There’s early, and then there’s too early. Which is it for Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom? Josh Richman asks the question at the San Jose Mercury News.
“Getting in early can demonstrate your commitment, give you a jump on fundraising and perhaps scare off some rivals. But it also can give voters more time to grow tired of you, give rivals more time to dig up dirt, and give you more time and a spotlight in which to stumble.
"’The inevitability curse makes some candidates very nervous,’ said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political expert at the University of Southern California.
“Veteran Democratic strategist Darry Sragow agreed.
"’I would have strongly urged them to keep their powder dry,’ he said. ‘The minute you declare, you have a target on your back. Sometimes you wind up being hit by potential opponents and sometimes you shoot yourself.’"
Over at the Sacramento Bee, columnist Dan Morain contrasts the current campaigns with those of 1991, when the news wasn’t about the horserace, but about the stands the candidates actually took on the issues.
“What’s striking is not the number of heavyweights who ran but the positions they took. On everything. [Barbara] Boxer, in particular, couldn’t hold her tongue. She had gained notoriety by opposing the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
“’Where are the voices? Where’s the spine? Where’s the anger?’ she was quoted as saying in one story from the day. ‘This isn’t about some theory. This is about women’s lives. This is about life and death.’"
Senator Holly Mitchell, (D-Los Angeles), has taken aim at California’s maximum family grant law, arguing that the legislation has led to California having the nation’s highest child poverty rate. From Christopher Cadelago at the Sacramento Bee:
“She points to a UC Berkeley brief on the topic that found such family caps don’t alter reproductive behavior.
“’It is a classist, sexist, anti-democratic, anti-child, anti-family policy whose premise did not come to fruition,’ said Mitchell, the author of Senate Bill 23. ‘It did not accomplish what it set out to accomplish. So it’s appropriate to take it off the books.’”
West Coast ports are up and running following Friday’s settlement of the longstanding dispute between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore Workers Union – but not without tensions. From Michael Cabanatuan at SFGate.
“Dockworkers returned to work at the Port of Oakland on Sunday night after a dispute over relief breaks caused a daytime disruption on what was to have been the first full day of port operations since a tentative agreement on a contract was reached….
“Sunday’s dispute affected only Oakland, not the other 28 West Coast ports covered by a tentative five-year labor agreement reached between the union and the association on Friday. That agreement was reached after President Obama pressured the two sides to settle the dispute, which caused backups on docks and ships from Seattle to San Diego.”
Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton weighs in on the death with dignity debate, saying that the time has come to allow terminally ill Californians to make their own end of life choices.
“Me, I'd like to make my own decision, thank you. No government or religion telling me what I can or cannot do with my own body.
“It all adds up to potentially the most emotional issue of the new California legislative session.”
Attorney General Kamala Harris took some time off from her senate campaign to issue her blessing to the sale of six nonprofit hospitals of the Daughters of Charity Health System to Prime Healthcare – with conditions. Jeremy White has the story at the Sacramento Bee.
“Per the terms of the sale, Prime Healthcare will operate St. Vincent Medical Center, St. Francis Medical Center, O’Connor Hospital, Saint Louise Regional Hospital, Seton Medical Center and Seton Coastside. A release from Harris called the deal the largest ever overseen by the office, and it carries a hefty set of conditions requiring Prime to provide charity care ‘at historical levels’ and reproductive care without ‘restriction or limitation’; to spend $150 million on capital improvements at the newly acquired facilities; to cover the pension obligations of 17,000 active and retired employees; and to remain certified to treat Medi-Cal and Medicare patients for a decade.
“’The conditions imposed on this sale by the attorney general are extensive, and many are unprecedented,’ Prime Healthcare said in a statement.
Former state Senator Ron Calderon, (D-Montebello) is preparing for his trial, set for August 11, on corruption charges. Patrick McGreevy has the story at the Los Angeles Times.
“Calderon is accused of accepting bribes from an undercover FBI agent posing as a film industry executive, in exchange for advocating an extension of tax credits for film productions. Investigators also allege he took bribes from the owner of a medical firm in exchange for action on legislation involving workers' compensation.
“[Calderon’s attorney, Mark Geragos] called the case ‘the definition of entrapment,’ saying, ‘Most of these so-called offenses were completely manufactured by the government at the cost of millions of dollars to the taxpayer.’
“[Assistant U.S. Atty. Mack E. Jenkins] said his side is ready with a counter-argument.
"’The legal standard for entrapment is that there must be no predisposition toward bribery’ by the defendant, Jenkins said. ‘We believe we can meet the legal standard that there was predisposition.’"
Capital and Main continues its month-long series on economic inequality in California. Week three features a slew of material including Bobbi Murray’s look at the third rail of California politics, Prop 13.
“Most young would-be voters affected by Proposition 13 have never heard of the ballot measure or its author, [Howard] Jarvis, even as they cope with dilapidated schools and crumbling roads – whose budget-mandated neglect has also closed off what had been a traditional source of good-paying jobs.
“’A lot of jobs are created when you invest in the economy,’ says Sara Flocks, a public policy coordinator with the California Labor Federation. That’s what expands the middle class. ‘You’re able to move goods, educate the workforce, attract employers and investment—those are the things that support the economy.’
“Chris Hoene, an analyst at the California Budget Project, agrees.
“’Proposition 13 locked the tax system in place to look like 1978,’ he says, before noting the obvious: ‘California doesn’t look like 1978.’”
California’s state and national parks have had their share of troubles over the past few years, but at least they have one thing going for them: visitors. The same can’t be said of Alaska, which leads the nation in least-visited parks.
How bad can it be? Three of Alaska’s parks saw ZERO visitors last year.
“The five least-visited parks in the 49th state attracted fewer than 2,000 visitors total in 2014, according to agency numbers, and three of the parks -- all in the Northwest Arctic -- actually posted goose eggs in the visitor column.
“John Quinley, Alaska region spokesman for the Park Service, is sure someone visited Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Kobuk Valley National Park and the Noatak National Preserve. It's just that they didn't get counted, he said.”
Sure, John. If it makes you feel better, sure....