Hon. Willie Brown

Politics Blog

Posted By: Joe Garofoli | October 19 2010 at 12:08 PM

Just got back from Willie Brown’s annual pre-election breakfast in San Francisco — a place for donors and pols to schmooze. Even Guv Schwarzenegger showed up (to a standing O, no less).

After we fought through the line of folks there to kiss Willie’s ring afterwards, we asked the Da Mayor about something one of the morning’s speakers, former Gov. Gray Davis campaign czar Garry South, said about the lack of a Democratic ground operation.

Read the rest of this entry »

Politics Blog

Posted By: Carolyn Lochhead | October 19 2010 at 08:41 AM

As promised to our intrepid Joe Garofoli, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has unloaded an estimated $1.25 million in new ads aiming to knock out incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer and Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Jerry Brown.

Read the rest of this entry »

PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
October 19, 2010 | 12:30 pm

Throughout the gubernatorial campaign, Meg Whitman has focused on Jerry Brown’s support from labor unions. She’s highlighted more than $20 million in union spending on Brown’s behalf, part of what Whitman derisively called “Jerry Brown Inc.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
October 19, 2010

California has the second largest bond debt burden among the nation’s largest states, a new report by state Treasurer Bill Lockyer says.

The “2010 Debt Affordability Report” says that California voters have authorized $130.1 billion in general obligation bonds, of which $68.8 billion have been issued, and servicing those bonds consumes 6.89 percent of the state’s general fund revenues.

Read the rest of this entry »

By PE News
on October 18, 2010 3:03 PM

More than 45 percent of eligible Riverside County voters have asked to vote by mail on Nov. 2, elections officials announced today.

In a statement, the registrar’s office reported that the figure has already surpassed the number of people who requested vote-by-mail ballots in the November 2008 election. The county has added staff and equipment to handle the extra mail-in votes.

Read the rest of this entry »

10:36 PM PDT on Monday, October 18, 2010

By JIM MILLER
Sacramento Bureau

Pension bill floor vote
California Assembly pension bill floor vote – October 2010
Published: 10/18/2010 05:28 PM

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s relationship with Republican lawmakers from the Inland area is ending on a decidedly low note.

Over the years, the Republican governor and local GOP legislators have butted heads on issues ranging from tribal gambling and state budgets to bill vetoes and ideology.

Read the rest of this entry »

10:00 PM PDT on Monday, October 18, 2010

By JIM MILLER
Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO – The final campaigns in the Inland area’s 32nd and 36th Senate districts won’t be producing any farewell fireworks.

Both districts, crafted in 2001, will look entirely different four years from now, after next year’s redrawing of political lines.

Read the rest of this entry »

10:00 PM PDT on Monday, October 18, 2010

By DUANE W. GANG
The Press-Enterprise

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina touted her job-creation plan Monday at a shuttered San Bernardino car dealership and slammed Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer for failing to work harder to stem rising unemployment.

“This election is about her record,” Fiorina said in the former showroom of the closed Mitsubishi dealer. “This election is about jobs.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Candidate blasts Boxer
Michael J. Sorba, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/18/2010 08:44:33 PM PDT

SAN BERNARDINO – Speaking in a showroom that was once part of a bustling Mitsubishi dealership in the San Bernardino Auto Center, Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina on Monday touted her plans to cut federal spending and create jobs while lambasting her opponent, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer.

The failed dealership and several others that closed in the city in 2009 are examples of why leadership change is needed, Fiorina said.

Read the rest of this entry »

Rialto school chief gets $250K salary plus pension
Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/18/2010 08:44:34 PM PDT

RIALTO – Critics of the state’s pension system on Monday blasted the school board’s recent decision to extend Superintendent Harold Cebrun’s contract to the tune of $225,000 a year, plus benefits, through November 2014.

Cebrun will earn the salary on top of an annual pension listed at $150,134 by the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility, a nonprofit group that collects retirement information and posts online the pensions of public employees in the state who take in more than $100,000 a year.

Read the rest of this entry »

Service an issue for city workers
Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/18/2010 06:12:21 PM PDT

SAN BERNARDINO – City employees may soon have to choose between a new union or remaining with the San Bernardino Public Employees Association.

The San Bernardino Public Employees Association represents the city’s general employees and middle managers. If union members decide to make a switch, the Pasadena-based chapter of the International Union of Operating Engineers would become the new bargaining unit for San Bernardino’s general employees.

Read the rest of this entry »

Rancho Cucamonga city councilman says job was not sham
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Created: 10/18/2010 06:10:17 PM PDT

Rancho Cucamonga Councilman Rex Gutierrez said Monday he had a flexible work schedule while working at the San Bernardino County Assessor’s Office over a two-year period, which was sanctioned by his bosses.

Gutierrez, 50, took the witness stand Monday in San Bernardino Superior Court during his retrial, testifying that his job was assignment driven, and much of his work was done in the field.

Read the rest of this entry »

Supervisors may seek talks to reduce benefits
Troy Anderson and Liset Marquez, Staff Writers
Created: 10/18/2010 08:46:56 PM PDT

Pension reform proponents are skeptical about the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors’ proposed changes to the county pension system – a move some contend would save the county $200 million per year.

The board is expected to vote today on whether to direct Chief Executive Officer Bill Fujioka to begin negotiations with county unions to modify the pension system.

Read the rest of this entry »

Six out of eight city council candidates speak at chamber of commerce monthly luncheon
October 18, 2010 5:02 PM
Beau Yarbrough

HESPERIA • For city council candidates eager to prove their business-friendly credentials, the monthly Hesperia Chamber of Commerce luncheon was very friendly territory.

Six of the eight candidates running for the three open seats on the Hesperia City Council attended the candidates’ forum, held at the Courtyard by Marriott Monday.

Read the rest of this entry »

Carly Fiorina                  Barbara Boxer

By Rob Hotakainen
rhotakainen@mcclatchydc.com
Published: Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2010 – 1:25 am

WASHINGTON – They may not agree on much, but Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer and her GOP rival, former businesswoman Carly Fiorina, are eagerly airing the federal stimulus program in this fall’s red-hot Senate campaign.

Both have been using human examples to argue their case.

Read the rest of this entry »

Politics Blog

Posted By: Carolyn Lochhead | October 18 2010 at 05:02 PM

As prelude to President Obama’s actual arrival for private fundraisers in the Palo Alto area Thursday and a rally and fundraiser in Los Angeles Friday for incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, the prez is featured on a new radio ad for Boxer.

Read the rest of this entry »

October 19, 2010

The early onset of senility sweeping through the executive suite of Calbuzz has caused us to forget the author of the best recent tweet on the governor’s race so, with apologies to this anonymous Twitter talent, we’ll just rip it off:

Jerry Brown is your crazy uncle and Meg Whitman is your mean aunt.

Read the rest of this entry »

October 18th, 2010, 1:01 pm · Posted by Martin Wisckol, Politics reporter

During a campaign stop in Garden Grove this morning, Meg Whitman defended her plan to eliminate the state’s capital-gains tax and brushed aside a comment from opponent Jerry Brown that she’d get roughly $15 million in tax savings if the plan was instituted.

Read the rest of this entry »

Politics Blog

We’ve been waiting for this.

Republican attorney general hopeful Steve Cooley finally started spending all that money he’s amassed, rolling out an attack ad today against his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris. With just two weeks before election day, the big city district attorneys — he’s from Los Angeles, she’s from San Francisco — are close in the polls.

Read the rest of this entry »

Jeff Hall, up for a seat on the Western Municipal Water District board, is California director of the nation’s biggest white supremacist group.

Jeff Hall, center, leads a rally in Riverside in 2009. In an interview this week, the candidate called for water conservation and affirmed his belief that all non-whites should be deported. (Cal State San Bernardino Center for the / October 19, 2010)

By Tony Barboza, Los Angeles Times
October 19, 2010

Political newcomer Jeff Hall has run a discreet campaign trying to unseat an incumbent on an obscure Riverside County water board. He hasn’t posted any signs, didn’t show up to a candidates forum and lists no occupation on the November ballot.

But Hall is well-known as a white supremacist.

Read the rest of this entry »