"Well-connected lobbyists, political pressure and a good
turnout at
committee hearings used to be the special interest
recipe for
protecting turf in the state budget. Now, a potent
new ingredient is
being increasingly thrown into the mix: top-shelf litigators.
Lawyers are being drafted in droves to unravel spending
plans passed by
the Legislature and signed by the governor. The goal
of these
litigators is to get back money their clients lost
in the budget
process. They are having considerable
success,
"In the last few months alone, the courts added more
than a billion
dollars to the state's deficit by declaring illegal reductions in
healthcare services, redevelopment agency funds and
transportation
spending. Another ruling threatens to deprive California
of all its
federal stimulus money if the state does not rescind
a cut to the
salaries of home healthcare workers.
"Lawyers are scrambling to prepare additional suits
related to the
budget plan the governor signed last month. On Friday,
Senate Leader
Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) -- who negotiated the budget --
announced that even he plans to sue. Steinberg said
the governor
illegally made more than $500 million worth of cuts in the budget plan
passed by lawmakers.
"We are seeing more lawsuits and more victories by the
groups filing
them," said Bob Hertzberg, a former Assembly speaker who now is
chairman of California Forward, a think tank focused
on reforming the
budget process. "They don't want to compromise. . . . It's easier to
hire lawyers than lobbyists, and you probably get better
outcomes."
With the Legislature in recess, many folks are looking
ahead to 2010. And proponents of gay marriage are still deciding
whether to return to the ballot immediately with an effort to repeal Proposition 8.
The Chron's Joe Garifoli reports, "This is a big week for same-sex marriage advocates, as a clearer
picture will emerge about whether they're going to put the issue before
voters again in November 2010 or wait until 2012. Or beyond.
On Wednesday, Equality California, one of the organizations
at the
forefront of the anti-Proposition 8 campaign last year, will announce
which "way forward" it suggests taking.
On Thursday, the 700,000-member liberal online hub Courage Campaign,
whose members advocate a 2010 run, will say whether a $200,000
challenge grant it issued for preliminary campaign
work was met. If it
wasn't, then as Courage Campaign founder Rick Jacobs wrote to
supporters, "We will have to accept that our movement is not ready
to
repeal Prop. 8 in 2010."
The time pressure to decide: The secretary of state's office
suggests that ballot measures be submitted to the attorney
general's
office by Sept. 25 to qualify for the November 2010 ballot. Organizers
need to gather 1 million signatures to sift out 694,354 valid ones."
Is the state GOP undergoing a transformation? The Chron's Carla Marinucci comes back with a definite maybe.
"Despite California's sorry status as an economic basket case, some GOP
voices are suggesting, ever so hopefully, that the
Golden State could
be poised for a new profile - as the birthplace of a potential
renaissance for the Republican Party.
"And it could start at the top, some argue, with the
2010 campaign for governor.
National conservative columnist George Will penned
a gushing piece
to that effect after he got a rare, close-up look at billionaire former
eBay CEO Meg Whitman and her well-funded campaign to become the next
Republican governor. "Although California is a blue state, it has had
Republican governors for 30 of the last 43 years," he wrote. "The
Republican revival nationally might begin here next
year."
Fox News pundit Fred Barnes, the executive editor of the Weekly
Standard, has also gone gaga over Whitman, turning
California into a
potential stepping stone for the GOP's comeback.
"Everything is going to change after the 2010 election, when all
these new faces will come into the Republican Party," he recently
predicted.
"And Whitman, he wrote, could be the key as "governor of the biggest
state, a brainy, conservative, accomplished woman at
the top of the
Republican ladder. When Reagan was elected governor
in 1966, the
speculation about national office - president, vice president - erupted
instantly."
Well, we're convinced. Let's cancel the election and annoint Whitman now...
Dan Walters writes Barbara Boxer may be in trouble.
"Every six years, Republicans believe that with just
the right
candidate and just the right amount of money, they
can knock off the
woman they love to hate. And they are heartened again
by a new poll
showing Boxer barely leading the most likely 2010 challenger, former
Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina.
"The Rasmussen Reports poll
found that 45 percent of California voters support Boxer's re-election,
with Fiorina at 41 percent and 7 percent undecided, much closer than a
March poll. Fiorina isn't a declared candidate yet and also would have
to defeat Chuck DeVore, a very conservative Republican legislator, for
the GOP nomination.
The latest poll, true to form, found Boxer's
overall job approval rating among California voters
to be fairly low,
with just 21 percent holding a "very favorable" view, down six points
from March.
Boxer will probably win another term next year, but
she's not a sure
bet. If Republicans have a chance to unseat her, it
would be with a
wealthy, moderate woman – someone like Carly Fiorina."
Strong letter from Chuck DeVore to follow...
And here's another potential way to help the state out of its
cash crunch: Prison hot sauce . Hey, if it's good enough for Florida...
AP reports, "A group of Tampa inmates is offering a taste of what
it's like jail
— no locks, bars or handcuffs required. But you'd better have an tough
stomach to use more than a dash of their "Jailhouse Fire Hot Sauce." Minimum-security Hillsborough County Jail inmates offer it in "Original," "Smoke" and "No Escape" varieties, all made from their jail-grown peppers.
"They
came up with the recipe and started selling it in 2005. Since then,
horticulture instructor Allen Boatman estimates they've made $10,000 on
the sauce. Each bottle is $7."
