EARTH TO SPEAKER HASTERT — WE HAVE A PROBLEM…IN THE 50TH CD.Today, House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert will be appearing in San Diego at a fundraising event for federal lobbyist and former Congressman Brian Bilbray. Bilbray, as you know narrowly (by 1%) won the GOP side of the special election to fill out the unexpired term of former-Congressman-now-convict Randy "Duke’ Cunningham. Hastert’s visit is motivated by one factor — he wants to keep this ‘safe GOP’ seat represented by a Republican. Well, here is something very important for the Speaker and other national Republican leaders to understanding. As a matter of fact, they need to really etch it into their brains:

BRIAN BILBRAY GOT SUCH A SMALL SLIVER OF THE TOTAL VOTES CASTS FOR REPUBLICANS, SOME OF THEM CROSS-OVER VOTES FROM DEMOCRATS AND INDEPENDENTS. HE IS GOING TO HAVE A EXTRAORDINARILY TOUGH TIME RALLYING GOP… Read More

The infrastructure bonds that the legislature put on the November ballot this morning will re-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger. Already armed with advantages over either of his Democratic opponents on taxes, driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants, and Jessica’s Law, the presence of bonds providing money for road, school and levee construction gives Schwarzenegger an issues arsenal that will be almost impossible for either Steve Westly or Phil Angelides to defeat.

The two strongest arguments against Arnold’s re-election — the criticisms that took him down in last year’s special election — have been that he has accomplished very little in office and that he’s short-changed the state’s schools. Earlier this week, it was announced that the state would take in roughly $4 billion more in tax revenue than had been anticipated. It’s a virtual certainty that Schwarzenegger will use the majority of that money to repay money that the teachers’ unions have argued he owes K-12 education, leaving his Democratic opponent to argue that they would have increased school funding one year earlier than Arnold did.… Read More

As I write this, the California State Senate is voting on the various components of the BIG BOND$ deal. First to pass was this Prop. 42 ‘fix’ that would go on the ballot, though there is nothing in the other bonds requiring the Prop. 42 fix to actually pass for the bonds to also be authorized. This is key since the CTA opposes the fix. Also voted out was the Levee Repair Bond, as well as a one-time emergency appropriation of $500,000. They started a vote on the Housing Bond, but apparently Republican Leader Ackerman was not there, so that has been held open. Votes underway for the Transportation and the Education Bond measures.

And the State Assembly has just called their members into session… [UPDATE (Midnight): The Senate passed, with TWO Republican votes (the minimum # of GOP votes to give Democrats a 2/3 vote) the Housing Bond measure. The two GOPers that sold-out on that vote: Senators Dick Ackerman and Bob Dutton. Very disappointing.]

[UPDATE II (12:10am): Just got off of the phone with Dick Ackerman, who… Read More

For those of you up late, there is still no update out of the legislature. There is a lot of discontent among GOP legislators over the SUBSTANCE and the PROCESS tonight. I’ve spoken personally with five members tonight who were quite frustrated at the ‘expectation that they would feel comfortable voting on something with which they are unfamiliar, and which they have not had an opportunity to adequately review.’

PROP 42 "FIX" PROBLEMS – NOT TIED TO BOND PASSAGE – AND OPPOSED BY CTA Problems with the package abound — from the ten-ton gorilla, this multi-billion dollar ‘housing’ bond (this is code for government redistribution of wealth — borrowing from all of the taxpayers to subsidize one segment of the population), to factors such as the fact that the Prop. 42 fix is not in any of the bond packages, but, rather is introduced as a separate ballot measure. There is no language stating that the 42 fix must pass for the bond measures to go into effect. This becomes important because the… Read More

In the mad rush to push through Bond measures to meet the imaginary deadline, Democrats didn’t make the text of the proposals available until around 5 p.m. Since then, staffers all around the capitol and in the legislative office building have been scouring them.

The word is that upon examination, the final language isn’t quite what as agreed upon in the “Secret Squirrel” Big 4 meeting – that now they are having to figure out exactly what was changed.

This is illustrative of the kinds of things that happeb when you try to rush through things.

Time to put on the brakes.

[Update: Assembly Floor session has now been delayed until 8 p.m. Delays will start to play into a new drama. This weekend is supposed to be a big GOP Legislative ‘cashectomy’ on donors in Wine Country. Wouldn’t it be just like the Dems to keep everyone in session…?]… Read More

Not much to report by way of an update, other than to say that if the bond package as it sits now comes out to vote tonight, it would be a high-drama affair because there are a lot of GOP legislators who are not going to vote for a package tonight, and probably not THIS package at all.

That said, there are lots of meetings going on and somebody somewhere is trying to convince your legislator to borrow your money to pay someone else’s rent or help them buy a house.

Nice.

[Imagine THIS nightmare – a plan that gets just enough GOP votes to get onto the ballot — then the Governor campaigns FOR the bonds, while a great many of his supporters (myself among them) spend the fall campaigning FOR the Governor and AGAINST the bonds. The Democrats must be salivating, indeed.]… Read More

After talking with several folks "in the know" inside of the State Capitol — it is clear that the legislative sessions hastily scheduled for this afternoon are pre-mature. It would appear that Perata and Nunez are somehow trying to push Republicans into making a speedy decision.

To that I say – PUT ON THE BRAKES.

The only rush here is an imaginary deadline that doesn’t exist. What is the advantage of a speedy vote? Well, it seems like there might be two of them that are the most obvious:

I would counsel legislative Republicans that not rushing into a vote, and taking the time to review this proposal (and subsequent proposals if this one doesn’t cut the mustard) is the prudent thing to do. Taking some time would allow legislators to do some pretty… Read More

After a long city council meeting 4 of the 5members of the West Covina City Council and the City Manager were looking to relax and get something to eat. They innocently traveled 20 minutes away to the Dal Rae in Pico Riveria.

I should note that Iknow the W.C. council pretty well and would never disparage them.

Now they are being accused of violating the Brown Act. See article here.

No need to worry. They took the City Attorney along. Councilwomen Shelley Sandersonexplains;

"Sanderson said Alvarez-Glasman was at the dinner to make sure the members did not discuss city business."

Hats off tothe City Attoney for spending his free time (unless hisservices end up in the bill) as chaperone. If more Council’s would do the same thing these problems just wouldn’t come up.

Memo to West Covina Chamber: You really need to work onthe Shop West Covina campaign.… Read More