From our
Beware the Ides of March Files, this week could move the budget fight from the abstract to the, well, house of pain. The Merc's Mike Zapler reports: "Late this week,
notices will go out to thousands of teachers across California informing them that they may be out of a job in a few months - the first and clearest indication to many families of the kind of pain that California's massive budget deficit could inflict.
"
The layoff letters, which must go out by Saturday, could number in the tens of thousands, school officials warn. And though it's possible, if not likely, that many of the warnings won't result in actual pink slips, the notices could be a flash point in the debate over how to close an $8 billion budget deficit - and what the fallout might be on rank-and-file Californians."
USA Today picks up the state
Supreme Court ruling that handed a setback to homeschoolers. "A California court ruling that challenges parents' legal right to teach their children at home is angering home schoolers, who hope the state's Supreme Court will overturn the decision. Otherwise, advocates say, thousands of families may be forced to abandon home schooling.
"Meanwhile, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is vowing to challenge the "outrageous" ruling. He says that if the high court doesn't reverse the appeals court's decision, he'll support home-schooling legislation ensuring parents' rights.
"
The court on Feb. 28 upheld provisions in the state's education code that say parents must enroll their children in a public or private school. If they're being home schooled, they must be taught by a credentialed teacher or face possible fines or criminal charges."
Should be a fun debate in the Legislature as teachers are being laid off because of declining enrollment...
Ed Mendel reports that
electricity deregulation is back on the table.
"Eight years after San Diego's long, hot summer of soaring power bills and blackout scares, the issue of electricity deregulation is back.
"
Despite opposition from legislative leaders, the California Public Utilities Commission has begun a process that could allow businesses and homeowners to bypass utilities and buy power on the open market."
The Chronicle looks at
the possibility of Governor Gavin.
"
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is considering a 2010 run for governor - a campaign that would embrace many of the same divisive causes he has championed as mayor, including same-sex marriage, universal health care and protections for illegal immigrants, The Chronicle has learned."
Hmmm...candidate considers divisive platform for gubernatorial bid. And that's from the hometown paper...
"'In recent months, Newsom has quietly been meeting with Democratic campaign strategists and other supporters to discuss a gubernatorial run, and he is now "certain to at least consider the possibility,' said
Eric Jaye, a Newsom confidant and political consultant.
"He declined to discuss any details of a possible campaign.
"'It's premature to talk about it in the open,' Newsom said. 'In the next few months we'll see what happens.'"
Didn't he say that about his last relationship?
Kevin Yamamura
looks at the not-so-great relationship between Don Perata and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"While Perata and Schwarzenegger might not have built a tight bond, they trusted each other enough in 2006 to strike deals on the environment, the minimum wage and public works bonds.
"But their feuding has intensified in recent months, particularly on water and health care, creating more friction as they begin trying to close an $8 billion budget deficit in the next fiscal year.
"'It may have aggravated what already was a distant relationship,' said
Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a University of Southern California political analyst, of their recent policy disputes. "There isn't a rapport there. There isn't the same rapport like there is between the speaker and the governor."
And, if
John Burton could find a bond with Schwarzenegger, why can't Perata?
"Burton got along with the governor when they worked together in 2004, and the two remain friends.
He said Perata may be more at odds with Schwarzenegger because 'when I was here, the governor wasn't cutting (stuff) out of every social program.'"
Meanwhile, the Bee's Peter Hecht
reviews the financial disclosures of state elected officials and the Bee
has posted Form 700s online.
"One lawmaker, Assemblywoman
Patty Berg, D-Eureka, appeared to be particularly sensitive about accepting gifts.
"Berg, who listed costs of numerous meals, wrote a letter of explanation to the FPPC saying she was reporting the value of lunches and dinners served at political receptions she attended. But she insisted she has a policy of not actually eating any of the free food.
"But her disclosure report form allowed for one slip-up in her rules.
In listing $35.40 for a reception by the League of California Cities, Berg explained: 'One glass of wine. Did not eat.'"
George Skelton argues that the governor should look at his predecessors to find a balanced approach to the budget.
Aside from the well-known "50-50" deal agreed to by
Pete Wilson, "Republican Gov.
George Deukmejian stared into a budget hole similar to Schwarzenegger's when he took office in 1983. His compromise with the Democratic-led Legislature was to
freeze spending, close loopholes, roll half the deficit into the next year with legal gymnastics and adopt a provisional sales tax hike. The tax would be triggered if the economy didn't rebound. It did and the trigger never was pulled.
"'It was a helluva plan,' says Deukmejian's then-chief of staff,
Steve Merksamer, who runs a Capitol legal-lobbying firm and is close to the Schwarzenegger administration. '
Personally, I think the governor should consider something like that.'"
Steve, are you willing to twist the arms of some of your legislative Republican clients?
"Nobody can foresee a political endgame or a negotiating sweet spot. But everybody could find it useful to review history -- the budget books from nearly a decade ago and the courage of previous Republican governors."
"Wilson regrets having been compelled to raise taxes. But under the same circumstances, he'd do it again."
The Chron's Tom Chorneau looks at
the eminent domain fight on the June ballot. "On June 3, California voters will decide two ballot measures that would restrict government's use of eminent domain for private purposes - and one of them goes much further, eliminating rent controls in cities including San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and San Jose.
"Eminent domain is the power state and local governments have to take possession of private property for the public good. In its most common application, private landowners are given market value for their property that might be needed for things such as a highway expansion, a public building or installing utility lines.
And finally, a big Roundup congratulations to Radhakant Bajpai, who had
his ear hair inducted into the Guinness Book of World's Records.
You might want to put down that cereal spoon for this one, folks.
We're talking 5-inch long ear hair -- in each ear! "Amazingly, they are long enough for two small ponytails.
"
He uses a special shampoo and has stopped wearing rings and necklaces so he does not damage his luxuriant lug-whiskers."
"Mr Bajpai, of Naya Ganj in Uttar Pradesh, northern India, said he wished people would take it all more seriously. “Making it to Guinness World Records is indeed a special occasion for me and my family. God has been very kind to me.”
That's one way of looking at it...