With no presidential election to cover here at home,
Capitol Weekly heads to Reno to do some gambling on the company dime. Oh, and
to look at the presidential race.
"If Barack Obama carries the state of Nevada on Election
Day, and wins the presidency, he will do so by doing
the same thing he did to win the Iowa Caucuses back
in January - luring new voters to the polls.
"Obama is not the first candidate to pay lip service
to idea of reaching out to new voters, but one look
at the voter rolls in Nevada tells the story of just
how Obama is doing it - and how those new voters may carry him to the White
House.
"The question is: Are these new voters a real force, and will they come
to the polls by Nov. 4? The answer to that question may ultimately determine
the next President of the United States.
"This is a state that John Kerry lost to George Bush
by just 21,500 votes. That was back in 2004, when the state had 1.07
million voters. In 2004, Republicans held a slim registration advantage
of
less than 5,000 voters - the Republicans had 434,239 voters versus
429,808 registered Democrats, according to numbers from the
Nevada Secretary of State.
"But what a difference four years makes.
"Voter registration in the state has skyrocketed to
1.45 million voters. And Republicans' slight registration edge is gone.
Democrats now have
a registration advantage of more than 110,000 voters in Nevada. Here in
Washoe County, which Bush
carried back in 2004, the reversal has been profound. In 2004,
Republicans had an 18,000-voter registration advantage among the
county's 233,000 voters. Now, there are 269,000 registered voters in
the county - 105,000 Democrats and 104,000 Republicans."
Meanwhile, on Planet California, "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has set Nov. 5 -- the day after next week's election -- as the start of an emergency legislative session to address
the state budget deficit, which has swelled by several billion dollars in recent
weeks as the stock market has continued its tumble
and the economy has soured," reports Evan Halper in the Times.
"Schwarzenegger said this year's deficit will be "much more" than the $3 billion that state officials projected two weeks ago.
Capitol budget analysts say preliminary data indicate
the problem will probably grow to at least $10 billion."
We'll take the over, thank you very much.
"The governor and legislative leaders made the announcement
to reporters in the hallway outside Schwarzenegger's office, where they had been meeting in private to
discuss the fiscal crisis. They said that in the coming
days they also will form a commission to study ways
to restructure the state tax code to make revenue more
stable.
"Legislators will no doubt be forced to weigh steep
program cuts as part of the special session. The estimated
shortfall already has grown so large -- $10 billion is nearly 10% of the general fund -- that even the sales tax hike the governor proposed
earlier in the year would erase only a fraction of
it."
The Bee's Jim Sanders reports: "Republican legislative leaders, in a letter to Schwarzenegger,
called Monday for tax cuts to stimulate the economy.
"State unemployment has grown to 7.7 percent from 4.6 percent about two years ago.
"Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines, of Clovis, and Senate Republican leader Dave Cogdill, of Modesto, said lower taxes would spur job creation.
"'We just want to get the economy moving – and jobs is the best way,' Villines said.
"Specifically, the GOP leaders recommended a tax credit
for businesses that hire the unemployed; a manufacturing investment credit for equipment purchases; a cut in the capital gains tax to spur business investment; and modification of the tax code and suspension of
regulatory burdens to spark job creation."
The Chron's Matthew Yi reports on Democrats' hope to reach an agreement on both taxes and cuts:
"'The problem is so bad that we have to have an agreement,' Perata said. 'It's going to be a miserable November.'"
Dan Walters writes to expect schools to be part of the budget cutting discussion.
"School spending is vulnerable not only because it's such a huge pot – 40-plus percent of the budget – but because as state revenues fall ever-further below the rosy projections, the constitutional
floor of school spending also drops. In words, the
Legislature and the governor could legally cut schools
by billions of bucks, perhaps $4 billion or more.
"The Education Coalition, headed by the powerful California
Teachers Association, is already beseeching Schwarzenegger
and lawmakers to leave them alone, contending that
the current budget already shorts schools by several
billion dollars, thus renewing the perennial debate
over school finance.
"Over the past 10 years, spending on K-12 schools in California, both state aid and local property
taxes, has risen by an average of 4.9 percent a year while enrollment has risen by under
1 percent per year, according to data from the Legislature's budget office. Most of the remaining 4-plus percent is eaten up by inflation, leaving real
per-pupil spending increasing at around 1 percent a year.
"By necessity, school spending may be on the block,
but no one should assume that it's lavish now. In fact, on a per-pupil basis, it's below the national average."
While the numbers look ugly on the revenue side of
the state's ledger, those nagging expenses keep creeping up.
"The lawyer representing California in a lawsuit over
prison health care said Monday that state officials
aren't ready to comply with a federal judge's order to turn over $250 million for new hospitals for inmates, despite the possibility of a contempt-of-court order against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson ordered Schwarzenegger and state Controller John Chiang on Oct. 8 to tell him how soon they would provide the money,
the first installment in an $8 billion construction plan that a court-appointed manager drew up to raise the prison health
system to constitutional standards.
"Henderson said at an earlier hearing that he was prepared
to hold Schwarzenegger and Chiang in contempt, with
fines against the state of as much as $2 million a day, unless they turn over $250 million in prison funding that the Legislature has
already approved. But at Monday's hearing in San Francisco, Deputy Attorney General
Daniel Powell said the state is not legally required
to follow such an order and has no immediate plans
to do so.
"'This court has no authority to order construction of
prisons,' Powell told Henderson. He said state officials must
review the construction plans, decide whether they
comply with legal restrictions and seek specific approval
from the Legislature.
"If the state maintains that position, Henderson said,
he'll go "full speed ahead" with contempt proceedings. Later in the day, he ordered
state officials to transfer $250 million to the prison health system's federal overseer by Nov. 5 or face a contempt hearing a week later."
On the local government front, "Sales of new cars and light trucks fell 19.1 percent in the third quarter to levels last seen 12 years ago, according to an industry report released
on Monday by the California New Car Dealers Association.
It predicted sales next year will likely fall more," report Jon Ortiz and Dale Kasler in the Bee.
"The gloomy numbers depict an auto industry in California
held hostage to falling home prices, heavy household
debt and a downshifting economy. Consumers have slowed
spending, especially for big-ticket items such as cars and trucks.
"And as auto sales erode, local governments are feeling
the squeeze.
"'Car sales are certainly our biggest contributor to
the general fund,' said Roseville Treasurer Russ Branson. 'Sales taxes overall are down. Property taxes are flat.
So all we can do is control expenses.'
"Roseville, home to one of the region's big auto malls, depended on car and truck sales for
about 7 percent of its general fund money last year, Branson
said."
The LAT's Marc Lifsher looks at the recent declines in the state's largest retirement system.
"The California Public Employees Retirement System,
known as CalPERS, had a total portfolio value of $185 billion on Friday, down 23% from $239 billion at the start of its fiscal year.
"CalPERS expects to survive the falling market and credit
crunch by applying the lessons it learned from the
dot-com bust at the start of the decade, said President
Rob Feckner.
"'We're going to weather the storm and come out better than
the last time,' he said. 'Then, we lost $50 billion and made back over $120 billion. I see us being in the same position this
time.'
"Recent losses are larger in total value, but "percentage-wise, we're in better shape now than then,' said Feckner, an employee of the Napa Unified School
District, who is finishing his fourth year as head
of the 13-member CalPERS board."
"California's publicly subsidized high-risk pool, long one of the least generous in the country,
has atrophied over the tenure of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- even as the governor put the plight of the uninsured
at the top of his political agenda," reports Jordan Rau in the Times.
"Rising premiums and limited subsidies have made the
Major Risk Medical Insurance Program either unaffordable,
unavailable or ineffective for many of those who most
need health insurance.
"The program now covers about 13,000 Californians -- about 2% of the medically uninsurable.
"Enrollment has dropped by almost a third since Schwarzenegger
became governor.
"Schwarzenegger last month vetoed a measure that would
have expanded the 17-year-old pool, overruling the bill's endorsement by the pool's own governing board, most of whom he appointed.
"The governor said "the only solution for our healthcare crisis" is a complete overhaul of the state's healthcare system along the lines of his $14.9-billion plan that the Legislature rejected last January
as too expensive."
And, we bring you yesterday's largest cash hauls, courtesy of ElectionTrack.
Yes On 11: $600,018
Protectmarriage.com - Yes On 8, A Project Of California Renewal: $245,580
Campaign For Teen Safety - No On 4: $150,025
Strickland For Senate: $139,500
No On 8 - Equality California: $116,661
Huber For Assembly: $115,728
Jeandron, Friends Of Gary: $76,000
Yes
On Prop. 2: $72,000
Masry, Friends Of Ferial: $55,837
No On 8, Equality For All: $55,642
Also, Apple Computer came through with its previously announced donation
of $100,000 to the campaign against Proposition 8 yesterday.
And finally, from our Is That A Chorizo in Your Diaper Or Are You Happy To
See Me Files, Customs inspectors scored the makings of a barbecue when a 21-year-old South Texas woman declared several soiled baby
diapers at a U.S.-Mexico border crossing.
"Suspicious of the chunky diapers, inspectors with U.S.
Customs and Border Protection at the international
bridge in Hidalgo found several
links of spicy
pork sausage, or chorizo, inside. The diapers had been
folded to look
soiled, according to a customs agency statement.
"The Mission resident, who was not identified after
the Friday night incident, was fined $300 and her chorizo was seized."
