Brown

Thursday, July 22, 2010 – 08:38 pm

Listeners to the KFI AM-640 John and Ken show were treated to a surprise unannounced five minute call-in from California Attorney General Jerry Brown this evening.

Brown wanted to talk about his new investigation into the City of Bell salary scandal. However, John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou wanted to talk about illegal immigration.

Prior to Brown’s call-in John and Ken had adopted Calbuzz’s nickname for Brown, a.k.a “Krusty”.

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10:00 PM PDT on Thursday, July 22, 2010

By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
The Press-Enterprise

Arrowhead Credit Union lost nearly $1.5 million in the first half of 2010, according to a report issued Thursday from the National Credit Union Administration which seized the bank June 25.

Credit union officials had said the financial institution was on the mend and showing signs of recovering from steep losses in 2008 and 2009 including earning a profit of $2.6 million in the first quarter. Inland leaders have expressed shock at the takeover based on that premise.

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Published: July 22, 2010
Updated: 4:42 p.m.

By MARTIN WISCKOL
COLUMNIST
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

But Whitman, the billionaire former eBay CEO, spent a record-shattering $91 million on her primary campaign and didn’t miss a beat in shifting her attention to Brown. Brown, meanwhile, had a relatively modest $21 million in the bank as of the May filings – so it’s little surprise he’s holding back for later.

California has a boatload of failed self-funding millionaire candidates, including Al Checchi (spent $40 million of his own dough, lost 1998 Democratic primary for governor), Steve Westly ($40 million, lost 2006 Democratic primary for governor), and Michael Huffington ($28 million, lost 1994 general election for U.S. Senate).

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Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
July 22, 2010

Update: This post was updated at 2:15 p.m. with a response from the Brown campaign.

GOP gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman has a new television commercial blasting Democratic rival Jerry Brown.

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By Jeff Gottlieb Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

July 22, 2010 | 3:59 p.m.

The highly paid members of the Bell City Council were able to exempt themselves from state salary limits through a little-noticed city ballot measure during a special election that attracted fewer than 400 voters.

Council members in Bell earn nearly $100,000 – a salary that has prompted an inquiry by the Los Angeles County district attorney. A state law enacted in 2005 limits the pay of council members in “general law” cities, a reform prompted by the high salaries that leaders in the neighboring city of South Gate bestowed on themselves.

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Thursday, July 22, 2010 – 11:27 am

It’s time for republican Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman to clearly articulate her positions on each element of the illegal immigration issue.

Her post-primary campaign strategy has created some bumps in the road with some of the republican base. A potential problem if it continues.

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10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, July 21, 2010

By IMRAN GHORI
The Press-Enterprise

A former top aide to San Bernardino County Supervisor Paul Biane who has been out on paid leave for two months is taking a new position as assistant recorder.

Larry Walker, the county’s auditor/controller/recorder/treasurer/tax collector, announced in a memo to his staff Tuesday that Matt Brown, until recently Biane’s long-time chief of staff, had joined his office.

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Cost-saving measure

47 to shift to county’s jails
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/21/2010 08:03:25 PM PDT

Come July 31, 47 sheriff’s deputies from stations across San Bernardino County will be transferring from their respective stations to the county’s four detention centers to eliminate about $8 million in overtime at the jails.

To make up for the loss, another 44 deputies will be transferring from their respective stations to backfill the vacancies left at the other stations from the deputies transferring to the jails.

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LAX/Ontario International

10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Cassie MacDuff

Los Angeles officials have finally stopped pretending that running two competing airports doesn’t shortchange one of them.

The airports, of course, are LAX and Ontario, both controlled by the city of LA.

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Staff and Wire Reports
Posted: 07/21/2010 05:38:42 PM PDT

Thousands of Inland Empire residents whose unemployment benefits have run out could start getting money again as a federal extension of those benefits was approved Wednesday evening in the Senate.

The House of Representatives is expected to approve the measure today. The Senate voted 59-39 to approve the extension of unemployment benefits after a months-long stalemate over how those benefits should be paid for.

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Mike Cruz, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/21/2010 06:06:11 PM PDT

Prosecutors may present some of their evidence of malfeasance by two former top officials in the county Assessor’s Office at a hearing next month, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Former Assessor Bill Postmus and Gregory Eyler, former taxpayer advocate, were scheduled for a preliminary hearing Aug. 12 during their appearances in San Bernardino Superior Court.

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Jesse B. Gill, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/21/2010 01:05:07 PM PDT

Redlands voters will have the final say in November on a half-cent sales tax measure the City Council is counting on to help balance the 2010-11 fiscal year budget.

The council voted 4-1 to place the measure on the Nov. 2 ballot. Councilman Mick Gallagher was the lone dissenter. The tax measure needed four of the five council members to approve it to place it on the ballot.

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10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, July 21, 2010

By ALICIA ROBINSON
The Press-Enterprise

After holding off in June, Riverside officials now are eyeing the November ballot for a measure that would increase the tax hotel visitors pay by two percentage points.

The City Council’s finance committee, made up of council members Nancy Hart, Paul Davis and Mike Gardner, on Wednesday recommended that the full council place the hotel bed tax increase, which would push it up to 13 percent, on the fall ballot.

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Increase would fund fire, police, roads
July 21, 2010 9:03 AM
Beau Yarbrough

HESPERIA • The largest crowd at a Hesperia City Council meeting in recent memory showed up Tuesday with a single message: “Don’t hike sales taxes.”

Approximately 100 residents attended the City Council meeting. It was their first chance to speak directly to the City Council about a proposed halfcent hike to the city’s current 8.75 percent sales tax.

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Posted By: Drew Joseph | July 21 2010 at 03:07 PM

Don’t be surprised if Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown might just want to tout that draft report — currently being circulated by the campaign of Republican Meg Whitman — that names him the “worst” AG in the country. That’s because it comes from a Washington-based conservative organization that critics say have fought regulations on just about everything from drug safety to auto emissions.

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Elrod

Lori Consalvo, Staff Writer
Created: 07/21/2010 05:38:41 PM PDT

CHINO – The public comment session at Tuesday evening’s City Council meeting drew no mention from residents of Councilman Earl Elrod’s misdemeanor hit-and-run conviction in June.

But an Orange County developer who is in a fight with the city and a representative of Mothers Against Drunk Driving brought attention to Elrod’s case.

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By Jennifer Chaussee | 07/22/10 12:00 AM PST

It’s old news for the Netherlands, Portugal has been doing it for about a decade now and the Danes are thinking about it. On Nov. 2, Californians will vote on it.

But Californians looking forward to legalizing the recreational use of marijuana might have to think twice before lighting up this November.

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Mitt Romney and Meg Witman

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

California WatchBlog

July 22, 2010 | Chase Davis

Gov. Mitt Romney and gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman

In political fundraising, as in life, it seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

As former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., once again gears up his national fundraising apparatus for another shot at the presidency, many of the big donors supporting him in California have also given thousands to his protege: Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman.

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Thursday, July 22, 2010

The ferocious pounding that high-profile conservative talk show hosts John and Ken delivered to Meg Whitman over the L.A. airwaves this week clearly shows that her blatant untruthiness isn’t playing any better on the right than it is on the left.

“If she’s going to lie to us during the engagement process then the hell with her,” said John Kobylt, one half of the dynamic duo featured on the “John and Ken Show.”

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But voters’ anti-Washington mood may be working in her favor against Boxer.

By George Skelton Capitol Journal
July 22, 2010

From Sacramento

Californians normally wouldn’t elect a Carly Fiorina to the U.S. Senate or any high office.

The conservative Republican, most specifically, opposes abortion rights. “I’m a proud pro-life conservative,” she says.

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By Ed Mendel

Although you may not find one in California, there is a place where officials get credit for handling public employee pensions, instead of a barrage of criticism about unaffordable debt.

It’s Wisconsin, a state with a tradition of good government and high taxes.

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When he steps down, City Manager Robert Rizzo will get at least $600,000 a year in pension checks, making him the highest-paid retiree in the state. The police chief will get more than $411,000.

By Catherine Saillant and Jeff Gottlieb, Los Angeles Times

July 22, 2010

Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo, whose nearly $800,000-a-year salary has ignited community protests and calls for his resignation, will become the highest-paid retiree in California’s pension system when he steps down.

Rizzo, whose forced-resignation could come as early as Thursday, would be entitled to a pension of at least $600,000 a year for the rest of his life, according to retirement calculations made by The Times and reviewed by pension experts.

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Brad Mitzelfelt

July 21, 2010 5:00 PM
By Brad Mitzelfelt, First District Supervisor

Economic development and environmental stewardship can exist side-by-side.

Perhaps the most obvious example is the push for renewable energy. San Bernardino County is the epicenter of this emerging and important industry because the sun shines bright and long here, especially in the Mojave Desert.

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