Assemblyman Lloyd Levine’s (D- S.F. Valley) bill to initiate a state-sponsored Gubernatorial Debate Commission chosen by the Secretary of State, and three state-sponsored Gubernatorial debates, AB 970,will be heard in the Assembly Elections Committee on April 17. Here is a recent email from Assemblyman Levine explaining his bill: First of all, the brief background on the bill: I came up with the idea watching the farce that supposedly passed for a gubernatorial debate last fall between Angelides and Schwarzenegger. For those of you who don’t remember or didn’t see it, the debate was on a Saturday night at 6:00 at the same time as a World Series game, and a relatively important college football game (although I can’t remember which two teams, I think one of them was Cal). The questions and format really weren’t conducive to eliciting any useful information for the voters. I also got tired of, over the years, watching one candidate or the other trying to manipulate the format to their advantage. I figured I would try to do something about it, and if nothing else stimulate some debate on the subject of debates.

I knew that I… Read More

On Monday, April 17,a hearing will be held in the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee in Sacramento on Assemblyman Lloyd Levine’s (D-SF Valley) legislation to establish state-sponsored candidate debates for the office of Governor.

Levine’s legislation, which appears below in its entirety, would require the California Secretary of State to establish a "Gubernatorial Debate Commission" to hold three debates and establish rules and formats for each debate. Currently, such debates are sponsored in California by private charities and news media outlets according to rules of nonpartisanship established by the Internal Revenue Service. Levine’s bill would add a series of three "state-sponsored" debates managed according to published rules established by a Commission of uncertain composition appointed by the Secretary of State.

AB 970, as introduced, Levine. Election campaigns: candidates’ debates. Existing law encourages every candidate for public office in this state to subscribe to the Code of Fair Campaign Practices, which generally provides that a candidate will pledge to… Read More

Today, the Los Angeles Times is reporting that Governor Schwarzenegger is planning on doling out hefty, substantive salary adjustments (they are too large, in my opinion, to simply characterize them as ‘raises’) — his Chief of Staff, former California Democratic Party Executive Director Susan Kennedy, could end up making $225,000 annually. There will be a healthy discussion, I am sure ,as to whether these raises are a good idea or not. I can certainly see both sides of the argument — with talent attraction and retention on one side, and cost to taxpayers as well as symbolism being on the other. I would simply suggest on this quiet Saturday morning that what is most egregious is the backdrop of a massive state bureaucracy that is vastly larger than it needs to or should be, with entire agencies and departments that, frankly, should be eliminated. Just as an exercise, I went to the State of California website, and clicked down the state agency/department list a random number of times. When I stopped, I looked at the list. It took me about one second to find something to eliminate, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Cut it. Let… Read More

Today, the Los Angeles Times is reporting that Governor Schwarzenegger is planning on doling out hefty, substantive salary adjustments (they are too large, in my opinion, to simply characterize them as ‘raises’) — his Chief of Staff, former California Democratic Party Executive Director Susan Kennedy, could end up making $225,000 annually. There will be a healthy discussion, I am sure ,as to whether these raises are a good idea or not. I can certainly see both sides of the argument — with talent attraction and retention on one side, and cost to taxpayers as well as symbolism being on the other. I would simply suggest on this quiet Saturday morning that what is most egregious is the backdrop of a massive state bureaucracy that is vastly larger than it needs to or should be, with entire agencies and departments that, frankly, should be eliminated. Just as an exercise, I went to the State of California website, and clicked down the state agency/department list a random number of times. When I stopped, I looked at the list. It took me about one second to find something to eliminate, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Cut it. Let… Read More

Mostly, I’ve taken to reading theCalifornia Majority Report only from time to time. It’s not the liberal bias (Admissions: I listen to NPR . I subscribe to and read Harpers, the New Yorker, and the Atlantic magazines. I drive a Volvo. Worse, I live in Curtis Park, which may be the most liberal neighborhood in Sacramento). it’s that the group of people who actually publish is fairly small. Go to the site right now if you don’t believe me. No one should have to look at a picture of Steve Maviglio in ski attirethat many times in such a limited space.

Anyway, Mr. Maviglio did publish something interesting this morning on the topic offollow-up polling done by Democracy Corps and Stan Greenberg in thewestern states minus California.

See the link here.… Read More

Late last week, I wrote a column about the BHP Billiton proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility that would be located 14 miles off of the Los Angeles/Ventura County coast (hereafter the proposed facility will be referred to as "Cabrillo Port"). Frankly, the issue caught my eye because of the high-profile enviro-actor-activists opposing the project, the Pierce Brosnan and Martin Sheen crowd. You know, the ones who are worth mega-millions and enjoy residing in lavish coastal estates? The same ones who feverishly work to prevent public access to the beach in front of their estates and ban others from having similar – or even more modest – homes themselves? I call them the “Hollywood Hypocrites”.

Anyway, the Cabrillo Port proposal has been described and debated in the papers and the blogosphere with increasing… Read More

Just a day after leading Democratic Party blogger Markos Moulitsas Zúniga of dailykos.com proclaimed US House Democrats are “united after all” regarding the supposed unity of the members of the Democratic Congressional new majority, the row that began last year between San Bernardino County’s lone Democratic Congressman Joe Baca and six-term Congressmember Loretta Sanchez of Orange County continues unabated. The fight has apparently now expanded to include Loretta’s younger sister, three-term Congressmember Linda Sanchez of Los Angeles County.

According to a news story reported earlier this week by the Washington, DC-based publication The Hill, Congressman Baca, who is… Read More

Late last week, I wrote a column about the BHP Billiton proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility that would be located 14 miles off of the Los Angeles/Ventura County coast (hereafter the proposed facility will be referred to as "Cabrillo Port"). Frankly, the issue caught my eye because of the high-profile enviro-actor-activists opposing the project, the Pierce Brosnan and Martin Sheen crowd. You know, the ones who are worth mega-millions and enjoy residing in lavish coastal estates? The same ones who feverishly work to prevent public access to the beach in front of their estates and ban others from having similar – or even more modest – homes themselves? I call them the “Hollywood Hypocrites”.

Anyway, the Cabrillo Port proposal has been described and debated in the papers and the blogosphere with increasing… Read More