News Roundup:
FORUM IN THE EASTBAY
There is nothing that our friends in the media like more than a spectacle – and that is what they got yesterday at a townhall forum held at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek, in the East Bay Area. While the format was a little goofy (it was a ‘debate’ but the proponent [Governator] and opponents [State Senate President Don Perata, and the Chief of the Nurses Union, Rose Ann DeMoro] never actually shared the stage at the same time.
The general concensus is that the Governor actually did quite well in this format, and that his opponents
very much came across as trying to defend the status quo. FR friend and blogger extraordinaire Dan Weintraub of the Sacramento Bee actually reported on the event ‘live’ on his blog. While there are a dozen (or more) stories on the FlashReport website on this debate, it is interesting to read Dan’s play-by-play and conclusion. You’ll want to scroll down to the first debate entry, and then read backwards in order to catch it in order.
Dan posts a few pre-debate pictures – my favorite is his photo of his colleague, Dan Walters, and Steve Poizner – which Dan captions, "Sometimes its hard to tell the spinner and the spinee."
LOS ANGELES TIMES ENDORSES PROP. 75
I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t read it with my own eyes (you can, too, by clicking here). Yes, "Pravda West" as Chris Cox taught me to say it, actually has come out in support of union members having the right to say where their money is spent, and whether they want it going to political causes!
DEMOCRAT ASSEMBLYMAN ENDORSES PROP. 77
He will probably be the ‘lonely maverick’ in the Democrat Caucus, but yesterday is was notable and laudable that Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla of the East Bay Area endorsed Proposition 77. (The article is linked on the main FR page. At his press conference, Canciamilla said: "The difficult issues that we need to deal with and address aren’t being done because of partisan politics and a lack of open debate. I believe that safe districts and lack of a fair redistricting process help support that kind of dysfunction."
KUDOS TO SACRAMENTO COUNTY D.A. JAN SCULLY
You might recall that the union forces filed a criminal complaint against the Governor’s campaign, alleging wrongdoing because they were creative enough to think of sending a bunch of email to email addresses in State Government. Well, this clearly was a free-speech issue, and the D.A. agreed! No charges will be filed. This article is linked.
Have a great day!
Jon
P.S. I will be very disappointed if both Steve and Kris Lesher did not have front-row seats for the debate. Their grandparents was the patriarchs who created the Lesher Center…they always have good concert seats… Steve and Kris are both former poobahs of the "real" Young Republicans – the Young Republican Federation of California.