Governor "Schwarzenegger announced Monday that he
will chair a campaign to qualify a measure for the November ballot that would strip legislators of the authority to draw their own political districts and those of the state Board of Equalization," reports Jim Sanders in the Bee.
"'We need a system where the voters choose the politicians, rather than the politicians choosing the voters,' he said.
"Republicans and Democrats struck a deal in 2001 to draw districts that protected incumbents of both parties. Only one of 53 congressional seats -- and none of 120 legislative seats – has changed party hands in the past two elections.
"'This is really all about competition,' Schwarzenegger said of the proposed overhaul.
"The governor vowed to do "everything possible" to qualify a proposed ballot measure that would create an independent redistricting panel of five Democrats, five Republicans and four independent or minor-party voters.
"One glaring omission, however, is that
the Legislature would continue to draw congressional boundaries, an apparent concession to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi."
And, the governor has still yet to weigh in on Proposition 93, the term limits measure on the next ballot.
Dan Walters
writes "Why the omission? Schwarzenegger said he wants Congress placed under the commission as well, but drafters of the measure left Congress out to dampen the potential opposition from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders. That raises two specters: congressional seats being gerrymandered to benefit incumbents or state legislators yearning for congressional seats, and/or a Democratic Legislature and a Democratic governor swiping five or six seats in California for the 2012 elections to solidify their party's hold on Congress."
"Elections officials on Monday said backers of an initiative to change how California's electoral votes are counted
are at risk of missing the June ballot because it will be difficult to finish counting signatures by a state deadline next month," reports the Bee's Kevin Yamamura.
"The initiative has drawn national attention because it would assign California's electors on a district-by-district basis rather than award the statewide winner all 55 electoral votes, potentially dividing up a state that has been reliably Democratic since 1992.
"Proponents have yet to submit signatures to counties despite a recommendation from Secretary of State
Debra Bowen that they do so three weeks ago.
"Republican political consultant
Dave Gilliard, who is spearheading the Electoral College initiative effort, has insisted for the past month that local elections officials could speed up the random counting process so the initiative could qualify for the June election by a Jan. 24 state deadline.
"But such an assumption may be unreasonable because county registrars already have committed workers to prepare for the Feb. 5 election, said
Stephen Weir, registrar of voters in Contra Costa County and president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials."
Hey, if nothing else, Gilliard may be able to demonize Debra Bowen to the Fox News set, and then try to recall her.
CW's John Howard reports on new regulations being considered by the FPPC. "The Fair Political Practices Commission is
crafting a new regulation that would crack down on the use of political cash for gifts, food and out-of-state travel--
an apparent response triggered by widely published reports of Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez's spending on luxury hotels and European travel.
"The proposed FPPC rule will be considered at the commission's Dec. 13 meeting. FPPC spokesman
Roman Porter did not say whether the proposed regulation was prompted by Nunez's spending, but said the issue had long been a concern of FPPC Chairman
Ross Johnson, a Republican and former lawmaker who was appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The LAT's Nancy Vogel and Patrick McGreevy are
also on the story in the Times.
They report: "In addition, certain nonprofit groups involved in political campaigns would be forced to reveal their donors under a separate proposal by the Fair Political Practices Commission.
"U.S. Interior Department officials said yesterday that they will
postpone the last step needed to finalize the unexpected federal approval of contentious Indian gambling agreements that still must go before California voters," reports the U-T's James Sweeney.
"The decision to defer publishing a notice of the approval in the Federal Register
should avert the opening of another legal front in the expensive fight over the multibillion-dollar compacts. But it will do nothing to resolve the complex legal debate over what happens if voters reject the compacts on Feb. 5."
Whew. We'd hate to think of political lawyers missing out on this one...
Kimberly Kindy reports how
Bill Jones has turned corn into cabbage.
"Pacific Ethanol was still a fledgling business in 2005 when its founder, former Secretary of State
Bill Jones, persuaded state officials to give him the small but exclusive fuel deal that established his company as a player in California's burgeoning alternative fuel market.
"
Two years later, that company is an ethanol empire. And Jones is the fuel's most influential champion in the state, using his political connections and 21 years of Sacramento experience to shape policies that are dramatically boosting California's thirst for ethanol - stemming the state's dependence on gasoline, but at a cost of millions in taxpayer subsidies.
"Lt. Gov.
John Garamendi, chair of California's State Lands Commission,
directed the agency Monday to swiftly gather information needed for a detailed lawsuit against those responsible for last month's oil spill in San Francisco Bay," reports Steve Geissinger in the Oakland Tribune.
"The state is pursuing a different legal tactic than the U.S. government, which already filed suit in federal court in San Francisco, because more of the land was under California's jurisdiction.
"The state, in carefully determining the full extent of environmental damage, hopes to recover the most funds possible for restoration.
"'What we know is that thousands of birds have died or been injured, Californians have been turned away from public beaches and parks, and the state faces tremendous costs in undoing the damage done to our fouled coastline,' Garamendi said.
That's a pun, right? Bird. Fowl. We get it! Moving on...
"The spill of 58,000 gallons of thick oil from a Chinese cargo ship occurred Nov. 7 when the vessel hit the Bay Bridge."
"California's youth prisons are getting smaller by the week. But a judge said there are still big questions about how effectively the state is managing the diminishing population and that he's
thinking about appointing a receiver to run what's left of it," reports Andy Furillo in the Bee.
"Alameda Superior Court Judge
Jon S. Tigar ordered the state's Division of Juvenile Justice last week to show him why he shouldn't appoint a receiver. The threat is coming three years after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a consent decree to overhaul the state's youth correctional system, where it now costs $199,000 a year to house a single ward.
"In court papers filed last Wednesday in Oakland, Tigar signaled he was thinking about having the monitor run the entire division. Short of that, Tigar said in his order, he is considering the appointment of a receiver whose scope would be restricted to four key areas of operation that he said have broken down and are holding up plans for progress.
"'These failures are acute not only because of the distance between the current level of compliance and the compliance required by the court's orders, but also because these four areas are foundational to the reforms envisioned by the consent decree and the remedial plans,' Tigar wrote in his five-page order."
Lloyd Levine, eat your heart out.
Texas will have a favorite state bulb -- a light bulb -- along with a state flower and a state song if mayors of five large Texas cities have their way.
"To kick off a statewide campaign to get residents to replace old light bulbs with energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs, Texas mayors vowed to launch an effort to make the bulbs available, to encourage their use and to suggest that people give them as gifts for Christmas or other occasions."
