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* The San Luis Obispo county Board of Supervisors voted to oppose PG&E’s Prop 16 power grab, citing its monopolistic and anti-democratic goals.

* Reps. Gary Miller and David Dreier are facing primary challenges from the Tea baggers. Both challengers are underfunded, but both are showing signs of nerves.

* Shane Goldmacher looks at the Controller and Treasurer races.  Mimi Walters is running against Lockyer for Treasurer, but with Lockyer’s huge war chest, he should have no problems.  John Chiang has been praised both among the financial community and the labor community. Meanwhile, Tony Stickland has to love this closing sentence at a time of the worst oil spill in history: “Strickland said that, if elected, he would push for the oil drilling proposal.”

* The City of Dana Point and the Coastal Commission are in a big fight over access paths to the coast.

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* The Republican candidates can’t attack each other enough, “poisoning” the electorate. Poor Whitman and Poizner.

* The California Democratic Party gave a couple million bucks to Jerry Brown’s campaign. In all likelihood, this was money that was raised using the party as a conduit.

* The Chronicle suggests looking to Alaska for context about how marijuana legalization might go. The state has had very strong privacy protection that has meant it was legal to cultivate and use small amounts of the drug at home for thirty-five years.

* California lags behind the nation in dental care for children.

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* CalBuzz is pretty excited about the tightening Gop Gov race. And why not, it makes for great fodder.

* How helpful will iCarly’s business “record” be for her?

* The first roadblock goes up for the CalWORKS cut.

* CalPERS has delayed their request for another 600 million bucks.

 

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* Media groups have [requested permission to air the Prop 8 closing arguments ].

* The SF Bay Guardian thinks the UC and CSU regents should quit the board of the California Chamber of Commerce. Makes sense.

* There’s a PPIC poll coming out that will have numbers in the primaries.  Whitman’s staff is spinning already.

* The NRA is telling its members to vote against Tom Campbell.

* The New York Times looks at Arnold’s attempted power play with the Coastal Commission. Long story short, Arnold is trying to limit their legal spending, which is the lifeblood of the body.

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* Some grassroots activists are starting a new website NoProp16Films.org. The video to the right is the first project.COMMUNITY SPEAKS from No on Prop16 Films on Vimeo.

* Arnold: Everything is on the table. Just not additional revenue. Even according to his staff, the cuts will be “absolutely terrible.”

* Boeing workers in Long Beach are going on strike.

* Immigration in the GOP primary has become quite the little issue.  Steve Poizner is making speeches from the border, and Meg Whitman is getting Pete “Prop 187” Wilson to cut some ads for her.  And they keep drifting to the right…

* A candidate in the CA-11 GOP Primary, Brad Goehring, (not Hermann) decided that it would be a good idea to post on his facebook page that it should be “open season on liberals” and that he “needed to thin the herd.”  He says it was a joke. I say it is outrageously offensive.

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* MapLight.org, a website that highlights money in politics, has a newly redesigned California website. Check it out.

* Sen. Boxer promoted financial reform in San Francisco today.

* Joel Fox rushes to the aid of Prop 13. Apparently pursuing rational public policy is an affront to all tax-haters everywhere.

* Gov. Schwarzenegger made a joke about Arizona’s ridiculous immigration law in a speech today.

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* Carly Failorina, CONSERVATIVE Republican, has a few new ads. Great for the primary…not so much for the general.  

* Grassroots right-wingers are not happy about the Palin endorsement of iCarly.

* Mercury Insurance says they are just trying to save you money. Right. The LA Times does the he-said/she-said on Prop 17.

* Pete Parra is running against Fran Florez for the 30th AD nomination.  This is betty BS between the two families.  The region could  do far better without the personal garbage.

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* PG&E is in hot water with the PUC again, this time on “smart meter” data.

* Poizner and Whitman are fighting for the “real conservative” label now, but we’ll see how long they seek to retain that mantle come June 9.

* Whitman’s Barbara Boxer problem.

* Mary Bono Mack is looking at a real challenge from openly gay Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet.

* More records in the brewing CSU-Stanislaus/Sarah Palin case?

* Speaking of Sarah Palin, she endorsed Carly Failorina.

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* Aww, poor Arnold. He won’t be able to use charitable contributions for his fancy lifestyle.

* Really, people? Some SF planning employees got busted for watching porn at work.

* The LibDem connection to California.

* The FPPC is moving swiftly these days.

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* Debra Saunders compares Meg Whitman’s “inevitability model” to Hillary Clinton’s, and thinks Poizner might be better situated than people are giving him credit.  That might be true, but mail ballots are going out next week. He needs some sort of knockout punch sooner rather than later. Is Goldman enough?

* Paul Rodriguez, who was going around pimping for the Resnicks and other big Fresno corporate and Westlands water interests, claims that he was appointed to the Water Commission. Arnold’s people say that’s not true. Ooh, is there a little tiff in the astroturf land?

* Speaking of water, the feds are setting up a new commission on California water issues.

* John Laird made his announcement for SD-15 official. Gooooo John!