Tag: California

Poll: Schwarzenegger at New Low

Jon Ponder

Gov. Schwarzenegger’s pollling may be at an all-time low, but he is lucky it is as high as it is considering what a wretched job he did during the budget negotiations:

In a new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California, only 28 percent of respondents were happy with Schwarzenegger’s performance, the worst rating of his tenure and the lowest since Gray Davis stood at 26 percent two months before voters recalled him from office in 2003.

Dems who run the California Legislature are taking even more of the heat — they’re at 17 percent. Some of this is deserved, but Schwarzenegger ran this show. The root problem here is term limits. We used to have powerful leaders in the legislature, but now they serve for so few years that there’s no time to gain experience. Unlike the current speaker and senate president, Speaker Willie Brown and Sen. John Burton would have had no problem going toe to toe with the celebrity gov.

Oh, and Pres. Obama’s numbers are down in California, too — from 72 percent to 65 percent.

A C-SPAN Reality Drama? Schwarzenegger Suggests Filming Negotiations on $26 Bil Deficit

Jon Ponder

Gov. Schwarzenegger, left, and Speaker Bass

Things are bad here in California. Yes, we have the world’s fifth largest economy — we’d be a member of the G-8, if we were a sovereign nation. But the sky is falling for real this time. The state is $26 billion in the hole.

“He broke it. He should fix it.”
– Speaker Karen Bass

Reporting from Sacramento suggests that in his negotiations with the Dem-controlled Legislature, GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is stuck in his usual, Bush-esque “my way or the highway” mode.

After all, he has little skin in this game — he sits on a personal fortune worth tens of millions (and can easily replenish the ol’ coffers playing superannuated robots when he leaves office), so he’ll be fine even if the economy collapses. And his political legacy is shot. No matter what happens over the next 16 months, nothing can prevent Arnold Schwarzenegger from going down as one of the worst — if not the worst — governor in California’s 159-year history.

As the stalemate continues, the hole gets deeper — the deficit was “only” $24 billion a couple of weeks ago. Another $2 billion accrued while Sacramento dithered.

And this brief but vivid moment, which was reported last Wednesday, does not bode well:

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Baldwin Vista (Los Angeles County), was visibly upset coming out of the governor’s office Wednesday afternoon.

“He broke it. He should fix it,” she said, apparently referring to Schwarzenegger.

[…]

Scenes from the Parade: Los Angeles Gay Pride 2009

Jon Ponder

I’m not a parade-goer by nature, but the Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade — with its marching bands, loudspeakers and thumpa-thumpa disco trucks — passes so close to our house in West Hollywood that our large spotted cat Zig hides under the bed for the duration.

This year, there were two draws — one for me and one for my spouse, Page. For me, I figured that if San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newswome, who is running for governor next year, was going to be walking past my house, it wouldn’t hurt to go have a look-see. It’s been years — decades — since a politician got my attention the way he has.

(For the record, the last candidate who truly interested me was Rep. Patricia Schroeder who ran for president for about 10 minutes in 1988. I’m not saying I’m good a picking winners, but on substance and the issues, Newsome is on the money now, as Schroeder was then. And on the charisma scale, he’s right up there with Pres. Obama.)

Page is a fan of Chelsea Handler, host of E! TV’s “Chealsea Lately,” and her sidekick, Chuey, who were attending as the parade’s grand marshals.

Finally, after 22 of days straight without seeing sunshine — known in these parts as “May gray” and “June gloom” — it was at least occasionally sunny on Sunday morning, so we ventured out.

Here’s a bit of what we saw as we walked west along the parade route:

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Despite Recession, LA Moves to Shutter Dozens of Thriving Businesses – Pot Shops

Jon Ponder

At the same time that California has become the poster child for states with budget deficits, the Los Angeles City Council is moving to shut down one of the bright spots in the local economy — medical marijuana dispensaries.

The issue is NIMBY, not morality or a drug warrior mentality, per se.

In 2004, there were just four clinics filling pot prescriptions in the city. Today, there are over 700. The problem is that this boomlet has occured despite a moratorium imposed by the city in 2007 that would have limited the number of pot shops to 186.

Now the city council is signaling it will begin closing down the shops, despite the fact that they provide employment and generate tax revenue at a time when over 1 million Los Angeles County residents are unemployed and schools are cutting programs because of budget deficits:

The city clerk has notified 14 dispensaries that their requests for exemptions from the moratorium will be considered by the City Council on Tuesday.

Most, if not all, are likely to be denied on the grounds that they were not registered with the city by the moratorium’s deadline in 2007. A denial would allow the city’s code enforcement bureau and the city attorney to take legal steps to force them to shut down.

The issue is NIMBY, not morality or a drug warrior mentality, per se:

[…]

California’s Top Dem: Bush’s Fire Photo Op Will Interfere with Firefighting

Jon Ponder

Lt. Gov. John Garamendi:

“How about sending our National Guard back from Iraq, so that we have those people available here to help us?”

“I’ve got some doubt about the value of President Bush coming out here. How many times did he go to New York or to New Orleans and still made promises but hasn’t delivered. We have the Terminator out here, Gov. Schwarzenegger is doing a good job, and we’ll see.”

Asked if Bush’s trip is about PR: “Of course it’s public relations. The actions taking place by the hard working firefighters, the men and women and the police that are out there on the line, and the community that’s pulling together to support wach other, that’s where the action is taking place. I know, okay, President Bush comes out, we’ll be polite, but frankly, that’s not the solution. How about sending our National Guard back from Iraq, so that we have those people available here to help us?”

Asked if Bush’s visit will distract from fire fighting efforts: “Absolutely, no doubt about it. The president goes some place, you’ve got a huge entourage, you’ve got secret service all over and all the chaos that comes with whenever the President arrives, wherever the President happens to arrive. But listen, what we really need are those firefighters, we need the equipment, we need, frankly, we need those troops back from Iraq. We’ll get on here, whether he comes or not, that’s not really the issue. I just hope if he does come, he brings more than he brought to New Orleans” (“Hardball,” MSNBC, 10/23).

Schwarzenegger Ran Against ‘Car Tax’ in 2003, Now Raises Driver Fees

Jon Ponder

One of the central issues in Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2003 campaign to recall Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, was a phony claim that Davis wanted to raise the California “car tax.” In reality:

Raising fees on driving is a dead certain way to tick off Californians of every political stripe.

[The Vehicle License Fee had been] passed and signed into law under Davis’s predecessor, Republican Pete Wilson, and took effect only under emergency cash fall contingencies so that certain vital state governmental programs could continue.

(The fact that the revenue shortfalls were a result of Enron’s pillaging of California’s energy market — a plunder that many believe was conceived by Ken Lay and Vice Pres. Dick Cheney — is another story.)

Four years later, look who’s raising fees on California drivers now:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday signed into law a controversial increase in motorists’ fees that is intended to raise millions to develop alternative fuel and clean-air technology.

Consumer advocates condemned the bill for putting the costs on the backs of motorists rather than oil companies…

AB 118 … increases the fees charged to car owners in order to raise $210 million for new energy subsidies and clean-air programs.

The governor denied through a representative that he was being inconsistent in approving increases in the smog abatement and vehicle registration fees after initially winning election on a vow to kill an increase in the vehicle license fee.

Since his reelection last year, Schwarzenegger has done an excellent job of appearing in the news only when necessary and avoiding using cutsey catch-phrases (“girly men,” “I’ll be back,” etc.) when speaking in public, and has thus managed to be less annoying to independents and moderate Democrats. Conversely, however, while he has coddled California’s liberal majorities, he has become persona non grata within his own party.

It’s hard to discern a political advantage with this move. Raising fees on driving is a dead certain way to tick off Californians of every political stripe.

Poll: 41% of CA Dems Favor GOP’s Electoral College ‘Reform’ Scheme

Jon Ponder

Republicans know they can never win California on the merits so they are trying a Tom Delay-esque rigging of the vote next year that would give the GOP presidential candidate one electoral college vote for each of the state’s 55 House districts he wins. Had the system been in place in 2004, Bush-Cheney would have gained 22 electoral votes.

When told that it would most likely give Republicans more electoral votes, GOP support jumped to 70 percent, while Democratic support remained the same at 41 percent, though opposition jumped from 42 percent to 53 percent.

That the GOP would make such a naked grab for power is not surprising. What is unsettling is the number of California Democrats who are apparently happy to hand the presidency to the Republicans again. In a new Field Poll, 49 percent of all California voters — and 41 percent of California Democrats — favor the GOP scheme:

In the first survey on the issue since the Presidential Election Reform Act initiative was filed two weeks ago for the June 3 ballot, 49 percent said they’d support changing the current winner-take-all system to a district-by-district method, while 42 percent are opposed.

And that’s after voters are told that scrapping the current winner-take-all system would give Republicans an advantage in the presidential race, with a potential 22 of California’s 55 electoral votes going to the Republican nominee. The GOP currently holds 19 congressional districts…

In the Field Poll, voters were first asked if they would support dividing votes by district. Voters favored it, 47 percent to 35 percent, with 57 percent of Republicans favoring it and 28 percent opposing it. Among Democrats, 41 percent supported it and 42 percent were opposed.

When told that it would most likely give Republicans more electoral votes, GOP support jumped to 70 percent, while Democratic support remained the same at 41 percent, though opposition jumped from 42 percent to 53 percent.

A glimmer of good news. Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, both of whom are popular with California Democrats, are leading the opposition to the measure.

L.A. City Attorney’s Publicity-Seeking in Paris Hilton Case Wrecks Promising Political Career

Jon Ponder
L.A. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo

Crash and burn: Nothing compelled Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo to join the fray in objecting to Paris Hilton’s early release from the county jail earlier this month.

Judge Michael Sauer, whose sentence was curtailed by the decision to let Hilton serve the rest of her sentence under house arrest, called a hearing into the matter and had it under control.

But Delgadillo (“Del-gah-dee-yo”) weighed in for no reason other than to cash in on the national publicity around the case.

Now it appears inserting himself into the Hilton case may have permanently sidelined his ambitions for higher office. Here are headlines from this month in the Los Angeles Times that tell the story:

Delgadillo has had his eye on higher office. Last year, he ran for California State Treasurer in the Democratic primary, losing to former Gov. Jerry Brown, who went on to win the general. Now he’ll be lucky to keep his job through the next city elections.

It didn’t have to be. For one thing, if Hilton had been a regular non-celebutante citizen, she would have spent zero minutes in jail, according to L.A. County Sheriff Lee, the man in charge of the jails here.

If you doubt it, watch this video of Baca saying Hilton would not have gone to jail if she were a non-celebrity. (Starts at 04:18.)

The Paris Hilton Case Gets Political – No, Seriously

Jon Ponder

The over-exposed celebrity’s “get out of jail” card threatens to ramp up into a volatile political debate about race and privilege in Los Angeles.


Rev. Al Sharpton

Free Paris! Word came late yesterday that the Rev. Al Sharpton is flying into Los Angeles today to speak with Sheriff Lee Baca about his department’s decision to release Paris Hilton from the county hoosegow yesterday.

Hilton spent three days in a women’s facility in Lynwood, but had many complaints about conditions in the jail — it was too cold and she didn’t like food for example. Her psychiatrist was called in because she feared she was near a state of nervous collapse.

As a result, Hilton’s sentence was changed from 23 days in jail to 40 days under house arrest in her hillside home in West Hollywood.

This change in her sentence has sparked outrage across the spectrum of demographic groups in Los Angeles, including among affluent anglos, but especially so among blacks and latinos.

One young African-American woman who apparently had been incarcerated at the jail told a local reporter that if she had complained about the temperature or the food, she would have been ignored — and that if she’d had a medical condition, they would have treated her in the jail’s infirmary and then sent her back to her cell.

Los Angeles has plenty of activists and spokespeople within its black and latino communities — including, just to name two, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Connie Rice, who is a codirector of the Advancement Project (and whose evil cousin is the U.S. secretary of state). Beyond these respected voices on racial matters and beyond, there are any number of city council members and other high officials who could speak for their communities on this issue.

But when an issue of race meets a bank of cameras and microphones, we must accept the fact that Al Sharpton will soon be parachuting in:

“I think that it’s both another glaring display of how race and money seem to get different treatments. There seems to be a different criminal justice system for some than others,” Sharpton said.

Judge Michael Sauer, the man who sentenced Hilton to jail after she’d been caught driving three times while her license was suspended for drunk driving, has called her back to court today and may send her back to jail. Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo is also upset with the sheriff’s department for unilaterally changing Hilton’s sentence.

Finally, there is this. The L.A. County jails are experiencing a crisis of overcrowding. The truth is, a regular citizen — white, brown, black, rich or poor, infamous or not — who’d been sentenced to jail for a crime like Hilton’s would have been admitted, processed and then sent home, all within a few hours on the same day.

If this issue is going to explode in Los Angeles — and at 5:45 AM on Friday that’s where we appear to be heading — the truth is, if Paris had been treated “fairly,” she would have been released without ever seeing the inside of cell.

Update: Local news is reporting that the city attorney is threatening to sue Sheriff Baca over the change in Hilton’s sentencing.

CA Dem Leader Urges Putting War on Feb. 5 Ballot

Jon Ponder

California Senate leader Don Perata introduced legislation yesterday that would place a nonbinding advisory measure on the Iraq war on the ballot for the super-duper Tuesday primary in February. Now he’s calling on governors in the other 20 primary states to do the same thing:

“I propose we also use this opportunity to tell the current President where we stand on this fundamental issue of the day,” writes Perata. “It’s time for our citizens to be heard.”

In addition to giving voters a voice in the debate, Perata says the campaign for the referendum might bring clarity to the presidential candidates’ positions on the war.