"Backers of the push to oust Republican state Sen.
Jeff Denham of Atwater on Wednesday
abandoned their recall campaign, although their effort still will appear on the June 3 ballot," reports the Modesto Bee's Ben van der Meer.
"Senate President Pro Tem
Don Perata, an Alameda Democrat, announced that he would end the recall campaign to help lawmakers focus on the state's budget deficit and other pressing issues.
"'This is my call -- and my best judgment about how to stop the long, slow slide into another long stalemate,' Perata said in the statement, adding that his decision was not part of any agreement with state Republicans.
"Perata said he conveyed his decision to Senate Minority Leader
Dave Cogdill (R-Modesto), who had told him the recall effort was an obstacle.
"'It would seem to me to be destructive to continue the recall while at the same time he and I were going to sit down with our counterparts in the Assembly and in seven weeks try to put together a budget that may well have to eliminate a $14-billion deficit,' Perata said.
Capitol Weekly reports that
the fight between studios and television and movie writeres did not end with the conclusion of the writers' strike. "Three months after the end of the writers strike that crippled Hollywood for 100 days, a bill working through the state Senate threatens to reopen some of the unresolved issues in the dispute between writers and studio owners.
SB 1765 by Sen.
Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, who is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, would ensure that writers, actors and crew members who work on television shows and movies continue to receive residual checks based on a show or movie's 'fair-market value.'
"The Writers Guild of America, which is sponsoring the legislation, says the bill is necessary to ensure residual payments to actors, writers and crew members in the era of media consolidation. But the Motion Picture Association of America has accused the writers of trying to make an end-run around the collective bargaining process, trying to gain concessions from the Legislature that they were unable to extract from studios at the bargaining table.
"
There is also a question of how, if at all, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may personally profit from the bill, if it becomes law.
"'After shaking hands on an agreement -- the Writers Guild leadership apparently turned immediately to Sacramento in an effort to renege on their side of [the] bargain,' claims a statement from the MPAA. 'A deal is a deal' and it is in extraordinarily bad faith to sign a collective bargaining agreement, rise from the negotiating table, and run to the Legislature.
Hollywood, meet Sacramento...
CW's John Howard reports on the
growing fight between phone companies and consumer groups over unlisted phone numbers.
"What began as a little-noticed, consumer-backed attempt to prevent telephone companies from forcing their customers to pay for the right to keep their numbers unlisted has erupted into a full-press lobbying fight--financed largely by telephone companies--that astonished even Capitol veterans.
"At one point, according to a lobbyist familiar with the issue, there was one lobbyist assigned to each of the 15 members of the Senate Appropriations Committee as the telephone companies and their allies sought to thwart the plan proposed by Sen.
Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica. 'I've seen assigning a lobbyist to each member of a committee on a big bill, but Appropriations has 15 members,' the lobbyist said. 'They (the phone companies) have hired half the lobbying world.'
"Kuehl's bill, SB 1423, would prevent telephone customers from having to pay to keep their telephone numbers private. Currently, AT&T's land-line customers pay about $1.25 a month to keep their numbers unlisted, and some other, smaller companies charge nearly $2--charges that in some cases have increased four-fold or more since the market was deregulated two years ago.
"
The fees for keeping numbers unlisted total about $70 million annually and that unlisted numbers can't be sold or resold to marketers--an additional source of income."
"A redistricting measure backed by Gov. Schwarzenegger on the November ballot is more than just another in the long line of mapmaking measures that have come before California voters before. It is also
the first true test of a new organization, bankrolled by some of the state's wealthiest non-profit foundations, as they wade into the perilous waters of partisan politics," reports Capitol Weekly.
"Wading into politics possesses some political dangers for the foundations that have bankrolled California Forward.
The foundations enjoy federal tax-exempt status, and are barred from participating directly in politics. That's why California Forward was built with an educational arm, which is a standard 501 (c) (3). There is also a political arm to the organization, a 501 (c) (4), the California Forward Action Fund, which is allowed to particpate in overtly political activities. That part of the organization does not receive any foundation funding.
"As the group takes political positions, and potentially makes some political enemies, the foundations' political resolve will be challenged.
"'
Their political stomachs will be tested as we go through each of these fights,' said Panetta. 'Certainly, no one is naive enough to assume that good government is going to be embraced simply because it's good government. My experience is you've got to fight for the reforms that matter.'"
"Opponents [say] the "Safe Neighborhoods" act targets African American and Latino youth and that its backers
are trying to fire up "ultraconservatives" to turn out for the presidential election," reports Andy Furillo in the Bee.
"Proponents denied a political motivation. They said their initiative is just as much about prevention and programs as it is about putting people in prison.
"Last week, supporters of the measure sponsored by state Sen.
George Runner, R-Lancaster, submitted signatures to the California secretary of state's office to get it on the fall ballot. It needs a little more than 433,000 valid signatures to qualify.
"The measure would smack ex-cons who carry loaded or concealed guns in public with new, 10-year terms. It would expand the "10-20-life" law to accomplices as well as actual shooters in crimes where guns are brandished, fired or injure people when shot.
"It also would enhance assorted penalties for street gang members convicted of crime, make it easier for local prosecutors to obtain civil anti-gang injunctions and evict public housing residents involved in gangs or drugs.
"Runner's initiative would protect $600 million in existing local law enforcement spending and add $365 million more, including tens of millions for prevention and rehabilitation programs.
"The Legislative Analyst's Office says the measure could hike the corrections budget by $500 million a year and require another $500 million in one-time spending to build prison space for more offenders.
"State Sen.
Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, told a Capitol press conference Wednesday the initiative is intended to scare the public.
"'This initiative is not about safe neighborhoods,' Romero said. 'This is about saying 'boo' to the people of California.'"
Daniel Weintraub covers the release of a
report by the Pacific Research Institute calling for a state flat tax.
Report author
Robert "Murphy concedes that his plan in its purest form is probably not doable politically. A serious proposal along these lines would likely exempt the first portion of everyone's income, perhaps as much as $20,000 or $30,000 a year, so that the poor would pay proportionately less than the wealthy. And it would probably leave intact, at least in some form, some of the most popular tax deductions.
"Democrats already are looking at broadening the sales tax base by applying the tax to services rather than only to goods. They've said they might want to combine that change with a move to lower the rate.
"Murphy's proposal for the income tax follows the same path. Democrats shouldn't dismiss it � even if they might want to bend it to serve their different goals for the size and scope of state government."
Weintraub's colleague Steve Weigand
assesses reform proposals to the initiative process drafted by
Bob Stern's Center for Governmental Studies.
"Some of them sound pretty good. For example, it might make sense to restore the 'indirect initiative.' This was a process whereby proponents of an initiative could submit their measure to the Legislature first. If legislators approved it, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, it was withdrawn from the ballot.
"The idea apparently was that professional lawmakers could do a better job of putting together law than amateurs, which doesn't explain why voters killed the indirect initiative when the Legislature went "pro" (i.e., full time) in 1966.
"Other reforms would allow proponents to fine-tune their initiatives during circulation; extend the current 150-day limit for signature gathering to 365 days; allow the Legislature to amend initiatives by a two-thirds vote; limit contributions to initiative campaigns; and change some of the rules concerning signature gathering.
"Obviously, some of these reforms might cause more trouble than they'd fix. Contribution limits on ballot measures, for example, have already been deemed unconstitutional by the courts.
"And letting legislators tinker with initiatives before they go on the ballot is tantamount to having the village idiot hold the matches while you adjust the dynamite fuse.
"But I wouldn't worry much about which reforms are worthy of consideration and which aren't, since it's highly unlikely any of them will go anywhere anytime soon.
"Unless of course someone wants to finance an initiative drive �"
"Retiring Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, said Tuesday that he'll
try to revive a 2007 bid to give farmworkers another option in union organizing elections," writes Jake Henshaw for the Visalia Times-Delta.
"Right now, state officials conduct an election with a secret ballot among agricultural workers targeted in an organizing drive.
"Last year the governor vetoed two bills that also would have authorized agricultural workers and labor to use either a secret ballot or a "card check" approach, which allows them to collect signatures of a majority of workers over time to establish a bargaining unit.
"Nunez said he is working on a bill this year on a bill that might allow the alternative of "perhaps having them go absentee like absentee ballots."
"He stressed that this is still a "concept" that he plans to flesh out in visits with farmworkers.
"He along with labor and their allies have pushed both here and in Congress for the card check approach, presenting it as a better alternative to a secret election at a business where employers can unfairly influence the outcome."
The Chron's Tanya Schevitz
profiles incoming UC president Mark Yudof.
"He chews on a fat cigar and makes jokes about his sparse hair. He sports the burnt orange ties of his employer, the University of Texas, during trips to UC's Oakland headquarters and sucks down Coca-Cola Zero like he's in the Texas heat.
"But behind his down-home manner is a man brought in to change the 10-campus university system to its very core.
"Hired to replace
Robert Dynes in the aftermath of a management meltdown in which UC administrators flouted, circumvented and violated university policies governing pay and perks, the 63-year-old Yudof knows his mission when he officially takes over next month.
"'I've really got to get the trains running on time (at UC). There are a lot of things I believe in, like global initiatives and dealing with the deferred maintenance on campus and being absolutely competitive for faculty,' he said in a recent interview in the East Bay. "But I've got to get the platform right. I've got to regain the trust of Californians and the Board of Regents.
I've got to get our (number of employees) down and our budgets down. Then we can start talking about what else we want to do.'
"Yudof, a former law professor and expert on education and constitutional law, has been embraced by faculty, students and administrators as the right choice for the job. His experience in heading the complex, multicampus Texas and Minnesota university systems was a key factor in his selection and will be important as UC seeks to right itself."
And here are the day's top fundraisers, as reported by
ElectionTrack.comYes Prop 98:$78,000
Mark Leno For Senate 2008: $39,800
Friends of Jeff Denham Against The Recall: $28,500
Moving Forward California: $25,000
Fran Florez For Assembly, Fran: $13,800
Friends of Lloyd Levine: $13,200
Hector De La Torre For State Assembly 2008: $12,000
Re-elect Senator Carole Migden: $11,600
Friends of Anthony Portantino 2008: $11,500
Paul Fong For Assembly: $10,800
Nancy Skinner For Assembly: $10,800
Julia Brownley For Assembly 2008: $10,200
Elaine Alquist For State Senate 2008: $10,200
Yes On Prop 99, No On Prop 98: $10,000
Meanwhile,
the secession movement is alive and well in Florida.
"One city commission wants to divide Florida into two states: North Florida and South Florida. The North Lauderdale City Commission says in a resolution that it's not confident in state leaders when it comes to collecting and spending their own money.
"It also says it would be "in the best interests of the citizens and residents" to divide the state.
Hey, if it passes, the Democrats would have
three states that would have credentialing issues at the national convention...
