The Swarm

A non-profit called CaliforniaChoices.org has put together a handy compendium of endorsements for the June 8 ballot propositions by various organizations and newspapers. You can find it here.

There are some striking difference between how interest groups and the media are approaching these ballot props. Almost all newspapers, including The Bee, have come out against Proposition 16, the constitutional amendment by PG&E that would allow it to more easily block competition from public power agencies. Most newspapers also favor Proposition 14, the open primary measure.

Yet among the interest groups, there are stark divisions between labor and business, liberal and conservative groups, on these two measures, as you would expect.

We're no closer today in knowing what's in Sarah Palin's contract to speak June 25 at California State University, Stanislaus than when students reported finding pages in a campus Dumpster in mid-April.

A SacBee headline of May 25 reads, "Blogger says Palin will get $75,000 for Turlock speech" (Page A4).

It's all speculation, however, without official university release of the contract.

That makes ideas in "The Onion," the satirical newspaper that bills itself as "America's Finest News Source," as good as any. Here are a few from the list:

hotel room must have a "moose couture" styling to it;

extra red clothing just in case something happens to her other red clothing;

one baby delivered to her dressing area no less than two hours prior to her speech.

Hey, what do you expect when California's public colleges and universities allow speakers to get away with confidential contracts?

After being pummeled day after day for his administration's response -- or lack thereof -- to the Gulf oil gusher, President Barack Obama is trying to reassert control today.

He showed the door to Elizabeth Birnbaum, chief of the Minerals Management Service, the federal agency that both collects royalties from oil leases and is supposed to regulate the oil industry.

He announced that he is extending by six months the moratorium on new offshore oil drilling that started after the April 20 explosion at BP's Deepwater Horizon rig.

And he held a rare lengthy news conference to defend and explain his response to the growing disaster. At the close of the press conference, Obama said he accepted the ultimate responsibility for the spill and the cleanup, and even claimed that it is his last thought before going to sleep and his first when he wakes up. He'll face some of his critics up close and personal in a visit to Louisiana on Friday.

The Bee's editorial board has been one of the voices critical of the president's handling of the crisis. His response today is a step in the right direction.

The Obama team is already moving to separate the two functions of MMS, so that one office focuses on regulation while the other issues the leases. And that was before the Interior Department's inspector general reported this week about the cushy, conflict-ridden relationships between some MMS employees and oil industry officials.

For some in Congress, including Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican from San Diego County, the leadership change at MMS is overdue, but only a first step.

"This is an agency that has been over-run by corruption and incompetence spanning multiple administrations and multiple personnel," he said in a statement. "While leadership changes are necessary and a good first step, there are much larger issues that cannot be addressed by just re-shuffling the deck. In the past ten years, there have been 20 reports by the GAO, inspectors general and the Congress that have all gone ignored. It wasn't until we were immersed in an unprecedented catastrophe that anyone in government decided to take action.

"As has been exhaustively documented, the problems at MMS aren't just limited to them but also extend to their relationship with the Department of Interior. We are seeing the result of a broken bureaucracy with a dysfunctional culture that is in desperate need of substantial and immediate reform."

UPDATE: Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, welcomed Obama's moves today. But she also expressed dismay that the administration had issued environmental waivers for Gulf drilling projects despite the moratorium.

"I will be watching closely for further details and to make sure the Administration holds up its end of the bargain," she said in a statement. "For the past 38 days, the nation has watched in frustration as more than 19 million gallons or more of crude oil have spewed out of a leaking wellhead a mile below the ocean surface, the largest spill in American history."

As chairwoman of the Senate Interior appropriations subcommittee, on June 16 Feinstein plans a hearing on the proposed reorganization of MMS. "It's clear to me that the Administration needs to completely overhaul all operational, environmental and safety policies and procedures for offshore drilling -- particularly in ultra-deep waters, where it is virtually impossible to respond to emergencies and equipment failures," she added.

I'm not usually at home on a Tuesday morning after 9, but I just happened to be there this past week when the phone rang and the person on the other line announced she was with the California Teachers Association.

Then, without giving me a chance to respond, she immediately launched into her scripted spiel - essentially a long denunciation of the California Legislature in general and Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, specifically, for cutting support to California schools.

Memo to CTA on effective communication: Tell your paid callers to read their scripts more slowly, and with better articulation. Try pausing at the end of sentences or where the comma's go. It helps the listener to understand what the hell they're talking about.

When the CTA's breathless paid caller finished her script, she asked me if I would like her to transfer me to Sen. Darrell Steinberg's office so I could tell him myself how outraged I was. I told her that I'd rather be transferred to CTA union bosses. I wanted to tell them how outraged I was that the union was throwing younger teachers under the bus so that senior teachers wouldn't have to raise their co-pay for a doctors office visit from measly $1 to $15, which is more in line with what most of the rest of the world pays.

She paused then finally, clearly confused, and told me she didn't have the capability to do that. Did I want to speak to Sen. Steinberg?

When I called Steinberg's office the next day I learned that they had gotten between 600 and 700 calls from people who were transferred to their office in the same way that I was about to be. Some clearly bought the CTA's line and blamed Steinberg for education cuts. Many others were confused and wanted to know why Steinberg's office was calling them. And a substantial number were senior citizens who didn't want to be bothered.

Rank and file teachers, I have a question for you: Is this really how you want your dues spent?

At Tuesday's Sacramento City Council meeting, six members voiced strong support for a boycott of Arizona (Mayor Kevin Johnson, Rob Fong, Sandy Sheedy, Lauren Hammond, Bonnie Pannell and Kevin McCarty).  Two opposed the Arizona law, but have some doubts about a boycott (Ray Trethaway and Steve Cohn). Robbie Waters was not present. Staff will bring back a resolution within a week or two for a vote.

Here's what they said:

 

Mayor Kevin Johnson:

I believe that this is a human rights issue and civil rights are at stake here. This is very personal to me. I was lucky enough to live in Arizona for 12 years. I have a lot of friends who still live there and are being impacted by this...In 1988, I was part of a very unique circumstance when a governor ran to repeal the Martin Luther King Day holiday. Ran to take it back. Frankly, I thought it was un-American. And I think this law in Arizona now is un-American. I oppose this law. ...I personally support a boycott.

Council member Rob Fong:

This country, as great as it is, isn't perfect. Sometimes under color of law we have done wrong things. When I am asked, or hear the criticism, why would you agendize this or, given the city's budget deficit, spend any time weighing in on this issue, I say, I am not willing to wait decades for wrongs to be addressed in the court system... If enough voices are heard, we can get the law repealed in Arizona.

Of the hundreds who turned out to Tuesday's Sacramento City Council meeting, most spoke up against Arizona's SB1070 and in favor of a boycott.  In a previous post, I sampled comments supporting Arizona's law and opposing a boycott. Here are four supporters urging the city council to boycott Arizona.

Lucy Garcia Robles:

I was a year old when my parents left, and three-years-old when they brought me to the United States. I was crossed over the border, without my consent, to come back with my parents. My father worked in Woodland picking food to put on our table and my mother mopping the floors of a hospital. Until age 16, I was not aware what the word "undocumented" meant. It wasn't until 1988, after the United States granted amnesty, that I traveled to Mexico for the first time in my life. I had never been to that country where I was born.

I went to the U.S. Embassy. The immigration officer asked me: "Lucy, why is important that you become a U.S. citizen?"

My teen mind answered: "It is so important to me that I missed my prom to be here." Not only did I want to be a citizen to be an American teen, I wanted to take advantage of the opportunities this country offers and to become the best I can be.

I am a mother of three, wife to a deputy sheriff, an entrepreneur who pays taxes. I'm an active member of the community. Most importantly, I am the daughter of a farmworker and a woman who once mopped floors. They now own their own facility caring for the elderly of this country. I ask you to condemn the Arizona law and boycott Arizona now.

Melinda Guzman:

I'm an American citizen. I have rights in every state of the United States. Opposition to the Arizona law is not about protecting illegal immigrants. It's about protecting every member, every citizen, every person within our boundaries. When I go to the state of Arizona in 2010 in July, I must carry my passport. I'm blond; I have blue eyes (green eyes, some days of the week). My sister who's darker than I am, if we both run a red light, she's more likely to be asked for her passport than I am. We urge this council: We do not want our taxpayer dollars to be used in any way, shape or form to defend, uphold or implement that law...As a resident of California, I would have to show my passport not only at the international border, but in the state of Arizona. Please do the right thing and boycott Arizona.

Linda Ng:

As a community of immigrants, we have historically suffered from harsh discriminatory policies based on perceived ethnic heritage. Implementation of the Arizona law will have a negative impact on all communities of color and immigrants, including those who are U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents by fueling discrimination and undermining trust between immigrants and law enforcement. Capital and OCA, organizations representing Asian Pacific Americans, stand in solidarity not only with our Sacramento community colleagues but also our colleagues across the nation to support a boycott of the state of Arizona.

Julius Cherry (former Sacramento Metro fire chief):

I support the boycott...What if Dr. King had said, "This job is too hard." What if the people boycotting in Birmingham or Montgomery would have said, "You know, African-Americans are going to be hurt by this boycott; they won't be able to get to work." Instead, they pulled together. They car-pooled, walked and biked. And many well-thinking white people picked them up and gave them rides...The way you kill the throat of the tiger is economically.

Hundreds of people turned out in force at Tuesday's Sacramento City Council meeting to weigh in on Arizona's new law requiring police to check the immigration status of people if they have "reasonable suspicion" that they may be in the country illegally.  They also weighed in on whether the city should boycott Arizona until the law is repealed. Both sides were well-represented, though the pro-boycott side had many more supporters and speakers.

Here is a flavor of the comments for the law, against a boycott:

Dan Stark:

We would feel a lot different if we saw signs in English. These signs are in Spanish. That means they don't really want to speak English...One lady in here is wearing a Che Guevara shirt. That is a communist gentleman. That's an anti-American shirt. If you want to be an American, you shouldn't want to wear those shirts. I just wish everyone came here legally. By opposing the Arizona law, really, what you're doing is opposing legal immigration.

Jim Ricketts:

If you're here legally or if you're a law-abiding American citizen, you should have no problem. If you're here illegally - goodby, so long, "hasta la vista, baby." We don't need you here because you don't respect our laws. What this city council is seeking to do is economic damage to people who are just trying to save their own city, their own state.

The next post will sample the pro-boycott side.

Today's editorial in The Bee hits the Obama administration's slow response to the Gulf oil spill and urges the president to get behind efforts to restore the coastal wetlands of Louisiana and Mississippi, which have shrunk by a third the last 80 years.

The Obamans say they are on top of the crisis, but that didn't prevent the president from flying to San Francisco last night to host a fundraiser for U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer that netted more than $2 million, according to the Washington Post.

During his speech, Obama called the oil spill "heartbreaking" but added that "the reason that folks are going to have to go down a mile deep into the ocean (to drill for oil)...is because the easy oil fields and oil wells are gone, and they're starting to diminish."

Since when did the oil industry become "folks"?

The president makes it sound like the Beverly Hillbillies are leading the exploration efforts in the Gulf.

Of course, given the way BP has handled the crisis, perhaps that comparison is appropriate.

If you didn't get enough of Jack Bauer with the series finale of "24" last night, tune in to Chuck DeVore who, according to a YouTube video, may have rubbed elbows with the TV terrorist fighter and patriot in boot camp.

The YouTube video, which chronicles DeVore through his missions to Europe and the Middle East, states that the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate is now on his most important mission ever: to bring down Sen. Barbara Boxer. Of course, he has to take on Carly Fiorina and Tom Campbell.

Check out the video which says Chuck likes Gitmo and lower taxes and that he mows his own lawn and throws a mean hand grenade.

Incoming!

The weight of the California Faculty Association is showing up in mailboxes across the 9th state Assembly district.

In the June 8 Democratic primary, the association is backing Chris Garland, who is on leave as its political director. Over the weekend, it put another $89,918 behind his candidacy, bringing the total to more than $116,000, according to the California Fair Political Practices Commission.

A hit piece from a political committee affiliated with the association goes after Kevin McCarty, a Sacramento City Council member who is one of Garland's chief rivals. The full-color flyer Photoshops McCarty holding shopping bags full of electronic gadgets.

"Kevin McCarty dipped into a special slush fund to go on a spending spree with your tax dollars," the flyer says. "If this is how Kevin McCarty spends your tax dollars now, what will he do when he gets to the Capitol?"

The flyer cites a story last November in the Sacramento News & Review that chronicled how every member of the City Council spent their $55,000 a year discretionary fund. They have free rein, and they spend it on office expenses or give it to various neighborhood groups, nonprofit and schools in their districts.

The News & Review found that McCarty spent quite a bit of his money on computers, cell phones, cameras and other technological gadgets. But it also found his biggest expense was a $30,000 contribution for the "Operation College" program at Hiram Johnson High School.

That donation probably wouldn't raise the hackles of voters and, tellingly, that wasn't mentioned in the faculty association flyer. The flyer also didn't detail the spending "sprees" of other council members, including Lauren Hammond, who is also running in the primary.

Wonder why?

UPDATE: While the committee (officially called End Business as Usual in Sacramento, Support Chris Garland for Assembly 2010, Faculty for our University's Future) is sponsored by the faculty association, it is also getting financial support from two other groups. According to filings at the Secretary of State's office, the California Builders Association has put in $49,000 and Blue Shield of California has chipped in $21,000 in recent weeks.

 

 

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, has come to leadership in the largest state in the union during a time that, as he told McGeorge law graduates on May 15, challenges representative democracy, our ability to protect the vulnerable, beliefs in the efficacy of government itself.

He believes we have careened into a period of "false theology" of absolutely certainty that changes public debate to, "I am good and you are bad." Yet he remains an idealist at heart:

"Despite all the difficulties, divisions, and distrust, I decided to embrace our collective human frailty, our flawed system, and our unrelenting desire to be better" -- and he urged the law graduates to do the same.

Difficult times tend to bring out the worst in people, and the best. It is heartening to see a political leader who in his public rhetoric appeals to progress over stalemate and larger public goods over narrow self-interest.

But, as Steinberg well knows, appeals to timeless ideals only get you so far. In paradigm-shifting times, hard-headed realism and a willingness to challenge the orthodoxies of one's own soulmates are key challenges of leadership, too -- and will be the test of his leadership in the California Senate.

To the right is the latest Proposition 16 mailer that Pacific Gas & Electric is sending to households in conservative areas through its front group, "Californians to Protect Our Right to Vote."

Prop. 16 would make it harder for public power agencies to expand and serve areas that don't want to pay PG&E's rates. To block such expansions, PG&E is trying to mislead voters into thinking that public power expansion hurts taxpayers when, actually, the opposite is true.

Consumers and businesses served by agencies such as SMUD enjoy cheaper electricity than their PG&E counterparts. If Prop. 16 passes, PG&E would arguably be in a better position to seek excessive rate hikes since there'd be less threat of public power agencies trying to move in on its territory.

The flier above is particularly obnoxious. It suggests that state deficits and debt would increase if Prop. 16 did not pass. That's completely bogus. PG&E execs would be laughed off the stage if they tried to make such a claim in a public forum, but by sending their fliers through a stealth group, they don't have to face such accountability.

Most politicians and everyday folks in California shudder at any comparison with Greece.

Not Congressman Tom McClintock.

He even shot off a one-liner about it today at a forum at the U.S. Capitol on the European Union's bailout of Greece:

"Do you know the difference between Greece and California? About three years."

Da-da-dum.

So California, like Greece, is in financial crisis, and has similar problems with some not paying their taxes and with too-powerful unions in the streets to protest any givebacks.

But even with a $19 billion budget hole, California is not quite bankrupt yet, its bonds are above junk status and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is only seeking $3.4 billion from Uncle Sam, not the $136 billion bailout that Greece received.

But McClintock, a Granite Bay Republican, used the Greece comparison to make his point about what he sees as reckless spending by the Obama White House.

"The first law of holes seems applicable in this case: When you're in one, stop digging. That goes for my home state of California, whose fiscal affairs are just a few years behind Greece; and it goes for America whose fiscal affairs are just a few years behind California.

"America must not become an enabler for the fiscal folly of Europe. Nor should it become an imitator of that folly. Under this administration, it is doing both, and Americans have had enough."

It was a political love fest this afternoon at the kickoff of Mayor Kevin Johnson's initiative to make Sacramento the greenest place in the country.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver brought their star power -- and gave Johnson and his effort their seal of approval.

Introducing Johnson, Shriver said she admired him for bringing people together to change Sacramento.

Introducing Schwarzenegger, Johnson called him a cyborg -- affectionately, of course -- and said the governor had made it "cool" to be green. The mayor teasingly complained that the state tourism ad featuring the first couple somehow left out Sacramento.

The governor returned the favor, joking that if the mayor's political career went south, he could have a future in comedy.

"Leno, watch out!" he teased.

There is a serious side to the camaraderie, of course. As both Schwarzenegger and Johnson pointed out, California can't reach its clean energy and carbon emissions goals without help from cities -- and Sacramento certainly can't become a center for green jobs without the state's enthusiastic assistance.

"I'm with you 100 percent," Schwarzenegger concluded. "We're partners, and we're going to do it together."

Barring some kind of scandal, incumbent members of Congress enjoy a lot of built-in advantages when they seek re-election.

They usually have higher name recognition than their challengers, and they almost always have more money. They can brag about bringing home the bacon to their district, though they never call it pork. They can send mailings on the taxpayers' dime that look suspiciously like campaign fliers.

Here's another perk: they can jump on a feel-good bandwagon by sponsoring a resolution lauding a local luminary. So today, Reps. Jerry McNerney and Pete Stark, both California Democrats, introduced one to honor Oakland A's pitcher Dallas Braden, who on Sunday Day pitched the 19th perfect game in Major League Baseball history. It was an accomplishment made more poignant by the fact that it came on Mother's Day, and Braden's mother died of cancer while he was at Stagg High School in Stockton.

"This is a tremendous opportunity to honor Stockton resident and Oakland A's pitcher Dallas Braden," McNerney said in a statement. "Everyone from Stockton can be proud that one of our own made history this past weekend....This is a special reminder of what all young people from Stockton can achieve."

The resolution, in all its congressional-ese glory, is below:

RESOLUTION

Congratulating Dallas Braden and the Oakland Athletics baseball team for pitching a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays on Mother's Day, May 9, 2010.

Whereas, on May 9, 2010, Oakland Athletics pitcher Dallas Braden pitched a no-hitter without allowing any base runners;

Whereas the Oakland Athletics defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California by a score of 4-0;

Whereas Dallas Braden threw 109 pitches with no walks and six strikeouts;

Whereas players Cliff Pennington and Kevin Kouzmanoff scored one run each, and Daric Barton scored two;

Whereas Dallas Braden was raised in Stockton, California and played high school baseball at Stagg High School in Stockton, California, and played collegiate baseball for American River College and the Texas Tech Red Raiders before being drafted by the Oakland Athletics in 2004 and making his major league debut with the team in 2007;

Whereas Dallas Braden's mother, Jodie Atwood, tragically died of cancer when he was in high school, Braden celebrated Mother's Day with his grandmother, Peggy Lindsey, with a hug on the field after his perfect game when he presented her with the game ball;

Whereas the accomplishment was the result of the hard work of every player and coach on the Oakland Athletics baseball team, including Dallas Braden, Cliff Pennington, Daric Barton, Ryan Sweeney, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Eric Chavez, Adam Rosales, Eric Patterson, Landon Powell, Rajai Davis, and Manager Bob Geren;

Whereas this marks the nineteenth perfect game in Major League Baseball history;

Whereas Hall of Famer James "Catfish" Hunter pitched the only other perfect game in Oakland Athletics history against the Minnesota Twins on May 8, 1968;

Whereas the team has played at their current home in Oakland since 1968, winning 4 World Series, 6 American League pennants, and 14 West Division titles: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

(1) congratulates Dallas Braden of the Oakland Athletics for pitching a perfect game on Mother's Day, May 9, 2010;

(2) recognizes the achievements of the players, coaches and staff of the Oakland Athletics whose hard work helped Dallas Braden to complete the perfect game; and

(3) recognizes the loyalty of Athletics baseball fans in the East Bay and around the United States.

In Sunday's paper, we will offer our endorsements in the two contests that have caused us the most heartburn in the run-up to the June 8 primary -- Sacramento Sheriff and the GOP nomination for governor.

We could have taken a pass on both these races. On Friday, the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times took a pass on both the U.S. Senate and gubernatorial primary and devoted a considerable amount of ink to explaining that decision.

In the GOP primary, we endorsed Tom Campbell for U.S. Senate on April 18. And as I explained in a column Sunday, California voters don't deserve the choices of Steve Poizner, Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown for governor. But as I wrote, abstaining is not an option.

All of us get angry when lawmakers take a pass and abstain from crucial votes that might come back to haunt them. We can't follow their example. As voters, our only choice is to drill down on the candidates, press them to address the important issues and make an informed call at the end of the day.

So stay tuned to Sunday's opinion page when we offer endorsements in two tough races.

Once one of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's allies, Jon Coupal, head of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, now is seeking to undo a major part of the governor's legacy.

Coupal submitted signatures to the Sacramento Registrar of Voters today to qualify an  initiative that would suspend California's landmark AB 32 signed by Schwarzenegger in 2006 to force reductions in greenhouse gases.

UPDATE: The measure is dividing Republicans.

Economist and former U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz, among Schwarzenegger's early advisors and mentors, is serving as honorary co-chair of the committee to block AB 32's suspension, the campaign to block the suspension announced today. Shultz was President Reagan's secretary of state.

Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger's own California Republican Party broke from the governor today and joined on the side of Coupal to call for suspension of the measure.

Coupal estimated that he has helped qualify 20 initiatives, ranging from measures limiting the ability of government to raise taxes, to restricting government's ability to invoke eminent domain and impose rent control.

The latest measure to unravel AB 32 could be the most high-profile and far-reaching, as described in Sunday's Forum in this article by writer Rita Beamish piece and in this column. For more detail on the roots of the initiative, please go here. Coupal was one of several operatives who submitted roughly 800,000 signatures today to county offices around the state, all but ensuring the measure will be on the November ballot .