Today is Day 6 of the state's budget standoff with no apparent end in sight. But Democratic leaders took to the radio waves together this weekend pushing for their new, unified budget outline, while Republican leaders countered with calls for more cuts. We'll call you when something changes...
Susan Ferriss reports Darrell Steinberg is caught in a Deomcratic crossfire.
"Lately, some of Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg's strongest liberal allies are the ones hammering him. They are goading him to get tougher in hand-to-hand combat with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Republicans over a $19.1 billion budget deficit.
"Not only must Steinberg find common ground with Republicans – who are demanding another round of deep cuts and insist they won't vote for higher taxes – he has to attend to the desires of his fellow Senate Democrats who elected him leader and to the party's base voters. And he has to live up to the expectations of his caucus that he will help Democrats get elected to the state Senate.
"Steinberg's future as leader could hinge on the budget, but also on pending Senate races that could solidify Democratic power in that house – or erode it and spell trouble for Steinberg politically."
The Bay Citizen looks at Whitman's last three years at EBay, when the company's stock price tumbled.
"There are three things Meg Whitman doesn’t discuss much on the campaign trail: 2005, 2006 and 2007.
"Those were Whitman’s last full years as CEO of eBay. Over that period, eBay’s stock price was cut in half, a loss of $30 billion in market value, as investors reacted to a string of troubled acquisitions initiated by Whitman and the prospect that Google or others might up-end the online auction business.
"But Whitman's early success was not matched later on, when the maturing company faced weakness in its core business and new types of competitive threats. Two actions in particular — the purchase of Skype, the Internet phone service, and a foray into China that ended in defeat — turned out to be major mistakes that helped crush eBay’s stock price and even led to some quarterly losses. From a historic high on December 29, 2004, until March 31, 2008, the day Whitman retired from the company, eBay shares dropped by 54 percent. Over the same period, the Nasdaq technology index, which includes eBay, finished up 4.6 percent.
A Whitman spokesperson said, “If you look at eBay’s earnings reports from Q4 2004 until she left in Q1 2008, the company posted net profits in eleven out of fourteen quarters – often rising by more than 30 percent compared to the prior year. The decisions she made were designed to make eBay a stronger company built for the long haul, not just to make quarterly earnings estimates -- although she did a pretty good job of that, too. To suggest that she did not run eBay with a firm fiscal conservative hand is just wrong.”
Meanwhile, the hand wringing continues among California Democrats about Jerry Brown's late-blooming campaign."
"The combination of Whitman's wealth and a distinct
lack of energy by
Brown is making California Democrats nervous about
their candidate's
prospects in the fall.
"If you're going to run for governor, you have to do
what it takes. You
can't tell yourself or tell everyone else there is
some special way for
you to do this that is completely outside the norms
that apply to
everyone else," said Democratic strategist Garry South,
who advised San
Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in his combative primary
bid against Brown.
"A Brown spokesman said such anxiety is misplaced.
"We are confident that the Brown campaign is doing
the things that need
to be done and we're in the position we want to be
in," said spokesman
Sterling Clifford. "I think that kind of worry is in
the DNA of the
Democratic Party."
Or at least among campaign consultants whoare not getting paid on this year's gubernatorial gravy train.
Alexandra Zavis looks at the state's food-stamp policy which does not permit elderly or disabled residents who receive federal benefits receive the food vouchers.
"California is the only state that does not allow its 1.2 million recipients of federal Supplemental Security Income to apply for the benefit. The state decided in 1974 to increase its matching grant — known as the State Supplementary Payment — by $10 a month in place of administering food stamps for them. This additional amount has not changed in more than three decades.
"When the state created the rule, many Supplemental Security Income recipients qualified only for the minimum food stamp allotment, which was then $10. Augmenting cash payments by that amount helped the state reduce its administration costs and relieved elderly and disabled people of the regular paperwork and other steps required to receive food stamps.
However, a recent increase in food stamp benefits and cuts to the cash assistance program have raised concern that some of the state's poorest and most vulnerable residents are now being shortchanged by the policy."
Six members of Councilman Richard Alarcon's staff have
been ordered to testify before a grand jury as part of an ongoing investigation about whether
or not the councilman lives in his district. David
Zanhiser reports, "Six employees of Los Angeles City
Councilman Richard Alarcon have been
ordered to appear before a grand jury this week, six
months after
prosecutors obtained search warrants to determine whether
the councilman
has been living at his legal residence.
"Alarcon said Monday that his chief of staff, Saeed
Ali, and five other
workers in his office have received subpoenas instructing
them to
testify on Wednesday.
"Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley's office received permission
in January to
search two homes owned by Alarcon's wife, Flora Montes
de Oca -- one on
Nordhoff Street in Panorama City, the other on Sheldon
Street in Sun
Valley. Alarcon contends that he resides at the house
on Nordhoff Street
and that he moved his family to another address, one
in the district
represented by Councilman Paul Krekorian, after a transient
broke into
his home and changed the locks on the doors."
And finally, if you don't see us on Monday you know we've gone to the Pittsburgh Zoo for Mullet Monday."The Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium gave reduced admission Monday to those sporting the business-in-front, party-in-back look.
"On Monday, the person with the best mullet won a behind-the-scenes zoo tour. And the prize for the runners-up? A chance for a free haircut."