By David Lightman | McClatchy Washington Bureau
Friday, June 14, 2013
WASHINGTON — The American people are growing increasingly concerned about reports of domestic spying. And Congress isn’t sure how to respond.
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Archive for the ‘ U.S. Senate ’ Category
Gridlock and ineffectiveness give Congress worst rankings in decades.
By Ron Fournier
Updated: June 14, 2013 | 12:07 p.m.
June 14, 2013 | 10:20 a.m.
A bit of news for members of Congress on their way home for the weekend: America hates you.
Nearly eight in 10 Americans told Gallup pollsters this month they disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job, the 45th consecutive month that more than two-thirds of Americans graded Congress poorly.
U.S. NEWS
June 7, 2013, 6:49 p.m. ET
By JENNIFER VALENTINO-DEVRIES
Data collected by the National Security Agency’s program that monitors Americans’ phone calls could be used to track millions of people’s locations through their mobile devices at any given time, according to people familiar with cellphone systems.
By Lori Montgomery
Published: June 3, 2013 at 6:15 pm
The Obama administration on Monday threatened to veto any spending bills for the coming fiscal year unless Republicans and Democrats reach agreement on a broader budget plan that “supports our recovery and enables sufficient investments” in White House priorities.
OFF TO THE RACES
Keeping an eye on five key metrics can help deduce the direction of the 2014 midterm election.
By Charlie Cook
Updated: June 3, 2013 | 10:10 p.m.
June 3, 2013 | 9:30 p.m.
In looking at any midterm election, observers should take into account several important considerations. First, will it be a “normal” election? That is, will the type described by the late Tip O’Neill as one in which “all politics is local”—the kind of election in which the natural voting patterns of that state or district, as well as the relative strengths of the candidates, campaigns, resources—determine the outcome? This way of approaching elections is what I call “micro-political.”
By Abby Sewell, Los Angeles Times
May 28, 2013, 10:52 p.m.
A letter from a Southern California Edison executive shows the company became concerned about the potential for serious design flaws in replacement steam generators at the San Onofre nuclear plant as early as 2004.
Shane Goldmacher
May 14 2013, 4:39 PM ET
As three separate scandals – the IRS targeting the tea party, the Justice Department’s phone-records grab from the AP, and Benghazi – erupt simultaneously, congressional Republicans are hoping to fold them into a single narrative of an unaccountable and overreaching White House that cannot be trusted.
As Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., put it colorfully during a Fox News appearance, “This sounds like a president somewhat drunk on power.”
By Billy House
Updated: May 13, 2013 | 3:37 a.m.
May 12, 2013 | 12:00 p.m.
With tensions over fiscal issues building, and the three-month suspension of the nation’s debt limit set to expire Sunday, lawmakers this week will be rehashing on the House floor their messaging war over repealing President Obama’s three-year-old health care law.
The admission that the IRS improperly investigated conservative political groups only means more trouble for the roll-out of the health care law.
By Nancy Cook
Updated: May 12, 2013 | 9:05 a.m.
May 10, 2013 | 3:33 p.m.
The Internal Revenue Service’s admission that it inappropriately targeted conservative political groups for special scrutiny during the 2012 presidential election only gives congressional Republicans more ammunition as they try to defund and weaken the agency.
May 10, 2013
Posted by Alex Koppelman
It’s a cliché, of course, but it really is true: in Washington, every scandal has a crime and a coverup. The ongoing debate about the attack on the United States facility in Benghazi where four Americans were killed, and the Obama Administration’s response to it, is no exception. For a long time, it seemed like the idea of a coverup was just a Republican obsession. But now there is something to it.
By Billy House
Updated: May 5, 2013 | 2:11 p.m.
May 5, 2013 | 12:00 p.m.
The brewing debt-ceiling showdown still looms weeks—if not months—away, but hostilities will begin flaring this week as House Republicans push action on a bill signaling no retreat from their demand for spending cuts as a condition to any ceiling hike.
Dan Walters
By Dan Morain
dmorain@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, May. 5, 2013 – 12:00 am | Page 1E
Last Modified: Sunday, May. 5, 2013 – 7:22 am
Rep. Ami Bera, one of two Democratic physicians in the House, doesn’t want Obamacare to fail.
But the freshman member of Congress is worried about President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement.
By JAMES HOHMANN | 5/4/13 5:54 PM EDT
HOUSTON — The National Rifle Association has become, more than ever, part and parcel of the Republican Party.
The officially nonpartisan group’s no-compromise strategy helped defeat the background check bill in the Senate last month and grow its membership ranks to 5 million.
By BEN WHITE and TARINI PARTI | 4/28/13 2:29 PM EDT
Call them the debt crisis dissenters.
The two parties are miles apart on how to cut the deficit and national debt: Republicans want to slash spending even more. Democrats want to raise revenue.
By Lori Montgomery
April 27, 2013
With another fight over the national debt brewing this summer, congressional Republicans are de-emphasizing their demand for politically painful cuts to retirement programs and focusing on a more popular prize: a thorough rewrite of the U.S. tax code.
Posted by Ezra Klein
April 26, 2013 at 2:12 pm
The Democrats have lost on sequestration.
That’s the simple reality of Friday’s vote to ease the pain for the Federal Aviation Administration. By assenting to it, Democrats have agreed to sequestration for the foreseeable future.
Cantor’s approach blew up this week. Conservatives who want repeal might have the upper hand — over Democrats, too.
By Michael Catalini
Updated: April 26, 2013 | 1:30 p.m.
April 26, 2013 | 11:27 a.m.
The influential conservative website Red State does not score key-vote legislation.
But Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s Helping Sick Americans Now Act nearly changed that. The bill would have insured thousands of Americans with pre-existing conditions who would be dropped because of a provision in the Affordable Care Act, Cantor argued. The bill was supposed to be a savvy way to make the GOP seem softer and score political points by tweaking Obamacare.
By Jim Puzzanghera
April 25, 2013, 4:25 p.m.
WASHINGTON – The Senate on Thursday failed to pass bipartisan legislation that would allow states to collect sales taxes from larger Internet retailers, but the bill cleared a key procedural hurdle and is on track for approval after lawmakers return from a recess.
By Zachary A. Goldfarb
Published: April 25, 2013
The next battle over the federal debt limit appears to be further away than many expect — and perhaps not until well into autumn.
By Ed O’Keefe and Philip Rucker
Published: April 17, 2013
President Obama’s ambitious effort to overhaul the nation’s gun laws in response to December’s school massacre in Connecticut suffered a resounding defeat Wednesday, when every major proposal he championed fell apart on the Senate floor.
Filed under: Barack Obama, Democrats, Gun Control, In the News, Politics, Republicans, U.S. Government, U.S. Senate
By Dan Balz
Published: April 17, 2013
If there was ever a moment that symbolized the difference between the power of public opinion and the strength of a concerted minority, it came Wednesday when the Senate defeated a bipartisan measure to expand background checks on gun purchases.
Filed under: Barack Obama, Democrats, Gun Control, In the News, Politics, Republicans, U.S. Government, U.S. Senate
By David Nakamura, Published: April 15
Millions of immigrants living illegally in the United States could earn a chance at citizenship under a sweeping Senate proposal to be released Tuesday that would represent the most ambitious overhaul of the nation’s immigration system in three decades.
Filed under: Democrats, Immigration, In the News, Politics, Republicans, U.S. Government, U.S. Senate
By JOHN BRESNAHAN and JAKE SHERMAN
4/15/13 3:18 PM EDT Updated: 4/16/13 10:00 AM EDT
The White House and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are shy of the 60 votes they need to move the bipartisan compromise bill on background checks for gun sales.
By Mike Lillis – 04/14/13 06:00 AM ET
A growing number of House Democrats are concerned that President Obama’s proposal to cut Social Security benefits will haunt the party at the polls in 2014.
By Alex Lazar – 03/30/13 02:45 PM ET
There is new momentum to revamp Washington’s Groundhog Day-like budget process.
The Senate’s recent vote to embrace a biennial budget, coupled with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) endorsement, has significantly boosted the chances it could pass in this Congress.
By Billy House
Updated: March 28, 2013 | 7:51 p.m.
March 28, 2013 | 7:30 p.m.
A strategy by House Republican leaders to bottle up revenue bills until a comprehensive overhaul of the tax code is finished is being sold to GOP lawmakers as a tactical way to hobble Senate Democrats.
Thursday, March 28, 2013 – 09:30 a.m.
Here’s some news flowing across the transom Thursday morning.
Barstow Court to remain open
The state has coughed-up funds to temporarily keep one courtroom open at the Barstow Court facility through early summer.
Filed under: Board of Supervisors - San Bernardino County, Brian Nestande, Budget, Business, Campaigns, County of San Bernardino, Courts, Democrats, Economy, Finance, James Ramos, Janice Rutherford, Legal, Politics, Republicans, State Assembly, State of California, State Superior Court, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Government, U.S. Senate
Posted by Scott Clement
March 27, 2013 at 4:27 pm
A growing number of Americans are not just dissatisfied, but angry at Washington after repeated standoffs over taxes and the deficit have pockmarked the start of President Obama’s second term.
“I’m mad as hell….”
Filed under: Barack Obama, CBS, Democrats, In the News, Media, Politics, Polls, Republicans, U.S. Government, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate
By Lori Montgomery
Saturday, March 23, 2:28 AM
The Democrat-controlled Senate approved its first budget blueprint in four years early Saturday, a political milestone that capped months of GOP criticism and set the stage for direct negotiations with the Republican-controlled House.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rejects Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s proposed assault weapons ban to keep it from jeopardizing the passage of more popular measures in Democrats’ gun legislation.
By Richard Simon, Los Angeles Times
March 19, 2013, 7:40 p.m.
WASHINGTON — To advance a cause that has defined her political career, Sen. Dianne Feinstein brought the father of a child killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School to Capitol Hill, where he talked about the last time he saw his first-grader alive. She brought in police officers to press her case against her law-and-order opponents.
Superisor Robert Lovingood wants discussion on Feinstein’s desert protection bill
March 17, 2013 9:04 AM
Jim E. Winburn, Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO • Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Desert Protection Act is kicking up more dust in the High Desert as the pending bill threatens to shut down future mining prospects, San Bernardino County 1st District Supervisor Robert Lovingood said.
Dianne Feinstein says she’s concerned, yet mindful of the speaker’s decision.
By JOHN BRESNAHAN and MANU RAJU | 3/18/13 8:10 PM EDT
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said on Monday that a controversial assault weapons ban will not be part of a Democratic gun bill that was expected to reach the Senate floor next month.
Filed under: Democrats, Dianne Feinstein, Gun Control, In the News, Politics, U.S. Government, U.S. Senate
L.A. NOW
Southern California — this just in
March 8, 2013 | 3:52 pm
A report on the root causes of problems at the San Onofre nuclear plant shows that officials considered making design changes to the plant’s new steam generators before they were installed but rejected some fixes in part because they would require further regulatory approvals.
Second-term setbacks are forcing Obama to sound more conciliatory toward Republicans.
By Josh Kraushaar
Updated: March 8, 2013 | 8:10 a.m.
March 8, 2013 | 5:46 a.m.
President Obama’s advisers have telegraphed their goal to win control of the House in 2014, which would give the president unfettered control to advance his favored policies. But the bigger concern for the White House should be the more realistic possibility that they could lose the Senate in 2014 – an outcome that’s only enhanced by the president’s second-term strategy focusing on rallying the base over centrist governance.
By Kimberly Kindy and Rosalind S. Helderman
Published: March 3, 2013
Congress returns to work this week with no plan to reverse across-the-board spending cuts that took effect Friday, but with hope on both sides of the aisle of averting an end-of-the-month showdown that could result in a government shutdown.
By Erik Wasson and Amie Parnes – 03/01/13: 08:35 PM ET
President Obama late Friday officially triggered $85 billion in sequestration cuts to the federal government’s discretionary budget for this year.
Friday, March 1, 2013 – 09:30 a.m.
It’s Sequestration Day!
The Sun rose in the east this Friday morning and no one heard the federal budget axe fall.
Filed under: Barack Obama, Budget, Economy, Finance, Politics, U.S. Government, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate
By Mike Lillis – 02/20/13 03:52 PM ET
House Democrats on Wednesday amplified their calls for Congress to return to Washington and work to prevent across-the-board sequester cuts poised to hit in nine days.
By Amie Parnes and Erik Wasson – 02/19/13 08:12 PM ET
In the game of political chicken over the sequester, both the White House and congressional Republicans think their opponents will get the most blame if the $85 billion in spending cuts are triggered.
The ax is set to fall March 1 — with the first installment of $1.2 trillion in reductions over the next decade — because lawmakers can’t agree on an alternative.
By Jim Puzzanghera and Richard Simon, Washington Bureau
February 9, 2013, 8:39 p.m.
WASHINGTON — In less than a month, a budget ax is set to fall on the federal government, indiscriminately chopping funding for the military and slicing money for various programs, including preschools and national parks.
The president needs to lead from behind on immigration reform.
By Matthew Cooper
Updated: January 28, 2013 | 8:37 p.m.
January 28, 2013 | 2:41 p.m.
Anyone with a kid or a boss knows that one of the most important things you can do is back off. Hovering over your kid is not the best way to get them to put on their coat, and it’s not the best way to get a raise.
By Rosalind S. Helderman,
Published: January 20
As President Obama begins his second term, he faces a difficult, if familiar, conundrum: Much of the ambitious agenda he has laid out for the next four years requires action from a sometimes hostile Congress.
Posted by Neil Irwin
January 11, 2013 at 11:33 am
Many Americans received their first paycheck of 2013 today. That sound you hear is the collective “What the . .. “ they have emitted upon looking at their pay stub.
By Rosalind S. Helderman
Published: January 11, 2013
Democratic leaders in the Senate on Friday urged President Obama to consider bypassing Congress to prevent the nation from defaulting on its spending obligations if lawmakers cannot agree to raise the nation’s $16.4 trillion debt ceiling next month.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013 – 11:30 p.m.
What did Barack Obama voters expect when they reelected him President of the United States?
By Matea Gold
January 5, 2013, 3:00 a.m.
WASHINGTON — Fresh off this week’s last-minute “fiscal cliff” deal, President Obama on Saturday dug in as the prospect of another budget clash with congressional Republicans loomed, warning that he will not negotiate over raising the nation’s debt limit.
By Richard Rubin – Jan 1, 2013 10:54 AM PT
The budget deal passed by the U.S. Senate today would raise taxes on 77.1 percent of U.S. households, mostly because of the expiration of a payroll tax cut, according to preliminary estimates from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in Washington.
Filed under: Barack Obama, Budget, Economy, Finance, In the News, Politics, U.S. Government, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate
By Matthew Boyle
31 Dec 2012
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the last-minute fiscal cliff deal reached by congressional leaders and President Barack Obama cuts only $15 billion in spending while increasing tax revenues by $620 billion—a 41:1 ratio of tax increases to spending cuts.
The lopsided 89-8 vote puts pressure on the House to swiftly follow suit to ensure the nation avoids automatic tax increases and spending cuts. The deal, which raises taxes, would represent a milestone for Republicans.
By Lisa Mascaro, Kathleen Hennessey and Michael A. Memoli
January 1, 2013, 12:30 a.m.
WASHINGTON — The Senate voted overwhelmingly early Tuesday to approve legislation to halt a tax increase for all but the wealthiest Americans while postponing for two months deep spending cuts. The vote came just hours after the accord was reached between the White House and congressional leaders.
Monday, December 31, 2012- 01:00 p.m.
Enough already.
Go off the Fiscal Cliff. Please hurry and press the gas pedal, because all the droning on is becoming pretty nausiating.
Filed under: Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Economy, Finance, Politics, U.S. Government, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate
By Phillip Reese
preese@sacbee.com
Published: Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012 – 11:01 am
Enough to make a year’s worth of payments on a small car. Enough to take a weeklong vacation for two in Hawaii. Enough to feed a family of three for almost six months.
Posted by Greg Sargent on December 28, 2012 at 6:38 pm
President Obama, during a brief statement to the press just now, said Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell are in the process of working out a deal to avert the “fiscal cliff” tax hikes, and pronounced himself optimistic about the talks. The key to Obama’s statement, though, is that he spelled out the political reality Republican leaders will be left facing if a deal is not reached:
NEWS ANALYSIS
Splits among House Republicans mean more gridlock — and more roadblocks for President Obama’s agenda.
By Paul West and David Lauter, Washington Bureau
December 22, 2012, 3:16 p.m.
WASHINGTON — In the days immediately after President Obama’s reelection victory, White House officials hoped that in a second term he might have better relations with congressional Republicans. The “fever will break,” more than one Obama aide forecast.
Carla Marinucci
Carla Marinucci
Updated 11:06 pm, Monday, December 17, 2012
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who led the charge for a federal assault weapons ban after a San Francisco massacre left nine people dead two decades ago, is again at the forefront of the battle over guns with her call for new legislation in the wake of the mass shooting that killed 20 schoolchildren in Connecticut.
Filed under: Democrats, Dianne Feinstein, In the News, Law Enforcement, Politics, State of California, U.S. Senate
Democrats relish Republican disunity in the fiscal debate, but splits of their own are emerging over Medicare.
By Christi Parsons, Michael A. Memoli and Kathleen Hennessey, Washington Bureau
December 16, 2012, 6:39 p.m.
WASHINGTON — For weeks, Democrats in Congress have been relishing the division and sniping within Republican ranks over whether to raise tax rates. But as negotiations over the budget crisis wear on and shift to a debate over spending cuts, the tables are turning.
Posted by Suzy Khimm on December 5, 2012 at 3:51 pm
Democrats won’t compromise on tax hikes for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. And there are signs that this hard-line strategy may be working: Today, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) became the latest Republican to say that he’d be open to increases in marginal tax rates to raise revenue.
WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 30: U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) arrives for a news conference November 30, 2012 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Speaker Boehner held a news conference to respond to U.S. President Barack Obama on the fiscal cliff issue saying “There is a stalemate. Let’s not kid ourselves.” (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) *** BESTPIX *** Photo: Alex Wong, Getty Images / SF
Pamela Nonga Ngue and Michelle Murphy
Updated 5:50 a.m., Saturday, December 1, 2012
Washington –California stands to lose as much as $4.5 billion in federal funding and more than 200,000 jobs next year if Congress fails to reach a deficit reduction agreement by Dec. 31.
Kathleen Pender
Published 10:54 p.m., Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Talk about a hard landing: About 2 million Americans, including 400,000 in California, will abruptly lose their unemployment benefits after December unless Congress votes to continue federal funding for extended benefits.
Friday, November 9, 2012 – 09:30 a.m.
The blame game is in full swing within the Republican political machinery.
Hope, despair, anger, etc….etc…
But in reality does it mean anything in the end game?
By Mark Glover and Kevin Yamamura
mglover@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012 – 7:38 am
With gas prices hovering near $5 a gallon in California, the state’s politicians are simultaneously pressing for relief and questioning whether the oil industry is manipulating the market.
Filed under: Dianne Feinstein, Economy, Finance, In the News, Jerry Brown, Politics, State of California, U.S. Senate
Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 09/26/2012 03:04:59 PM PDT
Updated: 09/26/2012 10:11:34 PM PDT
Pick any area of federal policy – national security, health care, education, housing – and expect Washington D.C. to cut spending on it next year.
The prospect of cuts is perhaps not too surprising given the fact the United States faces a $16 trillion national debt. Circumstances may be forcing Americans of all political stripes and economic circumstances to accept some unpleasant combination of paying higher taxes and receiving fewer services from Uncle Sam in 2013.
Filed under: Barack Obama, Budget, Economy, Finance, In the News, Politics, U.S. Government, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate
High levels of hexavalent chromium, a toxic heavy metal, add to the hurdles Cadiz Inc. faces in its plan to ship water to the Southland.
By Bettina Boxall, Los Angeles Times
July 21, 2012
The Mojave Desert groundwater thatCadiz Inc.wants to sell to Southland suburbs contains hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen, in amounts that are hundreds of times greater than the state’s public health goal for drinking water.
The presence of the toxic heavy metal, which occurs naturally in the aquifer Cadiz proposes to tap, could force the company to undertake expensive treatment, driving up the cost of the project and ultimately the price of its water.
BY BEN GOAD
WASHINGTON BUREAU
bgoad@pe.com
Published: 12 July 2012 07:20 AM
Three out of four Californian’s agree: Congress is doing a bad job, a new survey shows.
Just 17 percent of the state’s voters approve of the work it’s doing in Washington, while 74 percent disapprove and 9 percent have no opinion, according to a Field Poll conducted for The Press-Enterprise and other California media subscribers.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012 – 10:30 a.m.
Here’s some information moving across the transom Tuesday morning.
Feinstein says no to debate challenge
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) has rebuffed an election debate challenge from Republican Elizabeth Emken.
Filed under: Barack Obama, Campaigns, Democrats, Dianne Feinstein, Elections, Politics, Polls, Republicans, U.S. Government, U.S. Senate
By Rob Hotakainen
McClatchy Newspapers
Published: Monday, Jul. 9, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Monday, Jul. 9, 2012 – 6:24 am
WASHINGTON – After buying a chunk of land 50 miles north of San Francisco, the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria just broke ground on a new, Las Vegas-style casino. It will be the largest in the Bay Area, with 3,000 slot machines, 200 hotel rooms, a spa, bars, restaurants and parking for more than 5,000 cars.
In New York, the Shinnecock Indian Nation is considering Long Island as a site on which to build the Big Apple’s first tribal casino.
By Richard Simon
June 29, 2012, 2:17 p.m.
WASHINGTON — Congress, in a rare display of bipartisanship, on Friday sent to President Obama a roughly $105-billion transportation bill that lawmakers from both parties touted as perhaps the largest jobs measure of the year.
The measure also would avert a doubling of interest rates for millions of college student loans that was due to take effect Sunday.
Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 06/11/2012 06:33:34 PM PDT
A majority of San Bernardino County residents – 55 percent – still have at least some confidence in elected officials, but only a very small minority have a “great deal” of confidence in the area’s leadership, according to a new Cal State San Bernardino survey.
Only 8 percent of county residents, however, say they have a “great deal” of confidence in elected leaders, according to the 2012 edition of the Inland Empire Annual Survey.
By Amanda Becker
Roll Call Staff
May 10, 2012, 6:23 p.m.
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.
RICHARD K. De ATLEY, STAFF WRITER
rdeatley@pe.com
Published: 25 April 2012 05:56 PM
President Obama has nominated Jesus Bernal, who heads the Inland-area public defender’s office in Riverside, as a judge for the vacant federal court bench in Riverside, Sen. Barbara Boxer’s office announced Wednesday.
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.
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.
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
Published: 26 February 2012 07:45 PM
Sen. Dianne Feinstein had a few words for Gov. Jerry Brown when she visited the Inland area last week.
Filed under: Democrats, Dianne Feinstein, In the News, Jerry Brown, Politics, State of California, U.S. Senate
Dan Walters
Capitol and California – Dan Walters
Published: Friday, Feb. 24, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Were California Republicans a biological genus rather than a political one, they could demand special protection under laws protecting endangered species like the kangaroo rat, to wit:
Dan Walters
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Last Modified: Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012 – 9:41 am
Shannon Grove, a Republican assemblywoman from Bakersfield, is sponsoring an embryonic ballot measure to return the Legislature to a part-time body, which it was before 1966.
It’s one of dozens of proposals for the November ballot and, like most, faces an uphill struggle to qualify and win. But it could resonate with voters because of chronic dysfunction on the budget, water and other issues, and lawmakers’ very low stature in polls.
Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley/The Press-Enterprise
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
Published: 22 January 2012 07:52 PM
Workin’ It
When Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. visited Riverside last week, a lot of the discussion was about the jobs created by goods movement and related construction projects such as the Magnolia Avenue underpass.
Add Laurence Parker to the job-creation list. Parker, waving an American flag and dressed as the Statue of Liberty, crashed Boxer’s presser to get a little attention for Liberty Tax Service, which has an office on Magnolia just north of the underpass. Usually he just stands in front of the office to draw the attention of drivers, much like a sign-spinner.