The FR got a hot tip that turned out to be very true.

I just got off of the phone with a staffer in the office of Democratic Assemblyman Juan Arambula (pictured) who confirmed that his boss has been told to pack his things — he is being moved to a new office, "5126", said the staffer. I asked him if he knew who occupied that office now, and he said, "Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee."

Have you been to Blakeslee’s office? It’s tiny.

Arambula last night had some very serious concerns about the Infrastructure Bond Package being forced through the legislature. (I hear there were issues surrounding unfairness to county governments, among other concerns). Anyways, he did not provide "aye" votes for ANY of the bond measures.

Sounds to me like the Speaker is punishing a member of his caucus for voting his conscience. I sure hope that all of his Democratic colleagues denounce this… Read More

As I write this, the California State Senate is voting on the various components of the BIG BOND$ deal. First to pass was this Prop. 42 ‘fix’ that would go on the ballot, though there is nothing in the other bonds requiring the Prop. 42 fix to actually pass for the bonds to also be authorized. This is key since the CTA opposes the fix. Also voted out was the Levee Repair Bond, as well as a one-time emergency appropriation of $500,000. They started a vote on the Housing Bond, but apparently Republican Leader Ackerman was not there, so that has been held open. Votes underway for the Transportation and the Education Bond measures.

And the State Assembly has just called their members into session… [UPDATE (Midnight): The Senate passed, with TWO Republican votes (the minimum # of GOP votes to give Democrats a 2/3 vote) the Housing Bond measure. The two GOPers that sold-out on that vote: Senators Dick Ackerman and Bob Dutton. Very disappointing.]

[UPDATE II (12:10am): Just got off of the phone with Dick Ackerman, who… Read More

Thanks to Flash for pointing out the piece from yesterday’s San Bernardino County Sun about the latest development in the misadventures ofRep. Joe Baca and Sons,aka the "Dismal Dynasty". I postedPart I of this year’s sagaon October 9th. The latest Baca blunder came in the form of their inability to get endorsements from the Democratic Party convention last weekend.

(Pictured, left to right) Joe, Joe Jr., and Jeremy — or as he is now known, "J. Baca", are either running for reelection to Congress (Joe the Father), for a promotion from the State Assembly to the State Senate in the overlapping district (Joe the Son, who likes to call himself "Genuine Joe"), or for promotion to the State Assembly from "education consultant" (the other son, "J. Baca", akaJeremy).

Since almost the dawn of… Read More

After a long city council meeting 4 of the 5members of the West Covina City Council and the City Manager were looking to relax and get something to eat. They innocently traveled 20 minutes away to the Dal Rae in Pico Riveria.

I should note that Iknow the W.C. council pretty well and would never disparage them.

Now they are being accused of violating the Brown Act. See article here.

No need to worry. They took the City Attorney along. Councilwomen Shelley Sandersonexplains;

"Sanderson said Alvarez-Glasman was at the dinner to make sure the members did not discuss city business."

Hats off tothe City Attoney for spending his free time (unless hisservices end up in the bill) as chaperone. If more Council’s would do the same thing these problems just wouldn’t come up.

Memo to West Covina Chamber: You really need to work onthe Shop West Covina campaign.… Read More

[Update: Assemblyman Chuck DeVore just called to say that a late-scheduled session has been set in the State Assembly for 5:30 p.m. today…]

The Democrats in Sacramento must be really enjoying themselves today. What could possibly be more enjoyable for them than to see Republicans boxed into a corner. In the downstairs office, you have a GOP Governor against whom almost all of the Democrats have endorsed, and across the aisle they have GOP legislators, who stand as their longtime opponents in their quest to massively grow the size and scope of state government. It is being reported in articles all around the state (check them out on the main page of the site) that both houses of the legislature are going to be voting today to send a on a package of four bond measures for the November ballot. It is with great glee that Senate and Assembly Democrats are pushing as hard as they can to include literally as much non-infrastructure spending as possible into a bond package on which the Governor would like to stake his re-election. It’s a win-win for… Read More

[Update: Assemblyman Chuck DeVore just called to say that a late-scheduled session has been set in the State Assembly for 5:30 p.m. today…] The Democrats in Sacramento must be really enjoying themselves today. What could possibly be more enjoyable for them than to see Republicans boxed into a corner. In the downstairs office, you have a GOP Governor against whom almost all of the Democrats have endorsed, and across the aisle they have GOP legislators, who stand as their longtime opponents in their quest to massively grow the size and scope of state government. It is being reported in articles all around the state (check them out on the main page of the site) that both houses of the legislature are going to be voting today to send a on a package of four bond measures for the November ballot. It is with great glee that Senate and Assembly Democrats are pushing as hard as they can to include literally as much… Read More

After talking with several folks "in the know" inside of the State Capitol — it is clear that the legislative sessions hastily scheduled for this afternoon are pre-mature. It would appear that Perata and Nunez are somehow trying to push Republicans into making a speedy decision.

To that I say – PUT ON THE BRAKES.

The only rush here is an imaginary deadline that doesn’t exist. What is the advantage of a speedy vote? Well, it seems like there might be two of them that are the most obvious:

I would counsel legislative Republicans that not rushing into a vote, and taking the time to review this proposal (and subsequent proposals if this one doesn’t cut the mustard) is the prudent thing to do. Taking some time would allow legislators to do some pretty… Read More

Not much to report by way of an update, other than to say that if the bond package as it sits now comes out to vote tonight, it would be a high-drama affair because there are a lot of GOP legislators who are not going to vote for a package tonight, and probably not THIS package at all.

That said, there are lots of meetings going on and somebody somewhere is trying to convince your legislator to borrow your money to pay someone else’s rent or help them buy a house.

Nice.

[Imagine THIS nightmare – a plan that gets just enough GOP votes to get onto the ballot — then the Governor campaigns FOR the bonds, while a great many of his supporters (myself among them) spend the fall campaigning FOR the Governor and AGAINST the bonds. The Democrats must be salivating, indeed.]… Read More