Politics, Government & Business in California's Inland Empire
By Sarah D. Wire
Tuesday, April 10, 2018 - 9:33 a.m.
Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday endorsed Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s reelection bid.
By Dan Walters | Jan. 25, 2018 | Commentary
The state’s top political figures—U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein in particular—received a harsh reminder this week that what plays in liberal California may be a liability elsewhere.
Sarah D. Wire
December 28, 2016
So far, none of California’s 55 senators and representatives have announced plans to retire ahead of the 2018 election. But after weeks at home with family during the holidays to talk about the future, such declarations could come soon.
Cathleen Decker
March 31, 2016
Don’t ask Dianne Feinstein just yet whether she plans to run for a fifth full term in the U.S. Senate, a seat that will be on the ballot in 2018.
By Beau Yarbrough, The Sun
Posted: 09/06/15 - 8:30 PM PDT |
When the House of Representatives and the Senate return to work in Washington on Tuesday, all of the legislators representing the Inland Empire have something in common: None of them have had any bills signed into law this year.
By Debra J. Saunders
Published: Wednesday, July 8, 2015 - 5:00 pm
Democrats now will say anything to distance themselves from sanctuary city policies, even though they have supported these policies for years. In an exclusive CNN interview Tuesday, Hillary Rodham Clinton was asked about San Francisco’s refusal to hand over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement seven-time convicted felon and five-time deportee Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez. He stands accused in the fatal shooting of Kathryn Steinle as she took an evening stroll on Pier 14 last week. (After telling a local TV station he shot Steinle by accident, Lopez-Sanchez has pleaded not guilty to murder.) Clinton answered, “The city made a mistake not to deport someone that the federal government strongly felt should be deported. So I have absolutely no support for a city that ignores the strong evidence that should be acted on.”
By Sean Sullivan
March 8, 2015 at 11:15 AM
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) called Sunday on Hillary Clinton to “step up and come out” to explain in more detail why she used a personal e-mail account to conduct government business during her time as secretary of state.
By Dan Walters
[email protected]
01/12/2015 11:29 PM
Barbara Boxer’s decision to retire from the U.S. Senate dissipates some of the fog that has been obscuring California’s political landscape.
By Debra J. Saunders
Updated 10:11 am, Saturday, December 20, 2014
The needle already was in the haystack. That essentially is the message embedded in the Democrats’ Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report on CIA interrogations and detentions, approved without a single Republican vote and released by committee Chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
Saturday, November 29, 2014 - 10:00 a.m.
San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos has formally established his campaign commitee and website for California Attorney General in 2018.
By Cathleen Decker
October 8, 2014
Now the real fun begins.
For California politicos who spent the last year yawning over a predictable top-of-the-ticket race, what has been shimmering in the distance is suddenly much closer. The next few statewide elections hold the promise of turnover unseen in a generation.
By Seema Mehta
November 7, 2014
Although U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein — two of California’s most experienced political figures — remain popular, a majority of state voters say they should not run for reelection, according to a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll.
By Josh Richman
[email protected]
Posted: 10/17/2014 03:16:45 PM PDT
Updated: 10/17/2014 06:34:14 PM PDT
Californians won’t have any say about which party wins this year’s biggest political prize — the reins of the U.S. Senate.
But that doesn’t mean the Golden State has nothing at stake.
By Kathleen Hennessey
July 31, 2014
The CIA acknowledged Thursday that its employees had secretly searched Senate computer files related to an investigation of the agency’s Bush-era harsh interrogation program, apologized to key senators and abandoned its previous insistence that it had done nothing wrong.
By ALEXANDER BURNS | 7/20/14 5:29 PM EDT - Updated: 7/21/14 6:37 AM EDT
LOS ANGELES — The rumblings are early but unmistakable: A political earthquake is — finally — headed to California.
By Dustin Volz
July 20, 2014
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein thoroughly condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin for his role in empowering Ukraine’s pro-Russian separatists, during an interview with CNN on Sunday, largely laying the blame at his feet for the downing last week of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet.
By BURGESS EVERETT | 6/9/14 8:26 PM EDT - Updated: 6/10/14 6:28 AM EDT
She stood beside President Barack Obama through the politically damaging revelations over NSA data-mining, but Dianne Feinstein can’t seem to stay on the White House’s call list.
By Josh Hicks
June 8, 2014 at 11:58 am
The heads of the Senate Intelligence Committee suggested Sunday that the White House has done a poor job of sharing information with Congress about Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and his recent release from Taliban captivity.
By JONATHAN TOPAZ | 6/6/14 1:32 PM EDT
Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein said she has not seen any evidence that the Taliban would have killed Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl if details of an agreement had leaked, contrary to what Obama administration officials have said.
By David Hawkings
Posted at 5:50 p.m. on March 12
Few senators wait until their 80s, or the start of their third decade in office, to have their breakout moment. But that’s what this past year has been for Dianne Feinstein.
By Donna Cassata, Associated Press
Posted: 03/11/14, 8:21 AM PDT | Updated: 20 secs ago
WASHINGTON — The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Tuesday the CIA improperly searched a stand-alone computer network established for Congress in its investigation of allegations of CIA abuse in a Bush-era detention and interrogation program. She said the CIA’s own inspector general has referred the matter to the Justice Department.
By Seema Mehta
February 20, 2014, 7:00 a.m.
Without offering a hint as to her plans, Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Wednesday lamented the departure of longtime congressional colleagues from California — including retiring Reps. Henry Waxman and George Miller -and said their institutional knowledge and ability to compromise in Washington would be missed.
By Seema Mehta
February 19, 2014, 10:19 p.m.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) offered a full-throated defense of the government’s collection of data on billions of American phone calls, saying Wednesday that the National Security Agency’s practices have safeguarded the nation without trampling on civil liberties.
By Brian Sumers, Daily Breeze
Posted: 12/19/13, 6:07 PM PST | Updated: 3 hrs ago
Los Angeles should work with Ontario to improve passenger traffic numbers at L.A./Ontario International Airport, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein charged in a letter this week sent to L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti. The letter dated Wednesday did not address a lawsuit filed in June by the city of Ontario, which is seeking to regain control of the airport from Los Angeles, the facility’s manager since 1967. Earlier this month, the two sides agreed to put the suit on temporary hold as they work out a solution.
Political news, election updates, for San Francisco CA and national politics
Posted on December 14, 2013 | By [email protected] (Joe Garofoli)
It’s no surprise that only 11 percent of California registered voters who represented in the new Field Poll think Congress is doing a good job. (Who are THOSE people, and will they share their happy juice?)
Posted on November 12, 2013 |
By [email protected] (Carolyn Lochhead)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Tuesday joined the ranks of worried Democrats demanding that President Obama allow people to keep their current insurance policies. Feinstein’s move is bad news for an administration desperate for good news following the roll-out debacle of the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchange on Oct. 1, which has been plagued by technical problems.
Posted on Friday, August 16, 2013
By Michael Doyle | McClatchy Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Some secrets don’t faze Sen. Dianne Feinstein. She keeps plenty, after all, as the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
But the 15-member panel that the California Democrat has led since 2009 is scrambling to catch up with the latest public revelations about government spying.
By Emily Cahn
Posted at 1:16 p.m. on July 10, 2013
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., endorsed Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar for the Golden State’s 31st District on Wednesday, becoming the most high-profile Democrat to endorse in the state’s most contested congressional primary this cycle.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
By Mark Glover and Kevin Yamamura
[email protected]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]
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.