A proposal by Assemblywoman Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) probably won’t make her many friends among her colleagues. She wants to reduce the Legislature to part-time status and cut its pay from $95,000 annually to $1,500 a month.

Grove is one of the organizers of an initiative that was approved Monday to begin circulating petitions toward qualifying for the ballot. The constitutional amendment would limit regular legislative sessions to 30 days each January and 60 days starting each May. In odd-numbered years, the legislative sessions would be devoted to budget issues.

In addition to slashing lawmakers’ pay, the measure would limit employment while they are in office. State financial officials say it could cut lawmakers’ salaries, travel and living expenses and staff costs by tens of millions of dollars annually.

To read entire story, click here.

Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
Published: Friday, Feb. 3, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Many years of partisan wrangling over the state budget reached a climax in 2010 when public employee unions and Democratic politicians persuaded voters to pass Proposition 25, eliminating the two-thirds vote for budgets.

It gave the Legislature’s majority Democrats the power to pass budgets without having to garner Republican votes. But that’s not all it did.

Worried that voters might see it as a political power play, the measure’s sponsors added a political sugarplum, one declaring that if legislators didn’t pass a budget by June 15, the constitutional deadline, their salaries would be cut off.

They also included another proviso that extended the simple-majority vote to so-called “trailer bills,” measures supposedly needed to implement the budget.

This column and other critics suggested that the trailer bills could become political Christmas trees – ways for the majority party to bypass procedural rules and jam into law things that had nothing to do with the budget.

Although the Legislature has been in session for just a month, we’ve already seen two cases of how the Democrats are treating Proposition 25.

Last year, they used their newly won authority to pass a budget without Republican votes. When Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed it, saying it was unbalanced, Democratic Controller John Chiang cut off legislators’ paychecks, citing Proposition 25.

Brown and legislators quickly cobbled together a new budget on the miraculous assumption that the state would get an extra $4 billion in revenue. Most of the miracle money didn’t show up, and the budget is about $5 billion in the red. The Legislature is now suing Chiang, claiming that he had no authority to enforce Proposition 25.

To read entire column, click here.

Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
January 31, 2012

Rural and urban school districts in California that make heavy use of buses appear safe — for now.

State lawmakers are fast-tracking legislation that would transform a $248 million midyear school bus cut into a general-purpose reduction that hits each K-12 district evenly. The Assembly Budget Committee passed Senate Bill 81 with bipartisan support Tuesday, while an aide to Gov. Jerry Brown testified that the governor supports the proposal.

But Brown still wants to eliminate specific funding for buses in his 2012-13 budget, along with removing earmarks for a variety of other K-12 programs. He instead proposes a new block grant funding system for schools, out of which he suggests districts could fund bus service if they choose.

In Tuesday’s hearing, Republicans and Democrats representing rural areas joined together to lobby for SB 81, which only applies for the remainder of this school year. The bus cut was triggered when state forecasters determined last month that California would fall $2.2 billion short of a $4 billion tax revenue bump that Brown and lawmakers assumed in the 2011-12 state budget.

“It’s a catastrophic problem in my district and in many other rural parts of California,” said Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro, D-Arcata, who represents the North Coast area. “Eliminating the school bus system creates dangerous situations for many children in California, but for my district it means it would be impossible for many children, if not most children in some districts, to attend school at all.”

To read entire story, click here.

By Jim Sanders
jsanders@sacbee.com
Published: Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

A California Supreme Court ruling Friday significantly raised Democratic Party prospects of gaining the supermajority needed in the state Senate to pass tax or fee increases.

The high court decided that Senate maps drawn recently by a 14-member citizens commission will be used for this year’s legislative elections, even if a pending referendum qualifies for the ballot.

The decision brought certainty for dozens of prospective Senate candidates awaiting final adoption of the maps as they begin their campaigns. And it offered the commission at least temporary validation that it performed its job as the voters intended.

Political analysts of both parties agree that the commission-drawn lines give Democrats a good chance of capturing the two seats necessary to give them a two-thirds supermajority in the Senate by December.

California Republican Party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro told The Bee this week that retention of the new lines would make it “enormously difficult” to keep Democrats from a Senate supermajority.

“The political winds have been blowing against them in recent years, and unfavorable district lines make their position even worse,” said Jack Pitney, a government professor at Claremont McKenna College.

Tax increases and passage of some other items would require a two-thirds vote in the Assembly, too, and Democrats are not as confident about achieving that this year. Still, a supermajority in the upper house would significantly increase Democrats’ leverage in the Legislature.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said he is not “taking a victory lap” over Friday’s ruling but that California would be better off if budget deficits could be eased by revenue increases as well as cost cutting.

“We’re going to strive very hard to gain the support of the people of the state of California – and when we do, we expect them to hold us accountable,” Steinberg said.

Republican Sens. Sam Blakeslee of San Luis Obispo and Tony Strickland of Moorpark are targeted as the most vulnerable GOP incumbents under the new maps. Blakeslee is not expected to seek re-election and Strickland is eyeing a congressional seat.

Twenty of the Senate’s 40 seats are up for grabs this year.

The Supreme Court’s 73-page ruling concluded that maps drawn by the citizens commission were the most appropriate and least disruptive for use in this year’s legislative elections.

The issue came before the high court after a Republican-backed group, Fairness and Accountability in Redistricting, filed more than 711,000 signatures with county elections offices in a referendum to overturn the new Senate maps.

County elections officials face a Feb. 24 deadline for certifying FAIR’s referendum signatures.

To read entire story, click here.

PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
January 27, 2012 | 10:19 am

A correction has been added to this post. See below for details.

The California Supreme Court, faced with a possible ballot measure to scrap newly drawn election districts, decided Friday to leave the boundaries in place for this year’s state Senate races.

Republican opponents of the new Senate districts asked the state high court to discard them in anticipation that voters may do so in November. A nonpartisan citizens commission drew the boundaries, which Republicans fear will reduce their numbers in the Legislature.

To read entire story, click here.

Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
Published: Friday, Jan. 27, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Last Tuesday, the Public Policy Institute of California issued a new poll that found, among other things, just 17 percent of the state’s voters like the Legislature’s performance.

Simultaneously, the Legislature’s top leaders provided another reason for Californians to harbor such scorn.

Assembly Speaker John Pérez and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg announced that they would spend untold amounts of taxpayers’ money on high-priced lawyers to sue state Controller John Chiang over his decision to withhold legislators’ paychecks last year after they failed to enact a balanced budget.

Chiang was merely enforcing a new provision of the state constitution that voters enacted in 2010 – a change of budget law that the Democratic legislative leaders themselves had championed, along with their allies in public employee unions.

Proposition 25′s chief purpose was to eliminate the two-thirds legislative vote requirement on budgets, thereby allowing Democrats to pass budgets without Republicans. Concerned that voters would see that as a naked power grab, the measure’s sponsors included a sweetener: legislators’ pay would be docked if they didn’t balance the budget by June 15.

It was a campaign gimmick, and the measure’s sponsors never thought that it would actually be applied. After all, they assumed, the Legislature could pass some kind of budget by June 15 and pronounce it balanced to technically comply.

That’s exactly what the Legislature did, but Gov. Jerry Brown then vetoed the plan, declaring it unbalanced, and Chiang invoked Proposition 25 to cut off legislators’ pay.

The howling from the Capitol’s occupants was tellingly self-serving. How dare Chiang take the measure seriously, they complained; isn’t he a loyal Democrat?

To read entire column, click here.

California State Controller John Chiang

PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
January 24, 2012 | 1:51 pm

Democratic lawmakers sued state Controller John Chiang on Tuesday seeking limits on the controller’s right to withhold lawmakers’ pay during a budget stalemate.

Speaker John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles) and Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said in a joint statement Tuesday that the action is necessary to “clarify the constitutional role of the California state controller,’’ who withheld pay from lawmakers last year after determining they had not approved a balanced budget on time.

Under a law passed by voters in 2010, the controller has the right to dock lawmakers’ pay if a budget is not passed by the June 15 constitutional deadline. Last year, Democratic legislators approved a spending plan before the required date (no Republicans voted for it), but Chiang decided to withhold legislators’ paychecks anyway, arguing that the budget they passed was nearly $2 billion out of balance.

Democrats accused the controller of engaging in an illegal power grab, saying he had no authority to withhold their pay -– about $400 for each day after June 15 without a budget in place.

To read entire story, click here.

Sacramento –Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to finally fix California’s finances relies on several dubious assumptions, including that voters approve his proposal to raise taxes in November and that the revenue from those come in at the level the administration projects.

But even if those assumptions prove true, the governor faces perhaps an even greater challenge: winning support from his fellow Democrats to pay off billions in debt accumulated through years of budget balancing gimmicks.

Brown has put a big target on what he has deemed “the wall of debt,” which amounts to $33.5 billion from skipped payments, internal loans and traditional borrowing used to balance the budget since 1985 with the bulk of that debt accumulated in the past decade, according to the Department of Finance.

The practices are the quintessential smoke-and-mirrors, kick-the-can-down-the-road tactics that have become staples of budgets and of public disdain in California. Under Brown’s budget plan, the state would take aggressive action, paying all of that debt back by 2016.

Doing so would mean forgoing immediate restoration of funding for social services, public health and other programs that lawmakers have slashed since the economy tanked in 2008. In this next budget year, the governor proposes repaying almost $6.9 billion of the debt even as he proposes cutting almost $1 billion from the state’s welfare program.

Democratic lawmakers, who hold large majorities in both houses of the Legislature, already are pushing back.
The budget ‘cliff’

Assemblywoman Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, is chairwoman of the Assembly budget subcommittee overseeing funding for health and human services and said she understands the need to pay off debt.

“But that same commitment (the governor) has to the wall of debt I have to not creating a cliff that poor women and children are going to fall off of,” Mitchell said. “He has created a cliff in this budget.”

At a Senate budget hearing last week, the first legislative hearing on the governor’s budget proposal, several Democratic lawmakers questioned administration officials on the pace of paying back the debt in light of recent and proposed spending cuts.

“It seems to me that while paying down debt is extremely prudent, if we … pay off debt rather than provide services we are exacerbating our unemployment rate,” said state Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa.

At the hearing, Michael Cohen, chief deputy director of the Department of Finance, told lawmakers that eliminating the wall of debt creates stability in state finances, which will help the economy and employment.

The goal is to “get to a path where we’re not having to propose and take drastic actions from one year to the next,” Cohen said.
Accumulated debt

Brown first used the “wall of debt” term last year in describing the accumulated borrowing that allowed lawmakers and past governors to claim they had balanced the budget. The largest piece of the wall is $10.4 billion in deferred payments to K-12 schools and community colleges.

Deferred payments are those promised in one year but then paid in the next, even as schools are told to spend as if they actually had the money. The deferrals have continued year after year, and today schools are receiving about 20 percent less than they should, forcing districts to borrow, dip into reserves or spend even less.

California also still owes more than $6 billion from traditional borrowing used to balance the budget under former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, along with other billions in internal borrowing and delayed payments to Medi-Cal, CalPERS and local governments for unpaid mandates, among other things.

The wall of debt does not include items such as unfunded future pension obligations, which are not borrowing used to balance the budget.

To read entire story, click here.

Bob Dutton, left. Gary Miller, right.

Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/19/2012 11:19:19 AM PST

The race for the 31st District got more interesting this week with state Sen. Bob Dutton officially tossing his hat in the ring.

Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, will face a field of contenders that includes Rep. Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar; Renea Wickman, the cofounder of a nonprofit aimed at helping juvenile offenders readjust to society; Justin Kim, an attorney from Loma Linda; and Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar.

The new 31st District seat stretches up from Rancho Cucamonga in the west through Muscoy and San Bernardino, and includes Colton, Grand Terrace and Redlands.

Dutton’s service includes two terms on the Rancho Cucamonga City Council and 10 years as a state lawmaker. In an interview on Thursday, Dutton said he hopes voters recognize that he isn’t a D.C. politician.

In a statement announcing his candidacy, Dutton said “too many Washington, D.C. politicians allow special interests to corrupt their decision making at the expense of solving local problems.”

“I don’t think people want status quo,” Dutton said.

Miller, who is a real estate developer, said he’s a natural representative for the area because of the number of projects he has in the district.

Miller said he’s also worked to provide federal help in areas of housing, water and transportation to the residents of the district. Miller, who added he will move to Rancho Cucamonga, said he’s familiar with the district because of development and real estate projects he’s overseen in the area.

“I’ve known Bob for years and he’s a friend of mine,” Miller said. “He knows I spent most of my business career in that area. I’m not a stranger at all. I have nothing negative to say about Bob. I hope we don’t go there. That’s not my goal.”

Dutton, who owns a real estate, management and investment firm in Rancho Cucamonga, said he doesn’t have active business in the area and called attention to Miller’s current dealings.

“I don’t have any real estate or investment developments in the area,” Dutton said. “Gary does, or it sounds like he does, and I think frankly, that’s a conflict of interest.”

Claremont McKenna political science professor Jack Pitney said the contest should prove expensive with two relatively well-known politicians in the race.

“Any time you have two politicians with an extensive political base going against each other in a primary, a lot of money is going to go into that campaign,” Pitney said.

To read entire story, click here.

Now that Gov. Jerry Brown has unveiled his budget proposal, it’s time for lawmakers to pull out their red pens.

The Senate Budget Committee held its first hearing Thursday, and its Assembly counterpart will do the same Tuesday. Until the governor releases an updated proposal in May, lawmakers will be poking and prodding his budget plan – and spinning it for political purposes.

With the state’s budget deficit shrinking, Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) said lawmakers can take their time reviewing Brown’s spending plan this year.

“It’s something we were not able to do given the state of emergency a year ago,” said Leno, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.

This year’s deficit is estimated to be $9.2 billion, a far cry from last year’s $26-billion gap. Senate Democrats have balked at the governor’s request for about $2 billion in cuts to welfare and medical programs.

California’s spending plan won’t be finalized until it’s approved by a majority vote in both houses of the Legislature and is signed by the governor. The deadline is June 30.

To read entire story, click here.

Thursday, January 19, 2012 – 08:05 a.m.

The latest candidate to jump into the election fray is State Senator Bob Dutton (R-Rancho Cucamonga).

After toying with the prospect of challenging Assemblyman Mike Morell, Dutton will now take on Rep. Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar) for the 31st Congressional District seat being vacated by Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands).

Miller, who sports a $2 million campaign war chest and the backing of the National Republican Congressional Committee, is the odds on favorite here.

Dutton, starts out with zero dollars and a long road to raising the needed cash to make it a horse race against Miller.

Federal law prohibits the transfer of funds from Dutton’s state senate committee to his federal committee.

So basically Dutton, a staunch republican, is mounting a name identification campaign in trying to leverage his raised profile from state budget negotiations with Governor Jerry Brown.

It likely won’t be enough.

State Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, has announced he will seek election to the 31st Congressional District.

BY JIM MILLER
SACRAMENTO BUREAU
jmiller@pe.com

Published: 18 January 2012 04:17 PM

SACRAMENTO — State Sen. Bob Dutton declared his candidacy Wednesday for the redrawn 31st Congressional District, setting up a June showdown with veteran Rep. Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar.

“I’ve lived in San Bernardino County for 37 years. People here just want their representatives to stop the partisan bickering,” Dutton, a Republican, said in a statement, adding that “too many Washington, D.C., politicians allow special interests to corrupt their decision making at the expense of solving local problems.”

To read entire story, click here.

In this early 1980s photo, Former state Sen. Ruben Ayala, wife Irene Ayala and granddaughter Sarah at the Chino Christmas Parade. (Courtesy Photo)

Canan Tasci, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/14/2012 06:07:45 AM PST

Ruben Ayala was more than just a man who served as a state senator, or a person who has had a park, school and streets named after him – he was a devoted husband, father and a person who loved his community.

Born and raised in Chino, Ayala graduated from Chino High School in 1941. After serving in the Marine Corps, he was elected to the Chino school board.

Ayala was also Chino’s first elected mayor in 1964 and was a member of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, and for more than 20 years he served as a state senator.

When Ayala was elected to the Senate in 1974, he was the first Mexican-American to serve in the chamber since 1911.

No matter where Ayala took care of business, he still had time for football games, having a meal with friends, being his son’s Little League coach and talking to anyone who walked up to him on the street.

“My parents had their 60th wedding anniversary in Mission Inn in Riverside, because that’s where they had their honeymoon. That’s old school stuff. Who amongst us is going to have a 60th wedding anniversary at the same place where they they had their honeymoon in this modern world?” said Maurice Ayala, Ruben Ayala’s middle son, of his father who married his high school sweetheart, Irene Morales Ayala.

“But that’s just the way things were with him, there was a time for everybody and a time for everything. You work hard and good fortune comes to those who put themselves in that position.”

On Jan. 4 Ruben Ayala – a staple of the community – died at the Inland Christian Home in Ontario, leaving behind years of public service and accomplishments.

He was 89 and died of natural causes.

“I thought we in the world lost a great man and an outstanding human being,” said Frank Meehan, who was Chino’s police chief from 1967 to 1975.

“He was just solid and a guy you could depend upon on that was always available.”

Ayala was a valued member of the community and received many awards to prove it.

Among them:

Amvets Award.

To read entire story, click here.

SAN BERNARDINO – State Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, teed off on a variety of issues Friday during a legislative breakfast at Shandin Hills Golf Course, but his biggest swing came at the end, when he hinted at a possible run for Congress.

“I was approached by a lot of people,” Dutton said. “I’ve been interested in it. I just didn’t think it would come up this soon. My wife has been encouraging me in that direction.”

His interest was stirred even more Thursday when Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, announced his retirement.

Should Dutton throw his hat in the ring, he may not be able to find it among the dozen or so others that have been tossed in by area politicos who have expressed interest in filling the 31st Congressional District seat.

He said he would announce his intentions next week.

In the half-hour leading up to his comments about a possible congressional run, Dutton spoke on a variety of issues, ranging from the state budget to redevelopment.

He called for reducing regulations in order to help small businesses, and asked for support in his efforts to pass legislation that would curb frivolous lawsuits related to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

To read entire story, click here.

By election guru Allan Hoffenblum’s reckoning, there could be a record number of open seats up for grabs in this year’s elections, including 33 of the 80 state Assembly posts.

Hoffenblum, a former GOP strategist who publishes the nonpartisan California Target Book that tracks congressional and legislative races, also expects there will be seven open seats in the state Senate, where 20 positions will be on the ballot, and at least nine or 10 in the state’s 53-member House delegation.

To read entire brief, click here.

U.S. Rep. Gary Miller (R-Brea)

By Frank C. Girardot, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/13/2012 09:16:01 PM PST

Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea, is moving on.

The longtime congressman has spent 13 years on Capitol Hill representing his hometown of Diamond Bar. And, those who live there know, Gary’s a fixture around town when he’s not in Washington.

In large part the state’s redistricting committee left Miller without a home. If he stayed in Diamond Bar, he’d have to go head-to-head with fellow incumbent Ed Royce, R-Orange. If he moved slightly east, he’d have to take on the dean of California Congressional Republicans, Jerry Lewis, R-Rancho Cucamonga – and possibly – Rep. David Dreier, R-San Dimas, in a GOP Battle Royale.

But then Dreier’s name started popping up as a possible Republican candidate for Senate in a race against Dianne Feinstein. And suddenly this past week, Lewis announced his plans to retire.

So Miller has announced he will run for office in Lewis’s soon to be former district.

Political analyst Scott Lay has this to say about the race in the 31st Congressional District, which stretches between the 10 and 210 freeways between Montclair and Redlands:

“As of now, it appears that Miller will need to run against State Sen. Bob Dutton (R-Rancho Cucamonga) who lives in and currently represents most of this district in the Senate, and can rightfully label Miller as a carpetbagger,” Lay wrote Friday.

“Miller, however, has a huge financial advantage, and Dutton will have to cobble together enough funds to get the message out, but should do well with local fundraising and endorsements.”

To read entire story, click here.

PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
January 12, 2012 | 5:41 pm

Republican state senators say Gov. Jerry Brown is overstating the need for new tax hikes, according to an internal analysis.

The 61-page report, which examines Brown’s proposals from a Republican perspective, said state tax revenues will bounce back without the temporary taxes the governor wants.

Brown wants voters to approve a half-cent increase in the sales tax and higher levies on wealthy residents at the ballot box this November. Without the taxes, he says, the state will cut $5.4 billion in spending, mostly from public schools.

But Republicans, who have opposed all of Brown’s efforts to raise taxes, are digging in against the governor’s proposal.

“Revenues are already growing by nearly 6% this year without increasing taxes, and are expected to grow even more rapidly in the near future,” the report said. “It is irresponsible to push for an unnecessary tax increase, and even more reckless to use schoolchildren as hostages by making education the target for his trigger cuts if voters do not approve his tax increase initiative.”

To read entire story, click here.

Thursday, January 12, 2012 – 05:30 p.m.

Whew…..

Congressman Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) has finally announced he won’t seek another term in the republican-controlled House of Representatives.

An expected move based on the congressman’s recent indecision.

The latest scuttlebutt has a race pitting Congressman Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar) against State Senator Bob Dutton (R-Rancho Cucamonga) in the June primary and Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar (D-Redlands) as the main contenders for CD-31.

It’ll be interesting to see how this seat plays out.

By Mark Gutglueck
Friday, January 6, 2012

Questions continue to dog the second highest ranking member of the county auditor-controller/treasurer-tax collector’s office with regard to the role he and a political action committee he controlled played in illegally passing through and laundering money for those convicted of or charged with participation in a bribery and extortion conspiracy.

At issue is how Matt Brown, a former member of the Republican Central Committee and the one-time chief of staff to former Second District San Bernardino County supervisor Paul Biane, has been able to avoid being criminally charged after he became entangled in a set of circumstances that led to the indictment of Biane, as well as another former member of the board of supervisors, Bill Postmus, together with the chief of staff to another supervisor, a one-time county employee union president and the businessman accused of bribing them.

Brown was moved into the position of assistant county auditor-controller in 2010 by county treasurer/auditor-controller Larry Walker. Brown is also the founder/principal of two political action committees, the San Bernardino County Young Republicans and the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association.

In 2006, Brown, who was then supervisor Biane’s senior staff member, founded a political action committee (PAC) to assist Biane and other members of Biane’s political circle in distributing money to politicians they supported. That PAC, known as the San Bernardino County Young Republicans, has been alleged by the California Attorney General’s Office and the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office to have been used as a vehicle to launder bribes and kickbacks to Biane.

During the first year of its existence, the San Bernardino County Young Republicans PAC had raised $7,500. In November 2006, Biane joined with his then-colleagues on the board of supervisors, Bill Postmus and Gary Ovitt, to approve a $102 million payout to Rancho Cucamonga-based Colonies Partners to settle a lawsuit that company had brought against the county over flood control issues at the Colonies at San Antonio residential subdivision and Colonies Crossroads commercial subdivision projects in northeast Upland. Supervisors Josie Gonzales and Dennis Hansberger opposed that settlement.

Campaign finance records show that the San Bernardino County Young Republicans PAC, received a $100,000 check from Colonies Partners, L.P. on June 17, 2007. In two separate indictments, one returned by a criminal grand jury in February 2010 against Postmus and his one time political associate Jim Erwin and in another indictment returned in May 2011 against Biane, Erwin, Colonies Partners managing principal Jeff Burum and the former chief of staff to supervisor Ovitt, Mark Kirk, it was alleged that Biane actually controlled the San Bernardino County Young Republicans PAC through Brown and that the $100,000 donation was a quid pro quo paid in exchange for Biane’s vote to approve the settlement. Also delineated in the February 2010 indictment were five unindicted co-conspirators identified as John Does 1 through 5, who are identifiable through information contained elsewhere in the public record including the superseding May 2011 indictment as Colonies Partners managing principals Burum and Dan Richards; Colonies Partners public relations consultant Patrick O’Reilly; Kirk; and Biane. According to prosecutors, Postmus controlled two political action committees, the Inland Empire PAC and the Conservatives For A Republican Majority PAC, which each received separate $50,000 donations from the Colonies Partners principals which were also bribes. Erwin’s Committee For Effective Government PAC likewise received a $100,000 donation from Burum and Richards that was a bribe, according to prosecutors; and Kirk’s Alliance For Ethical Government PAC received a $100,000 contribution from Burum and Richards that was also a bribe, per the indictment.

Postmus last March pleaded guilty to the five felonies alleged against him in the February 2010 indictment, including conspiracy, one count of accepting a bribe, one count of conflict of interest, and one count of misappropriation of funds.

Postmus in April was the star witness before the second grand jury which indicted Burum, Biane and Kirk and reindicted Erwin. Erwin, who served as assistant assessor under Postmus after the latter was elected to that post in 2006 and took office in 2007, continues to maintain his innocence on the charges stemming from that case, including conspiracy, two counts of corrupt influencing, two counts of offering a bribe, two counts of extortion, one count of misappropriation of public funds and one count of forgery. Biane, Kirk and Burum maintain their innocence. As of yet, no charges have been filed against Richards or O’Reilly.

The indictments allege that Burum in 2006, with the assistance of Erwin and O’Reilly, had brochures prepared which purported that Postmus, who was then the chairman of the board of supervisors as well as chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee and was running for county assessor, was a homosexual who was addicted to methamphetamine, and that Biane, who was then the vice chair of both the board of supervisors and the Republican Central Committee and at that time engaged in an election campaign, was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Burum’s company, the Colonies Partners, had filed a lawsuit against the county in 2002 over flood control issues at the companies Colonies at San Antonio development in northeast Upland. Ultimately, Burum withheld the mailing of those brochures. It was three weeks after the November 2006 election, in which Postmus and Biane were elected and reelected, that the board of supervisors voted 3-2 to confer the $102 million settlement on the Colonies Partners. The indictments allege that the series of $100,000 donations to the political action committees founded and controlled by Postmus, Brown, Kirk and Erwin were in fact quid pro quos — bribes — paid in exchange for the approval of the settlement. Prosecutors allege that Biane, through Brown, secretly controlled the San Bernardino County Young Republicans PAC.

The Sentinel is informed that a complaint has been filed with the state Fair Political Practices Commission citing a PAC founded by Brown in 2008, the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association, which is separate from the San Bernardino County Young Republicans PAC alluded to in the indictments. According to well placed sources, both the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association and the San Bernardino County Young Republicans PAC were involved in the activity now under further investigation.

On March 17, 2008, Brown formed the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC and named J.M. Olchawa as the PAC’s treasurer. Both Brown and Olchawa are residents of Grand Terrace. Olchawa endowed the PAC with its first operating capital in the form of a $100 contribution. Less than a month later, on April 9, the San Bernardino County Young Republicans PAC contributed $40,000, which had apparently originated with the $100,000 contribution from the Colonies Partners the previous year, to the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC. The following month, on May 29, 2008, one of the political action committees controlled by Postmus, the Inland Empire PAC, infused the San Bernardino County Taxpayers PAC with $3,000 and the month after that, on June 2, 2008, with another $2,000. That $5,000, too, had apparently been originally provided by the Colonies Partners.

In the less than two month period between the $40,000 contribution from Brown’s own Young Republicans PAC on April 9 and Postmus’ Inland Empire PAC’s $2,000 donation on June 2, the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC received a substantial amount of money in the form of both contributions and loans, all from other political figures. On April 25, 2008, the Committee to Elect Paul Biane gave the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC a $15,000 contribution. On April 29, 2008 the Committee to Elect Dick Larsen provided the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC with a $10,000 loan. Larsen was then the county treasurer. On May 5, 2008 the Committee to Elect Gary C. Ovitt made a $15,000 contribution to Brown’s San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC. That money may have originated with the Colonies Partners before being provided to Kirk’s Alliance For Ethical Government PAC and then being provided to Ovitt. On May 9, 2008, the Josie Gonzales for Supervisor campaign provided a $15,000 contribution to the San Bernardino County Taxpayers PAC. On May 16, 2008, Bill Emmerson for Assembly 2008 made a $5,000 contribution to Brown’s recently formed PAC. The same day, the San Bernardino Public Employees Association PAC provided Brown’s PAC with a $10,000 contribution. On May 23, 2008, the Committee to Elect Gary C. Ovitt provided Brown’s PAC with a $10,000 loan. On May 27, 2008, the Hansberger for Supervisor Committee made a $25,000 contribution to the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC. The next day, May 28, the Paul Cook for Assembly 2008 Committee provided Brown’s PAC with a $5,000 loan. The same day, the Committee to Elect Paul Biane

made a $10,000 loan to Brown’s PAC. On May 29, Bill Emmerson for Assembly 2008 made a $5,000 contribution to the PAC and on June 2, 2008, the Hansberger for Supervisor Committee made a $15,000 contribution to the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC.

The lion’s share of the money Brown’s PAC took in was used to fund Hansberger’s effort to be reelected as county Third District supervisor that year. According to campaign disclosure documents, the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC on May 18 provided the Hansberger for Supervisor Committee with $57,030.70 and on June 30, 2008, more than three weeks after Hansberger had lost the election to Neil Derry on June 3, Brown’s PAC gave the Hansberger for Supervisor Committee $100,920.29.

The Fair Political Practices Commission is now investigating the lack of any subsequent accounting for the $35, 000.00 in loans made to the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC by the Larsen, Ovitt, Cook and Biane campaign committees. All references to those loans disappeared from subsequent campaign filing statements made on behalf of the PAC by Olchawa. The loans in question appear to be outstanding. No explicit reference to repayments to any of the lending parties can be found in any of the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC’s financial disclosure statements. While the online filing made by the Committee to Elect Gary Ovitt shows an outstanding loan of $10,000 to the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC committee as of 12/31/2010, online filings for the other lending parties were not immediately available. There is no indication in any available documentation showing any of the loans were repaid.

The lack of repayment, and lack of accounting of the still existent outstanding loans or failure to note the loans were forgiven is alleged to be multiple violations of the Political Reform Act. Moreover, the lack of notation of the loans might suggest that the funds received by the committee during the 2008 electioneering season from the Larsen, Cook and Biane campaigns were being laundered for Hansberger, according to the complaint received by the FPPC.

Another issue in the complaint and the follow-up FPPC investigation is the connection between the PAC and the Hansberger Campaign, which contributed money to the PAC and was also the major beneficiary of the PAC’s expenditures. In this way, money provided to Brown’s PAC is suspected of having been used to attack Derry without adequate disclosure of the origin of that money. Those mailers sent out attacking Derry did not disclose that Hansberger’s campaign was involved in funding them.

Many familiar with Brown’s role in the Colonies matter have questioned why prosecutors did not seek and obtain from the grand jury an indictment of Brown. The indictment itself describes how the political action committee he founded and controlled served as a laundering vehicle through which bribes allegedly provided by Burum were passed, action virtually indistinguishable from that engaged in by the indicted Kirk, another chief of staff to a board member who voted to approve the Colonies settlement.

Brown was one of 45 witnesses who testified before the grand jury this spring before it handed down the indictment naming Burum, Biane, Kirk and Erwin. In that testimony Brown said SEBA, the sheriff’s deputies union that Erwin once headed, had promised to provide, but then failed to come through with, backing for a countywide measure Biane was sponsoring in 2006 to boost the pay for county supervisors. An examination of campaign reporting documents and other material, however, indicates that SEBA in fact did support the Biane-backed proposal, known as Measure P, which passed, resulting in an immediate $22,000 annual increase to supervisors’ salaries. Prosecutors declined to say whether Brown’s misstatement of fact before the grand jury constituted perjury. No charges have been filed against him.

A possible explanation of how it is that Brown has avoided prosecution on several counts is that he has been working as an informant for the district attorney’s office. It is known that beginning in 2009, Brown began wearing a “wire,” that is, a hidden electronic audio device at work while he was serving in the capacity of Biane’s chief of staff. Reportedly, the target of this effort was Biane himself. To date, no incriminating statements by Biane on any of those tapes have surfaced or been produced by the prosecution, despite requests by defense attorneys for their production. Transcripts of some of those conversations have been turned over to defense attorneys.

At some point in the spring of 2010, Biane became aware that his chief-of-staff was seeking to entrap him. There ensued strained relations between the two and Brown was put on paid leave after he filed a claim in which he alleged he was being harassed. Brown was then transferred to the county treasurer/auditor-controller office under Larry Walker.

Walker installed Brown as his second-in-command, i.e. as the assistant auditor-controller. In so doing, Walker ousted his longtime assistant and close associate Betsy Starbuck, who was ignominiously sacked after having served more than twenty years as Walker’s right hand woman, both when Walker was Fourth District supervisor, the position he held before he ran for auditor-controller, and as auditor controller.

The displacement of Starbuck, who after more than eight years in the position of assistant auditor-controller practically ran the division, to accommodate the inexperienced Brown has sparked a widespread belief in the halls of the county that the move was imposed on Walker by county chief executive officer Greg Devereaux and district attorney Mike Ramos as part of an effort to protect a witness seen as crucial to the prosecution of the Colonies settlement criminal case. Collectively and individually, Walker, Brown, Devereaux and Ramos were unwilling to comment on the matter.

A Republican group backing a referendum challenging newly drawn state Senate districts believes they have inched closer to qualifying just days before the California Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether it should intervene.

A sampling of the 709,000 signatures collected by Fairness and Accountability in Redistricting projects that 490,357 are valid, according to the secretary of state’s website on Friday.

That’s roughly 14,000 shy of the threshold to qualify the referendum once the verified signatures are tallied. The latest count doesn’t include sample results from 13 counties that still need to report their numbers to the secretary of state’s office by Tuesday, when the court will hear arguments.

To read entire story, click here.

California’s top Senate Democrat today shut the door on Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget proposal to make deep cuts to social services programs in the first few months of the year.

The January spending plan unveiled by Brown today includes nearly $1.4 billion in cuts to the state’s welfare-to-work and subsidized child care programs. The Democratic governor called on lawmakers to approve those cuts in March to maximize savings.

But Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, echoing comments made Wednesday, said he wants to hold off on further spending reductions in hopes that the state will see an uptick in revenues this spring.

“Why would we make cuts that are going to harm people and harm the economy in March when in fact in May there’s a real not just possibility, but if the trend continues, a probability that the deficit number is going to be less,” the Sacramento Democrat told reporters, pointing to improvement in a revenue forecast made in December.

Brown’s plan relies on a mix of roughly $4.2 billion in cuts and the passage of a $6.9 million tax measure he is seeking to qualify for the November ballot in order to close what he estimated to be a $9.2 billion budget deficit through June 2013. He proposed deeper cuts to K-12 and higher education if that measure fails.

Steinberg emphasized that the plan Brown unveiled today is just the first draft of a 2012-2013 spending plan.

“It’s a January budget, and a … June 15 budget, by definition, historically looks nothing like a January budget,” he said.

Steinberg characterized Brown’s call for additional cuts if voters fail to approve his tax measure in November as a “sound” approach but signaled that the Legislature might look at other areas for those spending reductions.

To read entire story, click here.

Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
Published: Friday, Jan. 6, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

The state Constitution requires governors to unveil their proposed budgets for the next fiscal year by Jan. 10.

Jerry Brown’s 2012-13 proposal was hastily released Thursday, five days before its scheduled delivery, after it inadvertently found its way onto a state website.

“This is an honest budget that got started a little earlier than expected,” Brown told reporters at an afternoon briefing that caught many legislators by surprise. He later described it as “based on my experience … the best I can put together.”

And that may be true, but it’s not a complete fiscal plan for the state, as Brown indirectly acknowledged, and it probably bears only passing resemblance to what will actually happen during the fiscal year that begins on July 1.

For one thing, it assumes that the Legislature will act quickly on billions of dollars in spending cuts, especially in health and welfare services, to begin chipping away at the projected deficit, but the leader of the state Senate, Darrell Steinberg, quickly rejected early action.

“The cuts are premature,” Steinberg declared, adding, “I have a quarrel with up-front cuts in early 2012.”

But an even bigger uncertainty is Brown’s budget assumption that voters will pass a $7 billion per year increase in sales and income taxes next November, more than $4 billion of which would be received during the fiscal year – backed by “trigger” spending cuts, mostly in education, that would occur automatically if voters say “no.”

If that sounds familiar, it’s because the 2011-12 budget that was passed last June also contained spending cut triggers to be pulled if rosy revenue estimates fell short. Some triggers were pulled last month.

To read entire story, click here.

Behind the legislative record of newly chosen Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff is a host of special interests that have funded his campaigns and given him expensive gifts.

Last year, for example, the California Dental Association spent $124 to send Huff to a Josh Groban concert, the day after giving him a $1,700 donation. AT&T, meanwhile, gave Huff a ticket to see Eric Clapton last March, and PG&E spent $146 on dinner for him at Morton’s steakhouse in Sacramento, according to lobbying records. Huff attended these events with other legislators.

Huff, who represents parts of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties, served in the state Assembly from 2004 until 2008, when he was elected to the Senate. Along the way, his biggest campaign contributors were a developer for whom his wife has worked, a casino-owning Indian tribe and the tobacco company formerly known as Philip Morris, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

Huff, who touts his pro-business stance, had a perfect record in 2011 of voting in agreement with the California Chamber of Commerce.

Huff did not respond to requests for comment.

After being elected Senate Republican leader by his colleagues this week, Huff told reporters that he would strive to “get people back to work.”

“We believe a smaller government is a more responsive government,” he said. “And we believe energizing the private sector to create jobs actually pays for the revenues to support the services we want.”

Republicans and Democrats alike commonly accept gifts like concert tickets and fancy dinners from special interests. The dental association, for example, also gave the gift of Groban’s silky voice to Republican Sen. Bill Emmerson and Democratic Assembly members Ben Hueso, Betsy Butler, Marty Block and Rich Gordon.

The dental association also gave Huff $14,300 in campaign contributions over the years. The association’s donations are given to “elected officials who show a level of interest in oral health care issues and are interested in our perspective on those issues,” said spokeswoman Cathy Mudge.

Members of Huff’s staff also received gifts last year, including $238 in concert tickets and suite expenses at Power Balance Pavilion from oil company BP America.

To read entire story, click here.

Former state Sen. Ruben S. Ayala.

BY DUANE W. GANG
STAFF WRITER
dgang@pe.com

Published: 05 January 2012 01:38 PM

Former Democratic state Sen. Ruben S. Ayala, author of the Peripheral Canal bill who for two decades represented parts of San Bernardino County in the Legislature and was the first Latino mayor of Chino, died Wednesday. He was 89.

Assemblywoman Norma Torres, who represents the Chino area, announced the death in a statement Thursday.

“My heart and prayers go out to the Ayala family for their loss,” Torres said in a statement. “He was proud of our community. He was the first Latino elected mayor for the city of Chino. There are no words that can describe my admiration for his work. A veteran of the United States Marine Corps and an author, his dedication inspired all of us to do more and contribute to society.

To read entire story, click here.

Huff

By Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Created: 01/04/2012 06:30:30 PM PST

The state Senate Republican Caucus on Wednesday unanimously selected Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, to lead state Senate Republicans in 2012.

Huff, who represents parts of San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange counties, was selected to replace state Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, as the state Senate Republican Leader.

“I’d like to thank my Senate Republican colleagues for their unwavering support and look forward to working with Majority Leader Darrell Steinberg and the governor on the state budget and other issues facing California,” Huff said in a news release.

“The governor has indicated that he will work with Republicans when possible and Senate Republicans are open to compromise and crafting true, bipartisan solutions.”

To read entire story, click here.

Lawmakers returned to Sacramento with a bang Wednesday, kicking off 2012 with a flurry of new bills, a leadership transition and no shortage of drama involving members’ personal troubles.

While tackling a projected budget deficit of roughly $12 billion over the next 18 months will be a top priority, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg predicted that members would take action on a long list of issues during the second year of the two-year session, including public employee pensions, the state’s high-speed rail project and an $11 billion water bond slated for the November ballot.

The Sacramento Democrat said he felt the three-month recess, the first full break of its kind in years, had given members the energy and focus to “get off to a fast start.”

For Senate Republicans, the new year means a new leader. The caucus met in the afternoon to elect Diamond Bar Republican Bob Huff as GOP leader, the successor to Sen. Bob Dutton, who is termed out and running for the Assembly this year. Huff, of Diamond Bar, served as vice chair of the Senate Budget Committee last year.

To read entire story, click here.

PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
January 4, 2012 | 1:23 pm

State Sen. Sharon Runner (R-Lancaster) said Wednesday she will be working indefinitely away from her office as she awaits a lung transplant because of complications from an autoimmune condition.

Runner, 57, announced in 2008 that she had been diagnosed with limited scleroderma, in which the body’s immune system attacks the healthy connective tissue. But she had remained healthy enough to previously have been taken off a transplant list, win election to the state Senate last year to a seat previously held by her husband, and serve in office. She said Wednesday she is back on the list for surgery.

“After several lung infections, the doctors have put me on the lung transplant list,” Runner said in a statement. “Because I am susceptible to infections, I will be working away from the office for the time being.”

To read entire story, click here.

Morrell

By PE Politics
January 3, 2012 8:56 AM

Assemblyman Mike Morrell ended 2011 with a $67,000 ball-drop into his 2012 re-election campaign, records show.

The Rancho Cucamonga Republican is looking at a tough race against state Sen. Bob Dutton, a fellow Rancho Cucamonga Republican, in the redrawn 40th Assembly District. Dutton is termed out of the Senate but can serve two more terms in the Assembly.

To read entire brief, click here.

By Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Created: 01/02/2012 03:10:55 PM PST

The California Supreme Court will hear arguments on Jan. 10 about redistricting lines that will be used in 2012′s state Senate elections.

A Republican group had asked the California Supreme Court on Dec. 2 to shelve the newly drawn state Senate district map, even though the court previously declined to take up such a challenge.

The petition was filed recently by a group called Fairness and Accountability in Redistricting.

The group has submitted more than 711,000 signatures for a referendum to stop the new electoral map from being used in next year’s election.

FAIR wants the high court to prepare for the referendum by either using the previous Senate district map or combining two new Assembly districts for every Senate seat for the 2012 election.

The petition also asks for a special master on redistricting.

The referendum signatures that were submitted to counties in November are now being verified. The effort needs about 500,000 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.

“Because we filed well over 700,000 signatures, we are able to ask the court to consider interim remedies when the referendum qualifies and to stay the use of the Redistricting Commission’s Senate maps for the 2012 elections,” said state Sen. Mimi Walters, R-Laguna Beach, who is spearheading the effort.

Voters tasked a citizen-led redistricting commission to draw new legislative and congressional districts in response to concerns of gerrymandering by lawmakers that preserved districts for incumbents and their parties.

But opponents of the new Senate districts say redistricting could hurt local influence in Sacramento.

“We believe that the lines the commission drew for the state Senate did not follow the criteria in the (state) Constitution for compactness or for respecting city and county borders,” said Dave Gilliard, a spokesman for the FAIR referendum group.

To read entire story, click here.

By Jim Sanders
jsanders@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012 – 7:03 am

Happy new year, lawmakers?

Don’t bet on it.

The California Legislature will reconvene Wednesday amid a flood of red ink, a long history of partisan bickering, and a coming statewide election using newly drawn districts and a new way of choosing the top two candidates for legislative seats.

Key issues ranging from public employee pension changes to whether the state should regulate health-care insurance rates remain from last year, but political insecurity and fiscal instability are likely to make lawmakers reluctant to cast controversial votes, analysts say.

“I think they’ll be more interested in filling up their campaign accounts than filling up the law books,” said Jack Pitney, a government professor at Claremont McKenna College.

Political science professor Larry Gerston of San Jose State University agreed, saying, “It’s hard to imagine there will be meaningful legislation (passed).”

Not true, say the two Democratic leaders – Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez of Los Angeles and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento.

Past votes can be used against incumbents as easily as current votes can, so there is nothing particularly chilling about this election year, Steinberg said.

“What you’ve seen over the last year is an ability for the governor and the Legislature to come together and make very tough decisions – and I think you’re going to see more of the same,” said Pérez.

For the first time ever, legislators will run this year in districts drawn by a 14-member citizens commission rather than by lawmakers. New maps have forced dozens of incumbents to move into neighboring districts or butt heads with colleagues in 2012 balloting.

Political prospects are made murkier by implementation of the state’s new “top-two” system for primary elections. Voters can cast ballots for any candidate who’s running, and the top two finishers – regardless of party – will square off in a general election.

Overshadowing everything at the Capitol, however, is the state’s projected budget deficit of about $12 billion through June 2013.

With Republicans adamant against raising taxes, legislative Democrats and Gov. Jerry Brown want voters to decide on the November ballot whether to dig deeper into their pockets for education and state services.

Pérez and Steinberg say they’re open to GOP budget ideas but are prepared to adopt a spending plan with only Democratic votes rather than spend months wooing Republicans.

“My view is you always have an open door and outstretched hand, but I don’t think we do anything as our main strategy that requires a two-thirds vote,” Steinberg said. “We’re gone down that path far too many times.”

Election-year gridlock could be a good thing in a state that needs fewer laws and more economic stability, Republicans say.

To read entire story, click here.