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Whitman up for three debates; Brown still wants 10 -- We're all for candidates "challenging" each other to debates, but remember how Brown, the former governor and current state attorney general, announced last month that he was up for 10 debates? It seems like he had accepted Whitman's challenge before she even issued it. Drew Joseph Chronicle Politics Weblog -- 7/27/10 ACLU requests FBI documents related to 'ethnic mapping' -- The American Civil Liberties Union, saying portions on the FBI's operation guide invites racial profiling on the part of agents, is asking the FBI to hand over records related to the agency's collection of racial and ethnic data. SALVADOR HERNANDEZ in the Orange County Register -- 7/27/10 Funders of new pro-Fiorina group are hard to trace -- Today in Los Angeles, a group called The Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles announced what they say will be a $1-million campaign for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina. But finding out where the money comes from -- if and when it actually does come -- is virtually impossible. Anthony York in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/27/10 Star endorser at Latino "values" event to help Fiorina -- the 2008 Queen of SF Gay Pride Parade? -- That "Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles" fundraiser in Los Angeles to reach conservative Latinos, celebrate "Tus Valores" (Your Values) and help U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina had an interesting twist: among the star celebrity backers in the lineup was Mexican-born telenovela star Karyme Lozano -- who also happens to be the crowned Queen of the 2008 San Francisco LGBT Pride events and parade. Carla Marinucci Chronicle Politics Weblog -- 7/27/10 Host of Fiorina event in Sacramento endorses Boxer -- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina might have picked the wrong restaurant to announce her Latino outreach effort. David Siders SacBee Capitol Alert -- 7/27/107/27/10 Hiltzik: Oil industry is driving force behind Proposition 23's attack on California's new greenhouse gas regulation -- If a ballot initiative is known by the company it keeps, we should be just a teeny bit suspicious of Proposition 23, the Nov. 2 measure designed to eviscerate California's new greenhouse gas regulation. Michael Hiltzik in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/27/10 Lawsuit against Bell suggests voter fraud in 2009 election -- A lawsuit filed Monday by a former Bell police officer makes a variety of serious allegations about city officials and suggests voter fraud in a 2009 election. Richard Winton in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/27/10 Whitman accepts Fresno debate; Brown is pondering invitation -- Remember right after the June primary when Democrat Jerry Brown said he'd debate Republican Meg Whitman any time, any place? Whitman has agreed to a Fresno debate on Oct. 2 at Fresno State, but Brown's gubernatorial campaign will only say the debate is under consideration. Jim Boren Fresno Bee News Blog -- 7/27/10 Whitman downplays White House ambitions -- Appearing on “Good Morning America” on Tuesday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman emphasized her tenure as chief executive of EBay, saying her experience at the company gave her insight into the conditions needed for small businesses to thrive. And she said she had no plans to run for higher office if she were elected governor. Michael J. Mishak in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/27/10 Senate Republican ranks hold against campaign bill -- Senate Democrats failed to attract a single Republican vote on the DISCLOSE Act Tuesday, effectively defeating the bill and casting doubts over whether any campaign finance measure can pass the upper chamber before the November elections. MEREDITH SHINER Politico James Oliphant in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/27/10 Poll: Boxer and her hair are in the lead -- The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is shopping around a new poll that shows incumbent U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., leading GOP nominee Carly Fiorina by nine percentage points – and Boxer’s hair leading Fiorina’s by five. Josh Richman Political Blotter weblog -- 7/27/10 Sacramento Bee to co-sponsor governor's debate -- Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has agreed to participate in a September debate co-sponsored by The Sacramento Bee. Other sponsors of the event, to be held September 28 on the UC Davis campus, are KCRA, Capitol Public Radio and the University of California, Davis. Amy Chance SacBee Capitol Alert -- 7/27/10 Amid bickering, Whitman and Brown agree to two fall debates -- In politics, it's all about the spin. Take, for instance, a news release issued Tuesday by the Meg Whitman campaign that proclaims, "Meg Whitman Challenges Jerry Brown to Three Fall Debates." It was an interesting take given that Brown, the Democratic attorney general, issued the debate challenge to Whitman and her GOP primary rival, California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, at the state Democratic convention in April. Michael J. Mishak in the Los Angeles Times Martin Wisckol in the Orange County Register -- 7/27/10 NRSC moves to help shape Fiorina’s message -- Politico reports that Brian Jones, a former Republican National Committee communications director and senior communications advisor to John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, has been tapped by the National Republican Senatorial Committee to give former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina a hand in her race against incumbent U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. Josh Richman Political Blotter weblog -- 7/27/10 Democrat Navarro leaves 'door open' for GOP -- One of the Inland Empire's most outspoken Democratic activists says he is unhappy with the county Democratic Party and is considering promoting Republican candidates for local office. James Rufus Koren in the Inland Daily Bulletin -- 7/27/10 Former Bell police officer alleges serious voting irregularities in 2009 election -- A retired Bell police sergeant claimed in a lawsuit filed this week that off-duty Bell police officers in the 2009 election distributed absentee ballots to voters and told them which candidates to select. Andrew Blankstein and Richard Winton in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/27/10 California makes finals for Race to the Top funds -- California is one of 19 states to advance to the final round. Thirty-six states applied for a piece of the roughly $3 billion in federal stimulus dollars that will be awarded to states who best demonstrate a commitment to achieving the Obama administration's education goals. Torey Van Oot SacBee Capitol Alert -- 7/27/10 Tauscher diagnosed with early stage cancer -- Former Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher, a top arms control official in President Obama administration who represented the East Bay for 14 years, has been diagnosed with early stage cancer of the esophagus, according to ForeignPolicy.com. Lisa Vorderbrueggen Political Blotter weblog -- 7/27/10 California, other states agree to carbon trading system -- California and 10 other states and Canadian provinces have moved ahead with plans to create a $260 billion market for buying and selling pollution allowances. Rick Daysog in the Sacramento Bee -- 7/27/10 Lopez: 'Hello, Nathaniel': Ayers' trip to D.C. one of uncertainty, triumph -- When he spun a dream on skid row using two violin strings, the musician never would have envisioned a command performance at the White House. Yet, here he is. Steve Lopez in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/27/10 Judging Vaughn Walker on Gay Rights -- The federal judge ruling on same-sex marriage is gay, and those on both sides say it's irrelevant. Kate McLean Bay Citizen -- 7/27/10 Untangling The Local-State Knot -- Talk to enough veterans of the world of California government and you come to realize that one key element in 'fixing' what ails the state may be trying to untangle the complicated, and often dysfunctional, relationship between cities and counties and the state Capitol. Again. John Myers Capitol Notes weblog -- 7/27/10 Cruickshank: Jerry Brown's Flawed Pension Plan -- As progressive activists across America organize to fight the looming "cat food commission" proposals to destroy the futures of working Americans by slashing Social Security benefits and raise the retirement age, Jerry Brown is now proposing to do the same here in California - in this case with cuts to public employee pensions: Robert Cruickshank (Calitics) Cal Progress Report -- 7/27/10 Pentagon can't account for $8.7 billion in Iraqi funds -- The reconstruction money was from oil revenue it was entrusted with between 2004 and 2007, according to a newly released audit that underscores a pattern of poor record-keeping. Liz Sly in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/27/10
Schwarzenegger: No budget til he leaves office? -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger caused a stir in the Capitol Monday when he told reporters he wouldn’t sign a budget that didn’t include long-term reforms, even if it means the state goes without a new spending plan until he leaves office in January. Dan Weintraub HealthyCal.org Shane Goldmacher and Anthony York in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/27/10 Steinberg gets tough: fires consultant, fires back at Arnold -- Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg apparently wore his tough guy outfit to work Monday (replete with spurs and holster), firing a political consultant and then firing back at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for saying he wanted all his demands met in the budget. Steven Harmon Political Blotter weblog -- 7/27/10 What labor may like best about Brown: He's not Whitman -- Unions are giving the candidate plenty of financial support, even though he has made no commitment to their causes. Michael J. Mishak in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/27/10 Ohio coal company that backed Fiorina also gave to Prop. 23 -- Appalachian coal interests pump hundreds of thousands of dollars into political campaigns each election cycle, but hardly any of the money finds its way into California campaigns. Lance Williams California Watch -- 7/27/10 GOP reserves $1.75M for ads in California Senate race -- Republicans have reserved $1.75 million for television ads to help Carly Fiorina in the final week of the California Senate race. The commitment signals GOP optimism about unseating three-term Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in November. KEVIN FREKING AP -- 7/27/10 Whitman's new ad goes soft focus -- Perhaps her internal pollsters are whispering that those Jerry Brown-bashing ads aren't working, as Meg Whitman released a new 60-second radio ad Monday that's all soft-focusey about Meg's time CEOing eBay. Joe Garofoli Chronicle Politics Weblog -- 7/27/10 Democratic donor gives $5 million to Prop. 23 foes -- Thomas Steyer, a San Francisco hedge fund manager and a big backer of Democratic candidates, will donate $5 million to a group opposing the ballot measure to roll back California's landmark climate change law. Rick Daysog in the Sacramento Bee -- 7/27/10 Bay Area pours donations into pot legalization campaigns -- Campaign contributions from California supporting the legalization and taxation of marijuana have largely come from the Bay Area, with the Tax Cannabis 2010 campaign sponsors leading the charge, according to state campaign finance reports. Mandy Hofmockel California Watch -- 7/27/10 Bell council agrees to roll back its salary 90% -- City Council members in Bell unanimously agreed Monday to give up their controversial $96,000-a-year salaries and instead draw only $673 a month – a 90% decrease. Ruben Vives in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/27/10 As top Bell officials earned massive salaries, city workers were laid off -- The city cut more than $800,000 from public safety and community services the same year that it gave City Manager Robert Rizzo an $82,000 raise. Kim Christensen, Scott Gold and Hector Becerra in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/27/10 CalBuzz: Chris Finnie: Missing the Point About the Grassroots -- Calbuzz recently highlighted a link to Talking Points Memo, headlined “Meg Whitman Copies Obama Playbook,” in which writer Christina Bellantoni argues that eMeg’s $150 million campaign for governor is effectively cloning the president’s 2008 operation. Sorry boys, but Christina’s clueless. Chris Finnie CalBuzz -- 7/27/10 Walters: Long California budget stalemate could affect Prop. 25 -- Remember the state budget? The one that the state constitution says should have been done by June 15 for a fiscal year that began on July 1? Dan Walters in the Sacramento Bee -- 7/27/10 Allies take opposing stands on Prop. 22 -- A November ballot initiative aimed at protecting local transit, transportation and redevelopment funds from state raids is pitting normally allied groups against one another. Marisa Lagos in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/27/10 A first: Bakersfield Dem puts up $20K for radio ad opposing pot legalization -- Unless you live in the Central Valley, odds are that you would never have heard of the campaign of Michael Rubio, a Kern County supervisor running for state senate in Bakersfield. Joe Garofoli Chronicle Politics Weblog -- 7/27/10 Maldonado's family farm settles tax bill with IRS -- The lieutenant governor's brother and father paid $111,146 in back taxes Monday but said they were doing so "under protest" because they dispute the charge. Jack Dolan and Shane Goldmacher in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/27/10 GOP win could lift Inland influence -- As Republicans eye a takeover in the House of Representatives this fall, two Inland congressmen are well positioned to reap the benefits. BEN GOAD in the Riverside Press -- 7/27/10
Court adds more time to minimum wage clock -- A Sacramento Superior Court hearing today wound up pushing back the date for when attorneys will again debate whether Controller John Chiang must issue minimum wage paychecks to state workers. The upshot: No minimum wage for state workers now at least through September, and quite possibly well beyond that. Jon Ortiz in the Sacramento Bee -- 7/27/10 SB400 pension boost: uncanny forecast unheeded -- As CalPERS publicly said a decade ago that a major pension increase, now targeted for rollbacks, could be paid for with investment earnings rather than higher state costs, its actuaries made a startlingly accurate forecast of the impact if earnings fell short. Ed Mendel Calpensions.com -- 7/27/10 Oakland council puts parcel tax on ballot -- Oakland's City Council on Monday night agreed to put a four-year, $360-per-parcel tax on the November ballot to fund police and fire services, a condition that the police union demanded before it would agree to have members pay toward their pensions. Matthai Kuruvila in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/27/10 San Diego Sheriff and DA get $10,000-plus raises -- Sheriff Bill Gore and District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis got five-figure pay raises this month, The Watchdog has learned. Gore’s annual salary jumped by $10,400 a year, to $218,504. Dumanis’ pay climbed by $11,461, to $240,739. Jeff McDonald in the San Diego Union-Trib -- 7/27/10 SEIU attacks rival union's tentative deal with L.A. -- Engineers and Architects Assn. is voting on an agreement that would boost workers' contributions to healthcare costs. SEIU argues it would set an unacceptable precedent for other city worker unions. David Zahniser in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/27/10 Sacramento's empty storefronts finding tenants -- After an epic collapse in the market two years ago, retail vacancy rates in greater Sacramento fell slightly in the second quarter, according to a new report by broker Colliers International. It was the first decline in vacancies in three years. Dale Kasler in the Sacramento Bee -- 7/27/10 Silicon Valley jobless tap retirement plans to survive -- With few prospects on the horizon, some of Silicon Valley's jobless are sacrificing future retirement security for day-to-day survival. Pete Carey in the San Jose Mercury -- 7/27/10 Oracle's Ellison: Pay King -- Larry Ellison, founder and chief executive of software maker Oracle Corp., topped the list of best-paid executives of public companies during the past decade, receiving $1.84 billion in compensation, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of CEO pay. SCOTT THURM in the Wall Street Journal -- 7/27/10 Google: Good enough for government work -- The tech firm wins a key federal security clearance and introduces new applications for government customers. Jessica Guynn and David Sarno in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/27/10
UC professors raise doubts about online degree plan -- The University of California's interest in offering an online degree is opening a new chapter in the debate over online education. Laurel Rosenhall in the Sacramento Bee -- 7/27/10 Fensterwald: Not from 90210? Beverly Hills says, ‘Out’ -- The decision by Beverly Hills Unified School District to kick out many non-resident students, starting this fall, portends trouble for the state’s new open-enrollment law, allowing students in the state’s worst performing schools to transfer to better schools in other districts. Many of the state’s wealthiest districts may end up deciding to steer clear of the program. John Fensterwald educatedguess.org -- 7/27/10 Smaller school districts also cutting instructional days -- Smaller districts throughout the state are being forced to shorten their school year in response to the state's budget crisis. Louis Freedberg California Watch -- 7/27/10 Cal Poly Pomona receives $42-million cash grant, largest in Cal State history -- The gift from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation will be given over five years and used to expand education opportunities for underrepresented students. Carla Rivera in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/27/10
Valley-L.A. water deal may be in works -- West-side farmers look to swap this year's surplus for additional supplies next season. Mark Grossi in the Fresno Bee -- 7/27/10 Sacramento County may open 20,000 acres to development -- Supporters say supervisors are being sage, freeing space for the region and its economy to grow. Detractors say they are abdicating their primary responsibility: to engineer transit-friendly "smart growth" over sprawl. Robert Lewis and Phillip Reese in the Sacramento Bee -- 7/27/10 Wind farm 'mega-project' underway in Mojave Desert -- The Alta Wind Energy Center — with plans for thousands of acres of turbines to generate electricity for 600,000 Southern California homes — officially breaks ground Tuesday. Tiffany Hsu in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/27/10
California emergency rooms average 274-minute waits -- Patients visiting California emergency departments waited an average of four hours, 34 minutes last year. That's two minutes longer than they waited in 2008 and 27 minutes longer than the national average. Joanna Lin California Watch -- 7/27/10 California to send e-mail notice of health insurers' plans to hike rates -- The state Department of Insurance has begun alerting customers by e-mail whenever health insurance providers submit planned rate hikes to the agency. Bobby Caina Calvan in the Sacramento Bee -- 7/27/10
'We are all Arizona,' protesters in LA say -- Unfurling "Stop Racist Arizona Law" banners from freeway overpasses during morning and evening rush hour, immigration reform activists Monday kicked off a week of demonstrations against that state's tough new law that takes effect Thursday unless a federal judge intervenes. Tony Castro in the Los Angeles Daily News -- 7/27/10 Fontana woman joins hunger strike for Dream Act -- A Fontana woman joined a hunger strike outside Sen. Dianne Feinstein's offices in Los Angeles Monday, in hope of calling attention to the need for federal legislation that would pave the way for illegal immigrant students to become citizens. Josh Dulaney in the San Bernardino Sun -- 7/27/10 Saunders: Free pass for sanctuary cities? -- The Obama administration had gone to federal court to kill Arizona's new illegal-immigration law, scheduled to go into effect Thursday. Debra J. Saunders in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/27/10
Oakland City Council Agrees to Tax Cannabis -- The Oakland City Council voted 5-0 to tax medical marijuana dispensaries and growers 5 percent of their total revenue in a meeting Monday. Under the plan, Oakland will also levy a 10 percent tax on recreational pot if state voters pass Proposition 19 and legalize the drug in November. Kate McLean Bay Citizen -- 7/27/10 Oxnard wonders if there's another name for it -- The seaside city in Ventura County is looking to boost tourism and improve it's image. One idea: changing its name to Oxnard Shores. Steve Chawkins in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/27/10 Chuck DeVore: Talk show host -- DeVore says his guest hosting gig is “an extended job interview” to see if he’s got the chops to host his own radio program, full time. BRIAN JOSEPH in the Orange County Register -- 7/27/10 David Blackwell dies at 91; mathematician, UC Berkeley's first tenured black professor -- Blackwell, who taught at Berkeley for nearly 35 years, was also the first black scholar in the National Academy of Sciences. The item is in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/27/10
President Obama to Appear on ‘The View’ -- President Obama will be joining the hosts of “The View” this week, in an appearance that ABC said would be “the first time in history a sitting United States president has visited a daytime talk show.” BRIAN STELTER in the New York Times -- 7/27/10 |
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