Politics, Government and Business in Southern California's Inland Empire
June 17, 2013; 02:26 PM
When Democrats look at California’s 31st Congressional District, they see what Nathan Gonzales sees.
To read story by Jeff Horseman in The Press Enterprise, click here.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Jun. 17, 2013 – 5:38 pm
Last Modified: Tuesday, Jun. 18, 2013 – 9:44 am
With the state budget behind them and three months remaining in the 2013 legislative session, do lawmakers have much left to do?
Well, yes – and no.
June 16, 2013
by Jeff Horseman
I just blogged about Rep. Raul Ruiz playing in the annual congressional charity baseball game. But his chances of suiting up for future games are shaky, according to a political forecast.
To read post by Jeff Horseman in The Press Enterprise, click here.
June 16, 2013; 02:15 PM
Fear not, sports fans. Inland Southern California’s congressional delegation has a hot new rookie to replace the departed Joe Baca.
To read column by Jim Miller and Jeff Horseman in The Press Enterprise, click here.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
June 15, 2013
As the state Senate finished voting today on a bill to extend a tax on managed care plans, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg told reporters at the back of the room, “That is what’s called a supermajority.”
Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Posted: 06/14/2013 03:28:14 PM PDT
Updated: 06/14/2013 08:06:48 PM PDT
ONTARIO — Manuel Saucedo, candidate of the 52nd Assembly District special election, has announced he will be kicking off his election campaign on Saturday.
By Chris Megerian and Anthony York, Los Angeles Times
June 14, 2013, 9:25 p.m.
SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers passed a budget Friday that lays the groundwork for the largest expansion of public healthcare in the country, placing the state at the leading edge of President Obama’s federal overhaul.
By David Lightman | McClatchy Washington Bureau
Friday, June 14, 2013
WASHINGTON — The American people are growing increasingly concerned about reports of domestic spying. And Congress isn’t sure how to respond.
Gridlock and ineffectiveness give Congress worst rankings in decades.
By Ron Fournier
Updated: June 14, 2013 | 12:07 p.m.
June 14, 2013 | 10:20 a.m.
A bit of news for members of Congress on their way home for the weekend: America hates you.
Nearly eight in 10 Americans told Gallup pollsters this month they disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job, the 45th consecutive month that more than two-thirds of Americans graded Congress poorly.
June 13, 2013; 02:01 PM
The chairman of the Riverside County Democratic Central Committee is apologizing for making a reference to Vaudeville-era character “Stepin Fetchit,” who some consider racially insensitive.
To read story by Aaron Claverie in The Press Enterprise, click here.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Jun. 14, 2013 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
As a legislative conference committee was doing its item-by-item sojourn through the state budget this month, many were marked “tbl.”
By Chris Megerian and Anthony York, Los Angeles Times
June 11, 2013, 9:50 p.m.
SACRAMENTO — The budget deal that lawmakers will vote on this week is an effort to mesh financial restraint with a desire to provide more social services and healthcare for the needy — giving the state’s economy extra time to recover before some of the spending kicks in.
By Chris Megerian and Anthony York, Los Angeles Times
June 10, 2013, 10:23 p.m.
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown and top lawmakers have reached agreement on some of the most contentious issues in the state budget, granting the governor significant victories on the redistribution of school money and expectations of revenue.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Jun. 11, 2013 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Last Modified: Tuesday, Jun. 11, 2013 – 8:27 am
Jerry Brown spent most of his first governorship running for office – twice for president, once for re-election and once for the U.S. Senate – rather than running the state.
Four former House members are already running for congressional seats.
By ALEX ISENSTADT | 6/9/13 10:40 PM EDT
Congress is about as popular these days as Lindsay Lohan or the IRS.
So it comes as something of a surprise that among the first to lunge at the chance to run for the House in 2014 are people who’ve already experienced sweltering Washington summers, mind-numbing committee hearings and endless hours begging people for money.
June 07, 2013; 07:55 PM
San Bernardino County Board Chairwoman Janice Rutherford has hired a former aide to disgraced ex-Assessor Bill Postmus as a policy advisor.
To read column by Imran Ghori, Jeff Horseman and Jim Miller in The Press Enterprise, click here.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Jun. 6, 2013 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Several thousand purple- shirted state workers took over the Capitol’s west side Wednesday for a SEIU Local 1000 union rally that was equal parts picnic, party and protest.
By Justin Sink and Julian Pecquet
06/05/13 08:18 PM ET
President Obama on Wednesday named Susan Rice — the public face of the Benghazi controversy — as his national security adviser.
The decision elevates the U.N. ambassador to the most powerful foreign relations role in the White House, ensuring Rice will have the president’s ear on top issues.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
June 4, 2013
Independent campaign expenditures are corrupting politics and young voters are reshaping California’s electorate by eschewing parties.
By David Siders
dsiders@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Jun. 3, 2013 – 9:10 am
Last Modified: Tuesday, Jun. 4, 2013 – 8:10 am
Bill Lockyer had spent a quarter century in the Legislature and was state attorney general when he all but declared his candidacy for governor in early 2005.
By Lori Montgomery
Published: June 3, 2013 at 6:15 pm
The Obama administration on Monday threatened to veto any spending bills for the coming fiscal year unless Republicans and Democrats reach agreement on a broader budget plan that “supports our recovery and enables sufficient investments” in White House priorities.
OFF TO THE RACES
Keeping an eye on five key metrics can help deduce the direction of the 2014 midterm election.
By Charlie Cook
Updated: June 3, 2013 | 10:10 p.m.
June 3, 2013 | 9:30 p.m.
In looking at any midterm election, observers should take into account several important considerations. First, will it be a “normal” election? That is, will the type described by the late Tip O’Neill as one in which “all politics is local”—the kind of election in which the natural voting patterns of that state or district, as well as the relative strengths of the candidates, campaigns, resources—determine the outcome? This way of approaching elections is what I call “micro-political.”
Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 06/02/2013 06:28:51 PM PDT
Updated: 06/02/2013 09:48:06 PM PDT
The opportunity to take state Sen. Norma Torres’ former seat in the Assembly has attracted nine candidates, almost all of whom are Democrats, who have qualified for the special election that will determine who will next represent the 52nd Assembly District.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Jun. 2, 2013 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Every legislative session has its own ambiance, but the current version that began six months ago is colored by unique, even historic, conditions.
It’s the first since an independent commission redrew legislative districts. The 2012 elections were the first with a “top-two” primary system. Nearly half of the Assembly’s 80 members are new to the Capitol. A revised term-limit rule would allow them to serve for as long as 12 years, and Democrats won two-thirds “supermajorities” in both houses.
By DON THOMPSON — Associated Press
Posted: 06/01/2013 03:01:46 PM PDT
SACRAMENTO — State lawmakers have wrapped up the first half of this year’s legislative session by advancing hundreds of bills addressing a wide range of issues, including gun violence, environmental protection, oil drilling and even whether prison inmates should have access to condoms.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, May. 31, 2013 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Last Modified: Friday, May. 31, 2013 – 6:34 am
When Democrats – perhaps surprising even themselves – won two-thirds supermajorities in both legislative houses last year, party subfactions began buzzing over how their new hegemony would be employed.
By and by, the chatter coalesced into two competing views, to wit:
By Emily Cahn
Posted at 6:27 p.m. on May 29
Updated 8:05 a.m. | Under fire for touting questionable member endorsements, former Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif., released on Wednesday the signatures of several House Democrats indicating their support for his campaign.
By Chris Megerian, Los Angeles Times
May 28, 2013, 7:48 p.m.
SACRAMENTO — Now that Gov. Jerry Brown has rolled out his revised budget proposal, both houses of the Legislature are outlining their own ideas for how the state’s money should be spent in the next year.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, May. 28, 2013 – 5:30 pm
Last Modified: Wednesday, May. 29, 2013 – 7:33 am
Two analyses of the pending California state budget frame a looming conflict with just days remaining before the June 15 deadline for passage.
The first came from Moody’s, a major credit rating organization, after the Legislature’s budget analyst, Mac Taylor, suggested that the state may have $3.2 billion more to spend in the 2013-14 fiscal year than Gov. Jerry Brown had forecast.
Miller introduces two bills to House
Greg Cappis, Staff Writer
Posted: 05/24/2013 08:06:23 PM PDT
Updated: 05/24/2013 09:58:11 PM PDT
As the campaigns to represent California’s 31st District gain traction, Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar announced endorsements from 10 California congressmen.
By Marc Lifsher
May 26, 2013, 7:36 p.m.
SACRAMENTO — At the state Capitol, no bill is ever dead.
Even the most moribund measure can be resurrected and sent to the governor, especially if leaders want to pass something without holding a bunch of hearings.
By Jim Sanders
jsanders@sacbee.com
Published: Saturday, May. 25, 2013 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Both houses of the Democratic-controlled Legislature worked to craft budgets Friday that are about $3.2 billion higher than the one proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown.
The development sets up a clash with the governor from their own party.
May 24, 2013
It appears the announcement that Republican farmer Andy Vidak won outright former senator Michael Rubio’s seat may have been premature: an updated vote count puts Vidak below the 50-percent-plus-one threshold he needed to surpass to avoid a runoff against his Democratic opponent, Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
May 23, 2013
Assembly Democrat Tom Ammiano of San Francisco leads the pack of lawmakers with a slew of bills to be heard Friday on the suspense file in the Assembly Appropriation Committee. The Assembly has 328 bills on the suspense file, which will be taken up after the lower house meets in the morning.
By Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times
May 22, 2013, 8:49 p.m.
SACRAMENTO — Democrats took another seat in the state Assembly this week, but a conservative Republican won a Central Valley state Senate district in an upset victory.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
May 20, 2013
The California Senate passed a bill today that would shield pot shops following state guidelines for dispensing medical marijuana from prosecution for marijuana possession or sale.
May 20, 2013; 01:55 PM
SACRAMENTO — Former Assemblywoman Norma Torres was sworn into the state Senate following her victory in last week’s special election in Inland Southern California’s 32nd Senate District.
To read brief in The Press Enterprise, click here.
By Joe Garofoli
May 19, 2013
After Jim Araby’s union of grocery store workers donated millions of dollars and cranked out 7,500 three-hour volunteer shifts last fall to help elect a supermajority of Democrats to the state Legislature and win statewide ballot measures, they, like many California liberals, began to dream big.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, May. 19, 2013 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Last Modified: Sunday, May. 19, 2013 – 8:10 am
Jerry Brown – who made “lower your expectations” a catchphrase of his first governorship – is back in that mode during his second stint, especially on spending.
Greg Cappis, Staff Writer
Posted: 05/17/2013 08:09:39 PM PDT
Eloise Gomez Reyes’ campaign is taking shape in the crowded race for the 31st Congressional District seat in 2014.
Emily’s List, the powerful political organization supporting pro-choice, female Democrats, officially added Gomez Reyes to “the list. ”
By Carol D. Leonnig
Published: May 16, 2013
When the Barack H. Obama Foundation sought tax-exempt status to raise money for good works in Kenya, the Internal Revenue Service provided quick help.
The IRS approved charitable status for the foundation, which was run by President Obama’s brother and named after his father, in about a month’s time. The IRS also agreed to give the group this important financial status retroactively, back to 2009, when it had begun its fundraising.
New election ahead to fill Assembly vacancy
By Canan Tasci
canan.tasci@ inlandnewspapers.com @ChinoValleyNow on Twitter
Posted: 05/15/2013 05:46:58 PM PDT
Updated: 05/15/2013 05:47:09 PM PDT
Now that Assemblywoman Norma Torres will take over as the state senator in the 32nd District, her 52nd Assembly District seat will be up for grabs.
By Scott Wilson and Karen DeYoung
Published: May 15 E-mail the writers
The Obama administration released 100 pages of e-mails Wednesday that reveal differences between intelligence analysts and State Department officials over how to initially describe the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.
By Zachary A. Goldfarb and Juliet Eilperin
Published: May 15 E-mail the writers
President Obama on Wednesday demanded and accepted the resignation of the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Steven T. Miller, as part of a multi-pronged effort to quell controversies that threaten to dominate his second term.
By Karen Tumulty
Published: May 15 E-mail the writer
The most corrosive political scandals are the ones that feed a preexisting story line — which is why the White House could have difficulty putting the current ones behind it any time soon.
By Michael A. Memoli
May 15, 2013, 9:15 a.m.
WASHINGTON — Republican congressional leaders, faced with an array of crises threatening to overwhelm the White House, appear to have singled out the targeting of conservative political groups by the IRS as the most fertile — and politically advantageous — to focus on.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013 – 09:00 a.m.
State Assembly Member Norma Torres (D-Pomona) handily defeated Mayor Paul Leon (R-Ontario) to fill the 32nd State Senate District seat vacated by now-U.S. Representative Gloria Negrete-McLeod on Tuesday night.
Shane Goldmacher
May 14 2013, 4:39 PM ET
As three separate scandals – the IRS targeting the tea party, the Justice Department’s phone-records grab from the AP, and Benghazi – erupt simultaneously, congressional Republicans are hoping to fold them into a single narrative of an unaccountable and overreaching White House that cannot be trusted.
As Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., put it colorfully during a Fox News appearance, “This sounds like a president somewhat drunk on power.”
LAURA OLSON, Associated Press
Updated 10:13 am, Saturday, May 11, 2013
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California schools are expecting a boost from the $900 million to be raised over the next year through the closure of a corporate tax loophole, but Gov. Jerry Brown is locked in a disagreement with state lawmakers over how to hand out that money.
By Michael Catalini
Updated: May 11, 2013 | 5:08 a.m.
May 10, 2013 | 8:15 a.m.
Longtime allies of Hillary Clinton are coming to her defense amid new reports suggesting the State Department, under her stewardship, altered talking points about the attacks in Benghazi to remove references to terrorism and al Qaida.
May 10, 2013; 04:19 PM
A critical billboard targeting five San Bernardino city officials that had already generated controversy over its message has now led to accusations of censorship and political pressure.
To read column by Imran Ghori and Jim Miller in The Press Enterprise, click here.
May 10, 2013; 06:24 PM
SACRAMENTO — Money is pouring into candidates’ campaign committees. Legislative staffers are spending weekends walking precincts and calling voters in a race that seems to be a toss-up.
To read story by Jim Miller in The Press Enterprise, click here.
Greg Cappis, Staff Writer
Posted: 05/10/2013 11:55:26 PM PDT
Updated: 05/11/2013 12:01:54 AM PDT
Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar’s campaign to represent California’s 31st Congressional District received a boost this week.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
May 10, 2013
One day after a civil rights leader accused him of using racially charged politics in his criticism of California’s prison realignment, former Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado said this afternoon that Gov. Jerry Brown and “his buddies are trying to make it about race.”
May 10, 2013
Posted by Alex Koppelman
It’s a cliché, of course, but it really is true: in Washington, every scandal has a crime and a coverup. The ongoing debate about the attack on the United States facility in Benghazi where four Americans were killed, and the Obama Administration’s response to it, is no exception. For a long time, it seemed like the idea of a coverup was just a Republican obsession. But now there is something to it.
By Andrew Edwards
andrew.edwards@ inlandnewspapers.com @InlandGov on Twitter
Posted: 05/05/2013 09:45:08 PM PDT
Assemblywoman Norma Torres has continued to maintain her big fundraising lead in the race for an open state Senate seat, raising more than double the amount collected by her opponent, Ontario Mayor Paul Leon.
By Jim Sanders
jsanders@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, May. 6, 2013 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Monday, May. 6, 2013 – 7:56 am
Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic lawmakers are on a collision course over restoring cuts to California’s safety net, marking a key test of vows to hold the line on state spending.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, May. 6, 2013 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Last Modified: Monday, May. 6, 2013 – 5:18 am
One of the questions that Capitol veterans often field from those newer to the political arena is whether today’s Jerry Brown is markedly different from what he was during his first governorship three-plus decades ago.
By Dan Morain
dmorain@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, May. 5, 2013 – 12:00 am | Page 1E
Last Modified: Sunday, May. 5, 2013 – 7:22 am
Rep. Ami Bera, one of two Democratic physicians in the House, doesn’t want Obamacare to fail.
But the freshman member of Congress is worried about President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement.
By JAMES HOHMANN | 5/4/13 5:54 PM EDT
HOUSTON — The National Rifle Association has become, more than ever, part and parcel of the Republican Party.
The officially nonpartisan group’s no-compromise strategy helped defeat the background check bill in the Senate last month and grow its membership ranks to 5 million.
By Justin Sink – 04/30/13 07:00 PM ET
President Obama bristled during a press conference on Tuesday when asked whether his second-term agenda is failing after the first 100 days.
By Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times
April 29, 2013
SACRAMENTO — California’s $8-an-hour minimum wage needs to go up, says Watsonville Democratic Assemblyman Luis Alejo. And he may be getting the votes he needs to make it happen.
But don’t count on it; Alejo has tried this before.
By BEN WHITE and TARINI PARTI | 4/28/13 2:29 PM EDT
Call them the debt crisis dissenters.
The two parties are miles apart on how to cut the deficit and national debt: Republicans want to slash spending even more. Democrats want to raise revenue.
Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 04/27/2013 06:58:39 PM PDT
Updated: 04/27/2013 10:48:21 PM PDT
A chance to pick up a vacant state Senate seat and demonstrate the California Republican Party and their allies are serious about backing Latino candidates may seem like a golden opportunity for the state’s GOP, but the party seems to be setting its sights elsewhere than the 32nd state Senate District.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Apr. 28, 2013 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Last Modified: Sunday, Apr. 28, 2013 – 7:25 am
David Crane, a businessman who advised former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on financial matters – particularly long-term public pension deficits – recently wrote an I-told-you-so piece for the Bloomberg news service about the State Teachers Retirement System.
Greg Cappis, Staff Writer
Posted: 04/26/2013 09:05:14 PM PDT
Updated: 04/26/2013 09:54:17 PM PDT
Last year, voters in the 31st Congressional District chose between two Republicans in the general election.
Next year, their choice could be between two Democrats.
Posted by Ezra Klein
April 26, 2013 at 2:12 pm
The Democrats have lost on sequestration.
That’s the simple reality of Friday’s vote to ease the pain for the Federal Aviation Administration. By assenting to it, Democrats have agreed to sequestration for the foreseeable future.
By Michael Catalini
Updated: April 26, 2013 | 1:30 p.m.
April 26, 2013 | 11:27 a.m.
The influential conservative website Red State does not score key-vote legislation.
But Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s Helping Sick Americans Now Act nearly changed that. The bill would have insured thousands of Americans with pre-existing conditions who would be dropped because of a provision in the Affordable Care Act, Cantor argued. The bill was supposed to be a savvy way to make the GOP seem softer and score political points by tweaking Obamacare.
April 25, 2013; 07:30 PM
SACRAMENTO — Legislation to impose statewide regulation on the storefront sale of medical marijuana advanced this week, but it’s unclear how it would affect local ordinances in Inland Southern California and elsewhere that seek to ban the dispensaries.
To read story by Jim Miller in The Press Enterprise, click here.
Aguilar, Baca make accusations each other
By Greg Cappis
gregory.cappis@ inlandnewspapers.com @TheFactsGreg on Twitter
Posted: 04/24/2013 06:00:25 PM PDT
Updated: 04/24/2013 06:00:37 PM PDT
Two high-profile Democrats vying for the 31st Congressional District seat in 2014 – Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar and former Rep. Joe Baca – are concentrating on each other, not the man they want to challenge.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
April 23, 2013
Despite relatively robust income tax returns and a projection that the state will finish April billions of dollars ahead of estimates, Gov. Jerry Brown today dismissed a reporter’s suggestion he must be “pretty happy,” suggesting any overage may be tied up by Proposition 98, California’s school-funding guarantee.
By Nathan Hurst
Roll Call Staff
April 22, 2013, 3:44 p.m.
“Why is President Obama unnecessarily delaying your flight?” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor tweeted as part of GOP lawmakers’ social media offensive. “FAA can reprioritize.”
By Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times
April 18, 2013, 8:30 p.m.
SACRAMENTO — The state Assembly approved $24 million Thursday to speed up the confiscation of guns from Californians who are not allowed to own them because of criminal convictions or serious mental illness.
By Carla Marinucci
April 18, 2013 – 10:41 a.m.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris has made lots of headlines in the last month for getting “best-looking” praise from POTUS, but today, Time Magazine is giving her a real honor. Harris has been named to the Time 100, the list of the most influential people on the planet.
April 18, 2013; 06:14 PM
Former Rep. Joe Baca said he is the only Democrat who can defeat Rep. Gary Miller next year and criticized a Democratic rival who has hit Baca for his past support of Miller.
To read story by Jim Miller in The Press Enterprise, click here.
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