Politics, Government & Business in California's Inland Empire
Thursday, October 7, 2010 – 4:00 p.m.
Thursday afternoon both houses of the California Legislature are attempting to pass another deficit-laden budget.
A budget with billions of dollars in false assumptions and pie-in-the-sky revenue projections. A practice which has plagued the state’s budgeting process for years.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010 – 7:00 p.m.
Recently filed campaign finance reports in the contest between county supervisor Paul Biane and his challenger, Fontana city council member Janice Rutherford, are proving to be of some interest.
Thursday, October 7, 2010 – 06:55 a.m.
At their debate held at U.C. Davis, Meg Whitman said that electing Jerry Brown California Governor and having him negotiate with his labor union backers, was like “putting Count Dracula in charge of the blood bank”.
I’m just saying…….
Adam Aleman
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/06/2010 06:18:18 PM PDT
Former San Bernardino County Assessor’s Office executive Ted Lehrer testified Wednesday in the trial of Rancho Cucamonga Councilman Rex Gutierrez, stating that former assistant assessor Adam Aleman – a key witness for the prosecution – lied to him on many occasions.
Aleman, 27, is testifying against his former colleagues in the office in exchange for a lighter sentence. He pleaded no contest last June to four felony counts of vandalism and falsifying documents he presented to the Grand Jury, which was investigating a reported scandal at the office involving a political operation being run by former Assessor Bill Postmus at taxpayer expense.
James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/06/2010 06:15:08 PM PDT
Both major candidates vying for the 59th District Assembly seat identify themselves as party outsiders, but the latest campaign-finance reports show Republican Tim Donnelly and Democrat Darcel Woods are getting money from typical Republican and Democratic sources.
Between July 1 and Oct. 1, Donnelly, a former Minuteman who has said Republicans and Democrats alike have “sold us out,” took in $3,900 from former Republican lawmaker Jim Brulte, $7,800 in loans from current Republican lawmakers, nearly $2,000 from the 59th District Republican Central Committee and $1,000 from the Los Angeles County Lincoln Club.
Cortes
Ryan Hagen, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/06/2010 04:35:58 PM PDT
GRAND TERRACE – City councilwoman Bea Cortes committed no crime when she voted to pay more than $2,800 in public funds to a real estate company where she had a real estate license, the district attorney’s office has announced.
Twelve Grand Terrace citizens requested the investigation in January, alleging a conflict of interest during votes from 2006 to 2009.
11:20 PM PDT on Wednesday, October 6, 2010
By IMRAN GHORI
The Press-Enterprise
Former San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus was uncomfortable disciplining Rex Gutierrez for poor work habits because he was afraid it would upset an influential developer, a witness testified Wednesday.
Ted Lehrer, who served as communications officer for Postmus, said in early 2008 Postmus became concerned that Gutierrez was drawing attention from other career employees over his frequent absences.
Rebecca U. Cho, Staff Writer
Created: 10/06/2010 04:15:45 PM PDT
Double-digit unemployment rates will persist in the Inland Empire until 2014, economists said Wednesday, painting a bleak employment picture in a forecast for the region.
“It’s going to be a long, slow recovery in the Inland Empire,” said Marc Weidenmier, associate professor of economics at Claremont McKenna College, who presented the first annual “Inland Empire Forecast.”
Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Created: 10/06/2010 04:10:40 PM PDT
UPLAND – The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office has closed its files on a conflict of interest complaint filed by a former San Antonio Water Company board member.
San Antonio Heights resident Ken McNeil filed the complaint with the D.A.’s public integrity unit in September against two current board members.
Jurors find Pryke defamed former Sheriff’s wife
October 06, 2010 3:44 PM
Tomoya Shimura
SAN BERNARDINO • A jury has determined that the publisher of a local weekly is responsible for publishing false articles about former San Bernardino County Sheriff Gary Penrod’s wife and awarded her $332,500 in damages.
Raymond Pryke published articles in the Hesperia Resorter, Apple Valley News and Adelanto Bulletin in 1999, claiming that Nancy Bohl had leaked confidential patient-client information to her then-boyfriend Penrod. Bohl is a psychologist and owns The Counseling Team, a firm that provides crisis intervention services to Sheriff’s deputies.
October 06, 2010 5:29 PM
Peter Day
HESPERIA • Medical marijuana users should be able to legally acquire pot in Hesperia, a spokesman for a nonprofit advocacy group told the City Council.
“We would love to work with the city of Hesperia to help provide safe access to these patients while keeping it out of the hands of our children,” said Kevin Sutman, who was one of about 20 members of the West Coast Patient Group, Inc. in attendance at the council meeting Tuesday night.
“I guess this is ‘pick on the mayor night.'”
– Councilman Ed Pack
October 06, 2010 5:12 PM
Peter Day
HESPERIA • While the official Hesperia City Council business was humdrum, the session-ending councilmember comments on Tuesday night were anything but boring.
“Councilmember Vogler, I didn’t want to rehash this,” Mayor Thurston “Smitty” Smith said during his segment, “(but) you’re blaming me for you not becoming mayor?”
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010 – 12:29 am
Last Modified: Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010 – 1:09 am
The Schwarzenegger administration and Service Employees International Union Local 1000 have just announced a tentative labor agreement that includes higher employee contributions to their retirement plans and rolls back pension formulas for new hires to pre-1999 levels.
Under terms of the pact, current workers would kick in an additional 3 percent of their pay toward their pensions. Union negotiators also agreed accept one day of unpaid leave per month for a year, which cuts employee pay and hours by roughly 5 percent per month. In exchange, workers covered by the agreement won’t be subject to furloughs that lawmakers might impose during that period.
Brown
PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
October 6, 2010 | 11:14 pm
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jerry Brown channelled his inner Obama on Wednesday night, preaching post-partisanship and unity at a small-dollar fundraiser in San Francisco.
More than 100 young supporters gathered at Orson, a chic bar and restaurant, for an event dubbed “The Brown Bash.” Organizers said it was aimed at attracting younger voters to Brown’s campaign, which had run a bare-bones operation until going up with TV ads last month.
PoliticsBlog
Posted By: Carla Marinucci | October 06 2010 at 03:49 PM
In the wake of some tough weeks in the gubernatorial campaign, including the headline-grabbing issue of her former maid, Republican Meg Whitman has unveiled a new positive-themed back-to-basics ad — almost an introduction spot — in which the former eBay CEO says: “I know government isn’t a business — and it shouldn’t be.”
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
October 6, 2010
Immigration attorney Marc Van Der Hout, who is representing Meg Whitman’s former maid, said his undocumented client has been in the United States for nearly 20 years and has a long work history and family ties to bolster her quest for legal residency.
“There are many people who get to stay who were in her circumstances,” Van Der Hout said of Nicky Diaz Santillan, housekeeper for Republican gubernatorial candidate Whitman for nine years.
Cooley Harris
PoliticsBlog
Posted By: Marisa Lagos | October 06 2010 at 10:03 AM
Well, the numbers are in in the increasingly contentious attorney general race between SF District Attorney Kamala Harris and LA District Attorney Steve Cooley, and we have to admit — we’re a bit surprised. Cooley is leading the way, with more than $2.1 million collected since July 1, to Harris’ $1.8 million. Cooley also has more cash in the bank — about $500,000 more — which could make a difference in this tight contest. (Cooley also spent just half as much as Harris from July through September; not surprising given she’s launched some ads.)
PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
October 6, 2010 | 4:39 pm
Democratic state attorney general nominee Kamala Harris on Wednesday announced her first attack ad against GOP rival Steve Cooley, accusing the Republican district attorney of Los Angeles County of shutting down his environmental crimes unit after a deputy starting investigating one of his campaign contributions.
By John Howard | 10/07/10 12:00 AM PST
Less than four weeks before the Nov. 2 election, millions of voters have begun casting their ballots – by mail.
Nearly nine million voters cast ballots in the last non-presidential general election, and more than four in every 10 voted by mail. A similar proportion is expected this election.
By Malcolm Maclachlan | 10/07/10 12:00 AM PST
Last November, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation in Connecticut failed to make $7 million of a scheduled $21.25 million payment on a $500 million debt. The collateral on the deal was their Foxwoods Resort Casino. If they had been a normal business owner, they would have gone into a default, and creditors could have gone after the casino.
By Kevin Yamamura
kyamamura@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
The Legislature can bring California’s record-long stalemate to a close today with floor votes on the 99th day of the fiscal year, ending the state’s financial woes for the time being.
But the pending $87.5 billion spending plan does little to solve the state’s permanent fiscal problems and makes several questionable assumptions that could make next year’s deficit worse should they fall short.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
They finished the narrative on Friday, cast the villain and set the story in motion. Then on Monday, the California Supreme Court blew it up.
With the state budget three months late and $19 billion upside down, lawmakers agreed last week to whack $896 million from employee compensation. Negotiators agreed on the figure by extrapolating savings from recent contract concessions made by six unions representing 37,000 state workers.
Thousands of foreclosures are put on hold
During the housing boom, millions of homeowners got easy access to mortgages. Now, some mortgage lenders and state governments have discovered many mortgage documents were mishandled.
By Brady Dennis and Ariana Eunjung Cha
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, October 7, 2010; 12:01 AM
Millions of U.S. mortgages have been shuttled around the global financial system – sold and resold by firms – without the documents that traditionally prove who legally owns the loans.
Now, as many of these loans have fallen into default and banks have sought to seize homes, judges around the country have increasingly ruled that lenders had no right to foreclose, because they lacked clear title.
Public universities may get $500 million more than last year under proposed spending plan. Campus officials are ‘very pleased’ but note that funding remains substantially lower than before the recession.
By Larry Gordon and Carla Rivera, Los Angeles Times
October 7, 2010
In an otherwise gloomy state budget deal, California’s two public university systems emerged as rare winners, garnering significant infusions of extra revenue, officials said Wednesday. The additional money for UC and Cal State, combined with previously announced federal stimulus funds, is expected to help restore some classes and hire professors.