There is a lot to digest in terms of California political news today – you might find yourself spending more time than usual perusing the news.
WILL JAN SCULLY PUT ROB REINER IN FRONT OF A GRAND JURY?
I have featured on the main page today the lead editorial from today’s San Diego Union Tribune because it highlights an important criminal investigation taking place that has managed to slide off of the ‘public radar screen’ – the investigation of Rob Reiner and his role with the state’s First Five Commission. You’ll recall that a lot of controversy swirled around this issue – eventually leading to Reiner stepping off of the commission. There was a lot of monkey business going on (things like Reiner’s Commission spending taxpayer dollars to run pro-preschool advertising on TV at the same time that Reiner was gathering signatures for his preschool ballot measure).
Ultimately the criminal investigation into Reiner’s activities ended up in the lap of tough prosecutor Jan Scully, the District Attorney of Sacramento County. She and her office have been quietly conducting their probe into Reiner’s activities. It would appear from the 30,000 foot level that there is more than enough knowledge of shady-business that Scully could haul Reiner up in front of a Grand Jury. But will she? And will that happen soon?
Don’t miss this editorial — and, if you are in Sacramento and run into Scully, let her know what you think of Reiner’s contemptuous use of public resources for his personal agenda!
THE ‘BONDINATOR’ STRIKES AGAIN?
I know that here at the FlashReport we sound like a broken record. But ‘record spending’ is what we have here in California. The amount of money being taken in and being spent in Sacramento is not only vast (well over $100,000,000,00.00) but it has grown sharply over the past few years. There is more than enough money for the State of California to engage in prison construction (or levee repair, educational institution investment, transportation projects and more) without having to borrow more money from taxpayers, that have to be paid back over 30 year or more. The problem in California is not that taxpayers aren’t already paying enough – the problem is how the liberal Democrats in the legislature want to prioritize the spending of that money. Passing these bonds measures (including a prison bond measure) is passing the buck. It is taking the pressure off of legislators to do the right thing — to stop funding ‘social engineering’ programs and instead fund the basic ‘stone and mortar’ needs of the state. I appreciate that the Governor is trying to solve a problem as best he can, with the reality of a far-left dominated Democrat legislature — but going to the voters with yet another borrowing measure is, in my humble opinion, poor public policy.
FIELD POLL REPORTS ON DOWN-TICKET BALLOT MEASURES
There are a lot of stories on how voters are looking at ballot measures. Of course, it is still very early, but sometimes the early looks can give you a ‘flavor’ of the November election results. Make sure you catch these stories. I was especially heartened to see that the Parental Notification measure on the ballot is fairing well, and I think that the Jessica’s Law measure is doing so well that perverts should just leave California now. Mimi Walters’ "Protect Our Homes" measure (click on the ad on this site) is also doing very well. I was surprised to see the level of support for the Oil Severance Tax Measure, especially given gas prices! There are more survey numbers in the articles.
WHY DOES ARNOLD OPPOSE THE POMBO OFFSHORE DRILLING BILL?
I keep reading missives from Governor Schwarzenegger opposing California Congressman Richard Pombo’s bill to make the issue of whether or not offshore oil drilling should take place a federal issue or a state issue. The interests of California (and every other coastal state) are clearly served by PASSING the Pombo bill. This bill simply removes the decision making on whether drilling can take place from the federal government, and reserves it to the state governments. As a matter of fact, under this legislation, a state could actually significantly INCREASE the area in which offshore drilling may be banned. Also, this bill gives the states who choose to allow the drilling the proceeds of federal taxes from that oil. So the Governor should think about what is in the best interests of CALIFORNIA. And he also should understand that other states that are less liberal may actually want to allow offshore drilling — and isn’t that something for them to decide?
OK, that’s it for today. There is a lot more on the main page (Mel Gibson, Soledad Cross, Brett Granlund, and the ouster of the Ventura County GOP Chairman – and more).
Jon
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