In the first exchange of real gunfire
involving Jerry Brown in the governor's race, the attorney
general flexed some muscle among his friends in the
business community -- with an assist from his wife, Anne, and got the California
Chamber of Commerce to pull an ad critical of the A.G.
"The
president of the Chamber said he was surprised at the
level of attention the ad generated.
The move comes after a letter from
four Chamber board
members to Chamber President and Chief Executive Allan
Zaremberg criticizing the ads. "To any reasonably minded
person this is nothing more than a typical political
attack ad. It undermines the chamber's credibility
to justify it as anything other than that," the letter
states.
On Thursday,
Zaremberg said his organization would
remove the ad from the air waves.
"We're ready to move on to the next
phase of our paid
media campaign," he told Capitol Weekly. "We believe
we've accomplished what we tried to accomplish with
the first ad, which is bring attention to these important
issues. We probably got a little more attention than
we expected."
In a little more good budget news (yes, we said good budget news) For the fourth straight month, state revenues have come in higher than projected.
Shane Goldmacher reports, "or the fourth straight month,
California has collected more in taxes
than expected, a sign that the state economy may be
starting to recover.
But finance officials warned that any rebound is expected
to be slow,
and the revenue boon may prove less helpful at shrinking
California's
deficit than many in Sacramento hope.
State revenue outpaced forecasts by $356 million in March, according to a
report
issued Thursday by the state controller. For the current
fiscal year,
California's tax collections have topped budget projections
by $2.3
billion, or 4.1%.
Controller John Chiang said in a written statement that lingering high
unemployment in California means "the road to recovery
will be long and
arduous."
That's good news, Sacramento style...
The Legislature passed a tax break for people who lose their homes due to
foreclosure or short sale. Patrick McGreevy reports, "Thousands of Californians
whose homes were foreclosed on or sold at a
loss would get tax relief under a measure approved
Thursday by the state
Legislature.
The bill would waive state taxes on mortgage debt that
has been forgiven
in a foreclosure or short sale. It is expected to
affect about 34,000
taxpayers.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he would sign the measure,
which would
also provide about $60 million in tax credits to green-energy companies,
when it reached his desk."
If you an audiophile, this week's Capital Notes podcast talks politics, with a little budget and T-Ridge thrown in for good measure.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villariagosa has backed off an earlier threat to impose furloughs for
city employees. Maeve Reston reports, "Villaraigosa has backed away
from his call to shut down some city
departments two days a week, using positive news about
the city's budget
crisis to downplay a threat that had become increasingly
difficult to
sustain.
"To all of our surprise, we've gotten an increase in
revenues of $30
million more from property tax than we expected," Villaraigosa
said
Thursday, two days after announcing the move might
be necessary as soon
as Monday to prevent the city from running out of money.
With the unexpected revenue and the City Council's
budget-balancing
moves, "We might not be out of cash after all," the
mayor said."
And finally, rom our Hockey Gone Wild Files, "Six Slovenian ice hockey players who beat up their
American coach
after winning a league title were released by the team
Thursday.
Mike
Posma, a former American Hockey League player who
took over as coach
last year, was beaten up by his players Saturday following
Acroni
Jesenice's celebrations for winning the title. The
42-year-old New
Jersey native was cut and bruised but not seriously
injured.
"Slovenian media say that both the six players and
Posma were drunk
while celebrating the team's third consecutive national
league title.
"The
six players were reportedly angry at Posma because
he allegedly told a
19-year-old backup goaltender to drive a car -- even though he knew the
man was drunk. The goaltender subsequently crashed
the car.
"The
six then turned on the coach, reportedly beating him
with wooden traffic
signs that they found by the side of the road."
Ah, Hockey. Ah, Slovenia...
