Politics, Government and Business in Southern California's Inland Empire
Rutherford
Thursday, August 5, 2010 – 05:20 pm
Just released campaign finance data and a new endorsement for her opponent paints a tougher road for Fontana Councilwoman Janice Rutherford in defeating county supervisor Paul Biane.
Campaign finance records show Rutherford with a few hundred dollars on hand or pretty much broke, while Biane retained just under $90,000 cash-on-hand.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
By JULIET WILLIAMS, SAMANTHA YOUNG
updated 1 hour 12 minutes ago
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown sometimes travels in a turboprop airplane operated by the state attorney general’s office, despite recently saying that as governor he would cut back on expenses including private jets and “things considered luxuries.”
Records reviewed Thursday by The Associated Press show the plane has been used on at least nine days over the last year.
By Eric Messinger emessinger@mercurynews.com
Posted: 08/05/2010 06:15:19 AM PDT
Updated: 08/05/2010 06:15:55 AM PDT
Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina took her case for lower taxes to Sunnyvale on Wednesday.
The “Asian American Small-Business Town Hall” saw Fiorina repeatedly criticize incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, in a county that voted 66 percent for Boxer in the 2004 election.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
August 5, 2010
A Sacramento Superior Court judge ruled today that ballot language for the majority-vote budget initiative cannot claim the measure retains the two-thirds vote requirement for raising taxes.
Proposition 25 supporters say the sole aim of the November ballot measure is to lower the legislative vote requirement for passing a budget from two-thirds to a majority vote.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
August 5, 2010
American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees is airing a new 30-second television ad attacking GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman.
The ad, titled “Shameful,” portrays the billionaire candidate as a self-serving liar. It hits her on several fronts, including stock “spinning,” a now banned practice of investment banks giving clients early access for buying stocks in companies about to go public, and for playing “loose with facts” in her campaign against Democrat Jerry Brown.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
August 5, 2010
GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman’s views on immigration reform were in the spotlight again yesterday, as she told conservative radio hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou that she would not support allowing undocumented immigrants currently in the country to apply for citizenship.
“I don’t think we should have blanket amnesty, and I am not for a path to citizenship. I have been very, very clear,” she said during a segment on John and Ken show on KFI 640 AM.
The Senate approves Kagan, 63-37, as the nation’s 112th justice, with five Republicans crossing party lines to vote in her favor. For the first time in history, the court includes three female justices.
By James Oliphant, Tribune Washington Bureau
August 5, 2010|12:53 p.m.
WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Elena Kagan as the nation’s 112th justice of the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday in a largely partisan 63-37 vote.
Kagan, 50, the U.S. solicitor general, replaces the retired Justice John Paul Stevens. Once she is sworn into office, the Supreme Court will include for the first time in history three female justices. She will become the youngest justice to join the court since Clarence Thomas in 1991.
Boxer Fiorina
Election 2010: California Senate
Thursday, August 05, 2010
The U.S. Senate race between Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer and her Republican challenger Carly Fiorina remains close in California.
The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Voters shows Boxer picking up 45% support, while Fiorina earns 40% of the vote. Five percent (5%) prefer a different candidate, and 10% are undecided.
Thursday, August 5, 2010 – 10:23 am
Here is a summary of campaign finance activity for members of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors for the period January 1, 2010 through June 30, 2010.
.
District Supervisor Contributions Expenditures Balance
1st Brad Mitzelfelt $ 78,644.00 $ 55,133.53 $ 176,773.57 2nd Paul Biane $ 183,793.00 $ 511,417.55 $ 89,192.98 3rd Neil Derry $ 5,099.00 $ 12,134.22 $ 84,709.35 4th Gary Ovitt $ 182,892.00 $ 245,098.84 $ 129,055.77 5th Josie Gonzales $ 100,518.90 $ 37,779.50 $ 642,556.56
Benoit
By PE Politics
on August 4, 2010 10:42 AM
The race to succeed the late-Supervisor Roy Wilson on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors topped $1 million, newly released campaign finance documents show.
Supervisor John Benoit, appointed to the seat last year, won a full four-year term to the 4th District seat and spent $633,128.71. He ended June 30 with $203,030 in outstanding debts, mostly from a $200,000 loan Wilson gave Benoit before his August 2009 death.
07:56 AM PDT on Thursday, August 5, 2010
By IMRAN GHORI
The Press-Enterprise
San Bernardino County’s probation department is working with the safety union on a plan to avoid the planned layoffs of 32 correctional officers, officials say.
The agency has had to make significant cuts due to a $2 million decrease in its budget approved by the county last month, including the closure of its West Valley Juvenile Detention and Assessment Center in Rancho Cucamonga.
10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Cassie MacDuff
Even before state Controller John Chiang announced he’ll post city and county officials’ pay online beginning in November, two Inland cities already had decided to go public with official pay and perks.
Fontana posted top officials’ and council members’ compensation last week, shortly after Councilwoman Janice Rutherford suggested it and the rest of the council agreed.
10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, August 4, 2010
By RICHARD K. DE ATLEY
The Press-Enterprise
Two longtime prosecutors and a veteran deputy public defender were named judges for Riverside County, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Tuesday.
The three appointees, Victoria E. Cameron, 61, of Palm Desert; John M. Davis, 62, of Menifee, and Elaine M. K. Johnson, 50, of Murrieta, will replace retiring judges. Their annual salary is $178,789.
City expects to lose $5 million
Michael J. Sorba, Staff Writer
Posted: 08/04/2010 06:47:10 PM PDT
COLTON – The city will look to employee concessions, operational changes and the possibility of increased revenue to help offset next year’s potential loss of about $5 million that a utility users tax extension could have produced.
City officials hope a combination of these strategies will prevent layoffs, but some agree it’s almost certain some will be needed to fill the hole that’s expected after the tax sunsets at the June 30 close of the fiscal year.
Mike Cruz, Staff Writer
Posted: 08/04/2010 05:44:06 PM PDT
SAN BERNARDINO – A former sheriff’s son and three other people have pleaded guilty six years after charges were filed in a major investigation of bail bond practices in San Bernardino County.
Danial “Boone” Tidwell, 55, and his wife, Shirley Tidwell, 50, were each sentenced to summary probation and fined after they pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges before Judge Annemarie Pace in San Bernardino Superior Court.
By PE Politics
on August 4, 2010 3:13 PM
The State Public Works Board has unanimously approved the purchase of 22 acres near Apple Valley to build a re-entry facility for state prisoners.
San Bernardino County currently owns the land, located next to the High Desert Juvenile Detention Facility on Morrow Road. The purchase price is $336,440.
Baca
Magazine lists him as one of U.S.’ most influential Latinos
Wesley G. Hughes, Staff Writer
Posted: 08/04/2010 09:02:37 PM PDT
Rep. Joe Baca has been named one of the most influential Latinos in the United States by Latino Leaders magazine.
Baca, D-San Bernardino, said he was humbled by the listing “and energized to continue my work for the constituents of the 43rd Congressional District and struggling Americans everywhere.”
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Created: 08/04/2010 06:54:35 PM PDT
San Bernardino County Associated Governments on Wednesday upped its contract to more than $3.5 million with a law firm that is defending it against two lawsuits relating to the county’s $102 million settlement with Rancho Cucamonga developer Colonies Partners LP.
SANBAG’s board of directors approved an increase of its contract with the law firm Best, Best & Krieger by $900,000.
Chabot to head Vets for Carly effort in state
Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Created: 08/04/2010 09:18:12 PM PDT
Former Assembly candidate Paul Chabot has found a new position in politics.
Chabot, an Iraq War veteran from Rancho Cucamonga, was named the statewide chairman of Veterans for Carly, a coalition of active, retired and reserve men and women in the military who support Republican Carly Fiorina for U.S. Senate.
Hagman
Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Created: 08/04/2010 09:02:38 PM PDT
Assemblyman Curt Hagman says a bill he introduced earlier this year could have prevented a legal challenge this week to new execution procedures.
The California Office of Administrative Law on Friday approved new lethal injection protocols ordered by a federal judge. According to a Department of Corrections report on the new procedures, the revisions to California’s lethal injection protocol will result in the “dignified end of life” for condemned inmates.
James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Created: 08/04/2010 05:51:05 PM PDT
Assemblyman Paul Cook says he wants San Bernardino County to have more than one civil grand jury to investigate local government corruption, but he said this week he has no plans to push county leaders to call a second jury.
Cook, R-Yucaipa, sponsored a bill – now signed into law – that allows the county to call more than one grand jury. But the law leaves the decision to impanel a second jury to county Presiding Judge Douglas Elwell, who said last month he does not see an immediate need for a second grand jury.
AV, Barstow, MWA shoulder portion too
August 04, 2010 5:42 PM
Brooke Edwards
HESPERIA • Robert Rizzo worked for Hesperia for just four years nearly two decades ago. But now that he was forced to resign as city manager for Bell amid a scandal over his massive salary, Hesperia is on the hook for roughly $80,000 of Rizzo’s expected $600,000 annual pension, according to Daily Press estimates.
Rancho Cucamonga will pay an estimated $160,000 annually for the eight years Rizzo served there before coming to Hesperia.
August 04, 2010 5:23 PM
Brooke Edwards
VICTORVILLE • The City Council has agreed to waive attorney-client privilege on a limited basis, opening more records to the grand jury and its forensic auditor as an investigation into Victorville’s finances and management practices continues.
“The council agreed unanimously to cooperate with the forensic auditor and to provide documentation to the forensic auditor which he has requested,” City Attorney Andre de Bortnowsky announced following a lengthy closed session discussion regarding potential litigation Tuesday night.
August 04, 2010 4:02 PM
DAVID KECK, Special to the Daily Press
McKeon
VICTORVILLE • With his own job likely safe from serious challenge, Republican U.S. Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon focused Wednesday morning on campaigning for his party’s broader goal of getting back the congressional majority it lost four years ago.
The nine-term representative gave a legislative primer to more than 200 guests at the Victorville Chamber of Commerce Morning Insight Breakfast at the Hilton Garden Inn, emphasizing that legislation necessarily follows the party in power.
August 5, 2010
You gotta give Meg Whitman credit for sitting down in the studio Wednesday with Calbuzz’s favorite Neanderthal radio yakkers – John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou of KFI-AM in LA – and trying to explain all the contradictions in her positions on immigration and climate change. She couldn’t of course, and J&K – whose web site screamed “Nutmeg in Studio”– were down her throat, in her face and on her case for 30 sizzling minutes.
What they did that few have been able to do is push Meg into answering some simple questions like: Are you for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants?
The GOP gubernatorial candidate opens an office in East L.A. and visits the ‘John and Ken’ show. At both stops, her shifting stance on illegal immigration is criticized.
August 04, 2010|By Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times
Meg Whitman’s 54th birthday Wednesday featured a rough time on the campaign trail because of what critics on both the left and the right view as the GOP gubernatorial nominee’s shifting tone on illegal immigration.
Continuing her aggressive courtship of Latino voters, Whitman opened a campaign office in East Los Angeles and announced new Spanish-language advertisements aimed at this vital voter group. But her words were interrupted by a raucous crowd of protesters outside.
Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
San Francisco Chronicle
Thursday, August 5, 2010
(08-05) 04:00 PDT Sacramento – –
Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman said Wednesday that she probably will vote against a November ballot initiative that would suspend AB32, California’s landmark greenhouse gas reduction law.
Whitman, appearing on the conservative John and Ken radio show on KFI in Southern California, said, “In all likelihood I will vote no on Prop. 23,” adding that she still backs a one-year moratorium that she would impose if elected. Proposition 23 would suspend AB32 until unemployment drops to 5.5 percent or lower for a year.
Published: Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 4A
Republican Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina announced Wednesday that she would not support President Barack Obama’s pick for U.S. Supreme Court.
Fiorina cited what she called U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan’s “lack of experience as a jurist” as she announced her position.
Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
San Francisco Chronicle
Thursday, August 5, 2010
(08-05) 04:00 PDT Sacramento – –
When you use plastic to pump gas or to buy a bag of chips at a convenience store, you’re likely to hear the rote question: “Credit or debit?”
Choosing the debit option, however, will sometimes cost you.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
August 4, 2010
The legislative budget conference committee approved the Democrats’ controversial tax plan today on a majority vote, although some lawmakers acknowledged that the analysis is incomplete.
Democrats officially unveiled their plan Tuesday to raise taxes on income and vehicles but cut sales taxes. They asserted that the proposal would save taxpayers overall, but Republicans and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Department of Finance provided separate analysis showing that the plan would increase taxes on the middle class taxpayers.
The City Council decides against appointing Edward Lee to the post and instead picks James M. Casso with the Meyers Nave firm.
By Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times
August 5, 2010
The Bell City Council decided Wednesday night not to appoint as its interim city attorney the lawyer who signed off on lavish salaries for the city’s top administrators.
The decision came after angry Bell residents, chanting “Out, out” in Spanish at City Hall, delivered recall notices to four council members in a packed council chamber.
By John Howard | 08/05/10 12:00 AM PST
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says his attempts to cut state workers’ pay to the minimum wage level pose “no real burden” on state employees because banks are offering loans to state workers whose pay is cut. “So, I think we all have to make certain sacrifices,” the governor said.
The lame-duck Republican governor, in comments this week to a gathering of the Central California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Fresno, offered an unusually detailed view of the impact on state workers of his budgeting proposals. His statement came in response to a question from a member of the audience, who asked, “Why do state workers have to bear the burden of fiscal mismanagement?”
A Chapman University center’s index of leading indicators suggest an anemic uptick compared with a year earlier.
California employment
By Alana Semuels, Los Angeles Times
August 5, 2010
This economic recovery has been, at best, sporadic. As stimulus spending slows and census jobs end, many fear that the employment picture will get worse rather than better.
But a leading indicator of employment released Wednesday by Chapman University’s A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research suggests that employment in the state could continue to tick up this year. It indicates that year-over-year job growth will turn positive in the fourth quarter of this year.
California Watch
A Project of the Center for Investigative Reporting
Money and Politics
California WatchBlog
August 5, 2010 | Agustin Armendariz
In these tough economic times, a map released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts shows a grizzly amount of consumer debt owed in California, Arizona and Nevada.
The map shades in states based on “net scheduled debt,” or the amount of money consumers have to pay back after all the bankruptcy proceedings are said and done.
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