Two candidates are set to challenge Sheriff-Coroner-Public Administrator Rod Hoops in June.
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Averbeck and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Schrader have both officially filed nomination forms, meaning their names will appear on the ballot with Hoops.
While the two challengers lack the necessary resources to mount any significant challenge to Hoops, it never hurts any incumbent to have been elected in a contested race.
Neil Derry
Supervisor Neil Derry
Posted: 03/09/2010 07:32:21 PM PST
These are indeed troubled times for San Bernardino County.
Again.
Recently, former county officials were arrested and there are clear indications that a multitude of investigations may well lead to more arrests, more exposures of misdeeds, and sadly, continued confirmation to residents here and those elsewhere that this county remains the Wild West.
I ran for supervisor to take on these tough issues. I believe we should dig deeply into these scandals. That is why the voters of the 3rd District elected me.
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/09/2010 06:41:43 PM PST
A Barstow attorney of more than 20 years announced Tuesday he will seek the seat held by San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael A. Ramos in the June primary.
Bob Conaway, who in previous years made unsuccessful runs for Congress, county supervisor and the Barstow Community College District, said Tuesday that he is “irritated with (Ramos’s) holier-than-thou attitude,” and believes Ramos is every bit as much of the problem as some of the current and former county officials his office is currently investigating.
InlandPolitics has learned Fontana City Councilwoman Janice Rutherford has opened a campaign committee with the California Secretary of State and will challenge Second District Supervisor Paul Biane in June.
As of this evening only Dennis Labadie and Peter Markovich have returned their nomination papers to the Registrar of Voters.
Paying for pensions
Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/09/2010 08:51:12 PM PST
RIALTO – The city will spend between $60,000 and $70,000 to find out if residents want to reinstate a property tax to pay for enhanced public employee pensions.
The council in a 4-0 vote on Tuesday night approved a resolution calling for an advisory measure to be added to the statewide June 8 primary election, to gauge public interest in a proposed tax of roughly 15 cents per $100 of assessed valuation on properties in order to pay into the Public Employee Retirement System.
11:08 PM PST on Tuesday, March 9, 2010
By DARRELL R. SANTSCHI
The Press-Enterprise
GRAND TERRACE – City Councilman Jim Miller abruptly announced his resignation Tuesday night, admitting at a Grand Terrace council meeting that he should not have voted to approve payments of city funds to his wife’s newspaper.
Miller, 61, said at the meeting that his resignation will be effective today and promised that his wife, Margie, who owns the weekly newspaper Grand Terrace City News, will return to the city about $18,000 that she was paid for running legal advertisements for the city from Oct. 26, 2006, to Aug. 12, 2008.
Schwarzenegger
By CATHY BUSSEWITZ, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
(03-09) 17:11 PST Sacramento, Calif. (AP) –
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday that he vetoed the largest piece of legislation in a package of budget bills because it did not take immediate steps to cut spending.
Democratic lawmakers said the bill would have shaved $2.1 billion from the $20 billion shortfall projected for California’s budget through June 2011. So far, the Legislature and governor have agreed to just $200 million in spending cuts.
Meg Whitman
By JULIET WILLIAMS
Associated Press Writer
Published: Tuesday, Mar. 9, 2010 – 1:22 pm
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Former eBay chief Meg Whitman’s campaign for governor of California has a familiar ring to it: She’s an outsider from the business world who promises to sweep the Capitol clean of politics-as-usual and deliver fiscal common sense.
California voters have heard that before. It’s roughly the same message fellow Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pitched during the 2003 gubernatorial recall election that elevated him to power.
PolitiCal
March 9, 2010 | 3:04 pm
Just months after California lawmakers had their pay and benefits cut 18%, the head of a state panel that sets salaries proposed Tuesday that elected officials lose an additional 10% in response to the state’s continuing economic crisis.
The proposal to reduce pay, living expenses and health insurance payments by 10% was made by Charles Murray, chairman of the state’s Citizens Compensation Commission. The panel, which is appointed by the governor, is scheduled to meet April 22 in Burbank to consider the new pay cuts, which also affect lawmakers’ car allowance, health benefits and per diem.
By Connie Llanos Staff Writer
Posted: 03/09/2010 08:33:51 PM PST
Los Angeles Unified officials said Tuesday they expect to lay off at least 6,300 workers this summer if employee unions cannot agree to deep concessions, including a 10 percent pay cut and 12 furlough days over the next two years.
The massive layoffs are needed to close LAUSD’s budget gap estimated at $640 million for the 2010-11 school year.
James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/09/2010 06:31:39 PM PST
A day after seven San Bernardino schools were named as being among the worst in the state, parents and schools officials defended the campuses against withering criticism from critics who say the district needs a shakeup.
Six elementary schools and Pacific High School were named Monday as being among the 188 worst schools in California, based on student achievement. County school board member Gil Navarro said the San Bernardino City Unified School District has for too long settled for incremental improvement.
10:14 PM PST on Monday, March 8, 2010
By IMRAN GHORI
The Press-Enterprise
San Bernardino County Supervisor Paul Biane is proposing that the county suspend its lawsuit against three agencies to recover damages over a $102 million lawsuit settlement — the same settlement that has lead to two bribery and extortion arrests
Biane said the Board of Supervisors will consider the proposal to halt the lawsuit for now in closed session at its March 23 meeting.
Bill Emmerson
10:00 PM PST on Monday, March 8, 2010
By DUANE W. GANG and JULISSA McKINNON
The Press-Enterprise
A Val Verde Unified School District board member who had hoped to run for the state Senate in the 37th District special election next month is accusing Riverside County officials of giving another candidate special treatment.
Shelly Yarbrough, who wanted to get on the April 13 ballot as a Democrat, said she wasn’t notified until after the March 1 filing deadline that she came up seven signatures short of qualifying.
Website posts text contradicting Tom Campbell’s claim of writing on behalf of donor Sami Al-Arian before 9/11.
By Seema Mehta
March 8, 2010 | 11:05 p.m.
Terrorism and the Middle East are continuing to roil the Republican Senate contest after a letter written by former congressman Tom Campbell emerged that appeared to contradict statements Campbell and his aides had made about his dealings with a radical Muslim professor.
The professor, Sami Al-Arian, contributed to Campbell’s unsuccessful campaign in 2000 for the U.S. Senate. On Sept. 26, 2001, when he was teaching at the University of South Florida, Al-Arian gave an interview to Fox TV host Bill O’Reilly in which he conceded that he had said, “Jihad is our path. Victory to Islam. Death to Israel. Revolution. Revolution until victory. Rolling to Jerusalem.”
10:00 PM PST on Monday, March 8, 2010
By IMRAN GHORI
The Press-Enterprise
An Apple Valley businessman accused of lying about his financial ties to former San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus made his first court appearance Monday morning.
John Dino DeFazio, 50, was arrested by district attorney investigators Feb. 25 and charged with two felony counts of perjury stemming from sworn testimony he gave to a grand jury last fall. Prosecutors contend he lied about a political action committee they say was secretly controlled by Postmus.
PolitiCal
March 8, 2010 | 4:51 pm
A group of Democrats seeking to derail Meg Whitman’s candidacy for governor has created an Internet site where people can dish dirt on the former EBay chief – as long as it is factual and well-sourced, the creators say.
The website, www.wikimeg.com, created by a group called Level the Playing Field 2010, is modeled after Wikipedia, where users can contribute their own information. But it offers an alternative to Whitman’s entry in that forum. “The Wikipedia page, if you look at it, reads like propaganda from an Eastern Bloc country 20 years ago,” said Ace Smith, a Democratic consultant who has previously worked with Jerry Brown, the presumed Democratic nominee for governor.
Schwarzenegger
Schwarzenegger and fellow Republicans had criticized the bill as a parlor trick because it would make cuts to a budget that the Legislature hasn’t passed yet.
By Michael Rothfeld
March 8, 2010 | 11:12 p.m.
Reporting from Sacramento – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday afternoon vetoed the largest piece of a $4-billion package of bills lawmakers approved in recent weeks to reduce the state’s nearly $20-billion budget deficit.
The bill contained an estimated $2.2 billion in spending reductions, according to Democrats, some of them proposed by the governor himself.
By Ed Mendel
In exchange for boosting CalSTRS payments to retirees, the state has saved money by cutting its annual contribution to the pension fund with two different legislative deals during the last dozen years.
It’s not the main reason the nation’s second largest public pension fund is now seriously underfunded. Investment losses in the stock market crash get the bulk of the blame.
Brown
March 9, 2010, 7:16am | Christina Jewett
Attorney General Jerry Brown last week announced his bid for governor, and his office didn’t miss a beat in issuing press releases about his accomplishments as the state’s top cop.
But a release issued yesterday about the money recovered by the Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse Unit made no mention of another trend: Brown’s office had filed fewer elder abuse cases than the previous Attorney General.
10:00 PM PST on Monday, March 8, 2010
By JANET ZIMMERMAN
The Press-Enterprise
Open-space preservationists are staging celebrations in Oak Glen and Yucca Valley this week to mark assurances by the city of Los Angeles that it is withdrawing its application to construct electrical transmission lines across desert and scenic hilltops.
The Wildlands Conservancy, based in the San Bernardino County community of Oak Glen, is holding a 10 a.m. event Wednesday — complete with an apple pie giveaway. At noon, a similar party is planned at the community center in Yucca Valley, said Dana Rochat, the conservancy’s projects coordinator.
by Mary Williams Walsh
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
provided by
The New York Times
States and companies have started investing very differently when it comes to the billions of dollars they are safeguarding for workers’ retirement.
Companies are quietly and gradually moving their pension funds out of stocks. They want to reduce their investment risk and are buying more long-term bonds.
But states and other bodies of government are seeking higher returns for their pension funds, to make up for ground lost in the last couple of years and to pay all the benefits promised to present and future retirees. Higher returns come with more risk.
Class sizes to jump from 20 to 30 students
March 08, 2010 5:29 PM
Natasha Lindstrom
ADELANTO • The Adelanto School District Board of Trustees Tuesday night is poised to send pink slips to 18 teachers and trim management pay by 7.5 percent.
The proposed cuts aim to help patch the district’s $8.5 million deficit through 2012-13 as the state rolls back funding for schools amid a $20 billion state-wide budget shortfall.
Ashburn
State Senator Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield) who was arrested for driving under the influence after leaving a gay night club in Sacramento last week while appearing on a local Bakersfield radio station this morning that he is in fact gay.
Ashburn, a divorced father of four is currently on personal leave from the California Senate.
Ashburn had previously announced he was leaving politics weeks before his arrest.
Rutherford
Sources tell InlandPolitics Fontana City Councilwoman Janice Rutherford will likely challenge Second District Supervisor Paul Biane for his seat on the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.
Rutherford took out nomination papers in mid-February and who has recently become outspoken against Biane and county government has until 5 P.M. Friday to file.
Wendy Leung, Staff Writer
Created: 03/07/2010 06:02:26 AM PST
RANCHO CUCAMONGA – So much of November’s City Council race rests on what happens this summer.
By then, results of the Republican primaries for the 63rd Assembly District will be in, which will indicate whether Mayor Don Kurth has a chance to replace termed-out Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Rancho Cucamonga, and leave the City Council.
By summer, the outcome of Councilman Rex Gutierrez’s criminal case might be clearer, which will indicate whether his political career will continue.
Steve Poizner
By Ken McLaughlin
kmclaughlin@mercurynews.com
Posted: 03/07/2010 05:28:26 PM PST
Updated: 03/07/2010 10:32:37 PM PST
When Republican Steve Poizner ran against Ira Ruskin in a heavily Democratic state Assembly district in 2004, Poizner assured voters he was against the war in Iraq, was 100 percent pro-choice and would stand up to “Republican Party bosses.” But six years after narrowly losing that Peninsula race to the liberal Ruskin, Poizner — who now wants to be governor — is painting himself as the only “true conservative” in the GOP primary.
Brown
CAPITOL JOURNAL
‘This state is in big trouble,’ says Jerry Brown, who expects a brutal election battle.
By George Skelton
Capitol Journal
March 8, 2010
From Sacramento
“So you’re back at it,” I say to Jerry Brown after picking up the phone. “When wasn’t I at it?” he responds.
True enough. Brown has been running for office — or so it seems — as long as I’ve known him, going back to when he was a candidate for the Los Angeles community college board 42 years ago and I bought the tightwad breakfast in a Mid-Wilshire coffee shop.
March 8, 2010
Jerry Brown roared back into California politics last week, putting on a clinic on how to win free media exposure, with a webcast announcement, CBS Evening News and Larry King Live appearances, sit-downs with more than three dozen newspaper, TV and radio outlets in every major market and an all-important interview with Calbuzz.
Virtually every news story used Brown’s money line -– “insider’s knowledge but with an outsider’s mind” -– the kind of yin-yang, unity of opposites, interspacial mind-meld Brown has always personified. Yet almost every story also took a different angle, reflecting his facility for reacting and responding to whatever is thrown at him, without notes, aides or cue cards.
The 24 buildings being offered, including two in L.A., are drawing global investors. The sale is also being criticized for the loss of long-term capital assets in favor of short-term gains.
State buildings
By Roger Vincent
March 8, 2010
Efforts to sell 24 state office buildings have drawn lots of interest from potential buyers — as well as the ire of some former public officials who labored to get them built years ago in the belief that public ownership of the buildings would bring long-term financial benefits to taxpayers.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Monday, Mar. 8, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
When Darrell Steinberg, the president pro tem of the state Senate, outlined his priorities last month, he included “oversight.”
In Capitol jargon it means the Legislature’s holding hearings or conducting investigations into how state programs are functioning.
Steinberg, in fact, has created a Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes and staffed it with ex-newspaper reporters, supposedly to do the same kind of deep drilling they did in journalism.
Canan Tasci, Staff Writer
Created: 03/07/2010 06:02:26 AM PST
ONTARIO – The Ontario-Montclair School District officials will send out 142 preliminary layoff notices to certificated employees.
The cuts include 101 categorical employees, which includes at least 36 administrators.
March 07, 2010 12:00 PM
Brooke Edwards
APPLE VALLEY • For the second year in a row, the town will keep a balanced budget by dipping slightly into its reserves and using that safety net to heavily subsidize its Park and Recreation Department and Apple Valley Golf Course.
Cash reserves in the general fund will be down 30 percent by June from where they were two years ago, according to a mid-year budget report prepared for Tuesday’s workshop, dropping from $15.4 million to a projected $10.8 million.
2,500 students must find ways to get to school
Chantal M. Lovell, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/07/2010 11:59:08 PM PST
REDLANDS – Riding the bus to school next year will not be an option for many students after a vote by the board of education to eliminate home- to-school transportation for most high school students.
It’s a decision that will leave about 2,500 students, like 16-year-old Keith Johnson, on their own when it comes to getting to and from school.
Keith rides a school bus seven miles from his Loma Linda home to Redlands High School. He said the cut will put a strain on his family.
Jeff Burum
Posted: 03/06/2010 05:34:36 PM PST
The first casualty of politics is always the truth. Still, the recent accusations leveled against me and my business partners by politicians in an election year, unsupported by any meaningful evidence, have reached an unconscionable new low and need to be responded to with actual facts.
The Inland Empire has been my home for almost 30 years. I went to college here, worked here, built homes for more than 30,000 families and created thousands of jobs for the people here. I also founded National Community Renaissance, one of the nation’s largest and most respected nonprofit developers of affordable housing. I’ve always played by the rules, striving to do well and do good for my community.
Bill Postmus
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Created: 03/06/2010 09:14:16 PM PST
In 2008, the San Bernardino County Grand Jury released a scathing report of the Assessor’s Office, citing egregious hiring practices and a lack of qualified staff under the reign of then-Assessor Bill Postmus.
It triggered a criminal investigation by the District Attorney’s Office that ultimately led to Postmus’ downfall.
Postmus came under fire for hiring political consultant and friend Michael Richman to do public relations work for the office under a no-bid purchase order contract.
Meg Whitman
By Jack Chang
jchang@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Mar. 7, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
In the thick of a Detroit winter in 1997, Meg Whitman grappled with what she acknowledges was the least successful chapter of her professional life.
She was leaving her first-ever CEO posting, at the floral company FTD, after two disappointing years struggling to turn a profit.
Adding to the burden of the job was the commute to see her young family in Boston and the suspicion of layoff-weary employees.
Ruby Simpson
Posted: 03/06/2010 05:33:19 PM PST
Being an opponent of limits on campaign contributions is a little like being a porcupine in the balloon store – I better be really careful where I step.
In the face of wide and deep corruption in San Bernardino County, it’s easy to say we should put a limit on campaign contributions. Since I am always painfully aware of the law of unintended consequences, however, I do not think limiting contributions is a good idea. When I heard District Attorney Mike Ramos talk about his plan to clean up political corruption, I was extremely impressed with certain aspects of it, but turned thumbs down on limiting campaign contributions for a number of reasons.
Robert M. Stern
Posted: 03/06/2010 05:34:36 PM PST
San Bernardino District Attorney Michael Ramos needs to be commended for proposing several new campaign finance proposals covering county elections. While Ramos’ ideas won’t eliminate corruption or venal behavior, they would go a long ways toward restoring some faith in San Bernardino government. But I am skeptical about whether the county supervisors will pass any of these reforms despite the scandals that have repeatedly occurred.
THE WEEK
Poizner takes a different tack, moving to the right in search of a conservative base.
By Cathleen Decker
March 7, 2010
Their battle for governor joined, front runners Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown raced last week to find the sweet spot that has guaranteed election in all recent California political contests. Although that place has undoubtedly skittered somewhat since the last election, it still resides in the middle ground of California politics, as was evident in the forays of the leading candidates.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Sunday, Mar. 7, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
If you find yourself in a hole, the old adage advises, the first thing you should do is stop digging.
California is buried in a deep economic and fiscal hole, but our politicians seem bent on burrowing even deeper.
The state has tens of billions of dollars in unsold bonds, and Treasurer Bill Lockyer has warned that with the state’s lowest-in-the-nation credit rating he may market new debt only sporadically.
By Dan Morain, Senior editor
dmorain@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Sunday, Mar. 7, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 1E
Politics can be a good business. Just look at the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
Jarvis has been dead for a quarter century. But the organization that bears his names occupies a profitable niche, one that includes opposing taxes, promoting initiatives and endorsing politicians.
Jarvis was a tea partier long before the anti-government and anti-tax movement took on its current name. Now, his mad-as-hell message is part of the Republican establishment, almost always aligned with Chamber of Commerce and real estate interests, and often with tobacco, oil, gambling and other big businesses.
As lawmakers react to a Supreme Court decision that struck down a portion of election funding laws, the fate of U.S. subsidiaries is uncertain.
By Clement Tan
March 7, 2010
Reporting from Washington – Proposed legislation to block foreign companies from contributing money to U.S. elections could end up affecting well-known companies such as Chrysler, Anheuser-Busch and Citgo, according to legal experts and company representatives.
Furloughs are expected to save the state $1.2 billion this fiscal year. But last year some workers more than offset those cuts with increased overtime.
By Patrick McGreevy
March 6, 2010 | 8:18 p.m.
Reporting from Sacramento – Like many other state employees, prison nurse Nellie Larot was hit last year with furloughs that cut her salary: It dropped $10,000, to $92,000.
But she more than made up for it by working extra shifts, raking in $177,512 in overtime, according to state records. Her total $270,000 in earnings last year eclipsed the $225,000 paid to Matthew Cate, head of the entire state prison system.
BY BROOKE EDWARDS
STAFF WRITER
VICTORVILLE • Though the two incumbents are off to a slow start, City Council challenging candidate Angela Valles has already raised nearly $16,000 to make a run in the Nov. 2 election.
Neither incumbent Councilwoman JoAnn Almond or Councilman Terry Caldwell raised a penny for their campaigns in 2009, according to finance forms filed with the city, and they didn’t spend much either.
McEachron
McEachron still brings in the most donations
BY BROOKE EDWARDS
STAFF WRITER
VICTORVILLE • Though he’s not up for re-election again until 2012, Councilman Ryan McEachron easily raised and spent the most money in 2009 of any sitting or challenging Victorville candidate.
McEachron brought in more than $40,000 last year. Most of those funds went to repay more than $50,000 in loans he’d taken from his own ISU-ARMAC Insurance Agency to fund his successful campaign efforts in 2008.
This is part three in a series of stories regarding the deterioration in San Bernardino County-owned Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC).
So far we have covered the degradation of the Emergency and Surgery Departments.
Now let’s take a look at overall management.
In their first debate, Fiorina and Campbell lash out as DeVore largely avoids the fray.
By Seema Mehta
March 6, 2010
Reporting from Sacramento – The Republican candidates for U.S. Senate traded foreign policy insults in a tense first debate Friday, with businesswoman Carly Fiorina hitting former Rep. Tom Campbell for associating with supporters of terrorism and Campbell accusing Fiorina’s campaign of smearing him as anti-Semitic.
Meg Whitman
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
March 5, 2010
Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman has pledged to bring business discipline to the governor’s office if she wins, and apparently her fellow CEOs agree.
Whitman has collected about $1.5 million from people who identify themselves as CEOs, far ahead of her Republican rival Steve Poizner, another former CEO who’s collected about $160,000 from CEOs. The tabulation doesn’t include donations under $5,000 given this year.
Poizner
Published: Saturday, Mar. 6, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner this week launched the first television ad of his campaign. Following is the text of the ad and an analysis by Bee Political Editor Amy Chance.
The ad
PolitiCal
March 5, 2010 | 8:00 pm
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner, who is running as a social conservative, took the most liberal positions on a range of issues relating to abortion rights when he ran for state Assembly in 2004, according to a document obtained by The Times.
The form Poizner filled out for Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, in San Jose, earned him a 100% rating on abortion rights from the group for his losing race against Democrat Ira Ruskin in the 21st Assembly District. It shows that Poizner said he supported sex education in schools, including discussion of contraception. He also supported government funding of abortion services. And he supported efforts to expand the use of emergency contraception after unprotected sex, also known as the “morning after pill.”
Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/05/2010 11:39:26 AM PST
RIALTO – Some of the city’s General Unit employees believe they were pressured by their representatives into giving up concessions last year to fix a $4.8 million budget shortfall.
In a letter of petition that prompted an emergency meeting Monday with Bob Blough, the general manager of the San Bernardino Public Employees Association, about 60 members outlined alleged failures on the part of union representative Bonnie Clarke and demanded new leadership.
Councilwoman still plans to run for reelection
March 05, 2010 – 3:30 PM
Brooke Edwards
VICTORVILLE • Councilwoman JoAnn Almond returned to City Hall on Thursday after missing a month of meetings, having narrowly avoided a life-threatening heart attack.
“My doctor told me, ‘JoAnn, you cannot believe how close you were,’” the fourth-term councilwoman said, relieved to be feeling almost normal again after weeks at home.
Canan Tasci, Staff Writer
Created: 03/05/2010 09:07:44 PM PST
RANCHO CUCAMONGA – It was an emotional board meeting for Central School District Superintendent Sharon Nagel.
The superintendent broke into tears at Thursday’s school board meeting after listening to a report that the Rancho Cucamonga-based district may not be able to meet its financial obligations for the current school year and the two subsequent years.
Wes Woods II, Staff Writer
Created: 03/05/2010 06:05:44 PM PST
CLAREMONT – The Claremont Unified school board unanimously approved sending out about 70 layoff notices.
District officials, in a school board meeting Thursday night, said they project a $6.7million deficit for the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school years.
By PE Politics
on March 5, 2010 6:29 AM
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved legislation that proponents say would pave the way toward thousands of new jobs in the nation’s struggling economy.
As has been the case for much of the current congress, Inland Southern California’s congressional delegation was divided along party lines on the $17.6 package.
By Susan Ferriss
sferriss@sacbee.com
Published: Saturday, Mar. 6, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
A prominent Republican state senator arrested on suspicion of drunken driving this week in Sacramento has taken a personal leave through Sunday from the upper house.
State Sen. Roy Ashburn of Bakersfield, a 14-year veteran of the Legislature, was arrested at about 2 a.m. Wednesday while driving his state-issued car near the state Capitol.
Congressional estimates see grimmer deficit picture than Obama administration
Andrew Taylor, Associated Press Writer
On Friday March 5, 2010, 9:20 pm EST
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new congressional report released Friday says the United States’ long-term fiscal woes are even worse than predicted by President Barack Obama’s grim budget submission last month.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts that Obama’s budget plans would generate deficits over the upcoming decade that would total $9.8 trillion. That’s $1.2 trillion more than predicted by the administration.
Concerns about the state’s long-term fiscal challenges fuel shift toward national diversification in Californians’ tax-free bond portfolios.
By Tom Petruno Market Beat
March 6, 2010
California and its local governments have long counted on a large captive audience for their debt: Many of the buyers are high-income individual investors who live here and find the federal and state tax exemption on California municipal bond interest too attractive to pass up.
Published: Friday, 5 Mar 2010 | 4:02 PM ET
By: Jeff Cox
CNBC.com
Friday’s better-than-expected jobs report, while cheering stock investors, hasn’t taken the threat of a double-dip recession off the table.
What’s Next?
Even as the jobless rate held steady at 9.7 percent and the 36,000 workers laid off in February was much less than expected, economists and investment analysts said it’s still too early to discount the economy’s chances of revisiting recession.
Gov. Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver received more than $235,000 for appearing in spots for the state’s tourism commission. Aides say the couple didn’t know about the income and have paid it back.
By Michael Rothfeld
March 5, 2010
Reporting from Sacramento – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who often speaks of his love for California, has promoted the state with his wife Maria Shriver in television commercials over the last five years. And as they invited viewers to visit, California’s first couple got paid.
By Michael J. Sorba, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/04/2010 06:56:55 PM PST
COLTON – In another move aimed at finding permanent spending cuts, the City Council this week approved an audit that will examine savings that could come from dissolving the city Police Department and contracting with an outside agency for police services.
A $99,790 contract has been awarded to San Francisco-based auditor Harvey M. Rose Associates, LLC to find ways to cut police costs.
10:00 PM PST on Thursday, March 4, 2010
The Press-Enterprise
Three candidates — two current and one former prosecutor — have filed papers to run for a Riverside County Superior Court judgeship. Superior Court Judge Robert McIntyre is retiring.
The election is in June. Judges serve six-year terms.
Wendy Leung, Staff Writer
Created: 03/04/2010 08:48:00 PM PST
RANCHO CUCAMONGA – Smoking and waiting in lines do not mix, according to the City Council, which gave initial approval on Wednesday to an ordinance that prohibits tobacco use in transit stops and outdoor service lines.
The ordinance, expected to go into effect mid-April, will prohibit smoking within 20 feet of bus stops, train stations and lines for services such as ATMs and theaters.
Rallies and walkouts are largely peaceful, but 150 are arrested in Oakland as a freeway is blocked. The demonstrations are part of a nationwide ‘Day of Action for Public Education.’
By Carla Rivera and Nicole Santa Cruz and Larry Gordon
March 5, 2010
A day of passionate protest against education funding cuts attracted thousands of demonstrators Thursday to mostly peaceful rallies, walkouts and teach-ins at universities and high schools throughout California and the nation. In Oakland, however, about 150 protesters were arrested after they blocked a freeway, snarling rush-hour traffic.
Karen Bass
By Jim Sanders
jsanders@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Mar. 4, 2010 – 4:55 pm
Former Assembly Speaker Karen Bass quietly promoted 20 members of her Democratic caucus staff and gave them 10 percent salary increases that took effect her final days as Assembly leader.
Along with higher pay, staff members received different job titles, reflecting perhaps a change in duties, Assembly records show.
Steve Poizner
By Jack Chang
jchang@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Mar. 5, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner said Thursday that he has rethought his decade-old support for Proposition 39, which lowered the vote threshold to pass school bonds.
The insurance commissioner said he had given nearly $200,000 to the successful campaign to pass the initiative because it had required charter schools be given access to facilities equal to other public schools.
BY CHRISTINE BEDELL, Californian government editor
cbedell@bakersfield.com | Thursday, Mar 04 2010 03:20 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Mar 04 2010 07:54 PM
The sexual orientation and voting record of state Sen. Roy Ashburn exploded into national news Thursday, the day after he was arrested on misdemeanor drunk driving charges in Sacramento.
Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, did not return calls again Thursday seeking an explanation of the events leading up to his arrest and the Sacramento television report that launched nationwide speculation that the veteran lawmaker is gay and therefore a hypocrite for voting against gay-rights bills.
By Ed Mendel
The CalSTRS board may cut its investment earnings forecast, a small move that could add hundreds of millions of dollars to the current $4 billion annual shortfall needed for full funding.
The nation’s second largest public pension fund, with assets valued at $131 billion at the end of January, began to consider the issue last month and may act in September or even sooner.
Steve Cooley
Troy Anderson, Staff Writer
Created: 03/04/2010 08:44:56 PM PST
Describing the actions of the Los Angeles County district attorney as “striking and rampant,” a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering Steve Cooley to stop discriminating and retaliating against employees on the basis of their union membership, officials said.
U.S. District Court Judge Otis D. Wright II wrote the allegations made by the prosecutors union in a lawsuit are “largely undisputed,” noting Cooley’s lawyers didn’t deny that Cooley instructed Training Division Assistant Head Deputy Robert Dver to “undermine” the Association of Deputy District Attorneys.
March 04, 2010 8:54 AM
Tomoya Shimura
VICTORVILLE • A judge who refused to grant a restraining order against a man who later killed his son then himself apologized on Wednesday to the mother for comments he made to her in court.
Judge Robert Lemkau had called Katie Tagle a liar when she tried to get a restraining order against her estranged boyfriend, Stephen Garcia, on January 21.
We continue with coverage on the deterioration in management and service delivery at San Bernardino County-owned and operated Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) in Colton.
Sources tell InlandPolitics of serious mismanagement in the scheduling and use of operating rooms at the facility. Specifically, the full complement of 14 operating rooms is never utilized. Instead, no more than 8 are fully staffed at any given time.
March 03, 2010 6:38 PM
By NATASHA LINDSTROM Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO • Amid allegations that former county Assessor Bill Postmus battled a methamphetamine addiction, condoned rampant timecard fraud and tapped unqualified cronies to run a political operation on county time, an independent state review has found that day-to-day operations under Postmus ran smoothly.
The Board of Equalization released an assessment practices survey into the Assessor’s office highlighting several electronic upgrades that improved efficiency and concluding that most operations ran effectively with Postmus in charge.
10:00 PM PST on Wednesday, March 3, 2010
By JIM MILLER
Sacramento Bureau
SACRAMENTO – Riverside County district attorney investigators showed up last week at the Northern California offices of a prominent Republican consulting firm and a bookkeeping business linked to a defendant in the campaign-finance prosecution of several Inland political and civic leaders.
Gilliard Blanning and Associates of Rocklin and the KAL Group of Willows have advised dozens of candidates and campaign groups in the Inland area and around the state over the years.
County calls another probe ‘unnecessary, premature’
March 03, 2010 6:41 PM
By NATASHA LINDSTROM Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO • The San Bernardino County transportation planning agency SANBAG on Wednesday urged county supervisors to launch an independent investigation into themselves, with a current supervisor and chief of staff recently linked as possible co-conspirators in the largest bribery scandal in county history.
Neil Derry
Michael J. Sorba, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/03/2010 08:39:38 PM PST
HIGHLAND – Combatting corruption and compensation reforms for high-level employees were just a few subjects Neil Derry, San Bernardino County’s 3rd District supervisor, addressed at a Wednesday night town hall meeting at the Sam J. Racadio Library and Environmental Learning Center.
Derry said he hopes to establish an ethics commission that would hold elected and appointed county officials accountable for bad behavior and spoke of his successful bid to eliminate an annual $26,000 medical benefits package the Board of Supervisors received.
10:00 PM PST on Wednesday, March 3, 2010
By DUANE W. GANG
The Press-Enterprise
Supervisors approved a task force this week to develop possible reforms to Riverside County’s pension system and make the program more financially sound.
“State and local pensions as they are currently structured are unsustainable,” said Supervisor John Tavaglione.
The board voted 4-0 Tuesday to create the Pension Reform Advisory Committee.
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/03/2010 06:07:46 PM PST
San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG), the county’s transportation planning agency, passed a resolution Wednesday demanding that the county commissionan independent investigation of its $102 million legal settlement with a Rancho Cucamonga developer in November 2006.
Cassie MacDuff
10:00 PM PST on Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Cassie MacDuff
What never made sense to me about San Bernardino County’s $102 million settlement with Colonies Partners — besides the price tag — was why county officials gave up a fight they seemed to have a fair chance of winning.
In 2003, a judge in Rancho Cucamonga ruled against the county in the dispute with Colonies over a flood-control basin on the company’s land in Upland.
But in 2005, the state Court of Appeal overturned it, ruling in favor of the county on some issues and sending others back to a local court.
In July 2006, a different local judge ruled against the county even more strongly than the Rancho Cucamonga judge had.
CAPITOL JOURNAL
Brown opposed Prop. 13, but became a born-again tax-cutter.
By George Skelton Capitol Journal
March 4, 2010
From Sacramento
There’s an old Jerry Brown story that’s often recounted but deserves repeating now because it gets right to the core of the guy. It’s quintessential Jerry.
The story involves the two biggest California political players of the late 1970s: young rock-star-like Gov. Brown and crusty old anti-tax crusader Howard Jarvis. In spring 1978, they fought over the most important ballot initiative in the state’s history, Jarvis’ Proposition 13.
By Jack Chang
jchang@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Mar. 4, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
OAKLAND – A day after announcing his candidacy for governor, Attorney General Jerry Brown said Wednesday that if elected he would consider overhauling public employee pension programs while opposing any move to privatize them.
The Democrat also expressed admiration for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and stuck with his pledge not to raise taxes to bridge budget deficits, saying he would focus like a laser on the budget.
Roy Ashburn
By Bill Lindelof
blindelof@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Thursday, Mar. 4, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 4A
Last Modified: Thursday, Mar. 4, 2010 – 8:29 am
State Sen. Roy Ashburn was arrested early Wednesday morning on suspicion of drunken driving in downtown Sacramento, authorities said.
Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, was booked into the Sacramento County jail by the California Highway Patrol.
By Juliet Williams,
Associated Press Writer – Wed Mar 3, 9:55 pm ET
OAKLAND, Calif. – California needs an elder statesman who can broker deals to lead it out of its current fiscal morass, not an autocratic CEO who is used to giving orders, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown said Wednesday.
A day after launching his campaign, Brown took aim at former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman, the front-runner in the GOP race who is running on her corporate record.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Thursday, Mar. 4, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s request Tuesday for the California Supreme Court to take over seven key furlough lawsuits caught state employee unions off guard.
Schwarzenegger wants to legally leapfrog two appellate courts now considering those cases and go straight to the state’s highest legal authority, sort of like skipping the playoffs and going straight to the Super Bowl.
Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse for San Bernardino County government it does.
From a Board of Supervisors under siege to a county-run medical center falling into disarray, things are pretty bad.
Bill Postmus
11:06 PM PST on Tuesday, March 2, 2010
By JIM MILLER
Sacramento County
Special Section: San Bernardino Co. Probe
SACRAMENTO – Authorities allege that former San Bernardino County official Bill Postmus used methamphetamine, ran a political operation on government time and was at the center of a bribery scheme that cost county taxpayers $102 million.
But when it came to the day-to-day operations of the Postmus-led San Bernardino County assessor’s office, most everything seemed to run by the book, according to a new state report.
10:00 PM PST on Tuesday, March 2, 2010
By JIM MILLER
Sacramento Bureau
SACRAMENTO – Inland lawmakers took a pay cut to finish out 2009, but new statements of economic interest show that some of them more than made up for the loss with outside income.
The reports also show almost $44,000 worth of after-hours receptions, meals, concert tickets and other reportable gifts to Inland legislators from groups that have Capitol interests.
10:00 PM PST on Tuesday, March 2, 2010
By DUANE W. GANG
The Press-Enterprise
Riverside County supervisors took steps Tuesday to put in place a policy aimed at making the bidding process for county contracts more public.
The policy would include a provision to publicly unseal bids of at least $100,000 at the weekly Board of Supervisor meetings.
Many of the gifts come from groups lobbying state government. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger collected $585,000, mostly to cover travel expenses. Watchdogs decry the appearance of influence.
By Patrick McGreevy and Jack Dolan
March 2, 2010 | 9:16 p.m.
Reporting from Sacramento – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers received more than $929,000 in gifts last year, including overseas trips, boxes of cigars, bottles of wine, clothes and tickets to sporting events and concerts. Many of the gifts came from groups lobbying state government.
Brown
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Wednesday, Mar. 3, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
A few hours after California voters decisively rejected Jerry Brown’s bid for the U.S. Senate in 1982, the two-term governor delivered a characteristically enigmatic response.
One widely quoted reaction was, “I believe the people of California would like a respite from me, and in some ways I would like a respite from them.”
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Mar. 3, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Bruised by heavy losses and wary of the economic road ahead, California’s two big public pension funds are considering reducing their official forecasts of future investment results.
Such changes would have huge implications for taxpayers and public employees. A reduction in the investment projections would put more pressure on taxpayers and workers to support the two retirement systems, which already are significantly under-funded. The less the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System believe they’ll earn from their investments, the more they have to depend on other sources.
March 3, 2010
Jerry Brown cast himself as the candidate with “insider’s knowledge but an outsider’s mind” in formally launching his campaign for governor Tuesday, seeking to balance and merge conflicting political messages of experience and change.
With a simple, energetic and straight-to-the-camera delivery, Brown argued in a three-minute 17-second video, posted on his web site, Facebook and You Tube, that he has the preparation, knowledge and consummate understanding of how government and politics work to break the partisan gridlock in Sacramento and “get California working again.”
Carla Marinucci,Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Political Writers
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Democrat Jerry Brown, at 71 years old, is offering himself to California voters as the pragmatic, moderate and mature gubernatorial candidate with the experience to bring the state back from the brink of disaster.
But with four decades in public service and a reputation as a political chameleon, the attorney general must try to shake the one word that critics have aimed at him for the past 35 years: “Moonbeam.”
Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Created: 03/02/2010 09:14:44 PM PST
CHINO – The Chino Valley Unified school board on Thursday is expected to approve the release of about 87 preliminary layoff notices.
The layoffs will save the district about $7 million.
Another $2.7 million could be saved if the board decides to not renew contracts with temporary teachers.
Nearly $450,000 paid to law firm as of Tuesday
March 02, 2010 5:02 PM
Natasha Lindstrom
SAN BERNARDINO • County supervisors on Tuesday lifted the $500,000 spending limit on the law firm hired to recover hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages from former county Assessor Bill Postmus and five others the county has accused of abusing county resources.
The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors did not set a new spending cap on Tuesday “because the county has no idea how much the litigation is going to cost,” county spokesman David Wert said. He said it’s possible the amount spent on the Los Angeles law firm of Irella & Manella could exceed the amount of damages the county’s seeking to recoup.
10:00 PM PST on Tuesday, March 2, 2010
By DAYNA STRAEHLEY
The Press-Enterprise
School buses won’t take students to and from middle and high schools next year in Riverside Unified School District.
The school board inched closer to solving its $49 million budget gap for 2010-11. The remaining $10 million gap will be addressed March 15.
Extra grand juries?
James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/02/2010 09:09:32 PM PST
The San Bernardino County Grand Jury first pointed out trouble in the county Assessor’s Office under Bill Postmus. One of three county grand juries could uncover the next county scandal.
Area lawmakers have proposed a state bill that would give San Bernardino County’s presiding judge the power to appoint up to three grand juries to investigate government corruption and other issues.
Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/02/2010 06:26:46 PM PST
FONTANA – A school district beset with a record $30 million deficit is on the verge of sweeping layoffs and program cuts as school officials prepare to vote Wednesday night on a massive budget overhaul.
“All of the recommendations I would make to the board are painful and difficult, but it has to be done based on the governor’s current proposed budget,” said Cali Olsen-Binks, superintendent of the Fontana Unified School District.
InlandPolitics has received credible information related to financial and operational mismanagement of San Bernardino County owned and operated Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC).
The cost is reportedly in the millions of dollars to county taxpayers.
Among many issues quality of care seems to have significantly deteriorated in some departments.
Look for news later this evening. Members of the Board of Supervisors may wish to tune in and get up to speed.
Developing………
A claim filed by the former mistress of District Attorney Mike Ramos is once again on the closed session agenda of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors this morning.
Rumors have been circulating that an official request for the production of what is commonly referred to as “back-up material” or “work product” related to the investigation into Ramos’ relationship and treatment of District Attorney employee Cheryl Ristow has been rejected by the law firm hired to do the work.
It is our understanding case law holds that the material is public record.
Hansberger
One year later and no word has come out of the San Bernardino County District Attorney as to whether or not he will charge political ally and former Third District Supervisor Dennis Hansberger.
Hansberger’s successor, Supervisor Neil Derry lodged a complaint directly with Ramos on March 2, 2009 alleging Hansberger directed his staff to destroy all of the Districts correspondence and project files. A violation of county policy and a felony under California law.
Hansberger openly admitted to local newspapers that he directed the action occur.
Meg Whitman
James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/01/2010 06:05:15 PM PST
Meg Whitman, the former eBay executive who is hoping to be California’s next governor, campaigned in San Bernardino on Monday, touring a manufacturing plant and meeting local Republicans at a town hall meeting.
Whitman, who has said she wants to create 2 million private-sector jobs in California by 2015, visited the Kendall Drive manufacturing plant of Cannon Safe, Inc., where company president Aaron Baker said regulations and high taxes make it less profitable to do so.
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/01/2010 02:58:28 PM PST
District Attorney Michael A. Ramos called for tighter regulation of political action committees as a way to combat corruption, but some county supervisors questioned whether they have the authority.
Supervisor Neil Derry said local governments cannot impose tighter restrictions on state-regulated PACs. He said a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that found it unconstitutional to place limits on how much corporations and unions can directly give to city elections has prompted the cities of San Diego and Los Angeles to lift contribution limits in their cities.
City may recover a few million for $25 million in power plant equipment.
March 01, 2010 5:05 PM
Brooke Edwards
VICTORVILLE • The city is still struggling to sell off $25 million worth of equipment purchased for its failed energy ventures, with hopes to replenish the dwindling general fund that has subsidized the projects for years.
However, though many of the massive tanks and generators bought over the last six years or so were never even used, estimates from one broker show the city will likely only recover a few million dollars of its investment on the open market.
By Kevin Yamamura
kyamamura@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Mar. 2, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 4A
Half of California voters believe the state should close its $19.9 billion deficit mostly or entirely through spending cuts rather than tax increases, according to a Field Poll released Tuesday.
That compares with 29 percent who said the state should use an equal mix of spending cuts and tax increases, or 13 percent who prefer balancing the budget solely or mostly with tax hikes.
Brown
California’s attorney general, who was twice elected governor in the 1970s, is expected to officially launch his candidacy online.
Jerry Brown
By Michael Rothfeld
March 2, 2010
Reporting from Sacramento – California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown is expected to formally announce Tuesday morning that he is running for governor, a job he last held nearly three decades ago.
By Joel Fox
Editor of Fox & Hounds and President of the Small Business Action Committee
Mon, March 1st, 2010
One of the more bizarre conspiracy theories I heard recently was that Attorney General Jerry Brown persuaded San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to drop out of the governor’s race by offering to support him later for the Lieutenant Governor’s office. In turn, Brown would declare he would serve only one-term paving the road for Newsom to move up.
March 2, 2020
By Ed Mendel
A new study says the economic downturn has prompted 17 states to make cost-cutting public pension reforms during the last two years — lower benefits for new hires, extended retirement ages and bigger payments from workers.
California is not among them.
Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
(03-02) 04:00 PST Sacramento –
Reforming the state’s overburdened pension system is popular refrain in Sacramento, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to get done.
Case in point: Supporters of a ballot measure to slash retirement benefits for future state employees say the initiative has died, eight months before the election, from a lack of support.
By Connie Llanos Staff Writer
Posted: 03/01/2010 07:33:43 PM PST
Los Angeles Unified officials are expected to approve a mass mailing of nearly 4,700 layoff notices for teachers, administrators, counselors and nurses Tuesday as they work to close a crippling $640 million budget deficit.
Recommended by the district’s finance staff in a report to be reviewed today by the school board, the move would virtually eliminate school nurses and librarians, increase all class sizes – including a high of up to 44 students in middle school – and boost counselor loads to 1,000 students each.
Mike Cruz, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/01/2010 06:29:28 PM PST
A lawyer for a San Manuel tribal member has filed a civil lawsuit in federal court against a former San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy who allegedly tried to extort him two years ago for cash and vehicles.
The lawsuit for Ray Carr Green III, which was filed Feb. 19 in U.S. District Court, in Riverside, alleges that former deputy John Thomas Laurent knew that the plaintiff received a substantial income from tribal casino operations in San Bernardino and had a history of drug use.
10:00 PM PST on Monday, March 1, 2010
By DUANE W. GANG
The Press-Enterprise
SAN BERNARDINO – California gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman said Monday that the state could achieve $15 billion in savings without eliminating a single program.
Whitman said the savings would come largely from streamlining government, shrinking the size of the state work force and reducing waste, fraud and abuse.
10:00 PM PST on Monday, March 1, 2010
By BRIAN ROKOS
The Press-Enterprise
Ten counselors and seven elementary school music teachers could be among the 135 certificated employees laid off in the Hemet Unified School District if the teachers union does not accept a pay cut.
The district, trying to eliminate $19.7 million in spending before the 2010-11 school year, has already cut about $11 million. It has proposed making up the gap with a 6.5 percent pay cut for non-management workers.
10:55 PM PST on Monday, March 1, 2010
By RICHARD K. DE ATLEY
The Press-Enterprise
Barton C. Gaut, who served his entire legal career in Riverside, from a fresh-out-of-law school litigator in 1962 to an associate justice at the Fourth District Court of Appeal branch in Riverside, begins easing into retirement this week.
Travel with Merla, his wife of 54 years, to see grandchildren and taking a few cases by assignment at the appellate court are the immediate plans, said Gaut, 74.
Stephen Wall, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/01/2010 05:29:49 PM PST
SAN BERNARDINO – The Board of Supervisors is poised to increase funding to a law firm to represent the county in its civil case against former Assessor Bill Postmus.
The board today will consider lifting the spending cap for the county’s contract with attorney John C. Hueston’s firm, Irell & Manella, LLP.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
By Kevin Yamamura
kyamamura@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Mar. 1, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Monday, Mar. 1, 2010 – 12:12 am
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger threatened last week to veto a bill that would reduce a corporate tax break, calling it a tax increase. He says requiring Amazon.com to collect tax dollars already owed is a new tax burden.
But he believes a new surcharge on property insurance is a “fee” that Californians ought to pay.
The Republican governor has pledged not to raise taxes in his final year in office, but whether that holds true depends on what your definition of a tax is. Legislative counsel already has drafted the insurance fee as a tax bill.
CAPITOL JOURNAL
A constitutional convention isn’t going to happen, but real reform can — eventually.
By George Skelton Capitol Journal
March 1, 2010
From Sacramento
The dream about a historic state constitutional convention “reforming” California government was just that — a fantasy. But the conclave’s possibility served an important role: a prod on the Legislature to produce its own reforms.
Legislative leaders are about to unveil some bipartisan internal changes — eye-glazing but potentially productive — plus proposed restraints on the scourge of ballot box budgeting.
Information has been provided to InlandPolitics relevant to prior conduct of an investigator with the San Bernardino County District Attorney. The information raises questions related to credibility.
The investigator in question currently has a lead role within the District Attorney Public Integrity Unit and sources confirm he is playing a major role related to decision-making and tactics in the ongoing county corruption investigation.
Last spring the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors embarked on a “score some political points” statement. One that would make them look like corruption fighters.
County supervisors were going to show residents accountability was at hand. The board voted 5-0 to initiate litigation against Former Assessor Bill Postmus and his staff to recover taxpayer funds related to time card fraud. The support for filing the lawsuit was the county’s success at recovering from individuals and businesses related to misconduct in the late 1990’s.
What supervisors received for their vote this time can best be described as a “legal boondoggle”.
10:00 PM PST on Sunday, February 28, 2010
The Press-Enterprise
The campaign for next month’s special primary election for Riverside County’s 37th Senate District is heating up.
Meanwhile, a pair of pending court cases could affect the candidacies of the leading Republican contenders for the seat — former Assemblyman Russ Bogh and Assemblyman Bill Emmerson.
10:31 PM PST on Sunday, February 28, 2010
By DARRELL R. SANTSCHI
The Press-Enterprise
Grand Terrace will have to cinch its belt tight for the next four months to make up a $423,240 budget gap this year and then brace for an $800,000 shortage in the fiscal year that begins July1.
City Manager Betsy Adams told the Grand Terrace City Council this week that new construction has ground to a halt, sales tax revenue has plunged and earnings on the city’s investments have dropped more than expected. All of this, she said, is the result of a slumping economy in a community of 12,500 people.
Meg Whitman
Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Monday, March 1, 2010
Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman proudly argues she turned the online auction company into a household name – right up there with Coca-Cola and Nike – by successfully “branding” its image into the minds of millions of American consumers.
But now the business titan is confronting her biggest challenge yet: to establish her own personal “brand” and successfully sell herself as a GOP gubernatorial candidate in the nation’s most populous state.
March 1, 2010
This story is also being published today in the Los Angeles Times.
One hundred days before the June 8 primary election, the race for governor of California has taken shape, but the outcome won’t be clear without answers to three key questions.
Dianne Feinstein’s announcement late last month that she won’t run leaves Attorney General Jerry Brown as the Democrats’ presumptive nominee – with his formal announcement of candidacy expected any day now.
InlandPolitics.com in it’s first three full months of operation has witnessed expansive growth in readership.
As of today, milestones reached by the blog include the preservation of nearly 1,100 archived stories, which have received some 740 comments.
In February, the 40,000 hit per/day barrier was achieved.
By James Quinn, US Business Editor in New York
Published: 8:20PM GMT 26 Feb 2010
California is a greater risk than Greece, warns JP Morgan chief Jamie Dimon, chairman of JP Morgan Chase, has warned American investors should be more worried about the risk of default of the state of California than of Greece’s current debt woes.
Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Created: 02/27/2010 11:44:11 PM PST
Over the past year, federal stimulus dollars have been making their way to various projects and programs in the Inland Empire.
About $463 million has been awarded in San Bernardino County alone. The money is targeted at variety of goals, coming from federal agencies such as the U.S. departments of Justice, Energy, Housing and Urban Development as well as the Federal Highway Administration.
February 27, 2010 11:00 AM
FROM STAFF REPORTS
WASHINGTON • As Congressional Democrats look to forge ahead with a controversial health care reform plan — with or without Republicans’ support — Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon and Rep. Jerry Lewis are joining fellow Republicans in a call to begin a new proposal from scratch.
“If we do not start over with a blank page, we ignore the fact that the American public does not want a massive government takeover of health care that does not make health care more affordable,” Lewis, R-Redlands, said in a statement. “They want it fixed, with common sense, step by step reforms.”
James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Posted: 02/27/2010 06:12:50 AM PST
The federal stimulus package has allocated more than $900 million for local projects, but congressional Republicans and Democrats from the Inland Empire disagree about whether the money spent so far has accomplished its main goal: creating jobs.
Republicans say the money has mostly gone to expanding government programs and has not created jobs as promised. But Democrats say many jobs have been either saved or created and that the bill has worked. In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama said the stimulus bill has put to work two million Americans who would otherwise be jobless.
Wesley G. Hughes, Staff Writer
Posted: 02/27/2010 08:25:27 PM PST
Victorville moved forward Friday in what is expected to be the first of many steps toward healing its economy.
The first foreign investor is willing to put up $550,000 toward a $25 million wastewater treatment plant and site preparation for a $120 million bottling plant to the city.
A major allegation contained in the recent announcement of charges in the “windshield crack-like” corruption investigation into San Bernardino County government by District Attorney Mike Ramos and Attorney General Edmund “Jerry” Brown has some interesting twists.
Ramos earlier this week announced a series of reforms necessary to put the power of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors in check.
Strangely enough, one of the proposed reforms didn’t involve a measure to curb abuse in the expenditure of campaign funds.
10:00 PM PST on Saturday, February 27, 2010
By JULISSA McKINNON
The Press-Enterprise
After knocking on doors for five months, John Smelser collected his 5,500th signature supporting term limits for Menifee council members Friday afternoon.
He stopped mid-driveway, checked off the address on his clipboard and modestly pumped his fist before walking to the next house.
By GRIFF PALMER
Published: February 27, 2010
The Supreme Court decision last month allowing corporations to spend unlimited money on behalf of political candidates left a loophole that campaign finance lawyers say could allow companies to pay for extensive political advertising while avoiding the disclosure requirements the court appeared to leave intact.
Experts say the ruling, along with a pair of earlier Supreme Court cases, makes it possible for corporations and unions to donate anonymously to nonprofit civic leagues and trade associations. The groups can then use the money to finance the types of political advertisements that were at the heart of last month’s ruling, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
Maywood, which is spearheading the effort with Bell, has requested federal funds for a three-month feasibility study.
By Ruben Vives
February 28, 2010
Citing a decline in revenues and an increase in the cost of law enforcement, several small cities in southeast Los Angeles County are considering a novel approach to policing their communities.
PolitiCal
February 27, 2010 | 8:09 pm
The three Republican U.S. Senate candidates will debate for the first time
