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Ballot Watch BLOG |
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July 2008
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The Education Coalition, which includes California teachers unions and groups representing school boards, parents and administrators, has just put out a new radio ad on the state budget. In this one, a mother and child listen to a car radio news report: "California is still facing a $15 billion budget crisis with local schools facing cuts of $4.3 billion." The child asks the mom whether it's true, and she responds, perhaps a little bluntly: "Your fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Thomason, already got a layoff notice - along with 20,000 other educators across the state." The child: "Mrs. Thomason?" Mom seems to forget entirely that she's talking to a child when she says that politicians should "put partisanship aside and make education a real priority again." Or maybe the kid just has very strong vocabulary skills. Leaving aside these quibbles, not everyone agrees on the numbers cited. The Legislative Analyst's Office says schools and community colleges would get more funding under the governor's revised budget proposal for 2008-09 than last year, although the increase is slight for K-12 schools. The Education Coalition says schools and community colleges should get $4.3 billion more this year than they would under the governor's budget proposal. The bulk of that is from cost-of-living increases that aren't included in the budget proposal. As for the teacher layoffs, union estimates on the initial layoff notices that went out in March ranged from 14,000 to 20,000. But many of those teachers were called back, hundreds of them in the Inland area alone. — Shirin Parsavand Retired Gen. Wesley Clark threw a rhetorical grenade into the campaign this week with the suggestion that Sen. John McCain's military experience does not necessarily qualify him to be president. On CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday, Clark praised McCain for being "a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in the armed forces" and acknowledged the Arizona senator had extensive experience as a member of the Armed Services Committee. "But," Clark said, "he hasn't held executive responsibility." Find out the truth about this claim at our Truth-o-meter.
State Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, avoided a primary challenge in last month's election. Now he heads into his November re-election campaign the strong favorite in the Republican-leaning 31st Senate District, which includes parts of San Bernardino and Riverside counties. An updated financial statement filed Monday afternoon shows Dutton's campaign committee with $163,000 in the bank. The senator reported raising $67,000 in the two months leading up to the May 17 end of the filing period and spending $35,000. His Democratic opponent, Upland business consultant Ameenah Fuller, has not raised or spent enough money to require her to file her campaign reports on-line. — Jim Miller With gas prices above $4.50 a gallon in the Inland area, people are paying more and more attention to the presidential candidates' energy policies. The campaign of presumed GOP nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has released a video depicting Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., saying no to a gas-tax holiday, offshore drilling and expanded nuclear energy. The drilling and gas tax claims were accurate, but McCain was wrong with his claims about Obama's positions on innovation and nuclear power. Check out the Truth-o-meter for details.
Money has begun to flow to candidates for the 80th Assembly District, which includes part of Riverside County's Coachella Valley. Coachella Valley Unified school board member Manuel Perez, the district's Democratic nominee, recently reported receiving $7,200 from the political action committee for the California School Employees Association. The union helped bankroll an independent expenditure committee that spent more than $600,000 on Perez's behalf in the district's four-way primary fight leading up to the June 3 election. Republican nominee Gary Jeandron of Palm Springs, meanwhile, is expected to be in Sacramento later this week for a $1,000-a-ticket fundraiser. — Jim Miller
Former Inland lawmaker Jim Brulte joined former Democratic Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg in a newspaper column today urging people to support a November ballot initiative changing how the state draws political boundaries. Brulte, the former Senate GOP leader, and Hertzberg played major roles in crafting the 2001 redistricting that has been criticized by everyone from Gov. Schwarzenegger to California Common Cause for all but smothering competitive elections. While not a mea culpa for the current maps, Brulte and Hertzberg write that the current system of putting lawmakers in charge of political mapmaking is "truly counter to voters' best interests." "In the 2001 redistricting process, we held public hearings and we listened to public input. We did our constitutional duty to draw new political lines in strict accordance with the letter of the law. But by allowing legislators to determine their own districts, there is no denying that today's system protects sitting legislators before all else," the column said. The redistricting initiative, designated a little while ago as Prop. 11 on the Nov. 4 ballot, would put a 14-member independent commission in charge of drawing legislative lines. The Legislature still would be allowed to draw congressional districts. — Jim Miller
Actors Don Cheadle, Dennis Quaid and Samuel Jackson were there. So was Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am. And, more importantly, musician Seal performed a couple of songs. Riverside resident Jose Medina got a chance to hobnob with Sen. Barack Obama's Hollywood supporters Tuesday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, where Obama raised nearly $5 million for his presidential campaign. Medina, who is an Obama delegate to the Democratic convention this summer in Denver, said supporters came from as far away as Ottawa, Canada, to hear Obama speak. Seal set the tone for the evening with a rendition of "A Change is Gonna Come," Medina wrote in a late-night e-mail after the event. Obama continued his theme of advocating change and invoked the memory of Martin Luther King Jr., quoting King's well-known phrase "the fierce urgency now" in explaining why he's running now. Medina described Obama as "energetic and relaxed" and said it was a great evening. Now Medina is on his way to Washington, D.C., to see Obama yet again at the National —Michelle DeArmond Sen. John McCain brought his fundraising tour to Riverside today before heading over to Orange County to collect even more money. Tickets at the lunch at the Riverside Convention Center started at $1,000. Donors who dropped $2,300 got a McCain lapel pin. Donors who helped raise $50,000 got all kinds of special perks. Diners got a plate of steak, mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. If they stuck around long enough, they enjoyed a fruit cup. McCain apparently had had enough of steak dinners, however. One dignitary said he spotted the senator eating some special-order hot dogs at the fundraiser. All told, the Republican presidential candidate will have collected $3.5 million in the past two days by the time today is over. In the last 60 days, Californians have raised $11.5 million for McCain, McCain's campaign said. —Michelle DeArmond It may not be as catchy as "Viva Las Vegas," but organizers of new political clubs called "Viva Obama" still are hoping they'll be able to get people excited about their efforts. Latino activists and others involved with the National Alliance for Human Rights are kicking off the new clubs today at a gathering in San Bernardino. They want to get Latinos to vote for Obama in November, when he will appear on the ballot against Republican presidential candidate John McCain. Armando Navarro, coordinator of the alliance, predicts Latinos will be key swing voters in this election, and he hopes they'll be able to help pressure lawmakers into immigration reform. Organizers hope to get the clubs and other voter mobilization events under way in July. —Michelle DeArmond 
AP
Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto, offers his support to "president-elect" Obama.
It's no secret that Obama, D-Ill, needs to mobilize the Latino vote. And Baca, D-Rialto, can be a great asset as chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Baca, a loyal Hillary Clinton supporter before the First Lady ended her bid for the presidency, was quick to offer his help. On Tuesday, the two men and about two dozen Hispanic members of Congress gathered for a strategy session at the Democratic National Headquarters in Washington. The group emerged after an hour behind doors. Baca reported that the discussion focused in immigration, the economy and the war in Iraq. But in all the planning and excitement, he seemed, momentarily to forget that there was still the small matter of a general election to overcome before those plans could be implemented. "We talked about developing a strategy to make sure that we reach out to everyone, and that everybody is included in the process, " Baca said, turning to Obama. "And that's what the president elect would like to do." —Ben Goad
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