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Portantino’s Staff Faces “Leave Without Pay”

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anthony-and-bella-wide

Portantino’s Staff Face “Leave Without Pay” As Perez and Assembly Rules Committee Stonewalls On Assembly Operating Budget DetailOn Thursday, all eleven staffers in California State Assemblyman Anthony Portantino’s offices in Sacramento and Pasadena received letters informing them that they face “leave without pay” beginning October 21 and extending through November 30. The issue … [Read more...]

Another Democrat Acting Badly

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He didn’t tweet a photo of his “package” to an unsuspecting woman, but California Governor Jerry Brown's veto of the state’s budget did much worse harm to Democrats and the public by setting the stage for massive education and public service cuts.Thus far, Brown’s action has provoked little public outrage. Activists have been focused on local and national economic debates, and … [Read more...]

California: Democrat vs. Democrat

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California: Where the Democratic Governor Triangulates Against Democrats Governor Jerry Brown’s veto of the budget passed by the Democratic majority in the legislature, (as Draconian in terms of gutting public resources as any in the nation), has tipped his hand: Jerry’s triangulating. He’s aligning himself with the Republican minority in forging a path forward out of California’s deep … [Read more...]

Schwarzennegger Fathered Child with Household Staff Member

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Arnold_Schwarzenegger

The Los Angeles Times has reported that former Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger admitted to fathering a child with a member of his household staff during his marriage to Maria Shriver.According to the report, the staff member worked for the Schwarzenneggar / Shriver household for more than 20 years.Schwarzenneger disclosed this information to Maria Shriver, according to the report, after … [Read more...]

Arnold Schwarzennegger and Maria Shriver Separate

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maria-and-arnold-wide

The former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzennegger and his wife, Maria Shriver have announced that they have separated. In a statement they jointly released, the pair said, "After a great deal of thought, reflection, discussion and prayer, we came to this decision together. At this time, we are living apart while we work on the future of our relationship," they say in a joint statement. … [Read more...]

Disaster Capitalism in the Budget Debate

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budget-cut-wide

Recent California State budget hearings had caregivers and educators testifying to their  distress over proposed cuts. While undeniably, Wall Street fraud, not programs for widows and orphans, caused the disaster called the "Great  Recession," government programs to serve our most vulnerable populations are where politicians now propose most budget cuts.In other words, economic crisis now serves … [Read more...]

Democrats Negotiate on Republican Terms

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From Obama to Brown, Democrats Negotiate on Republican Terms Having predicted when he took office that California Governor Jerry Brown would “aggressively push change,” it is puzzling to see him continue “negotiating” with Republican legislators over a state budget. Democrats passed Prop 25 on the November 2010 ballot precisely to prevent a small Republican minority from holding the … [Read more...]

Total Recall: A Cautionary Tale

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total-recall-wide-1

Dedicated to the brave, patriotic true American working citizens of Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and all over the U.S.Shortly after the Supreme Court put G.W. Bush into the White House in an historic coup, stories leaked out that Enron’s “Kenny Boy” Lay was W’s secret Energy Czar. The U.S. Energy Policy was being privatized in secrecy, created and controlled by the self appointed … [Read more...]

Portantino Proposes Alternative to Early Release Prison Reform Efforts

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Assemblyman Anthony Portantino

California's Overcrowded Prisons Assemblymember Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) has introduced legislation that shifts the prison reform debate from an early release and sentencing reform emphasis to stopping the revolving door at California’s prisons.The bill, AB 219, would require the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to establish goals to cut … [Read more...]

Redevelopment Defenders Ignore Budget Realities

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eli broad

I received an action alert last week from Housing California, the premier statewide affordable housing advocacy group. Its theme was “reform redevelopment, don't eliminate!” But none of their reforms offsets the $1.7 billion proposed budget savings from abolishing Redevelopment Agencies. Instead, Housing California argues that redevelopment helps the “most vulnerable Californians” … [Read more...]

AB 144 Will Ban the “Open Carry” of Unloaded Handguns

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Guns

Portantino joins Police Chiefs and Rank and File Police Officers in calling on California to ban the open display of firearms Sacramento – A sensible gun ban that should already be California law is being given a second chance. Assemblymember Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) has introduced legislation to outlaw the “open carry” of unloaded handguns in California. The prior bill … [Read more...]

Why Won’t Cities Fight Real State Budget Cuts?

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Jerry Brown

Regardless of what one thinks of Governor Jerry Brown’s proposal to eliminate redevelopment agencies to balance the state budget, the response from city governments has been hysterical. At a gathering last week of the League of California Cities, hundreds of mayors and council members screamed bloody murder – and now the group has threatened to sue the state over it. Where was this anger … [Read more...]

Jerry Brown’s Budget

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California's "new" (but experienced) governor is bringing some urgently needed honesty and fresh thinking to the budgeting process in a state weary of smoke, mirrors, a two-thirds requirement in the legislature for tax increases, and the ravages of a recession imposed largely by external forces. But some mistakes are being made that will probably doom the effort to continue current taxes soon to … [Read more...]

California’s Humpty-Dumpty Law

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humpty dumpty

A few weeks back, the California Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal about a core part of Proposition 14 (aka, the "Top Two" Primary).  As a result, a state appeals court in San Francisco will soon hear legal arguments on two troubling flaws of what we affectionately call the Humpty-Dumpty Law:  Senate Bill 6, which fleshes out crucial details of Prop 14.  Here are the two questions the … [Read more...]

Jerry Brown’s Karma

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jerry brown

I asked my friend Angela Oh, defense attorney and Buddhist priest, what she thought of the karma of Jerry Brown. Pausing only for a moment, she replied that “his karma is to inherit the collapse of so many institutions his father built.” Infrastructure decay. Traffic congestion and pollution. Water shortages. More prison inmates than state university students.Since Brown rebelled against … [Read more...]