"Oakland City Council President
Ignacio De La Fuente called former U.S. Rep.
Ron Dellums on Saturday morning
to concede the hard-fought race to become Oakland's next mayor."
"During a brief afternoon news conference at his Fruitvale home, De La Fuente said he congratulated Dellums and pledged to work with him as mayor of Oakland."
"'I will continue working very hard on those issues that got me into this mayor's race,' De La Fuente said. Standing on his back porch, flanked by aides as well as his wife and daughter, he did not take questions.'"
"While 21 more California counties made the leap into touch-screen voting in this month's primary election,
problems continued to surround the controversial electronic systems," reports John Maurelius in the Chron.
"Across the state, troubles linked to the high-tech systems delayed voting, slowed counting and left people questioning the results of tight elections."
"'I'm still feeling that electronic voting is not ready for prime time,' said
Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, a nonpartisan group that deals with issues of voting and technology."
"To many county registrars,
the problems have less to do with the intricacies of electronic voting than with the problem of training an essentially volunteer crew of workers to deal with new technology."
"'It was a people problem, not an electronic problem' in Kern County, said
Ann Barnett, the county clerk-registrar."
The internet continues to grow as a
vehicle for connecting candidates with voters, writes the Chron's Rachel Gordon.
"'Now we can press a button and instantly send a message to 50,000, 100,000 people,' said
Bob Mulholland, senior adviser to Phil Angelides, the Democratic state treasurer who is challenging Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in November."
"Mulholland said the use of technology is particularly important in this race, which he expects will draw national attention from both parties. Mulholland hopes Angelides can capitalize on the deep dissatisfaction with President Bush, for whom Schwarzenegger campaigned."
"'I think this race will create a big buzz on the Internet,' Mulholland said."
Emphasis on the "zz..." But we digress.
"'We're looking forward to using technology to connect voters not only to the campaign but to each other,' said
Julie Soderlund, a spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger's re-election bid. Soderlund said the Internet is being used to recruit and organize volunteers, solicit donations and provide a one-stop venue to view -- and hear -- the governor's campaign platform. The site includes a blog and slideshows.
There are plans to include podcasts and special ring tones for cell phones that Schwarzenegger supporters can download.'"
As if ring tones weren't already annoying enough.
Speaking of the internet, the gov's
publicly funded website got the makeover treatment.
Just in time for the election, the LA Times reports
CalPERS is considering scaling back some health benefits.
"The California Public Employees' Retirement System, once a benchmark of generous employer-sponsored health plans, is proposing to trim benefits for hundreds of thousands of its members in a bid to rein in runaway healthcare costs."
"The proposals, to be considered Tuesday in a meeting in Sacramento, underscore an ongoing shift in the healthcare industry in which patients are being asked to assume a larger financial stake in the medical treatments they choose."
The LAT's John Spano looks at the court cases
challenging the use of English-only petitions in initiative campaigns.
"California began providing Spanish-language ballots statewide in 2002, and local jurisdictions also provide multilingual election materials. But petitions, which are written by ordinary people hoping to change laws from the grass-roots level, are often available in English only."
"Federal judges have disagreed on the question, resulting in disruptions to elections in Loma Linda, Santa Ana, Rosemead and Monterey. Today, a lawyer will ask U.S. District Judge
Audrey Collins in Los Angeles to delay action on a challenge to a slow-growth initiative in Loma Linda until a federal appeals court issues a ruling."
"'There's unfortunately so much uncertainty,' said attorney
Darryl Wold, who challenged the Loma Linda petitions. 'No one knows what they need to do.'"
While the governor is stumping around the state for the bond package on the November ballot, he seems to be
forgetting the housing bond, writes Andy Furillo in the Bee.
"Build highways, freeways and mass transit, he said, "so you don't get stuck in traffic all the time." Expand universities, build new classrooms and modernize old ones 'so that our kids have the best place to go.' Strengthen the state's levee system 'to protect the people of California from a major disaster.'"
"But in his stemwinder on the banks of the Sacramento River, the governor mentioned nothing about the housing bond, a key component that helped him win votes from Democratic legislators for the bond package he has touted as a bipartisan triumph."
"Asked about the omission afterward, Schwarzenegger simply replied, '
I forgot.'"
"'If he's not out there advocating for it with the Republicans, they're not going to vote for it,' said [
Fabian] Núñez, who partnered with Schwarzenegger to get the infrastructure measures through the Legislature. '
If he's not advocating for it, it's a problem. He's gotta advocate for it.'"
The Bee's Aurelio Rojas looks at the impact
Mervyn Dymally has had on the
size of the Legislature's Black Caucus. "With Dymally as caucus chairman, the fears of extinction now appear exaggerated. The caucus is expected to grow by three or four Assembly members in November, based on this month's primary election results."
"That would give the group a record nine or 10 members. Never have more than seven black members served in the Legislature at the same time."
"'It would be somewhat presumptuous to take so much credit for it, because we had excellent candidates,' he said. '(They) attracted the diversity that made it possible. …'"
Speaking of Dymally, the Bee's Kevin Yamamura sums up the
security gate incident involving the Assemblymember's sedan last week.
"Dymally's sedan hit the pop-up security wall Wednesday after a close-trailing vehicle belonging to state Sen.
Edward Vincent improperly zoomed under the outside gate and triggered the barrier, according to state Senate sergeant-at-arms
Tony Beard Jr."
"Dymally's car hit the wall hard enough to trigger its airbags."
"Two aides in Dymally's car were sent to the hospital and treated with minor injuries that day, and
Dymally was not in the vehicle at the time, Beard said. Vincent rode in his vehicle, which a staff member was driving, and it did not collide with Dymally's car."
"'
The barrier did what it was supposed to do, but we have specific protocols that weren't followed,' Beard said."
"The Board of Accountancy, which licenses certified public accountants and accounting firms, is
taking steps to roll back standards that demand rigorous documentation of certain changes made in the course of preparing an audit," writes Peter Nicholas in the Times.
"The board has been pushing a bill in the Legislature that could open the door for out-of-state accountants to offer tax shelters and practice in California without the oversight now required."
"'This is a board that has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the accounting profession,' said
Julianne D'Angelo Fellmeth, administrative director of the Center for Public Interest Law in San Diego, who has been monitoring the board for years. 'It is supporting a bad bill without understanding it or analyzing it. It has voted to weaken auditing regulations that the board itself adopted only three years ago in the wake of Enron. This is a board that does not understand its public protection role.'"
"But
Ronald Blanc, the Board of Accountancy president, denied the board has abandoned its duty to protect the public."
The Bee's Judy Lin checks in on the
debate over whether drivers should have to use hands-free devices on cell phones while driving.
Joe Simitian's "proposal,
Senate Bill 1613, cleared the Senate last month and is expected to be vetted by the Assembly Transportation Committee in the coming weeks. If passed, drivers would face initial fines of $20, going up to $50 for subsequent offenses beginning in July 2008."
"While many studies have shown cell phone use is a common form of driver distraction, experts say there has been relatively little direct research comparing hands-free with hand-held devices."
The story mentions nothing about reading The Roundup while driving. Continue on...
From our
Take Me Out to the Ballgame Files, even if Speaker
Fabian Nuñez misses his big fundraiser at the World Cup finals, he will get his dose of sport. The speaker is scheduled to throw out the first pitch at today's San Francisco Giants game. Not quite sure how he swung that one, but we're sure it's got nothing to do with the fact that the Giants play in a stadium called
AT&T Park.
