The crowd of candidates hoping to replace Jane Harman in the 36th Congressional District is getting bigger by the day, but one person who isn't running is a man who once held the seat -- Steve Kuykendall. Jean Merl in the L.A. Times reports.
"Kuykendall, who served on the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council and in the state Assembly before narrowly defeating Janice Hahn, now an L.A. councilwoman, for the congressional seat in 1998, said it would be tough for a Republican to win the district, which has been redrawn to strongly favor Democrats since Harman defeated Kuykendall in another close race in 2000. And the fact that boundaries will be redrawn for all legislative and congressional districts this summer adds yet another element of uncertainty, Kuykendall said."
"You could win only to find the seat will be gone" (at least as far as Republicans are concerned) once the districts are remade, Kuykendall said."
The battle for the 36th will be the first congressional test of California's new "top two" system, in which the top two vote-getters face each other in a runoff. The Bee's Dan Walters takes a look.
"Bowen is the darling of the Democratic left while her chief opponent, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, is receiving support from the party's more moderate wing, including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Their duel became more complicated when Marcy Winograd, a very liberal local activist who repeatedly challenged Harman – with support for Israel their main conflict – entered entered the race."
"Winograd was lionized by the Democratic left when she challenged Harman, but now is being slammed by netroots activists because she could draw liberal votes from Bowen and thus improve Hahn's chances of being a runoff finalist."
When the revolution comes, the first thing you should do is shoot the lawyers, as the saying goes, and Jerry Brown soon may be signing on to that sentiment: Legal challenges already are being put together to challenge his proposed budget cuts.
From Jack Chang in the Bee: "Attorneys are already preparing lawsuits challenging Gov. Jerry Brown's proposals on the grounds that they violate voter-passed constitutional amendments and long-standing state laws."
"If successful, the legal actions could cost the state – currently trying to fill a $26.6 billion hole – about $2.4 billion. Those areas already under scrutiny for lawsuits include proposals to create standards for serving developmentally disabled people, and to eliminate redevelopment agencies and end enterprise zones."
Meanwhile, public pension reforms are sparking ballot measures around the state, notes CalPensions' Ed Mendel.
"Los Angeles leads off Tuesday with a modest ballot measure aimed at curbing pension costs, which are threatening to take a big bite out of the budgets of California’s three major coastal cities."
"City officials in San Diego are talking about putting dueling initiatives on the ballot to switch new hires to 401(k)-style individual investment plans, one including police and firefighters in the cost-cutting change and the other leaving them out."
The changing of the guard at the Fair Political Practices Commission has some wondering whether the FPPC's tougher stance developed under former Chairman Ross Johnson or his brief successor Dan Schnur will be a thing of the past.
From the LAT's Patrick McGreevy: "Federal attorney Ann Ravel will be sworn in as chairwoman of the state Fair Political Practices Commission on Monday. Ravel said she is committed to openness but is reconsidering her predecessor's policy of announcing investigations on the commission's website before allegations are substantiated. That can unfairly tarnish politicians, she said, and lead to political mischief."
"When a complaint is put up on the website prior to an election, it gives the appearance that there is some validity to it when in fact there hasn't been an investigation,'' Ravel said. That can give ammunition to political rivals, she added."
Finally, from our "You've got to be kidding" file comes the tale of people in Great Britain stealing the ownership titles to houses. The problem is especially bad for people without a mortgage. And you thought the U.S. mortgage meltdown was bad.
"Criminals are taking advantage of changes in the law to transfer the ownership of land and property to themselves."
"They are easily able to do this because land certificates have been abolished and all property titles in England and Wales are published online."
Many home owners may not even be aware that a fraudster who has impersonated them in a form of identity theft has stolen the rights to their property until it is too late. Solicitor Patrick McCloy, said yesterday: "I have come across four cases of this in the last year alone.”
That's right, blame it on the Internet...