Three months of budget negotiations halted in Sacramento
after Gov. Brown said no to a lengthy list of Republican
demands and Republicans said the unions and trial bar had
poisoned the talks.
From the LAT's Shane Goldmacher and Anthony York: "The governor's announcement that he
is walking away from the negotiating table, made in
a late-afternoon news
release Tuesday, further roils the state's finances
and marks the biggest
setback yet for the 72-year-old Brown. He returned to Sacramento this year for
his third term as governor promising that he had the
political skills and
policy expertise to resolve the state's chronic financial
mess."
"Earlier in the day, key GOP lawmakers who had been
negotiating
with the governor declared the talks fruitless. "We
gave it our best. We're very disappointed. It's
done," said Sen. Bill
Emmerson (R-Hemet).
"Budget cuts that lawmakers approved
earlier this month closed only $11.2 billion of the estimated $26-billion
deficit. Brown wanted to address most of the rest of
the gap with a special
election in June, when he hoped that voters would agree
to continue paying
temporary increases in taxes on income, sales and vehicles.
All will have
expired by July 1; higher income taxes already have stopped."
So what happened? The Bee's senior pundit, Dan Walters, takes a look.
"Meanwhile, everyone is pointing fingers of blame.
As
Brown and Democratic leaders pointed to Republican
demands, Republicans said
Brown was hamstrung in negotiations by opposition of labor unions and other interests to pension,
regulatory and budget reforms."
"One of the GOP senators who negotiated with Brown, Anthony
Cannella, said, "finding agreement required an equal
willingness from the
public employee
unions, trial attorneys and
other stakeholders to join our effort to get California
moving again – a
willingness that was stunningly absent from our conversations
…"
"Actually, polls indicate that the GOP positions on
pension and budget reform are more popular than the
taxes the Democrats want. A
fair compromise would have been to put those on the
ballot as well and allow
voters to truly decide."
Another battle ended more successfully -- the battle over renewable energy -- which seemed to last longer than the Renaissance during
the Schwarzenegger years. The Legislature speedily
sent to the governor's desk a bill that requires utilities
to get a third of their power from wind, solar and
other renewable sources by 2020. Climate Watch's Lauren Sommer tells the tale.
"If the 33% renewable portfolio standard (RPS) doesn't
sound new, that's because it isn't. The goal was originally
set by former
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in a 2008 executive order. Supporters knew that an
executive order could be overturned by a future governor,
but two previous
bills aiming at cementing the goal failed to make it
into law."
Miller says that's why today's passage is such big
news
for the renewable energy industry. "Businesses need
that stable foundation
to be confident that these investments are in line
with the long term direction
of the state," he said. The State Senate has already
passed the bill and
Governor Jerry Brown is widely expected to sign it
into law."
"Critics of the bill cited cost as a major concern,
since
renewable energy still comes with a higher price tag
than its fossil
counterparts. Under the bill, the California Public
Utilities Commission must
devise a cost containment strategy, something that
isn't in place under the
executive order. Concerns over the cost of renewable
energy emerged recently in this
report from the Division of
Ratepayers Advocates."
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is sending out feelers about running for governor -- after just three months in office. The San Francisco
Democrat ranj for governor earlier, but it didn't work
too well. The Chronicle's Matier & Ross have the story.
"A city insider who asked not to be named tells us
the new
lieutenant governor approached him at a charity fundraiser
the other day with a
request for help to start raising money for a renewed
gubernatorial bid."
"Newsom's inability to compete with the
much-better-financed Jerry Brown was one of the reasons he withdrew
from last year's Democratic race and ran instead for
lieutenant governor."
"Newsom has opened a re-election campaign committee for
2014 - but there's nothing to stop him from transferring
any money he might
raise to an exploratory gubernatorial run."
Meanwhile, the new independent redistricting commission,
which seems to be in the news a lot lately, is withholding final approval of a contract with lawyers
because new information has emerged about the firm's
political acitivities. The Contra Costa Times' Lisa Vorderbrueggen has the story.
"Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher failed to inform the
commission during mid-March interviews that the firm is a registered federal
lobbyist with a federal political action committee,
or that several of the
attorneys assigned to the redistricting project team
have contributed
individually to presidential candidates."
"The fact that the firm is a registered federal
lobbying firm and that it gave more than $2,000 to campaigns should have been
disclosed," said Commissioner Angelo Ancheta, a Democrat
and San Francisco
law professor. "I have made it very clear that if it
was intentional or
willful nondisclosure, then I would recommend terminating
our contract."
"...The brouhaha is another in a series of early skirmishes
over whether the commission's choice of consultants
reveals a partisan bias
that will taint California's independent redistricting
experiment."
Finally, we turn to our "James Bond Wannabes" file to learn about the guy tried to sell a military
spy plan on eBay.
"Henson Chua of the Philippines was indicted and charged
by a grand jury in Tampa with violating the Arms Export
Control Act and
smuggling. Chua is accused of importing an RQ-11B "Raven" Unmanned
Aerial Vehicle (UAV) from the Philippines into the U.S., which is listed
on the
U.S. Munitions List as a defensive item, "without having
first obtained
from the U.S. Department of State a license or written
authorization." He
then "aided and abetted the attempted export" of the
same UAV."
"U.S. arms code prohibits people from buying and selling
defense equipment without permission from the government,
primarily to prevent
people from selling U.S.-manufactured equipment to foreign governments. But
Chua managed to reverse the process."
"According to the indictments, in May 2010, Homeland
Security Investigations agents in Tampa learned from
the Department of Defense
that a "Raven" had been listed on eBay, for a price
of $13,000. The
listing also had nine pictures, which showed the bar
code and ID number of that
particular "Raven," through which the DOD determined
which one it
was, and that it was the property of the U.S. government."
Wonder if he used PayPal?...
