Well April is almost here and the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors has yet to hold formal budget hearings on any plan on solving a projected shortfall of more than $90 million for the fiscal year commencing July 1.

The county is reportedly wanting all employee unions to cancel all negotiated salary increases including last years deferrals in order to fill more than $30 million of the projected deficit. The move, if agreed to, would wipe out all previously negotiated wage increases and would most likely mean county employees would see no raises for at least a five to six year period.

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Bogh

By PE Politics
on March 17, 2010 4:22 PM

The Morongo Band of Mission Indians near Banning has sent out a whopping $93,000 worth of mailers supporting the Senate candidacy of former Assemblyman Russ Bogh.

The independent expenditure mailers, which began arriving at voters’ homes this week, are the first to be bankrolled by any of the region’s politically influential tribes with casinos in the special election for the 37th Senate District. They feature endorsements of Bogh by several Inland political leaders.

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10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, March 17, 2010

By IMRAN GHORI
The Press-Enterprise

State and local prosecutors are seeking legal documents from San Bernardino County’s 2006 settlement with Colonies Partners as part of their investigation into whether the $102 million agreement was part of an illegal conspiracy.

In a letter delivered to supervisors Tuesday, the California attorney general’s office and San Bernardino County district attorney asked the Board of Supervisors to waive its attorney-client privilege in the Colonies litigation and make available all the relevant documents.

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07:45 AM PDT on Wednesday, March 17, 2010

By JIM MILLER
Sacramento Bureau

Meg Whitman has opened a giant lead over Republican gubernatorial rival Steve Poizner and erased a double-digit gap with presumptive Democratic nominee Jerry Brown, according to a new survey.

Today’s Field Poll shows that Whitman, the former eBay chief, leads Poizner, the insurance commissioner, 63 to 14 percent among likely voters. That is close to double her margin in January.

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March 17, 2010 4:49 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • On a split vote, the council opted not to approve allocating limited general fund reserves to pay $142,000 in bills from developer Inland Energy.

It remains to be seen how the invoices from last May and June will be paid, as staff is now tasked with finding an alternate funding source from amongst the city’s cash-strapped accounts.

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10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, March 17, 2010

By JAN SEARS
The Press-Enterprise

University of Redlands Chancellor and former President James Appleton was named interim president Wednesday, a day after the sudden resignation of Stuart Dorsey left the campus and community in shock and confusion.

Some on campus expressed relief that Appleton, who was president for 18 years and became chancellor in 2005, was available to guide the university through its current economic difficulties.

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Tom Campbell

Capitol and California – Elections

By Rob Hotakainen
rhotakainen@mcclatchydc.com
Published: Thursday, Mar. 18, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

WASHINGTON – Former Rep. Tom Campbell has a six-point lead over his closest challenger in the three-way Republican primary to face Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, whose popularity has significantly eroded in the past two months, according to a Field Poll released today.

The survey found Campbell leading former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina 28 percent to 22 percent among likely Republican voters in the June 8 primary, while Assemblyman Chuck DeVore had support from 9 percent. But most prospective GOP voters, roughly 40 percent, were undecided.

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Brown

By Anthony York

March 18, 2010

Reporting from Sacramento

Faced with the daunting prospect of being significantly outspent by his likely Republican opponent, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown spoke to a labor group Tuesday and urged it to go on the offensive.

“We’re going to attack whenever we can, but I’d rather have you attack,” Brown said at a gathering of the California delegation of the Laborers’ International Union of North America in Sacramento. “I’d rather be the nice guy in this race. We’ll leave [the attacks] to . . . the Democratic Party and others.”

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Meg Whitman

CAPITOL JOURNAL

Hitting the mark

The Republican gubernatorial candidate in California isn’t dodging the media anymore. She proves to be articulate and quick on her feet.

By George Skelton Capitol Journal

March 17, 2010 | 5:36 p.m.

From Sacramento

Where has she been? This Meg Whitman who wowed reporters at last weekend’s Republican state convention. The political novice who skillfully debated Monday as if she’d been doing it her entire life.

What was she doing all those months dodging California political writers? Not debating her Republican opponent? Avoiding specifics?

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California Watch
A Project of the Center for Investigative Reporting
Money and Politics

March 18, 2010 | Lance Williams

The election for governor is nine months off – the primary isn’t until June 8. But Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman went after one another yesterday with the vigor often reserved for a campaign’s home stretch.

At issue were attack ads, independent expenditure campaigns and Whitman’s tax returns. Abject cynicism and former President Nixon also came up.

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By Ed Mendel | 03/18/10 12:00 AM PST

Support is growing for legislation to curb boosts in final-year pay to get a bigger public pension, a practice called “spiking,” despite recent local setbacks in Contra Costa County, San Francisco and Rocklin.

An “anti-spiking” bill was introduced last week by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, a clone of legislation introduced last month by Assemblyman Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina.

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California Watch
A Project of the Center for Investigative Reporting
Money and Politics

March 18, 2010 | Chase Davis

Clarifying the line between free speech and political advertising on the Internet is proving to be a thorny issue for the California Fair Political Practices Commission, which held the first of two planned hearings on the subject yesterday morning.

The commission’s subcommittee overseeing Internet political activity didn’t take a stance on how, or even if, the commission would regulate political advocacy via e-mail, social networking sites and blogs – essentially online analogs of conventional political tools like direct mail and newspaper opinion pieces.

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By Capitol Weekly Staff | 03/18/10 12:00 AM PST

The U.S. Census Bureau has released estimates of state and local government employment, and the results may be surprising to those who believe California has too many government workers.

The Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy, an independent Palo Alto-based think tank, reported that in 2008 California had the third-lowest number of full-time equivalent state government employees relative to population among all 50 states.

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By Joel Fox
Editor of Fox & Hounds and President of the Small Business Action Committee
Wed, March 17th, 2010

Momentum, thy name is Meg Whitman. The newly released Field Poll caps an extraordinary surge in energy for the Republican gubernatorial candidate in less than one week.

Just a week ago, Whitman was being excoriated by the media for holding a press availability and then would not talk to the press. Questions were asked whether she could handle the heat of a political campaign and the knock-about, unscripted situations that test one’s mettle during a campaign.

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