How Prop. 11 Passed
In a series of comments this summer, I wrote that Proposition 11 could pass, despite numerous unsuccessful past redistricting reform initiatives, if the proponents made the political class, rather than the arcane subject of redistricting, the center of their campaign.
That appears to be what happened. The race is not over as there are several million still uncounted absentee and provisional ballots, but the margin seems large enough that Proposition 11 will be enacted and California will have a redistricting commission for the 2011 legislative redistricting.
In a series of very effective television ads, proponents made the point that Prop 11 disciplined out of control politicians and allowed the voters to turn them out of office, without of course saying how. Proponents were also lucky that legislative Democrats and their allies did not spend lavishly to defeat the measure as they have in the past, and that some prominent Democrats joined Gov. Schwarzenegger in supporting redistricting reform.
Boosting State of Production
It may seem crazy for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to propose giving tax breaks to film and television productions at the same time there is a state budget crisis, but this is exactly the time to make such a move.
The governor last Thursday announced he wants to extend roughly $100 million a year to producers as an incentive for them to make movies and TV shows in the state. That is a great deal of money, sure, but it is far less than California would lose if more production leaves.
As noted previously in this column and other places, about 40 states and several other countries offer some tax benefit or other incentives to producers who film there. California is not one of them. And some of those giveaways are embarrassingly generous – too generous for producers to pass up.
In fact, many of the producers haven’t. A few years ago, most film production was done in California. Now, most isn’t.
Behind the Prop 10 Defeat, the Pickens Plan Will Go On
As the campaign manager for Proposition 10 and an early and active member of the McCain for President finance team Tuesday night, for me, could be viewed as a personal and professional disaster. After 30 plus years knocking around California politics, I’ve experienced worse.
In 1992 I was the California campaign manager for President George Bush and that was an equally disastrous year for we Republicans. I remember the press availability the morning after the election that I participated in with some of my colleagues from the Pete Wilson organization. At the merciful conclusion of the media event I looked pretty shell-shocked and the sage Dan Walters said to me, “Don’t worry kid, it’s our job to bayonet the wounded.”
So wounded I am again some 16 years later and I feel compelled to answer this question, “Marty, how the Hell did you lose the Proposition 10 campaign when you were funded and your opposition had no money?”
To which I answer, “It was harder than you think.”
An Instance of Greed
AIG, American International Group, has been the recipient of some $123 billion of the Fed’s largesse. Exactly what have they done with that money? It’s anybody’s guess.
We are promised AIG’s quarterly report shortly, which will tell us what they are doing or have done with the 123 thousand million dollars of taxpayer money. Well, we know they threw a few parties since being ‘bailed out.’ A week after catching the Fed’s life preserver, AIG threw a California bash which featured spa treatments, banquets, and a few rounds of pricey golf, costing a mere $444,000. After catching severe media flak for this, AIG, undaunted, took another little jaunt over to a British hunting preserve for some Execs to the tune of $86,000. And, the Fed kept throwing multi-billion dollar life preservers to AIG.
Do I hear the ghost of Marie Antoinette laughing hysterically somewhere – ‘let them eat cake;’ why, they ate the whole universe of cakes, and then some.