Did you miss us? After a week off, the Legislature
-- not to mention your friendly, neighborhood Roundup
-- are back in action this morning will a full plate.For
the Legislature, that largely means waiting until April
15, so the state can see just how much money there really
is before making up a spending plan. You can join in
the fun, thanks to the State Controller's Tax Tracker Web site. If that isn't good enough for you, we'll come up with
some other time waster at the bottom of this Roundup...
In the meantime, a new poll shows Meg Whitman with a slight lead over Democrat Jerry
Brown.
"Republican Meg Whitman's unprecedented spending spree
in the race for
governor has rocketed her into a narrow lead against
Democrat Jerry
Brown, while incumbent U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) is holding her own as
a trio of little-known GOP candidates vies to challenge her, a new Los
Angeles Times/USC poll has found.
"Whitman, who gave her campaign a record-breaking $39 million to finance a
blistering pace of recent television advertising,
carried 44% of voters
to Brown's 41%. The campaign by Brown, the former governor and current
attorney general, has been the antithesis of Whitman's,
operating under
the radar except for a brief burst of publicity in
early March when he
announced his intention to run.
"In her first bid for elective office, Whitman was
easily outdistancing
her fellow Republican, Insurance Commissioner Steve
Poizner, with a
40-point lead in the poll as they move toward the June
primary. In the Republican Senate contest, former U.S.
Rep. Tom Campbell held a
slim lead over one-time Hewlett-Packard chief Carly Fiorina, 29% to 25%.
Coming in a distant third was Orange County Assemblyman
Chuck DeVore,
at 9%.
"At this early stage of the campaign, Boxer has a comfortable
cushion
over a generic Republican, 48% to 34%, as she seeks her fourth term.
Although somewhat diminished in popularity, Boxer maintains
a positive
impression among California voters, the poll found."
If you just want the pretty picture, check them out
here.
Can Ron Calderon save Hollywood? Or has he just found a way to play with some new
money that would be exempt from campaign reporting
laws, not to mention federal taxes?
Marc Lifsher reports, "A nonprofit organization aimed
at keeping Hollywood film production
in California isn't getting much support from the very
groups it would
try to help: local unions and other workers in the state. The
Bring Hollywood Home Foundation has begun an aggressive
fundraising
drive for an expensive media campaign to convince voters
and lawmakers
of the film industry's economic importance.
"But the workers and studios that would benefit from
increased film
and television production in California aren't buying
the program,
created in February by state Sen. Ron Calderon (D-Montebello).
"They
are leery not only of requests for contributions of as much as $100,000
but also of the motives of an organization created
and run by Calderon
associates. Jimenez, for instance, a political and
public relations
consultant, is the wife of Calderon's communications
aide, Bob Jimenez.
"I
advised them not to respond" to the solicitation,
said Barry Broad, a
Sacramento lobbyist for the International Brotherhood
of Teamsters,
which represents blue-collar film industry workers such as drivers. "I
was deeply suspicious of their high-pressure tactics."
If you haven't written that check yet, you can make
it payable to The Roundup. 980 9th St. Sacramento, CA. 95814. We'll be sure to do what we can to help any number
of struggling industries in these tough economic times...
How is Chuck DeVore like a Rubik's Cube? Jim Sanders has the answer
"But like a Rubik's Cube, there are many twists to
the personality of
the Irvine Republican fighting Carly Fiorina and Tom
Campbell in the
June 8 primary for the right to face Democratic U.S. Sen.
Barbara Boxer
in the fall
"A stir-things-up campaigner, DeVore has surprised
Fiorina with challenging phone calls while she was
on radio talk shows,
and he was sued for altering the lyrics of a Don Henley song, "All She
Wants to Do Is Dance," to a ditty critical of Boxer,
"All She Wants to
Do Is Tax."
Assemblyman Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia, characterized DeVore as
well-respected by colleagues, erudite, principled – but no backslapper.
"He's
the kind of guy that you'd want to have a policy discussion
with, but
he's probably not the kind of guy that you're going
to invite out for a
beer," Adams said.
Jean Merl looks at the race between Bill Emmerson and Russ Bogh.
"By late February, the most recent campaign reporting
date, Emmerson had
raised more than $210,000 for the special election.
"Additionally, two groups outside the campaign -- the California Dental
Assn. and a coalition called Putting Riverside First,
Bill Emmerson for
Senate 2010 (funded by the dental organization and real estate
interests) -- have so far spent some $450,000 to support his candidacy.
Emmerson ran a dental practice before his 2004 election to the Assembly.
"Bogh
reported raising $175,000 for the special election campaign.
Additionally, a group originally formed to campaign
for a part-time
Legislature, Citizens for California Reform, has so
far spent $47,281 to
advocate for Bogh's election and $79,791 to oppose Emmerson."
It just doesn't seem fair that we were on hiuatus during
the entire RNC strip club affair. Stories like that
are the reason we started the Roundup in the first
place. But the story has but RNC Chairman Michael Steele on his heels, defending his leadership
of the party.
AP reports, "Asked in a nationally broadcast interview
if he would step down in
the face of criticism of the party's financial management,
Steele
replied, "No." He said some had been second-guessing him "since the day
that I got the job."
"Steele, however, acknowledged controversy over the
$2,000 the party spent recently for a party at a sex-themed Hollywood
nightclub, but said that "when I first heard about
this behavior, I was
very angry." Two top congressional Republicans said
Sunday the RNC must be
held accountable for the way it uses the money it
raises in light of
much-criticized Hollywood outing. "This kind of thing has
got to stop or
they won't get any contributions," said Sen.
Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate.
"Kyl and Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, who is leading the GOP effort to recruit
candidates and elect House members, distanced themselves
from Steele
when discussing the committee's controversial spending.
And finally, from our Causes We Can Believe In Files, About two dozen women drew a crowd of onlookers when
they shed their shirts and marched downtown in Maine's
largest city to promote what they call equal-opportunity public toplessness.
Organizer Ty MacDowell said the point of Saturday's
march in Portland was that a topless woman out in public
shouldn't attract any more attention than a man who
walks around without a shirt.
"It's not illegal for a woman to be topless in public
in Maine, and police said there were no incidents or
arrests."
But wait, if it's already legal, then why ... oh, never
mind.
