Former LA Mayor Richard Riordan withdrew his attempt to overhaul public pensions in Los Angeles, as he and his allies ran into concerted opposition from unions.
From the LAT's David Zahniser and Kate Linthicum: "The sudden retreat followed an attack by organized labor on a plan that Riordan said is vital to avoiding municipal bankruptcy. City leaders are coping with a financial crisis and will ask voters next spring for a sales tax increase to avert more cuts. Riordan argued that City Hall should reduce employee pension benefits instead.
The failure of Riordan's ballot drive could push the pension issue further into the background of the 2013 mayoral race. Three City Hall insiders in the contest have criticized the plan, while a Republican outsider has embraced it...
Riordan's proposal, targeted for the May ballot, would have replaced guaranteed retirement payments with 401(k)-style investment accounts for new employees. It also would have scaled back benefits for existing workers. City Hall unions fought back, dogging Riordan's paid signature-gatherers at malls and supermarkets and demanding that the former mayor debate the president of the powerful LAPD officers' union.
As if the perils of smog -- respiratory maladies, skin and eye irritation, etc -- weren't bad enough, a new factor has been added to the list -- autism.
From the LA Daily News' Susan Abram: "Researchers have found that exposure to traffic-related air pollution during pregnancy is associated with autism, according to a new study released on Monday."
"The study, published online in the Archives of General Psychiatry, found evidence that pollution may affect the developing brain among children whose mothers lived in areas where there was poor air quality..."
"We've known for a long time that air pollution is bad for our lungs, and especially for children. We're now beginning to understand how air pollution may affect the brain."
"Researchers examined 500 children, mostly boys, who lived in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento. Half the children had autism. They studied mothers' addresses from birth certificates and residential history then examined data collected by the Environmental Protection Agency from those areas, looking at levels of nitrogen dioxide, as well as fine (PM2.5) and course (PM10) particulate matter. They found that the finest particulate matter, even far from freeways, enters the lungs and blood, and eventually finds its way to the brain."
Campaign accountant Kinde Durkee, who once handled the books for dozens of Democratic politicians, faces prison time under the terms of the prosecutors' recommendations.
From the OC Register's Brian Joseph: "Federal prosecutors are recommending that disgraced Democratic campaign treasurer Kinde Durkee receive about eight years in prison after pleading guilty to embezzling more than $7 million from her clients, who included U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Orange County politicians Loretta Sanchez,Lou Correa and Jose Solorio."
"Durkee’s sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday in Sacramento. In March, when she plead guilty, prosecutors said her sentence could be as high as 11 1/2 years to 14 years in prison. But according to a court filing released Monday by the office of U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner of Sacramento, prosecutors are seeking only a97-month sentence."
“Over the course of approximately 12 years,” the filing states, “the defendant misappropriated millions of dollars from clients, used the money for her personal and business expenses, and prepared false campaign disclosure reports to hide the theft.”
What Wall Street doesn't know about California would fill a book, but recent electoral events here have resulted in a reappraisal of the state's fiscal worthiness.
From the WSJ's Kelly Nolan: "On Nov. 6, California voters approved temporary tax increases that Standard & Poor's estimates will boost the state's revenue by more than $6 billion over the next several years. The tax rise was a controversial move in the already high-tax state, but it suddenly made California's bonds more appealing, market participants said. California also passed modest pension changes this year."
"Meanwhile, Illinois has done little to address its $83 billion unfunded pension liability. The state had roughly $6 billion in unpaid bills as of the end of September, according to the state comptroller's office."
"That has separated the two states in the minds of some investors. The difference in yield, or spread, between the debt of the two lowest-rated states has increased to its widest point since early March 2011, according to Thomson Reuters Municipal Market Data."
The problem that Republicans have wooing Latinos, which is well documented, isn't the only race-linked political divide: How about the problem that Democrats have hanging on to whites?
From Tony Quinn in the Fox & Hounds: "In five Midwestern states, Republicans did have the governor and both houses of the legislature: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. In these states, however, the GOP legislatures simply shored up vulnerable incumbents, and probably protected six to eight seats they might otherwise have lost. But the biggest gerrymander of all was in Illinois where Democrats drew the lines and took away four Republican seats. The GOP tried to return the favor in North Carolina, but only netted three new seats. And in Georgia and Utah, GOP attempts to gerrymander conservative Democrats out of their seats failed. ... "
"For the first time since the Civil War, there are no Democrats in the House delegation from Arkansas and Oklahoma; states that were once the backbone of the Democratic majority in Congress. There is only one Democrat from Kentucky and West Virginia, and two from Missouri. Among the largest southern states (all battlegrounds for president), there are only seven white Democrats of the 27 representatives in Florida, only three of 13 in North Carolina, and only two of 11 in Virginia."
