By Michael Marois – Aug 23, 2010 4:18 PM PT

California will delay paying $2.9 billion of subsidies to schools and counties in September, a month earlier than projected, to save cash amid an impasse that has left the state without a budget for 54 days.

The state’s top financial officials — the controller, treasurer and finance director — told lawmakers today that the 90-day deferrals need to start next month instead of October to make sure there’s enough money to pay bondholders. The amount is in addition to $3.2 billion the state pushed back in July.

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Monday, August 23, 2010 – 09:50 pm

InlandPolitics has learned Citizen’s Business Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CVB Financial Corporation (Nasdaq: CVBF) may have been served with a cease and desist order issued by a federal regulator, most likely the FDIC.

Sources say the order relates to lending practices and loan deliquencies.

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Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
August 23, 2010

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce today launched a multi-media campaign billed as educational, but clearly aimed at bolstering Republican chances in elections for governor, U.S. senator and Congress.

Dubbed “Golden State Action Plan,” the chamber’s television, radio and Internet advertising campaign dwells on California’s economic and budgetary woes and calls for major changes in the state’s policies on economic development.

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Dutton

10:46 PM PDT on Sunday, August 22, 2010

By JIM MILLER
Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO – As the 2003-04 legislative session drew to a close, then-Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez marveled at colleague Bob Dutton’s fast track to the state Senate after two nondescript years in the Assembly.

Dutton was still low in the state’s political hierarchy a few years later when Attorney General Jerry Brown asked, “Who the (heck) is Bob Dutton and why is he holding up the budget?”

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10:48 PM PDT on Sunday, August 22, 2010

By DARRELL R. SANTSCHI
The Press-Enterprise

The San Bernardino City Council has given City Manager Charles McNeely the authority to impose furloughs on one of the city’s largest employee groups as wage negotiations linger in the cash-strapped city.

The council voted 4-3 last week to grant McNeely the same authority over 486 members of the general employees bargaining group that it gave him over the police employee union last month.

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Cities look at using deputies
Melissa Pinion-Whitt, Staff Writer
Posted: 08/22/2010 09:45:41 PM PDT

Rialto police Sgt. Richard Royce says an uncomfortable subject has been popping up a lot lately during police union conferences: Outsourcing.

“We all get fed the same lines from the city about problems with the economy,” he said.

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11 SB schools await word on $57.6 million
Debbie Pfeiffer Trunnell, Staff Writer
Posted: 08/22/2010 09:45:41 PM PDT

SAN BERNARDINO – San Bernardino City Unified is slated to receive $57.6 million in federal funding over a three-year period to turn around 11 low-achieving schools.

But exactly when the district will get the School Improvement Grants money to put much-needed changes in place remains up in the air.

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Chantal M. Lovell, Staff Writer
Posted: 08/22/2010 09:49:16 PM PDT

With eight in the running, the Redlands City Council race could prove to be an expensive one, but not if all follow the lead of one candidate.

Bob Gardner, Cal State San Bernardino vice president for administration and finance, challenged his fellow candidates last week to adhere to a voluntary fundraising and spending limit.

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Medical marijuana advocates mixed on issue
Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Posted: 08/22/2010 09:03:20 PM PDT

Inland Empire medical marijuana advocates have mixed feelings on the proposition seeking to legalize marijuana for recreational use.

If approved by voters in November, Proposition 19, or Tax Cannabis 2010, will make it legal for adults 21 years and older to possess, cultivate or transport marijuana for personal use.

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By JULIET WILLIAMS
The Associated Press
Sunday, August 22, 2010; 9:31 PM

SAN DIEGO — For the first time in memory, California Republicans have a diverse statewide slate of candidates to field this fall, a lineup their state party chairman calls “an inspirational ticket.” Coupled with national momentum for conservatives, the California GOP is hoping this might be their breakthrough year.

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With Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina in competitive races, the party steps up outreach to Latinos and minorities, hoping to repair its image heading into the November election.

Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman takes the stage at the California Republican Party convention in San Diego. (Chris Park, Associated Press / August 21, 2010)

By Michael J. Mishak, Seema Mehta and Maeve Reston, Los Angeles Times

August 22, 2010|8:14 p.m.

Reporting from San Diego —
Energized by the most diverse state ticket in their party’s history, California Republicans are stepping up their outreach to Latinos and other minorities, hoping to repair their image and grow their ranks. But as they gathered for their semiannual convention over the weekend, GOP leaders and the party faithful clashed over immigration, illustrating, in an unexpected way, the party’s key campaign theme: Party of the future versus party of the past.

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Posted By: Carla Marinucci | August 22 2010 at 10:00 PM

How did Carly and Meg manage the miracle of never even crossing paths all weekend at their big party blowout? How many times did “Gov. Moonbeam,” Barbara Boxer, and Kamala Harris feel their ears burning this weekend? And what happened to that “big tent” when those conservative renegades starting acting up?

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Posted By: Joe Garofoli | Aug 22 at 11:58 PM

Los Angeles — The Dems in LA have a strategy for beating Meg Whitman. Since they won’t be able to match the billionaire GOP guv nominee buck for buck, LA County Dem Party chair Eric Bauman says: “We’ve got to be fearless and direct and creative.”

Bauman, who is also the vice chair of the state party, debuted some of the “creative” part Sunday night before 700 grassroots activists at the Dems annual Roosevelt Democrat of the Year Awards rubber chickenfest. (Special surprise guest: embattled Rep. Maxine Waters — who got a standing O after rolling in and rah-rahing for a few minutes.)

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But those deemed vulnerable, including Republican Mary Bono Mack and Democrat Loretta Sanchez, are the focus of intensifying battles.
California Congress

By Jean Merl, Los Angeles Times

August 22, 2010

Republican Rep. Mary Bono Mack of Palm Springs has a new title these days: “Patriot.”

That’s the term leaders of the National Republican Congressional Committee are using for House members they believe to be most vulnerable to a Democratic challenge this fall.

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Some have been demonized, but say retirement benefits weren’t their doing

By Danielle Cervantes, UNION-TRIBUNE
Lily Leung, STAFF WRITER
Jeff McDonald, UNION-TRIBUNE
Monday, August 23, 2010 at 12:06 a.m.

Download: Details on Top 20 San Diego city pensioners

Sales-tax hike’s roots lie in pension increases: Key votes in 1996 and 2002 boosted top 20 pensions for San Diego city workers by 176 percent

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