up.  

Links:

* Meg Whitman, in her final years as eBay CEO, presided over a huge slump for the company.

* Looks like the last remaining votes will carry Asm. Mike Villines over the top for his quest for the GOP nomination for InsComm. Hopefully Dave Jones will make him wish that perhaps he didn’t win that primary.

* Sen. Boxer kicked off a Jobs Tour, speaking today with SF Mayor (and LG Nominee) Gavin Newsom.

* Hey, lookathat…some folks understand the reason behind taxes. Lobster fisherman are lobbying to place a $300 fee on themselves for a fisheries management system.

Links for your post-Independence Day funk:

* Dan Walters wonders what is going to happen with the Water Bond now that it looks pretty certain that it will be delayed.

* Jeff Adachi and Matt Gonzales are picking a fight with San Francisco’s labor establishment with their pension reform plan that seems vaguely reminiscent of the Governor’s attempts to do the same thing.

* “Tracking” of candidates is nearly ubiquitous these days. Whitman constantly has somebody stalking Jerry Brown.  The open question is whether this really changes anything.

* Speaking of Jerry Brown, the LA Times has a story questioning whether he’s being too cheap.

Links:

* The Prop 11 commission cut the pool down to 309 candidates.  Most of the people cut were missing something on their extensive application.  So, in summary, only 300 people really cared enough to fill out this ridiculous application. In a state of nearly 40 million, we can only muster 309 people. Wonderful plan…

* CalPERS is fighting the Lehman bankruptcy plan.

* Sen. Steinberg cancelled the summer recess until the budget is done.

* Jerry Brown likes that he’s leading in a new poll, and talks some smack.