Saturday, May 19, 2012 – 11:00 a.m.

USPS delivery of campaign mail improves

Something must have happened at the USPS earlier this week.

The delivery of campaign mail changed from roughly five to six days to a much improved time frame of two to three days.

Hotly contested congressional races likely caused the change in mindset.

Facebook IPO not so hot after all

The long awaited initial stock offering of Facebook was a flop Friday. The shares had to be support by the offerings underwriters to keep the price from falling below the initial sale price of $38.

The weak reception is not a good sign for markets going forward.

Some candidates mustering up campaign mail in CD 8

8th Congressional District candidates Phil Liberatore, Brad Mitzelfelt, Ryan McEachron and Paul Cook have managed to get out campaign mail in the race to head to Washington D.C.

Nothing from the remainder of the vast field of candidates.

Cook might want to have a word with his consultant though.

His mail is being addressed to individual voters instead of households. A much costlier approach.

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (AP Photo/The Wilmington News-Journal, Suchat Pederson)

BY BEN GOAD
WASHINGTON BUREAU
bgoad@pe.com

Published: 17 May 2012 01:23 PM

Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney is planning a fundraising stop in Riverside next month, according to Republicans close to the campaign.

The former Massachusetts governor has penciled in an event on the afternoon of June 1 at the Victoria Club, though details about the event or his visit have not yet been finalized. Romney’s campaign has not publicly announced a California trip.

To read entire story, click here.

Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 05/11/2012 05:23:52 PM PDT

An estimated 93,000 Californians lost unemployment benefits as of today when the federal government cut off funding that allowed the state to provide extended aid to the jobless since 2009.

California’s unemployment is still in the double digits – 11 percent – but even that rate is not high enough to meet the threshold for Washington to continue financing extended unemployment aid.

The federal government had provided a financial boost to California’s unemployment insurance program since March 2009. Federal dollars made it possible for jobless Californians to receive unemployment aid for up to 99 weeks, a much longer period than the previous 26-week time frame.

As of March, some 726,000 Californians, roughly 35 percent of the state’s unemployed, have been without work for at least one year.

The Inland Empire’s long-term unemployed include people like Daniel Wineberg, 58, of Rancho Cucamonga. Wineberg has been out of work since September 2010.

Wineberg receives $382 in unemployment benefits every two weeks and will be able claim benefits for only another month or two, he said while browsing for jobs at the Employment Resource Center in Rancho Cucamonga.

The job seeker worked as a security guard before losing his job. He was then studying appliance repair but has yet to find work in that or a related field.

“It (job searching) hasn’t been too good at this point,” he said. “At the time I went to school for that field, it was wide open, but now it’s starting to shrink.”

As benefits expire, Inland Empire officials said they are advising the region’s long-term unemployed to join job-hunting classes or apply for welfare benefits.

Many people enduring lengthy periods of unemployment have fallen behind on job hunting skills, said Tony Gomez, manager of the San Bernardino County Workforce Investment Board’s job center in Rancho Cucamonga.

That’s why, he said, he is advising people losing jobless benefits to attend the job center’s workshops teaching resume writing, networking and other skills.

“A lot of these people – you know what? – they’re resumes are outdated. They don’t know how to interview,” Gomez said.

To read entire story, click here.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s re-election campaign can’t approach donors who already contributed the maximum amount permitted by law in order to replace roughly $4.5 million that was siphoned from its accounts in an embezzlement scheme — at least for the time being.

The Federal Election Commission today failed to approve either of two draft proposals that it had circulated on the matter. Commissioners asked their general counsel to come up with a new draft that covers the areas of consensus between the two groups.

Lawyers for the Feinstein for Senate campaign had argued before the commission last month that barring the California Democrat’s constituents from writing new checks would trample on their rights because their original contributions were not used for their intended purposes.

“Donors have a constitutional right to associate with and support a candidate of their choice. … That right has [currently] been extinguished by a criminal act of the treasurer,” attorney Marc Elias of Perkins Coie told the commissioners during an April meeting.

To read entire story, click here.

By Kathleen Hennessey and Christi Parsons, Washington Bureau
May 9, 2012, 6:03 p.m.

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s decision to endorse same-sex marriage staked out a stance that carries uncertain political risks but one he said was rooted in the biblical admonition “to treat others the way you would want to be treated.”

Obama’s endorsement Wednesday, a milestone for the gay rights movement, was the first from a sitting president and a potentially powerful tail wind for a cause still struggling for electoral approval. It comes as the country remains divided over whether same-sex marriages should have the same recognition and legal standing as traditional ones, and six months before an election expected to be so tight it may hinge on small slices of votes in a handful of key states.

He equivocated for more than a year, saying that his position was “evolving.” More recently, he came under considerable pressure — from his somewhat deflated base and a powerful network of gay donors — to speak his mind before the November election. His announcement was hastened by a similar declaration from Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday, which prompted calls for Obama to speak out or risk falling behind the curve.

“At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama told ABC News’ Robin Roberts in an interview hastily arranged by the White House to quiet the fallout from the Biden remarks.

Obama told the”Good Morning America”anchor that he arrived at the decision by talking to gay friends, staff members, his two daughters and his wife, who he said shared his support. His Christian faith and the golden rule factored in. “In the end, the values that I care most deeply about and she cares most deeply about is how we treat other people,” Obama said.

Obama had cited religion in opposing same-sex marriages as he campaigned for president, but in December 2010 declared his position was evolving. That position was widely viewed as a wink and a nod to supporters of gay rights, who believed the president was withholding a public declaration of support out of concerns about alienating some key voters.

Nationally, a slim majority of voters favors gay marriages, according to most polls — a majority that has been increasing because of shifting attitudes among young people and middle-class voters. Still, religious, African American, Latino and older voters remain more likely to express opposition, and 38 states have adopted prohibitions of same-sex marriage, according the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Some Democrats contend that the voters most strongly opposed are unlikely to vote for Obama anyway, adding gay marriage, like abortion, to the list of social issues dividing partisans.

But the president’s announcement is likely to hurt him in the South, where 1 in 3 swing voters strongly opposes gay marriage, a recent Pew Research Center poll found. Just this week, North Carolina, which Obama narrowly won in 2008, approved one of the strongest bans on same-sex unions in the country. The state increasingly appears out of reach for Obama this year.

More crucial to his reelection chances will be the impact in Virginia, where a recent survey showed him with a slight lead over Mitt Romney. Polls in the state show the electorate nearly evenly divided. There’s also a danger of turning off some religious voters, such as white Protestants in the Rust Belt or Catholic Latinos. On the other hand, young voters and strong supporters of gay marriage may be energized.

White House aides believe there’s no way to predict the “crosscurrents,” said a senior administration official who, like others, requested anonymity to be able to discuss internal deliberations.

But Obama’s decision is unleashing a wave of financial support from gay and lesbian donors and is likely to heighten demand for tickets to a June 6 LGBT fundraising gala in Los Angeles featuring the singer Pink.

“Within minutes, people were calling with their credit cards. They’re thrilled,” said Andrew Tobias, treasurer of the Democratic National Committee and a top fundraising bundler for Obama. He said one donor pledged $10,000 and decided to fly with his partner from Los Angeles to attend an Obama fundraiser in New York on Monday.

The president’s campaign was quick to capitalize on his decision, sending an email to supporters asking for donations.

On Wednesday, Republican nominee Romney emphasized his consistency on the issue in response to Obama’s changed position.

“I have the same view that I’ve had since running for office,” he said in reaction to the president’s statement. Romney was a staunch advocate of gay rights when he was running for governor of Massachusetts in 2002. But he never endorsed same-sex marriage and later became an outspoken leader of the drive to ban it after a court legalized the practice in Massachusetts.

To read entire story, click here.

Monday, May 7, 2012 – 10:30 a.m.

Former Massachusetts Governor and apparent Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney is displaying strength in three newly-released polls this morning.

A Politico/George Washington University/Battleground Poll gives Romney a 48%-47% lead over President Barack Obama.

Rasmussen Tracking gives Romney a 47%-45% lead.

And Gallup Tracking shows Romney with a 46%-45% edge.

This is the first time a series of polls has given Romney an ever-so-slight edge.

Two older polls by Democracy Corps and Fox News show both Romney and Obama tied at 47% and 46% respectively.

It should be noted that Romney has opened up a double-digit lead with independents.

Sunday, May 6, 2012 – 10:30 a.m

Ramos struggles through final candidate forum.

Former San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Chairman and San Bernardino County Board of Supe’s candidate James Ramos showed up for the final candidate forum held at Copper Mountain College on Friday night.

Nothing changed.

The conversation was basically between County Supervisor Neil Derry and Former TwentyNine Palms City Councilman and Defense Department employee Jim Bagley.

With all due respect, the can’t we all get along and come together answer to every question is getting old for Ramos.

A county supervisor can’t function by way of reading from a notepad.

To get a flavor for Ramos’ command of the issues, click this link and select county supervisor forum: http://www.channel6bigbear.com .

The link is to a candidate forum sponsored by the Big Bear Democratic Club.

Last week, Ramos ditched a, previously committed to, live on-the-air event on KBHR-FM 93.3.

The key words in the last sentence being on-the-air.

Derry and Bagley did show up.

House of cards about to fall for San Bernardino

The financial house of cards is about to fall for the city of San Bernardino.

That is, now that the piggy bank known as redevelopment money has been turned off.

For years, San Bernardino has been using its economic and redevelopment agencies to augment its general fund operations.

Now that the music has stopped, it’ll be interesting to see just how much the California Department of Finance forces the city to repay.

Expect the city to start leveraging it’s city-owned water department and discuss converting its refuse operation into a franchise.

Three tax measures likely headed to California ballot in November

It looks like three differing tax propositions will be headed to the November ballot in California.

With three measures to consider, voters will likely reject them all.

The measure backed by Governor Jerry Brown, at this point, is polling in the low 50% range.

National debt finally exceeds Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The U.S. debt is now 101% of the country’s total annual output of goods and services.

As the number climbs the likelihood of a debt default increases.

Expect the percentage to accelerate as deficit spending continues unchecked.

Keep in mind this is the U.S. national debt and does not include state and municipal obligations.

By Robin Harding in Washington and Michael Mackenzie in New York
Last updated: May 4, 2012 8:32 pm

Weaker-than-expected US jobs growth hit financial markets and cast a shadow over President Barack Obama’s plans for a formal launch of his re-election campaign this weekend.

US crude oil prices fell more than $4 a barrel and were trading below $100 for the first time since early February after data showed the economy added only 115,000 jobs in April compared with expectations of 162,000. The S&P 500 dropped as much as 1.5 per cent while yields on US and German 10-year government bonds fell.

Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at Interactive Investor, said: “The penny has dropped with investors that the US recovery is not strong enough to lead the world out of the mire.”

Mr Obama will mark the official start of his campaign with rallies in the crucial swing states of Virginia and Ohio as his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, demanded: “Where are the jobs?”

Although disappointing, economists said the April payrolls number was not weak enough to prompt fears of a serious slowdown in the world’s largest economy. But it underscored the challenge for Mr Obama in defending an economic record that has seen a slow recovery from US’s deepest postwar recession.

The unemployment rate fell from 8.2 to 8.1 per cent but that was more a sign of economic weakness than strength as it was driven by people leaving the labour force. The proportion of Americans either working or looking for work fell to its lowest level since 1981.

The jobs report suggested the economy continued to plod slowly forward, rather than sliding back towards recession, economists said. Jobs figures for March and February were revised upward by 53,000. Adding those to April’s 115,000 produced a total very close to market expectations.

To read entire story, click here.

Friday, May 4, 2012 – 08:15 a.m.

The U.S. economy continued to decelerate in April, with just 115,000 jobs created.

The average estimate by economists was for April job creation of 160,000.

The March number was 154,000.

Labor market participation is at a 31 year low, with more than 29.7 million people unemployed.

Interestingly, once again, the actual unemployment rate fell from 8.2% to 8.1%.

The reason for the drop?

The Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, reduced the number of people in the workforce actively seeking employment, thus forcing the rate downward.

Keep in mind 88 million people are not looking for jobs.

And a record number are currently receiving food stamps and social security disability benefits

Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Created: 05/03/2012 08:54:13 AM PDT

Anthony Orlando Sanchez pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Riverside, admitting to conspiracy to commit bribery.

Sanchez, 36, was charged with acting as a conduit between an Upland business and former Mayor John Pomierski. Pomierski pleaded guilty last week in the bribery case.

Two other counts against Sanchez will be dropped when he is sentenced Aug. 13 in federal court.

Sanchez has been in custody since January, after he returned from a year abroad. He fled to Honduras in January 2011. A warrant was issued for his arrest in March 2011.

Sanchez will be released upon payment of a $150,000 bond, $100,000 of which is required to be secured by deeding property to the court.

“When he’s released, he will be on home detention with electronic monitoring and then that will basically wrap the case up for everyone now until sentencing,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Behnke said.

To read entire story, click here.

April 27, 2012, 9:35 p.m.

Palm Desert National Bank was seized by regulators Friday and sold to Pacific Premier Bank of Costa Mesa, which promised to be open for business as usual Monday.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said depositors of the one-branch bank would be unaffected because Pacific Premier agreed to take all $123 million in Palm Desert deposits.

Pacific Premier President Stephen Gardner said customers of the Palm Desert bank “will continue to conduct business as normal with the employees with whom they have built a solid long-term relationship.”

Pomierski

Thursday, April 26, 2012 – 11:45 a.m.

Former Upland Mayor John “J.P.” Pomierski entered into a plea agreement before Federal Judge Virginia Philips in U.S. District Court in Riverside on Thursday morning.

The plea agreement stems from charges related to influence peddling.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, the agreement will obligate Pomierski to likely serve 27 to 33 months in-custody.

To read the agreement click here: Pomierski Plea Agreement

By Marc Lifsher
April 23, 2012, 1:10 p.m.

SACRAMENTO — Federal securities regulators sued a former chief executive and a former director of the country’s largest public pension fund, accusing them of scheming to defraud an investment firm of more than $20 million in fees.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed the lawsuit Monday against the former CEO, Federico Buenrostro Jr., and the former CalPERS board member, Alfred J.R. Villalobos, alleging that they fabricated documents provided to Apollo Global Management in New York.

The documents were the basis used by Villalobos and his companies, ARVCO Capital Research and ARVCO Financial Venturues of Zephyr Cove, Nev., to bill Apollo for placement fees.

Villalobos was paid the fees for helping Apollo win multibillion-dollar contracts to invest money on behalf of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.

The alleged phony documents were patched together to comply with requests from Apollo lawyers that Villalobos provide them with proof that the fees had been approved by CalPERS investment staff.

To read entire story, click here.

Council also to view changes to agenda policy
April 17, 2012 8:54 AM
From Staff Reports

VICTORVILLE • The two-year Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, twice-delayed water service hikes and proposed changes to a controversial policy about how issues end up on the agenda to begin with are all before the Victorville City Council Tuesday night.

During the closed session meeting starting at 5 p.m., before the regular session, the council will discuss the ongoing SEC investigation. The agency has been looking into Victorville’s bond expenditures since summer 2010, recently issuing a new subpoena and conducting interviews with city staff and officials.

During the regular session, city staff is recommending an increase in charges related to water service. Proposals include raising meter installation fees by 4 percent to 14 percent and raising administrative fees for such things as service calls or returned payments by $1 or $2 each.

The proposed hikes have been on the agenda twice already but were continued both times.

Councilman Mike Rothschild asked that the group reconsider a policy that requires a council majority to agendize issues for discussion or vote, with Rothschild asking that they make an exception for the mayor.

The controversial policy was approved in January 2011, after Councilwoman Angela Valles stepped into office and began requesting to agendize a slew of issues she had with the way the city was being run.

A split council voted to officially approve a policy drafted on the spot during the previous meeting that requires a majority vote for any one council member to get an item agendized for future discussion.

Valles and two residents spoke against the move. They argued each elected official should be able to discuss items brought to their attention by constituents.

Councilman Jim Kennedy responded that America was founded on a “majority rules” concept. He said it protects any one person from being able to dictate the city agenda, with the rest of the council insisting it was nothing personal against Valles.

At the April 3 meeting, Rothschild asked to allow the mayor — currently Ryan McEachron — to add items to the agenda without receiving support from the majority of the City Council.

These issues are up for discussion during the meeting that starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Victorville City Hall at 14343 Civic Drive. The full agenda and live streaming video are available at the city’s website, www.ci.victorville.ca.us.

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Pomierski

Tuesday, April 17, 2012 – 10:55 a.m.

Is there a plea deal in the long-running Upland corruption case against former Upland Mayor John “J.P.” Pomierski?

The answer is likely yes according to well-placed sources close to the situation.

Plea agreements between the U.S. Government and Pomierski and co-defendants John Hennes and Anthony Orlando Sanchez may be announced as early as next week.

All three men are facing corruption charges involving influence peddling and bribery.

The agreements, if finalized, will bring the case to completion.

Developing….

By PE Politics
April 12, 2012 9:54 AM

Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar, one of six candidates vying to represent California’s 31st Congressional District, raked in more than $200,000 over the last three months, his campaign announced this morning.

First quarter campaign finance reports are not due to the Federal Election Commission until Saturday, but Aguilar, a Democrat, apparently wants to send a message with his first filing since entering the race in January.

To read entire brief, click here.

L.A. NOW
Southern California — this just in
April 6, 2012 | 5:57 pm

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko, who toured the shuttered San Onofre nuclear plant Friday, assured reporters that the plant would not restart until officials understand the root cause of the cause of systems failures that forced the plant’s closure.

Jaczko made a trip, accompanied by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), to tour the plant and talk to Edison officials about the unexpected wear in steam generator tubes that carry radioactive water in the plant’s two working reactor units.

The steam generators at both of the plant’s reactor units were installed within the last two years, at a cost of $671 million.

“The issue of the steam generators is a very serious issue, we take it seriously, and after some very frank discussions today, I can say that Southern California Edison takes it seriously, too,” Jaczko told reporters.

The plant has been out of commission since a tube in the Unit 3 reactor, where the steam generators were installed about a year ago, sprung a leak and released a small amount of radioactive steam. Since then, Edison, the plant’s operator, has found unexpected wear in more tubes at both of the reactor units, and eight tubes in the Unit 3 reactor have failed pressure tests.

The tubes in Unit 2, which was already offline for planned maintenance when the issues were discovered, also showed wear, and 192 were taken out of service.

Jaczko called the wear, particularly in Unit 3, highly unusual for such new equipment.

“It’s certainly a very unique phenomenon, and particularly in Unit 3,” he said.

To read entire story, click here.

Employers nationwide added 120,000 new positions in March, only about half the jobs growth in each of the prior three months.

By Don Lee and Kathleen Hennessey, Los Angeles Times
April 7, 2012

WASHINGTON — Job growth slowed sharply last month, raising fresh questions about the strength of the recovery and complicating, for the moment, President Obama’s ability to run for reelection on the wave of a resurgent economy.

Employers nationwide added a modest 120,000 new positions in March, only about half the job gains in each of the previous three months, the Labor Department reported Friday. Some of the falloff, analysts said, reflected the fact that payrolls had been inflated in the winter because of unusually mild weather.

But the magnitude of the deceleration came as a disappointment to analysts, investors and politicians — and gave rise to the distinct possibility that hiring in the next few months could be relatively tepid.

“It raises the specter, ‘Are we back to where we’re just hanging on again?’” said Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank in Washington.

The nation’s jobless rate dipped to 8.2% last month from 8.3% in February, but economists said the decline reflected workers’ dropping out of the labor force rather than a strengthening economy. Last month, the labor force shrank by 164,000, with the decrease attributable to female workers.

The falling percentage takes Obama closer to an unemployment rate of 8% — an important political marker. Republicans, including likely November opponent Mitt Romney, have frequently criticized his policies and his one-time prediction that unemployment would fall below 8%.

Economists and political scientists warn against using any one economic barometer — let alone a single month’s data — to predict electoral outcomes. But the latest report seemed to re-energize Romney, who declared the data “weak and troubling.”

Obama made only a passing reference to the report Friday as he addressed a White House forum on women and the workforce. He said he welcomed the news of the decline in the unemployment rate. But, as in past months when job growth was much stronger, he struck a tone of cautious optimism.

“It’s clear to every American that there will still be ups and downs along the way and that we’ve got a lot more work to do,” he said.

Yet the latest report raises questions for the president as he nears a critical period in his campaign. Research suggests major economic reports for the three summer months will likely set the tone for voters’ views on the economy, said Henry Brady, a political science professor at UC Berkeley.

“That’s when you really want to have good jobs numbers, when you really want voters to get a sense that things are going well,” he said. “What he can’t afford, I think, is a series of reports that looks like the economy is languishing and allows Republicans to reignite the argument on the economy.”

Financial markets were closed Friday in observance of Good Friday, but stock futures traded sharply lower on the smaller-than-expected job gains. Many economists were forecasting job growth of 200,000 or slightly higher in March.

The unemployment figure has declined by 1.8 percentage points in the last 21/2 years, but other key labor market data suggest that much of the drop is not because people are finding work, but rather that “people are dropping out of the labor force,” said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington.

“That’s not a good story,” he said.

Elaine Durson, a 48-year-old substitute teacher in San Diego, has struggled to find a permanent job in recent years. She said she has kept herself afloat financially by taking on side jobs in housekeeping and yard work, and is in a long-term house-sitting arrangement that has allowed her to live rent-free.

To read entire story, click here.

Debra J. Saunders

Debra J. Saunders
Friday, April 6, 2012

Why is the federal government under President Obama arguably tougher on medical marijuana operations than it was under George W. Bush? That’s the question that antidrug-war groups have been asking themselves for months.

In 2008, antiprohibitionists thought an Obama administration would not tread on medical-marijuana dispensaries in states where they are legal. Obama 2008 campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt told me Obama “believes that states and local governments are best positioned to strike the balance between making sure that these policies are not abused for recreational drug use and making sure that doctors and their patients can safely access pain relief.”

Now that Obama’s in office, however, his Department of Justice is not allowing the 16 states that have legalized medical marijuana to self-regulate. Exactly the opposite: Last fall, U.S. attorneys in California warned landlords that they must evict medical-marijuana clubs or risk having their assets seized. In October, the Internal Revenue Service informed dispensaries that they cannot declare standard tax deductions because they are criminal enterprises.

“Drug kingpins and cartels don’t file taxes. We do,” Steve DeAngelo, director of medical-marijuana giant Harborside Health Center, told MSNBC. “But no business, including ours, can survive if it is taxed on its gross revenue. The IRS is trying to tax us out of existence.”

On Monday, the feds raided the apartment and medical-marijuana businesses run by Richard Lee, the wheelchair-bound Oakland pro-marijuana activist, who put more than $1 million into the 2010 Proposition 19 campaign to legalize marijuana.

According to news reports, Lee’s supporters came out to protest the raid, and some punctuated their point by lighting up in public. Such antics reinforce law enforcement’s suspicion that recreational users are hiding behind the skirts of medical marijuana.

The thing is, Obama The Candidate said he’d let locals decide how to handle any abuses, and there is local enforcement. According to the office of California Attorney General Kamala Harris, there were 16,585 felony marijuana arrests in 2010. Some cities go after dispensaries suspected of illegal trafficking, others choose to use their resources on higher priorities. (Lee points out that Oakland police were detailed to control crowds that gathered to protest the raid on his Oaksterdam University on the day of the horrific Oikos University shootings.)

An Obama official informed me that the administration has not changed positions. The administration always maintained that federal officials have the authority – indeed, a duty under the Controlled Substances Act – to go after traffickers who use medical marijuana as a pretext to sell a drug.

To read entire column, click here.

Friday, April 6, 2012 – 08:00 a.m.

As expected, U.S. job growth slowed dramatically in March.

Just 120,000 jobs were added across the country.

The U.S. Department of Labor, in keeping with election year politics, reduced its estimate of the size of the workforce.

That reduction caused the unemployment rate to come in at 8.2% in Fridays report.

The lowest in three years.

Without that reduction, the rate would have climbed.

Gallup, which generates an unadjusted estimate, places the unemployment rate at 10.0% and the underemployment rate at 19.3%.

Pomierski

Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Created: 04/04/2012 04:19:12 PM PDT

A federal court judge in Riverside is considering a request to postpone former Upland Mayor John Pomierski’s trial for the third time.

Pomierski is requesting that the trial date be postponed from April 24 to July 24 due to a change in attorney and because of the attorney’s busy schedule.

The judge should make a decision by the end of the week, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Behnke said.

Pomierski’s new attorney H. Dean Steward said he could not comment on the case.

Pomierski and Upland contractor John Hennes were indicted March 2 on federal extortion and bribery charges.

Pomierski pleaded not guilty March 3 in federal court in Riverside.

Hennes pleaded guilty in November as part of a plea agreement in November.

To read entire story, click here.

Mitt Romney

Wednesday, April 4, 2012 – 08:00 a.m.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney score another cache of delegates Tuesday night with commanding wins in Maryland, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.

Fading Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum continues to damage his political brand by vowing to continue his crusade to foolishness.

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich somehow still believes he’s relevant in the race.

Here’s the latest delegate tally according to RealClearPolitics.com.

Candidate         Delegates       % of needed
Romney               652             57.0%
Santorum             269             23.5%
Gingrich             140             12.2%
Paul                  67              5.9%
*Delegates needed for nomination: 1144

Debra J. Saunders

Debra J. Saunders
Tuesday, April 3, 2012

“Who killed the debt deal?” read the New York Times Magazine as it hyped its Sunday cover story as a “Washington whodunit.”

Author Matt Bai explained that “some of Washington’s most connected Democrats and Republicans” didn’t know whose story to believe or what had been on the table after last summer’s “grand bargain” deficit-reduction negotiations between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner crumbled.

It’s hard to understand how Bai and all those savvy insiders couldn’t figure out how the budget talks collapsed. The New York Times reported on their demise in July. Boehner and Obama were working on a 10-year, $3 trillion deficit-reduction package that included $800 billion in new revenue. Obama then piled on another $400 billion. Boehner walked. No mystery.

There’s no whodunit; only a howdoweexplainit.

Boehner threw the White House off its game by reasonably agreeing to $800 billion in additional revenue through the elimination of deductions and loopholes. Oops.

When members of the Senate’s Gang of Six – a bipartisan posse determined to cut the national debt – announced a proposal to raise revenue by $2 trillion, Obama talked up the gang’s proposal. Bad idea: In so doing, Obama made the $800 billion Boehner deal look too puny to tax-happy Democrats. He torched a potato that already might have been too hot for the GOP Biggies to handle.

When the deal fell apart, Obama held a press conference to rail at House Republicans. “Can they say yes to anything?” asked the president with no sense of irony.

The New York Times editorialized, “Republicans killed an overly generous deal largely over a paltry $400 billion.”

Bai wrote on the impossible hole into which Obama had dug himself. How could Obama ask Democratic leaders to go for a deal with $800 billion in new revenue when GOP senators applauded the Gang of Six’s $2 trillion trial balloon?

There was no vote on the Gang of Six package, no bill. Only a memo, lip service and self-congratulation. That was all it took to nudge Obama off his game.

To read entire column, click here.

Mitt Romney, who is Mormon, has a problem with evangelical Christians. They don’t think he’s one of them, they don’t much like him, and where they constitute more than half the population of Republican primary voters, they vote for someone else, usually Rick Santorum, a Roman Catholic extremist.

But don’t be fooled. Romney’s problem with evangelicals is an issue only in the GOP primary. Once he wins the Republican nomination, evangelicals (including fundamentalists, Pentacostals and other charismatic Christians) will vote for Romney over President Barack Obama, whom they regard as a secular humanist at best and an Allah-worshiping Muslim at worst.

Evangelical Christians, especially white evangelical Christians, despise Obama more than they dislike Mormonism.

The rift between Romney and evangelicals was mostly a whisper until last October, when the Rev. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor at First Baptist Church Dallas, casually noted that, “Mitt Romney is a good moral person but he’s not a Christian. Mormonism is not Christianity. It has always been considered a cult by the mainstream of Christianity.”

As Calbuzz noted back then, Jeffress was merely reflecting a view that had been etched in stone in the Christian Workers Handbook, given as a guide book to counselors at Billy Graham Crusades for decades.

Moroni from Palmyra: Face it, just for starters, if you believe that the Bible is the inerrant work of God, you might be a bit skeptical about folks who follow the teachings of Joseph Smith Jr., the treasure digger from Palmyra, NY, who said he was visited by the angel Moroni in 1827 and guided to a box of golden plates which he said contained what is now known as the Book of Mormon, after he transcribed them from “reformed Egyptian.”

According to the Pew Research Center, Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters say the Mormon religion is Christian by a ratio of 54-33%. But among Republicans and leaners who are white evangelical Protestants, it’s the opposite: just 35% say Mormonism is Christian and 53% say it’s not.

The effect is clear. As our old friend EJ Dionne noted the other day, “In 16 of the states that had voted before Illinois, exit pollsters asked whether voters were white evangelical or born-again Christians. In the states that went for Santorum, evangelicals averaged 71% of the electorate. In the states Romney won, they averaged only 33% of the electorate (and only 31% if Virginia is excluded). In both states Newt Gingrich carried, evangelicals made up 64% of the vote.”

Here’s a nifty chart from the Washington Post:

To read entire column, click here.

Advocates of judicial restraint say conservative justices should be wary of the impulse to strike down the healthcare law passed by Congress.

By David G. Savage, Washington Bureau
March 31, 2012, 5:05 p.m.

WASHINGTON — When the incoming Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. came before the Senate for confirmation seven years ago, President Reagan’s solicitor general gave him a warm endorsement as a “careful, modest” judge.

“He’s not a man on a mission,” Harvard Law professor Charles Fried testified, adding that Roberts was not likely “to embark on constitutional adventures.”

But two years ago, the Roberts-led Supreme Court struck down the federal and state laws that for a century had barred corporations and unions from pouring money into election campaigns.

And last week, the court’s conservatives, including Roberts, suggested they may well strike down President Obama’s healthcare law as unconstitutional. If so, it would be the first time since 1936 that the Supreme Court voided a major federal regulatory law.

After the healthcare arguments, Fried was among those who worried aloud about the prospect of the Roberts court embarking on a new era of judicial activism.

If the court were to invalidate the healthcare law, “It would be more problematic than Bush v. Gore,” Fried said in an interview, referring to the case that decided the 2000 presidential race. “It would be plainly at odds with precedent, and plainly in conflict with what several of the justices have said before.”

His comments highlight a growing divide between an earlier generation of judicial conservatives who stressed a small role for the courts in deciding national controversies and many of today’s conservative justices who are more inclined to rein in the government.

At the heart of last week’s argument over the healthcare law was a dispute over power. Does Congress or the Supreme Court define the limits of economic regulation?

The Obama administration’s lawyers, relying on 20th century precedents, said Congress has broad authority to “regulate commerce” in national markets, including health insurance. Regardless of whether the healthcare law’s requirement that everyone have insurance is a smart or good regulation, Solicitor Gen. Donald B. Verrilli Jr. said the “Constitution leaves [this] to the judgment of Congress and the democratically accountable branches of government.”

The court’s leading conservatives objected and spoke of their duty to enforce limits set by the Constitution. If the government can force people to enter the market and buy insurance, Justice Antonin Scalia asked, “what’s left?”

“The federal government is not supposed to be a government that has all powers,” he said.

Are “there any limits” on Congress if this stands? asked Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. Roberts said “all bets are off” if the government can regulate an industry by forcing people to buy a private product.

Fried had confidently predicted the law would be easily upheld. He said he was taken aback by the tone of the arguments. “The vehemence they displayed was totally inappropriate. They seemed to adopt the tea party slogans,” he said.

To read entire story, click here.

Democratic campaign treasurer Kinde Durkee pleaded guilty this morning to defrauding her clients of at least $7 million, bringing to a close a case that one official has called the “most extensive campaign treasurer fraud in the history of California.”

Durkee entered guilty pleas to five counts of mail fraud at the Robert T. Matsui United States Courthouse in Sacramento this morning before U.S. District Judge Kimberly J Mueller. Federal prosecutors say the veteran campaign treasurer misappropriated money from the accounts of at least 50 clients, including Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Durkee, 59, remains free pending sentencing on June 20. She likely faces 11 to 14 years in prison.

A document filed with the court this week said she siphoned millions from her clients’ accounts to cover business expenses such as payroll for her Burbank firm, Durkee & Associates, provide care and services for her elderly mother and pay personal credit card bills. She also transferred money between accounts to try to the hide the embezzlement from clients and investigators.

U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner said Friday that he thinks the losses will total $9 to $10 million in what is believed to be the largest embezzlement by a campaign treasurer ever prosecuted.

Durkee declined to speak to reporters through her attorney, Daniel Nixon. Nixon described his client’s state of mind as “very remorseful.” He declined to comment on her motives or what she did with the money, saying only that more details could come out at the sentencing later this year.

To read entire story, click here.

Friday, March 30, 2012 -  08:00 a.m.

At this point, next Tuesday is shaping up as a good day for former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

New polls show Romney is holding double-digit leads over former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum in Maryland and the District of Columbia, and a five to eight percentage point lead in the state of Wisconsin.

Wisconsin is an open primary, while the others closed.

All three will award their combined 98 delegates on a “winner take all” basis.

If Romney holds his leads, and sweeps Tuesdays contests, new pressure will mount on Former Speaker Newt Gingrich and Santorum to withdraw.

Romney has been the beneficiary of a plethora of endorsements from GOP heavyweights over the past ten days.

Most importantly, we are all waiting with eager anticipation the next Santorum meltdown.

Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
March 27, 2012

Democratic campaign treasurer Kinde Durkee is expected to plead guilty to stealing millions from the accounts she controlled for her California political clients, according to two sources close to the case.

The news came as the U.S. Attorneys Office filed fresh charges against the veteran Democratic treasurer, who was arrested last fall. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney in Sacramento could not confirm whether Durkee is expected to plea, but said the filing of such documents typically indicate plea negotiations are in the works.

The 17-page complaint, filed Tuesday in the United State District Court for the Eastern District of California, details fraud and embezzlement stretching back more than a decade, accusing Durkee of “routinely misappropriating” funds from clients’ accounts and filing false reports with the Secretary of State and the Federal Elections Commission. The document says at least 50 victims lost a combined $7 million-plus due to her actions.

The document says the money, which was transferred between accounts and to her firm, Durkee & Associates, without client authorization, was used to pay personal expenses, including a mortgage and credit card bills, and payroll and other business expenses.

In one 2010 transaction listed, Durkee allegedly used $23,000 intended for U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s federal campaign account to help pay a $30,000 American Express tab that included charges from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Amazon.com, Disneyland and Trader Joe’s grocery store. Other payments made with client money went to health insurance companies and residential services for her elderly mother. In some cases, she allegedly transferred money or diverted deposits to cover for previous unauthorized withdraws from other clients’ accounts.

Democratic Assemblyman Jose Solorio, a Durkee client who prosecutors say lost more than $600,000 in the hands of his former treasurer, praised the news of the plea deal in a statement. The Santa Ana Democrat said he urged investigators to “be aggressive in making sure Durkee serves as many years as possible in federal prison.”

“In finalizing a long sentence term, I’m hoping the FBI and courts send a message to treasurers, accountants and book keepers around the country that defrauding their clients is a serious matter,” he said in the statement.

To read entire story, click here.

Former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens is shown arriving at federal court in Washington on April 7, 2009. (Gerald Herbert / AP Photo / March 19, 2012)

Op-Ed
Ted Stevens and the department of injustice

An inquiry tells the story of government lawyers who failed to live up to their professional responsibilities and thus failed to give the former Alaska senator a fair trial.

By Michael Carey
March 19, 2012

As his trial on corruption charges approached in the fall of 2008, Ted Stevens railed to me in an email: “What did I do, Michael? What did I do?” The wounded rage smoldering in that rhetorical question to a reporter reflected his belief that he had done nothing wrong. He continued to insist on his innocence after a Washington, D.C., jury found him guilty of lying on financial disclosure forms.

Stevens’ conviction was dismissed in 2009 after the Justice Department’s admission that government lawyers failed to turn over evidence the Stevens defense should have received. U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan, who presided over Stevens’ trial, soon authorized an investigation of the prosecutors’ conduct, a move as rare as the trial of a U.S. senator.

Last week, the judge’s investigator, Special Counsel Henry F. Schuelke, issued his findings, which Stevens will never read. He died in a 2010 airplane accident.

We don’t know what a fair trial would have produced. But now this is a story of government prosecutors — some in Anchorage, some in Washington — who failed to live up to their professional responsibilities and thus failed to give Stevens a fair trial. Schuelke blisteringly refers to their “astonishing misstatements” that concealed the existence of documents and information in their possession.

The government attorneys most involved in the case held positions of exceptional responsibility and exceptional trust. Brenda Morris, the lead attorney at trial, had 20 years of experience as she was promoted to increasingly influential positions. Three younger attorneys — Nicholas Marsh (who later killed himself), James Goeke and Edward Sullivan — clerked for federal judges after law school and appeared to be on their way to noteworthy public service careers. Joseph Bottini had been a member of the U.S. attorney’s office in Alaska since 1985 and was well-known and well respected throughout the state’s legal community. Several Anchorage lawyers told me before Schuelke’s report came out that they refused to believe Bottini was involved in misconduct.

But he was. And so were the others.

If the government attorneys were guilty of misconduct, they also were guilty of badly misreading Stevens.

He certainly was guilty of bad judgment — making campaign contributors his friends because of what they could do for his reelection. But for 40 years he lived modestly, traveled modestly — I encountered him sleeping in coach on night flights — and made himself available to Alaskans of every income group, every racial group and of all political persuasions. He thought this was his job.

To read entire column, click here.

BY BEN GOAD
WASHINGTON BUREAU
bgoad@pe.com

Published: 21 March 2012 06:10 PM

WASHINGTON — As Congress and the Pentagon clashed Wednesday over whether to go forward with proposed base closures next year, a top Air Force official said it’s too soon to tell if — or how — any cuts would be felt at Inland Southern California’s military installations.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has urged Congress to approve two rounds of closures in 2013 and 2015, and the Defense Department wants to cut spending. Military officials say a drawdown of forces associated with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan should be accompanied by changes through the Base Realignment and Closure process, known as BRAC.

The U.S. Air Force alone spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually to maintain excess holdings, Assistant Air Force Secretary Terry Yonkers told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“This excess capacity can only be effectively limited by closing installations,” Yonkers said in written testimony to the panel. “We need Congress’ help and support — we can’t do BRAC if you’re not in our corner on this.”

On Wednesday, Congress was not in the military’s corner. Democrats and Republicans alike, mindful of painful and controversial 2005 realignments and closures, said clearly that they oppose a 2013 round of closures.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, chairman of the Armed Services subcommittee with jurisdiction over the base closures, noted that the upfront costs of the 2005 closures were higher than anticipated. According to a government estimate, it will be 2018 before the costs are recouped through the savings associated with maintaining fewer bases, she said.

McCaskill, D-Mo., said government auditors still haven’t completed a final analysis of the 2005 realignment and closings. A premature round could have a devastating effect on communities that rely on bases for jobs and revenue, she said.

“I will not support a process that is casual and one that is rushed before we fully comprehend what about this task is clearly in the best interest of the American taxpayer and our national security,” McCaskill said. “The department has a long way to go before it proves to me that these additional criteria have been met.”

Locally, March Air Reserve Base and the military training centers at Twentynine Palms and Fort Irwin survived the 2005 BRAC relatively unscathed. But previous rounds closed Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino and George Air Force Base in Victorville, and March Air Force Base was downsized to an Air Reserve Base. The cuts cost the region more than $3 billion annually, according to estimates.

To read entire story, click here.