Sometimes you need to move further apart before you come together. In that spirit, Senate Democrats are set to unveildetails of a new budget "restructuring proposal" which they hope will be a key component of this year's budget solution.Tomorrow's the big day on the Central Coast as voters head to the polls in the race between Sam Blakeslee and John Laird. If no candidate gets 50 percent of the vote, the top vote getter in each party will head to an Aug. 22 runoff.
Steve Harmon reports the race has become a proxy war for special interests.
"Big guns — big business on one side and labor unions on the other — have poured millions of dollars into the 15th District race. And, if neither candidate picks up more than 50 percent of the vote, more millions will be spent for an Aug. 17 runoff. Two other candidates are running, including Jim Fitzgerald, a conservative independent expected to take away some support from Blakeslee.
"Republicans are seeking to keep the seat,
which came into play in April after Abel Maldonado
was confirmed as
lieutenant governor, helping to hold onto their relevancy
regarding
spending and taxes.
"If Laird wins, Democrats would have
possession of 26 seats in the 40-seat Senate, moving to within one vote
of a two-thirds majority in the Senate, which would give them
the
ability to pass budgets and taxes without Republican
votes. To achieve
an outright two-thirds majority, Democrats are poised to turn their
attention to the open 12th District seat in the fall, drawn to favor
Democrats though it has been in Republican hands for
eight years."
Meanwhile, Seema Mehta looks at Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown's recent responses to campaign controversies, and what those responses say about the candidates themselves.
"Whitman faced revelations that she reportedly paid
a $200,000 settlement
to an EBay employee after shoving her during a confrontation
in 2007,
when Whitman led the online auction house. Her campaign
issued two
clipped statements and the candidate remained out of
the public eye, as
she had planned to do before the New York Times published
the
accusation.
"Brown, facing criticism after comparing Whitman's
campaign to that of a
Nazi propaganda minister, unintentionally kept the
story alive with a
series of somewhat disjointed remarks during appearances
in which the
former governor took myriad media questions.
"The reactions echo the candidates:
the buttoned-down, corporate crises communications mode employed
by
Republican Whitman, compared with the responses by
Democrat Brown, whose
free-wheeling approach was a trademark of both his past
campaigning and
governing styles.
George Skelton says public employee unions are not to blame for the state's budget crisis and takes on some other state budget myths.
"One persistent myth about the perpetually bleeding state budget is that it's all the fault of public employee unions. They are to blame for some things: bullying liberal allies they deem insufficiently subservient (Senate leader Darrell Steinberg [D-Sacramento] is the latest target); blocking reforms they feel threaten members (teacher unions are notorious); and driving up retirement benefits to unsustainable levels (CHP officers, prison guards and civil servants are all guilty).
But none of that really contributes to the $19-billion deficit projected for the state general fund.
"Another myth is that California government can cut its way out of the hole. Sometimes when government cuts spending, it actually costs money.
"In truth, California's budget nightmare stems from a devil's brew of sins: lack of discipline on both spending and tax-cutting in the past; an outdated and unreliable tax system too susceptible to economic booms and busts; the unhealthy dependence of local governments on Sacramento; and a dysfunctional state budgeting process that requires a gridlock-generating two-thirds majority vote."
Matier and Ross report you might not want to mess with Frank Fiorina.
"Records show her 60-year-old husband, Frank Fiorina, who occasionally doubles as her bodyguard, has carried a concealed-weapon permit since her days as CEO of Hewlett-Packard.
"Frank Fiorina, a retired AT&T vice president, was first issued a state Department of Justice permit to carry a concealed Glock 9mm pistol in 2000, according to Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department records. He cited security concerns over his wife's "very visible" role at the head of HP, and said that as her "driver," he should be allowed to pack heat."
Jim Miller reports remedies for thousands facing foreclosure continue to tangle the Legislature. " Earlier this month, a bill by Ted Lieu and two Democratic colleagues to create a mediation process between borrowers and lenders fell three votes short in the Assembly.
"The proposal was modeled on a Nevada system that supporters
said has
helped keep people in their homes. Critics said the
system would be
unworkable in a place as large as California. All Republicans,
along
with some Democrats, opposed the bill or abstained. "Another bill would change state law to make it easier
for borrowers
to take loan companies to court if the companies failed
to communicate
with them or explain a refusal to modify a mortgage,
among other rules. "Supporters say SB 1275 would encourage lenders to make more of an
effort to work with borrowers before beginning the
foreclosure process." And finally, Hugo Chavez isn't just the leader of Venezuela.
He's also a sleep therapist, apparently.
"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is offering parents a cure for children who don't want to go to sleep. Have them watch his televised speeches.
In a television appearance on Thursday to extol the virtues of a portable computer his socialist government plans to introduce at public schools, Chavez said youngsters had stopped him in the street to tell him they saw him on television.
"It seems that there are mothers here who, instead of putting their kids to sleep with cartoons, put them to sleep with Chavez," he said. "And the child dozes off and dozes off, and Chavez speaks and speaks and speaks. And the child falls asleep," said the loquacious leader, well known for speeches that can last for hours."
We can only imagine what kind of nightmares Venezuelan children have reported....