Politics, Government & Business in California's Inland Empire
Election 2010: California Governor
Friday, August 06, 2010
The California governor’s race between Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican Meg Whitman remains a nail-biter.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the state finds Brown with 43% support and Whitman earning 41% of the vote. Six percent (6%) prefer another candidate, and 10% are undecided.
Caldwell
August 06, 2010 12:57 PM
Brooke Edwards
VICTORVILLE • After 38 years on the city council, Terry Caldwell will not be running for re-election this term.
Caldwell pulled papers to run for council, but did not file by the deadline at noon Friday, according to City Clerk Carolee Bates.
By Mike Cruz
Posted: 08/06/2010 12:41:05 PM PDT
Rancho Cucamonga Councilman Rex Gutierrez faces another felony charge in connection with the investigation into malfeasance in the county Assessor’s Office.
At a hearing Friday for Gutierrez in San Bernardino Superior Court, Deputy District Attorney John Goritz filed a motion to amend the criminal complaint with an additional felony count of conspiracy to commit grand theft, said lawyers in the case.
On Friday August 6, 2010, 10:53 am EDT
By Lucia Mutikani
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Private employers added fewer workers to their payrolls in July than expected and hiring in June was much weaker than had been thought, a blow to an economic recovery that is failing to gain traction.
The dismal news on jobs poses a challenge to Democrats hoping to retain their congressional majorities in November elections, as well as to officials at the Federal Reserve who are debating whether more needs to be done to foster growth.
Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer
Posted: 08/05/2010 09:07:39 PM PDT
Online extra: Read the claim (.PDF file) Editor’s note: Contains mature language and subject matter
RIALTO – Police officers engaged in group sex with female workers from the Spearmint Rhino strip club, according to a $500,000 claim filed by a woman at the center of a sex scandal that has sent shock waves through the Police Department and city.
“The claims that we have made are simply the tip of the iceberg and we have substantial proof to back up these claims, and my client will move forward with a lawsuit should the city not take her claims seriously,” said Danuta W. Tuszynska, a Riverside-based attorney representing Nancy Holtgreve.
Cook
By PE Politics
on August 5, 2010 4:21 PM
Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, called Thursday for nearly quadrupling the amount of state spending on county veterans services offices despite a $19 billion budget shortfall.
Cook, a former Marine and chairman of the Assembly Veterans Affairs Committee, said an $11 million general fund investment by the state — up from $2.6 million in 2009-10 — would help California veterans obtain much more in federal benefits and recognize their service to the country.
11:15 PM PDT on Thursday, August 5, 2010
By ALICIA ROBINSON
The Press-Enterprise
Stung by recent criticisms that City Hall is largely closed to outsiders, some Riverside officials are pushing to be more open with the public and the media.
The city’s elected leaders are taking several steps — including posting their salaries online — to share more information and better respond to inquiries and concerns. While some in the community said they are happy to hear of the initiatives, they’d like to see even more done.
10:00 PM PDT on Thursday, August 5, 2010
The Bell City Council has opted not to hire the attorney who approved huge salaries for the city’s leaders.
Edward Lee, who parted company Monday with Riverside-based law firm Best Best & Krieger, had said he made the move in part to stay with Bell and work with its officials through the salary crisis.
LOS ANGELES, California, April 1, 2009 (ENS) – An demonstration project by the City of Los Angeles that turns biosolids into clean energy has been named as a semi-finalist for the 2009 Award for Innovations in American Government. The award is presented annually by the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
The Terminal Island Renewable Energy, or TIRE, project is the nation’s first aimed at producing green energy from a renewable bio-resource. The resource is biosolids – the organic materials remaining after treatment of domestic sewage at a wastewater treatment facility.
11:48 PM PDT on Thursday, August 5, 2010
By BEN GOAD
Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON – The long awaited August recess finally upon them, Inland Southern California’s House members left the sweltering U.S. Capitol last week on their way to five weeks of constituent meetings, campaign events and personal time in their home districts.
Then came word from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “I will be calling the House back into session early next week …” she informed lawmakers via her Twitter account Wednesday afternoon.
Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer
Posted: 08/05/2010 04:25:04 PM PDT
RIALTO – An avowed white supremacist who often drops racist fliers on residential lawns and driveways is seeking election to the school board.
Dan Schruender, a past president of the California chapter of an Aryan Nations group, filed nomination papers Monday with the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters.
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 08/05/2010 06:45:04 PM PDT
A candidate for the Victorville City Council has complained to the state Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), accusing a challenger of using her influence with a local college district to discourage her from seeking a seat on the Council.
Miguel Gonzalez, campaign manager for Michelle Medina, said he called the FPPC on Monday to complain about the alleged conduct of Angela Valles, who is running for a seat on the City Council and is president of the Victor Valley Community College District’s board of trustees.
By PE News
on August 5, 2010 7:24 PM
As part of its merging of two land-use services departments, Riverside County named a new planning director on Thursday.
The county’s Environmental Programs, which handles habitat conservation, and Planning departments will merge and be overseen by Carolyn Syms Luna, the county announced in a news release.
James Wagner, Staff Writer
Created: 08/05/2010 08:46:15 PM PDT
INDUSTRY – Majestic Realty Co. CEO and Chairman Ed Roski Jr. said he remains committed to returning professional football to the region and building a state-of-the-art NFL stadium near the junction of the 60 and 57 freeways on the Diamond Bar line.
“It will happen,” said Roski, making his first public comments since the emergence of a competing stadium plan in downtown Los Angeles.
PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
August 5, 2010 | 1:49 pm
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown, the state’s attorney general, has been outspoken about his distaste for politicians flying around in private planes. He takes credit for getting rid of the state plane when he was governor last — a claim others take issue with. He chides his opponent for jetting around in a private charter plane while he uses Southwest to get to campaign events. And he is vowing to sell the official governor’s plane if he is elected in November, a promise which maybe difficult to keep, considering there is no state plane for the governor anymore.
Posted By: Joe Garofoli | August 05 2010 at 10:51 AM
The other day we told you about Jerry Brown’s appearance on Univision, where he was asked what he would do to cut the budget should he again be elected California’s guv. The translation from the broadcast from the inteview that we included had the Democrat saying “to begin with I would cut back the governor’s expenses, like the private jet, mansion, and things considered luxuries.”
The state’s embattled pension system did not act four years ago when it learned about the city’s runaway salaries. The state attorney general and auditors express shock that nothing was done.
By Evan Halper and Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times
August 6, 2010
Reporting from Sacramento —
The failure of the state’s embattled pension system to take action after learning four years ago of Bell city officials’ runaway salaries has put the fund under another unwelcome spotlight.
The state attorney general says he is shocked that nobody at the fund alerted law enforcement. Professional auditors are perplexed by the lack of follow-up that even board members at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System are at a loss to explain.
L.A. NOW
Southern California — this just in
August 5, 2010 | 5:55 pm
As Los Angeles prosecutors investigate potential voter fraud in Bell, several residents have told The Times that city officials pressed them to fill out absentee ballots in a way that election experts say may have violated state law.
Four voters said city officials walked door-to-door encouraging them to fill out absentee ballots. In one case, a woman said she signed papers she believed were election paperwork. She never filed an absentee ballot. But when she went to the polls on election day, records showed that she had voted absentee.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Friday, Aug. 6, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Conceptually, Proposition 25 could be an incremental step, albeit a very small one, toward improving California’s ever-worsening governmental dysfunction. Or not.
Backed by unions and Democratic politicians, the measure would eliminate the decades-old requirement in the California Constitution for a two-thirds legislative vote on the state budget.