Former Senator Carole Migden (D-SF) had been toying with the idea of running for Supervisor in the 10th district here in San Francisco.  It seems she has decided that it wouldn’t be such a good idea:

Alas, “the reality of what that would have meant, including moving, was just too complicated,” the South of Market Democrat said.(SF Chronicle)

Alas, she was tripped up by the complication of moving from SoMa to the Bayview. As somebody who has moved out of SoMa once, I’ll testify to it being a pain in the butt. There’s no parking and you get people honking at the truck. It was really an annoying day.

Yeah, I could see how one day of moving hell would make you want to not run for office.  

Tomorrow’s the big day (depending on your perspective I suppose), with local, legislative and proposition votes going on all over the state and the Montana and South Dakota primaries wrapping up the Presidential calendar.  There’s speculation that Sen. Clinton will suspend her campaign tomorrow night, plus an easy dozen congressional primaries to watch, the Leno/Migden/Nation battle royale, I’m masochistically fascinated by the San Diego mayoral race- the list goes on.

It looks like I’ll be holing up for a bit at the Obama watch party at the W Hotel here in San Diego. I’ve also heard that local Young Dems will be at The Shore Club and City Council candidate Todd Gloria will be gathering with supporters at The Local. So that’s a random and incomplete collection of spots around San Diego…What city/bar/restaurant/corner of your house will you be reporting from as we all obsess tomorrow evening?

Today is the last day to register to vote. Personally, I'd like to see same-day registration. After all, we are living in the era of cheap and tiny computers. This is a fundamental fairness issue, legal voters simply should not be turned away. Nonetheless, here's the voter reg SoS page. Other interesting stuff:

•  Frank Russo writes about a S-USA poll in the Rumble in the Bubble (SD-03). (I do some work for Leno.) Leno leads overall 42 -22(Nation)-21(Migden). Besides the fact that Leno is the only candidate with net favorables, a number of note is the breakdown for “liberal” voters. Leno leads that category 47-21(Migden)-17(Nation).
• The Bay Guardian has released the audio of their endorsement interviews at their 2008 spring election center. I'm a big fan of news media outlets releasing such interviews.  Good work SFBG!
• The elected delegates met yesterday in Sacramento. They talked, chose more delegates, and generally had a good time. The media seems to want to make this some sort of bloodbath, but it seems there was more about unity than anything else.
• Another item to be slashed in the next budget: Aid for California's disabled.  Perhaps the legislators will go and help some of these Californians themselves? Maybe set up an oxygen tank here, help in the process of dressing there.  I think Roger Niello and Mike Villines would be excellent at that. After all, they want to cut these funds, so why not provide a bit of their time in leiu of the money that is so desperately needed.  That would help, right?  Ok, not so much.
• Skelton points out the truth: the 2/3 requirement for budgets is “ludicrous.” 

Democrat Lockyer, a former state Senate leader and attorney general, traces California's budget woes back to the 1978 passage of Proposition 13 — the historic property tax cut — and Sacramento's subsequent decision to bail out revenue-short local governments and schools.

“We've been bailing the sinking ship ever since,” he says. “This may be the year when we have to say, 'OK, we're going to make these awful cuts and voters are going to see what the consequences are.' That's kind of a scorched-earth approach, but people somehow think that the budget is going to be balanced by the tooth fairy.

“I don't like it, but there are days when I think that voters need to persuade themselves and reluctant legislators that cuts like these are unacceptable. It's time to do whatever needs to get done to escape this annual torture.”

I'd start by placing a measure on the ballot allowing budgets to be passed by a majority vote — as they are in 47 other states.

But a two-thirds vote is what's ludicrously required today. So the legislators and governor must deal with it.

Greg Pettis, in his 14th year as Cathedral City Councilman, former-Mayor Pro-Tem of Cathedral City, and Candidate for the CA 80th Assembly District, has now received the endorsements from every member of the California Legislative Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Caucus in Sacramento.  Pettis has widespread support in the LGBT community Nationally, State-wide, and locally because of his progressive stands on issues important to the LGBT communities: Pettis fully supports the HIV/AIDS communities, universal healthcare, a strong local economy, good local schools and responsible academic oversight, a healthy environment, equality and justice for all Californians, and mentoring other members of the LGBT community.

More below the flip…

Pettis’ support in the National, State, and local LGBT communities includes but is not limited to:

National:

U.S. Representative Barney Frank (D-MA)

U.S. Representative Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)

State:

Every LGBT Caucus Member in Sacramento:

CA State Senator Christine Kehoe

CA State Senator Sheila Kuehl

CA State Senator Carol Migden

CA State Assemblyman John Laird

CA State Assemblyman Mark Leno

Local:

Palm Springs City Councilmember Ginny Foat

Palm Springs City Councilmember Rick Hutcheson

Cathedral City City Councilmember Paul Marchand

Desert Hot Springs City Councilmember Karl Baker

LGBT Organizations and LGBT Community Leaders:

Desert Stonewall Democratic Club

Vice-President Desert Stonewall Democrats Roger Tansey

Treasurer Desert Stonewall Democrats Bob Silverman

Secretary Desert Stonewall Democrats James Reynolds

Membership Chair Desert Stonewall Democrats Lynn Worley

Public Relations Chair Desert Stonewall Democrats Donald W. Grimm, Ph.D.

Steering Committee Member Desert Stonewall Democrats Bob Mahlowitz

Steering Committee Member Desert Stonewall Democrats Richard Oberhaus

Steering Committee Member Desert Stonewall Democrats Greg Rodriguez

Steering Committee Member Desert Stonewall Democrats Robert Lee Thomas

Steering Committee Member Desert Stonewall Democrats Lynn Worley

Political Action Committee Member Desert Stonewall Democrats Bond Shands

Desert Stonewall Democrats Member Bill Cain-Gonzales

Equality California

HRC Board Member Andy Linsky

Inland Stonewall Democratic Club

Co-Chair Palm Springs Democratic Club Sandy Eldridge

Co-Chair Palm Springs Democratic Club David Pye

Secretary Palm Springs Democratic Club Peter East

San Diego Democratic Club

Victory Fund

Pettis is the only Democratic candidate who has indicated publically and consistently that he fully supports issues important to the LGBT community, including Marriage Equality.  In fact, two of his opponents, Rick Gonzales and Richard Gutierrez, have indicated publically that they will vote ‘nay’ on any Marriage Equality bill if elected as Assemblymember to represent the 80th AD.  Victor Manuel Perez has stated publically that he supports equality for all, but consistently avoids stating whether he will or will not vote for Marriage Equality.

Thus, Pettis is not only most qualified to represent the Coachella and Imperial Valleys as per The Desert Sun, but is also the most committed and will most represent all of their interests in Sacramento as Assemblyman (forty percent of the population in Palm Springs are members of the LGBT community, sixty percent of the population is LGBT-identified during the ‘season’).  Recently, most of the major electeds in the West Valley have been openly-gay or openly-lesbian, including former Mayor of Palm Springs Ron Oden, Mayor of Palm Springs and former-Palm Springs City Councilmember Steve Pougnet, Palm Springs City Councilmember Ginny Foat, Palm Springs City Councilmember Rick Hutcheson, Palm Springs Unified School District Trustee Justin Blake, Desert Hot Springs City Councilmember Karl Baker, Cathedral City Councilmember Greg Pettis, and Cathedral City Councilmember Paul Marchand.  Other electeds in the West Valley have endorsed Pettis for the 80th AD, including Palm Springs Unified School District Trustee Meredy Schoenberger and Cathedral City Clerk Pat Hammers.  The only ones of these mentioned not endorsing Pettis for 80th AD are Oden and Blake, the latter not endorsing anyone thus far.

Also, unlike other campaigns for the 80th AD, Pettis is reaching out to all communities in the Coachella and Imperial Valleys, not deigning to divide the communities along race, class, sexual orientation or other lines of distinction.  In fact, Pettis has widespread support in the wealthier cities in the District including Palm Springs, Palm Desert, and Rancho Mirage as well as in the less advantaged communities like Cathedral City, Desert Hot Springs, Coachella, Brawley, and El Centro.

Members of the LGBT Caucus endorsing Pettis include Assemblymember John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), chair of the caucus,

According to a press release from LGBT Caucus chair Assemblyman John Laird (D-Santa Cruz):

Formed in June 2002, the role of the LGBT Caucus is to present a forum for the California Legislature to discuss issues that affect LGBT Californians and to further the goal of equality and justice for all Californians.  Formation of the LGBT Caucus made California the first state in the country to recognize an official caucus of openly-LGBT state legislators.

Members of the LGBT Caucus endorsing Pettis include Assemblymember John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), chair, Senator Christine Kehoe (San Diego), Senator Sheila Kuehl (D-Los Angeles), Senator Carole Migden, and Assemblymember Mark Leno (D-San Francisco).

Accomplishments and activities of the LGBT Caucus that Pettis is committed to help to further and to accomplish as a State Assemblymember representing the Coachella and Imperial Valleys:

Champion and prioritize laws/legislation that promote equality for LGBT Californians:

Equal rights and responsibilities for same-sex couples and their families

Prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender in employment, housing, and business establishments / public accommodations

Prohibit discrimination in state government

Prohibit discrimination and harassment in public school

Promote fair policies and adequate funding for HIV/AIDS and LGBT-related health and human services

Promote prevention programs and policies against hate-crimes and bias-motivated violence

Sponsor annually the LGBT Pride Exhibit every June, celebrating Pride Month.

Present before the California State Legislature the LGBT Pride Recognition Awards, which are given to outstanding individuals in recognition of their extraordinary accomplishments and leadership in their respective fields of endeavors.

Assemblymember John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) was first elected to the California State Assembly in 2002, and re-elected in 2004, and in 2006,  Laird represents the 27th Assembly District, which includes portions of Santa Cruz, Monterey, and Santa Clara Counties.  Prior to being elected to the State Assembly, Laird served two terms on the Santa Cruz City Council, two terms as Mayor of Santa Cruz, and eight years as a Cabrillo College Trustee.

In his role as Budget Committee Chair, Mr. Laird helped deliver the first on-time budget since 2000-a budget that reduced community college fees, restored funding for transportation and K-12 education, dramatically increased funding for deferred park maintenance and foster care, and increased the budget reserve while reducing the so-called “out year” deficit. Along with the Budget Committee, Mr. Laird also serves as a member the Labor and Employment, Judiciary, and Natural Resources Committees.

Raised in Vallejo and educated in Vallejo public schools, Mr. Laird’s parents were both educators. He graduated from UCSC’s Adlai Stevenson College. In 1981, Assemblymember Laird was elected to the Santa Cruz City Council. He was elected by the City Council to one-year mayor’s terms in 1983 and 1987, becoming one of the first openly gay mayors in the United States.

Assemblymember Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) was first elected to the Assembly in 2002,  Assemblyman Leno represents the 13th District, which encompasses the eastern portion of San Francisco.  He is one of the first two openly-gay men ever elected to the State Assembly.  He currently chairs the Assembly Appropriations Committee, which oversees all bills with a fiscal impact on the state of California.  Leno also serves on the Election & Redistricting and Labor Committees.  Leno was also chair of the Public Safety Committee from 2003 to 2006.  Prior to his election to the State Assembly, Leno served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from April 1998 to November 2002.  Leno has also been in the forefront of Marriage Equality battle with the recacitrant Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in sending the Governor Marriage Equality bills each year which Schwarzenegger then terminates with a veto:

While in the Assembly, Leno has fought for better schools and access to higher education, a cleaner and sustainable environment, universal affordable and quality health care, improved transportation, renewable energy, safer streets and equal rights for all Californians.  In 2007, Leno is continuing his pioneering battle for LGBT couples and their families by authoring AB 43, the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act. This historic civil rights legislation would allow same sex couples to marry in California . In 2005, Leno’s nearly identical AB 849 was the first marriage equality bill in United States history to be approved by both houses of a state legislature.

A native of Wisconsin, Leno attended the University of Colorado at Boulder, then went on to become valedictorian of his graduating class at the American College of Jerusalem, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree. Leno also spent two years in Rabbinical Studies at The Hebrew Union College in New York . He is the owner of Budget Signs, Inc., a small business he founded in 1978 and operated with his life partner, Douglas Jackson. Together the two entrepreneurs steadily grew their sign business until Jackson passed away from complications relating to HIV/AIDS in 1990. This deep loss would not deter Leno. Instead, he redoubled his efforts in community service.

Senator Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) was first elected to the State Senate in 2004, to represent the 39th Senate District,  Senator Kehoe chairs the State Senate’s Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee.  In 2006, Kehoe chaired the Senate’s Local Government Committee where she sponsored the most important redevelopment reform bill in more than a decade:

Senator Kehoe is a member of the Senate Committee on Budget & Fiscal Review; Natural Resources & Water; Transportation & Housing; Local Government, the Governor’s Broadband Task Force, the California Cultural and Historical Endowment; and the Sea Grant Advisory Panel.  

She also serves on the Select Committees on Defense and Aerospace Industry; the Natural Resources and Water’s Subcommittee on Delta Resources; the Joint Committee on the Arts; and the Select Committee on Coastal Protection and Watershed Conservation.

Prior to being elected to the Senate, Kehoe served two terms as a California State Assemblymember representing the 76th District (2000-04).  

During her first term in the State Assembly, Kehoe distinguished herself by becoming the second woman ever – and the first woman from San Diego, to be elected Assembly Speaker pro Tempore, the Assembly’s second highest-ranking position.  In her first year in the State Assembly, she carried the largest energy conservation bill package in the state’s history.  

Prior to being elected to serve California’s 76th Assembly District, Kehoe served seven years as City Council Member representing San Diego’s Third District. As a Council Member, Christine was at the forefront on environmental issues, serving as chair of the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee. She led efforts to improve and beautify San Diego, reduce street crime, and improve recreational opportunities for families.

State Senator Sheila James Kuehl (D-Los Angeles) was first elected to the State Senate in 2000, and again in 2004, after serving for six years in the State Assembly. During the 1997-98 legislative session, Senator Kuehl was the first woman in California history to be named Speaker pro Tempore of the Assembly. Kuehl is also the first openly-gay or lesbian person to be elected to the California Legislature.  A former civil rights attorney and law professor, Kuehl represents the 23rd Senate District in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.  She is the chair of the Senate Health Committee and serves as a member of the Agriculture, Appropriations, Environmental Quality, Joint Rules, Judiciary, Labor and Employment, and Natural Resources and Water Committees.  Kuehl is also chair of the Select Committee on School Safety and Chair of the Select Committee on the Health Effects of Radioactive and Chemical Contamination.  Kuehl previously served as chair of the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee from 2000-2006:

In her thirteen years in the State Legislature, Sen. Kuehl has authored 171 bills that have been signed into law, including legislation to establish paid family leave, establish the rights contained in Roe vs. Wade in California statute, overhaul California’s child support services system; establish nurse to patient ratios in every hospital; require that housing developments of more than 500 units have identified sources of water; further protect domestic violence victims and their children; prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender and disability in the workplace and sexual orientation in education; increase the rights of crime victims; safeguard the environment and drinking water; many, many others.  Since 2003, she has led the fight in the legislature to achieve true universal health care in California, and, in 2006, brought SB 840, the California Universal Healthcare Act,  to the Governor’s desk, the first time in U.S. history a single-payer healthcare bill had gone so far. Undaunted by its veto, Senator Kuehl continues to work to bring universal, affordable, quality health care to all Californians.

She was selected to address the 1996 Democratic National Convention on the issue of family violence and the 2000 Democratic National Convention on the issue of diversity.  In 1996, George magazine selected her as one of the 20 most fascinating women in politics and the California Journal named her “Rookie of the Year.”  In 1998 and, again, in 2000, the California Journal chose her as the Assembly member with the greatest intelligence and the most integrity.  In 2006, the Capitol Weekly picked her as the most intelligent member of the California Legislature.

Prior to her election to the Legislature, Senator Kuehl drafted and fought to get into California law more than 40 pieces of legislation relating to children, families, women, and domestic violence.  She was a law professor at Loyola, UCLA and USC Law Schools and co-founded and served as managing attorney of the California Women’s Law Center.

Senator Kuehl graduated from Harvard Law School in 1978 where she was the second woman in the school’s history to win the Moot Court competition.  She served on the Harvard University Board of Overseers from 1998 to 2005.

Senator Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) represents the 3rd District in the California State Senate, which includes the eastern half of the City and County of San Francisco, all of Marin County, and portions of Sonoma County.  Senator Migden was first elected to the Senate in November of 2004.

Currently, Senator Migden is chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus and also serves as Chair of the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee.  In 2004, she began serving as Chair of the Appropriations Committee:

Prior to being elected to the Senate, Carole Migden served as Chairwoman of the California Board of Equalization (BOE); the nation’s only publicly elected tax commission; represented San Francisco’s 13th District in the California State Assembly; and for five years served as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

During her tenure at the BOE Senator Migden worked to modernize the state’s outdated tax system and manage taxpayers’ money responsibly. Her accomplishments at the BOE included strengthening domestic partners’ property rights, leveling the playing field between Main Street and on-line retailers, protecting California’s precious open space, and advocating for increased revenues to fund vital services by eliminating obsolete tax breaks.

In the State Assembly, Migden served for five years as Chairwoman of the Assembly Committee on Appropriations. She was the first woman and the first freshman legislator to chair that influential committee. For four years she also served as a conferee on the state’s Joint Budget Conference Committee, which writes the final version of California’s state budget.In that time Carole Migden authored legislation to create California’s landmark domestic partner registry, promote children’s health, preserve the old growth Headwaters Forrest, increase accountability in K-12 schools, protect borrowers from predatory and deceptive lending practices, protect consumers from manipulation by energy generators, and promote the use of emergency contraception.

Senator Migden has received numerous awards for her service. California Journal named her among California’s power elite of women elected officials and awarded her with their “Rookie of the Year” award in 1998, taking top honors in the categories of most integrity, most intelligence, hardest working, most ambitious, and most influential. She received “Legislator of the Year” honors in 1999 from the California School Employees Association and in 2001 from the California National Organization for Women (NOW), as well as leadership awards from prominent environmental and civil rights organizations. She continues to receive high honors in California Journal’s annual rankings, including “Quick Study” in 2002.

Carole Migden is a longtime member of, and current super-delegate to, the Democratic National Committee. She also served as chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party for eight years.

Ok, so last week, I thought all this hubub about the Light Brown Apple Moth was much ado about nothing. I hadn't even seen one, and they didn't seem to be bugging me.  So, I didn't get what Arnold's big rush to spray pheremones or what not on to the Bay Area.

Things have changed. Last week a friend of ours was over at our house. It was a fine afternoon, the weather was nice, so we spent the time chatting outside.  We get to the conversation of this little moth. Turns out that our friend, a big shot lawyer at a video game company to remain nameless, is the patient zero of the Light Brown Apple Moth scourge upon her city.  She claimed they were all over her apartment, and sure enough, we went down there, and there they were. Sneaking around her place. I put the pieces together, she travels all over the world for work, and she has tons of them in her house.  How much more evidence do we need? Well, how much more was answered the next day when we saw some of the little buggers around our house.  Now the things are all over our house.  Apparently the've really taken to the Bay Area, and I'm pretty sure she's the vector.

Now, they don't seem to be really bothering me at this point here in SF, they're just annoying. But, I say, get some helicopters or bush planes, or whatever it takes, in the air, and let's get to dumping all sorts of chemicals on my fair city. What's a little caplet of inhaled pseudo-moth pheremones compared to some bugs in my house? What could possibly go wrong when we drop a chemical on to heavily populated urban areas? Really, I can't think of anything. Sure, some judge said the state can't spray, but whatever, let's do it anyway. 

Ok, I kid, but follow me over the flip..

The LBAM is an interesting parable of our increasingly globalized society. Bugs from other parts of the world are here. Some are annoying, and some are real problems. The problem with the LBAM isn't necessarily what it does or doesn't eat at this point, the damage totals are mere guesses.  But from most reports that I've read, it seems that the LBAM is a bad thing, but it is no MedFly. But what's more disturbing is the failure of the state and federal governments to have early warning systems and clear protocols that allow for public comment and discussion.

The LBAM was found by a retired UC-Berkeley entimoligist in his backyard, but nobody was actively looking. Nobody.  The next great super-pest could be reaching our shores today, and we likely wouldn't know for years. With the food supply getting tighter and tighter as the world's population grows, we need to learn how to better manage non-native pests. We need to be vigilant from a planning perspective at the front.  Because an ounce of prevention is worth a few tons of cure here:

The light brown apple moth, the ravenous crop-eating Australian pest detected in at least 11 California counties since mid-March, “was probably here a very long time prior to its discovery and it’s probably far more widespread than currently delineated.”

***

“However, once a pest has a major foothold, it’s very difficult to eradicate it,” said [UC-Davis entomologist James R. Carey]. “While state and federal agricultural officials often talk about eradicating a ‘population,’ in reality, this requires eradication of thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of mini-populations/pockets. Thus, anything short of 100 percent elimination of these thousands of pockets is control, not eradication.”

From the perspective of a city-dweller, we need to be prepared to explain, and back up with hard evidence, any proposed or actual treatments for the pests. It's not that urban residents are distincty opposed to measures against these species, it's that, in the case of the LBAM, nobody bothered to explain to us what was about to be dumped on to our cities.  That's why the residents (and elected leaders) of the County of Santa Cruz and other localities fought the spray so hard. It's not that the name sounded a bit scary (which it did…Checkmate, yikes!), it's that there were no conclusive studies showing the safety and efficacy of these synthetic pheremones.  It's that nobody bothered to mention until a few days that we would soon be inhaling Checkmate into our systems. Heck, in SD-03, all three candidates, Leno, Migden, and Nation, are talking about this little moth more than you could possibly imagine.

Thus there are competing forces here, because eradication requires speed, and due process requires a deliberate, uh, process. Of course, we can gain extra time through better advance detection, but we also need to improve our preparation for future pests. So, better research, but also a streamlined system that will allow public debate over whether the ends justify the means for each insect.