• California Citizens Redistricting Commission,  California State Senate,  David Cruz Thayne,  Elton Gallegly,  Flap's California Morning Collection,  Jerry Brown

    Flap’s California Morning Collection: August 18, 2011

    A morning collection of links and comments about my home, California.

    Westlake Village man announces plans to run for new 26th Congressional District

    David Cruz Thayne, a former professional tennis player from Westlake Village, on Wednesday became the second Democrat to announce plans to run in the newly drawn 26th Congressional District, which covers most of Ventura County.

    Thayne, 40, is a tennis coach and the producer of two tennis-themed documentary films. He joins Moorpark City Councilman David Pollock as the only announced candidates in a district that is expected to attract considerable national attention. It is home to no incumbent and the partisan leanings of its voters are such that the candidates in last fall’s governor’s race were separated by only 1 percentage point.

    The district includes all of Ventura County except for most of the city of Simi Valley and a small slice of the city of Ventura. The city of Westlake Village is the only area of Los Angeles County in the district.

    It is likely the district in which incumbent Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley, will run if he chooses to seek re-election. Although his home is a few blocks outside the district boundary, Gallegly has represented much of the area for the last two decades.

    The incumbent congressman has made no announcement about his plans for 2012.

    California governor not interested in Prop 13 reforms

    Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday turned down a challenge from the mayor of Los Angeles to reform Proposition 13, saying he would prefer to focus his attention on bringing financial stability to California.

    Brown was responding to comments by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who called on the governor and state lawmakers to think big in solving California’s ongoing fiscal problems. The mayor suggested the Prop 13 property tax cap be lifted for businesses and left in place for homeowners.

    Prop 13, however, is seen as untouchable by many politicians in the state because it is so popular with the electorate.

    During a speech Tuesday before the Sacramento Press Club, Villaraigosa urged the governor to convene a commission on tax reform and estimated that gradually lifting the Prop 13 cap for businesses could raise between $2.1 billion and $8 billion a year money the state could invest in education and lower property taxes for homeowners.

    Brown rejected the idea after making a luncheon address at Maddy Institute in Fresno.

    “I’m not planning to join (Villaraigosa), but I certainly welcome the debate,” Brown said. “I will focus my attention on ensuring financial stability and making the state more efficient.”

    Brown did not offer specifics beyond saying he plans to support a ballot initiative next year for new revenue. He also said jobs would come by generating confidence that California is on stable footing.

    One way he might do that is through infrastructure investment.

    Republicans take first step toward overturning new Senate districts

    A group of Republicans has taken the first step toward putting a referendum on the ballot that they hope will lead to the overturning of new Senate districts drawn by a state panel.

    Republican attorney Charles Bell asked the state attorney general in writing to prepare the title and summary of the referendum so that a petition drive can begin to qualify the measure for the ballot. The campaign needs to collect more than 504,000 signatures in 90 days.

    “The belief is that at least a number of the districts were not drawn in accordance with the [federal] Voting Rights Act and some provisions of the state Constitution concerning compactness and avoiding county splits,” said Bell, who is an attorney for the California Republican Party and the new campaign committee Fairness and Accountability in Redistricting.

    Bell said Wednesday he submitted the request on behalf of the campaign committee, which includes Orange County businesswoman Julie Vandermost. The referendum drive is being supported by the state party as well as the Senate Republican Caucus.

    Common Cause blasts referendum targeting new Senate districts

    The head of California Common Cause said Wednesday that a Republican-backed referendum drive to overturn new Senate districts is the work of “partisan insiders” and is attacking a plan that reflects the will of voters who approved an independent redistricting process.

    “This referendum is motivated by pure party politics, funded by incumbents who did not get the safe districts that they wanted,” said Kathay Feng, executive director of California Common Cause.

    Her organization was one of several that supported a 2008 ballot measure that created the 14-member Citizens Redistricting Commission, taking the job of redrawing legislative districts away from lawmakers.

    A referendum drive supported by the California Republican Party and Senate Republican Caucus has filed papers required before groups can begin collecting signatures to put the new districts before the voters.

    Enjoy your morning!

  • California,  Elton Gallegly,  Flap's California Morning Collection,  Poker,  Tony Strickland

    Flap’s California Morning Collection: August 17, 2011

    A morning collection of links and comments about my home, California.

    Internet poker battle waged in Sacramento

    A group of casino operators has taken to radio and television with ads urging state lawmakers to legalize Internet poker in California, prompting opponents to step up pressure for legislators to table the proposal for the year.

    The ads by the California Online Poker Assn. say legalizing web-based poker could help the state avoid deep budget cuts. The spots started airing in the Sacramento area this week. Legislators are less than a month away from the deadline to act on bills this year.

    “Online poker will provide California with $250 million dollars immediately and billions more in the future,’’ said Ryan Hightower, a spokesman for the association.

    The group includes Commerce Casino, Bicycle Club, Hollywood Park Casino and operators of American Indian gaming facilities, including the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.

    Other American Indian tribes have joined the California Tribal Business Alliance, which Tuesday sent a letter to legislators asking them to drop two pending pieces of legislation for the year.

    The alliance includes the Pala Band of Mission Indians, which operates a casino near Temecula. The alliance argues that Internet poker could take customers away from brick-and-mortar casinos.

    Dan Walters: A corporate tax break Democrats adore – The Film Industry

    Democratic politicians and liberal groups, including unions, often rail against corporate tax loopholes as unjustified raids on the public treasury – as they should.

    Loopholes are particularly troublesome during periods, such as this one, when state and local budgets are leaking red ink and basic public services are being slashed.

    But one multimillion-dollar loophole draws vocal support from those who usually oppose corporate tax breaks – one that happens to benefit a heavily unionized industry whose top executives are overwhelmingly Democrats and contribute lavishly to the party’s candidates and causes.

    That would be Southern California’s movie and television production community.

    California revenues down, Department of Finance confirms

    Gov. Jerry Brown’s Department of Finance said Tuesday that California was $541 million shy of its July revenue forecast, a total similar to one released last week by state Controller John Chiang.

    School officials grew nervous last week because the state budget signed by Brown requires K-12 districts to absorb cuts if the state falls $4 billion shy of revenue expectations for the fiscal year. The budget also would impose cuts to higher education, social services and public safety programs.

    State legislators and Brown tacked on that $4 billion expectation of higher revenues to finish closing the state deficit in June.

    Finance officials, in a department bulletin, cautioned against early concern. They suggested that most of the higher revenues would come on the back end of the fiscal year, from December through June. And they said forecasts by the Legislative Analyst’s Office and Department of Finance in November and December would determine whether the “trigger” cuts are necessary.

    The $541 million in missed revenues represents 9.2 percent of the $5.867 billion that Finance expected the state to receive in July.

    November 2012 Targets – Part Three: The State Senate

    Last week, I made my early picks a to where the action may be for Congress and the state Assembly in November 2012. Now, lets look at the state Senate.

    First, only the 20 odd-numbered districts are up for election in 2012, and, barring a successful court challenge or referendum, the candidates will run in one of the newly drawn districts that the Citizens Redistricting Commission, in their final vote, are expected to approve today, August 15.

    Senators elected in 2010 in one of the 20 even-numbered districts were elected to a four-year term and will represent those districts as drawn until the end of their current term in 2014. Should any of these senators resign his/her seat, a special election would be held to fill the unexpired term, but the election would be held under the old lines. The newly drawn even-numbered districts do not become legal until the 2014 election cycle.

    Here are the odd-numbered senate districts that I pick as possibly being competitive, with the more likely targets being listed first.

    27th Senate District: Republican Sen. Tony Strickland and Democratic Sen. Fran Pavley are gearing up to battle each other for this highly competitive district that encompasses Ventura County’s Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, and the L.A. County city of Malibu, stretching north through the west San Fernando Valley and ending in Santa Clarita. Forty percent of the voters in this new district reside in the current 19th District represented by Strickland, while thirty-six percent reside in Pavley’s current 23rd District.  It’s also interesting to note that half of the new Senate district overlaps Assembly districts currently represented by Republicans Jeff Gorell and Cameron Smyth, while the other half overlaps Assembly districts currently represented by Democrats Robert Blumenfield and Julia Brownley.

    Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman tied here, 47% -47%, while Carly Fiorina squeaked by Barbara Boxer 47% – 46%.

    Side Note: Should Cong. Elton Gallegly (R) decide to not seek reelection to Congress next year, Strickland could decide to run for the Gallegly congressional seat. That would open the door for Asm. Cameron Smyth (R-Santa Clarita) to run in this district.

    I look for Tony Strickland to run for the Congressional seat of a retiring Elton Gallegly

    Enjoy your morning!

  • California,  California Citizens Redistricting Commission,  Flap's California Morning Collection,  Jack O'Connell

    Flap’s California Morning Collection: August 15, 2011

    California’s Capitol

    Watch out Californians, the California Legislature is back in session this morning after a month’s long summer hiatus.

    The Legislature returns from a month-long summer recess this week with hundreds of bills, many of them highly controversial, still awaiting action before the Sept. 9 adjournment.

    The recess itself was unusual, since in recent years the Legislature has remained in session through the summer due to budget stalemates. This year, with a budget – albeit a very shaky one – in place, the Capitol’s denizens can concentrate on bills.

    That means renewing traditional end-of-session follies. Hundreds of lobbyists will battle over high- dollar issues, and legislators will cash in with fundraising events – an average of at least five every working day.

    Fittingly, perhaps, the Legislature’s return coincides with the supposedly final vote of the new Citizens Redistricting Commission on legislative and congressional maps for the 2012 elections and beyond.

    New maps mean some incumbents will be fighting for their political lives next year while others will be maneuvering to ascend the political food chain, thus making late-session campaign fundraising even more frantic than usual.

    Late-session bills tend to be controversial and/or involve taking money from someone and giving it to someone else, which is fertile ground for political fundraising.

    Plus, an added bonus today, with the above referenced California Citizen’s Redistricting Commission approving final legislative and congressional maps. The meeting starts at 9 AM.

    OK, on to the links…..

    For Some, Redistricting is Splitsville

    Even with testimony from the public and formal guidelines written into law, California’s first-ever citizens redistricting effort has found no easy answers to the question, “What is a community?”

    And so, in the statewide maps being certified Monday morning, some will see their communities split between political districts. Others will be lumped together with communities with which they think they have nothing in common.

    The complexity and controversy of shaping political maps based, when possible, on community boundaries has been a dominant theme of the dozens of meetings and decisions made by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission.

    On Monday morning’s edition of The California Report, we take a look at how some of those decisions have left some grumbling in different parts of the state, while commissioners believe the new maps reflect a thoughtful and careful deference to the needs of the public.

    Mike Ward: Redistricting Panel Broke Law

    A member of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission believes that the commission broke the law, failed to uphold an open and transparent decision-making process and used political motives in drawing California’s new state and federal legislative districts, according to an exclusive, in-depth interview with CalWatchDog.com.

    “This commission simply traded the partisan, backroom gerrymandering by the Legislature for partisan, backroom gerrymandering by average citizens,” Commissioner Mike Ward said in an interview with CalWatchDog.com on Sunday night. “This commission became the Citizens Smoke-Filled Room, where average citizen commissioners engaged in dinner-table deals and partisan gerrymandering — the very problems that this commission was supposed to prevent.”

    Ward, who was the lone member of the commission to oppose all of the commission’s proposed maps at its July 29 meeting, will outline his opposition in a detailed statement to be delivered at the commission’s press conference later today. An advance copy of the commissioner’s remarks was obtained exclusively by CalWatchDog.com and is reprinted below.

    Life after politics for O’Connell

    Former state superintendent of public instruction and longtime Ventura County lawmaker Jack O’Connell seems to be settling into life after politics. I visited him yesterday in his Sacramento office at School Innovations & Advocacy, the national education consulting firm where he serves as “chief education officer.”

    Interesting for Jack saying he didn’t miss the zoo. For someone who taught continuation high school, for what less than two years, before sitting at a card table in a gerrymandered Democratic districts to win the first of many political jobs, he should not be so dismissive. Wouldn’t you think?

    Have a wonderful morning!

  • Amazon Tax,  California,  California Citizens Redistricting Commission,  Flap's California Morning Collection,  Internet Sales Taxes,  Tea Party

    Flap’s California Morning Collection: August 3, 2011

    A morning collection of links and comments about my home, California.

    For Central Coast Democrats, a prize and a problem

    Democrats on California’s Central Coast were handed a rare prize last week when the Citizens Redistricting Commission created a Senate district with no incumbent and a 12-percentage point Democratic voter registration edge.

    The race is already on to see who gets to claim the prize of becoming the party’s candidate, and it could be run on a track that is crowded, uncertain and potentially dangerous.

    Three contestants have either reached or are approaching the starting line:

    – Hannah-Beth Jackson of Santa Barbara, a former assemblywoman who lost a Senate race in 2008 by fewer than 900 votes in a district that was much less friendly to a Democrat. She says she’s “seriously considering” becoming a candidate. “I’m very much leaning in that direction.”

    – Jason Hodge of Oxnard, a Ventura County firefighter and an elected commissioner of the Oxnard Harbor District. Hodge has been planning a run for the Legislature for months, has formed a campaign committee and begun raising money. He says he’s definitely running and has “a full expectation to raise $1 million for this primary.”

    – Pedro Nava of Santa Barbara, a former assemblyman and onetime member of the California Coastal Commission. He says he hasn’t made up his mind, but muses that the Senate district “almost looks like someone drew it for me.” Nava says that by Labor Day, “Everybody should have a sense of what’s real and what’s possible.”

    None says he or she would shy away from a primary race in which there are multiple Democratic candidates.

    Tea Party picks up steam, demands further cuts

    National Tea Party leaders in California were thrilled about one by-product of the political bloodbath over raising the federal debt ceiling: The fight showed that after two years of rabble-rousing from outside the Capitol, the Tea Party has real power to shape the debate in Washington.

    Their challenge now that President Obama has signed the debt limit law: Can the Tea Party transform its government-shrinking mantra into long-term power, or will it be a one-hit wonder?

    They’re not stopping to think about it. This month, Tea Partiers will storm town hall meetings of Republican and Democratic members of Congress and demand even more cuts. It’s the same strategy Tea Party groups used two years ago to protest – and ultimately water down – the health care reform law when they burst on the national scene.

    “You’re going to see a lot of heat at those meetings,” said Mark Meckler, a Grass Valley (Nevada County) resident and co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, a national organization that called House Speaker John Boehner’s plan to lift the ceiling “an embarrassment.”

    Tea Partiers say the debt deal didn’t cut enough federal spending, was crafted behind closed doors, and assigned responsibility for further cuts to a small, joint committee of Congress.

    That heat will be stoked further on Aug. 27 in Napa, when thousands of supporters and at least two GOP presidential candidates are expected to attend a rally to start a Tea Party Express bus trip across the country. It will end in Tampa, where the group will co-host a Republican presidential debate with CNN.

    Two years ago, the idea of the Tea Party co-hosting a debate with the self-proclaimed “most trusted name in news” was unimaginable.

    Dan Walters: Remapping of California districts still on a rocky road

    So the state’s new redistricting commission, after countless hours of hearings, discussions and mind-numbing exercises in specific line-drawing, has produced its almost-final maps of 177 legislative, congressional and Board of Equalization districts.

    What now?

    Partisan and independent analysts have cranked up their computers, and their scenarios generally agree that the proposed districts, which need one more commission vote this month, would result in a Democratic gain of congressional seats and give Democrats a strong chance to claim two-thirds majorities in both legislative houses.

    Whether those conclusions become reality, however, would depend on what happens in “swing” districts – those potentially winnable by either party – in the 2012 and 2014 election cycles. And their dynamics would be affected by the new and untested “top two” primary system.

    It’s “would” rather than “will” because it’s uncertain whether the Citizens Redistricting Commission’s maps will actually go into effect, since they are subject to attack by those – Republicans, mostly – who believe they got the shaft.

    Critics could challenge the maps by referendum – collecting signatures to put them on the 2012 ballot – and if a referendum qualifies, the state Supreme Court would adopt temporary maps for the 2012 elections.

    It could simply decree that the commission’s maps be used for 2012 while voters decide their permanent fate.

    That’s what the court, headed by Chief Justice Rose Bird, decided when a Republican referendum challenged the 1981 maps adopted by a Democratic Legislature and then-Gov. Jerry Brown – a ruling that fueled a drive to oust Bird in the 1986 election.

    Or the Supreme Court could draw its own maps, as it did to break redistricting stalemates after the 1970 and 1990 censuses.

    Attorney general, FPPC asked to investigate identity theft ads

    The state attorney general and California’s campaign watchdog agency have been asked to investigate a new labor-backed group telling voters that signing initiative petitions increases risk of identity fraud.

    Carl DeMaio, a San Diego councilman supporting an effort to qualify a local pension reform measure, filed a complaint over the weekend with the Fair Political Practices Commission alleging that Californians Against Identity Theft is running afoul of state disclosure laws and “knowingly using false information to alarm voters and stifle the constitutionally protected rights of individuals” in the radio spots and website it launched last week.

    In a separate letter, DeMaio asked state Attorney General Kamala Harris to investigate the ad and other activities he said are “undermining the initiative process” for San Diego voters.

    As The Bee reported Friday, the organization behind the ads has received funding from the California Building and Construction Trades Council. The secretary-treasurer of the group, a retired attorney who formerly represented the union, declined to identify other contributors Friday. He said Californians Against Identity Theft, which has not filed a campaign committee, has been incorporated as a 501(c)4 nonprofit.

    Californians Against Identity Theft’s 60-second radio ad, which is airing on stations in Sacramento and Southern California, urges listeners not to sign initiative petitions.Organizers say the effort is intended to educate the public about a need for more regulation of the initiative system, particularly the paid-signature gathering industry. But the ad came under fire Friday from good government and consumer advocates who said its claims were largely unsubstantiated and the timing sparked questions about whether the real goal of the campaign is to derail efforts to qualify measures circulating for local or statewide elections.

    Attorneys for a statewide proposal to overturn a new online sales tax collection law have also taken aim at the effort, asking radio stations to stop airing the ad amid concerns that it is “filled with false and misleading statements.” The “Amazon Tax” referendum is one of several high-profile measures currently collecting petition signatures to qualify for the 2012 ballot.

    Enjoy your morning!

  • American Debt Linit,  California Citizens Redistricting Commission,  Flap's California Morning Collection,  Mitt Romney,  President 2012

    President 2012: Mitt Romney FINALLY Weighs Into Debt Ceiling Deal

    Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney talks with reporters in Allentown, PA, June 2011

    At least he didn’t flip-flop. Mitt simply waited everyone out.

    Boston, MA – Mitt Romney today issued the following statement on the deal to raise the debt ceiling:

    “As president, my plan would have produced a budget that was cut, capped and balanced – not one that opens the door to higher taxes and puts defense cuts on the table. President Obama’s leadership failure has pushed the economy to the brink at the eleventh hour and 59th minute. While I appreciate the extraordinarily difficult situation President Obama’s lack of leadership has placed Republican Members of Congress in, I personally cannot support this deal.”

    Better late than never, I suppose…..

  • California Citizens Redistricting Commission,  Flap's California Morning Collection

    Flap’s California Morning Collection: August 1, 2011

    A morning collection of links and comments about my home, California.

    As everyone, especially the POLS and their consultants in Sacramento wait for the final Legislative and Congressional Maps, the California Legislature continues its summer recess. Later today I will post the tentative maps for Ventura County’s new State Assembly and State Senate districts which are both less GOP dominated. I had the latest Ventura County Congressional District map here.

    On to the links…..

    Redistricting: The Line Dancing Ends

    There are two, and only two, options left at this point for the political districts in which Californians will reside for the next decade: the current maps from the state’s citizens redistricting panel or as-yet-to-exist maps drawn by judges.

    And that second option — judicial intervention — only will happen if opponents prevail in court, the voters step in, or a subset of the 14 commissioners change their vote on August 15.

    On Friday morning, the California Citizens Redistricting Commission ended months of debate, discussion, and drawing with conditional approval of district lines for the Legislature, Congress, and the state Board of Equalization.

    In 17 days, the commission will reconvene to formally certify the maps, the final step of the process laid out by voter-approved initiatives in 2008 and 2010.

    “The commission is confident that these maps will prevail will against any and all legal challenges,” said commissioner Connie Galambos Malloy. “We also believe that the new districts will be upheld in the court of public opinion.”

    Those two tests are, of course, huge. Already, political and interest group forces are mulling over challenges to the independently drawn maps — the first redistricting process in California history to be conducted largely in public with statewide hearings and thousands of citizen suggestions.

    You’ve got a few different options for viewing the maps. The commission’s own web-based map system allows you to see your own state and congressional district by typing in an address; it also uses Google’s satellite maps to allow you to zoom in to see how the lines cross streets, bridges, and beaches.

    For political junkies, there are two very good sites that offer partisan, ethnic, and incumbent information: the Democratic consulting firm of Redistricting Partners and the GOP firm Meridian Pacific. These are the guys most reporters have turned to for help in understanding the political implications, given that the commission did not use incumbent and political party information.

    There’s also the website of the Rose Institute at Claremont McKenna College, whose map allows you to toggle between draft maps, the existing political maps (drawn in 2001), and the maps submitted by several interest groups.

    Calif. poised to OK political donations via text

    Donors with fat checkbooks have long been the A-listers in political campaigns.

    But the 2012 election cycle may extend membership in that gilded group to small donors – and their cell phones.

    California is poised to become the first state to allow residents to donate to a state or local political campaign on their cell phones, an idea that election officials say could bring millions of voters of all economic levels into the campaign donor club.

    The state’s Fair Political Practices Commission, which enforces political campaign laws, is backing the idea, which is on track to be approved by October and could be in force by the 2012 elections.

    “Sounds like a good idea to me,” said Gov. Jerry Brown, adding his support to the proposal.

    The plan would make donating any amount to a state or local campaign as easy as texting a donation to a disaster relief fund or a charity, said FPPC Chair Ann Ravel.

    “The goal is democratizing the campaign process – making sure that people at every level are more involved in politics,” Ravel said.

    FPPC Executive Director Roman Porter agrees: “If we can get more people to engage in political campaigns – even if they’re giving just $5 – they’re more likely to want to learn about what’s happening with their candidate. And they’re more likely to go out and vote.”

    Get your 4G enabled phones, ready – along with your e-Starbucks card!


    Dan Walters: New report disparages legislative term limits

    A new report by the Los Angeles-based Center for Governmental Studies typifies the genre, saying that the term limit ballot measure adopted by voters in 1990 “has failed to achieve its original purposes, and has triggered additional problems as well.”

    The report found that term limits has brought more men and women with local government experience to the Capitol, that most of them pursue their political careers elsewhere after being “termed-out,” and that legislators are more dependent on lobbyists and staff than they used to be.

    The report presents what one might term the intellectual case against term limits and clearly touts a pending ballot measure that would exchange the current limits, six years in the Assembly and eight in the Senate, for a single 12-year limit on all legislative service.

    That would not be an unreasonable modification, but if term limits are as terrible as their critics contend, why not ask voters to scrap them altogether? Because voters still like term limits, seeing them as a bulwark against self-dealing professional politicians.

    Indeed, given the chance, voters probably would de-professionalize the Capitol even more. A recent USC/Los Angeles Times poll found that two-thirds would favor reducing the Legislature to a part-time body.

    The question, however, remains: Have term limits improved or damaged the Legislature’s effectiveness? And it’s truly impossible to answer definitively because other concurrent factors, such as gerrymandered legislative districts, have played roles.

    Enjoy your morning!

  • California,  California Budget,  Flap's California Morning Collection,  Jerry Brown,  Rick Perry

    Flap’s California Morning Collection: July 1, 2011

    A morning collection of links and comments about my home, California.

    Happy New Fiscal Year, California!

    It is a happy day for most California taxpayers as the California Sales Tax has decreased one percentage point and motor vehicle registration fees have decreased, as interim tax increases expire.

    It is not a happy day for hybrid automobile drivers since they will no longer have free rein driving in HOV – car poll lanes on California freeways.

    But, oh well, I don’t drive a hybrid but do buy products subject to the sales tax.

    California starts the new fiscal new year with a state budget which is unusual. But, alas, the budget is really a sham, full of gimmicks and slight of hand. But, hey, it passed California Democratic Controller John Chiang’s review and California Legislators will receive their paychecks. Just for your information, floor sessions are scheduled today so that our fair members of the California Assembly and State Senate can get their per diem for today and, of course, holiday pay for Monday.

    It is all about the money.

    With those happy thoughts it is onto the links:

    Jerry Brown signs budget after making more cuts

    California has a balanced budget for the fiscal year that begins today, after Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday signed the spending plan to close what had been a $26.6 billion deficit when he took office in January.

    The governor used his line-item veto to cut an additional $23.8 million from the state’s $86 billion general fund. He also cut another $234 million of spending from bond funds, largely the high-speed rail fund, in a move that could jeopardize BART’s plan to replace aging rail cars. Money also will be blocked from reaching Muni and Caltrain projects.

    The governor also signed a bill, which is part of the budget package, that will take $130 million from cities across the state and could force some of those cities to disband.

    At a low-key bill-signing ceremony that was closed to all but a photographer, a TV cameraman and a radio reporter, Brown praised lawmakers for doing “an extraordinary job with a budget nobody really liked anyway.” He went on to say, “It really does put our fiscal house in much better shape, but we’re not finished.”

    Among the line-item vetoes the governor made in the general fund are a $22.8 million cut to courts. That money would have funded a part of the governor’s realignment plan to shift some inmates to county jails. The implementation has been delayed, and so court officials were expecting the cut.

    The governor saved nearly $2 million by eliminating the California Postsecondary Education Commission, which he called “ineffective,” and cut $200,000 from the budget for the Commission on the Status of Women. Because of complicated accounting, some of the money doesn’t fall under the veto total.

    Assembly Republicans celebrate ‘death’ of higher tax rates

    Your wallets will start feeling heavier tomorrow.

    That was the message from a handful of Republican Assembly members this morning as they applauded their resistance during budget talks to approving temporary tax extensions. The budget plan passed by the Legislature this week assures that those taxes will expire at midnight, which the legislators say will save the average Californian about $260 each year.

    “This is a great day for California,” said Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Twin Peaks. “The death of these taxes is the rebirth of our economy.”

    As the legislators gathered in front of a pair of SUVs at Downtown Ford in Sacramento, Assembly Republican leader Connie Conway said that someone buying a $20,000 car this weekend would pay $300 less in taxes and fees than if they bought the car today.

    “We’ve held the line. We’ve not negotiated. We’re very happy that July 1st is coming,” said Assemblyman Steve Knight, R-Palmdale.

    Gov. Jerry Brown’s original budget plan required at least two Republican votes each from the Assembly and the Senate. It would have held steady the rates for income and sales taxes and vehicle license fees. Instead, all of those rates will drop under the spending plan that Brown is expected to sign into law today.

    Texas Gov. Rick Perry wows conservatives in the OC: “Heavy on candor, light on pander”

    Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry was a whirlwind in the Golden State Thursday, racking up the miles, talking up his record — and meeting with potential supporters and donors.

    And he’s not even running for President — yet.

    Perry held a breakfast with San Diego insiders yesterday, and today hit Los Angeles, two events in Orange County and then flew to Sacramento.

    We checked in with Jon Fleischman, publisher of the popular GOP website FlashReport, who co-hosted a grassroots meeting of 60 Republicans in Newport Beach for Perry with OC GOP chair Scott Baugh. He said the Lonestar State gov’s initial reviews from party activists and conservative stalwarts were strong.

    “He was really, really impressive. He comes off as a very genuine — heavy on candor and light on pander,” said Fleischman. “Part of what we’re looking for is someone who has authenticity….who resonates, and has an ability to connect.”

    “He’s got a very strong record of accomplishment that will appeal to GOP voters,” Fleischman said. “This is someone who isn’t going to have any problem going into meetings with major donors and blowing people away.”

    So is he running? Bet on it, says The Flash.

    UC Berkeley out-of-state student enrollment soars

    The number of out-of-state students is soaring at UC Berkeley, with new figures showing more than a quarter of newcomers on campus – freshmen and transfer students – won’t be from California this year. That’s up from 23 percent last year, and 15 percent two years ago.

    More important for the campus, the nonresidents pay nearly three times the tuition of in-state students, and will bring in $80 million this year, up from $54 million last year, spokeswoman Janet Gilmore said.

    The trend is similar throughout the University of California, although Berkeley far outpaces other campuses in its zeal to bring in the lucrative outsiders.

    Across UC’s nine undergraduate campuses, 14 percent of the freshmen and transfer students who plan to enroll this fall are from out of state, up from 11 percent last year, and 9 percent the year before, according to figures released Thursday.

    Enjoy your morning!

  • California,  California Budget,  David Dreier,  Flap's California Morning Collection

    Flap’s California Morning Collection: June 29, 2011

    A morning collection of links and comments about my home, California.

    Well, the Democrats in the California Legislature passed a state budget last night using rosy scenarios and some more dramatic cuts, if revenues do not arrive next January. Everyone agrees this is not a “balanced” budget but with the pre-agreement of Democrat Governor Jerry Brown will be signed into law. Democrat Controller, John Chiang will more than likely say it is balanced enough to allow California Legislators to finally receive their paychecks. After all, that is what is the most important for Sacramento Pols.

    But, Californians will have their taxes lowered on July 1.

    On to the links:

    Democrats pass austerity budget for California

    The Legislature passed an austerity budget Tuesday night that would cut from universities, courts and the poor, shutter 70 parks and threaten schools but would not — by officials’ own admission — restore California’s long-term financial health.

    The UC and Cal State systems would face about a 23% funding cut, among the steepest in the proposal. Cash grants for the needy would fall, a program to help thousands of teen mothers get an education would be suspended and hundreds of millions of dollars would be siphoned from mental health programs.

    The state park closures would be the first ever. Courts would face what the state’s chief justice has described as crippling reductions.

    In an optimistic forecast, lawmakers built in an extra $4 billion of revenue. If all that cash does not materialize, K-12 schools — which had so far survived negotiations relatively unscathed — would face a cutback equal to shortening the academic year by seven days.

    California Budget Deal Leaves GOP out in Cold

    California’s budget is closely watched because the state is the most populous, has the largest economy and issues the most debt of any state in the U.S.

    In budget talks of past years, Republicans typically extracted policy changes such as corporate tax breaks in exchange for their budget votes. But this year, their refusal to extend taxes left them with little negotiating power.

    “We started a dialogue to put a cap in state spending, and we also asked for a reform in public pensions,” Sen. Bob Huff, the Republican vice chairman of the senate budget committee, said in floor comments. But he said Republicans were ultimately “iced out” of the budget process.

    Republicans’ absence from budget-making is expected to be especially noticeable during boom times and under Democratic administrations, when Democrats could potentially raise spending more than in the past and wouldn’t require Republican help to do so, said Bruce Cain, a political-science professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

    However, a budget supported only by Democrats cannot boost or extend taxes unless Democrats make up two-thirds of the legislature. So during tough times—such as this year, as California emerges from recession—Republicans can still stymie Democrats by blocking their attempts to raise revenue through taxes.

    “One hand is still tied behind the majority party’s back,” Sen. Mark Leno, the Democratic chairman of the senate budget committee, said in comments on the senate floor.

    Good news for David Dreier from redistricting panel? Perhaps

    Things may be looking up for Rep. David Dreier.

    The San Dimas Republican was penciled into a new congressional district dominated by Democrats under the first draft maps by the state’s redistricting commission, but he had reason for hope under a new concept unveiled Friday.

    “It could potentially save one of the Republican seats in Los Angeles,” said Paul Mitchell, a redistricting consultant and Democratic political consultant who identified the potential beneficiaries as Dreier or Rep. Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar.

    Rob Wilcox, spokesman for the redistricting commission, cautioned Tuesday against drawing conclusions from the very conceptual maps, which he characterized as “visualizations” rather than actual proposals.

    Boundary lines were drawn, in part, to increase the number of likely Los Angeles-area Latino congressional seats in consideration of the federal Voting Rights Act, meant to protect the voting power of minority groups.

    The conceptual maps were shown to the redistricting commission for comment, then line drawers went back to the drawing board.

    The boundary proposals targeted only a handful of congressional districts — none safe for Dreier — but their location suggested that a district could be drawn near his home that could make him a viable candidate, according to Mitchell.

    Dan Walters: California’s new budget relies on shaky assumptions

    The much-revised state budget that Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders have cobbled together solves their political problem, at least for the moment.

    It means a budget will be in place for the new fiscal year that begins Friday and the state can now ask bankers to buy billions of dollars in short-term revenue anticipation notes needed for cash flow purposes.

    It means that legislators, whose salaries and expense checks had been suspended by Controller John Chiang for non-action on the budget, will be paid again.

    It means that Democrats didn’t have to meet demands from Republicans, whose votes would have been needed for the tax extensions Brown and the Democrats originally sought.

    However, it doesn’t mean that the chronic fiscal crisis is over, and the budget’s shaky assumptions mean it could fall apart in months.

    Gov. Jerry Brown vetoes farmworkers’ bill

    Gov. Jerry Brown, whose signature more than three decades ago gave agricultural workers the right to unionize by secret ballot, vetoed a bill Tuesday that would have made it easier for farm laborers to organize.

    The proposal has been the top legislative goal for years for the United Farm Workers, whose founder, Cesar Chavez, had strong ties to Brown. It would have allowed the union to bargain for employees without holding an election — by simply collecting signatures from a majority of workers on cards saying they wanted representation.

    Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed similar measures four times during his seven years in office. Supporters of the latest bill had been hopeful that Brown, a Democrat who often spoke of his relationship with Chavez during his gubernatorial campaign last year, would approve it.

    In his veto message Tuesday, Brown cited his work with the union 36 years ago.

    “I am not yet convinced that the far-reaching provisions of this bill … are justified,” Brown wrote.

    Enjoy your morning!

  • California,  California Economy,  Flap's California Morning Collection,  Freedom of Speech,  Los Angeles Dodgers,  Texas

    Flap’s California Morning Collection: June 27, 2011

    A morning collection of links and comments about my home, California.

    Tabulations From a Survey of California Registered Voters about their Attentiveness to Government and Politics and the Media Sources They Use to Obtain This Information

    A new Field Poll says there’s an uptick in the number of those who aren’t following government and political news.

    The poll, out today, says about 25 percent of California voters say they pay attention to such news “only now and then” or “hardly at all.”

    That’s up from 16 percent who said so in 1979 and 20 percent in 1999.

    What do voters list as a main source of public affairs news? A majority, 56 percent, said television, while 44 percent said the Internet and 33 percent read newspapers.

    And where are they getting that television news? Twenty eight percent said CNN, 22 percent said Fox, and 8 percent said Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.

    Dan Walters: California vs. Texas provides very stark job comparison

    On June 17, the California Employment Development Department reported a tiny decline – just two-tenths of 1 percent – in the state’s unemployment rate to 11.7 percent in May.

    It was, to put it mildly, underwhelming, since a deeper look at the data reveals that the decline was not because payrolls had expanded markedly, but rather because the state’s labor force had shrunk as jobless workers gave up looking for work.

    California’s “seasonally adjusted” non-agricultural employment had increased by a minuscule 2,000 in the preceding year while the “unadjusted data” showed a decline of 40,000 employed people from a year earlier.

    The Texas Workforce Commission released a similar report on June 17 – similar in form, but decidedly dissimilar in tone.

    Texas’ unemployment rate was 8 percent, two-thirds of California’s jobless rate, and its seasonally adjusted year-to-year job growth was a robust 2 percent (2.7 percent in private employment).

    “We’ve added 92,300 jobs in Texas so far in 2011,” said TWC Commissioner Ronny Congleton. “That is a trend that we hope to continue until all Texans have good jobs earning good wages.”

    Texas had fewer than a million unemployed workers in May while California had more than 2 million. Texas’ jobless rate was under the national average, while California’s was the second highest in the nation. Texas has accounted for nearly half of the nation’s job creation since 2009.

    “Growth in the Texas economy is gaining steam,” says a recent analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Clearly, Texas and other states are emerging from recession while California’s recovery, if it exists, is decidedly weak, as several new economic reports note.

    Court overturns ban on video game sales to kids

    The Supreme Court ruled Monday that it is unconstitutional to bar children from buying or renting violent video games, saying government doesn’t have the authority to “restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed” despite complaints that the popular and fast-changing technology allows the young to simulate acts of brutality.

    On a 7-2 vote, the high court upheld a federal appeals court decision to throw out California’s ban on the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Sacramento had ruled that the law violated minors’ rights under the First Amendment, and the high court agreed.

    “No doubt a state possesses legitimate power to protect children from harm,” said Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote the majority opinion. “But that does not include a free-floating power to restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed.”

    Video game makers and sellers celebrated their victory, saying the decision puts them on the same legal footing as other forms of entertainment. “There now can be no argument whether video games are entitled to the same protection as books, movies, music, and other expressive entertainment,” said Bo Andersen, president and CEO of the Entertainment Merchants Association.

    Dodgers file for bankruptcy protection

    The Los Angeles Dodgers filed for bankruptcy protection in a Delaware court Monday, blaming Major League Baseball for refusing to approve a multibillion-dollar TV deal that owner Frank McCourt was counting on to keep the troubled team afloat.

    The Chapter 11 financing permits the Dodgers to use $150 million for daily operations and buys time for the team to seek a media deal and ensure the team’s long-term financial stability, the Dodgers said in a news release.

    “There will be no disruption to the Dodgers’ day-to-day business, the baseball team, or to the Dodger fans,” the statement said.

    Dodgers players will be paid on Thursday, a source confirmed to ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian.

    Baseball commissioner Bud Selig announced last week that he wouldn’t approve a Dodgers television deal with Fox Sports that reportedly was worth up to $3 billion. That left McCourt cash-starved and facing the prospect of missing the team payroll this Thursday, leading to an MLB takeover.

    McCourt defended his running of the team, saying he had made it profitable and successful. He also said the Dodgers have tried for almost a year to get Selig to approve the Fox transaction.

    “The Dodgers have delivered time and again since I became owner, and that’s been good for baseball,” McCourt said. “We turned the team around financially after years of annual losses before I purchased the team. We invested $150 million in the stadium. We’ve had excellent on-field performance, including playoff appearances four times in seven years.

    “And we brought the Commissioner a media rights deal that would have solved the cash flow challenge I presented to him a year ago, when his leadership team called us a ‘model franchise.’ Yet he’s turned his back on the Dodgers, treated us differently, and forced us to the point we find ourselves in today. I simply cannot allow the Commissioner to knowingly and intentionally be in a position to expose the Dodgers to financial risk any longer. It is my hope that the Chapter 11 process will create a fair and constructive environment to get done what we couldn’t achieve with the Commissioner directly.”

    Enjoy your morning!

  • California Citizens Redistricting Commission,  Flap's California Morning Collection,  Jerry Brown,  Los Angeles Community College District,  Peter Foy,  Proposition 13

    Flap’s California Morning Collection: June 24, 2011

    A morning collection of links and comments about my home, California.

    The first from my friend Jon Fleishman who had this excellent video from Simi Valley neighbor and  Ventura County Supervisor Peter Foy of the Americans for Prosperity on the Los Angeles Community College District.

    Gov. Jerry Brown sees little progress on budget, but insists ‘I’m not giving up’

    Gov. Jerry Brown said Thursday he was increasingly skeptical that a tax deal could be struck before the July 1 beginning of the new fiscal year, as Democrats and Republicans heatedly blamed each other for the impasse.

    Brown, who issued a historic veto of Democrats’ budget plan a week ago, told a gathering of about 250 apartment owners and developers in San Francisco that he continues to seek GOP support for his budget plan, which includes a tax referendum in the fall.

    “I’m not giving up,” Brown said, even if he has grown less sanguine about the prospect of a legislative accord.

    Although state Controller John Chiang this week invoked a new law to halt lawmakers’ pay until there’s a budget in place, the renewed commotion in the Capitol has produced little progress.

    A critical sticking point is that Brown wants to extend sales and vehicle taxes — which Republicans oppose — until an election can be held. He needs the support of at least four GOP lawmakers for both moves. If he fails, the governor said, he will help gather signatures to place taxes on the ballot next year.

    “It will take the use of the initiative, in all probability,” he said, to restore California’s financial health.

    With talks slipping and time running out, Republicans held an unusual news conference outside the doors of the governor’s Capitol office to blame Brown and his labor supporters for the lack of progress.

    “The public unions and the governor have become the problem in this, not the Republicans,” said Sen. Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar).

    In Wood Ranch, nobody planned for this Congressional district boundary

    When it comes to drawing a new congressional district, the phrase “close enough for government work” does not apply.

    And, for the moment at least, that’s a problem for residents of the master-planned community of Wood Ranch in Simi Valley.

    Under case law stemming from the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark “one man-one vote” decision in 1962, congressional districts in each state must be drawn to make the population of each almost exactly equal.

    Under that formula, as the Citizens Redistricting Commission goes about drawing 53 new congressional districts this year in California, each one must have 702,905 people. A variance of one person is allowed.

    So where does Wood Ranch come in?

    In the draft map for a new congressional district that includes most of Ventura County, the commission moved Moorpark and Simi Valley to a separate district to the east. That arrangement would avoid splitting any city in the county almost.

    It turns out the commission needed to take 2,000 people from the combined Moorpark-Simi Valley population of 158,658 to make the numbers work out. To accomplish that, the commission drew a line down the middle of Wood Ranch Parkway.

    Simi Valley city officials and residents of Wood Ranch appealed to the commission to find its 2,000 people somewhere else.

    “The proposed boundaries fracture neighborhoods in Wood Ranch and place neighbors living on opposite sides of the street in different congressional districts,” wrote Mayor Bob Huber in a letter to the commission. “These divisions appear inconsistent and incompatible with the commission’s goal of respecting neighborhood boundaries to the extent possible.”

    Testifying before the panel at a hearing this week in Oxnard, Richard Olson, representing a Wood Ranch homeowners’ association, asked that the planned community be reunited.

    “There are 2,000 residents who have separated from everything,” he said.

    Jerry Brown says Proposition 13 could be tested if budget talks fail

    Gov. Jerry Brown hinted Thursday that if the budget talks with Republicans break down, the initiative fight that would follow would not be limited to Brown’s plans to raise sales, vehicle and income taxes. He said he expects labor groups to pursue changes to Proposition 13, tweaking the current caps on commercial property taxes, if no bipartisan deal can be reached.

    “I would expect there will be efforts to accelerate the reassessment of commercial property tax,” Brown said.

    During his remarks to about 250 apartment owners and developers at the Moscone Center on Thursday, he acknowledged some of his failures in budget talks, particularly over his proposal to eliminate redevelopment agencies.  “I wouldn’t be ready to write the obituary of redevelopment agencies,” he said. “They’re very powerful and they’re still alive and well despite my best efforts.”

    Enjoy your morning!