Wednesday, May 23, 2012 – 09:45 a.m.

More independent money is continuing to flow into the race to represent the 8th Congressional District this week.

The Spirit of Democracy America PAC threw another expenditure of $16,655 in support of Assembly Paul Cook (R-Yucca Valley).

The committees second expenditure this week.

The Jobs Opportunity and Freedom PAC also spent another $23,115 in support of County Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt (R-Wrightwood).

Ramos

Wednesday, May 23, 2012 – 09:30 a.m.

It sure looks as if San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Tribal Member and San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors candidate James Ramos’ campaign is pulling out all the stops in the final days running up to the June 5 primary.

Ramos is seeking to unseat Supervisor Neil Derry in the three-way contest.

Defense Department employee Jim Bagley is the third candidate.

Polls, in both Derry and Ramos camps, indicate Ramos may be in for some level of embarrassment in two weeks.

What level remains to be seen.

But weak support for Ramos in the low thirty-percent area won’t cut it in any way.

One thing is for sure. Ramos will be the first candidate, since bill former Assessor Bill Postmus, to spend upwards of $1 million in a primary contest, place second, and possibly face a runoff at best.

Postmus was successful in his bid.

But Ramos has many demographic factors working against him.

The largest of which is partisan party registration.

Ramos has been frantically trying to appeal to republican voters to throw Derry out.

A move that’s not working.

First. Republican registration dwarfs democrat by large 13% in the Third District.

Second. Ramos’ preferential tax treatment, because of his soverign tribal status, pisses people off.

Third. Ramos has no clue as to what a county supervisor does.

The latest sign of desperation in Ramos land?

Ramos had a information tent at Cal State – San Bernardino on Tuesday.

Not that there are really any votes to garner at the college campus. But I guess it makes for a good waste of time.

The message from the likely-paid Ramos representatives?

Neil Derry is a convicted felon!

Yep! That was the big message being conveyed to class go-er’s.

Desperate times do require desperate measures.

BY BEN GOAD
WASHINGTON BUREAU
bgoad@pe.com

Published: 22 May 2012 06:56 PM

A high-stakes showdown with national implications is brewing in the San Bernardino Valley, where six candidates are vying to represent California’s newly drawn 31st Congressional District.

No House race in the country on the regular 2012 election schedule has attracted more outside spending than the 31st, which stretches from Redlands to Rancho Cucamonga and includes San Bernardino, Loma Linda, Grand Terrace, Colton and parts of Fontana and Rialto. Special interests have pumped more than $900,000 into the race.

Democratic Party leaders in Washington see the seat as key in their quest to win back control of the House, and Republicans say they are resolved to stop them.

“It’s a must-win for Democrats,” said David Wasserman, an analyst specializing in House races for the Cook Political Report. “It’s not as critical a hold for Republicans, but they’d like to keep it.”

Two Republicans are running for the seat: Rep. Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar, and state Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga. On the Democratic side, there are four candidates: Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar, Loma Linda attorney Justin Kim, nonprofit founder Renea Wickman and retired educator Rita Ramirez-Dean.

Under California’s new primary system, the top two vote-getters will advance past the June 5 primary, regardless of their party affiliation.

THE NARRATIVE

Reps. Joe Baca and Jerry Lewis, who together have represented the San Bernardino Valley for more than a decade, both reside in the 31st district. But neither is running for re-election there.

After California’s redistricting commission drew new political lines last summer, Baca, D-Rialto, opted to run in the adjacent and more solidly Democratic 35th district. In January, Lewis, R-Redlands, announced plans to step away from politics at the end of the year.

Lewis’ departure created an opening for Miller, whose home district had been redrawn. He quickly jumped into the race, saying he planned to move to Rancho Cucamonga anyway.

Dutton, who will be termed out of the state Senate, also announced a bid for the seat, creating an intra-GOP tussle. Dutton has the advantage of living in the district, and voters there are used to seeing his name on the ballot.

Miller, meanwhile, has a large fundraising advantage and won endorsements from both the National Republican Congressional Committee and the state Republican Party, thanks in part to his status as an incumbent.

Both candidates have also received support from Super-PACs and other outside groups that have injected large sums of money into the race. While state and federal law sets limits on contributions to candidates, Super-PACs are allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts through independent expenditures.

The National Realtors Association has spent more than $700,000 on TV ads, polling, consulting and other services in support of Miller through its congressional fund and political action committee. A Super-PAC known as Inland Taxpayers for Jobs has spent more than $50,000 in support of Dutton.

To read entire story, click here.

Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 05/22/2012 04:00:23 PM PDT

SAN BERNARDINO – High unemployment and a staggering number of people underwater on their mortgages continues to vex San Bernardino County, with no relief expected until late 2015, according to a budget report approved by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

The county added 15,600 jobs in the first three months of 2012, but its unemployment rate, as of March, was still hovering at 12.7 percent, higher than the national unemployment rate of 8.4 percent and California’s unemployment rate of 11.5 percent.

Roughly 264,122 of the 488,422 single family homes in the county have been underwater on their mortgages – in which owners owe more than the home is worth – at some point in the last four years.

Of the underwater homes, 63.7 percent of the homeowners had received notices of default. As a result, a housing recovery is not likely until late 2015, according to the budget report.

“It is clearly my opinion and the opinion of the Board of Supervisors that our economy is still struggling,” said Greg Devereaux, the county’s chief executive officer.

He said the local economy will not rebound until developers start building homes again and more businesses set up shop.

But before that can happen, the county must first get its arms around the foreclosure problem and the high number of people underwater on their mortgages.

“Hence the desire for the board to form a JPA (joint powers authority) with some of our cities and explore what’s out there,” said Devereaux.

The county is pushing to form a JPA that would create a program to assist these troubled homeowners. The cities of Fontana and Ontario have agreed to join the county in the plan.

Hesperia Mayor Russell Blewett has also expressed a strong interest in the program, but his city has yet to embrace the proposal.

County spokesman David Wert said a number of private companies and/or organizations are developing or have developed programs targeting underwater homeowners. The federal Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) is another option, he said.

Despite the projected delay in the recovery of the housing market, it’s not all bad news. The median home price in the county has leveled out at $150,000, and for March that median price was 9.5 percent above the April 2009 low, an affordable price for 77 percent of local families.

David Mlynarski, chief financial officer for the Inland Empire Economic Recovery Corp., a public-private partnership that purchases foreclosed homes, refurbishes them and sells them to first-time homebuyers, said the county must become more business friendly if it wants to attract business to the region and spur job growth.

“We are at the bottom of the list when it comes to being business-friendly and job-friendly,” Mlynarski said.

To read entire story, click here.

BY ALICIA ROBINSON
STAFF WRITER
arobinson@pe.com

Published: 22 May 2012 05:09 PM

Riverside officials say they expect to recover only a portion of the $49.44 million that the former redevelopment agency spent to buy 80 pieces of land that are now up for sale.

Some residents are frustrated by the predicted loss and critical of the former redevelopment agency for buying parcels and letting them sit idle, in some cases for six or seven years.

But redevelopment supporters argue that buying the properties allowed the agency to eliminate crime-ridden or rundown houses and businesses, benefits it’s hard to put a price on.

Under the state law that ended redevelopment, the city is required to put the bulk of its former redevelopment agency’s assets up for sale. Now officials are trying to sell 80 properties, broken into 26 groups of one or more parcels.

The city made a deal earlier this month to sell a parcel on Magnolia Avenue for $550,000. The redevelopment agency had paid $1.82 million to buy the land in 2007.

The sale price of other properties likely won’t be known until the city has them appraised.

“There will be an economic loss, there is no question, to the taxpayers of Riverside,” Councilman Mike Gardner said at a May 8 council meeting.

Of the remaining groups of properties, among the most costly were three groups on different corners of the Five Points intersection in La Sierra that cost a total of $10.2 million, and six parcels on Merrill Avenue across from Riverside Plaza that the agency paid $6.2 million to acquire.

The properties aren’t likely to fetch as much as they cost when the agency bought them partly because most had something on them — a business or a house, for example — that increased their value, Gardner said by phone Tuesday. There may also have been costs to relocate businesses or residents and demolish whatever was on the site.

To read entire story, click here.

Neil Derry

Point of View

Supervisor Neil Derry
Posted: 05/22/2012 02:44:33 PM PDT

The people of San Bernardino County are tired of being unemployed or underemployed. They are tired of feeling like they just can’t get ahead. And they are tired of feeling like nothing is ever going to change.

There is a limit to what a county government can do to improve an economy that is subject to state, national and global pressures. But that doesn’t absolve us from working hard to make a positive impact in areas where we can make a difference.

The seeds of economic recovery and sustained vibrancy begin to sprout when communities evaluate their strengths and weakness, assess the landscape for opportunities, and leverage available assets and resources to maximize growth and create jobs.

Understanding who we are as a community is essential to developing a strategy to achieve economic renewal. Communities that competently take inventory of these factors possess the confidence and patience to chart the long-term course to achieve these objectives.

The county of San Bernardino is preparing to embark upon this journey.

Our economic development agency recently entered into a collaborative partnership with Loma Linda University that we believe will mark the beginning of a multi-decade development of a biotech and life science industry complex. Loma Linda University owns many patents and innovations as a result of its vaunted research programs and decades of innovative practices and applications. To date, the value of these incredibly marketable assets has not been fully extracted.

Through our ability to apply for special tax credits from the federal government under the New Market Tax Credit fund, we believe we can entice firms to relocate or establish themselves here and facilitate the introduction of these intellectual assets owned by the university to the marketplace. These tax credits are designed to promote investment in low-income communities by permitting individual and corporate investors to receive the tax credit spread out over seven years in exchange for making equity investments through a community development entity controlled by the county. Areas surrounding LLU qualify under this program. Investors receive a 39 percent credit against the original investment amount. Obviously, this is an enticing carrot given to investors that engage in a very high-risk investment with a long-term horizon.

To read entire story, click here.

Kristina Hernandez, Staff Writer
Posted: 05/22/2012 08:55:18 PM PDT

MENTONE – The economy and possible tax increases under Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration were two hot topics Republican Party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro addressed Tuesday night at the Mill Creek Cattle Co.

The talk was part of the party’s bus stop tour to address voters in other counties throughout the state and answer their questions and concerns about government on a state and local level.

Del Beccaro was joined on stage by KTIE 590 personalities Lou Desmond and Heidi Harris as the discussion was broadcast simultaneously on the station.

The chairman started the discussion by addressing the two proposed tax increases on the June 5 ballot. He believes that the current job market has caused such a huge budget deficit because there are no jobs available to those who could be paying taxes or sales taxes the state desperately needs.

“We have so many people not working and they’re not part of the system anymore,” he said. “So we have these deficits because Jerry Brown does not have an idea to bring back jobs to California.”

Del Beccaro blamed over-taxing and over-regulation from the state government why the demand for jobs will not return to the state. Another factor is that, home values which have been “destroyed.”

Del Beccaro said it was important for him to leave Sacramento and travel the state to hear from concerned voters whose voices are not being heard up north and he was tired of hearing the voices of only politicians. Many in the audience shook their heads in agreement.

Terry Klenske, owner of Dalton Trucking, addressed Del Beccaro and the audience by answering questions about his business, and jobs that have been affected.

He purchased the company in 1977 as a hobby with three trucks on his fleet. Today, he has 250 employees and 140 trucks.

He talked about how the passing of Assembly Bill 32 hurt his business when regulations were put in place regulating cement manufacturing.

To read entire story, click here.

Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Created: 05/22/2012 12:15:41 PM PDT

UPLAND – Planning commissioner and real estate broker Bill Velto has announced his intention to run for City Council in November.

Velto, vice president and managing broker for Tarbell Realtors, is seeking to fill a council seat that will be left vacant when Councilman Ken Willis retires at the end of his term.

“I’m certain my relationships within the Inland Empire will lead to additional business coming to Upland. With additional business comes additional revenue,” Velto said.

He has lived in the city for more than 50 years and has been in the real estate industry in Upland for more than 20 years.

Velto employs more than 105 agents in Upland and his escrow company employs an additional 14 people.

To read entire story, click here.

Nestande

By PE Politics
May 22, 2012 12:15 PM

Calling for an “honest conversation” about spending cuts, Assemblyman Brian Nestande and others Tuesday proposed a constitutional amendment to prohibit lawmakers from deferring scheduled payments to schools from one fiscal year to another.

The state has built up more than $10 billion in school-funding deferrals as lawmakers try to avoid permanent general-fund cuts.

But critics say the deferred money has scrambled district finances and costs them hundreds of millions of dollars in interest on borrowed money to pay their bills until the state money arrives.

“It’s really the largest shell in the shell game” of a state budget, Nestande, R-Palm Desert, said at a Capitol news conference. “Deferrals are just avoiding the tough decisions.”

Joining Nestande was Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen, R-Modesto, and other deferral critics, including Sharon Scott Dow, a representative of the Advancement Project. The group is led by wealthy civil rights attorney Molly Munger, who has spent more than $8.2 million to qualify an initiative that would raise income taxes to increase funding for schools..

Nestande and Olson did not say what should be cut to pay down the school deferrals. They ruled out raising taxes to generate more money for schools, notwithstanding their co-press conferee.

To read entire story, click here.

Sacramento — California’s public schools could see as much as a month of classroom time slashed from the calendar if voters reject a plan to raise taxes in November.

Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed giving school districts the option of cutting up to 15 days from the school year if voters reject his proposed income and sales tax initiative. The significantly shortened year would help offset a multibillion-dollar automatic midyear cut that would be implemented upon rejection of the taxes.

Districts statewide already have the option of cutting five days from the 180-day school calendar in order to reduce costs, and the proposal for three more weeks would be in addition to that. Public schools would take the biggest hit if the taxes fail, as nearly $5.5 billion out of the $6 billion in automatic cuts would come from their budgets under the governor’s plan.

Brown on Tuesday noted that the Legislature would ultimately decide what the so-called “trigger cuts” would entail, but he said that giving schools such an option is the only way to deal with the uncertainty.

“I’m doing the only thing that can be done, and that is assume the taxes and put in the trigger cuts,” Brown said after making a pitch for his tax plan to a gathering of the California Chamber of Commerce. “Is it the best way? It’s the only way that I can see going forward.”
Opposition to cuts

Polls of state voters in recent months have shown overwhelming opposition to the governor’s proposal for automatic spending cuts.

Education leaders said there are myriad problems with the proposal, including that Brown would want school districts to bargain with teachers unions to make such a reduction. That would result in districts having to make vast concessions for the unions to agree to what essentially would be a one-month reduction in pay, said Jill Wynns, president of the California School Boards Association.

“I don’t know what we would have to give, but … I guarantee in the future people would say, ‘How could that have gotten into the contract?’ ” Wynns said.

Shortening the school year any more would put the state and its students at a significant disadvantage for learning, and Californians would be fooling themselves to think otherwise, she said.

“From my point of view this is a huge game of pretend. We’re pretending you can have a world-class public school system without paying for it, and that’s just wrong. It’s a lie,” she said.

The Legislature first allowed school districts to shorten the 180-day year by five days as part of the February 2009 budget agreement, when the state was on the brink of financial collapse. Districts have the option of doing that until the 2014-15 school year.

In the current school year, 35 percent of school districts statewide have reduced their calendars between one and five days, according to a report by the Legislative Analyst’s Office. As part of the budget deal last year, the Legislature gave districts the option of reducing this school year by an additional seven days, but no districts took that option, according to the analyst.

To read entire story, click here.

Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, May. 23, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

As the state budget’s deficit widens, Gov. Jerry Brown is being thrust into a three-front political battle.

He must not only persuade voters to pass his sales and income tax package, but, implicitly, persuade them to reject a rival tax measure just for schools.

Meanwhile, Brown is pressing liberal Democratic legislators to ignore their political DNA by making deeper cuts in health and welfare programs, not only to close the deficit but to bolster appeals to voters for new taxes.

“It’s not easy,” Brown told hundreds of business and civic figures gathered Tuesday in Sacramento for the annual Host Breakfast.

“We’re getting there,” Brown continued. “We’re making the cuts. But we also need the revenues.”

Brown had been cultivating business groups to support his original tax plan, but they cooled when he shifted gears to satisfy rivals on the left, reducing the sales tax element and sharply boosting income taxes on high-income taxpayers, including many attendees at Tuesday’s event.

Despite Brown’s assertion, cuts in welfare benefits, medical care for the poor, child care, developmental disability services, and in-home care for the aged and disabled are a tough sell among liberal legislators who support those services.

Brown’s new budget counts on those reductions to narrow the deficit by more than $1.5 billion but legislative leaders have said that softening their impact is their highest priority, characterizing them as “life-and-death” issues.

Past efforts to make cuts in those areas have been difficult. Most involve federal funds as well as the state’s money, and some have run afoul of Washington’s unwillingness to grant waivers, while others have been blocked in court.

To read entire column, click here.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012 – 08:30 a.m.

Another Super-PAC committee has weighed in on the hotly-contested 8th Congressional District.

This time the beneficiary is Assemblyman Paul Cook (R-Yucca Valley).

The Spirit of Democracy America PAC has reported to the Federal Election Commission that it has spent $17,137 for campaign literature mailings supporting Cook.

The consultant handling the production is Temple McNally Associates, Inc.

The only other candidate in the race to receive outside help is San Bernardino County Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt.

BY MICHELLE L. KLAMPE
STAFF WRITER
mklampe@pe.com

Published: 21 May 2012 10:14 PM

A record number of California schools, including 31 in the Inland Empire, may not be able to pay their bills in the next couple of years, the California Department of Education announced Monday, May 20.

Nearly 20 percent of California school districts and other local education agencies such as county education offices are in financial jeopardy, according to a list compiled by state officials using financial reports from March. The list includes 18 of 23 school districts in Riverside County and 13 of 33 school districts in San Bernardino County.

Twelve districts — none in the Inland Empire — have indicated they cannot meet their financial obligations this fiscal year or next, a budget status known as negative certification. Another 176 districts indicated they may not be able to pay their bills this year or in 2012-13 or 2013-14, a qualified certification.

Districts with a qualified budget could become insolvent within two years unless they make additional cuts or bring in more revenue. Districts with a negative budget cannot pay their bills this year or in 2012-13. Under both conditions, districts face increased supervision and sometimes intervention from the county office of education to ensure they don’t become insolvent.

The number of agencies on the financial edge has increased by 61 since the list was last released in February and up 45 over the previous year’s list, state officials said. In 2006-07, just 24 school districts had a negative or qualified certification, and none were in the Inland region.

“Having 13 is crazy,” said Dan Evans, a spokesman for the San Bernardino County office of education. “That is a stunning number that should give everybody pause to say, ‘What’s going on here?’”

State and local education officials said the dramatic increase is a by-product of the prolonged state budget crisis and the unknowns surrounding tax measures being proposed to help fund schools. Paul Jessup, deputy superintendent of the Riverside County office of education, said moving school districts back onto solid financial footing will be difficult as long as the state’s financial woes continue.

“We’re in desperate need of an honest state spending plan,” he said. “We keep on getting budgets built on hope. Hope is not a plan.”

Districts have been required since the 1990s to file two financial reports, known as interim reports, one each by Dec. 15 and March 15. Districts review their fiscal health for the current year and two subsequent years. The reports look at cash flow, reserves, deficit spending, enrollment and attendance, status of labor agreements and more.

The county office of education reviews the reports and submits them to the state Department of Education. When districts have qualified or negative certification, they face additional oversight from the county office, which can step in to veto decisions on spending. In the worst case scenarios, a school district that has run out of money can seek an emergency loan from the state Department of Education.

To read entire story, click here.

Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 05/21/2012 07:12:18 PM PDT

There’s no shortage of choices for San Bernardino County voters this election season when it comes to the First District supervisor’s race.

Seven candidates are vying for the seat vacated by Brad Mitzelfelt, who is making a bid for Congress after only one term in public office.

The First District is the largest of the county’s five supervisorial districts, spanning the bulk of the high Desert, from Trona to Needles, and the town of Wrightwood in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Up next for the candidates is the June 5 primary.

A number of factors are at play that make this county supervisor race unique, said Doug Johnson, a fellow at the Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont Mckenna College.

“First, there’s no incumbent, and second, there’s a lot of good candidates who have a shot at winning this, and none of them emerges as dominant in any way,” Johnson said. “It will all come down to who can get their supporters out on election day.”

Candidates include the Hesperia Mayor Russell Blewett, sheriff’s lieutenant and Apply Valley Councilman Rick Roelle, San Bernardino County Fire Capt. Bret L. Henry, Adelanto school board trustee Jermaine Wright, businessman Robert A. Lovingood, businessman Michael Orme and retired sheriff’s detective Bob Smith.

They all promise to fight hard to bring to the High Desert more jobs, more government transparency and more sheriff’s deputies to thwart crime and gang activity that has proliferated in recent years.

Incumbent Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, now vying for the new 8th Congressional District seat, said he hopes that whomever is elected to succeed him understands the magnitude of the job and will provide good leadership and think long-term.

“And certainly I hope they will continue with some of the policies and projects I have started,” Mitzelfelt said. “Whomever my successor is, they will receive all the information they need . . . .”

A high unemployment rate, much of it attributed to the soured economy, and low education retainment levels are among the biggest problems Mitzelfelt’s successor will have to grapple with.

To read entire story, click here.

Published: 21 May 2012 08:42 PM

For the first time in more than a decade, High Desert voters will choose from a field of candidates without an incumbent in the 1st District San Bernardino County supervisor race.

Seven candidates are vying to replace Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, who is running for the 8th Congressional District seat, in the June 5 election.

Unless one of the candidates wins more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two finishers will go to a runoff election in November.

The vast district covers more than 17,000 square miles and includes the cities of Victorville, Apple Valley and Hesperia and stretches to the Nevada and Arizona borders.

Though Mitzelfelt is not making an endorsement in the race, he has ties to some of the candidates. Bob Smith, a retired county sheriff’s detective, has worked as a community liaison for Mitzelfelt. Michael Orme, a political and business consultant, is his former deputy chief of staff. Hesperia Mayor Russ Blewett served as Mitzelfelt’s appointee to the county Planning Commission.

The other candidates are Apple Valley Councilman Rick Roelle, Adelanto school board trustee Jermaine Wright, businessman Robert Lovingood and Bret Henry, a county fire captain and president of the union representing county firefighters.

The candidates have emphasized similar themes in their campaigns — jobs, repairing the county’s battered image and support for public safety. They have sought to distinguish themselves through their backgrounds.

Orme and Smith have touted their experience working in county government, while Roelle and Blewett cite their background in city government.

“I don’t think you need somebody who’s going to be learning on the job,” Smith said. “I think you need somebody who has shown the background and gets the job done.”

Campaign issues

The county corruption scandal that led to the arrest of several former county officials, including former 1st District Supervisor Bill Postmus, topped the list of concerns for candidates.

“I was tired of the corruption,” Wright said. “I was tired of my community being undervalued and people’s voices not being heard.”

Henry, Smith and Roelle, a sheriff’s lieutenant, have pointed to their backgrounds in public safety or the military as a sign that that they will bring integrity to the office.

All seven candidates say they want to see greater transparency in county government. All of the candidates except for Orme said they support a proposal to enact campaign contribution limits that the Board of Supervisors is considering.

Orme said he believes contribution limits don’t work and only increase third party expenditures.

When it comes to reducing unemployment in the district, several candidates emphasized the need for a more business-friendly environment. Wright, Smith and Lovingood said they’d like to see fewer fees and less regulation.

To read entire story, click here.

SAN BERNARDINO – Each of three proposals to slightly change the boundaries of the seven wards that make up the city contained problems for some City Council members, leading them to delay a vote on those boundaries until staff members come up with a fourth proposal.

The vote was originally scheduled for Monday. A new map fixing each of the issues raised then could be ready by the June 14 meeting, said Margo Wheeler, director of community development and coordinator of the city’s redistricting process.

New boundaries to the city’s wards – portions of the city that are each represented by a different council member – are required because of the 2010 Census, which showed the population of some wards had grown faster than others.

Population shifts have been relatively small compared to past redistricting, leading to small changes to the margins of the wards that council members said could nonetheless have important implications.

Extensive changes make it difficult for elected representatives to build a relationship with the residents on whose behalf they’re supposed to vote, said Councilwoman Wendy McCammack, whose 7th Ward includes much of the north-central part of the city.

“In the case of the 7th Ward there’s one section that’s jockeyed back and forth (between wards) every time we go through redistricting, and it makes it difficult for people to know what ward they’re in and for council members to familiarize themselves with their residents,” McCammack said at first, as she pushed for Plan A because she said it minimized those changes.

But she later said each of her colleagues brought up good points, which is why she recommended a fourth proposal that combines elements of the other maps but eliminates those concerns.

To read entire story, click here.

By Jim Sanders
jsanders@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, May. 22, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 1A

One week after Gov. Jerry Brown proposed slicing state workers’ pay by 5 percent, the Democratic governor and legislators find themselves targeted for a “share the pain” salary cut.

Members of California’s Citizens Compensation Commission said Monday that a pay-cut proposal for statewide officeholders will be on the table when the panel meets May 31.

Commissioner John Stites II said he supports a 5 percent cut for elected officeholders, from the governor to lawmakers.

“I definitely think they should take the same hit – at least,” Stites said. “Whatever happens to the people who work for you, whatever conditions they live under, it’s incumbent upon you to live under those same conditions.”

Brown projects a $15.7 billion budget shortfall for the fiscal year that begins July 1, and has proposed to bridge the gap with tax increases and program cuts, including a shift to a 38-hour, four-day workweek for state workers.

When he unveiled his revised proposal last week, Brown said his administration “would do more than what we ask state employees to do,” suggesting he and others would voluntarily take pay cuts.

Stites and other commissioners said they have no idea whether a pay cut would pass the seven-member panel of gubernatorial appointees.

Commission Chairman Tom Dalzell said he supports the notion of shared sacrifice, but that it would be premature to cut elected officials’ pay this year when the fate of Brown’s 5 percent wage cut for state workers has not been decided.

“It’s putting the cart before the horse,” Dalzell said.

The pay commission, created by voter passage of Proposition 112 in 1990, is responsible for determining compensation for all statewide elected officials. Salaries for California’s elected officials range from $173,987 for Brown to $95,291 for legislators.

The panel chopped officeholders’ pay and state contributions to their medical, dental and other benefits by 18 percent in 2009.

Legislators have taken additional hits to their compensation the past three years, with elimination of a Capitol car-lease program and a cut in lawmakers’ living expenses from $173 to $142 per day.

Commissioner Charles Murray stopped short Monday of committing himself to a new pay cut for officeholders. But they, too, should feel pain from this year’s belt-tightening, he said.

“Even though the legislators don’t consider themselves state workers, we do,” Murray said.

Commissioner Scott Somers was noncommittal about whether he would vote yes at the panel’s meeting next week at Sacramento City Hall. Somers said he supports the concept of shared pain but does not think elected officials should automatically be slapped with an equal cut any time state worker pay is reduced.

To read entire story, click here.

Four months after a California assemblyman was cited and released for carrying a gun into an airport, the Assembly passed legislation today that would require offenders to be taken into custody in such situations.

Democratic Assemblywoman Norma Torres said her Assembly Bill 2182 did not stem from the January incident involving Republican Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, which occurred at an Ontario airport on the first day of this year’s legislative session.

“This issue is about protecting the public,” Torres said of her bill.

With Republicans opposed, the Assembly voted 46-25 to approve Torres’ bill. Donnelly voted no on the bill but did not speak during floor debate today. AB 2182 now goes to the Senate.

Peace officers currently make the decision to take an offender into custody or to issue a citation based on an evaluation of risk to the public, such as prior criminal record and whether the suspect is a gang member.

To read entire story, click here.

THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
Published: 20 May 2012 07:52 PM

You know that old political joke, “Vote early, vote often”?

Yeah, Riverside City Councilman Mike Gardner’s heard it. And he’s been hearing it more lately, after his first mailer in his mayoral campaign assured people their vote counts … on June 4. (The election is June 5.)

“That’s a typo,” was the age-old explanation Gardner gave when reached Wednesday. “I signed off on (the mailer) and didn’t see it.”

He’s been kidded by a few people, he said, but hey, these things happen — there’s even another minor typo/grammatical error in the mailer.

And actually, as Gardner pointed out, it is possible to vote early — and many people are. In Riverside, 48,308 voters have been issued mail ballots for this election, according to assistant county registrar Rebecca Spencer — that’s 40 percent of the 118,473 registered voters. (As of May 16, the registrar has received 315 ballots back.)

Early voting also will be offered from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 1-3 at the Galleria at Tyler in Riverside. Gardner said he’ll send out at least one more mailer before the election. Which is June 5, by the way.

BALLOT STATEMENTS CHANGED

Some San Bernardino County candidates have had their ballot statements toned down in order to comply with state election law.

County Registrar of Voters Michael Scarpello said his office has been strict about enforcing a provision of the law that does not allow candidates to make disparaging comments about other candidates in their ballot statements. Under election law, ballot statements are supposed to include only information about a candidate’s own background and qualifications, he said.

Fourteen candidates, including those running for three congressional seats, three Assembly seats and the 1st District supervisorial race, had parts of their statements edited to remove such references.

All of the candidates were informed of the changes before the voter guides were sent out earlier this month. They were not allowed to make any changes themselves.

“None of the candidates were happy about it, but every candidate understood our position and appreciated the consistency of our position,” Scarpello said.

To read entire column, click here.

Published: 20 May 2012 05:38 PM

In San Bernardino County’s safely Democratic 47th Assembly District, Joe Baca Jr. wants to return to the job he held for a single term several years ago.

And in the county’s safely Republican 33rd Assembly District, Assemblyman Tim Donnelly is trying to avoid becoming a one-term lawmaker himself.

Opposing Baca Jr. and Donnelly are a mix of elected officials, business owners and others running on the June 5 ballot. The districts’ strong partisan leanings and new, top-two primary system make it possible that the November elections will be a repeat of the primary campaigns.

The redrawn 47th Assembly District closely resembles the current 62nd Assembly District and includes Rialto, Colton, Fontana and part of San Bernardino. The new district, though, picks up Grand Terrace, drops the area around San Bernardino International Airport and reaches north to Devore.

Baca Jr., the son of Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto, represented the 62nd from 2004 through 2006, when he lost the Democratic primary for state Senate. He successfully ran later that year for the Rialto City Council, where he still serves.

In his candidate questionnaire for The Press-Enterprise, Baca Jr. said his top priorities as a lawmaker would be to encourage the creation of jobs through repealing “overly burdensome” regulations, increasing funding for community colleges, and approving public-works projects.

Newspaper publisher Cheryl Brown, of Rialto, a fellow Democrat, is Baca’s main rival. Brown is backed by the lawmakers who represented the area in the Assembly before and after Baca Jr.: John Longville and Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter, D-Rialto.

Fixing the state’s chronically imbalanced budget is paramount, Brown said in her candidate questionnaire for The Press-Enterprise. She said she also wants to attract businesses and improve education and health care in the district.

Also running for the 47th are two Republicans, Thelma E. Beach, of Grand Terrace, a retiree, and Jeane Ensley, of Rialto, a retired fraud investigator.

To read entire story, click here.

BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com

Published: 20 May 2012 07:31 PM

The San Bernardino City Council must choose between three redistricting plans that will determine council ward lines in future elections.

The plans will go to the council Monday, May 21, for a 4 p.m. public hearing. If one of the options is selected, an ordinance will return to the council for adoption June 4.

The city must approve a redistricting plan every 10 years using census data to balance populations between its seven wards.

A redistricting task force was created last year to analyze the census data and recommend options. The task force was made up of representatives from the city manager, clerk, attorney and council offices and the community development, information technology and public works departments but no elected officials.

According to a report to the council, population growth in the northwest and foothill areas of the city led to imbalance among some wards. The proposal seeks an average population of 30,000 for each ward.

Ward 5, in the northwest area of the city, including Cal State San Bernardino, grew the most and is about 1,500 people over the average. Ward 7, which includes the area north of Highland Avenue and south of 40th Street, exceeds the average by 700.

To read entire story, click here.

Neil.Nisperos and Benjamin Demers, Staff Writers
Created: 05/20/2012 07:05:00 AM PDT

Donna Lowe will have her work cut out for her if she wants to represent the newly redrawn 41st Assembly District.

The Claremont resident and Tea Party supporter will be going up against three well-connected and better-funded Democrats – Pasadena Councilman Chris Holden, South Pasadena Mayor Michael Cacciotti and businesswoman Victoria Rusnak.

Lowe will also have to make sure GOP voters don’t cast ballots for Republican Ed Colton, who has experience as a business executive.

Lowe said the way to garner those votes is by bringing attention to the state’s economic business climate.

“People are moving out of the state, it is simply because of California’s insatiable thirst for spending and not being able to curtail its spending even during these hard economic times,” Lowe said.

“What we need to concentrate on doing is repealing a lot of the business regulations that make it unstable for businesses to relocate or start here.”

Lowe is an information technology manager for Safenet, Inc. She is the founder of the Claremont Conservatives Tea Party and a former Mountain View Republican Club board member. She has the support of the state GOP and lawmakers such as Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Hesperia.

The 41st Assembly District includes Upland, Claremont, La Verne and San Dimas as well as much of the southern San Gabriel Mountains and into Pasadena. Democrats hold a 43 percent to 34 percent edge over Republicans among registered voters.

The strong Democratic district, though, won’t be the only hurdle facing Lowe.

In a campaign finance report for January to March, Lowe had about $15,000 in her war chest. It put her available campaign contributions well behind the three Democrats.

At the conclusion of the January to March period, Cacciotti had about $46,000 and Holden had about $97,000.

Those figures though were no match to money that Rusnak had in hand – $232,000.

In recent weeks, residents in the 41st Assembly District have seen their mailboxes peppered by advertisements touting Rusnak. The Rusnak name will ring a bell with any car-conscientious voter in the region. She is the chief operating officer and president of the Pasadena-based Rusnak Auto Group.

While running as a Democrat, Rusnak’s campaign is also touting an anti-Sacramento sentiment. Her ads have splashed phrases such as “Results. Not Politics” and “Spending alone won’t improve our schools. We need to spend smarter.”

“I’m running because I think our state is in crisis. We need people from the private sector to participate in the Legislative process and bring a sense of reality to Sacramento,” Rusnak said.

Rusnak, a former environmental attorney, said she would not vote for any government program that does not have a previously identified revenue source.

The Democratic-dominated Legislature may be pleased if they see Holden make his way up north. The former mayor of Pasadena is the choice of the Democratic Party as well as the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO.

Holden’s campaign has highlighted his work in supporting the expansion of the Metro Gold Line to Pasadena. The work, his campaign says, has created jobs and helped businesses.

The Gold Line will expand into more cities in the foothills in coming years. For Holden, the foothills isn’t quite far enough. The commercial real estate consultant wants to see the line go all the way to LA/Ontario International Airport.

“I think one of the important projects we can continue to support is the completion of the Goldline out to Ontario airport,” Holden said. “It goes beyond a regional transportation project. It becomes a real job stimulator for the region.”

To read entire story, click here.

Sacramento– Gov. Jerry Brown’s latest budget proposal attempts to close a formidable $15.7 billion deficit, but the real debate at the Capitol in the next few weeks probably will be over how to cut just a fraction of the big amount.

That’s because about $2 billion in the governor’s budget represents permanent reductions in spending on state welfare, child care and other programs that Democratic leaders in the Senate and Assembly have pledged to protect.

Brown’s other budget proposals might be more controversial with the Legislature if the state weren’t facing such a large shortfall. Those include one-time solutions such as his proposal to seize almost $300 million from the national mortgage settlement that Attorney General Kamala Harris hoped to use to help distressed mortgage payers stay in their homes.

Some of Brown’s other reductions, like delaying the repayment of some loans, won’t cause a stir at all. The Legislature, which can pass a budget by a majority vote, has just under four weeks to approve a spending plan to cover the deficit by the June 15 deadline.

The scope of the dilemma faced by Democratic lawmakers and the governor was reflected in comments made by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, last week as he sought to reframe the situation by comparing it with the huge deficits of the past several years.

“I’m going to stop referring to this as a crisis,” Steinberg said. “It’s a problem.”

Not that the haggling on the relatively small permanent cuts will be easy. Both Brown and Steinberg predicted difficult negotiations, though Steinberg said, “I’m not looking for a big public fight here.”
4 touchy proposals

There are four main proposals over which Democrats and the governor are most likely to butt heads.

Those include proposed cuts to CalWORKS, the state’s welfare-to-work program; cuts to Cal Grants, which provides financial aid for low-income college students; reductions in state support for child care; and reductions to the In-Home Supportive Services program for the blind, elderly and disabled.

Brown has proposed $1.85 billion in reductions to those programs, including:

– An $880 million cut to CalWORKS by reducing from four years to two years the amount of time adults can receive welfare payments if they do not meet specific requirements for work activities.

– A $292 million cut to Cal Grants by increasing the minimum grade point average for students to qualify and reducing grants for students attending private or for-profit colleges and universities.

– A $425.5 million cut in the funding the state gives families to subsidize child care expenses, resulting in the loss of 29,600 child care slots.

– A $224.5 million cut to In-Home Supportive Services through a 7 percent reduction in hours for providers and by eliminating some services for people who are in a shared living arrangement.

To read entire story, click here.

Sunday, May 20, 2012 – 03:30 p.m.

An interesting turn of events is unfolding in the taxpayer lawsuit filed by Upland lawyer Corey Briggs on behalf of two groups known as The Inland Oversight Committee and Citizens for Responsible Equitable Government.

The purpose of the lawsuit is to force the San Bernardino County Flood Control District to recover $102 million it paid Colonies Partners L.P. to settle litigation surrounding a land use dispute over a flood control basin located in Upland.

In a new twist, Briggs may have picked up a new ally in his quest to force the recovery of the funds.

That new friend being the Board of Supervisors.

Online court records reveal that on May 16 the County Counsel’s office has filed a request for stay of all proceedings in the case.

The move comes one day after Colonies Partners L.P. filed a second demurrer to have the case thrown out of court.

A previous demurrer, filed by Colonies, forced Briggs to amend his complaint in an attempt to salvage the suit in its entirety.

A ruling on the stay request and second demurrer is currently set for June 11.

BY JIM MILLER AND BEN GOAD
STAFF WRITERS
jmiller@pe.com | bgoad@pe.com

Published: 19 May 2012 06:16 PM

Fueled by new political boundaries and court rulings, campaign committees representing special interests have revved up spending this election cycle, and much of that largesse is focused on Inland Southern California candidates.

Independent expenditures committees, known nationally as super-PACs, have been a fixture of legislative and statewide elections in California since 2001. The Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision brought the same type of unlimited spending to federal contests, from president to Congress.

While state and federal law sets limits on contributions to candidates, super-PACs are allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money through independent expenditures. Super-PACs are prohibited from coordinating their efforts with candidates or their campaigns.

As of Friday, May 18, independent groups’ spending this year in California congressional and state contests totals at least $5.5 million, according to government filings. That’s on top of millions of dollars that state and federal candidates have poured into races from their own campaign coffers.

Last year’s redistricting process created several competitive congressional, state Senate and Assembly districts in the region that are drawing big money from special interests.

Through mid-Friday, San Bernardino County’s 31st Congressional District had more than $818,000 in super-PAC spending, the most of any House race in the nation in the regular 2012 election cycle, according to federal records.

The spending was dominated by the National Association of Realtors, which has shelled out more than $709,000 to support the candidacy of Rep. Gary Miller. The money went for polling, consulting, mailers and advertising.

Scott Reiter, the group’s political director, pointed to Miller’s background in real estate and development and record as an advocate for housing in Congress, where he serves on the Financial Services Committee and has worked to protect the mortgage interest tax deduction and tax credits for homebuyers.

“He’s a longtime supporter of homeownership, and he’s got a tough race so we wanted to help,” Reiter said.

Miller, R-Diamond Bar, is running in a new district representing much of the San Bernardino Valley. The five other candidates include state Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, and Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar, a Democrat.

With at least three serious candidates competing for two spots in the general election, Reiter said the group, which usually focuses on November, thought it best to help Miller in his primary race. The fact that the group’s spending put the 31st above the other 434 congressional districts in terms of outside money is probably just a temporary situation, he said.

“I just think it’s a matter of timing,” Reiter said. “I would suspect you’ll be seeing a lot more from other groups very shortly.”

Other independent groups have spent money to help Dutton and Aguilar.

“Me and some friends of Bob Dutton wanted to help out … beyond what the law says we can give directly to candidates,” said former Inland lawmaker Bill Leonard, who helped organize the pro-Dutton Inland Empire Taxpayers for Jobs.

The group has spent about $50,000, records show. The money has come from several Inland donors, including Dutton’s father, Ted.

Leonard said the super-PAC was conceived as a way to help Dutton hold his own against Miller, a seven-term incumbent whose campaign committee had $1.2 million in cash on hand as of March 30.

“That was our hope and expectation a few months ago. But I didn’t expect the large amounts of Washington-interest money coming in. We’re kind of being swamped,” he said.

A super-PAC called Restoring Our Community has given more than $60,000 to Aguilar’s campaign. The identities of the donors have not been reported.

The only super-PAC spending on Inland congressional races outside the 31st took place in the High Desert’s 8th Congressional District, where the Jobs Opportunity and Freedom Political Action Committee has spent more than $30,000 on behalf of San Bernardino County Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, a Republican.

SENATE CONTEST

In Riverside County, a vaguely named independent expenditure committee with unclear sources of money has injected itself into the 31st Senate District race.

To read entire story, click here.

Supervisor Neil Derry left. San Manuel Tribal Member James Ramos right.

Election 2012

Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 05/19/2012 06:01:36 PM PDT

Things don’t appear to be slowing down one bit in the contentious race for San Bernardino County’s 3rd District supervisorial seat in the June 5 primary election.

Outspoken incumbent Neil Derry has sharply criticized one of his two opponents, former San Manuel tribal Chairman James Ramos, saying Ramos doesn’t have the political background to serve a constituency of roughly 407,000 people.

Jim Bagley, a former Twentynine Palms councilman and three-time mayor, is the third candidate in the primary race.

The geographically diverse district includes parts of the San Bernardino Valley, the San Bernardino Mountains and the High Desert. Redistricting based on new Census figures has expanded the district to include the Morongo Basin and the cities of Twentynine Palms and Barstow.

Derry doesn’t believe Ramos, whom he calls a “liberal Democrat,” is a good fit in a district with a heavy conservative base.

“If you don’t have the right message and the right background, it doesn’t matter how much you spend. I fit the district well. Mr. Ramos does not,” Derry said. “Ramos has no municipal government experience.

“His only experience is being chairman of the San Manual Band of Mission Indians and serving on the (San Bernardino Community College District) board, and that’s it. He has no land use experience.”

Ramos’ camp has criticized Derry, saying Derry has not led by example and arguing he campaigned for supervisor in 2008 on a platform of government transparency and ethics, but was charged by the state Attorney General’s Office last year with three felonies for allegedly laundering a $5,000 campaign contribution from a Highland developer.

Derry pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor for failing to report the contribution and prosecutors dropped the felonies, allowing Derry to retain his seat on the Board of Supervisors.

Derry denies doing anything wrong, and said he pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor to put the matter behind him so he could get back to serving the citizens he represents.

Ramos announced his candidacy for supervisor the day after prosecutors announced that Derry had been charged.

“I believe if the voters want to stop the corruption in San Bernardino County, they’re going to have to start choosing people who are basically ethical in their very nature, and that is James Ramos,” said Betsy Starbuck, Ramos’ campaign manager and the county’s former assistant auditor-controller-recorder.

Mudslinging aside, Ramos’ wealth from income generated by San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino has allowed him to spend generously on his campaign, which makes the 3rd District supervisorial race unique.

To read entire story, click here.

BY ALICIA ROBINSON
STAFF WRITER
arobinson@pe.com

Published: 18 May 2012 05:39 PM

Besides choosing one of seven candidates for mayor, Riverside voters on June 5 will say yea or nay to seven proposed amendments to the city charter.

The proposals include creating a sustainability commission, changing to whom the city auditor reports, shortening the time between council elections and runoffs, and a number of minor adjustments.

The charter, the city’s governing document, determines how the city is run and the powers and duties of its officials. It was reviewed in 2011 as part of a regular process to suggest changes or additions and put those before voters.

After the new environmental commission and auditor issue, when runoffs are held may be the most substantive change. Currently, elections for the city’s seven council seats are held in June of odd-numbered years. If no one candidate wins at least 50 percent plus one vote, the top two vote getters go to a November runoff.

Measure G would push runoffs from early November into late August, cutting about two months off candidates’ campaigns.

A ballot argument in favor of the change, signed by charter review committee member Wendel Tucker, says the change will shorten the period of uncertainty over who will represent voters, lower the cost of campaigns and make it more likely voters will stay engaged in the process. Tucker acknowledges an August runoff would cost slightly more, because it can’t be consolidated with a statewide general election.

But a ballot statement in opposition, signed by Mayor Ron Loveridge and Councilman Mike Gardner, cites the higher cost as a drawback and argues that the shorter cycle favors incumbents, who generally have better name recognition and more fundraising clout than challengers. The summer months, they argue, are a bad time both to meet voters and to expect turnout for an election.

Measure H would remove the city manager’s authority over hiring and firing of employees of the city clerk and city attorney; the city manager now has authority over nearly every city employee except the clerk and attorney, as all three are directly appointed by the council.

To read entire story, click here.

BY RICHARD K. De ATLEY
STAFF WRITER
rdeatley@pe.com

Published: 19 May 2012 05:28 PM

A letter from an attorney to the State Bar of California alleges that Riverside County Public Defender Gary Windom, 62, suffers from memory loss that is affecting his ability to run his office, which represents indigent defendants.

The letter says there are widespread ethical issues inside the office — from turning a blind eye to sexual harassment complaints to discrimination, unfair hiring, promotion, and discipline practices, to management decisions that imperil justice for clients.

The single-spaced, 24-page letter is written by Chatsworth attorney Paul J. Virgo, who said it gathers a series of complaints he has been given about the office.

The letter is accompanied by a deposition transcript from January in which Windom does not recognize the name or identity of an assistant public defender whom he had hired and worked closely with.

The attorney representing Windom’s office in the lawsuit by a former employee “appeared frantic about the need to stop the proceedings” and seemed “surprised and alarmed at his client’s gaping loss of memory” about the assistant, the letter states.

The letter also says that Windom has trouble identifying even long-time attorneys in his office, and has exhibited an inability to remember conversations, or has a sincere belief that conversations took place when they did not.

“Gary Windom…is engaging in behavior that is dishonest, unethical, damaging to the overall interests of the office and the county, and most importantly, placing clients at risk,” the letter states, and that “Windom is suffering from infirmities evidenced by memory loss, poor judgment, and irrational decision making.”

Windom said Thursday May 17 that he has seen the letter, which is dated May 10. Riverside County officials also have a copy and are reviewing it, spokesman Ray Smith said. A California State Bar spokeswoman said the Bar can neither confirm it received the letter, nor say whether there will be any investigation as a result.

“It’s really premature to talk about the point-by-point allegations in the letter,” Windom said. “In our society, anyone can make allegations, and we will review those allegations and respond in the appropriate legal venue, if and when necessary.”

The Public Defender’s office employs about 120 attorneys and has an annual budget of more than $31 million. It has been estimated in recent years that it represents clients in about 65 percent of the felony and misdemeanor cases filed in Riverside County. Windom has been the county’s public defender, an appointed position, for 13 years. The listed annual salary range is $172,299.71 – $310,340.58.

The complaint letter by Virgo is addressed to Acting Chief Counsel Jayne Kim of the State Bar. Virgo wrote that it was based on information he received from at least 18 attorneys. None are identified in the letter, but Virgo wrote that most are associated with the Public Defenders office “and a few others are concerned members of the local legal community.”

The letter also does not identify individuals whose situations it describes. But some of the letter’s accounts, combined with court records, previous news coverage of cases and known personnel moves within the office, make it clear in some cases which individuals are being discussed.

In one instance, the letter said, a supervisor was placed on paid administrative leave for a second driving-under-the-influence arrest in February 2012. But a higher-ranking assistant public defender, also named in two separate DUI charges less than three years apart, “appears to have suffered no consequences whatsoever for his arrest for a second DUI.”

News reports and court records show that the supervisor, Gordon Richard Cox, was arrested on suspicion of DUI in February, and that was preceded by a similar 2008 offense to which Cox had pleaded guilty.

Court records show that Assistant Public Defender Peter Scalisi also had a second DUI arrest, in September 2010 on Lime Street near 14th Street in Riverside.

That was preceded by an Orange County DUI in March of 2008 to which Scalisi pleaded no contest, court records show. In the Riverside case, Scalisi pleaded to a reduced charge because there was a problem proving his blood alcohol level had reached the .08 requirement to be legally drunk, according to court documents.

Scalisi, who heads the Capital Defender’s office, did not return a phone call seeking comment.

To read entire story, click here.

Neil Nisperos and Benjamin Demers, Staff Writers
Created: 05/19/2012 07:08:49 AM PDT

Democrats Cheryl Brown and Joe Baca, Jr. could easily be considered the favorites to make it though June’s primary for Assembly District 47 and face each other in November.

The have name recognition in local communities.

They have funding from significant donors.

They have support from high-profile politicians.

But first, they will have to get by two Republicans, including a 95-year-old woman intent on helping her peers.

People who are lucky enough to reach their ninth decade might be grateful to take it easy. For Thelma Beach, she wants to take a seat in Sacramento.

“Age is a just a number. The years are just numbers,” Beach said. “Grant you, I don’t have the strength or stamina when I retired or when I was working but I’m up at 4 in the morning hitting the desk and the paperwork, catching up on all of the mail that I get.”

Beach’s platform centers on helping out fellow senior citizens. Recent budget adjustments have included cuts to public services that help the elderly such as in-home support care.

If elected, Beach said she would steer more public funds towards programs that would provide better care for the elderly.

The Grand Terrace resident was a senior administrative staff analyst and budget chief for the New York City Department of Corrections. She is for strict immigration control as well as improving the state’s school systems.

Beach and fellow Republican Jeane Ensley are running for office in an overwhelmingly Democratic – 50 percent to 28 percent – district.

District 47 includes Rialto, Bloomington, Colton, Grand Terrace and parts of Fontana.

Ensley, who is a retired fraud investigator for a credit card company, echoes a familiar Republican platform: The state has too many business regulations.

“In San Bernardino County, a lot of our tax base comes from mining,” Easley said. “There are so many restrictions – we are not allowed to mine as much as we use to and that would be a great source of income.”

Easley has slammed Assembly Bill 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act, which mandates that the level of emissions of greenhouse gases must return by 2020 to levels last seen in 1998. She said the environmental law hinder job creation and forces business out of the state.

To read entire story, click here.

Legislative Democrats aren’t organizing a bake sale just yet, but they say they will desperately search for cash in the coming weeks to avoid the most severe cuts proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Saying the state’s budget deficit has risen from $9.2 billion to $15.7 billion, the Democratic governor has proposed more cuts to programs that serve the state’s poorest residents.

Brown has described it as a “day of reckoning” and wants his fellow Democrats to slash as much as possible before he asks voters to hike taxes on sales and high-income earners in November.

But Democrats signaled immediately that they plan to block some of the deepest cuts to welfare, child care and college scholarships for low-income students.

“We will scour the cupboards, look behind the pots and underneath the cushions, doing everything we can do to see if there’s some opportunity to reduce the extent to which we have to make these cuts,” said Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento.

Democratic lawmakers say they have cut enough in the wake of the recession and that Brown’s proposals would result in homelessness, even death.

“To me, a cut that you know may result in the difference between life and death, and a cut that will increase homelessness, it’s our obligation to avoid those cuts,” said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, referring to proposed cuts in welfare grants.

Several Democrats said they want to “buy out” Brown’s cuts with creative ideas but offered few specifics. In the past, that has meant one-time accounting maneuvers, fund shifts and inventive changes that often fall short.

The governor insists the cuts are necessary to solve California’s budget problem not just this year, but in future years. Told that Democrats want to “buy out” his cuts, Brown responded, “With other cuts?”

“The key to true budget balance (is) ongoing cuts, and they are the most difficult, but also absolutely indispensable,” Brown said.

Besides his need to balance the budget, the governor has ample political motivation to persuade Democrats to approve as many cuts as possible, said Dan Schnur, a former GOP consultant who serves as director of the University of Southern California’s Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics.

“Brown seems to understand the voters don’t trust state government with their money, so he’s been trying to find a way, whether through pension reform or cuts in these areas, to regain some fiscal credibility with them,” he said.

Since 2007-08, lawmakers have cut monthly grants and reduced the time limit in the state’s welfare-to-work program, CalWORKs. The maximum grant for a family of three fell from $723 to $638 a month. Adults cannot receive benefits after four years, rather than five.

The state has slashed child care for low-income parents by imposing stricter income-eligibility requirements and cutting funding to child care providers.

California still has a disproportionate share of the nation’s welfare cases, because of the state’s demographics – a large share of younger, poorer residents – and the state provides aid for children after their parents exhaust eligibility.

But Democrats say cuts have been too fast and too severe. Brown now proposes to revamp the CalWORKs program by cutting off aid after two years rather than four for parents who do not seek work, training or education. The plan would save $880 million.

“We recognize that we’re going to have to make some cuts,” said Sen. Curren Price, D-Inglewood. “But we think these areas have already been cut to the bone. And so we’re going to be looking for ways to increase revenues. Taxes are certainly one way. Taking a look at some other loopholes, seeing how we can shift funds around.”

To read entire story, click here.