How is the Fire Department affected by budget cuts? Chief Brian Cummings of the Los Angeles Fire Department talks to the community about budget cuts and response time.
No Money to Fix Public Education
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Leonard Isenberg: Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights Russlynn Ali tried the impossible task of trying to reconcile her optimism with her equally honest assessment that there was not only no money to fix public education, but even less in the future.
Marcy Winograd and the Open Primary
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Nyabingi Kuti: The growing LA progressive movement began lobbying Marcy Winograd to jump in. Winograd, a teacher at Crenshaw High, has twice caused Harman concern with her strong challenges to the seat.
Qualifications of a Black Political Candidate?
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Anthony Samad: The sophistication of the black voter is always called into question lately. The black community gets blamed when somebody’s issue (ballot initiative) doesn’t win or somebody’s candidate takes a fall…it’s the black voter’s fault. Voter turnout wasn’t high enough, or voters didn’t “get in” in time to make a difference. Most of the time, our community does get it.
AB2727 – The Bradford/Bass Re-Entry Employment Opportunity Act: Addressing The Lifelong Challenges of Ex-Offenders (Not A Minute Too Soon)
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Anthony Asadullah Samad: If California is serious at reducing its prison costs, ex-offenders will have to be re-trained and employers will have to be more tolerant of people trying to get their lives back on track. Is that even possible? One thing about American culture, as it relates to any offender, is that despite we profess to being a forgiving society, or want to redeem the best in those who have made mistakes, the truth of the matter is that it always lets the ex-offender know that they are just that, “ex-offenders.”
The Usual Suspects: Arizona and the Black/Latino Divide
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Sikivu Hutchinson: Homegrown black support for or ambivalence about the Arizona law is symptomatic of a deep vein of frustration, anger, cultural resentment and xenophobia. Study after study indicates that African Americans are the most residentially segregated, suffer the greatest discrimination in job application and employment, and are amongst the biggest recipients of predatory mortgage loans.
Time to Mobilize on State Budget Reform
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Paul Hogarth: If we can’t get a simple majority for raising taxes in the legislature, we can still put AB 656 on the ballot – while in the meantime get a simple majority for passing the budget. It’s those kinds of incremental (and winnable) moves we need to get us out of this mess.
Black Leadership Succession: Diane Watson Did It Right
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Anthony Asadullah Samad: People got mad love for Diane Watson, and she’s not one that we were going to let go the way of Dymally. She was going to go out on her terms. Nobody was going to force her out. But I, for one, am glad she did it right. It shows that black leaders can effectively ensure quality future leaders will continue their work.
Water, Water, Everywhere, but Now We Stop and Think
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Given the breathless tone of the several press reports on the “great California water reform package”, you would have thought the Legislature had parted the waters, rather than simply passing five water bills.
Dick & Sharon’s Excellent Town Hall Adventure
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For this corner of the world, with people who worked hard to elect Barack Obama, whose lives have already been profoundly changed by his election—just look at their faces—and who desperately want him to succeed, Obama needs to deliver on his promises to fix America’s broken healthcare system
For a Man May Smile and Smile and Still Be a Villain
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“Why do they keep sending me budgets I won’t sign?”, the Governor asked, after saying no, once again, to any proposal but his own, cuts-only solution. And, since he had all the guns, no one in the Legislature asked in return, “Why does he keep refusing our budgets?”
California Democrats: “Spreading the Pain” from Sacramento
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When his term mercifully expires next year, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will be leaving the Golden State in the worst condition than at any time its history. If Schwarzenegger and his right-wing Republican co-conspirators get their way (as they always seem to do), they’ll gut every social program and educational institution in the state in [...]
California Needs a New Constitution
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In his most recent piece in the New York Times Paul Krugman asks: “Who would have thought that America’s largest state, a state whose economy is larger than that of all but a few nations, could so easily become a banana republic?” Here in Sacramento I’ve watched the disaster unfold before my eyes like a [...]
California Assembly Passes Foreclosure Reform Bill But More Needed to Protect Future Borrowers from Predatory Loan Practices
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Legislation that would reform the foreclosure process in California for the benefit of homeowners trying to hold on to their homes passed the Assembly today on a 55 to 18 vote, just one vote above the two-thirds majority it required. Ten Republican Assemblymembers joined 45 of the 48 Democrats in voting for the bill, while [...]
Kevin de Leon Hits the Ground Running
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As a first-time elected official, Assemblymember Kevin de Leon stepped into a big job this year. Named Assistant Majority Floor Leader at the start of his first term, Kevin supported the Assembly Democratic leadership team of Speaker Fabian Nunez and Majority Floor Leader Karen Bass in dealing with over 1,000 bills in his first term [...]
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