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June 2009
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Recently in Jim Miller CategoryPaul Davis' surprise win over incumbent Frank Schiavone in the Riverside City Council Ward 4 race owed to strong Davis numbers in the ward's southeastern precincts, final results show. Schiavone, seeking a third term, ran strong in the the precinct around his Alessandro Heights home, where turnout was highest. But Davis carried Orangecrest-area precincts by 175 votes. That was nearly one-half of his 375-vote margin of victory in the all-mail ballot. Below, the first map shows precinct votes. The second map shows turnout. 
The state Assembly passed legislation Wednesday meant to make counties think twice before approving housing subdivisions in fire-prone wildland areas. The measure AB 666, would require boards of supervisors to confirm that there is sufficient fire protection for the subdivision. It also requires the subdivisions to comply with proposed regulations on road standards for fire equipment access. Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, introduced a similar measure last year. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill. That bill required more than one way in and out of a subdivision. The latest bill, also by Jones, leaves it up to the state Board of Forestry to set road access standards. Unlike last year's bill, AB 666 passed with bipartisan support. Inland legislators backing the bill included Wilmer Amina Carter, D-Rialto, Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands, and Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore. Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia and Jeff Miller, R-Corona, opposed the bill. Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert, did not vote. The bill will be heard next in the state Senate. —Jim Miller A bare majority of state senators approved legislation Monday that would create a statewide spay-and-neuter law. The proposal is closely modeled on a Riverside County ordinance adopted earlier this year. The bill would require the sterilization of animals that lack rabies vaccinations, roaming or are out of compliance with several other existing laws. Opponents called the bill a one-strike-you're-out penalty for responsible pet owners and their pets. The measure, SB 250, failed an initial vote Monday. But it passed 21-16 Tuesday after its author, state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, agreed to exempt hunting and working dogs from the bill as well as animals escaping from the yard for the first time. Several Democratic senators, including state Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod of Chino, switched from abstaining Monday to voting yes Tuesday.
Another Republican has filed to run in the Inland area's 63rd Assembly District. Unlike the others, though, Henry Nikel of Redlands lives in the oddly shaped district's eastern end. Nikel, 30, is a commuter rail analyst for the Riverside County Transportation Commission and a Republican activist. He was an intern for Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands. Other Republicans who have filed statements of intention to run for the seat are Mike Morrell of Upland, Don Kurth of Rancho Cucamonga, Acquanetta Warren of Fontana, and Rex Gutierrez of Rancho Cucamonga. Javier Quintana of San Bernardino is the only Democrat so far to file a statement of intent. Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands, has to leave office next year because of term limits. —Jim Miller Newly minted Assembly Republican Leader Sam Blakeslee and Senate GOP Leader Dennis Hollingsworth held their first joint news conference this morning to respond to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's speech to the Legislature. Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta, noted that Blakelee, R-San Luis Obispo, isn't the only public figure new to his post. "It's his second day on the job and there will be no comparisons to Conan O'Brien," Hollingsworth told reporters. —Jim Miller
A new poll by UC Riverside students pours cold water on the goal of some Democratic politicians and their allies to get voters to allow majority votes of the Legislature to pass a budget or to raise taxes. The survey, taken last month by students in the "Mass Media and Public Opinion" class, found that voters strongly support keeping the current two-thirds vote requirement. The poll found that the vast majority of voters like having a say on budget matters through the initiative process. It also shows that voters oppose laying off teachers to help solve the state's budget problems. And the survey finds that voters blame the Legislature for the state's budget shortfall. —Jim Miller Assembly GOP leader Sam Blakeslee has tabbed two Riverside County colleagues to help win races in next year's election. Assemblyman Jeff Miller, R-Corona, will lead the team that oversees caucus political staff and recruits candidates for targeted seats. Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, will serve as the liaison between the GOP caucus, the California Republican Party and "grassroots Republican leaders." Both Jeffries and Miller are former leaders of the Riverside County GOP. Four Republicans have filed statements of intent to run in the Inland area's 63rd Assembly District. Now there's a Democrat in the mix for what could be a targeted race in November 2010. Javier I. Quintana, of San Bernardino, filed his statement of intent this week. In a brief phone interview, Quintana said he is 32 and runs a company that assists people with immigration paperwork. Quintana said he has not communicated with Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, or Assembly Democrat political aides about his candidacy. —Jim Miller An Inland lawmaker is among several legislators behind a bipartisan effort to pass a constitutional amendment making the University of California answerable to the Legislature.  Assemblyman Brian Nestande Assemblyman Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert, joined Democratic lawmakers and union activists at a Capitol news conference Wednesday to showcase the legislation. Nestande and others contend that the UC system has used its constitutionally enshrined autonomy to rebuff lawmakers' concerns about employee working conditions and excessive compensation for UC brass. "At a time when the university has raised student fees and is considering cutting the pay of its lowest-paid workers, it is simply wrong to be giving the two new chancellors more gold-plated benefits," said Nestande, whose district includes UC Riverside. "If students have to tighten their belts, then everyone in the UC system must also tighten theirs." The proposal is far from a done deal. First, the legislation would have to clear the Legislature by a two-thirds vote. UPDATE: As a constitutional amendment, the measure would not need the governor's signature. Then voters would need to sign off on the amendment in a future election.But would the electorate be in the mood to expand the Legislature's purview to include UC? Last week, voters thumped Legislature-sponsored ballot initiatives to help balance the budget. In addition, polls consistently show that people have a low opinion of the Legislature's job performance. —Jim Miller Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Department of Finance released more details Tuesday afternoon on $5.5 billion in additional spending cuts. The cuts would make up for Schwarzenegger's abandonment of $5.5 billion in borrowing that had been part of his May 14 revised budget. Among the proposed cuts is ending all general-fund support for state parks ($70 million), eliminating the state's welfare-to-work program ($1.8 billion) and taking local streets money to pay debt service on voter-approved highway bonds ($744 million). Members of a Democrat-controlled budget-writing panel met Tuesday and were skeptical about many of the proposals. The committee will continue to review the administration's plan and other options the rest of the week. —Jim Miller Senate Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworth, one of the earliest supporters of the constitutional amendment that later became Prop. 8, said he is pleased with today's state Supreme Court decision upholding the measure. 
Senate Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta
"They made a decision that reflects the facts that the proposition was a constitutional amendment, and that was the outcome that the people wanted, to protect traditional marriage," Hollingsworth said. Hollingsworth declined to comment about the court's letting stand the roughly 18,000 same-sex marriages that took place last summer and fall before Prop. 8's approval. — Jim Miller
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's spokesman said the governor, who opposed Prop. 8, wished the state Supreme Court had ruled differently. "Personally he believes same-sex individuals ought to have the right to marry and he thinks they will sometime soon," spokesman Aaron McLear told reporters. "As far as the ruling goes, I think he was hoping it would go the other way but it didn't, so he will uphold what they had to say." — Jim Miller A late-night staple of political races could become illegal. The state Assembly on Thursday passed a bill that would make it a crime to tear down, deface or otherwise mess with a candidate's campaign signs without the candidate's permission. Candidates frequently trade accusations that the others' supporters are tearing down their signs. Some even produce surreptitious video of a sign's demise late at night. But according to the bill's author, Inland Assemblyman Jeff Miller, there is no California law that makes the action a clear-cut crime. Gov. Schwarzenegger is dropping plans to borrow $5.5 billion to help solve the state's budget shortfall. The money was a key part of the revised budget Schwarzenegger released last week. But it was unclear if the borrowing was even feasible. The state has a poor credit rating and the credit markets are in tatters. In addition, voters this week rejected Prop. 1C. The measure would have used lottery revenue to borrow $5 billion to pay for state programs. "Based upon information I gathered in meetings I held while in Washington, D.C., discussions with the legislative leaders, and the will of the people who said loudly and clearly in Tuesday's election that they want Sacramento to live within its means, yesterday I directed my Department of Finance to bring me additional options to cut state spending so that we can eliminate the need to seek borrowing in the form of a revenue anticipation warrant in the revised state budget I have proposed," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. The administration estimates a $21.3 billion gap between spending and revenue through June 2010. Thursday, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office released a report projecting revenue at about $3 billion less than the governor's estimate, meaning the shortfall would be $24 billion-plus. —Jim Miller Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor said the Legislature will have to make "extremely difficult" choices to make a leaner government. California faces an estimated $24 billion shortfall through June 2010. Gaps of $15 billion or more would continue in the following years, according to a report released this morning. In addition, the state confronts a serious cash shortage. "We clearly have very severe problems the Legislature needs to deal with," Taylor told reporters. —Jim Miller Inland Assemblyman Brian Nestande appeared at a rally Wednesday to urge a revamping of the state constitution. Six months as a lawmaker has him convinced that state government is dysfunctional, Nestande said. "I've come to the conclusion we're just not capable of change," he said. Convention supporters have asked the Legislature to put convention-related initiatives on the June 2010 ballot. They said they are prepared to collect signatures to qualify their own initiatives if the Legislature balks. Nestande said he would consider contributing campaign money to such an effort. —Jim Miller An independent commission voted Wednesday to reduce lawmakers' base pay to $95,290 annually, down from a current base salary of $116,208. The 18 percent cut approved by the California Citizens Compensation Commission will take effect in December 2010 at the earliest. Pay cuts cannot take effect in the middle of lawmakers' terms. Inland State Sen. John J. Benoit said the lower salary was "a clear reflection" of angry voter sentiment expressed but that it will make it more difficult to find legislative candidates. "It's going to have an impact on finding people willing to go into a six- or eight-year dead-end job with no retirement system," Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, said. "I accept their verdict and I will do the best I can on what salary they authorize." —Jim Miller Notwithstanding Tuesday's ballot shellacking, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger usually has been on the winning side of ballot measures he has taken more than a passing interest in since taking office in November 2003. Here's an unscientific run-down of those ballot measures, whether they passed or failed, and if that was a win or loss for Schwarzenegger. March 2004 November 2004 February 2008 May 2009 — Jim Miller The Secretary of State's Office reports that it has received a notice of intention to recall Assemblyman Jeff Miller, R-Corona. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will be in Washington, D.C., tomorrow as voters decide the fate of the budget ballot measures he's been promoting, according to media reports. Schwarzenegger will join President Barack Obama to announce a new agreement on fuel-efficiency standards. —Jim Miller Corona recycling company Tomra Pacific, Inc. has given $10,000 to the main campaign committee backing the propositions on Tuesday's special-election ballot. Last Thursday's contribution was Tomra Pacific's first to the "yes" side. The secretary of state's office reported the contribution today. — Jim Miller Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger travels to the City of Industry (Los Angeles County) and San Jose today to make a final pitch for the ballot measures on Tuesday's special election ballot. Schwarzenegger spoke at 10 a.m. at the Industry Hills Expo Center. At 1:15 p.m., he is scheduled to speak at the headquarters of the San Jose Police Officers Association. Other proposition proponents will join Schwarzenegger at the San Jose appearance. — Jim Miller Statewide voter registration data released Friday shows Riverside County's Canyon Lake to have the lowest percentage of registered Democrats in the state. A Sacramento Bee slideshow gives the top-10 lists for "conservative and liberal" cities. @mdash; Jim Miller Former state Sen. John Burton, the new chairman of the California Democratic Party, will be the keynote speaker at the 2nd Annual Congressman George Brown Awards and Dinner. Named after the late Democratic congressman, the dinner is Saturday at Castaways restaurant in San Bernardino. Here's the link. — Jim Miller Treasurer Bill Lockyer announced Friday that his office has sold $193.5 million worth of bonds as part of a deal to pay for four highway projects in San Bernardino County. The San Bernardino Association of Governments bought the bonds from the state. The state will repay SANBAG in 2012, with 3.3 percent interest. — Jim Miller Asm. Kevin Jeffries' bill to make the state go easy on sports betting pools passed the Assembly Thursday. Here's the bill.
Inland GOP state senators issued the following statements after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger released his revised budget Thursday: 
 State Sen. John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes: Balancing our budget will be painful and difficult to be sure. We are at the final point of budget reckoning. What we must do is enact real, long-term reforms that I and other Republicans have been proposing for many years - encourage jobs; reduce regulations and red tape; cut the size of government. We must deal in this reality if we are to restore California's economy. --Jim Miller
The party of Lincoln continues to go through a rough patch in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. New voter-registration numbers from the Secretary of State's Office show a drop in GOP registration from the November registration. Below are the party affiliations from Oct. 20 and from the May 4 report to be released later today: Riverside County Republican Democrat Decline-to-state
Republican Democratic Decline-to-state It's still a few hours until Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger releases his budget revisions, but Senate GOP Leader Dennis Hollingsworth has issued a statement calling the governor's cuts-heavy approach the right one. "As painful a reality as these reductions may be, the financial well-being of our state demands it. The truth is that if we had acted sooner, some of these tough choices could have been avoided," Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta, said. --Jim Miller The Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee has blocked several bills by state Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga. The bills proposed a variety of tax credits and reductions that Dutton claimed would stimulate the economy. "I am very disappointed the committee decided to reject bills I believe will help stimulate the economy and create jobs," Dutton said in a statement. "Unfortunately the hard-left liberal Democrats on the committee have decided they would rather look at new ways to raise taxes than create private sector jobs." Democrats would likely argue that, with the state facing an estimated shortfall of at least $15.4 billion, it's a bad time to be giving out tax breaks. — Jim Miller
For a second day, the office of Board of Equalization Member Michelle Steel is saying next to nothing about a lawsuit involving a top aide. As reported this morning, San Bernardino County is suing Mike Richman and others to recover taxpayer money allegedly collected while engaging in political activities. Steel's office had no comment Tuesday. A short while ago, spokesman John Hrabe issued this statement: "This issue is a civil matter unrelated to the California Board of Equalization or the Third Board of Equalization District. All questions about this ongoing legal matter should be directed to Mr. Richman and his attorney. All questions pertaining to political and campaign matters should be directed to Tim Clark, representative of the Steel campaigns." --Jim Miller Inland state Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod is scheduled to host a noontime fundraiser today at a brewpub near the Capitol. Sponsors pay $3,900 and tickets are $1,000. Negrete McLeod, D-Chino, is running for re-election next year in the 32nd Senate District, which covers most of western San Bernardino County. There is no Republican challenger yet. — Jim Miller A bill that would limit taxpayer compensation for private road companies if the government built a competing project was pulled before its first committee hearing Tuesday. The bill by state Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Chino, would have prevented the type of payment that occurred earlier this decade after the operator of the Highway 91 toll lanes sued the state to stop Caltrans from building adjacent no-toll lanes. Complicating SB 528, though, was that the February budget deal called for more public-private partnership projects such as toll roads. That change takes effect May 20. The bill likely will be pushed again in January. — Jim Miller The Assembly Public Safety Committee unanimously approved a bill by Assemblyman Jeff Miller, R-Corona, that would change the rules on how defendants invoke their right to a speedy trial after first waiving it. The legislation arose from complaints by prosecutors that they had to drop charges because defendants, who previously had waived their right to a speedy trial, revoked it through the mail. Letters sometimes get delayed or misplaced, authorities said. Miller's bill would require defendants to appear in court to revoke their speedy trial waiver. "As a matter of fundamental fairness, a defendant who waives his right to a speedy trial in open court should be required to enter a withdrawal of the same waiver in open court," the attorney general's office wrote in support of the bill. The bill goes next to the Assembly floor.
A new report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office said the state's licensing program for 533,000 real-estate agents and brokers provides "little guarantee of competency." The Department of Real Estate is supposed to protect consumers from unskilled, incompetent, or unethical real estate practitioners. But this morning's LAO report found that educational requirements are fairly minimal. The disciplinary process takes a long time, and there are few instances of it. In addition, fraud victims have a hard time getting any money back, the report said. The analyst's office recommends more education for licensees, better enforcement, and higher penalties for wrongdoing. In addition, it calls on lawmakers to require the Department of Real Estate to report regularly to the Legislature. The Assembly signed off Monday on the following bills by Inland lawmakers. They now go to the state Senate. AB 265 (Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley): Requires an elected state official to step down if convicted of falsely claiming any military decoration or medal. AB 318: (Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands): Lets the state charge inspection fees on kit cars participating in a registration amnesty program. AB 563. (Cook): Lets taxpayers make contributions to the State Military Family Relief Fund on their state tax return. AB 718: Emmerson. Creates the Inland Empire Health Plan E-Prescribing Pilot Program to test the electronic exchange of health care information. AB 732 (Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore): Extends the state's pilot program to test design-sequencing as a way to build highway projects. AB 753 (Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia): Requires the attorney general to provide a circulating title and summary for ballot measures submitted by proponents. AB 796 (Wilmer Amina Carter, D-Rialto): Allows pupils to be excused from school to participate in civic engagement activities. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will release different versions of a 2009-10 budget revision later this week, he said Monday during a Culver City budget roundtable. For weeks, the expectation had been that the administration would release a revised budget after voters go to the polls next Tuesday. But with polls showing five of the six initiatives in danger of failing, the administration is planning to roll out two revisions -- one showing the budget picture if the initiatives pass and another showing the budget outlook if the initiatives fail. The California Budget Project has this item. --Jim Miller Riverside County state Sen. John J. Benoit introduced a resolution this week to recognize May 12 as "United States Travel Rally Day." Californians are urged to observe the day "by rallying The resolution's complete text is here. — Jim Miller State Sen. John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, and Assemblyman Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert, will host a breakfast today honoring nurses. The 2009 Notable Nurse Award Breakfast will recognize select nurses for their dedication to healthcare. The 7:30 a.m. fete is at the Annenberg Center for Health Sciences, 39-000 Bob Hope Drive in Rancho Mirage. People who frequent meetings of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors saw a familiar sight at the state Capitol on Thursday. E.T. Snell greeted bemused passersby with a sign calling for the recall of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Assemblyman Anthony Adams, and San Bernardino County Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt. 
— Jim Miller
Inland Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries sent a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today urging him to drop any plans to cut state spending on fire protection if voters reject the budget initiatives on the May 19 special election ballot. Schwarzenegger, legislative leaders, and other supporters of the initiative say the state would have to make serious cuts if voters -- as a recent poll indicates -- defeat the ballot measures, including a proposal to borrow $5 billion against a modernized state lottery. Fire protection spending, which has increased significantly in recent years, would have to be among the cuts considered, they say, as would money for local governments and transportation. They deny that they are resorting to scare tactics to drum up May 19 votes. Jeffries, who opposes all of the budget-related ballot measures, doesn't accuse the governor of trying to frighten voters. Instead, he writes, there are better places to cut. "The elimination of firefighter positions while negotiating the preservation and protection of administrative and clerical employees who do not work on the front lines would seem to be a reversal of the public safety first philosophy," Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, wrote. Here's the complete text of the letter: Dear Governor Schwarzenegger: You have often stated that Government's first duty and highest obligation is public safety. I believe we share a common value and support for the idea that the first use of hard earned tax dollars should be to fund essential public safety services including police, fire, criminal justice system, etc. That is why I was very surprised today to hear media reports that CAL-FIRE would be targeted for significant cuts and firefighter reductions by your office if the propositions did not pass on May 19th. If this accounting is accurate, I would respectfully encourage you to re-consider such actions. Cutting or eliminating front line firefighter positions at CAL-FIRE should be the last option on the budget table, and certainly not the first. The elimination of firefighter positions while negotiating the preservation and protection of administrative and clerical employees who do not work on the front lines would seem to be a reversal of the public safety first philosophy. I understand and agree that the State is in a very difficult budget situation. But, this crisis also affords us the opportunity to take an in depth look at how California does business. We need to work together and find ways to significantly improve efficiencies, facilitate consolidations where they make sense, cut non-essential programs, and restructure various state agencies and departments in order to maximize efficiency and cut costs. I respectfully encourage you to reconsider these cuts, and to re-order the state's budget priorities in such a way that public safety is protected first, and cut last. Sincerely, KEVIN D. JEFFRIES Assemblyman, 66th District A new report by the non-partisan Legislative Analyst's Office predicts that California's cash cushion will come under growing strain in the summer and fall. The February budget agreement relieved the cash crisis confronting the state earlier this year. But falling revenue, the economic downturn, and the possible failure of the May 19 budget ballot initiatives, will again create cash-flow problems, potentially as high as $20 billion, according to the analyst's report. Borrowing that much money in the short-term credit markets would be difficult, particularly if lawmakers deadlock again for months. "In our opinion, the greatest near-term threat to state cash flows would be an inability by state leaders to quickly address California's budget imbalance," the report said. The Assembly and Senate acted on the following bills by Inland lawmakers Wednesday: AB 58 (Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore): Makes it an infraction, instead of a crime, to participate in an informal sports betting pool. Passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee. AB 59 (Jeffries): Makes it clear that military ID's can be accepted as proof that someone is old enough to order alcohol. Passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee. AB 237 (Wilmer Amina Carter, D-Rialto): Lets authorities check if people hauling scrap metal are in legal possession of the load. Passed Assembly Appropriations Committee. AB 501 (Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands): Authorizes the state medical board to issue a limited license to physicians who are unable to fulfill a full scope of practice due to a disability. Passed Assembly Appropriations Committee. AB 623 (Emmerson): Authorizes the state architects board to require architects to complete additional continuing education requirements relating to health, safety, and welfare on or after July 1, 2014. Passed Assembly Appropriations Committee. AB 747 (Emmerson): Encourages schools to run paper and beverage container recycling programs. Passed Assembly Appropriations Committee. AB 1007 (Carter): Requires school districts with high schools to quickly appoint pupil trustees. Passed Assembly Appropriations Committee. AB 1406 (Emmerson): Lets retirement boards in San Bernardino and Orange counties appoint specified personnel outside the civil service system. Passed Assembly Retirement, Public Employees and Social Security Committee. SB 204 (John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes): Enacts changes to state escrow law and residential mortgage lending act. Passed the Senate. SB 430 (Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga): Extends the life of the Cedar Glen Disaster Redevelopment Project Area in the San Bernardino mountains. Passed Senate Local Government Committee. SB 434: (Benoit): Makes it a misdemeanor to have an unauthorized cell phone in prison. Passed the Senate. SB 530 (Dutton): Changes the rules on redevelopment money pass-through reporting. Passed the Senate Local Government Committee. UPDATE: The event has been cancelled due to the wildfires in Santa Barbara, where Schwarzenegger will visit this morning. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will visit Riverside on Thursday to urge residents to prepare for the upcoming fire season. Schwarzenegger will be at the Cal-Fire West Riverside Station at 9 a.m. as part of Wildfire Awareness Week. — JIM MILLER Legislators acted on several bills by Inland lawmakers Tuesday: Passed AB 307(Cook): Prohibits a city or county from issuing a license to operate an ice cream truck to any person who is required to register as a sex offender. Passed Assembly Business and Professions Committee. AB 774 (Cook): Allows the Riverside Community College District to charge a fee to students and employees to pay for transportation services. Passed Assembly Transportation Committee. AB 1020 (Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands): Requires public swimming pools to have anti-entrapment devices that meet specified performance standards. Passed Assembly Health Committee. AB 1116 (Wilmer Amina Carter, D-Rialto): Prohibits elective cosmetic surgery unless, prior to surgery, the patient gets a physical examination by the doctor or dentist performing the cosmetic surgery. Passed Assembly Health Committee. SB 39 (John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes): Provides that disaster service workers shall not be liable when acting within the scope of their responsibilities. Passed Senate Judiciary Committee. Spring means blooming flowers, the first weeks of baseball, and a California governor signing an executive order to get ready for fire season. Tuesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the 2009 version. The order lets Cal Fire assign four firefighters to engines, mobilize resources, and take other steps to prepare for the coming summer. "A third straight year of drought only heightens the danger we face this summer, and we need every firefighting tool on ready alert, so we can spring into action when disaster strikes," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. Earlier Tuesday came word that the governor's office plans to propose cutting the state's firefighting budget by 10 percent through layoffs and station closures if voters reject the May 19 special election measures. The measures' rejection would increase the state's estimated shortfall by about $6 billion. Opponents of the initiatives accused the governor of scare tactics. Legislators acted on several bills by Inland lawmakers Monday. Failed AB 247 (Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands): Provides child-abuse information to health-care practitioners treating suspected abuse victims. AB 264 (Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley): Establishes March 30 of each year as Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day. AB 288 (Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert): Requires the boards of trustees of mosquito abatement and vector control districts to respond to audits in writing. Ab 388 (Jeff Miller, R-Corona): Requires vendors of firefighting uniforms to verify that uniform purchaser is, in fact, a firefighter. AB 412 (Wilmer Amina Carter, D-Rialto): Creates penalties for hanging a noose to terrorize people. AB 561 (Carter): Creates a crime for assaulting a highway worker performing his or her duties. AB 1385 (Miller): Authorizes certain members of arson-investigating units and others to display a flashing blue warning light in their vehicles while performing their duties. The Secretary of State's Office signed off today on petitions to gather signatures to qualify a ballot measure to recall Inland Assemblyman Anthony Adams. Recall proponents have 160 days -- until Oct. 13 -- to collect 35,825 valid signatures from voters in the 59th Assembly District. The district wraps from San Bernardino to the Los Angeles city limits. In an interview, Adams said he doesn't know if the recall will qualify for the ballot. "I will work very hard to make sure people make an informed decision," he said. —Jim Miller Today is the last day to register to vote if you want to make your voice heard in the May 19 special election. Get more information here.
Friday was the last day for policy committees in both houses of the Legislature to consider bills deemed to have a fiscal impact. In the final, action-packed days before the deadline, some bills by Inland lawmakers passed, others failed, and some remain in committee and may be dead for the year. Here's a snapshot, by no means comprehensive, of some of last week's Inland legislation: Moving on AB 249 (Wilmer Amina Carter, D-Rialto): Requires health care facilities to mark patient-owned property. Failed Assemblyman Jeff Miller, R-Corona, has a new column about crime victims week. He also gets in a plug for AB 250. "My law simply states that a defendant must withdraw his or her time waiver in open court - not by dropping a letter in the mail - and all parties must be properly notified of the said date," Miller says. The bill is scheduled to be heard in the Assembly Public Safety Committee on May 12. A Sacramento County judge sided with California redevelopment agencies Thursday in their suit to block the state from shifting $350 million in redevelopment money to schools as part of the 2008-09 budget agreement. Moreno Valley's Redevelopment Agency is a plaintiff in the case, as are Madera's RDA and the California Redevelopment Association. "Obviously the state is dealing with very difficult financial problems, but taking away local government redevelopment funds is unconstitutional," John Shirey, executive director of the California Redevelopment Association, said in a statement. Administration officials have defended the shift. In a letter to redevelopment officials Sept. 5, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said that redevelopment agencies had received $4.46 billion in revenue in 2006-07, up more than half a billion dollars from the year before.The budget also would leave untouched money for cities, counties, and transportation, he wrote. Thursday, H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the state Department of Finance, said, "We are reviewing the court's ruling and evaluating our options." —Jim Miller A measure that would give Riverside County's struggling Val Verde Unified School District more time to pay back state bond funds it was ineligible to receive has passed its first legislative committee. The Assembly Education Committee signed off Wednesday afternoon on AB 1476 by Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley. Cook's district includes the Perris-based district. In September 2007, the State Allocation Board, which disburses state bond money, ordered Val Verde to pay back $11.8 million in bond funds, plus $674,560 interest, within five years. The district paid $3 million but it was unable to make a $2.9 million payment due in March. Declining enrollment, state budget cuts, and a steep drop in developer fee revenue have caused major financial problems for the district. Cook's bill would give districts up to 10 years to pay back the State Allocation Board if the state schools superintendent finds that a faster repayment schedule would cause extreme financial hardship. Cook's bill will next be heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. —Jim Miller For the second year in a row, state legislation to require random drug testing of welfare recipients failed its first committee hearing Tuesday. The measure is the brainchild of RJ Feild of Pedley, a high school junior. Feild was born prematurely to a mother who abused drugs while she was pregnant and collecting welfare. He suffers from spastic triplegic cerebral palsy and needs a wheelchair.  RJ Feild testifies Tuesday next to state Sen. John J. Benoit. Feild said he hoped the bill would prevent similar problems for other children. State Sen. John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, carried the legislation. Democrats on the Senate Human Services Committee voted against the bill after witnesses testified that random drug testing would be expensive and that county welfare case workers already screen for drug abuse. Benoit criticized the committee afterward. "RJ's Law would have provided these drug-addicted welfare recipients with the wake-up call they need to turn their lives around," the senator said in a statement. "Instead, the status quo system that enables drug addicts with taxpayer money was preserved, trapping children in homes where drugs are abused." —Jim Miller Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto, will be raising money in Sacramento today as party activists gather for this weekend's California Democratic Party convention. Tickets to the "California Democratic Kick-Off Reception" at the Texas Mexican Restaurant a short walk from the Capitol are $100, with hosts paying $1,000. Baca, elected in 1999, is serving his fifth full term representing the Inland area's 43rd Congressional District. Samuel Hershel Clauder II, the former, oft-e-mailing voice of San Bernardino County Democrats, is still at it despite facing a felony charge of possessing child pornography. In an e-mail this morning, Clauder declares, "DA Mike Ramos does not deserve re-election -- he belongs behind bars!" Clauder accuses Ramos of protecting corrupt allies and persecuting political enemies. He cites the handling of his own case. The child-pornography charge stems from his wife and son finding the images on a Clauder resigned as county party spokesman in late February. He was fired from the San Bernardino office of Rep Joe Baca, D-Rialto, on March 16 when news spread of the charge. The Assembly Education Committee signed off Wednesday on a school-recycling bill proposed by San Bernardino eighth-grader Chelsia Janise. Janise, who attends Chavez Middle School, was the winner of the "There Ought to be a Law" contest put on by Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands.  Assemblyman Bill Emmerson and Chelsia Janise at Wednesday's hearing The state education code currently only addresses paper recycling programs in schools and universities. Janise's bill, AB 747 would encourage school districts and college campuses to start beverage-container recycling programs. "One reason why schools should recycle is that it becomes an everyday activity for students. When you get home you will find yourself recycling on a daily basis," Janise said in a statement distributed by Emmerson's office. The bill will next be heard by the Assembly Higher Education Committee. The campaign to pass the initiatives on the May 19 special election ballot announced this morning that it has released its first statewide TV ad. You can view the budget-meets-baseball "Porch" ad here. Here's the script: Dad: "We've always had to live within a budget - but the politicians haven't - and they got us in quite a mess. I've been reading about a way for us voters to clean things up by passing a spending limit they can't change, reforms that will give us budget stability in Sacramento, hold the politicians accountable and help hold the line on higher taxes." Dad: "Two things I'm doing for my boy - playing ball and voting yes on 1A through 1F." Some of the opponents of Prop. 1A released a statement a short while ago: "Giving our kids the foundation they need to succeed takes a lot more than just playing catch, and Prop. 1A's long term impact on our schools is too damaging to accept. When voters read Prop. 1A carefully, they'll find it gives the governor new power to make midyear cuts to our children's classrooms, with no checks and balances," said Dean Murakami of the California Federation of Teachers, who teaches at American River College in Sacramento. The Senate elections panel yesterday blocked Republican voting-related bills that, among other things, would have imposed new identification requirements at the polling place. Some of the measures had Inland authors. The San Diego Union-Tribune has a good rundown of the legislation. In the Assembly, the Elections and Redistricting Committee passed AB 1367. It would extend to 21 days the deadline for counting overseas ballots after an election. It goes next to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. —Jim Miller Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone has a new web site trashing Prop. 1A on the May 19 special-election ballot. Prop. 1A, billed as a spending cap by proponents, would divert revenue into a special fund during good budget years to spend during bad budget years. It also would continue some February tax increases by one or two years. Stone's site blasts the initiative for increasing taxes, being overly complicated, and for being "slapped together by the same politicians who created California's $40 billion budget deficit." Did we mention that Stone, a Republican, is running for the state Senate in 2010? Prop. 1A was still a star in the sky when Stone and board colleague John Tavaglione came to Sacramento in February and lectured lawmakers about the Legislature's failure to solve its budget problems. Anyone in the room that day left with the understanding that supervisors wanted lawmakers to make a deal, any deal, that would thaw millions of dollars in frozen payments to counties. At Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting, Stone declared, "We don't have a revenue problem, the state has a spending problem." Stone, whose county is operating with the $130 million deficit, complained that state officials can't limit spending. "The proposal has holes in it so big you could drive a Hummer through them," Stone added of 1A. "Enough Hummers to revive GM from bankruptcy." Tavaglione piled on, saying he does not believe Prop. 1A and the other propositions will pass, because voters are not convinced the state is capable of controlling its spending. To cushion the county deficit, Stone and Tavaglione are proposing county workers accept concessions such as benefit reductions. —Jim Miller and Dug Begley Inland state Sen. Bob Dutton's longtime chief of staff will become the top aide for the Senate Republican Caucus. Russell Lowery has worked for Dutton since shortly after the Rancho Cucamonga Republican arrived in the Legislature in December 2002. Lowery's ascension to caucus director follows the Senate GOP shakeup during February's acrimonious budget fight. State Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta, replaced Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, as the leader of the 15-member caucus. A top aide's departure often raises questions about their boss's future. In Dutton's case, he is considered a potential contender for the San Bernardino County assessor's job in the June 2010 election. Also, Dutton has previously expressed an interest in the minority leader's job and could succeed Hollingsworth. Term limits will force Hollingsworth to leave the Senate next year. Dutton terms out in 2012. —Jim Miller Inland Assemblyman Anthony Adams has filed a sharply worded response to the petition to recall him over his vote to raise taxes as part of the February budget deal. Adams, R-Hesperia, blames the effort to recall him on "two very wealthy Orange County men who care less about our community and more about their own political ambitions. "They want us to pay $900,000 in our hard-earned tax dollars to pay for another election and their partisan political games," the response continues. The "two very wealthy Orange County men" would be Mike Shroeder, a former state GOP chairman, and Lee Lowrey, chairman of Atlas PAC, a Newport Beach-based political action committee. Recall proponents now have until April 30 to turn in wording for recall petitions. The secretary of state's office then has 10 days to review it for compliance with the law. If that happens, the recall campaign would have 160 days to collect 36,000 valid voter signatures to qualify a recall measure. —Jim Miller San Bernardino County Presiding Judge James C. McGuire painted a dire picture of the county's court system last week during a meeting of the Inland Empire Legislative Caucus. Along with a Riverside County colleague, McGuire said overcrowded courthouses endanger the public and delay justice. One of the Inland lawmakers in the room, Assemblyman Anthony Adams, voiced his concern about the situation. But Adams, R-Hesperia, wanted to make one thing clear. "As a San Bernardino County politician, I don't think I have any business in any courtroom," he said. "There's enough of them in there already." —Jim Miller Assemblyman Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert, introduced a resolution earlier this week to honor school bus drivers with "School Bus Drivers Day" April 28.  Otto the Bus Driver The goal, the measure says, is "to draw special public attention to school bus drivers for their continued and excellent services to pupils." In recent years, Republican lawmakers and the union representing school employees have butted heads over the GOP desire to let school districts contract with private companies for bus transportation and other non-teaching tasks. Republicans say the change would save money, while the union contends it would lead to job losses with no money saved. Nestande's predecessor, state Sen. John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, has introduced a bill to that effect. Nestande's resolution is pending in the Assembly. —Jim Miller Organizers of today's nationwide "Tax Day Tea Parties" list several Inland times and locations. They are: Chino Norco Palm Desert 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Palm Springs Redlands Riverside San Bernardino Temecula Yucaipa California lawmakers will be back in session today after a weeklong spring recess. Several bills by Inland lawmakers face their first committee tests this afternoon. Among them is a measure by state Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny, D-San Diego, that would create a revolving-loan fund for American Indian tribes. The business loans and loan guarantees could not be used for gambling projects. Also, the Assembly Natural Resources Committee will consider a bill by Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, that would require criminal background checks of applicants for the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. —Jim Miller Beaumont Democrat Carl Wood has filed a statement of intent to run for the Inland area's 65th Assembly District a second time. Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, defeated Wood last November, 53.3 percent to 46.7 percent. Cook is up for re-election next year. Wood, who was outspent four-to-one in 2008, narrowly carried the district's Riverside County portion, where three-quarters of the district's population resides. The California Target Book lists the 65th as a possible 2010 target. Wood, a union activist, is a former member of of the California Public Utilities Commission. —Jim Miller The Riverside County Board of Supervisors is scheduled Tuesday to consider a motion by Supervisor John Tavaglione to go on record supporting Prop. 1A on the May 19 special election ballot. The initiative, one of six going before voters next month, would restrict state spending growth. It also would have the effect of continuing some temporary tax increases by one or two years. "These reforms will stabilize state spending over the long haul and ensure that the state has money in reserves to help address future deficits without going after local government funds," Tavaglione wrote in a summary of his motion. While Riverside County may weigh in on Prop. 1A, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors has no plans to take a position, county spokesman David Wert said. —Jim Miller With another budget fight looming this summer, Inland Assemblyman Brian Nestande will hold a news conference in Palm Desert this morning to tout a bill that would let the state continuously fund adult day-care centers, even when it lacks a budget. The bill is similar to past legislation, mostly by Republicans, that sought to ensure that certain state services -- generally those that are the most popular with the public -- continue to get their money as lawmakers haggle over the rest of the budget. The Legislature's majority Democrats have rebuffed past attempts and said the entire budget should be approved as a whole. Nestande, R-Palm Desert, represents parts of Riverside, Moreno Valley and the Coachella Valley. Today's 10 a.m. event is at the Eisenhower Medical Center Five Star Club in Palm Desert. —Jim Miller
Assembly Republicans will introduce legislation to give gas stations another year to comply with vapor-recovery regulations that took effect Wednesday. Assembly members Anthony Adams of Hesperia, Bill Emmerson of Redlands, and Jeff Miller of Corona joined colleagues at a lunchtime news conference announcing the urgency bill, which could be in print as soon as Thursday. Republicans said the regulation, combined with the economic downturn, will force gas stations to shut down. They complained that California Air Resources Board chairwoman Mary Nichols has ignored Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Friday request for the board to postpone the regulation. "We shouldn't really be here addressing this issue," said Miller, calling the GOP legislation "Plan B" if the air board continues to rebuff lawmakers. Some Republicans have called on Nichols to resign. Emmerson said he wouldn't go that far. "I would hope that she does the right thing," he said. —Jim Miller Monday's 5 p.m. deadline for Inland Assemblyman Anthony Adams to respond to a notice of intent to recall him from office came and went with no filing from the Hesperia Republican. Recall proponent E.T. Snell now has 10 days to submit a proposed recall petition to the secretary of state's office for review. Adams wasn't the only one who declined to file a response to a Snell recall notice. Another Snell target, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, skipped it, as well. —Jim Miller Gov. Schwarzenegger has reappointed Riverside builder Joseph Tavaglione to the California Transportation Commission. Tavaglione, 84, has served on the board since 2002. He is the president of Tavaglione Construction & Development, Inc, a commercial property building, improvement and management firm. The position, which pays a $100 per diem, requires Senate confirmation. Tavaglione is a Republican. —Jim Miller Inland state Sen. Bob Dutton hosted a "State of the State" address and fundraiser this morning at Riverside's Mission Inn. Tickets ranged from $50 to the "Level 3 Gold Eagle" price of $3,000 (honorary event table sponsor at all district events and breakfast club meetings, name recognition on all invites, electronic media and event signage, and up to eight guests). —Jim Miller Senate Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworth told the Sacramento Press Club on Thursday that conservative activists should drop their attempts to oust GOP lawmakers over their votes to raise taxes as part of last month's budget package. Among those in the crosshairs is Inland Assemblyman Anthony Adams. But Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta, said the efforts aren't productive because Democrats could grab the seats of any recalled Republicans. "I don't think the recalls make sense," he said. (Others beg to differ.) Hollingsworth also said he thinks voters will reject key measures on the May 19 special election ballot. That includes initiatives to borrow against revenue from an expanded state lottery and creating a spending cap. —Jim Miller San Bernardino County school board member Gilbert Navarro has filed paperwork to challenge Inland Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter in the 2010 Democratic primary. It would be the second Navarro-Carter go-around in as many legislative primaries. Declaring his candidacy for the June 2008 primary, Navarro caused a stir when he said the large number of Latinos in Carter's 62nd Assembly District would help his candidacy. Carter is black. Carter, D-Rialto, defeated Navarro, 60.4 percent to 39.6 percent. —Jim Miller There was word Thursday night that Inland Assemblyman Anthony Adams stepped down as chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Party. Adams, R-Hesperia, became chairman of the troubled county GOP in January. In recent weeks, though, some conservatives have sharply criticized him for voting to raise taxes as part of last month's state budget package. Adams has said the complaints would not cause him to relinquish his chairmanship. But maybe the prospect of facing a recall effort changed those plans. Stay tuned... UPDATE: Jon Fleischman on Flashreport.org posted this item. UPDATE2: In an interview a few minutes ago, Adams said he had resigned. "I think as a whole we felt as a committee that my vote was going to create distractions from what the party was trying to do," Adams said. —Jim Miller Inland Rep. Ken Calvert has endorsed former eBay executive Meg Whitman for governor.  In a statement released this morning by the Whitman campaign, the Corona Republican said, "She's proven capable of balancing budgets, creating jobs and helping organizations prosper. For me, the decision to endorse Meg was easy. She's a true leader." The warm fuzzies go both ways. "Now, more than ever, California needs leadership that will promote job creation, innovation and economic prosperity. Working closely with Congressman Calvert, we will restore California's economy and improve our quality of life," Whitman said. —Jim Miller The Assembly Public Safety Committee on Tuesday passed a bill by Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter, D-Rialto, that would let counties adopt a "restorative justice program" to rehabilitate non-violent young criminals. The committee, though, rejected a bill sponsored by Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco that would have increased penalties for repeat identity theft. Current penalties for identity theft are 16 months, two years, or three years behind bars, depending on the offense. The bill by Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, would have increased those penalties for repeat identity thieves to two, three or four years in prison. —Jim Miller
The long drought of candidates for the 36th Senate District appears to be over. Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone, a Temecula Republican, has filed a statement of intent to run for the district in 2010. The seat's current occupant, Senate Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta, has to leave office because of term limits.  Jeff Stone The 36th stretches from Lake Elsinore to El Cajon, with the vast majority of residents living in the sprawling district's San Diego County portion. Inland Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, who also has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the seat, said last week that it would be safe to remove his name from the list of potential contenders. "I enjoy being part of the Assembly. It's what I ran for," Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, said. Other names that have been mentioned as possible candidates for the 36th include Assemblyman Joel Anderson, R-Alpine. With Republican voters outnumbering Democrats by almost 100,000, whoever wins the GOP primary in June 2010 is the strong favorite that November. Hollingsworth, who served two years in the Assembly earlier in the decade, has filed a statement of intent to return to the lower house in 2012. —Jim Miller Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands, will host a Capitol-area fundraiser in a few hours. The 5:30 p.m. fundraiser will have a St. Patrick's Day theme. At $1,000 a ticket, there will be no lack of green at the event. —Jim Miller In a column in this week's Capitol Weekly, Inland Assemblyman Jeff Miller berates the California Air Resources Board for new regulations he said will force the closure of thousands of gas stations. The rules require gas stations to install equipment to reduce pollution. But, Miller says, many gas stations have been unable to comply with the mandate. The agency plans to start enforcing the rule next month, he said. "The remedy for this crisis is simple - to allow all service stations a one-year extension for compliance - an action that is not unprecedented and one that ensures that station owners ultimately comply. So far, CARB seems determined to put its regulations first, and reality somewhere after that," Miller, R-Corona, writes. —Jim Miller In a glum assessment released this morning, the non-partisan Legislative Analyst's Office projects that last month's multi-billion dollar package of spending cuts, temporary tax increases and other budget fixes already is $8 billion out of whack. State revenue estimates continue to deteriorate, the report concludes, and parts of last month's legislation are only for the short-term. The report estimates that, without additional steps, the state's budget shortfalls will grow to $12.6 billion in 2010-11 and to $26 billion in 2013-14. —Jim Miller A pair of Republican activists has opened a campaign committee to recall Assemblyman Anthony Adams, chairman of the San Bernardino County GOP. The main name on the Committee to Recall Adams is David Bauer of Sacramento. Last year, Bauer was campaign treasurer for Rep. Tom McClintock during the hard-fought race in Northern California's 4th Congressional District. Bauer also is the chief financial officer of JohnsonClark Associates, a statewide campaign-consulting firm based in Sacramento. That would be the same JohnsonClark that has overseen Adams' past campaigns and would be leading the fight against any recall effort. That should make for some interesting conversations around the water cooler. Adams declined Thursday to comment on the recall committee's formation. He has not been served with recall papers. The committee's other principal officer is Lee Lowery of Glendora. Lowery is chairman of Atlas PAC, a Republican organization that has criticized Adams for his vote last month for temporary tax increases to help balance the state's budget. -- Jim Miller Inland lawmakers today will be passing the hat -- a very large hat -- for upcoming campaigns. Wednesday begins with state Sen. Bob Dutton's "wake up and smell the coffee" fundraiser. Tickets are $1,000, with "sunrise sponsors" paying $3,900. Dutton, who is serving his final Senate term, has filed papers to return to the Assembly in 2012. Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries will be hosting a lunchtime fundraising. Tickets are $1,000, with sponsors maxing out at $3,900. Jeffries is running for re-election in 2010. And to complete the day, Senate Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta, will headline an evening reception featuring "Temecula ports and fine cigars." Tickets are $1,000 and $3,900. -- Jim Miller
California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ron George urged state lawmakers Tuesday to allocate money for more judges to ease case backlogs in the Inland area and elsewhere in California.  In his annual address to the Legislature, George highlighted what he called the "critical situation" in Riverside County. A task force of active and retired judges worked during the past fiscal year to reduce a backlog of criminal cases. "We acted on our own initiative and without requesting additional funds," he told lawmakers. George, though, said the effort had to be discontinued because of its cost. Next week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Department of Justice and Treasurer Bill Lockyer will determine how much the state general fund will receive from the recently approved federal stimulus bill. If the amount is less than $10 billion, there will be additional cuts in state spending. Among the items on the chopping block is $71.4 million for new judges. Riverside and San Bernardino counties would receive the largest numbers of the new judges. -- Jim Miller Former Inland Assemblyman Russ Bogh has endorsed former eBay chief Meg Whitman for governor.  Russ Bogh In a statement issued by the Whitman campaign Tuesday, Bogh said Whitman knows how to improve the state's economy. "She has rightly challenged the state to cut bureaucratic spending and is correct to focus on improving public education as an economic development tool. I'm convinced that Meg will achieve her goal of at least $15 billion in savings and efficiencies within four years to improve state government and protect taxpayers," Bogh, R-Cherry Valley, said. Whitman and Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner are duking it out for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in June 2010. Four years ago, Bogh was solidly in Poizner's corner during the run-up to the insurance commissioner's race. "Steve is a top tier candidate, and he gives Republicans a very solid chance at winning this important seat. Republicans need to rally around his candidacy," Bogh said at the time. Then again, Poizner was the only Republican in the race. -- Jim Miller State Sen. John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, is scheduled Friday to unveil legislation "to protect jobs by easing cumbersome hurdles on small businesses."  Said Benoit in a press release today: "With the State unemployment rate surpassing 10 percent, and Riverside County topping 12 percent, many long-established businesses are closing their doors or leaving California. Now is the time to strip away punishing regulations placed on employees and encourage and reward their hard work and loyalty." Benoit's office hasn't detailed the package's contents, perhaps to avoid upstaging Friday's 10:30 a.m. event at the Palm Desert Chamber of Commerce. A possible candidate is SB 187, which would let employees ask for a flex-time schedule letting them work up to 10 hours per day, with no overtime, during a 40-hour workweek. (Similar bills have failed in previous years after opposition from organized labor.) Benoit's SB 404 also deals with alternative workweeks. -- Jim Miller Assemblyman Anthony Adams will host a $1,500-a-head birthday (well, a few days late) fundraiser in Sacramento this evening. The event comes at an opportune time for the Hesperia Republican, who turned 38 last Friday. Adams, who is chairman of the San Bernardino County GOP, has been under fire because of his support for last month's budget package, which included tax increases. There have been threats of recall and primary challenges. (As of late Tuesday, none had been filed, according to the secretary of state's office) Adams' campaign warchest, though, is a little light. As of Dec. 31, he had only about $2,600 on hand. -- Jim Miller Assemblyman Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert, will be raising money in less than an hour in Sacramento. Tickets are $1,000-a-person, minimum. Co-hosts pay $2,000. And hosts get to pay $3,600 for the 5:30 p.m. reception at a bar-restaurant across the street from the Capitol. The host price is just shy of the new maximum per-election contribution for a legislative candidate of $3,900. Nestande, who had no competition in his 2008 campaign, ended the year with about $9,000 in the bank. -- Jim Miller Former Inland lawmaker Ray Haynes jumps to Assemblyman Jeff Miller's defense in a posting this morning on the Flash Report. Miller, it's been reported, is the target of a recall orchestrated by KFI radio hosts John and Ken. The Corona lawmaker's supposed crime is that he didn't engineer the ouster of Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines, who supported last month's budget package and its $13 billion in tax increases. But Haynes, a big J&K fan, said the duo is wrong on this one. "Jeff Miller has done nothing wrong. He did all the right things," Haynes wrote. "We can disagree on his strategy. We can disagree on the right way to deal with the leadership crisis that exists right now in the Assembly. We can argue about whether Mike Villines deserves to be leader, but those are all issues of the strategy of how best to deal with the debacle that was this year's budget 'fix.' They are not issues on which to recall someone." -- Jim Miller There has been increasing speculation in Sacramento that Inland state Sen. Bob Dutton will be giving up his seat to become San Bernardino County assessor. "I was asked if I was interested and I said I was," Dutton said late last week, saying the query came from the county's board of supervisors. Assistant Assessor Dennis Draeger has been filling in as assessor since Bill Postmus resigned last month. There is no timetable for selecting a permanent replacement. Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, was re-elected to a second four-year term last November. -- Jim Miller Nell Soto's family has released viewing and funeral arrangements. The former Inland lawmaker died last Thursday at the age of 82. The rosary and viewing will be held tonight at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, 1150 W. Holt Avenue, Pomona, from 6:00-8:30PM Funeral services will be Tuesday, March 3, at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, 1150 W. Holt Avenue, Pomona, CA 91768 at 9 a.m. There will be a procession immediately following the funeral mass to Queen of Heaven Cemetery, 2161 S. Fullerton Road, Rowland Heights. The family wishes that in lieu of flowers that donations are sent to Wood Health Services, 2600 A Street, La Verne, CA, 91750. Elected officials from around the region have issued statements praising former Inland lawmaker Nell Soto, who died Thursday. She was 82. Services are pending. Here are the latest statements: "I knew Nell and her late husband, Phil Sr., and their children for more than 35 years. I have lost a personal friend and California has lost a distinguished leader. "Our thoughts and prayers are with her family -- sons, Tom, Phil Jr., Mike, Patrick, daughter Anna, and her many grandkids and great grandkids." "Nell Soto was a dedicated public servant and a great friend to San Bernardino County throughout her many years in the state Legislature. She serves as an example to everyone who serves in public office, today and for generations to come." "Nell Soto was an individual who brought a very unique character to politics. She cut through the fluff and got things done for her constituents. She championed the underdog, always said what was on her mind, and never held back her punches. She was beyond good to me." "I am deeply saddened by the news of Nell Soto's passing. She dedicated her life in public service to helping families, children and advocating for our schools. I am grateful to have known her and to have had the opportunity to work with her in the State Assembly. The Inland Empire has lost a treasure. My heartfelt condolences go out to the Soto family." "Maria and I are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of this tremendous leader who will forever be remembered and appreciated by the people of Pomona. On behalf of all Californians, we send our thoughts and prayers to Nell's family and friends during this difficult time." —Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Nell Soto, who represented San Bernardino County in the Legislature for a decade, passed away Thursday after months of declining health. 
Soto, 82, did not run for re-election to the Assembly last year. She previously had served about six years in the state Senate and four years in the Assembly. The Soto family is expected to issue a statement today. -- Jim Miller Assemblyman Anthony Adams, the leader of the San Bernardino County GOP, refuted Thursday a blog posting that said he had resigned his party post. Jon Fleischman, publisher of the Flash Report, blogged Wednesday afternoon that Adams had quit. Fleischman posted a correction a few hours later. "I have no idea who posted it or why they have that impression at all," Adams, R-Hesperia, said. Adams was one of six GOP lawmakers who voted for last week's $40 billion state budget package that included about $13 billion in temporary tax increases. Adams, though, is viewed as the most vulnerable to a potential recall, primary challenge, or both, in the coming months. The Victorville Valley Daily Press has a story today on a potential recall effort. -- Jim Miller Fontana Councilwoman Acquanetta Warren has filed a statement of intent to run for the Inland area's 63rd Assembly District next year. The 63rd's current representative, Bill Emmerson, has to leave office in 2010 because of legislative term limits. The Redlands Republican intends to run for the state Senate in 2012. Warren is the third Republican to show an interest in the district's GOP primary in June 2010. The others are Rancho Cucamonga Mayor Don Kurth and Alta Loma businessman Mike Morrell. -- Jim Miller
Injecting a dose of service-above-self into last week's tense budget standoff was US Airways pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who guided a jetliner to a miracle landing on the Hudson River last month.  Sullenberger, a resident of Danville, was honored at a Capitol ceremony and later in the Legislature for his actions. Getting some face time with Sullenberger was state Sen. John J. Benoit, a fellow pilot. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, routinely flies to and from the capital. "Captain Sully is a gentleman. He gave credit to his crew, which is nice," Benoit said. -- Jim Miller Assemblyman Paul Cook recently took on Sacramento's parking enforcers, but he's not accepting the spoils of victory. The tale of Cook, a parking ticket, a letter, and a rejected refund made The Sacramento Bee this morning. Cook, R-Yucca Valley, lives a few miles north of the Capitol. He shares a house with state Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, and Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands. -- Jim Miller Hard feelings from this week's budget vote continued Friday, with state Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, calling on Assemblyman Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia, to quit as San Bernardino County party leader over comments attributed to Adams during this week's standoff. Adams was one of the handful of Republicans to vote for a nearly $13 billion tax increase that was at the heart of the plan. The package quickly stalled in the state Senate. Midweek, Adams was quoted as calling Senate Republicans "recalcitrant" for refusing to put up the necessary votes. In a statement, Dutton said he disagreed with Adams' tax vote but "but "political disagreements happen all the time." Dutton, though, accused Adams of "attacking the integrity of Senate Republicans" by calling them recalcitrant. "In the battle against tax increases, tax fighters should not be taking fire for the chair of the San Bernardino County Republican party," Dutton said in his statement. "Based on his comments, it's clear he cannot effectively represent San Bernardino Republicans and should resign immediately," Dutton said. Adams wasn't immediately available for comment. -- Jim Miller Here are some local lawmakers' comments about the budget-related legislation that passed this morning: "The words that come to me are blackmail, extortion, skullduggery. If any integrity is left in this house we should send it back." "This is a sad day for everyone in the state of California. I believe California's thirst for spending your tax dollars will continue and future deficits will follow. This budget simply doesn't fix our problem." "I am extremely proud of the members of the legislature, both Republicans and Democrats, who had the courage to stand up and put the needs of Californians first." "It wasn't a perfect deal. I had to hold my nose on a lot of it. Anybody who thinks it was a great budget is crazy." "I don't believe we can afford to let California fail. We fought very hard for real reforms and massive cuts in spending." "You may count this as a win because you got a few Republicans to vote for it. The vast majority of Republicans are standing here saying raising taxes is the wrong thing to do. It's not a win. The taxpayers of California are going to view this as a loss."
Senate Republicans picked Riverside County Republican Dennis Hollingsworth as their new leader late Tuesday after days of growing Senate GOP unhappiness with the budget deal negotiated by their former leader. Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta, toppled Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, after a lengthy closed-door caucus meeting during another all-day, all-night Senate session meant to pry loose the necessary Republican votes for the $14.4 billion in tax increases that are at the heart of a $41 billion package of budget solutions. Hollingsworth, one of the Senate's most conservative members, has been among the most critical of the agreement Cogdill reached with the Legislature's majority Democrats, Assembly GOP Leader Mike Villines, R-Clovis, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger after weeks of secret negotiations. "You're not going to go back to the people's pocketbooks to fuel that spending," Hollingsworth angrily told colleagues during a Monday floor session. Meanwhile, the floor session that began at 10 a.m. Tuesday continues... -- Jim Miller There has been no movement today on a $41 billion fix to the state's budget woes. Now hearings scheduled for Tuesday have been canceled, including a session on the implementation of Prop. 2, which sets standards for the housing of farm animals starting in 2015. State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, just canceled the hearing, citing negotiations on the budget. -- Jim Miller County supervisors from Riverside and San Bernardino counties were among several from Southern California who came to Sacramento last week to lecture local lawmakers about the need to fix the state budget. Many of the supervisors, including registered Republicans, left the strong impression that GOP lawmakers should compromise and support higher taxes to get an agreement to spare counties tens of millions of dollars in revenue losses. San Bernardino County Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt didn't make the trip. If he had, he may have found himself an odd man out. In a Web posting late Sunday night, Mitzelfelt praises Republicans for blocking a $41 billion budget fix that includes $14.4 billion in higher taxes over the weekend. "As for the next hours and days in Sacramento, the dice have been rolled and our money is riding on a razor-thin margin of Republicans denying the two-thirds vote for tax hikes in the Senate. Let's hope they hang in there for the long-term good of the state," he writes on FlashReport.org. "Opportunities like this don't come along often," he added. The Legislature, after a marathon weekend session, will try again today. -- Jim Miller State Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, declares - again - in a new Op-Ed that he'll be voting against the budget deal coming up for a vote tomorrow. Dutton, the vice-chairman of the Senate budget panel whose name periodically circulates as a possible budget "yes" vote, said he can't support the proposal's $14.5 billion in tax increases and what he called its lack of any meaningful reform of state labor and environmental rules. "I, in good conscience, can not look in the mirror and raise the taxes on the average family of four by more than $1,000, as the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has estimated. I can't ask that family to go 10 weeks without groceries," Dutton writes. "At the end of the day I have to look in the mirror and feel good about what I see. I will be voting no on this budget," he writes. Today's Press-Enterprise story gives the run-down of where Inland legislators stand on the deal. -- Jim Miller The latest page in the state Capitol's fast-evolving budget saga is that the Assembly has scheduled a floor session for Saturday morning to vote on a package of spending cuts and tax increases. That will be just as tens of thousands of spectators will begin gathering for the Capitol-circling prologue of the Tour of California bicycle race that features Lance Armstrong and other top riders. More than crowds could be an issue. The prologue is set to begin at 1 p.m., after which the Capitol will be essentially cut off for the next three hours by a speeding moat of Lycra and carbon fiber. (Or maybe that's the point?) In any event, that brings us perilously close to the Valentine's Day dinner hour. Non-refundable reservations are not advised. -- Jim Miller With rumors swirling about a possible state budget deal, speculation turns to which Republicans might be willing to put up the votes to pass any package.  On his Web site, state Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, the GOP point person on the Senate budget panel, gives the strong impression here that he won't be among them. "Yes, California is in a crisis when it comes to this budget. But given the current state of the economy, I cannot support the current proposal that has billions in new taxes but no budget reform and nothing to create jobs that will keep this state from repeating the mistakes of the past," it reads. -- Jim Miller Last we heard from former state lawmaker Dick Mountjoy, the Monrovia Republican was a grease spot on the road to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein's 2006 re-election victory. But Mountjoy, who lost the 2006 Senate race by almost 25 points, may have designs on returning to the Legislature.  Former California State. Sen. Richard Mountjoy in 1997 Yesterday, conservative activist Mike Spence reported on FlashReport.org that Mountjoy was thinking about challenging Assemblyman Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia, in the 2010 primary because of Adams' recent comments about raising taxes to help solve the state's budget mess. Adams has said he would only consider a tax vote in conjunction with a deal approved by GOP leadership. But even that is heresy to some conservatives. Mountjoy served in the Assembly from 1978 to 1994. He served in the state Senate from then until 2000. Under voter-approved term limits, Mountjoy could serve one more term in the Assembly The 59th covers parts of Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, including Highland and northern San Bernardino. We'll try to get in touch with the senator. Stay tuned. UPDATE 11:30 a.m.: In a telephone interview, Mountjoy said people have asked him to run against Adams if Adams votes for a budget fix that raises taxes. But Mountjoy said he hasn't committed to anything. "I would imagine there would be several people who'd want to take that issue on," he said. State Sen. John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, will be hosting a lunchtime fundraiser today at the upscale Esquire Grill in Sacramento. Tickets run $1,500, with sponsors kicking in $3,900. Benoit, elected to the Senate in November, is up for re-election in 2012. -- Jim Miller
Former Inland Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, apparently has ended her bid to succeed state Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny, D-San Diego, in 2010. Ducheny's 40th Senate District includes part of Riverside County, although the district's voter base is in San Diego County. "I like my life," Garcia, a recent appointee to a $128,109-a-year post on the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals board, said in today's Desert Sun. "I decided that my six years in office was a wonderful and exciting experience. "I believe that I already had an opportunity to serve. It's other people's turn," she said. Garcia's departure leaves former GOP lawmaker Shirley Horton and Assemblywoman Mary Salas, D-Chula Vista, in the hunt. To the west, Alta Loma businessman Michael Morrell recently filed a candidacy statement of intent to run for the 63rd Assembly District, as has Rancho Cucamonga mayor Don Kurth. The seat's current occupant, Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands, will be forced out by term limits in 2010. Emmerson has filed to run for the state Senate in 2012. That's when the current occupant of the Senate district that includes Redlands, state Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, will have to leave because of term limits. And Dutton has filed to run for Assembly -- the 63rd or something else, depending on the redrawing of political lines after the 2010 census -- in 2012. Then again, Friday's resignation of San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus could render moot the above depending on how his replacement is chosen. Stay tuned. -- Jim Miller Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor, whose office is a gold mine of non-partisan budget numbers and analysis, is the subject of a profile in The Fresno Bee. Taylor, who grew up in Fresno County, later attended UC Riverside. "His interest in government was sparked at Sanger High School. He loved class discussions on politics and current events. He went on to get a political science degree at University of California at Riverside," notes the story. -- Jim Miller California Attorney General Jerry Brown has come out strongly in defense of a new law targeted in federal court by meat-industry groups. AB 2098, which took effect Jan. 1, makes it a crime to allow beef from cows too weak or ill to stand to enter the food chain. The law also requires so-called downer cows to be humanely euthanized. The legislation followed last year's nationwide beef recall, which was ordered after an undercover investigation found workers at the former Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. in Chino trying to force downer cows to slaughter. In a pair of lawsuits last month against the state, the National Meat Association and the American Meat Institute have challenged the law's constitutionality. In particular, the American Meat Institute claims that the state law illegally preempts federal regulations. In court papers filed last week, Brown's office wrote, "The California Legislature determined that nonambulatory animals pose too great a risk to the safety of the food supply, and determined that the most humane way to deal with these animals is to immediately euthanize them," the brief states. "Plaintiff disagrees with this policy decision, but a policy disagreement is not a basis to invalidate the law, and it certainly is not enough to support a preliminary injunction in advance of the Court's ultimate determination," it read. "The public interest is best served in allowing the duly enacted law...to stand and by denial of the requested preliminary injunction." -- Jim Miller The Inland area featured fundraising opposites during last year's big-bucks fight over same-sex marriage, new campaign-finance reports show. Corona contributors ponied up more than $280,000 for the yes-on-Prop. 8 campaign. About 70 miles to the east, Palm Springs donors gave about $200,000 to the no side. Supporters of Prop. 8 raised far more money in the two-county region than did the measure's opponents. Today's story breaks down the Inland numbers. For people seeking more information, The Sacramento Bee has an excellent Prop. 8 donor database. -- Jim Miller A group called United Native Americans, Inc. will sponsor a rally at the state Capitol today to "shed light on the dark side of casinos." Organizers plan to highlight allegations of tribal corruption and wrongful disenrollments, according to a recent writeup on the upcoming protest. Scheduled speakers include John Gomez Sr., a former member of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians near Temecula whose family of 130 members was kicked out in 2004. In the past, the Pechanga tribe has defended its right to determine its It's unclear what state lawmakers could do on the issue because of tribal sovereignty. In the past, they have shown little interest in getting involved in the fight. -- Jim Miller Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, is the new chairman of the Inland Empire Caucus, a bipartisan group of lawmakers who represent Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Cook, who is beginning his second term, succeeds Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands, as caucus chairman. Resuscitated several years ago as an attempt to counter the influence of the Legislature's large coastal delegations, the caucus advocates for issues of concern in the Inland area. The caucus, for example, has been involved in efforts to get more judges for Inland courtrooms. It also weighed in on the distribution of transportation bond money from Prop. 1B. Caucus members don't always see eye to eye, however. Last year, caucus members were split over whether Prop. 1B money should be used to help revamp Colton Crossing. Some thought the railroads should contribute more money. -- Jim Miller This much is certain -- the Republicans left it all on the field last fall trying to hold onto the Inland area's 80th Assembly District. Campaign-finance reports filed over the weekend show that the campaign of Gary Jeandron of Palm Springs spent $2.21 million, ending the year with just $49 in the bank. More than $1.5 million of Jeandron's money came from GOP committees. The man who beat him, Assemblyman Manuel Perez, D-Coachella, hasn't filed his year-end spending report, which was due Saturday. It likely will show that the Democrats outspent the Republicans significantly in the race. Perez' campaign raised at least $2.85 million. About $2.1 million of that came from Democratic committees. -- Jim Miller Inland lawmakers introduced the following bills Tuesday: Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands AB 163: Healthcare plans would be required to cover the use of amino acid-based formulas to diagnose and treat eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders. Assemblyman Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia AB 161: A corporation would be able to send a single notice or report to an address that has more than one shareholder. Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, has scheduled a fundraiser for later today in Sacramento. Tickets are $3,600 for co-hosts, $2,000 for sponsors, and $1,000 for guests to the "cocktail buffet reception." Cook, first elected in 2006, was re-elected to a second term in November. He can serve a total of three terms in the lower house under the state's voter-approved term limits law. -- Jim Miller Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, has just announced committee lineups. Members representing Riverside and San Bernardino counties are in bold. Accountability and Administrative Review Aging and Long-Term Care Agriculture Appropriations Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism and Internet Media Banking and Finance Budget Budget Subcommittee #1 - Health and Human Services Budget Subcommittee #2 - Education Finance Budget Subcommittee #3 - Resources Budget Subcommittee #4 - State Administration Budget Subcommittee #5 - Information Technology/Transportation Business and Professions Education Elections and Redistricting Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Governmental Organization Health Higher Education Housing and Community Development Human Services Insurance Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy Judiciary Labor and Employment Local Government Natural Resources Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Public Safety Revenue and Taxation Rules Transportation Utilities and Commerce Veterans Affairs Water, Parks and Wildlife Joint Legislative Audit Committee Assemblyman Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia, has gotten himself into hot water with the hosts of the popular John and Ken Show on KFI AM. Adams took a beating when he called into the show yesterday after a report in The Sacramento Bee that Republicans would be open to higher taxes in return for Democrats agreeing to a tight spending cap and other changes. "How do you justify asking for any more money after Sacramento has blown so much money on so much excessive spending?" asks one of the hosts (John? Ken? It's hard to tell when they're shouting). "How dare you come to us and ask for more?" "I dare with the full knowledge that this will probably be the end of a political career for me. But the fact of the matter is California is in a place where they need people who are willing to sacrifice their own personal agenda for what's right," said Adams, who represents part of Highland, San Bernardino and Lake Arrowhead.  "I'll tell you right now. I think taxes stink," Adams added. "You better believe we're going to get every cut we can humanly possibly get." Adams' photo is among those on the show's Web page, along with Assemblyman Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, and state Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria. John and Ken followers are told to "call the Republican Assembly and Senate members and tell them to stand firm on no new taxes or else!" -- Jim Miller It's too late for the next month's Cardinals-Steelers faceoff, but Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, is trying again on legislation to eliminate criminal penalties for sports betting pools. Jeffries introduced a bill to do just that a year ago after the arrests of two Wildomar women who hosted a $50 Super Bowl pool at the local Elks Lodge. It passed the Legislature overwhelmingly. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill in September. In boiler-plate language identical to other vetoes, Schwarzenegger said last summer's budget impasse left him too little time to consider all the bills that made it to his desk. "With Super Bowl Sunday right around the corner, countless Californians will take part in harmless pools at their office or amongst their friends," Jeffries said in a statement Wednesday. "At a time when we can't keep car thieves, multiple DUI offenders and armed robbers in prison, it is silly to continue to threaten people with jail time for buying a $5 square at a Super Bowl party." Over in the Senate, state Sen. John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, introduced legislation this week to let schools contract out for landscaping, food services, and other work. The bill, SB 22 in the Legislature's budget special session, marks the latest of several attempts by Benoit and other Republicans in recent years to ditch a union-backed 2001 law that made it more difficult for districts to hire private companies for services now performed by district employees. Previous efforts have failed. -- Jim Miller State Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, recently won re-election to a second and final four-year term in the Legislature's upper house. Dutton, though, already has an eye on 2012. He recently filed papers to run for the Assembly in four years. Dutton, who served in the Assembly for two years earlier this decade, could serve two more terms there under the state's term limits law. Dutton currently lives in the 63rd Assembly District. That seat comes open in 2010 with the departure of Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands. At least two people have indicated an interest in running for the seat then. Dutton, though, notes that the region's political landscape will look a lot different in 2012. That will be after the once-a-decade redrawing of political districts to reflect population changes. So Dutton could wind up in a district -- the 63rd or something else -- to run in. -- Jim Miller Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, announced chair and vice-chair assignments this week for standing committees. Here's where members representing Riverside and San Bernardino counties ended up: Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia: vice-chairman, Elections, Redistricting and Constitutional Amendments Complete committee assignments will be announced later. State senators from the region got these assignments. -- Jim Miller Thursday's arrest of San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus on drug offenses rattled county government and beyond -- all the way to Sacramento. Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands, said, "The most important thing for Bill to do is to get his life back together and seek help from the mental health and physical health standpoint." Emmerson declined to call on Postmus to resign. "I think, certainly, he should consider his health first and then I think he needs to make that decision," he said. "I'm going to leave that up to the supervisors and Bill Postmus." Emmerson said he once was hopeful that Postmus would help reform the Board of Supervisors after years of corruption scandals. "I don't know if it's the pressure that got to him, that led to the substance abuse. I just think he needs to get some professional help. We were all hopeful that was going to happen when he took a leave from the assessor's office," he said. State Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, said he was extremely disappointed about Postmus' arrest. Postmus, a former chairman of both the board of supervisors and county Republican Party, was seen as a rising star in local politics. "Bill was somebody who had a lot of promise back when he was younger," Dutton said. "He's basically really screwed up his life. He's violated the public trust, which is totally unacceptable." Assemblyman Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia, a one-time political ally of Postmus, called on the assessor to resign. "He has a very obvious responsibility to step down from his position in order to protect the integrity of the office and the constituents who are supposed to be served by it," Adams said. "Bill has such incredible promise," Adams added. "It is very difficult to watch someone's personal demons consume him. -- Jim Miller and Duane W. Gang At long last, state Senate leadership released members' committee assignments Tuesday afternoon. For the first time, all senators will sit on the budget committee. Only some, though, will be voting members on the panel's five subcommittees. Here's a committee roundup for senators representing Riverside and San Bernardino counties: John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes: Energy, Utilities and Communications (vice-chairman); Public Safety (vice-chairman); Governmental Organization; Natural Resources and Water; Public Employment and Retirement Denise Moreno Ducheny, D-San Diego: Budget and Fiscal Review (chairman); Revenues and the Economy subcommittee Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga: Budget and Fiscal review (vice-chairman), Revenues and the Economy subcommittee; Rules; Transportation and Housing Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Chino: Business, Professions and Economic Development (chairwoman); Governmental Organization; Health; Labor and Industrial Relations; Public Employment and Retirement; Veterans Affairs Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta: Health and Human Services; Labor and Veterans Affairs subcommittee; Food and Agriculture; Human Services; Natural Resources and Water (vice-chairman) Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, has not released committee assignments yet. -- Jim Miller Assemblyman Jeff Miller, R-Corona, is out of "the doghouse".  Assemblyman Jeff Miller, R-Corona Miller, a freshman, and five aides have spent the past month in the 931-square-foot two-room suite, the Capitol's smallest office. Miller inherited the space from the man he replaced, former Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, who ended up there after irking the Assembly's Democratic leaders. Miller recently got bumped to roomier digs. His former office is now occupied by Assemblyman Danny Gilmore, R-Hanford, the only Republican to take a Democrat-held seat in November. -- Jim Miller Recently filed campaign-finance reports show that Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center spent big last year on behalf of Prop. 3, the Children's Hospital Bond Act of 2008 on the Nov. 4 ballot. The sciences center, which operates Loma Linda Children's Hospital, reported spending $906,000 in 2008 on the initiative. That is about one-seventh of the total amount the bond campaign reported raising last year. The $980 million bond measure passed with 55.3 percent of the vote. -- Jim Miller Rancho Cucamonga Mayor Don Kurth, a Republican, filed paperwork this week to be a candidate for the 63rd Assembly District in 2010. Incumbent Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands, has to leave office in two years because of term limits. The district includes Redlands, Loma Linda, Yucaipa, and part of northern Riverside County. A recent "Hot Sheet" from the California Target Book lists the 63rd as a district that Democrats may target in 2010. Democratic president-elect Barack Obama carried the district in November and Republican registration has fallen in recent years. -- Jim Miller Electors will convene in the state Capitol today to formally cast the state's 55 electoral votes for Barack Obama as president and Joe Biden as vice president. Democratic electors from the Inland area are: Betty McMillion of Beaumont, the chairwoman of the Riverside County Democratic Party; Joe Baca Jr. of Rialto, a councilman and the son of Rep. Joe Baca; Greg Warner of Rancho Cucamonga; Mark Macarro of Temecula, the chairman of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians; Juadina Stallings of Corona; and Patrick Kelly Kahler of Highland. -- Jim Miller We here at Ballot Watch have been going over local statements of vote for last month's election. Over the next few days, we'll be including links to maps showing how the ballots broke for most Inland legislative and congressional districts. Today, we give you the 65th Assembly District. Perhaps more than any Inland incumbent, Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, had a close call last month in winning re-election against Democrat Carl Wood of Beaumont. Wood racked up strong numbers around the district's Perris and Moreno Valley portions. Less than a week into his first term, Assemblyman Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert, is hosting a big-bucks golf fundraiser that kicks off tonight in the desert. A welcome reception at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort gets things going. It will be followed by a round at the Indian Wells Golf Resort on Saturday, and then by a reception at a private home. Tickets top out at $5,000 for "tournament sponsor" four-person teams. People who just want to mix and mingle at the post-play reception only have to shell out $150. Nestande isn't the first lawmaker to look for money after winning election last month. Unlike some others, though, Nestande had no competition on last month's ballot. -- Jim Miller
Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter has taken some heat for acknowledging that she voted for Prop. 8, last month's contentious ballot measure that bans same-sex marriage. But final statements of vote, which are due today, show that Carter, D-Rialto, was decidedly in line with the constituents of her 62nd Assembly District. Almost 67 percent of voters in the 62nd supported Prop. 8, slightly more than San Bernardino County as a whole, according to the county's statement of vote, which includes tallies by political district. Other counties' vote statements show that a number of Carter's past and present Democratic colleagues bucked their constituents' sentiments on the issue when they signed a Nov. 10 friend of the court brief urging the California Supreme Court to overturn Prop. 8. Prop. 8 passed - sometimes significantly - in the districts of former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles; and Assembly members Ed Hernandez, D-Baldwin Park; Felipe Fuentes, D-Los Angeles; Mike Eng, D-Monterey Park; Charles Calderon, D-Whittier; and state senators Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles; Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles; Alex Padilla, D-Pacoima; Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach; and Ron Calderon, D-Montebello. Among the highest-ranking signatories to the letter, Prop. 8 passed in the district of Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, but lost in the district of Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles. -- Jim Miller
Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter, D-Rialto, is one of several Democratic lawmakers who have not signed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the state Supreme Court to reject Prop. 8, this month's successful ballot measure that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman in the state constitution. Carter, in a recent interview, said she voted for Prop. 8 and disagrees with her colleagues' actions.  Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter, D-Rialto Many of her constituents also supported the initiative, she said. "It primarily stems from my constituents but also from deep religious convictions," Carter said. "Since I represent my district, I didn't sign on to it." -- Jim Miller Four years ago, voters in an L-shaped part of San Bernardino overwhelmingly backed Democrat John Kerry for president. More than 80 percent of voters there went for the Democratic ticket in 2004, close to tops in the Inland region, official results show. 
Obama received about 90 percent in those precincts, according to semi-official results. That number could grow as remaining provisional and mail-in ballots are counted. -- Jim Miller
More than two-thirds of voters in north Yucaipa supported the McCain/Palin ticket in this month's election. That is tops in San Bernardino County among precincts where at least 500 people voted. Seventy percent of voters there backed the Republicans. Less than three out of of 10 supported the Obama/Biden ticket. The neighborhood is bordered by Oak Glen Road to the south and Bryant Street to the west. 
The area, though, also highlights some of the problems leading to McCain's defeat. The Republicans' margin of victory was down a few percentage points from 2004. Although some ballots are still being counted, several dozen fewer votes were cast for McCain/Palin than for Bush/Cheney in the area -- suggesting that many Republican voters four years ago stayed home this month. -- Jim Miller Support for the Obama/Biden ticket in this month's election pushed 90 percent in precincts in and around UC Riverside, semi-official results show. 
UC Riverside was a hotbed of Obama activism. Also, the region surrounding the campus has a high percentage of black and Latino residents. Exit polls showed that both groups strongly supported the Democrats nationwide. The UC Riverside-area vote for Democrats was several points higher than four years ago. About three-quarters of voters in the area backed Democratic candidate John Kerry. -- Jim Miller
Precincts in the hills west of Temecula really, really liked the McCain/Palin ticket, semi-official voting results show. 
More than three-quarters of the roughly 1,900 people who voted in those parts in this month's election preferred the Republican ticket over Democrat Barack Obama and his running mate, Joe Biden. No other precincts with turnout of at least 500 voters backed McCain/Palin by more than 75 percent. And, yes, those light blue areas mean that majorities of voters in at least some Temecula-area precincts wanted Obama in the White House.
Riverside, not Chicago, was the site of last week's presidential election victory speech in a satirical newscast that might find few fans among Inland election officials and other defenders of touchscreen voting. In a "War for the White House" segment on the "Onion News Network," an electronic voting machine pulls off the "political upset of the century" and defeats Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama to take the White House. The machine, it's noted, received 100 percent of the votes in precincts with electronic voting but none in precincts that used paper ballots. "I think the people who have used electronic voting machines before are just more comfortable with the idea of having one as their president," said Arnold Renfro, a "War for the White House" senior election analyst. But things begin to go awry soon after the newcast goes "live to Riverside, Calif." and the Sequoia Voting Systems DRE 700 begins its victory "speech."
The report gets the details right. Riverside County, of course, debuted touch-screen voting in California in 2000. It used machines by Sequoia Voting Systems, although not the fictional DRE 700. "Used" is the operative word here. Secretary of State Debra Bowen ordered a return to paper ballots last summer, angering Inland election officials and others around the state. Bowen was concerned that the machines were vulnerable to hacking and other mischief, not necessarily that one could become leader of the Free World. -- Jim Miller Registrars of voters in Riverside and San Bernardino counties have released semi-official precinct results that reveal the extent to which Democrat Barack Obama bucked the region's Republican tendencies. The story, with vote map, is here. Not only did Obama poll better in those parts of the region that historically favor Democratic candidates, he also posted gains in places where majorities of voters backed President Bush's re-election in 2004. Officials still are counting thousands of mail-in and provisional ballots. There's the chance that Republican John McCain could narrow Obama's lead as those votes are processed.
Gov. Schwarzenegger ordered lawmakers into special session minutes ago, pegging the state's revenue shortall at $11.2 billion through June and proposing billions in spending cuts and higher taxes. He called for a 1.5 percent increase in the sales tax and $4.5 billion in reductions. "We cannot wait any longer or our problems will get worse," he said. -- Jim Miller Supporters of a ballot initiative that would set standards for confining farm animals said Tuesday's strong support for the measure bodes well for similar campaigns elsewhere. Prop. 2 passed with more than 62 percent of the vote. "Prop. 2 will improve the lives of 20 million farm animals," Jennifer Fearing, Campaign Manager for the YES! on Prop 2 campaign, said in a statement this morning. "The people of California acted with compassion and decency and will help propel our fight here and across the country to protect farm animals from unacceptable cruelty." In a statement last night, opponents of the measure said proponents ran a deceptive campaign. "The special interest group that pushed Prop 2 will now go back to Washington, and leave it to California's farmers, veterinarians, regulators and lawyers to interpret what this poorly-conceived and vaguely-worded initiative actually means for the real people it affects," Californians for Safe Food said in a statement. —Jim Miller
Opponents of a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriages held out hope this morning that the election would turn their way. Prop. 8, supporters, though, have declared victory. Prop. 8 was leading with 52.2 percent of the vote, with almost all precincts reporting, according to the secretary of state's office. But in a statement shortly after 10 a.m., leaders of the No on 8 executive committee said: "Roughly 400,000 votes separate yes from no on Prop 8 - out of 10 million votes tallied. "Based on turnout estimates reported yesterday, we expect that there are more than 3 million and possibly as many as 4 million absentee and provisional ballots yet to be counted. "Given that fundamental rights are at stake, we must wait to hear from the Secretary of State tomorrow about how many votes are yet to be counted as well as where they are from. "It is clearly a very close election and we monitored the results all evening and this morning. "As of this point, the election is too close to call. "Because Prop 8 involves the sensitive matter of individual rights, we believe it is important to wait until we receive further information about the outcome." —Jim Miller In very early results Tuesday, Democrats were leading in a few contested legislative races that could change the balance of power in the Assembly and state Senate. As of 9 p.m., there were no results for the Inland region's 80th Assembly District, Democrat Manuel Perez of Coachella is running against Republican Gary Jeandron of Palm Springs. The district, currently held by Republican Bonnie Garcia, includes part of Riverside County and all of Imperial County. In other legislative battlegrounds (with current party): (Republican-held) 10th Assembly District: Republican Jack Sieglock of Lodi was leading Democrat Alyson Huber of El Dorado Hills. The district covers parts of four Sacramento-area counties. (Republican-held) 15th Assembly District: Republican Abram Wilson of San Ramon held a narrow lead over Democrat Joan Buchanan of Alamo. The district stretches from the eastern San Francisco Bay Area to the Sacramento suburbs. (Republican-held) 26th Assembly District: Republican Bill Berryhill of Ceres narrowly led Democrat John Eisenhut of Turlock. The district covers parts of Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties. (Democrat-held) 30th Assembly District: Democrat Fran Florez of Shafter was leading Republican Danny Gilmore of Hanford. The seat includes part of the southern San Joaqin Valley. 37th Assembly District: Republican Audra Strickland of Moorpark was leading Ferial Masry of Reseda. The district covers part of Ventura County. 78th Assembly District: Democrat Marty Block of San Diego was leading Republican John McCann of Chula Vista. The district covers part of inland San Diego County. 19th Senate District: Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson of Santa Barbara was leading Republican Tony Strickland of Moorpark. The district covers most of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. —Jim Miller Gov. Schwarzenegger has voted, his campaign has announced. No surprises there. He endorsed Republican John McCain for president. The governor also is trying to push through Prop. 11, which would put an independent commission in charge of crafting legislative and Board of Equalization districts.  Based on his statements before the election, the governor voted against Prop. 2, which would change standards for housing farm animals, and Prop. 8, which would prohibit same-sex marriage. —Jim Miller How will Riverside and San Bernardino counties vote for president? With more than 1-1/2 hours until polls close, that's a big unknown. Four years ago, of course, the region strongly supported the re-election of President Bush. The following map gives the breakdown. 
In red places, a majority of voters supported Bush. In blue areas, a majority of voters wanted Democrat John Kerry in the White House. —Jim Miller Spending by outside groups has flooded the 80th Assembly District, with the main beneficiary so far being Democrat Manuel Perez of Coachella. Since Oct. 1, public-employees unions, the California Medical Association, and a coalition of several casino-operating tribes have dropped $1.1 million on mailers, radio ads, and other political goodies in support of Perez or in opposition to his Republican opponent, Gary Jeandron of Palm Springs. Since Friday, a committee heavily funded by the state dentists association and real-estate industry had spent more than $172,000 on Jeandron's behalf. The statewide correctional officers union has kicked in another $7,000 for pro-Jeandron door-hangers. The district includes part of Riverside County and all of Imperial County. —Jim Miller
The Riverside County GOP has become a switching yard in recent days for political money destined for battleground districts on the coast and in the Central Valley. The county party had $160,000 in the bank as of Oct. 18. In recent days, it has received big-dollar contributions from GOP lawmakers, industry and other donors. On the other side of the ledger, the county party Tuesday reported giving a total of $65,000 to the Republican candidates in San Diego County's 78th Assembly District, the Central Valley's 30th Assembly District, and the 19th Senate District, which includes most of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. The machinations, which are nothing new, are a legacy of Prop. 34, the November 2000 initiative that imposed contribution limits on candidates. Much more money now passes through county political parties. —Jim Miller
Federal campaign reports filed this month show that the media-buying firm owned by state Sen. Jim Battin, R-La Quinta, has done $275,000 worth of business in the hotly contested race for a San Diego County congressional seat. Battin's company, Voters Strategies, bought ad time in September for the campaign of Rep. Brian P. Billbray, R-Carslbad. Billbray is running for re-election against Democrat Nick Leibham in the 50th Congressional District. Solidly Republican on paper, the 50th has been a GOP money pit since its former occupant, Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, resigned in disgrace after pleading guilty to accepting bribes and tax evasion in early 2006. National Democrats once again have targeted the race. Through Oct. 15, Bilbray had raised $1.26 million and had about $345,000 on hand. Leibham had raised $1.05 million and had about $99,000 cash on hand. Term limits will bring an end to Battin's 14-year legislative career next month. —Jim Miller Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, is holding a $1,000-a-ticket lunchtime fundraiser at an upscale restaurant and bar in Sacramento today. Jeffries, who is running for a second two-year term in the 66th Assembly District, reported about $80,000 cash on hand at the close of the last campaign-finance filing period Sept. 30. His Democratic opponent, Temecula businessman Grey Frandsen, reported $16,000. Some of the money Jeffries raises today likely will go to assist GOP candidates in more competitive races. —Jim Miller A campaign committee linked financially to an Inland developer paid for almost $13,000 worth of mailers opposing three candidates for the Valley Health System's board of directors, state finance records filed over the weekend show. The Valley Health System includes operations in Moreno Valley, Hemet, and Sun City. The payments by the Upland-based Campaign Against Corruption committee target Charles Bolton, Clyde B. Osborn, and Don Kritzer. All but Bolton are challenging board incumbents. Records show that the committee's main source of money is the Neighborhood Preservation Coalition political-action committee. The Colonies Partners, a Rancho Cucamonga-based developer has contributed $62,000 to the coalition since August, its biggest source of funding . —Jim Miller Inland ballots for next month's election will feature several Assembly races: some hotly competitive, others less so, and a few non-events because there is no opponent. That story and information on the candidates is here. Also, check out today's Political Notebook for news on coffee campaigns, bill tallies, and a GOP volunteer's Palin pick-me-up. —Jim Miller
Riverside and San Bernardino counties are chockablock with political fundraisers over the next few days. Tonight, the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee hosts a Rancho Cucamonga dinner featuring GOP political guru Karl Rove. Ticket prices range from $150 to $5,000. Saturday, Rove will be headed to the desert for a dinner speech at the California Republican Party's three-day conference and golf tournament in Indian Wells. Donor packages run from $15,000 to $50,000. Over in San Jacinto, supporters of Assemblyman John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, will gather at Rancho de Milagro to watch a horse show and raise money for Benoit's Senate campaign. Not to be left out, the San Bernardino County Democratic Central Committee will host a "Turning San Bernardino County Blue" barbecue that same evening in Rialto. Tickets start at $40 and go to $700 for "true blue sponsors." And on Tuesday, developer Ali Sahabi will host a $1,000-per-person golf fundraiser at the Dos Lagos Golf Course in Corona for Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto. —Jim Miller Today marks the beginning of vote-by-mail balloting for the Nov. 4 election. It means campaigns, or at least the well-organized ones, will drop a bunch of mail pieces in the coming days to coincide with absentee voters' deliberations. (Note to vote-by-mailers: Get your ballots in early. Dropping them off at the polls on Election Night slows the tally.) In June, 58.7 percent of voters cast ballots by mail. It shouldn't be that high next month because of the predicted huge turnout. In June, only 22 percent of voters participated. The last day to request a vote-by-mail ballot is Oct. 28. To get one, Riverside County voters should go here and San Bernardino County voters should go here. —Jim Miller
A Republican-linked polling company has a new survey showing Republican Gary Jeandron of Palm Springs ahead in the race for the hotly contested 80th Assembly District. The Chariot Research poll shows Jeandron with a 6.34 percentage lead among voters with "strong" and "somewhat" support for either Jeandron or Democrat Manuel Perez of Coachella. The margin is much narrower, though, when respondents are asked their general party preferences for the Assembly election. In that, "strong" or "somewhat" support for a Republican candidate is only a sliver more than the Democrat. Here's the link to the Power Point presentation. Hat tip to Jon Fleischman at the FlashReport for reporting this. A little history: James Fisfis, the principal at Chariot Research, worked for the Assembly GOP during the last redistricting in 2001 - when the current 80th took shape. -- Jim Miller The latest voter-registration figures show that less than a third of Palm Desert voters are registered Democrats. But that won't put a damper on the party high-rollers showing up this afternoon for the "Steinberg Golf Classic" at Bighorn, a private club. The event, named after incoming Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, is a fundraiser for the California Democratic Party. Hosts pay $30,200, sponsors $15,100, friends $7,500, and supporters $5,000. -- Jim Miller
Democrats have dropped another $210,000 into Manuel Perez's campaign for the 80th Assembly District, which includes part of central Riverside County. The donation brings to nearly $1.4 million what Perez' campaign has collected since June 30. -- Jim Miller Democrats have begun running a new TV ad in the 80th Assembly District attacking Republican candidate Gary Jeandron. The ad accuses Jeandron, of Palm Springs, of taking Democrat Manuel Perez's statements out of context and other assorted wrongdoings. "Jeandron's negative campaign comes straight from his party's playbook," the ad says. The ad highlights the fact that Perez is a Democrat and Jeandron is a Republican, something campaigns don't always emphasize. Democrats think their brand is the stronger one these days. -- Jim Miller
Saturday Night Live and its depictions of the various White House contenders have been making a big splash lately. Some of the show's past stars also are showing up behind the scenes in California politics this fall. An SNL alum turned up the other day in campaign-finance reports for a different race: Prop. 2. The California initiative on the Nov. 4 ballot eventually would prohibit the use of battery cages that restrict the movement of egg-laying hens. Actress Victoria Jackson, who once vouched for the benefits of "Handi-Off" during an SNL TV commercial, gave $3,600 to initiative proponents. "Handi-Off" was a faux product that, applied topically, allowed its users to get rid of extraneous fingers. No chickens were harmed. —Jim Miller Gov. Schwarzenegger has signed two Inland lawmakers' bills to put memorials in scenic Capitol Park. AB 2171, by Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, creates a Purple Heart Memorial in the park, which surrounds the state Capitol. AB 2043 by Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, creates a memorial to Californians who have been victims of crime. But don't expect the memorials to appear in the next month or even the next year. Supporters have to raise money to build the memorials. Also, there has been an unofficial moratorium on new memorials in the park pending the completion of a park master plan. When will that be? Well, it hasn't started yet because of a lack of money. -- Jim Miller Plowing through a mountain of legislation, Gov. Schwarzenegger acted on some bills with Inland connections over the weekend. Among them: Signed AB 1954. The bill by Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, will let the Riverside County Transportation Commission build high-occupancy toll lanes on I-15, from the San Bernardino County line to Highway 74 In an accompanying message, Schwarzenegger said he signed the bill "with the intent" that the transportation commission and Caltrans will include the CHP in the design and operation of the I-15 toll lanes. Signed SB 187. The bill by state Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny, D-San Diego, will allocate $47 million in voter-approved bond money as part of a plan to restore the ailing Salton Sea. Vetoed AB 1852. Inspired by the case of an Inland grandmother busted for running a Super Bowl betting pool, the Jeffries bill would have de-criminalized non-commercial sports betting pools. Schwarzenegger's veto message didn't mention March Madness brackets. Instead, the governor wrote, "The historic delay in passing the 2008-2009 State Budget has forced me to prioritize the bills sent to my desk at the end of the year's legislative session. Given the delay, I am only signing bills that are the highest priority for California. This bill does not meet that standard and I cannot sign it at this time." That statement has accompanied many vetoes in the last few days. To whit: AB 2968 by Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter, D-Rialto, would have enacted the Donda West Law. Named for a relative of performer and producer Kanye West, the bill would have required a physical examination before a person could get elective cosmetic surgery. Schwarzenegger has signed 565 bills and vetoed 278 so far. He has 341 bills left to consider before Tuesday's deadline. -- Jim Miller
Where have all the eligible voters gone? 16,000 missing, every one. With apologies to Pete Seger, the latest state voter registration numbers show a big drop in the estimated number of people deemed eligible to vote in Riverside County. In May, the county had an estimated 1,282,198 people eligible to vote - those at least 18 years old, citizens, and not in prison or on parole. By Sept. 5, that number had dropped to 1,265,872 - a fall of 16,326, roughly the population of Rancho Mirage. The drop is almost five times greater than the next-highest county. County election offices occasionally "purge" voter lists of people who have died, moved away, etc. It's unusual, though, to see significant changes in eligible voter estimates. Could the region's battered economy be responsible? Maybe. But the number of eligible voters in neighboring San Bernardino County, which has many of the same economic issues, grew this summer, from 1,219,811 to 1,221,791, according to the state report. Also, the number of Riverside County residents registered to vote increased from 763,923 to 774,984 during that time - a net increase of more than 11,000 new voters, a 1.45 percent gain and the fourth-highest in the state. In any event, the drop in the number of people eligible to vote has helped improve the county's historically low rate of civic participation. About 61 percent of people eligible to vote are now registered to vote in Riverside County, up from about 57.5 percent in February. San Bernardino County's rate is 63.1 percent, up from 59.6 percent in February. The state average is 70 percent. -- Jim Miller Opponents of a constitutional amendment on the November ballot to prohibit same-sex marriages have launched their first TV ad. The commercial features a San Francisco couple urging people to vote against the measure. They have two straight children and one gay child, they said. "My wife and I never treated our children differently, we never loved them any differently, and the law shouldn't treat them differently either," said Samuel Thoron, who appears with his wife, Julia, in the ad. -- Jim Miller Gov. Schwarzenegger will veto the budget lawmakers approved earlier today, the governor just announced. The spending plan fails to address the state's budget dysfunction, he said. The budget already is 11 weeks past the start of the fiscal year, a record. Leaders of the Legislature's majority Democrats said lawmakers will return to Sacramento to consider overriding the governor's veto. -- Jim Miller It's finally over — or is it? Lawmakers passed a 2008-09 budget this morning, ending the state's record-setting impasse. The $104.3 billion plan has almost no fans, though. Interest groups and other budget observers blast the package as filled with one-time gimmicks that do nothing to solve the state's long-term fiscal problems. Gov. Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, said he may block the budget because it lacks an adequate rainy-day reserve, something he has insisted upon since January. Lawmakers, though, could override the veto. In the coming days, administration officials and others will be reading the fine print in the budget bills and several hastily written trailer measures that sometimes change law in ways only tangentially related to state spending and revenue. At least one trailer bill won't be showing up on Schwarzenegger's desk. Early this morning, Senate Democrats blocked legislation pushed by some Inland lawmakers to grant emission credits to a proposed power plant near Palm Springs. —Jim Miller Republican presidential candidate John McCain, in a speech about 30 minutes in, has accepted his party's nomination. He took the stage to raucous applause and chants of "USA, USA." 
Republican nominee John McCain takes the stage to rapturous applause
"Let there be no doubt my friends, we're going to win this election!" he told the crowd. Guards have removed at least one protester. 
A female protester, center, is forced to leave after disrupting McCain's speech.
—Jim Miller Delegates to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul rocked to "Johnny B. Goode" and "Celebration" this evening as they waited to hear from presidential nominee John McCain. Cindy McCain, the candidate's wife, warmed up the crowd beforehand. "Americans who want straight talk and plain truth should take a good strong look at John McCain," Cindy McCain said after introducing the couple's children. 
The RNC crowd cheers as Cindy McCain speaks Thursday evening.
John McCain is scheduled to speak within minutes. —Jim Miller
Last week in Denver, Democrats talked up their efforts to target and register young people to vote Nov. 4. Here's the story. This week at the Republican National Convention in the Twin Cities, pollster Frank Luntz said the youth vote this fall would be overwhelmingly Democratic. "I have to tell you something: The 18-to-24 (year old) vote is going to be worse for the GOP than it ever has been," Luntz told California delegates during a "Bloody Mary" brunch on Tuesday. "That's why we have to organize. I'm going to tell you where the swing voters are: 40 to 59 years old. Middle age, middle income, a mid-America mentality, slightly more women than men," said Luntz, a GOP pollster and Fox News commentator. —Jim Miller Republicans attending Tuesday night's post-convention "Island Fever" reception at Nicollet Island Pavilion in Minneapolis didn't go home empty-handed. They could take any of the cinematic masterpieces starring the event's main sponsor, Gov. Schwarzenegger. Most popular with the crowd seemed to be entries in the "Terminator" franchise. Less so, "Twins" and "Around the World in 80 Days." 
Schwarzenegger, who has jokingly referred to his failure to to win an Academy Award, didn't make it to his own party or any of this week's events for the Republican National Convention. He stayed back in California because of the state's lack of a budget more than nine weeks into the new fiscal year. —Jim Miller
There's still no state budget, but GOP legislators have begun trickling into the Twin Cities for the Republican National Convention. Orange County Assemblyman Van Tran has been here since the weekend. This afternoon, state Sen. Dick Ackerman, R-Irvine, and Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, arrived. Earlier this month, Gov. Schwarzenegger said he thought lawmakers should stay in Sacramento until they passed a budget, now more than two months late. Several Democratic lawmakers were in Denver last week for parts of that party's gathering. Garcia, a delegate, said she can be back in the capital within three hours if legislative leaders reach a deal. "Whether I'm at the convention, on vacation, or taking the kids to school, I have no reason to be in Sacramento unless there's a budget to vote on," Garcia said in the lobby of the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel, where the California delegation is staying. —Jim Miller Former California Gov. Pete Wilson slammed Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama today during a brunch of delegates to the GOP's Minnesota convention. "The audacity he's offering us, frankly, is socialism," Wilson, a one-time presidential aspirant himself, told several hundred cheering delegates, alternates, and guests gathered in a hotel ballroom near the Twin Cities. Obama, of course, penned a book called the Audacity of Hope. The importance of defeating Obama in November, Wilson added, rivals that of defeating Democrat Jimmy Carter's re-election bid in 1980s. —Jim Miller A hurricane wasn't part of Don Genhart's agenda when he signed up to be an alternate delegate to this week's Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Genhart, of Palm Desert, said Sunday that the campaign of presidential candidate John McCain was correct to reduce Monday's convention schedule and leave open the possibility of scaling back events the rest of the week. Still, he said, "It's kind of put a damper on things." Monday's schedule truncation means delegates won't hear from President Buch, Vice President Cheney, First Lady Laura Bush and other speakers. Richard Brimhall, an alternate delegate from Crestline, said, "Personally, I'm disappointed, but I totally back him 100 percent. We can't fool with Mother Nature." Added Trung Nguyen of Garden Grove, "As a party, we should be concerned with more than just the partisan." California delegates later attended a reception for Republican delegates at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The "Civic Fest" event featured political and historical memorabilia, including a replica of an Air Force One fuselage and the C-SPAN Campaign 2008 bus. 
The monitor on the C-SPAN Campaign 2008 bus replayed parts of Democrat Barack Obama's nomination acceptance speech at Sunday's GOP delegate event.
—Jim Miller Well, it's over. After four days and many hours of political oratory, thousands of Democratic delegates are heading to the Denver airport today to return home after Thursday's final speech by Barack Obama. Today's Press-Enterprise has coverage of Obama's history-making convention address. The story is here. We also visited Perris Hill Park in San Bernardino. Read that story here. —Jim Miller Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama walked onto the stage Wednesday in a suprise showing that sent delegates into delerium. "I think the convention's going pretty well so far, don't you think?" Obama asked the crowd after joining Vice Presidential nominee Joe Biden moments after the Delaware senator finished his primetime address. Obama delivers his acceptance speech tomorrow night in a much bigger venue -- Invesco Field. —Jim Miller Former President Bill Clinton took the stage to a crowd so electrified tonight at the Democratic National Convention that they refused to yield long enough to allow him to speak for over two minutes. Clinton's job: warm up the crowd for Barack Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden. And what could be warmer than Bill's southern twang? "Ahh loooovvve Joe Biden," Clinton said, sparking another 30-second ovation. For weeks, much has been reported about Clinton's anger at how he felt his wife had been mistreated by the media and the Obama campaign. But there was little sign of that in tonight's speech. Last night, Hillary Rodham Clinton gave her own rousing call for Obama's candidacy. "Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she'll do everything she can to elect Barack Obama. "That makes two of us." —Ben Goad —Jim Miller Delegate devotion to Hillary Clinton is making today a difficult day for some Democrats as they finally cast their nominating ballots. It's not been an easy process, although Clinton this afternoon released her delegates and said they're free to vote for Barack Obama. —Jim Miller Increasingly sleep-deprived California delegates to this week's Democratic convention got a breakfast wakeup Wednesday from three party bigwigs. U.S. senators Barbara Boxer, Claire McCaskill, and John Kerry, the party's 2004 presidential nominee, tried to rally the delegates to work to send Barack Obama to the White House. "I don't know about you, but I think George Bush is a mess, just a mess," said McCaskill, D-Missouri, who narrowly defeated a Republican incumbent in 2006 as Democrats seized control of the Senate. Kerry joked about how the presidential candidates are revealing their vice-presidential picks. Obama disclosed his choice on the Internet. "John McCain is going to announce his through the Pony Express," Kerry said. McCain turns 72 on Friday. Kerry also took a shot at the man who beat him in 2004. "There is no doubt we are less safe today than before George Bush became president of the U.S.," he said. -- Jim Miller Hillary Rodham Clinton's speech didn't just draw a crowd in the packed seats of Denver's Pepsi Center. Many people gathered around big-screen TV's along the arena's concourse. There was a slight delay between when Clinton spoke at the podium of the Democratic National Convention and her television image. Her applause lines often got swallowed up in the roar from the jammed arena. 
-- Jim Miller Media access to the Democratic National Convention in Denver became much tighter this afternoon. Yesterday's entrances into the Pepsi Center security zone were closed to the media today. Instead, photographers, reporters and other media types had to walk halfway around the arena to a special gate and wait in a long line. 
There was no clear explanation for the change in media entrances. Depending on who was talking, the media entrance rules changed on orders of the Democratic National Committee or the U.S. Secret Service. The Republicans were not implicated. -- Jim Miller California Lieutenant Gov. John Garamendi traces his career in public service to when he joined the Peace Corps, a program created by President John F. Kennedy. On Monday, Garamendi said he barely held it together when the late president's ailing brother, U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., suddenly appeared on stage and gave an impassioned speech to the Democratic National Convention. Ted Kennedy is being treated for brain cancer. "To see him reach deep down into his inner strength, it was very emotional," Garamendi said afterward. Garamendi served in the Peace Corps with his wife, Patti, from 1966 to 1968. -- Jim Miller California's weeks-long budget fight came to Denver this morning, and Gov. Schwarzenegger was not the protagonist. State delegates to the Democrats' national convention gave Controller John Chiang a standing ovation during today's delegation breakfast after he was introduced as the man who refused to carry out Schwarzenegger's order to reduce state workers' pay to the federal minimum wage until lawmakers approved a budget. "We will not allow the governor to balance the budget on the backs of workers," Rep. Mike Honda, D-San Jose, said in praising Chiang. Schwarzenegger is a Republican, in case you're wondering. Even with a budget almost two months late, some Democratic legislators were in Denver to attend at least some of the convention. Seen around the ranch Sunday and Monday were Assembly members John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, and Lori Saldana, D-San Diego, and state senators Alex Padilla, D-Pacoima, and Dean Florez, D-Shafter. Buses full of delegates are inching their way to the Pepsi Center this afternoon for the first floor session of the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The hundreds of buses, from sleek touring buses to the kind that usually ply city streets, have worsened Denver's already terrible traffic. Security is intense around the convention site. Police officers are on each delegate bus. Cars are being searched. And people, just like at airports, have to dump out their water bottles before going inside. People have to pass through metal detectors. Guards are making everyone turn on anything electronic, from laptops to cameras. -- Jim Miller Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean told American Indians attending the party's Denver convention this morning that Republican John McCain would treat them with disrespect if he wins the White House. Speaking to more than 200 delegates, tribal leaders and other party activists gathered at the First Americans caucus, Dean said Democrat Barack Obama would be far more receptive to their concerns. "There's going to be a big difference between a John McCain presidency and a Barack Obama presidency for Indian country," Dean said. 
Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean speaks Monday morning to the First Americans caucus.
Inland tribal leaders - Mark Macarro of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians near Temecula and Robert Martin of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians near Banning - were among those at this morning's meeting. Some tribes, particularly in parts of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, operate successful casinos and are major donors to candidates and political causes in California and around the country. But in other states, such as Montana, South Dakota, and New Mexico, Indians are important sources of votes. Dean credited turnout by Indians with a Montana Democrat's Senate victory in 2006, ensuring the party's narrow control of the U.S. Senate. "In these battleground states, we're going to be the difference," Wizi Garriott, the Obama campaign's First Americans vote director, told the caucus. More Native American delegates than ever are attending the Denver convention. Dean called on them to get involved in the political process by running for office at all levels. — Jim Miller All right, all you gamers out there. Turn off your Wi's, your Playstations and X-Boxes and study up on Prop. 98, the NOL, and the triple flip. The office of State Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, has a new video game out that marries video games and the state budget. Phasers shoot out of Dutton's head at "taxes," "waste" and "bad biz." The goal, Dutton's office said, is to "communicate to the general public the complicated issues involved in the state budget process." Check out the game here: Fire away! — Jim Miller Thrills, lots of shiny things and not a small amount of illusion - a fitting way to kick off convention week in Denver. Saturday night's party at a local amusement park for the media hordes descending on the Mile High City featured everything from stomach-turning roller-coaster rides to a Cirque de Soleil-type performance that climaxed with a mist of soap suds falling on the audience. The festivities, hosted by local newspapers, ended with booming fireworks. Media types headed for the exits, some of them lugging suitcase-sized stuffed animals they had won. 
Jim Miller
An artist finishes a portrait of Barack Obama during a media welcoming party at a Denver amusement park.
Delegates from the Inland area and around the country began arriving Friday and Saturday. The lion's share, though, are expected to land today at Denver's futuristic airport a half-day's drive from downtown. Well, that's an exaggeration. But some locals joke that their airport is in western Kansas. Tonight, the California delegation holds its welcome party. And Monday, the convention officially starts. — Jim Miller For someone who last served in the Legislature nearly three decades ago, Walter Ingalls' name seems to come up regularly. Two years ago, the late lawmaker, a Riverside Democrat, was at the center of a campaign dustup between Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, and her Democratic opponent Steve Clute. Clute, who had served in the Assembly before, had carried a resolution seeking to rename part of Highway 91 after Ingalls, who died in 1991. But the effort stalled because of Ingalls' misdemeanor conviction for lewd conduct in the mid-1980s. In 2006, Garcia charged that Clute tried to honor a "predator." Now Ingalls' name has emerged as a historical precedent to Monday's ouster of Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, from her Capitol office. Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, booted Parra to the legislative office building across the street after Parra refused to vote for Democrats' budget Sunday. Ingalls was the last lawmaker to leave his Capitol office for outside digs. Unlike Parra, though, he made the move more or less voluntarily. In 1980, Ingalls was on the losing side of a speakership fight and soon found himself in the Capitol's smallest office. A colleague even gave him a miniature desk, chair, telephone and other tiny furnishings. Within months, Ingalls all but abandoned his Capitol cubbyhole and relocated to more spacious quarters in a privately owned building across the street. The move displaced the state auditor's office and Ingalls spent $35,000 to remodel and furnish the space. — Jim Miller Seeking a break from the tedium and tension of a budget standoff now in its eighth week, some lawmakers and lobbyists gathered at a Capitol-area ballfield last night for a charity softball game. But the contest took a scary turn when Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, sent a man to the hospital. While batting, Jeffries hit a hard ground ball that took a bad hop and struck the shortstop, Jason Bryant of the California Building Industry Association, just above the eye, according to an account of the game from lobbyist team captain Randy Pollack. Bryant had to get stitches, Pollack reported in today's Capitol Morning Report. The game was a fill-in for the annual legislative All-Star Game. Organizers canceled this year's contest because of the prolonged budget deadlock. Monday's match raised $5,000 for the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services. — Jim Miller Independent expenditures in political campaigns typically start showing up in the weeks before an election. But the union representing California State University faculty already is pumping money into the race for the Inland area's 80th Assembly District. The California Faculty Association is spending $64,250 on radio and TV ads opposing Republican candidate Gary Jeandron of Palm Springs. The union is spending $358,000 in other Assembly races around the state. We haven't seen the ad targeting Jeandron. In a statement, though, Jeandron complains that the ads unfairly link him to the budget impasse in Sacramento. "There is no truth at all to the ad," he said. "This is an outside special interest group playing politics with our kids." — Jim Miller No budget standoff is complete without speculation of which Republicans might break ranks and put up the votes to pass a spending plan. In the state Senate, the name of state Sen. Jim Battin, R-La Quinta, has emerged from the rumor mill. Battin has to leave office in December after 14 years in the Legislature. During that time, the Inland lawmaker has voted for only a handful of state budgets. Former legislative colleague Ray Haynes, himself a frequent budget nay-sayer, penned a toughly worded column in today's FlashReport on the Battin budget rumors. "Say it ain't so, Jim," Haynes writes. For his part, Battin told the Sacramento Bee that a budget with tax increases would be "something I'll never support." — Jim Miller Democratic congressional candidate Tim Prince will open a new campaign headquarters today. The 6 p.m. event will be the first of weekly open houses at the office, located at 104 State St. in Redlands. Prince is running against Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands. — Jim Miller
The Riverside County Democratic Central Committee called on authorities today to investigate recent Republican voter registrations in the Coachella Valley.
"Democratic registration is actually up all over Riverside County," party chairwoman Betty McMillon said in a statement. "These numbers cannot possibly be accurate in the Coachella Valley where the trend has been Democratic for some time."
Republicans have mounted a registration push in the desert as part of an effort to keep the region's 80th Assembly District in party hands. As of May 19, Democrats held nearly an 11-point registration advantage in the 80th, according to the Secretary of State's office.
The latest voter registration statistics in the area were not immediately available.
Riverside County Registrar Barbara Dunmore said her office began getting complaints about four weeks ago from voters about signature-gatherers in front of stores. She referred the matter to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office and the Secretary of State, she said.
— Jim Miller
jmiller@PE.com
Both candidates in the 80th Assembly District have opened campaign offices in preparation for what's predicted to be one of the top Assembly contests in the state. Now there will be a place to put all those empty pizza boxes and bottles of sunscreen in the weeks ahead. Republican Gary Jeandron's campaign announced the opening of a campaign headquarters at 81557 Dr. Carreon Blvd. in Indio. Democrat Manuel Perez announced opening campaign offices in Palm Springs and El Centro. The campaign already had an office in Coachella. The Coachella office is at 1030 6th St., Suite 16 and the Palm Springs office is at 1027 Palm Canyon Drive. Meanwhile, Perez and Jeandron reported fundraising totals last week through June 30. Perez ended the filing period with about $36,000 on hand. Jeandron ended the filing period with about $184,000 cash on hand. Jeandron, though, had no primary competition while Perez was in a four-way fight. And no matter how much money the candidates raise in the coming weeks, it will pale in comparison to what both parties ultimately spend on the race. — Jim Miller Democratic Assembly candidate Manuel Perez has a brand new ballot designation. Tuesday, Perez, of Coachella, filed papers asking to be listed as "educator/healthcare director" on the Nov. 4 ballot. For the June primary, Perez was listed on ballots as "school board member." Tuesday was the deadline to change ballot designations. Perez is a member of the Coachella Valley Unified School District. Since October 2006, he has been director of community health and advocacy for the Borrego Community Health Foundation, according to paperwork accompanying Perez' designation change request. Perez is running against former Republican Gary Jeandron, the former Palm Springs police chief. The 80th Assembly District race is expected to be among the most heated in the state. — Jim Miller The politics Web site Calitics had an item this morning that links to a Desert Sun article about rapprochement between former Democratic Assembly rivals Greg Pettis and Manuel Perez in the Coachella Valley's 80th Assembly District. The item reports speculation among some Democrats that there are additional possibilities for them to win Republican seats, "particularly in the Inland Empire region." Hmmm. We'll believe when we see it. Every Republican-held Inland Assembly district but the 80th is deemed "Safe Republican" by the California Target Book, which handicaps political races. In one of those seats, the 64th Assembly District, there isn't even a Democrat on the November ballot. — Jim Miller The San Bernardino County Democratic Central Committee has elected officers for the next two years. Carol Robb has been re-elected president and the new first vice-chairman is Mark Alvarez. Patrick Kahler was re-elected second vice-chairman. The third vice-chairman is Walter Hawkins. Valerie Lichtman was elected recording secretary, Ron Wall is corresponding secretary, Jeannie Lindberg is treasurer, Steve Chapman is sergeant-at-arms, Sam Clauder is finance chairman, and Michael Weilein is parliamentarian. These are heady days for the Democrats. They have whittled away at Republicans' registration advantage and, Democrats say, are within a month of turning the county Democratic. — Jim Miller San Bernardino County's largest employees' union may be having donor's remorse. Filed this morning, the latest campaign-finance report by the San Bernardino Public Employees Association's political action committee shows a $4,000 contribution to San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus on June 26. Postmus, of course, last week announced that he was taking a 10-week medical leave amid widespread scrutiny of his office's operations. He has declined to disclose his health problems. There are doubts about whether Postmus will return. The contribution was the largest payment by the union from May 18 through June 30, the period covered by today's filing. Not that there weren't signs that Postmus was hitting rough waters before the donation. San Bernardino County district attorney investigators served warrants on Postmus' office in April. There was widespread media coverage of alleged political activities by Postmus' top aides. — Jim Miller Gary Jeandron of Palm Springs, the Republican candidate for the 80th Assembly District, has been endorsed by the Cathedral City Professional Firefighters Association. — Jim Miller Teachers will be trained to recognize the warning signs of student suicide under an Inland lawmaker's legislation signed Friday by Gov. Schwarzenegger. The bill by state Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, passed the Legislature unanimously. The legislation, SB 1378, was named after Jason Flatt, a Tennessee teen who killed himself in 1997 at the age of 16. His death led to the creation of the Jason Foundation, which provides training tools to prevent youth suicide. The California measure would let school districts tap professional development block grants to provide up to two hours of suicide-prevention training. "It's my sincere hope other states will follow our lead in helping ensure teachers across the nation are trained to recognize the warning signs of youth suicide," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. -- Jim Miller, Jmiller@PE.com
Two of California's constitutional officers, speaking at opposite ends of the state, touted separate efforts Wednesday to bring accountability to the state's school system. In Van Nuys, Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell unveiled a new system meant to keep better track of dropouts. Every student now has a unique identifier, making it easier for school officials to follow students and, hopefully, reduce the dropout rate. Staff writers Shirin Parsavand and Michelle L. Klampe have that story. And in Sacramento, Gov. Schwarzenegger announced a new website that allows parents to compare statistics for public schools, including drop out rates, test scores, even AP courses offered. The site will help parents compare local schools side by side, Schwarzenegger said. "This increased transparency will keep schools on their toes," he said. — Jessica Shillings Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and other Assembly Democrats will host a Sacramento fundraiser in a few hours for Assembly candidate Manuel Perez. Perez, a Coachella school board member, wants to succeed Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, in the 80th Assembly District. The district covers part of the Coachella Valley and all of Imperial County. Former Palm Springs police chief Gary Jeandron is the Republican candidate in the race. Both parties are expected to spend big on the 80th contest. To that end, tickets to today's 5 p.m. fundraiser are $1,500 a head. A party of three will get in the door for $3,600. — Jim Miller Riverside and San Bernardino counties ranked dead last in the June 3 election in participation by people eligible to vote, according to new numbers from the Secretary of State's office. Only 12.71 percent of the estimated 1.22 million San Bernardino County residents eligible to vote participated last month. The number was slightly higher in Riverside County, where about 14 percent of 1.28 million people eligible people cast ballots. The statewide average was 19.75 percent. Both counties also were near the bottom in turnout among registered voters. About 20 percent of voters in San Bernardino County and less than 24 percent of Riverside County voters cast ballots. The statewide average was 28.2 percent. — Jim Miller State Sen. Jim Battin, R-La Quinta, can't run for re-election but campaign committees controlled by the senator received hefty checks Thursday. The San Joaquin County Republican Central Committee gave $27,000 to a Battin committee targeted at a possible 2010 campaign for lieutenant governor. In addition, Battin's legal-defense fund reported a $5,000 contribution from the California Credit Union League. Battin campaign spokeswoman Kimberly Glassman said the $5,000 will go toward settling the senator's legal fees from a state Fair Political Practice Commission's investigation two years ago for alleged campaign-finance violations. The episode set Battin back about $80,000 in legal bills, Glassman said. He ultimately was cleared of all wrongdoing. The San Joaquin County GOP money, meanwhile, is the latest central committee contribution to Battin. He has received more than $133,000 from central committees in recent months, including $70,000 from the Riverside County GOP. Glassman said Battin has not decided whether he will run for lieutenant governor. The donations reflect GOP activists' appreciation for Battin, she said. "They don't want him to leave," she said. — Jim Miller
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
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 Some mail ballots still are being counted from Tuesday's election. Once again, though, it looks like Riverside and San Bernardino counties will have some of the worst voter participation rates in the state. San Bernardino County's turnout was a brutal 16.5 percent. Riverside County's turnout stood at 18 percent Friday. The only county with more anemic turnout is Los Angeles, where turnout was 16.3 percent as of today. Statewide turnout for Tuesday's election stood at 22.4 percent. Anemic voter participation is not a new thing in the Inland area. In 28 statewide elections since 1986, turnout in Riverside County matched or exceeded the state turnout only five times. San Bernardino County's turnout never has exceeded the state rate. — Jim Miller Casino-operating tribes are on different sides of the Republican primary fight in the 37th Senate District. Earlier this month, two Inland tribes contributed almost $100,000 between them to an independent-expenditure committee trying to put former assemblyman Russ Bogh of Beaumont into the Senate. Wednesday afternoon, a group of different tribes reported $22,500 in independent spending for mailers to promote the candidacy of Bogh's opponent, Assemblyman John J. Benoit of Bermuda Dunes. The California Tribal Business Alliance put up the pro-Benoit money. The payment is sure to raise some eyebrows because two members of the alliance - the Pala Band of Mission Indians in northern San Diego County and the United Auburn Indian Community outside Sacramento - spent tens of millions of dollars trying to get voters to overturn four tribes' gambling-expansion deals earlier this year. Benoit, Bogh and most lawmakers supported those agreements. The six-member tribal business alliance as a whole was neutral. Which begs the question - why would the group care who wins the GOP primary in the 37th race? — Jim Miller
U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts, will be in the Coachella Valley today to headline a fundraiser for Greg Pettis of Cathedral City, a candidate in the Democratic primary for the desert's 80th Assembly District. Ticket prices range from $100 to $1,000. — Jim Miller
Campaign-finance reports filed this afternoon show that both major candidates for the Republican nomination in Riverside County's 37th Senate District are spending money as fast as it comes in. Assemblyman John J. Benoit of Bermuda Dunes and former Assemblyman Russ Bogh of Beaumont enter the final weeks before the June 3 election with similar amounts of cash on hand -- Benoit reported $204,000 and Bogh reported $173,000. The filing period was from March 18 through last Saturday. Benoit raised significantly more money than Bogh during that time, $228,000 to $117,000. Bogh, meanwhile, outspent Benoit, $434,000 to $365,000, during the reporting period, the reports show. — Jim Miller Former Assemblyman and current Senate candidate Russ Bogh is no fan of last week's ruling by the California Supreme Court that would legalize same-sex marriage in the state. This week, his state Senate campaign issued a statement voicing support for a proposed ballot initiative that would change the constitution and overrule the ruling. "I am therefore offering my campaign headquarters as the official Defense of Marriage headquarters for Corona and Norco in our effort to collect the necessary signatures before the June 26 deadline in order to qualify for the November ballot," the statement said. But there's a problem with that plan. Proponents of the California Marriage Protection Act already turned in their petitions — 1.12 million voter signatures' worth of them — last month. "We're currently waiting for them to be validated," said Everett Rice, legislative coordinator for the California Family Council, one of the groups pushing the initiative. He didn't know if the group had heard from the Bogh campaign. — Jim Miller The Riverside County Registrar of Voters office is reminding voters that some vote-by-mail ballots for the June 3 election weigh more than one ounce and need 59 cents postage to return. With more people than ever voting by mail, more ballots are showing up in election offices with insufficient postage or no stamp at all. Ballots must be received by the close of Election Day and will not be counted if they arrive later, regardless of the postmark. People can drop off their ballots at election offices or at polling places on Election Day. Doing the latter, though, will delay the processing of results.
Independent expenditure groups through Friday had spent more than $300,000 in the Republican primary fight for Riverside County's 37th Senate District. According to figures compiled by the state Fair Political Practices Commission, interests ranging from firefighters to dentists have dropped $339,000 on mailers, radio and TV ads, and consultants so far. Assemblyman John J. Benoit of Bermuda Dunes and former Assemblyman Russ Bogh are vying for the seat to be vacated this year by Jim Battin, R-La Quinta, who has to leave office because of term limits. About two-thirds of the independent spending has been in support of Bogh, while one-third has been in support of Benoit or opposed to Bogh. In other Inland races, there has been $212,000 worth of independent expenditures in the Democratic primary for the 80th Assembly District, $53,000 in the Republican primary for the 71st Assembly District, and $30,000 in the Republican primary for the 64th Assembly District.
Inland candidates kept up the quest for campaign cash the second half of last week. Rick Gutierrez of El Centro hosted a meet-and-greet wine tasting at a Capitol-area restaurant last Thursday. Ticket prices ranged from $500 to $3,600. Gutierrez is running in the Democratic primary for the 80th Assembly District, which includes part of the Coachella Valley. Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter, D-Rialto, hosted a dessert reception at the headquarters of the state Chamber of Commerce. Ticket prices ranged from $1,000 ("Texas Brownie") to $3,600 ("Creme Brulee") Carter is running in the Democratic primary for San Bernardino County's 62nd Assembly District.
Candidates for Inland-area legislative seats announced these recent endorsements: Russ Bogh of Beaumont reports that he has been endorsed by the California State Firefighters' Association in the Republican primary for the 37th Senate District. Brian Nestande of Palm Desert reports that he has been endorsed by two former governors -- Pete Wilson and George Deukmejian -- in the Republican primary for the 64th Assembly District. Jeff Miller of Corona reports that he has been endorsed by Costa Mesa Mayor Pro Tem Allan Mansoor and Gail Knight, the widow of former Palmdale lawmaker Pete Knight, in the Republican primary for the 71st Assembly District.
The group Women United will host a mixer Friday for people to get to know "progressive" candidates for Inland legislative and congressional seats on the June 3 ballot. Participating in the event will be candidates or their representatives for the 41st Congressional District, the 31st State Senate District, the 63rd Assembly District, and the San Bernardino County Democratic Central Committee. Candidates will give remarks and then take questions. The event runs from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Redlands Country Club, 1700 Garden St. in Redlands. RSVP to Claudia Brunick at 793-1482, ClaudiaAB@aol.com, or Ann Skoog at 798-7380, adsredarrow@aol.com. It's a country club, so leave the denim and T-shirts at home.
The California Dental Association reported Monday spending almost $47,000 to pay for polling and mailers in support of Assemblyman John J. Benoit, the largest independent expenditure on his behalf so far. Until yesterday, most of the independent expenditure activity in the Republican primary for Riverside County's 37th Senate District had backed the candidacy of Benoit's opponent, former assemblyman Russ Bogh. Pro-Bogh independent expenditures largely have been funded by public-safety labor groups who differed with Benoit on various issues over the years. But it's unclear what might be motivating the dentists to side with Benoit. The region's dentist in the Legislature, Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands, has endorsed Bogh. Elsewhere, the Opportunity Political Action Committee, funded by various labor unions, has spent $22,000 for a mailer criticizing Cathedral City Councilman Greg Pettis, a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 80th Assembly District. And in San Bernardino County's 62nd Assembly District, real estate agents have come in with $13,000 worth of mail for Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter, D-Rialto.
Neil Blais of Rancho Santa Margarita reports that he has been endorsed by the California Small Business Association in the Republican primary for the 64th Assembly District. Blais is running against Jeff Miller of Corona.
Gov. Schwarzenegger will hitch up the wagon next week for a $300-a-person Riverside dinner to raise money for his main campaign committee. Billed as a "western-style family barbecue," the May 20 event will be hosted by members of the Tavaglione family: Louie Tavaglione; Joe Tavaglione, a member of the California Transportation Commission; and Riverside County Supervisor John Tavaglione. People ponying up $2,500, $5,000 or $10,000 earn host-committee status. They get a table of 10 and public recognition. The Tavagliones hosted a similar barbecue for the governor in July 2006. That year, the goal was to round up campaign cash for Schwarzenegger's re-election drive. This year, Schwarzenegger's main ballot agenda is a November initiative that would put an independent commission in charge of the once-a-decade redrawing of legislative and congressional districts.
The campaign of Assembly candidate Neil Blais is crying foul over what it claims is a blatantly incorrect hit piece from opponent Jeff Miller. Miller, of Corona, and Blais, of Rancho Santa Margarita, are gunning for the Republican nomination in the 71st Assembly District. The district covers western Riverside County and part of Orange County. Whoever wins June 3 is a virtual lock to carry the Republican-leaning seat in November. In a recent mailer, the Miller campaign accuses Blais' grant-writing business of soliciting grants for organizations that help illegal immigrants. The mailer also quotes a recent claim by L.A. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich that the county spends $1 billion a year on services for illegal immigrants. "Working for Los Angeles and the illegal aliens," the mailer concludes. Blais consultant Tim Clark called the piece "pure fabrication." Blais runs the grant-writing firm with his wife, Clark said. Blais and Associates has done work for a non-profit called the Los Angeles Community Development Foundation, he said. Its job was to find grants to help hire an executive director for the foundation, he said. Clark acknowledged that the mailer could have an effect with GOP voters angry about illegal immigration. "But it's not even close," Clark said of the Miller mailer's accuracy. "It'd be like me saying Jeff Miller drives to Mexico every day and trucks in illegal immigrants." Miller aides stood by the piece Monday. Campaign consultant Dave Gilliard said Blais' statement of economic interest shows Blais and Associates receiving money from the Los Angeles County Housing Authority. That agency, he said, has provided aid to illegal immigrants. But Clark said Blais' company has earned nothing from the county and that the Miller campaign knows it. "The information they received from Los Angeles County shows there were no payments," he said.
State Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, and Assemblyman John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, will host wine-themed fundraisers tonight at Capitol-area restaurants. The two lawmakers face very different June 3 ballot situations. Dutton has no primary competition and likely will cruise to re-election in November. Tickets to tonight's reception are $1,000 per person, or $1,800 for co-host status or $3,600 to be host. Benoit, meanwhile, is battling for the Republican nomination in the neighboring 37th Senate District. His opponent is former Assemblyman Russ Bogh of Beaumont. Billed as a reception to "enjoy the fine wines of th 64th Assembly District," the Benoit event runs $1,500 a ticket, or $3,600 for sponsor status.
Campaign committees reported nearly $140,000 in independent expenditures Monday to influence the outcome of Inland contests on the June 3 ballot. In the Republican primary race for Riverside County's 37th Senate District, a committee called Save California reported spending $63,000 for mailers and radio and television ads in support of former Assemblyman Russ Bogh of Beaumont. He is running against Assemblyman John J. Benoit of Bermuda Dunes. Save California is made up of public-safety unions and the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians. The California Credit Union League Political Action Committee reported spending almost $12,000 for a pro-Bogh mailer. The State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, meanwhile, reported spending $20,000 on anti-Bogh mailers. UPDATE: Bogh e-mailed to say he thinks it should be made clear that the building trades council is a union organization. So noted. In the Democratic primary for the 80th Assembly District, the Opportunity Political Action Committee reported $44,000 for mailers in support of Manuel Perez of Coachella. The group is funded by the Service Employees International Union local that represents state employees.
Some independent expenditures are beginning to show up in the Republican primary race in the 37th Senate District. And unlike the ads by a shadowy nonprofit group called Desert Taxpayers for Truth, it's clear who's behind mailers paid for by the California Credit Union League Political Action Committee. Starting last Friday, the credit unions have spent about $24,000 on mailers to support the candidacy of Russ Bogh, a former assemblyman from Beaumont. He is running against Assemblyman John J. Benoit of Bermuda Dunes. The reason for credit unions' animus toward Benoit is unclear. Credit unions have contributed about $26,000 to Benoit over the years. They have given about $32,000 to Bogh. Among those that have paid into the credit union PAC's campaign kitty in recent months is Visterra Credit Union in Moreno Valley, which has contributed $6,000. The same credit union has given about $2,500 to Bogh and $800 to Benoit over the years. Desert Taxpayers for Truth claims 501(c)(4) status. It has refused to disclose who paid for anti-Benoit TV ads that aired in the Coachella Valley.
Candidates for Inland-area legislative seats recently announced these endorsements:
Kelly McCarty of Riverside reports that she has been endorsed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association in the Republican primary for the 64th Assembly District.
McCarty is running against Brian Nestande of Palm Desert.
Rick Gonzales of El Centro reports that he has been endorsed by Chris Escobedo, vice chairman of the Coachella Valley Planning Commission, and Rick Diaz, a planning commissioner for the city of Indio, in the Democratic primary for the 80th Assembly District.
Gonzales is running against Manuel Perez of Coachella, Richard Gutierrez of El Centro, and Greg Pettis of Cathedral City.
— Jim Miller
jmiller@PE.com
Joey Acuna, the Coachella Democrat who lost the 2002 race for the 80th Assembly District, has endorsed Rick Gonzales of El Centro. Gonzales is one of four people running in the Democratic primary for the 80th, which includes part of the Coachella Valley. The others are Greg Pettis of Cathedral City, Manuel Perez of Coachella, and Richard Gutierrez of El Centro. Six years ago, Acuna defeated Pettis following a bitter primary campaign. He went on to lose to Republican Bonnie Garcia in a bruising general-election fight. Garcia, who won re-election twice, has to leave office this year because of term limits. The 80th is expected to be one of the few competitive legislative races this fall. The presumptive Republican nominee is Gary Jeandron, the former Palm Springs police chief.
Say what you will about wine-and-cheese liberals... but decidedly not-liberal Russ Bogh will be in Sacramento this afternoon for a wine-tasting reception to raise money for his Senate campaign. Tickets are $1,500. A $3,600 donation bequeaths "Bogh Pioneer" status on the contributor. Bogh, a former Assemblyman from Beaumont, is running against Assemblyman John J. Benoit of Bermuda Dunes, in the Republican primary for the 37th Senate District. The seat's current occupant, Jim Battin, R-La Quinta, has to leave office because of term limits.
Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter's legislative colleagues are rallying around the Rialto Democrat in her primary race against San Bernardino County school board member Gilbert Navarro. In the last month, Carter's campaign committee has collected more than $13,000 from several colleagues, with most giving the maximum $3,600. Unions, dentists and other big-dollar donors have given $35,000. Although incumbents are the strong favorites at election time, the contributions -- including $3,600 from speaker-elect Karen Bass of Los Angeles -- suggest that Carter's friends in the Legislature are not taking any chances. Two years ago, an outspent Carter defeated Jeremy Baca, the son of Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto. Cutting a $3,600 check to Carter over this past weekend was state Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Chino, who represents an overlapping Senate district. Negrete McLeod defeated a different Baca two years ago, then-Assemblyman Joe Baca Jr. The status of Navarro's fundraising is unclear. His campaign has not filed any finance reports electronically.
Candidates for Inland-area legislative seats recently announced these endorsements: Kelly McCarty of Riverside reports that she has been endorsed by Assemblyman Cameron Smyth, R-Santa Clarita in the Republican primary for the 64th Assembly District. McCarty is running against Brian Nestande of Palm Desert. Joanne Gilbert of Rialto reports that she has been endorsed by the Democratic Women of the Inland Empire in the Democratic primary for the 43rd Congressional District. Gilbert is challenging Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto. Assemblyman John J. Benoit of Bermuda Dunes reports that he has been endorsed by former Inland lawmaker Ray Haynes in the Republican primary for the 37th Senate District. Benoit is running against Russ Bogh of Beaumont.
Candidates for Inland-area legislative seats recently announced these endorsements: Neil Blais of Rancho Santa Marguerita reports that he has been endorsed by Orange County Rep. Dana Rohrabacher and Assemblyman Van Tran in the Republican primary for the 71st Assembly District. His opponent, Jeff Miller of Corona, reports that he has been endorsed by Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle. Pringle was the Assembly speaker in the mid-1990s. Gary Jeandron of Palm Springs reports that he has been endorsed by the Riverside Sheriffs' Association for the 80th Assembly District. Jeandron, a Republican, faces no primary opposition.
An independent expenditure committee bankrolled by insurance companies has dropped about $30,000 into the Republican primary race for the 71st Assembly District. Californians for Jobs and Education this week reported spending the money on mail and related costs to support the candidacy of Corona Councilman Jeff Miller, who also runs an insurance agency. The committee reports receiving $50,000 from Farmers Insurance's political action committee and $10,000 from the Personal Insurance Federation of California's political action committee. Miller is running against Neil Blais, a Rancho Santa Margarita councilman. The district includes parts of Riverside and Orange counties. Its current occupant, Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, faces term limits.
Candidates for Inland-area legislative seats recently announced these endorsements: Kelly McCarty of Riverside reports that she has been endorsed by Riverside Councilman Chris MacArthur in the Republican primary for the 64th Assembly District. McCarty's opponent is Barry Nestande of Palm Desert. Jeff Miller of Corona reports that he has been been endorsed by Mission Viejo Councilman Frank Ury in the Republican primary for the 71st Assembly District. Miller's opponent is Neil Blais of Rancho Santa Margarita. Rick Gonzales of El Centro reports that he has been endorsed by assembly members Felipe Fuentes, D-Los Angeles, Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, and Nell Soto, D-Pomona, in the Democratic primary for the 80th Assembly District. Manuel Perez of Coachella reports that he has been endorsed by the California Medical Association in the Democratic primary for the 80th Assembly District. The other Democrats running for the 80th are Greg Pettis of Cathedral City and Richard Gutierrez of El Centro.
A group called the California Taxpayer Protection Committee reported this week spending almost $15,000 on mail to support the candidacy of Brian Nestande of Palm Desert in the GOP primary for the 64th Assembly District. The independent expenditure -- coordination with any candidate is illegal -- seems to be the first for any Inland legislative seat this primary season. Nestande is running against Kelly McCarty of Riverside. The victor is the favorite to carry the Republican-leaning district in November. So what is the California Taxpayer Protection Committee? The biggest donor is Joel Reed, an investment banker from Rancho Santa Fe who has given tens of thousands of dollars to campaign committees of Gov. Schwarzenegger and the California Republican Party.
Democratic congressional candidate Joanne Gilbert says a door-to-door survey by her campaign shows her leading Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto, in the June primary. Gilbert, a Rialto school board member, said in a news release that volunteers knocked on the doors of 1,369 likely Democratic voters in June. When voters were told their choices, 54 percent picked Gilbert, 11 percent picked Baca, and 35 percent said they were undecided. The Field Institute, one of the state's leading pollsters, shouldn't have anything to worry about. Those pollsters use a well-worn scientific method and don't affiliate with any specific campaigns. In any event, whoever wins in June will face one of two Republicans running for the GOP nomination -- Scott Folkens of Bloomington and John Roberts of Fontana.
Former San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy Bob Smith will be in Sacramento today to raise money for his Assembly campaign. Guests at the $1,000-a-ticket fundraiser ($3,600 is good for "pioneer member" status) will include former Inland lawmaker Jim Brulte, R-Rancho Cucamonga, state Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, and Assemblyman Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia, all of whom have endorsed Smith. Smith, of Barstow, is running in the Republican primary June 3 for the 34th Assembly District, a sprawling seat that covers most of San Bernardino County but includes few of its residents. More than three-quarters of district voters live in Tulare County. Smith's opponents are Rebecca Maza, the wife of incumbent Bill Maze, R-Visalia, and Tulare County Supervisor Connie Conway.
UPDATE: The Nestande campaign said on Tuesday that the endorsement listed below actually came from the Riverside Police Officers Association. There is no Riverside County Police Officers Association. Candidates for Inland-area legislative seats have announced these recent endorsements: Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, has endorsed former Assemblyman Russ Bogh of Beaumont of Beaumont for the 37th Senate District. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 174D and El Centro Councilman Efrain Silva have endorsed Rick Gonzales of El Centro in the Democratic primary for the 80th Assembly District. The Riverside County Police Officers Association has endorsed Brian Nestande of Palm Desert in the Republican primary for the 64th Assembly District.
An Assembly committee gave a thumbs-down today to legislation by Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, to ask cities, counties, and political parties to produce a model ordinance for campaign signs. Communities are dotted with campaign signs at election time. Causing headaches for candidates, Jeffries said, are that the rules for size, design and placement vary by jurisdiction. Jeffries' resolution would not have been binding. But even that was too much for the League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties, which opposed the measure, saying their members didn't think the issue was a priority.
Jim Gilchrist, president and founder of the Minuteman Project, has endorsed former Assemblyman Russ Bogh in the Republican primary for Riverside County's 37th Senate District. Bogh is running against Assemblyman John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, and Hemet school board member David Peters. Gilchrist and other Minuteman Project activists want stronger efforts to reduce illegal immigration into the U.S.
Republican registration is down slightly in Riverside and San Bernardino counties while Democratic registration is up a bit, according to the latest voter-registration statistics from the secretary of state's office. GOP registration in Riverside County fell from 44 percent in December to 43 percent in April. In San Bernardino County, Republican registration fell from 41 percent to 40 percent. Democratic registration has increased since December. In Riverside County, Democratic registration stands at about 36 percent, up from 35 percent. In San Bernardino County, almost 39 percent of voters are registered Democrats, up from 38 percent in December. The number of voters who decline to state a party preference also has increased since last year.
Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, has endorsed Palm Desert businessman Brian Nestande in the Republican primary for Riverside County's 64th Assembly District. Nestande is running against auto-collision center owner Kelly McCarty of Riverside.
The state Senate unanimously signed off this morning on the appointment of state Sen. Jim Battin, R-La Quinta, as vice-chairman of the influential Senate Rules Committee. But the proceedings made it clear that there are some hurt feelings in the shakeup. Before the vote, several senators stood and praised the lawmaker Battin is replacing -- state Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield. The remarks had the feel of the end-of-session tributes for departing lawmakers, even though Ashburn has more than two years left in his term. "I'd just like to say that I want to be kicked off all of my committees so I can get nice speeches on the floor," state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, said at one point. Battin was a strong supporter of new Senate GOP Leader Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto. In December 2006, though, he was in the same spot as Ashburn, having been dropped from the rules panel after a leadership challenge. Battin, though, heard nothing from his colleagues then. "I'd like to apologize to Sen. Battin," Perata told his colleagues Thursday as Battin walked away laughing. "When he left rules, I didn't say anything."
State Sen. Jim Battin, who was unceremoniously dropped as vice chairman of the Senate Rules Committee more than a year ago, got his old job back today, giving the Inland area two voices on the influential panel. Battin's appointment was the first significant leadership shakeup of newly installed Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto. Battin strongly backed Cogdill in the months-long jockeying to succeed Dick Ackerman, R-Irvine. Ackerman's last day as leader was Monday. Ackerman removed Battin from the rules committee in December 2006 after Battin tried to oust him as leader of the 15-member caucus. Battin replaces state Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield as the rules committee's vice chairman. He joins state Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, on the five-member panel. The rules committee's main responsibilities include reviewing gubernatorial appointees and granting waivers to legislative rules.
Republican Assembly candidate Gary Jeandron calls himself the "John McCain of the 80th Assembly District." Like McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Jeandron is assured of the GOP nomination in the Inland area's 80th Assembly District while his would-be Democratic opponents in November are still slugging it out. On a swing through Sacramento Monday, Jeandron said he considers the general-election campaign already to be underway. Jeandron, a Palm Springs school board member and former police chief, said he thinks he is well-positioned to succeed termed-out Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral, and keep the 80th in Republican hands. "All I need is a name," Jeandron said of the Democrats running for the seat. "They're all the same. Just give me a name and we'll win." Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by 10 points in the 80th and Democratic leaders see the seat as a prime pickup opportunity. The district includes Palm Springs, Indio, Coachella, and all of Imperial County. Jeandron offered his thoughts on various issues during a mid-afternoon coffee: • Garcia. Jeandron said he and his wife, Vicki, early on received a "Bonnie Garcia Talk." The plain-spoken Garcia warned the couple that Democrats will "try to find dirt on me" during the general-election campaign. • 37th Senate District. Jeandron said he is neutral in the Republican primary battle between Assemblyman John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, and former Assemblyman Russ Bogh, R-Beaumont. Part of the district overlaps the 80th. "These are two very qualified individuals. They both really want it," he said. • Democratic candidates. Jeandron said he thinks Cathedral City Councilman Greg Pettis is running the best campaign. But he said he doesn't have a preference on who he'd rather run against in November. Other candidates are Manuel Perez of Coachella, Richard Gutierrez of El Centro, and Rick Gonzales of El Centro.
Inland candidates on the June 3 primary ballot have received some recent endorsements. Kelly McCarty, Republican candidate for the 64th Assembly District: Assemblyman George Plescia, R-San Diego Brian Nestande, Republican candidate for the 64th Assembly District: Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona Manuel Perez, Democratic candidate for the 80th Assembly District: California Labor Federation, California Teachers Association, Service Employees International Union, California Nurses Association, NAACP California President Alice Huffman Greg Pettis, Democratic candidate for the 80th Assembly District: California Labor Federation (sharing endorsement with Manuel Perez), California State Council of Laborers, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata
Earlier this week, the Russ Bogh for Senate campaign announced that it had been endorsed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Wednesday, the John J. Benoit for Senate campaign announced that it had the organization's backing, as well. Maybe the double-endorsement is appropriate. Neither Benoit nor Bogh ran the table on the organization's legislative scorecards when they served in the Assembly from 2003 through 2006.
The candidates have spent their own money. So have affiliated groups. Independent expenditures by various political interests are rumored to be right around the corner. But now a non-profit organization that hides its donors has started airing a TV ad in the fight for the 37th State Senate District. The maneuver appears to be a first for an Inland campaign. The commercial by a group called Desert Taxpayers for Truth pummels Assemblyman John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, for a variety of alleged transgressions. Benoit is running against former Assemblyman Russ Bogh for the GOP nomination in the 37th Senate District in the June 3 primary election. Political consultant Tab Berg said the commercials are running regularly on cable networks in the Riverside and Palm Springs markets. Berg, though, said he doesn't know who is bankrolling them. It might be tough to find out. Desert Taxpayers for Truth claims it is a nonprofit advocacy group registered under 501(c)(4) of the tax code. It didn't show up Wednesday in non-profit registries. Those organizations, which are not covered by any contribution limits, do not have to disclose detailed information about their donors and can file their paperwork months after the fact. 501(c)(4) organizations have emerged as the increasingly popular successor to the shadowy 527 committees that became popular during the 2004 presidential campaign but later ran afoul of campaign-finance regulators. Organizations like the National Rifle Association and MoveOn have created 501(c)(4)'s to let them spend money for "voter-education" and advocacy. Berg says the anti-Benoit ads are legit because they never expressly urge people to oppose Benoit or vote for Bogh. A side note: Berg is the political consultant for Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley. Cook has not endorsed anyone in the race for the 37th seat, which includes parts of Cook's Assembly district.
Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco said Wednesday he will not run for California attorney general in 2010 but that he might help qualify a statewide ballot initiative that year to overhaul the death-penalty process. Pacheco made the remarks during a Sacramento press conference to promote death-penalty legislation he is sponsoring. Pacheco and Republican lawmakers threatened to gather voter signatures to put the proposals before voters in 2010 if Democrat-controlled public safety committees reject the bills. One of the measures is meant to reduce delays in carrying out executions. Another bill would make killing a child 14 or younger a special circumstance eligible for the death penalty. Backing initiatives has been a way for real or potential statewide candidates to help their cause (see Pete Wilson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steve Poizner, etc.) But Pacheco, answering a reporter's question, said he will not run for attorney general in 2010. The office's current occupant, Jerry Brown, can seek re-election in two years. But Brown, who was governor from 1974 through 1982, also has shown interest in running for his old job again.
Inland candidates on the June 3 primary ballot announced some recent endorsements. Russ Bogh, Republican candidate for the 37th State Senate District: the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Kelly McCarty, Republican candidate for the 64th Assembly District: San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus. Greg Pettis, Democratic candidate for the 80th Assembly District: The California AFL-CIO Committee on Public Education, and HONOR PAC, which represents Latino lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.
Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco will be in Sacramento on Wednesday to promote legislation meant to overhaul the death-penalty process. A Pacheco press release lends a hush-hush vibe to the event. It offers little more than subject matter ("a major death penalty announcement"), time, place, and speaker's lineup. It ends with "No further information will be released prior to the news conference." The district attorney is the sponsor of eight death penalty-related measures. At least several are scheduled for their first committee hearings next week. One of the bills would set a time window in which executions could be carried out. Currently, authorities have to reschedule an execution when the original date comes and goes. Another bill would make anyone who kills a child 14 or younger eligible for the death penalty. And another measure would change the time limits for certain appeals. State senators Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga and Jim Battin, R-La Quinta, and Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, are scheduled to attend Wednesday's event.
Inland legislative candidates reported some contributions over the weekend. Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter, D-Rialto, received $1,000 from Reynolds America, the North Carolina-based parent company of the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company. Carter faces San Bernardino County school board member Gil Navarro in the June Democratic primary for the 62nd Assembly District. Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert, received $1,000 from Allstate Insurance Co. Nestande is running against Kelly McCarty, R-Riverside, in the GOP primary for the 64th Assembly District.
GOP bigwigs will be on hand Saturday in Palm Desert to open the Coachella Valley's Republican headquarters for the 2008 campaign. As if that's not enough excitement, county GOP chairman Bob Richmond promises that there also will be a "very important announcement." We've left a message with Richmond to get try to get an idea. Scheduled to attend the noon event at 74-390 Highway 111 are Rep. Mary Bono, State Sen. Jim Battin, Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, Assemblyman John J. Benoit, and former Assemblyman Russ Bogh. Bogh and Benoit, of course, are in the thick of an increasingly rough race for the Republican nomination in the 37th Senate District. "We have a lot of work to do and our volunteers are are anxious to jump into action. Now we will have a place to do that," Richmond said in a statement.
Assembly candidate Brian Nestande of Palm Desert tells us he is booked to appear on this weekend's Fox News Sunday. The topic: famous people running for office. Nestande knows something about the subject. In 1994, he was the campaign manager for Sonny Bono during the singer/songwriter/actor-turned-politician's successful congressional campaign. Nestande later worked for Bono's widow, Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs. Possibly explaining Fox News' interest is the U.S. Senate campaign of Saturday Night Live alumnus Al Franken, who is trying to unseat Norm Coleman, R-Minnesota. The Fox News segment is scheduled for 9:50 a.m., Nestande said. Check your local listings. Nestande is running against Riverside businesswoman Kelly McCarty in June for the GOP nomination in the 64th Assembly District.
One web site down, another up. Sometime in the last few days, the person or people responsible for a web site critical of Assembly candidate Greg Pettis shut it down. The site emerged a few weeks ago after anonymous e-mails to reporters and others. Pettis called the stealth site not only inaccurate but possibly illegal because it hasn't shown up in any campaign-finance reports. Next door in the 64th Assembly District, a new Web site is going after Palm Desert businessman Brian Nestande. But this site clearly states its origins -- the campaign of Kelly McCarty, a Riverside businesswoman and Nestande's main opponent in the race.
Former Coachella Valley lawmaker Julie Bornstein is setting her sights on Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs. Bornstein, a Palm Desert nonprofit housing executive, is one of three Democrats running on the June 3 ballot for the rights to take on Bono Mack in the fall. The others are Paul Clay, a Murrieta business owner, and David Hunsicker, a Palm Desert business owner. Extending from the Arizona border to western Riverside County, the 45th is decidedly Republican territory. In 2006, Bono Mack beat back a decently funded challenge by Democrat David Roth, 61 percent to 39 percent. Bornstein's candidacy is getting some big-name support. She won the endorsement of the California Democratic Party at last weekend's San Jose convention. She also has the backing of U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (who has a home in the 45th CD) and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who carried the district by five points in her 2006 re-election. Bornstein was viewed as a rising star after her 1992 Assembly election to an earlier version of the 80th Assembly District. But she lost her seat in 1994's GOP landslide to Jim Battin. She later served as Gov. Gray Davis' housing director.
A familiar name is seeking a seat on the San Bernardino County Democratic Central Committee in the June 3 election. Former Assemblyman Joe Baca, Jr., the son of Rep. Joe Baca, is among 13 Democrats running for six 62nd Assembly District slots on the committee. Baca represented the district in the Assembly from 2004 through 2006. A Baca victory would further revive a political career that took a beating during a disastrous state Senate primary run two years ago. He successfully ran for the Rialto City Council in fall 2006. Baca, though, seemingly is interested in getting back to the Legislature someday. He has filed a statement of intent to run for his old Assembly seat in 2012.
Campaigns try all sorts of techniques to generate buzz and spin media coverage. The latest example comes in the increasingly spirited primary contest for the 64th Assembly District. Since Monday, the campaign consultant for Riverside autobody repair shop operator Kelly McCarty has been e-mailing messages that, at first glance, seem to be errant examples of the kind of enlightening internal strategy memos that campaigns usually don't share with reporters. But a quick read makes it clear that the messages are the McCarty campaign's innovative way to boost her candidacy and trash Republican main opponent, Palm Desert businessman Brian Nestande. "Clearly we have a security leak," McCarty consultant Matt Rexroad wrote McCarty in today's memo entitled "62 Days Left" after some of the anti-Nestande contents of the "63 Days Left" memo showed up in blogs and generated phone calls from reporters. "We must stop this information from getting out," Rexroad wrote. Don't count on it.
A few days after the Russ Bogh for Senate campaign sent out a news release on the endorsement of Palm Desert Councilman Jim Ferguson, reporters at The Desert Sun made this catch. Ferguson, along with his council colleagues, already had endorsed Assemblyman John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, the Desert Sun's Political Insider column reported. In an interview Friday explaining his Bogh endorsement - but before knowing that he already was on board with Team Benoit - Ferguson told The Press-Enterprise that he likes both men. "John is a very likable, nice guy. Russ is aggressive, hard-changing, smart politician who gets things done for his constituents," Ferguson said. Of course, it's not unheard of for people to dual-endorse in a contested primary. But Ferguson's Bogh endorsement further illustrates that politics is a fast-moving business. In 2001, Ferguson's interest in a legislative career hit a quick roadblock when state Sen. Jim Battin, R-La Quinta — a major Bogh backer — told The Press-Enterprise that he "had a low opinion of Jim Ferguson" when Ferguson sought the 2002 GOP nomination for the 64th Assembly District. Ferguson dropped out of the race and later endorsed the eventual winner - one John J. Benoit.
A commercial running on cable television beats up on Republican lawmakers who blocked efforts last month to tighten the so-called yacht-tax loophole. Featuring a version of the Styx song "Come Sail Away," the ad ends with sailor hats plopping on the heads of several Republican members of the Legislature, including John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes. Gov. Schwarzenegger and Democrats want to increase, from 90 days to a year, the amount of time that yachts, aircraft, and recreational vehicles purchased outside California have to be kept out of state to avoid the use tax. Most Republicans say the proposal is a tax increase that would hurt small business and their employees. The commercials are the product of the Courage Campaign, a product of the federal Democratic political action committee, ActBlue.
Inland lawmakers had mixed success this week in the first major round of legislative committee hearings since last month's 2008 bill-introduction deadline. All told, about a dozen bills passed, several bills failed but were granted reconsideration, and other bills remained in committee and should come up later. Among the bills that cleared its first committee hurdle was AB 1897 by Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands. It would create a licensing process for marriage and family therapists. Among those failing was AB 2172 by Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley. It would create a registry of people convicted of elder abuse. The Assembly Public Safety Committee will reconsider the measure later this spring. Other bills are still in committee and may be heard later. That includes SB 1310 by state Sen. Gloria Negrege McLeod, D-Chino, to allow for digital images on some advertising displays. The Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing rescheduled the bill for April 8.
Do you ever wonder if your mail-in ballot makes it into the hands of election officials? Soon, Riverside County voters will have a way to get the answer to that question. Voters will be able to use the Internet to keep tabs on their ballot after dropping it in the mail, a la tracking a UPS package. Beginning with the June 3 primary election, vote-by-mail voters can go to the office's Web site and provide unique identifying information, such as a last name, date of birth, driver's license number or the last four digits of their social security number. The Web site then will tell whether the ballot has been received. It will not reveal individual votes.
Assembly Republicans are pushing a package of border-security bills, including some with Inland authors. The bills aim to improve border security and "better protect Californians." But similar legislation has failed in the past. Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, is the author of a bill to repeal the law that exempts illegal immigrants from paying nonresident tuition at community colleges and California State University. Cook also is the author of a bill that would require proof of citizenship to receive state-funded benefits. Assemblyman John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, is the author of a bill that would require the state to bill the federal government for incarcerating illegal immigrants. And a bill by Assemblyman Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia, would create a 10-year sentencing enhancement for anyone previously convicted of a felony and deported from the country who then returns and commits a new felony.
State Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, is the new vice chairman of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, making him Senate Republicans' fiscal point person during what promises to be a grueling budget year. Dutton succeeds another Inland lawmaker, state Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta. Monday's announcement was the first switch in committee assignments by incoming Senate GOP Leader Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto. Cogdill will take over in April from state Sen. Dick Ackerman, R-Irvine. The budget is a massive, complex document. Any number of legislators, interest groups, and governor's officials want to weigh in. And Senate Republicans, who number only 15 in the 40-member Senate, are just two defections away from being all but irrelevant in the budget process. Passing a budget takes 27 votes. Dutton, though, seems ready to take on the task. He also ruled out a tax increase as part of any deal. "California generates enough money to provide high quality services," Dutton said in a statement. "I am confident we will meet this year's budget challenge if we focus on spending those tax dollars more efficiently." Former Palm Springs Police Chief Gary Jeandron was the only GOP contender to file candidacy papers this month to run for the 80th Assembly District and will have no competition in the June 3 primary election. But the Democratic field is anything but settled, with four potential candidates seeking the nomination in a district that is predicted to be one of the few competitive legislative races in November. The district's current occupant, Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, is termed out. Four Democrats filed candidacy papers for the seat: El Centro community development manager Rick Gonzales, Coachella school board member Manuel Perez, Cathedral City Councilman Greg Pettis, and El Centro orthodontist Richard Gutierrez. Election officials are reviewing would-be candidates' filing papers. A final candidates list is scheduled to come out later this week. But the dirt already is beginning to fly. Last week marked the debut of a shadowy Web site targeting Pettis, who ran unsuccessfully for the seat in 2002 and who recently secured the state Democratic Party's endorsement. An e-mail said the Web site link "went out today to voters in the 80th Assembly District." But both the e-mail sender and Web site hide their origins. The site's registrant is Domains by Proxy, Inc., an outfit whose main purposing is protecting the identity of people responsible for a web page. Stay tuned...
General election fights are bad enough. But ranking right up there on incumbent lawmakers' annoyance meters are political challenges by members of their own party. Two incumbent Inland legislators face competition in the June 3 primary election after this month's candidate filing deadline. Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter, D-Rialto, will run against county school board member Gilbert Navarro in the Democratic primary for San Bernardino County’s 62nd Assembly District. The campaign carries echoes of Carter’s 2006 primary win over Jeremy Baca, the son of Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto. Navarro is a Baca ally, but the congressman has publicly stayed out of the race. In the 66th Assembly District, Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, will face Yvonne R. Girard of Riverside. Girard was a candidate for the Jurupa Unified School District in 2002. As scandal-free incumbents, both Carter and Jeffries are the huge favorites June 3. And if they make it through the primary, their districts' political leanings point to easy re-elections. —Jim Miller
Today is the last day for people to turn in candidacy papers for the June 3 legislative and congressional primary. Friday was the filing deadline but would-be candidates had another five days if the incumbent didn't file. In the Inland area, today's deadline applies to the 60th and 61st Assembly districts. Both include parts of western San Bernardino County. The 61st's current occupant, Assemblywoman Nell Soto, D-Pomona, announced Friday that she would retire after her current term ends. And the 60th's representative, Assemblyman Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, is running for the state Senate. Several candidates already have filed to run in both districts. —Jim Miller A Fallbrook Democrat is running against Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, in the GOP-friendly 49th Congressional District, which includes part of southwestern Riverside County. In a campaign statement, Robert J. Hamilton called himself an "independent Democrat" who seeks to "focus on the critical needs of the people in the district, to foster an economy that genuinely supports business growth and entrepreneurship, and to bring back the image of America, at home and abroad, as a beacon of freedom, hope and opportunity." The Hamilton campaign will kick things off next Wednesday at the Pala Mesa Resort. Headlining the event will be Francine Busby, a Democrat who forced Republicans to spend big in a June 2006 special election to hold onto the nearby 50th Congressional District after the former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham resigned in disgrace. The last Democrat who ran in the 49th, Jeeni Criscenzo, received only 33 percent of the vote in the November 2006 election. Neither Hamilton nor Issa face any competition on the June 3 primary ballot. They will be joined in November by Lars Grossmith, a Libertarian from Vista. —Jim Miller Palm Desert businessman Brian Nestande’s Assembly campaign offered up some legislative history Monday in touting the endorsement of former Inland lawmaker Jim Brulte. "I am so honored to have earned Jim’s endorsement. He is the ONLY Republican to have won the support of his fellow Republican legislators and serve as Leader for both houses in Californian history. His vote of confidence underscores our shared conservative values and abilities to forge coalitions despite adversity,” Nestande said in a statement. Notwithstanding the announcement's capital letters, another Southern California lawmaker actually was the first to lead GOP caucuses in both the Assembly and Senate. Former Orange County legislator Ross Johnson led Assembly Republicans during part of the 1980s and Senate Republicans during the late 1990s. And a little more Capitol lore: Bruce Nestande, Brian’s father, served in the Assembly with Johnson, who is now the chairman of the state Fair Political Practices Commission. Nestande is running to succeed Assemblyman John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, in the 64th Assembly District. His opponents in the June 3 GOP primary are Moreno Valley retired police officer Rudy Aranda and Riverside businesswoman Kelly McCarty. —Jim Miller Inland lawmaker Nell Soto announced this afternoon that she will not seek re-election to a third Assembly term. "As much as my heart and mind want to continue in public service, my 81- year-old body is in need of less stress and a less vigorous schedule. On the advice of my doctor, this time I am going to listen to my body and not my heart," Soto, D-Pomona, said in a statement. Today is the deadline to turn in candidacy papers for the June 3 legislative primary election. There had been significant speculation in recent days that Soto, who has missed hundreds of votes over the past year because of illness, would retire. Soto is the widow of former Assemblyman Phil Soto. He was one of the state's first Latino lawmakers in the modern era. Soto's decision sets up a potentially contentious primary fight for the Democrat-leaning 61st Assembly District. "There will probably be an energetic campaign to select a new Assembly member for the 61st District, and at the proper time I expect to endorse one of the candidates. While I am retiring from the Legislature and elective office, I am not necessarily retiring from politics," Soto said. —Jim Miller Our friends over at the Flashreport this morning posted the list of delegates to the Republican National Convention in September. Delegates from the Inland area include Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco, Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, Fontana Councilwoman Aguanetta Warren, and former Inland lawmaker Jim Brulte. Also on the list is at-large delegate Duane Roberts, owner of The Mission Inn in Riverside. The convention will be in Minneapolis-St. Paul from Sept. 1 through Sept. 4. —Jim Miller The election is still a few years off, but would-be candidates already are maneuvering to replace former Inland lawmaker Bill Leonard on the state Board of Equalization. Term limits will force Leonard from the board in 2010. His sprawling district stretches from southwest San Bernardino County to the Oregon border. A slew of termed-out legislators have eyes on the Republican-leaning seat: Assemblyman Alan Nakanashi, R-Lodi, state Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, state Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, and former Assemblywoman Barbara Alby, who is Leonard's current chief of staff. The Flashreport's Jon Fleischman has more on the situation.
The Sacrament Bee's latest Capitol Alert reported this afternoon on the questions surrounding Assemblywoman Nell Soto's health and whether she will seek re-election. Soto, a Pomona Democrat who will turn 82 in June, has not taken out candidacy papers to run for re-election. Friday is the deadline to return them. Echoing comments in a recent Press-Enterprise story, Soto campaign manager Mike Lewis told the Bee that Soto wants to run for another term but that her doctor will have the final say. Four Democrats have pulled papers to run for the Democrat-leaning seat so far. They are Pomona Mayor Norma Torres, legislative advocate Maurice Ayala, Ontario-Montclair school board member Paul Vincent Avila, and Kenneth M. White of Ontario. Soto has represented the region since 1998. If she does not file by Friday, candidates would have until March 12 to turn in their papers. —Jim Miller Members of the Monday Morning Group will be in the state Capitol this week to meet with lawmakers and Schwarzenegger administration officials on roads, schools and other issues of concern. Almost two-dozen members of the low-profile-yet-influential group of Inland civic and business leaders will be making the annual legislative visit to Sacramento, organizers said. Among them is MMG president Joseph J. Kuebler of Kuebler, Prudhomme & Co, an accounting firm. Group members have a full agenda. Tuesday, they are scheduled to hear from local legislators, Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill, and aides to Gov. Schwarzenegger, including Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Dunmoyer. Wednesday, there will be more lawmakers and administration officials. Among them will be Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board, who will talk about air-quality issues. —Jim Miller UPDATE: Well, that was quick and easy. McClintock is in and Oller announced his withdrawal Tuesday morning. Inland senators who have endorsed former state lawmaker Rico Oller for the 4th Congressional District in Northern California soon could face a tough choice. State Sens. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga; Jim Battin, R-La Quinta; and Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta; are on record backing Oller in what already seemed like a hotly contested GOP primary on the June 3 ballot. But now it looks like one of their fellow state senators will enter the race. Signs point to state Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, joining the field this week. McClintock's Senate district is at the other end of the state, and his Sacramento-area home also is outside the district. But the constitution does not require congressional candidates to live where they run. McClintock, of course, is known around the state for his conservative politics and from his candidacies for various statewide offices, including a run for governor during the 2003 recall election. The 4th CD currently is represented by scandal-scarred Rep. John Doolittle, R-Rocklin. Doolittle is retiring this year after barely surviving a Democratic challenge in 2006. —Jim Miller What is it about ballot initiatives sponsored by the husband-wife team of state Sen. George Runner and Assemblywoman Sharon Runner that pull in the Inland campaign cash? Local and state officials from Riverside and San Bernardino counties contributed oodles of money to the Runners' Jessica's Law campaign in 2006. Now the Runners are trying to qualify an anti-gang initiative for the November ballot. Once again, Inland politicos have stepped up. Three of the five members of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors already have donated or loaned money to the Committee to Take Back Our Neighborhoods. Supervisor Gary Ovitt has contributed a total of $50,000. Supervisor Dennis Hansberger has given $10,000. And, on Wednesday, Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt gave $10,000. The campaign has received only a few other contributors. But one of those was a biggie -- $1 million given to the campaign in December by Orange County billionaire Henry T. Nicholas III. —Jim Miller A couple of Inland lawmakers came up short last week in the contest to lead the Senate GOP. But the caucus' incoming leader isn’t totally lacking in Inland roots. State Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, spent his early years in San Bernardino, living there from when he was a child until he was almost 18. During that time, Cogdill, 57, attended the former Mitchell Elementary School, Golden Valley Middle School, and Pacific High School. He later lived in Mono County before moving to Modesto in 1979. —Jim Miller Assemblyman Kevin De Leon, D-Los Angeles, is not happy with San Bernardino County Board of Education member Gilbert Navarro. De Leon met with Navarro last month to discuss Navarro's interest in challenging Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter in the June primary. De Leon discouraged Navarro and issued a statement a short while ago criticizing Navarro for his comments in a story in today's Press-Enterprise. In the story, Navarro said his candidacy would be helped by the fact that the 62nd Assembly District has more Latino voters than African-American voters. Navarro is Latino and Carter is African-American. "There's a lot of bad blood between Latinos and African-Americans in the Rialto area," Navarro said in the article. In a statement, De Leon, one of Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez's top lieutenants, praised Carter as "a passionate leader." He linked Navarro to "the politics of division." "Like Ms. Carter, I represent a district that is predominately Latino and as a Latino myself, I find that sort of sentiment extraordinarily offensive. I don't believe that we should allow anyone to divide us based on race," De Leon said in his statement. "Ms. Carter is in Sacramento fighting to not only help lift up her constituents, but mine as well. She's earned my support and admiration, and I hope her constituents will reject the politics of division and return her to Sacramento." —Jim Miller Gov. Schwarzenegger came to California Speedway in Fontana today to praise the track's multi-million-dollar expansion as a sign of optimism amid a sluggish California economy. Getting some laughs, though, was Schwarzenegger's own checkered driving record. As track president Gillian Zucker helped Schwarzenegger don a speedway jacket, Southern California Auto Club president Tom McKernan shared with the audience that First Lady Maria Shriver once told him she was a long-time club member. "And I thanked her very much, and she said how great it was, and how much she loved it," McKernan said, according to a transcript distributed by the governor's office. "I said, 'So the Governor is a member?' She said, 'No, it's my membership. He gets involved in too many crashes.'" Laughing, Schwarzenegger answered, "You had to say that. Why? Why spoil a great day like this? I can't believe it. But thank you very much." In January 2006, Schwarzenegger was riding with his son in a sidecar when the two hit —Jim Miller
Donors in the Riverside-San Bernardino metro area gave $1.7 million to 2008 presidential contenders through January, according to a new report by the campaign finance watchdog Center for Responsive Politics. Almost half of the Inland money went to candidates who later quit the race, according to the CRP's review. The top recipients of Inland largess were former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who pulled in $462,525, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who received $252,150. Both abandoned their White House bids last month. Of the Democratic candidates still in the hunt, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., received $236,238 from Riverside-San Bernardino contributors and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., took in $124,825. On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., got $162,494, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, received $91,527, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee pulled in $23,700. UPDATE: Cogdill was announced as the new Senate GOP leader-elect during a 2:30 p.m. press conference in Ackerman's office. State senators Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, and Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta, both expressed interest in the job of leading the 15-member caucus. Cogdill's selection could come as early as today during the caucus' regular lunch meeting. A switch would take effect sometime later this session. The current Senate GOP leader, state Sen. Dick Ackerman, R-Irvine, has to leave office in November because of term limits. —Jim Miller The state Fair Political Practices Commission held an interesting hearing today on the increasing activities of independent expenditure committees, the groups representing business, labor or tribal interests that have injected more than $88 million into statewide and legislative races since 2001. Near the end of the hearing, former state Sen. Ross Johnson, the panel's chairman, said he questions whether candidates truly can claim ignorance about the committees' political motives. Johnson then made his point with a Valentine's Day theme. He introduced his wife, Diane, and noted that, befitting the day, he had left her a box of candy and a note from "your secret admirer" this morning. His wife probably had a good idea of her fan's identity, Johnson said. "It's the same with candidates," he said as the audience began laughing. "They're going to know whose money elected them." —Jim Miller Mexican President Felipe Calderon will address a joint session of the California Legislature this morning and it seemed Tuesday that he will get a notably warmer reception from Republican legislators than did his predecessor. In May 2006, several GOP lawmakers, most of whom represented the Inland area, boycotted an afternoon address by then-Mexican President Vicente Fox to protest what they complained was Fox’s lack of effort to reduce illegal immigration into the U.S. Calderon’s visit doesn’t seem to be triggering such strong feelings. As of Tuesday, no lawmaker had announced plans to skip his 10:30 a.m. speech. Assemblyman John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, was one of those who boycotted Fox's address. He plans to attend today’s speech, though. The change reflects Calderon’s willingness to meet with the Assembly GOP leader, something Fox refused to do, Benoit said. —Jim Miller State Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta, has endorsed Republican political consultant Brian Nestande of Palm Desert for the 64th Assembly District. Nestande's main opponent in the GOP primary race is Kelly McCarty of Ontario, co-owner of a vehicle collision center in Ontario. The district swings from Riverside to the Coachella Valley. Hollingsworth's endorsement announcement Tuesday highlights the continuing divide among Inland Republicans as the election year gets underway. Taking the Republican primary contest for Riverside County's 37th Senate District as a template, the politicos who have endorsed Nestande likely also are supporting Assemblyman John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, in the Senate race. And of the people who publicly back McCarty, most have also endorsed former Assemblyman Russ Bogh in the Senate contest. Speaking of endorsements, the Benoit campaign announced Tuesday that the California Police Chiefs Association has endorsed Benoit. Left unsaid is that the association board approved the endorsement way back in September. —Jim Miller Opponents of Props. 94-97, the Southern California tribal gambling agreements, conceded defeat just after midnight. The amended compacts held a significant lead with about half of precincts reporting, including many in Northern California counties where opponents had held out hope for a strong "no" vote. The opposition campaign linked the agreements' approval to voters' concern about the state's well-publicized budget problems. The tribes will pay the tribe millions of dollars in return for permission to install more slot machines, but opponents criticized the revenue estimates as overblown. "This campaign was never about Indian gaming in general," read the campaign's statement. "It was always about four wealthy tribes and four specific deals -- and whether those deals were fair for taxpayers, fair for California's 104 other tribes, fair for the workers at those casinos, and fair for the communities around those casinos. "This demonstrates voters are quite concerned about California's economy and the budget and they are willing to waive their concerns of gambling expansions and the dominance of these four tribes in the wake of the state's financial woes. "Californians will be watching to see how the Big 4 tribes answer those questions of fairness now, as those tribes get their 17,000 new slot machines up and running," it concluded. —Jim Miller There is no music and no balloons, just a big screen showing election returns for the four tribal-casino referendums. Opponents gathered on the 16th floor of a Sacramento hotel, hoping that the vote trend will change course. Yet the room's mood seemed to be underscored by resignation that voters will uphold the agreements. The crowd included consultants, labor activists, and some tribal representatives who opposed the agreements. —Jim Miller Supporters and opponents of Props. 94-97 began gathering Tuesday night to wait for election results after a months-long fight over the four tribal gambling compacts. In Sacramento, about two dozens opponents of the deals had arrived at a Holiday Inn ballroom by 8:15 p.m. They conversed in small groups, surrounded by huge platters of food. In Los Angeles, the deals' supporters have started filling a ballroom at the Millenium Biltmore hotel, enjoying food and music. Among the tribal leaders already present are Robert Martin, chairman of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians near Banning, and Mark Macarro, chairman of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians near Temecula. The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in the Coachella Valley and the Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Indians in San Diego County also have agreements on today's ballot. —Jim Miller GoDaddy.com and day-trading toddlers they were not. Both sides in a battle over four tribal casino compacts on Tuesday's ballot sprang for high-priced ads during Sunday's Super Bowl. Should we be surprised? What's another $2.6 million or so for a 30-second spot in a campaign where both sides already have gone through more than $145 million combined? One commercial featured Temecula resident John Gomez, a disenrolled member of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians near Temecula. It aired at the end of the first quarter, calling on voters to reject the deals. See the ad for yourself at: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=nounfairdeals. One post-Super Bowl ad featured the chairman of the Pechanga tribe, Mark Macarro, http://www.yesforcalifornia.com/tv_radio.php asking voters to help tribes be self reliant. Still others appeared urging yes and no votes, in between the usual array of commercials for cars, beer and, well, more beer. —Jim Miller
Gov. Schwarzenegger will make his first campaign appearance this morning to encourage voters to uphold four tribal casino agreements on Tuesday’s ballot. The rally at the Valley Industry and Commerce Association in Sherman Oaks comes as recent polls show a close fight for Props. 94 through 97, which include casino-expansion deals for three Riverside County tribes. In exchange for permission to operate thousands more slot machines, the tribes have agreed to pay millions of dollars to the state. The governor has appeared in two TV commercials touting the deals. He says they are vital to helping the state balance its budget. But opponents contend that the revenue estimates are exaggerated. Joining the governor Friday will be state schools superintendent Jack O’Connell, who also has appeared in commercials backing the deals. —Jim Miller In 2004, Assembly Democrats recruited inland tribal leader Mary Ann Andreas to run against Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City. Democrats wanted to regain a seat they thought was rightfully theirs. Andreas lost. And newly filed finance reports show that, more than three years later, Andreas is still out the $193,000 she loaned her campaign before and after the November 2004 election. In addition, the campaign has $46,000 in unpaid bills. It likely would have been a different story if Andreas had prevailed. Lawmakers routinely hold fundraisers to retire loans and other campaign debt. —Jim Miller Its purple-shirted members are a Capitol mainstay, but the influential Service Employees International Union has been a missing labor player in the months-long fight over new tribal gambling compacts. Not anymore. Fresh off the legislative defeat of the health care bill it strongly backed, the 1.5 million-member union this week gave $100,000 to the campaign trying to overturn the four compacts on Tuesday’s ballot. The money, though, is small fry in a campaign where spending is well into nine figures. The Morongo Band of Mission Indians near Banning – one of three Riverside County tribes with compacts on the ballot – gave another $7.5 million this week to the yes campaign, bringing to $42 million what the tribe has contributed. —Jim Miller No one knows how many vote-by-mail ballots are sitting in county election offices with now-wasted votes for Democrat John Edwards and Republican Rudy Giuliani. But Secretary of State Debra Bowen said she thinks vote-by-mail voters have been holding on to their ballots longer than usual this primary season. "I think the question about how early voters vote will work itself out over time," Bowen said to reporters Wednesday. "I also think, just intuitively, voters know that things are in a state of flux right now, and I think it’s why registrars are saying they expect a very large number of vote-by-mail ballots to be turned in on Election Day.” —Jim Miller Former assemblyman Russ Bogh and Assemblyman John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, have released more endorsements in their GOP primary contest for the 37th Senate District. Bogh, R-Beaumont, announced the support of the Association of Riverside Chiefs of Police and Sheriff, ARCOPS for short. He also gained the backing of Norco City Councilman Berwin Harris, clinching a Bogh sweep of the Norco council. Benoit, meanwhile, gained the support of Assembly members Mike Duvall, R-Brea, and Guy Houston, R-San Ramon. —Jim Miller State Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod is one of many Democratic politicians who have kept their distance from Prop. 93. The initiative on next week's ballot would let lawmakers spend a dozen years in either house, up from the current limits of three two-year terms in the Assembly and two four-year terms in the Senate. Two recent polls showed declining support for the measure. But a new Prop. 93 mailer featuring Negrete McLeod and several other members of the Legislature’s influential Latino caucus suggests that the lawmakers are solidly behind the initiative. “Shouldn’t they have a chance to keep doing their jobs to make our community better?” reads the mailer, which bears the apparent signatures of three caucus members’ mothers. “Yes!” Negrete McLeod, D-Chino, said she was surprised by the mailer. “Whoever sent that out didn’t have permission from the caucus. I purposely have not taken a stand,” said Negrete McLeod, who represents much of urban San Bernardino County. The mailer's origins are unclear. A group called “Vote Matters” is listed as its source. The last campaign filing by a group of that name shows contributions from the wood industry and carpenters union. Yet the mailer lacks the group's campaign-finance identification number, which is required on all mailers. The address on the mailer is the same as a Berkeley pub. —Jim Miller Making the rounds is a pro-Prop. 93 TV ad featuring Gov. Schwarzenegger. Think “Cloverfield” with a term limits twist. Unlike the above monster movie filling theaters, there's no information on when or if the Schwarzenegger spot will air for real. Spokespeople for the Yes-on-93 campaign and the governor’s campaign team did not know this week of any imminent plans to run commercials featuring the governor. —Jim Miller The campaign to preserve the casino-expansion agreements of three Riverside County tribes and one San Diego County tribe had burned through nearly $68 million through Saturday, according to a campaign-finance report Thursday. The Coalition to Protect California’s Budget and Economy spent $33.5 million of that in just the first 19 days of the month, good for nearly a $1.8 million-a-day clip. The campaign ended the reporting period with $15 million cash on hand. The coalition is fighting to convince voters to approve propositions 94 through 97 and uphold compacts that would let the four Southern California tribes add up to 17,000 slot machines. The Riverside County tribes are the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in the Coachella Valley, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians near Banning, and the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians near Temecula. UPDATE: Opponents filed their campaign-finance report late Thursday. The campaign has spent almost $30 million since the summer, $13 million of that from Jan. 1 through Jan. 19. Through last week, both sides had raised more than $100 million. —Jim Miller Gov. Schwarzenegger has cut a second TV ad encouraging people to vote “yes” Feb. 5 on the tribal casino-expansion agreements between the state and three Riverside County tribes and one San Diego County tribe. In the new commercial, Schwarzenegger evokes his demand from the 2003 recall campaign that tribes with casinos “pay their fair share” to the state. “With the new Indian gaming agreements, they will, “ he says in the new ad. The deals, he said, will triple how much the state receives from the tribes and “bring in billions of dollars” at a time when the state faces serious budget problems. Supporters and opponents of the deals disagree over how much money the agreements will generate. Under the deals, the tribes would have to pay about $123 million to the state general fund on their existing 2,000 slot machines. That is up from about $70 million the tribes now pay into the so-called special distribution fund, which helps nongambling tribes as well as communities near casinos. The tribes also will pay the state from 15 percent to 25 percent of the net win on additional machines. In its analysis of the referendum measures, the Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates that the total increased revenue to the state ranges from less than $200 million for the next few years to the low- to mid-hundreds of millions of dollars after that. -- JIM MILLER Think “Missile Command” in the desert. Opponents of the casino-expansion deals between the state and four Southern California tribes – props. 94 through 97 on the Feb. 5 ballot -- have released an on-line game in which a player tries to shoot down falling slot machines. The game, the first of the referendum fight, is the latest example of some campaigns’ attempts to use Internet animation to push their message. -- JIM MILLER Assemblyman John J. Benoit’s Senate campaign has landed the support of state Sen. Roy Ashburn and Assemblywoman Jean Fuller, both Bakersfield Republicans. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, is running against former Assemblyman Russ Bogh, R-Beaumont, for the 37th Senate District being vacated by state Sen. Jim Battin, R-La Quinta, at the end of the year. Ashburn, who served with Bogh in the Assembly, moved over to the Senate when Benoit arrived in the Legislature. Fuller arrived in the Assembly in December 2006 and never served with Bogh. Benoit, a pilot, occasionally lands his plane in Bakersfield to pick up Fuller on the way to and from Sacramento. -- JIM MILLER The GOP race for the 71st Assembly District is down to two people, one from Riverside County, the other from neighboring Orange County. Irvine Councilman Steven Choi bowed out of the race today. His departure leaves Corona Councilman Jeff Miller and Neil Blais, a Rancho Santa Margarita councilman, as the remaining candidates in the race to replace Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, in the Republican-leaning seat. “I have enjoyed working with the people of the 71st district very much but the seriousness of what is taking place in the city I already represent made me realize that I need to devote 100 percent of my time there,” Choi said in a statement. He referred to a controversy dealing with Irvine’s Great Park Corporation and its CEO search process. Miller called Choi soon after his withdrawal, Choi said in an interview. But Choi said he is not endorsing anyone at this time. The 71st’s Orange County portion includes about 90,000 registered Republicans. Its Riverside County portion has a little more than one-third that many. -- JIM MILLER Another week, another small nation's GDP's worth of money for the fight over casino-expansion agreements on the Feb. 5 ballot. Nearly $96 million has been raised, based on campaign-finance reports through late Friday afternoon. Competing campaigns collected more than $11.3 million this week. The financial picture heading into the holiday weekend: The pro-compact Coalition to Protect California’s Budget and the Economy reports raising $70.6 million, more than $26 million of it since the start of the year. Riverside County tribes with deals targeted by next month’s referendums have contributed nearly all the money. The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, which operates two Palm Springs-area casinos, has given $14.7 million. The Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Indians near El Cajon has given $5 million. Opponents, meanwhile, have raised $26.6 million, more than $18 million of it since Jan. 1. -- JIM MILLER Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas has endorsed Rancho Santa Margarita Councilman Neil Blais for the 71st Assembly District. Blais is one of four candidates seeking the GOP nomination in June for the Republican-dominated district, which includes Corona, Home Gardens and Norco in Riverside County and the Orange County cities of Mission Viejo, Orange, and Rancho Santa Margarita. More about the 71st race here -- JIM MILLER State Sen. Jim Battin, R-La Quinta, has made it official: He supports the ballot measure to change the state’s term-limits law. Battin's endorsement of Prop. 93 on the Flashreport web site (somehow we missed it until now) came the same day as word that Gov. Schwarzenegger was behind the measure. Battin and Schwarzenegger are among the few Republican lawmakers in the state to back the initiative, which would reduce from 14 years to 12 years the maximum amount of time someone could serve in the Legislature. The current rules allow someone to serve no more than three two-year terms in the Assembly and two four-year terms in the Senate. The measure would let Battin and several other senators facing term limits this year run for re-election in November. Not that Battin’s support was a major surprise. Back in September, Battin urged party activists at the GOP convention in Indian Wells to stay neutral on the initiative. Referring to term limits, he later said, "I just don't think they've been productive, especially in the Assembly." -- JIM MILLER
An OC-ista is abandoning the Republican primary race for the two-county 71st Assembly District and throwing his support behind the only candidate from Riverside County. John Paul Ledesma, a member of the Mission Viejo City Council who sits on the state GOP central committee, endorsed Jeff Miller, a Corona councilman. Ledesma’s departure leaves Neil Blais, a Rancho Santa Margarita councilman, and Steven Choi, an Irvine councilman, as the remaining Orange County residents in the hunt. Of course, the turn of events will be moot if voters approve Prop. 93 on the Feb. 5 ballot and the 71st's current occupant, Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, decides to seek re-election. Even with Ledesma’s backing, his leaving the primary race still carries a political downside for Miller. The more Orange County candidates in the mix, the more splintering among the 90,000 GOP voters in the 71st’s Orange County portion in the June 3 primary election. Miller, meanwhile, is expected to poll well among the 36,000 Republican voters in the district’s Riverside County half. -- JIM MILLER In today’s Sacramento Bee, Gov. Schwarzenegger elaborates on his efforts to encourage the federal government to sign off last month on gambling agreements between the state and four Southern California tribes. Schwarzenegger told The Bee’s editorial board Wednesday that he asked U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to “give attention” to the deals, which are the subject of voter referendum measures on the Feb. 5 ballot. The federal agency’s surprise approval of the deals has injected intrigue into the campaign over the casino-expansion deals and raised the likelihood of a post-election court fight. Negotiated by Gov. Schwarzenegger and tribal leaders, the compacts are between the state and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians near Banning, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in the Coachella Valley, the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians near Temecula and the Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Indians near El Cajon. If upheld by voters next month, the agreements would let the tribes install as many as 17,000 additional slot machines. In return, the tribes would pay the state a share of their slot-machine earnings. At a minimum, the tribes would pay the state $123.6 million annually on their existing machines. If voters reject the agreements, there is speculation that the agreements still could take effect because of the December federal say-so. Opponents of the deals, though, have said the agreements never should have been considered by the federal government while the legislation was the subject of a referendum challenge. -- JIM MILLER
It’s been more than a month since businesses linked to real-estate investor Terry Fancher made a major contribution to the campaign seeking to overturn four Southern California tribes’ casino compacts on the Feb. 5 ballot. He’s back. New campaign-finance reports show nearly $1.25 million in contributions this week from Stockbridge Real Estate Fund, the Fancher company that owns Bay Meadows and Hollywood Park race tracks, and another $625,000 from Bay Meadows. The payment brings to nearly $6.2 million what Fancher-connected donors have given to scuttle the deals, which include three agreements between the state and Riverside County tribes. Two gambling tribes opposed to the compacts continue to be the opposition campaign’s top contributors. Tribes for Fair Play, the tribes’ campaign committee, has contributed $13.5 million to the anti-compact effort. The latest donation came this week, when the United Auburn Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria near Sacramento gave $1.875 million. The Sacramento-area tribe has given $8.4 million altogether. -- JIM MILLER There have been a few more endorsements in the fight for the GOP nomination in Riverside County’s 37th Senate District. The campaign for former Assemblyman Russ Bogh announced the support of Norco Councilman Malcom Miller. Yes, the 37th, currently represented by Jim Battin, R-La Quinta, does go all the way to Norco. A little further afield, Assemblyman John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, released the endorsements of Assembly colleagues Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, and Jim Silva, R-Huntington Beach. -- JIM MILLER A new TV ad featuring American Indians calls on voters to defeat the tribal casino agreements on the Feb. 5 ballot. The spot, which began airing Monday statewide, underscores the split in California’s lucrative tribal gambling industry. It marks the first time in this campaign that opponents have run an ad featuring other American Indians criticizing the deals as unfair. The ad features Leroy Miranda, the vice-chairman of the Pala Band of Mission Indians in northern San Diego County. The tribe also operates a successful casino – something never mentioned in the ad – and has contributed millions to the campaign to overturn the deals. The Pala tribe opposes the deals because they believe the compacts give nearby tribes' casinos an unfair advantage. -- JIM MILLER The United Auburn Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria has put up another $1.5 million to overturn four gambling compacts going before voters Feb. 5. This week’s contribution brings to $6.5 million what the tribe, whose Sacramento-area casino is hundreds of miles from those of the tribes with targeted agreements, has spent to block the deals. A representative of the tribe has said its leaders view the agreements as more generous than the tribe’s 2004 deal with the state and setting a bad precedent. But the agreements’ supporters contend that United Auburn and a San Diego Country tribe against the deals are just trying to stifle competition. -- JIM MILLER The campaign to overturn four Southern California tribes’ casino compacts on the Feb. 5 ballot has announced a new statewide TV commercial. With the beeping jangle of slot machines in the background, the ad’s voiceover warns that the agreements would allow 17,000 additional slot machines, equal to a dozen Las Vegas casinos. -- JIM MILLER Richard Milanovich, chairman of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, was in the Capitol on Tuesday to attend Gov. Schwarzenegger’s State of the State Address. Not that he was entirely satisfied with what he heard. Milanovich, whose Coachella Valley tribe is fighting to uphold its renegotiated gambling compact on the Feb. 5 ballot, said afterward he would have appreciated a plug for the deal and the three others going before voters. “I understand it’s a delicate issue, but by the same token it’s new money coming in,” he said. In other referendum news, the San Mateo paper today reports on the role of Terry Fancher, whose investment firm owns Bay Meadows south of San Francisco and Hollywood Park in Inglewood. Both horse tracks have heavily funded the push to overturn the deals. Even if the referendums fail, the story says, “There is little chance that a breakthrough would come in time to save Bay Meadows from being torn down and redeveloped, since construction is set to begin late this year. But Hollywood Park could stand to benefit from any such tilt in the competitive balance.” -- JIM MILLER New campaign finance reports show that the ballot fight over four Southern California tribes’ casino-expansion agreements burned through nearly $46 million in 2007. The reports, filed with the secretary of state’s office late Monday, show that the coalition of three Riverside County tribes and one San Diego County tribe spent $34.1 million to defend their agreements, known as compacts. About $25.1 million of that came in the final three months of the year. Two campaign committees have raised money to overturn the deals on the Feb. 5 ballot. Tribes for Fair Play, comprised of the Pala Band of Mission Indians in northern San Diego County and the United Auburn tribe near Sacramento, spent $4.1 million last year, the reports show. About $2.6 million of that money was given to another opposition committee, Californians Against Unfair Deals, which also received money from two horse tracks and the hotel and restaurant employees union. The committee reported spending $10.2 million through December, $5.8 million of that in the final three months of the year. -- JIM MILLER Maybe it was the conviviality of the first day of the 2008 session that sealed the deal. Whatever the reason, Assemblyman John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes, on Monday announced the endorsements of a few more Assembly colleagues for his state Senate candidacy: Assembly members Alan Nakanishi, R-Lodi, Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, and Cameron Smyth, R-Santa Clarita. Benoit is running against former Assemblyman Russ Bogh in the GOP primary for the 37th Senate District. -- JIM MILLER
Michelle DeArmond in today's Press-Enterprise reports on a new TV commercial featuring Gov. Schwarzenegger talking up Props. 94 through 97, the Feb. 5 referendum measures on the gambling agreements he negotiated with three tribes in Riverside County and one in San Diego County. The Sacramento Bee, meanwhile, scrutinizes that ad as well as the commercial that opponents of the deals began airing en masse earlier this week. -- JIM MILLER
The Morongo Band of Mission Indians near Banning has contributed another $10 million to the campaign to pass its renegotiated gambling compact and three others on the Feb. 5 ballot. Thursday’s donation brings to nearly $55 million what the pro-compact Coalition to Protect California’s Budget and Economy has gathered. Of that, the Morongo tribe has given the most -- $20.5 million. Amended campaign reports filed this week show that the coalition spent about $9 million through September. Judging from the volume of TV ads and other campaigning, though, a lot more has been spent since then. -- JIM MILLER
Opponents of three Riverside County tribes’ casino-expansion agreements with the state have started running TV ads, only days before absentee voters can fill out their ballots for the Feb. 5 election. The ballot includes referendum measures on the pacts and another targeting a San Diego County tribe. The commercial, which aired during New Year’s Day bowl games, alleges that the tribes “cut themselves a Sacramento deal” that goes far beyond what voters wanted when they authorized gambling on tribal lands in 2000. The agreements between the state and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians near Banning, the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians near Temecula, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in the Coachella Valley, and the Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Indians in San Diego County would let the tribes install up to 17,000 additional slot machines. In return, the tribes would pay the state a share of casino revenue. The Bay Meadows and Hollywood Park horse-racing tracks, the Unite Here restaurant and hotel employees union, and two other gambling tribes, the Pala Band of Mission Indians in northern San Diego County and the United Auburn tribe near Sacramento have spent millions to overturn the agreements. On Monday, the United Auburn tribe near Sacramento contributed $4.5 million to the effort, the anti-compact campaign’s largest single donation so far. The tribes’ coalition has been airing pro-compact TV ads for months and has a significant financial advantage. -- JIM MILLER The Mike Huckabee juggernaut has hit California, where support for the Republican presidential candidate has surged from just two months ago, according to a new poll. A Field Institute survey released today shows that the former Arkansas governor, an afterthought in the GOP field for most of the year, trails only former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in popularity among likely Republican voters in the state's Feb. 5 presidential primary. -- Jim Miller/The Press-Enterprise
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