Asm. Tim Donnelly is increasingly becoming the likely candidate who will face Gov. Jerry Brown in November, but a new poll shows Neel Kashkari gaining ground in the battle for the Republican nomination.
John Myers reports for KQED: “While Donnelly’s support has grown, the biggest change from PPIC’s April statewide poll is the rise in support among the ranks of the GOP for Kashkari — from just 5 percent to now 21 percent. That’s no doubt due, in part, to the former Treasury official’s well-financed operation starting to kick into gear — a deluge of mailers and political advertisements. It may also have helped that virtually every single well-known Republican in California, from ex-governors to legislative leaders and to even 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, have all now endorsed Kashkari’s bid to unseat Brown.”
Kashkari is also getting a boost from a newly formed independent expenditure committee set up by GOP supporter Charles Munger and billionaire Robert Day.
Davide Siders reports in the Sacramento Bee: “A group called "Californians for Kashkari for Governor 2014" filed its statement of organization on Monday, with a $350,000 donation from Munger and $50,000 from Day, chairman of Trust Company of the West. James Hunter, vice chairman of Baron Real Estate, donated $10,000.”
“The group on Wednesday reported spending on mailers supporting Kashkari and opposing Donnelly.”
Despite his current success, Donelly only recently found his way into politics after a failed business became a campaign platform.
Jessica Garrison reports in the Los Angeles Times: “Many politicians might take pains to whitewash such a failure. Donnelly, who captured his Assembly seat in an upset in 2010, just before dissolving his business, wears the defeat like a badge, touting it on the campaign trail as a reason voters should elect him.
“The approach plays to his conservative tea party supporters and fits right in with an old strain in American politics — an outsider stressing that status, the better to run against the establishment.”
A majority of the public thinks only a few special interests rule the state Capitol and a quarter think government is run for the benefit of all, according to a new PPIC survey.
John Howard reports in Capitol Weekly: “The survey of 1,702 people found that a majority, 61 percent, said government can be trusted to do what is right only some of the time, while about 11 percent said the government can be trusted none of the time. A small minority, 3 percent, said government can be trusted all of the time, while a about fourth of those surveyed said they trust government “most of the time.””
Things are getting brutal between Asm. Robert Wieckowski and Mary Hayashi in the East Bay senate race after the release of a surveillance video taken at the time of Hayashi’s shoplifting arrest in 2011.
Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross report in The San Francisco Chronicle: “Lacabe said police released the video to her last week. The full-color footage was edited down by the Wieckowski campaign to less than two minutes and put up on YouTube - complete with storyboard narration.”
"It clearly disputes Hayashi's claim that she was hurried and distracted at the time," said Wieckowski campaign spokeswoman Lisa Tucker. "It also shows that she was immediately put under surveillance and that they were on the lookout for her."
State Parks Department head Maj. Gen. Anthony Jackson announced his plans to retire from public service.
Christopher Cadelago reports in the Sacramento Bee: “Jackson's position came vacant after Ruth Coleman resigned amid revelations that her department stashed away $54 million in two special funds, even as it was planning to close 70 state parks to meet state budget cuts.”
“Several other staffers at parks headquarters were fired or reassigned following the discovery. After being appointed to the post by Gov. Jerry Brown in November 2012, Jackson said he planned to become a student of the organization "putting my own nose to the grindstone," he told a reporter.”
A new study finds climate change is a threat to food quality in addition to food supply.
Evan Halper reports in the Los Angeles Times: “Scientists already have been investigating breeds of chicken and cattle that can thrive in triple-digit temperatures, grapes that are resilient to heat fungi and crops that won't whither as temperatures rise. Speeding up such innovations and exporting them to developing nations will be a focus of discussions Thursday.
"Adaptation must begin now," the report said. "Developing the necessary scientific breakthroughs and broadly disseminating them will require years, even decades of lead time."
