Politics, Government and Business in Southern California's Inland Empire
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
January 9, 2012
With less than six months to go until the June primary, viable Republican challengers to Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein aren’t exactly rushing to file nomination papers.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the No. 3 ranking House Republican, suggested Monday that fellow House Republican David Dreier could be a formidable challenger.
BY BEN GOAD
WASHINGTON BUREAU
ben.goad@yahoo.com
Published: 08 January 2012 08:26 PM
WASHINGTON — Entering a contentious 2012 election season, Congress isn’t expected to tackle many of the nation’s most divisive issues.
Inland lawmakers hope to take advantage of the void left by shelved debates over immigration reform, health care, climate change and other battles by pressing forward with less controversial legislation focused on improving the region.
ROLL CALL REPORT SYNDICATE
Published: 03 December 2011 05:25 PM
Here is how area members of Congress voted on major issues in the week ending Dec. 2.
HOUSE
RULES FOR UNION ELECTIONS: Voting 235 for and 188 against, the House on Nov. 30 passed a Republican bill (HR 3094) to block a proposed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule to quicken the pace of union elections. Now before the Senate, the bill targets a labor-relations rule that could take effect by year’s end. Under the rule, elections on whether to form into a collective-bargaining unit could be held as soon as 10 days after the NLRB certifies the election petition. The bill would require a wait of at least 35 days to give employers more time to attempt to persuade workers to reject unionization, and it would give employers more say in determining which workers are eligible for the bargaining unit.
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Published: 27 November 2011 07:24 PM
Once again, Inland Rep. Darrell Issa has been placed atop a list of the richest members of Congress.
Issa, R-Vista, whose invention of the Viper car alarm helped him amass a fortune, is worth at least $195 million and possibly more than $700 million, according to a report released this month by the Center for Responsive Politics.
By Richard Simon and Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times
September 25, 2011, 6:29 p.m.
Reporting from Washington and Sacramento— A suspected embezzlement scheme that has ensnared hundreds of campaign accounts of Democrats has sent candidates scrambling for new cash as they prepare for an election season that could reshape California’s political landscape.
Carolyn Lochhead and Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Staff Writers
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Washington — California Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s campaign filed suit Friday against a small Los Angeles County bank and the Democrat’s former campaign treasurer, alleging that Kinde Durkee and her associates “stole millions” in funds from Feinstein campaign committees in the last two years.
By DAVID CATANESE | 9/22/11 11:04 PM EDT
Dianne Feinstein has had one of the worst weeks imaginable. Her campaign coffers were cleaned out, forcing her to dip into her own pockets to replace more than $5 million in stolen funds. Then the respected Field Poll piled on, reporting that on the eve of her 2012 reelection campaign, her approval ratings had hit a career low.
The good news? Despite all of it, almost no one thinks she can be beaten.
By JOHN BRESNAHAN & MANU RAJU | 9/20/11 11:53 PM EDT
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who is up for reelection in 2012, will put $5 million of her own money into her race, the latest sign that a mega-fraud case involving a top Democratic campaign treasurer is roiling California politics.
By JOHN BRESNAHAN & JONATHAN ALLEN | 9/14/11 11:37 PM EDT
A California Democratic treasurer stands accused of the ultimate political betrayal: stealing from campaign accounts that she was entrusted with overseeing.
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times
September 12, 2011, 10:38 p.m.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said her campaign is among those that may have been “wiped out” by a Burbank-based Democratic campaign treasurer who was arrested on federal fraud charges earlier this month.
Published: Sept. 3, 2011 Updated: Sept. 4, 2011 9:27 a.m.
By BRIAN JOSEPH / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
SACRAMENTO – A prominent Democratic campaign treasurer who works for federal, state and O.C. lawmakers including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Rep. Loretta Sanchez and state Assemblymen Lou Correa and Jose Solorio has been arrested by the FBI on suspicion of mail fraud, The Orange County Register has learned.
10:35 PM PDT on Saturday, July 23, 2011
By JIM MILLER, BEN GOAD and DUG BEGLEY
The Press-Enterprise
Making public policy often produces its share of winners and losers, but Inland Southern California has had a decidedly bad run of luck the last few weeks.
Feinstein
By Michael Doyle
mdoyle@mcclatchydc.com
Published: Thursday, Mar. 24, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Last Modified: Thursday, Mar. 24, 2011 – 8:01 am
WASHINGTON – Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein remains more popular among California voters than her colleague Barbara Boxer, a new Field Poll shows.
But Feinstein can’t rest easy as she prepares for another re-election bid next year. For the first time since her initial 1992 election, less than half of the Californians surveyed consider themselves leaning toward Feinstein.
By Sandra Emerson Staff Writer
Created: 02/02/2011 05:22:19 PM PST
As expected, the Senate has rejected a Republican attempt to repeal the year-old health care law.
The ultimate fate of the controversial law is expected to be determined by the Supreme Court. But congressional Republicans emboldened by gains in last fall’s elections have made a priority of trying to wipe it off the books.
James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/26/2011 03:11:01 PM PST
California’s U.S. Senators have introduced a bill that would require the federal Environmental Protection Agency to set limits on the amount of hexavalent chromium in drinking water.
Feinstein
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 12/03/2010 06:46:36 PM PST
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., sent a letter Friday to the state Water Resources Control Board calling for a review of the perchlorate groundwater contamination in Barstow.
10:00 PM PDT on Saturday, October 2, 2010
WASHINGTON
From Roll Call Report Syndicate, ©2010, Thomas Voting Reports, Inc. Here’s how area members of Congress were recorded on major roll call votes in the week ending October 1.
House
Carly Fiorina
June 29th, 2010, 3:19 pm · posted by Dena Bunis, Washington Bureau Chief
Republican Carly Fiorina is in Washington, D.C. this week doing what all candidates who come to the nation’s Capital do – she’s raising money.
With just a few days before the June 30 closing of this fundraising quarter, Fiorina is here helping to beef up her contribution totals.
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 04/29/2010 07:23:29 PM PDT
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which requires the state reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, has San Bernardino County officials concerned about its impact on the region’s future economic growth.
Earlier this month, the Board of Supervisors, at the urging of Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, unanimously voted to support the California Jobs Initiative, which calls for the suspension of the law, also known as AB 32, until the state’s unemployment rate drops to 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein
February 16th, 2010, 3:43 pm
Posted by Dena Bunis, Washington Bureau Chief
Sen. Dianne Feinstein told a group of two dozen Democratic bigwigs at a lunch today at the Balboa Club in Newport Beach that she’s not going to run for governor this year.
Feinstein’s office confirmed that she said that but wouldn’t give any details about the exchange.
February 9, 2010
When Sarah Palin wrote a cheat sheet for an interview on her hand, liberal pundits gleefully bashed her. But only Calbuzz* will tell you that the ex-Republican veep candidate in doing so was simply following in the, uh, footsteps of California senior Senator Dianne Feinstein.
From Arianna Huffington to Andrea Mitchell, lefty pundits pounced on Palin, after photos showed that she’d scribbled brief talking points on her palm – “energy, budget tax cuts, lift American spirits” – before sitting for questions during last weekend’s big Tea Party convention. It’s notable, of course, that the words are among her most important, fundamental principles and so, presumably, might not need to be written on her palm. If she had fundamental principles.
10:00 PM PST on Thursday, January 21, 2010
By BEN GOAD
Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON – After repeatedly criticizing California’s congressional delegation for failing to procure more funding for the cash-strapped state, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger played a different role this week when he met with the same federal lawmakers in Washington.
It was a kinder, gentler Schwarzenegger who spent the last two days making his pitch to federal officials for an additional $6.9 billion in federal money to help close the state’s $20 billion budget gap.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
NEW LETTER USES FEINSTEIN QUOTES TO BOLSTER HIS CASE
By Kevin Yamamura
kyamamura@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sent another letter to California’s congressional delegation Wednesday asking for help in securing $6.9 billion, this time including past quotes from U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein that the governor implies were contradictory to her criticisms of him last week.
In his budget plan and his State of the State address, Schwarzenegger attacked the federal health care overhaul and blamed Washington for not paying California its fair share in reimbursements and for overburdening the state with Medicaid regulations. Feinstein said in return, “California’s budget crisis was created in Sacramento, not Washington.”
By STU WOO
California lawmakers and analysts are challenging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s days-old budget proposal, which relies on billions of dollars in emergency federal aid.
A report released Tuesday by the state’s nonpartisan legislative analyst said the Republican governor’s spending plan, which would close a $20 billion budget shortfall over 18 months, is built on risky assumptions — including agreement by Washington to rescue the state.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget plan has drawn criticism.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Arnold Schwarzenegger achieved fame and fortune by starring in celluloid fantasies, so it may be fitting that his final state budget proposal would be so disconnected from economic and political reality.
With the state still facing huge deficits, the governor bases his 2010-11 budget on such fanciful elements as persuading the federal government to cough up an extra $7 billion, asking voters to reverse themselves and shift money from protected pots for mental health and children’s programs, overhauling transportation financing, and persuading state employee unions to accept pay cuts and increases in workers’ pension and health care costs.
Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Saturday, January 9, 2010
(01-09) 04:00 PST Washington – — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s demand Friday that the federal government plug a $6.9 billion hole in the state budget, two days after he charged that the federal health care bill is unfair to the state, struck a nerve with California’s Washington delegation.
Schwarzenegger is demanding that the administration fix what he calls flawed federal formulas and unfunded federal mandates that short-change the state on Medicaid, foster care, special education and the incarceration of illegal immigrants.
Capitol Insider
By Marisa Lagos
Doesn’t look like California is going to get much financial help from its Senate delegation.
Just hours after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made an impassioned argument for more federal funds — noting that the state gets back just 78 cents for every dollar it sends to Washington, D.C. — Senator Dianne Feinstein fired back. And she didn’t mince words.
Democrats win the vote 60-39 over Republican objections. It must be reconciled with the House’s legislation in the New Year before President Obama can sign off on his top domestic priority.
By James Oliphant
December 24, 2009 | 5:32 a.m.
Reporting from Washington – Senate Democrats this morning passed a sweeping healthcare overhaul bill, setting the stage for reconciliation early next year with similarly historic legislation passed by the House last month.
The vote was 60-39. It came after months of bitter partisan warfare, culminating in a series of votes this week that thwarted a threatened Republican filibuster.
Rebecca Kimitch, Staff Writer
Posted: 12/23/2009 10:16:35 PM PST
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has long championed national health care reform, but now that it is finally advancing, he is raising concerns about the $3 billion annual price tag he says it will cost California.
But reform supporters, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, say the benefits of reform for the state far outweigh the costs.
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