Politics, Government & Business in California's Inland Empire
By Matea Gold
January 24, 2015 at 9:33 PM
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif.— Conservative benefactor Charles Koch on Saturday called on other wealthy donors to expand their commitment to promoting free-market ideas and shrinking government, saying they would only succeed if the cause was “a central part of our lives.”
Michael Hiltzik
January 24, 2015
If you’re wondering why issues favored by a majority of Americans such as raising the minimum wage, gun control and net neutrality get scarcely any attention in the halls of Congress, the Citizens United case is the reason.
By Patrick McGreevy
January 23, 2015
Former Republican state Sen. Sharon Runner of Lancaster, who rebounded after receiving a double lung transplant three years ago, was the only candidate to file papers by Friday’s deadline to run in a special election to fill a Senate seat vacated when Steve Knight was elected to Congress.
By David Siders
dsiders@sacbee.com
01/23/2015 10:03 AM
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a reliable source of entertainment – and inspiration – for California Republicans, will keynote the state party’s spring convention, organizers said Friday.
Friday, January 23, 2015 – 05:00 p.m.
Tonight on The Lou Desmond & Company Show, Lou is joined by Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) to discuss AB 150, which would amend Prop 47 to make the theft of a firearm under $950 a felony.
Published: Jan. 22, 2015 – Updated: 10:41 a.m.
Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, has been named to a board post for an organization that trains Republican leaders nationwide.
To read post by Jeff Horseman in The PE Political Empire Blog, click here.
By Michael Finnegan
January 22, 2015
With billionaire Tom Steyer opting out of California’s U.S. Senate race on Thursday, the most likely major rival for Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris appears to be former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
01/22/2015 8:18 PM
For two weeks, ever since Sen. Barbara Boxer declared she would not run for a fifth term in 2016, hedge fund billionaire/environmental activist Tom Steyer had conducted a Hamlet-like soliloquy.
Thursday, January 22, 2015 – 05:15 p.m.
Tonight on The Lou Desmond & Company Show, Georgine Trujillo, Lou’s favorite Democrat, joins the show to discuss the State of the Union and the new findings at Ontario International Airport.
By Christopher Cadelago
ccadelago@sacbee.com
01/22/2015 1:10 PM
Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer said Thursday he will not be a candidate to succeed U.S. Senate Barbara Boxer and instead will continue his focus on helping Democrats and working to reverse the effects of global climate change.
Thursday, January 22, 2015 – 01:00 p.m.
The long-running fraud case involving the now-defunct California Charter Academy has been continued once again.
By Sandra Emerson, Redlands Daily Facts
Posted: 01/21/15, 12:01 AM PST | Updated: 1 min ago
REDLANDS >> John James is the newest member of the City Council.
By Andrea Drusch
January 21, 2015
With only weeks gone but years left in California’s Senate race, national Democrats appear eager to anoint state Attorney General Kamala Harris as the 2016 successor to Sen. Barbara Boxer’s seat. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee weighed in lauding Harris’ candidacy after she announced her decision last week, and high-profile sitting senators including Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Cory Booker also feted the new front-runner.
By Alex Isenstadt
1/21/15 – 8:03 PM EST
The procession of prominent Washington Democrats who lined up last week to sing the praises of California Attorney General Kamala Harris for Senate had the feel of an anointment. Sen. Cory Booker said he was “so excited” about her candidacy. Sen. Elizabeth Warren called Harris, a favorite of the Obama White House, “smart” and “tough.” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told supporters she needed Harris “by my side.”
By Debra J. Saunders
Updated 5:41 pm, Wednesday, January 21, 2015
As President Obama delivered his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, I saw all of 2015 flash before my eyes. It was a smart speech that wisely stuck to “middle-class” values and was shrewdly short on details. I saw another year of the president not compromising. For Republicans, it was Ground Hog Day — an endless loop of the president talking up bipartisanship without practicing it.
Wednesday, January 22, 2015 – 05:00 p.m.
Tonight on The Lou Desmond & Company Show, Tom Del Beccaro, former Chairman of the California Republican Party and author of The Divided Era, joins Lou to discuss the State of the Union and Los Angeles World Airports running Ontario International Airport.
Published: Jan. 20, 2015 – Updated: 10:21 p.m.
Three potential contenders for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 are expected to be in Riverside next month for a gathering of Inland conservative activists.
To read story by Jeff Horseman in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
By Julie Pace, AP White House Correspondent
Posted: 01/20/15, 7:28 PM PST | Updated: 28 secs ago
WASHINGTON >> Refusing to bend to the new Republican Congress, President Barack Obama unveiled Tuesday night an ambitious State of the Union agenda steeped in Democratic priorities, including tax increases on the wealthy, education and child care help for the middle class and a torrent of veto threats for the GOP’s own plans.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Tonight on The Lou Desmond & Company Show, Phil Naman, host of The Firing Line on AM590, will join Lou to discuss Obama’s State of the Union. The two will make comments on the economy, the Affordable Care Act and foreign policy.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015 – 10:00 a.m.
Some, not all ears, will be tuned to Tuesday night’s State of the Union address by President Barack Obama.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
01/19/2015 7:39 PM
Legislative leaders occasionally proclaim that they want to do more “oversight” – looking into how well state government agencies are serving the public interest.
At best, however, it has been spotty.
By Matier & Ross
Monday, January 19, 2015
Having jumped into the U.S. Senate race “feet first,” state Attorney General Kamala Harris will be hitting the phones to score as much money and as many endorsements possible — all in the hope of keeping rival Democrats from jumping in as well.
By Justin Sink – 01/19/15 08:45 AM EST
President Obama will head into Tuesday’s State of the Union with his highest job approval numbers in 18 months, according to a new poll released Monday by The Washington Post and ABC News.
The invitees are all potential 2016 presidential contenders.
By Kenneth P. Vogel
1/19/15 11:24 PM EST
Updated 1/20/15 8:44 AM EST
Four leading Republican presidential prospects are expected to appear this weekend in the California desert before an exclusive gathering of rich conservatives convened by the Koch brothers’ political operation, several sources tell POLITICO.
By Christopher Cadelago
ccadelago@sacbee.com
01/18/2015 4:50 PM
Tom Steyer, the billionaire climate change activist weighing a run for U.S. Senate, is telling potential supporters he would commit to serving only one term if he can’t reach goals dealing with the environment, economy and education within six years.
Reuters
By Howard Schneider
DALTON, Georgia – Sun Jan 18, 2015 1:40pm EST
(Reuters) – Barack Obama enters the final two years of his presidency with a blemish on his legacy that looks impossible to erase: the decline of the middle class he has promised to rescue.
A CBS News poll finds enthusiasm for the once—and future?—nominee.
Ali Elkin
Jan 18, 2015 10:18 AM PST
GOP leaders appear skeptical about Mitt Romney’s prospects if he seeks the White House for a third time in 2016, but according to a new poll, everyday Republicans’ message to the former governor is: Come on in, the water’s fine.
They fare much better than Christie and Perry in a survey of would-be contenders.
By David Cohen
1/18/15 6:48 PM EST
Updated 1/18/15 11:02 PM EST
Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney are the would-be candidates that Americans most want to run for president in 2016, while solid pluralities would prefer that Chris Christie and Rick Perry sit this election out, according to a new CBS News Poll released Sunday.
Sunday, January 18, 2015 – 11:00 a.m.
We’ve written about it here before. If you want to be a county supervisor, be prepared to do your job.
By Mark Gutgkueck
Posted on January 17, 2015
(January 14) — In local Democratic Party circles there is already peripheral discussion of the need to mount a challenge of Marc Steinorth in the 40th Assembly District in 2016.
By Christopher Cadelago
ccadelago@sacbee.com
01/17/2015 11:12 PM
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa planned to use the year to, as he put it recently, continue on a journey of reflection.
By Charles Krauthammer, Opinion writer
January 15, 2015
On Sunday, at the great Paris rally, the whole world was Charlie. By Tuesday, the veneer of solidarity was exposed as tissue thin. It began dissolving as soon as the real, remaining Charlie Hebdo put out its post-massacre issue featuring a Muhammad cover that, as the New York Times put it, “reignited the debate pitting free speech against religious sensitivities.”
By DAVID SCOTT and STEVE PEOPLES Associated Press
01/18/2015 9:27 AM
CORONADO, Calif.
Not yet in the presidential race, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mitt Romney already are previewing the likely focus of the 2016 campaign, a competition over who’s better able to boost paychecks for working Americans.
Former presidential candidate speaks to Republican leaders aboard Midway
By David Garrick9:27 p.m.Jan. 16, 2015
DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO — Mitt Romney stressed the need to sharply reduce poverty in America Friday night during a speech to members of the Republican National Committee.
Wisconsin governor says his reform agenda could sweep nation
By David Garrick
Jan. 15, 2015
CORONADO — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker told Republican National Committee members on Thursday night that the success he’s had cutting public employee benefits and lowering taxes could sweep the nation and help Republicans take back the White House in 2016.
SHEA JOHNSON
STAFF WRITER
Posted Jan. 14, 2015 @ 8:26 pm
Updated at 8:32 PM
Former Assemblywoman and state Senator Sharon Runner made it official Wednesday, declaring that she will run for the recently vacated state 21st Senate District seat, which includes the Victor and Antelope valleys.
By Josh Richman
Thursday, January 15th, 2015 at 12:13 am
Hedge fund billionaire and environmental activist Tom Steyer said Tuesday he’s considering whether to run for California’s U.S. Senate seat in 2016, but apparently he’s been mulling this for a while: A polling memo shows he commissioned a survey on his chances in mid-December.
George Skelton, Los Angeles Times
January 15, 2015
george.skelton@latimes.com
@latimesskelton
Who will be California’s next U.S. senator, replacing the retiring Democrat Barbara Boxer?
It’ll be another Democrat, bet on that.
By Debra J. Saunders
January 14, 2015 10:08 AM
This just in: Carly Fiorina paid off the debt from her losing 2010 Senate campaign against Sen. Barbara Boxer. As I wrote last month, the former HP head is mulling over a 2016 presidential run — which made her failure to pay off her handlers and vendors rather puzzling. Losing candidates often owe money, but she’s a rich candidate, who was partially self-funded. Nonetheless, she left behind debt just under $500,000. As I wrote:
Or the way Republicans could find themselves shut out of the general election altogether.
By Scott Bland
January 13, 2015
Democrats are far-and-away favored to keep Sen. Barbara Boxer’s California Senate seat when she retires in 2016. They may even be able to shut Republicans out of the general election altogether. But, with both parties still feeling their way through recent and radical changes to the state’s rules for primary races, Democratic insiders see a nightmare scenario in which they fumble away the seat before the general election even begins.
By Michael Smolens
Jan. 13, 2015
Mitt Romney, who recently said he’s strongly considering a third run for president, plans to speak at the Republican National Committee winter meetings in San Diego this week.
By Robert Costa
January 13, 2015 at 8:00 PM
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Tuesday announced the hiring of a campaign manager for his likely 2016 presidential bid, part of an aggressive effort to build a national political team as the race for the White House heats up.
Tuesday, January 13, 2015 – 03:00 p.m.
To answer a question from several readers.
In the event California Attorney General Kamala Harris (D) takes the seat being vacated by U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D), Governor Jerry Brown (D), not voters, will pick her successor.
Published: Jan. 12, 2015 – Updated: 6:46 p.m.
Thirteen men and women have applied to serve on the Redlands City Council, where a vacancy was created with the election of Pete Aguilar to Congress.
To read story by Erin Waldner in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
01/12/2015 11:29 PM
Barbara Boxer’s decision to retire from the U.S. Senate dissipates some of the fog that has been obscuring California’s political landscape.
Politics
By Robert Costa, Philip Rucker and Karen Tumulty
January 12, 2015 at 9:37 PM
Mitt Romney is moving quickly to reassemble his national political network, calling former aides, donors and other supporters over the weekend and on Monday in a concerted push to signal his seriousness about possibly launching a 2016 presidential campaign.
Monday, January 12, 2015 – 05:30 p.m.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris will run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Barbara Boxer, who announced last week that she would not seek another term in 2016.
By Anthony York
January 11, 2015
During his press conference outlining his new $164.7 billion state spending plan, Gov. Jerry Brown made extensive remarks about Californians living in poverty, and the challenges the state faces in dealing with those who continue to struggle economically.
By Edward-Isaac Dovere
1/11/15 – 6:26 PM EST
Barack Obama n’est pas Charlie — or at least, he wasn’t this weekend.
By Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane
January 11, 2015 at 9:00 PM
Senior Democrats, dissatisfied with the party’s tepid prescriptions for combating income inequality, are drafting an “action plan” that calls for a massive transfer of wealth from the super-rich and Wall Street traders to the heart of the middle class.
By Dan Balz, Chief correspondent
January 10, 2015 at 8:10 PM
AURORA, Colo. — It’s been a good few weeks for Jeb Bush, who has been setting the pace among prospective 2016 presidential candidates — at least in the view of some in the elite world of political donors, strategists and commentators. But even before the news that Mitt Romney is thinking about a third campaign, a dissenting view on Bush was registered here Thursday night.
Politics
By Philip Rucker and Robert Costa
January 10, 2015 at 7:34 PM
Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney have much in common. Both were pragmatic as governors, mild-mannered as candidates and more comfortable balancing budgets at their desks than clinking glasses at a political dinner.
By Mark Gutglueck
Posted on January 10, 2015
(January 9) Acquanetta Warren, the Fontana mayor who has for the past several years been serving as the city of Upland’s assistant director of public works, abruptly resigned her post with the City of Gracious Living Thursday.
January 9th, 2015 – 9:35 am
The election is over. But the heat remains on Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Palm Desert, as he starts his second term.
The National Republican Congressional Committee has issued at least three news releases this month attacking Ruiz, who ousted GOP incumbent Mary Bono in 2012 and represents a district where Republicans hold a slight edge in voter registration.
To read post by Jeff Horseman in The PE Political Empire Blog, click here.
By Fawn Johnson
January 8, 2015
President Obama wants to provide free tuition at community colleges, a proposal that could benefit as many as 9 million students, according to a White House outline of the plan released Thursday.
There is one big caveat in the proposal — there is no plan to fund it, other than to ask Congress for the money.
By Philip Rucker,, Robert Costa and Matea Gold
January 9, 2015 at 8:32 PM
Mitt Romney forcefully declared his interest in a third presidential run to a room full of powerful Republican donors Friday, disrupting the fluid 2016 GOP field as would-be rival Jeb Bush was moving swiftly to consolidate establishment support.
By Joe Garofoli
January 8, 2015 – 12:51 PM
Nothing like a political power vacuum to elicit the quality present in all politicians: the innate ability to suck up.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
01/08/2015 11:32 PM
Feeding frenzy. Musical chairs. Horse race. Free-for-all.
Thursday, January 8, 2015 – 01:45 p.m.
Former Riverside County District Attorney Paul Zellerbach has pleaded “No Contest” to a single count of Vandalism (Tampering with Campaign Signs), a misdemeanor.
Thursday, January 8, 2014 – 09:00 a.m.
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California) has announced she will retire at the end of her current term, which ends in December 2016.
By Grace Wong, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Posted: 01/07/15, 8:54 PM PST |
RANCHO CUCAMONGA >> Despite the giant plaque with former Rep. Gary Miller’s name on it, a staff member of newly sworn-in Rep. Pete Aguilar greeted visitors with a large smile.
By Seung Min Kim
1/7/15 8:14 PM EST
House Republicans are ready to fire the opening salvo in the war over President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
01/07/2015 7:48 AM
It was billed as a “groundbreaking,” but no ground was broken, even metaphorically.
By Joel Fox
Editor of Fox & Hounds and President of the Small Business Action Committee
Tuesday, January 6th, 2015
Jerry Brown, the adroit political juggler, was on full display during his Inaugural Address/State of the State Speech yesterday keeping in the air at the same time the notion of more spending while also tossing about the importance of fiscal responsibility.
President opposes first legislative move by GOP-controlled Congress.
By Edward-Isaac Dovere and Burgess Everett
1/6/15 8:51 PM EST
President Barack Obama’s Keystone veto threat Tuesday was the opening gambit in his fight with the new Republican majorities in Congress looking to derail his post-midterm momentum.
By MICHAEL BARBARO and NICHOLAS CONFESSORE
JAN. 6, 2015
Jeb Bush on Tuesday delivered a powerful message about two of the most vital ingredients in a presidential campaign, money and ideas, transforming himself from a figure who once seemed paralyzed by ambivalence over a White House run into the most forceful presence within the emerging Republican field.
Published: Jan. 5, 2015 – Updated: 8:50 p.m.
Expressing humility following a bitter campaign and outlining plans to prevent youth crime and crack down on gangs, Mike Hestrin was sworn in Monday as the 15th district attorney in Riverside County’s 121-year history.
To read story by Jeff Horseman in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
By Sandra Emerson, Redlands Daily Facts
Posted: 01/05/15, 9:50 PM PST | Updated: 1 min ago
The Inland Empire’s newest members of the U.S. House of Representatives will be sworn in today as members of the 114th U.S. Congress.
By Patrick McGreevy
January 5, 2015
The state ethics agency closed a record number of cases with proven violations in 2014 and also set new highs with the number of cases in which public officials agreed to fines, according to an annual report released Monday.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
01/05/2015 7:58 PM
Jerry Brown was just 44 years old in 1982 but had already served two terms as governor of California, run for president twice and seen his bid for a U.S. Senate seat resoundingly rejected.
Published: Jan. 4, 2015 – Updated: 6:39 p.m.
The Inland Southern California congressional delegation arrives in Washington this week with an overall lack of seniority and a number of members in a diminished minority party following historic Republican victories in November.
To read story by Jeff Horseman in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
Politics
By Paul Kane
January 4 at 7:26 PM
Mitch McConnell has an unusual admonition for the new Republican majority as it takes over the Senate this week: Don’t be “scary.”
Boehner, McConnell have big plans and big obstacles.
By Jake Sherman and Burgess Everett
1/4/15 5:28 PM EST
Updated 1/4/15 5:34 PM EST
Republican leaders think 2015 is their year.
They just won control of the Senate and have a historic majority in the House. The presidential election hasn’t yet begun. President Barack Obama says he wants to engage with Capitol Hill. For the first time in a while, there seems to be a genuine thirst for getting something done.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
01/04/2015 12:01 AM
It’s a new year and the Capitol’s Democrats should be singing Franklin Roosevelt’s old campaign song, “Happy Days Are Here Again.”
By Brian Faler
1/2/15 – 4:01 PM EST
The question of who will be Congress’ next chief number-cruncher has suddenly gotten a lot more important.
By Andrew Restuccia
1/2/15 – 2:48 PM EST
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is set to vote on legislation approving the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline on Thursday.
Friday, January 2, 2015 – 12:00 p.m.
Another criminal case, brought in an attempt to shield an agency from civil liability, this time San Bernardino County, blew up in Superior Court late Wednesday afternoon.
Published: Jan. 1, 2015
Updated: Jan. 2, 2015 – 8:26 a.m.
Before November, “super” described the Democratic advantage in Sacramento.
Democrats still have a firm grasp on California state government, controlling 52 of 80 Assembly seats and 25 of 40 Senate seats along with the governorship and other statewide offices. But Republican victories in several key races ended the Democratic supermajorities in the new Legislature, which convenes Monday.
To read story by Jeff Horseman in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
By Rebecca Shabad – 01/01/15 – 06:00 AM EST
The federal budget is almost certain to be the central battleground between President Obama and the new Republican Congress in 2015.
By Jim Puzzanghera
December 31, 2014
The economy boomed through most of last year, a time when the nation’s capital was devoid of major budget fights and threats of government shutdown.
Politics
By Tom Hamburger and Lyndsey Layton
December 31, 2014
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, moving closer to a possible presidential run, has resigned all of his corporate and nonprofit board memberships, including with his own education foundation, his office said late Wednesday night.
By Maggie Haberman
12/31/14 7:34 PM EST
Likely 2016 GOP presidential hopeful Jeb Bush gave $10,000 to a charity that’s raising money to help the families of the two NYPD officers murdered in their patrol car earlier this month.
by JOHN HOWARD
Posted 12.30.2014
Californians started 2014 the way they ended the previous year – parched by drought, hoping for an improved economy, outraged at Capitol corruption scandals and, finally, looking for relief at the fuel pump.
By James Oliphant
December 30, 2014
You can make a compelling case that 2014 was the worst year for President Obama since, well, the year before. And, in fact, the president spent much of this year trying to recover from some body blows he took in the final months of 2013, when, in short order, Congress rebuffed him on Syria and the federal health care exchange imploded.
By Christopher Cadelago
ccadelago@sacbee.com
12/30/2014 6:37 AM
Former Republican state lawmaker Sharon Runner on Monday released a list of high-profile endorsements as she prepares to run for the Antelope Valley Senate seat coming vacant when Sen. Steve Knight officially takes his place in Congress.