Sure, you’ve seen the Yes We Can video, but I like the M.c.Cain version.

Environment: Other news of note, it seems SB 908, which would include climate change in the science curriculum, isn’t popular with some Republicans. Science is political, I suppose. Count soon-to-be-recalled Senator Jeff Denham among the skeptics, because Denham knows waaaay more about climate science than the IPCC.

“Some wouldn’t view them as skeptics. Some would view them as the right side of the issue,” said Denham, an Atwater almond farmer who also runs a plastics recycling business.

“We don’t have complete factual information yet,” Denham said. “From what I have seen the Earth has heated and cooled on its own for centuries. I don’t know that there’s anything that is a direct cause of that right now, but we can do a better job of cleaning up our planet.” (SJ Merc 2/15/08)

Double Bubble: Don’t worry about this double bubble, thing, b/c, you know, it’s been happening for years. So, no, big, whoop, right?

Six years ago, Los Angeles County began using a ballot for nonpartisan voters that had a little-noticed design flaw. Confusion over how to mark the ballot, critics say, caused tens of thousands of votes to go uncounted in three elections between 2002 and 2006.

At the time, election officials knew that some votes were not being counted but saw no need to make changes. After all, the missing votes went unnoticed in the three primary elections and no one complained.(LAT 2/18/08)

Openness: Hey, this is an open thread. Have a great President’s Day!

On Friday we learned that 50,000 signatures to put a recall of Jeff Denham on the ballot were turned in to registrars in SD-12. Today the Salinas Californian reports that Simón Salinas is willing to put his name to voters as a replacement should the recall pass:

If (the recall) happens,” said Salinas, a former assemblyman, “I am willing to say, look at my credentials, and certainly ask for (voters’) support.”…

He said he’s played no role in the signature gathering to qualify the recall for the ballot. But if it qualifies, Salinas said, the Democratic Party needs to be ready to offer an experienced candidate.

“My concern is, if it happens, we need effective representation,” he said.

The county supervisor added that he is now ready to return to Sacramento state government.

“I have taken my break,” he said. “My son is going to be going to college, so I figure I have the time.”

Salinas used to represent AD-28, which includes the Salinas Valley (also in Denham’s SD-12) until he was termed out in 2006, and is now a member of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors. He supports closing Prop 13 tax loopholes, universal health care (though undefined as to how to achieve it), and clean money. By all accounts he’s popular in the city of Salinas, which he represents on the board of supervisors, and would presumably make a strong candidate to replace Denham.

And as we saw in 2003, the chances of a successful recall increase if you can get voters excited about someone waiting in the wings to replace the recall target. Salinas is, of course, a much better politician than Arnold, but if he can rally voters to his cause, then Denham is in even more trouble than it had appeared on Friday.

As Lucas noted in then Open Thread, the campaign to recall GOP Sen. Jeff Denham (SD-12) today announced today it plans to turn in 50,000 signatures and put the recall on the ballot. As early as this morning Don Perata wasn’t sure if he wanted to proceed with the recall but clearly he has decided to do it. From a press release sent to me by the Dump Denham campaign:

The Dump Denham effort submitted some 50,000 recall petition signatures Friday, enough to force Jeff Denham to answer to voters for breaking his promises to schools, secretly raising his own pay, and blocking legislation to help homeowners facing foreclosure.

“We’ve had enough of Jeff Denham’s broken promises, his back-room deals with special interests and his dishonest way of treating the people who elected him – starting with his very own paycheck,” said Gary Robbins, leader of the recall drive. “By signing these petitions, 50,000 voters are saying ‘we can’t wait three years for honest representation.’ It’s time to dump Jeff Denham.”

…Despite the recall petitions circulated against him through the fall, Denham continued to treat his constituents with contempt, voting to kill urgent legislation to help homeowners facing foreclosure in the subprime mortgage crisis.

“For Denham to turn his back on us when thousands of us are losing their homes – just to curry favor with some of the very the bankers who caused this crisis – was the last straw,” Robbins said.

Clearly the campaign has found its narrative, it’s “elevator speech” explaining why a recall is necessary – that Denham broke his promises on education, misled constituents to get a pay raise, and most significantly, blocked efforts to provide relief to homeowners facing foreclosure.

That last item, said to be the “last straw” by the campaign, is significant. Denham’s district, which includes Modesto, Merced, and Salinas is among the hardest hit places in the world by the bursting of the housing bubble (only Stockton is worse off). Perata obviously believes that this creates an opportunity to go after Denham, and it’s hard to disagree.

Additionally, this may indicate that the Democratic leadership in Sacramento has decided to stand and fight on the budget crisis. Putting a recall on the ballot would seem to rule out any compromise with Denham, and might signal a deeper strategy of going after Republicans who might prefer to use the same delaying tactics that they used to delay the 2007-08 budget by two months.

I’ve always felt that Democrats were in the driver’s seat on the budget this year, as opposed to last summer, and this merely adds to that view. Democrats have nothing to lose and everything to gain by refusing to destroy public education, health care, and state parks. Laying the blame for this crisis, and the housing crisis, at the feet of Republicans in this manner is very good politics and should be the basis of all Democratic campaigns against GOP candidates in the state this year.

Ultimately, this also helps us get that much closer to 2/3. We’re only two seats away in the Senate – SD-12 would join SD-15 and SD-19, where Tom McClintock! is now being termed out, as the key battlegrounds. It’s not clear when Arnold will schedule the recall (might I suggest November 4?), but the fight is now on for the state’s future.

I just wrote about Jeff Denham a couple of hours ago, but apparently Shane Goldmacher at CapAlert did a bit more digging on the Senator from the Central Valley. It seems that Mr. Denham loves taking credit for cutting his own salary, but still likes the money. You see but he puts some nice spin on it. He eats the cake from the back of the freezer, and keeps the new one for later.  Want me to break off the metaphors?

Ok, so here’s what’s up. The general theory of how Denham played these games is that he would, very publicly, refuse a pay raise. Then a month or two later, he would accept an earlier pay raise. Very sly you see. He stays just one pay raise behind the scale. A few thou a year, nothing too big. And he gets the good press for rejecting the pay raises. All very smooth, unless you have some meddling reporter following your acceptance of these pay raises. So, he gets to complain how awful those other legislators are, and how bad the budget is, all at the same time.  

Unfortunately, someone caught him.  Darn that meddling Goldmacher! Anyway, FYI, the Recall committee has now spent over $200K getting the recall going. Looks like it might actually happen.

Mr. Goldmacher even provided a handy timetable, check it over the flip…

2002

Denham is elected to the state Senate and accepts a voluntary 5 percent pay cut. “At the time, that’s what my Republican caucus was saying, we needed to cut five percent across the board,” Denham said in an interview about why he slashed his own salary to $94,286.

2005

The independent citizens panel that sets salaries for lawmakers voted to approve a 12 percent raise, the first pay increase for legislators in seven years. Denham declines the raise. He tells the Bee in September 2005, “State employees and other Californians are facing tough times right now. We’ve seen state budget deficits over the last several years. The timing for a legislative pay increase isn’t right.”

As for fellow lawmakers who accepted the raise, he said, “That’s something they’ll have to live with. That’s a decision they’ll have to make. I don’t want to be critical of my colleagues.”

2006

The independent panel raises lawmakers’ salaries for the second year in a row, this time by 2 percent. Denham declines the most recent raise.

In a July newsletter to his constituents, Denham’s office reports, “Jeff is the lowest paid member of the Legislature. When he first took office in December 2002, he actually took a voluntary legislative pay cut of 5%. At that time, the state was facing a deficit of over $30 billion. He also rejected a 12% pay raise last year.”

In November, Denham wins reelection to the Senate with almost 60 percent of the vote. In December, he accepts the previous year’s 12 percent raise and rescinds his voluntary 5 percent reduction effective Jan. 1, 2007. His salary rises from $94,286 to $110,880, according to the state controller’s office.

2007

On Nov. 29, Denham writes the state controller’s office to decline the latest 2.75 percent raise approved by the independent salary commission. Less than a month later, on Dec. 27, he again writes the controller’s office, accepting the 2 percent pay raise approved in 2006. His salary is currently $113,098. That is below the full $116,208 many of his colleagues earn. (CapAlert 1/25/08)

Senator Jeff Denham(R-SD12), who is facing a possible recall in his moderate district, is raising money. Lots of it. In fact, he found a loophole a mile wide. A loophole so wide as to make a recall attempt possibly a good thing.

According to Sen. Dehnham, there are no contribution limits to an anti-recall account. I’ve not verified this, but, I have no reason to doubt it. At any rate, I’m sure we can ask some of Gray Davis’ old campaign staff. So, in today’s Capitol Morning Report, we get this announcement for a fundraiser for Monday:

Jan. 28, Friends of Jeff Denham, Against the Recall (12th SD), reception, Sponsor $25,000, Patron $10,000, Individual $5000, “CA state law does not limit contributions to recall accounts.” 5:30 p.m., Mikuni, 1530 J St. Contact: 916 498 9223.

Feel free to give Sen. Denham’s campaign staff a call, if you so desire, but I can’t imagine there’s a whole lot of interesting conversation to be had there. But, if you offer him money, say $25K, you might get a very receptive audience. While I don’t doubt that this is legal, it should be. Both pro-recall, and anti-recall, campaigns should be limited to contribution limits. One person, yes, I’m looking at you Mr. “Step Away From the Vehicle”, should not be able to recall an elected official by himself. Similarly, one person should not be able to finance the defense of said elected official. The same thing could be said of ballot props, regarding the fact that these were supposed to be populist tools, rather than tools of the wealthy.  I suppose I would agree with that statement (and the regulation of funds for props), as well.

The Dump Denham campaign came to life in the midst of last year’s budget wrangling, helped in no small part by Senator Don Perata.  Well Jeff Denham may or may not ultimately face recall, but he’ll be termed out in 2010 if he lasts that long, and it looks like Democrats have themselves a challenger ready.  It seems that Assemblymember Cathleen Galgiani recently moved into Denham’s Senate district.

Galgiani, who succeeded the ever-popular Barbara Matthews in 2006, says she just wants to live closer to the center of her Assembly District, but it certainly is convenient that she also happens to enter SD-12.  Denham’s district is at or near the top of nearly every Dem-target list for the near future, especially as the 2/3 rule collides with the year’s budget crisis.

Just a hunch, but I’m guessing that budget flexibility is going to become a bigger issue over the course of the year, what with that whole budget shortfall thing.  And healthcare funding.  And Indian Gaming compacts.  Might just be that ambition is finding a place in all this.

Well, it appears, unsurprisingly, that Sen. Don Perata was/is at the center of the “Dump Denham” movement. From Matier and Ross:

Armed with $250,000, Perata launched a recall drive aimed at clipping the Central Valley lawmaker’s wings just as he was getting set to run for lieutenant governor.

Now, not only is that run in doubt, but Denham is also fighting just to hold onto his seat – all because of his vote against the state budget. (SF Chron 11/11/07)

Perhaps this gets us one seat closer to 2/3? I know some people will get all upset about using the recall process, but the fact remains that the tool exists. We can’t unilaterally disarm; if they use it, so should we.

I mentioned last week that the recall efforts for Sen. Jeff Denham (R-Modesto/Merced/Salinas) were getting to the signature gathering stage. Now, it seems that this movement might have some political muscle behind it after all.  When word of support from the CA Dem Party came out through financial statements, everybody assumed that they would back off. 

But Don Perata has not backed off. The process needs 31,084 signatures by Feb. 13, and it's looking like that might actually happen:

A political committee with close ties to Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata is spending thousands of dollars to try to recall a sitting Republican state senator in a move the targeted lawmaker called “unprecedented.” Campaign statements filed this week show the Voter Education and Registration Fund has spent more than $41,000 on an effort to recall GOP Sen. Jeffrey Denham. … “I do think the recall will appear on the ballot,” said Paul Hefner, a spokesman for Perata and the Voter Education and Registration Fund, “and I do think the voters of the 12th (Senate) District will recall Jeff Denham.” (SacBee 10/3/07) 

At any rate, you know Denham certainly can't like seeing this story in the Bee. I appreciate Sen. Perata's efforts to get that 2/3 majority that would have ended the budget holdout. I understand there could be some resistance to using the recall tool, however, the tool is there to be used, right?