Burton and the Pragmatic Democrats
This squishy centrist has spent so much time writing about the self-destructive, cult-like madness of California’s “heads-on-sticks” Republicans lately that he needed his fix of left-wing cant. So on Monday night, I took a drive over to the Santa Monica library.
In an auditorium there, the new chair of the state Democratic Party, the legislative legend John Burton, was addressing a crowd of Democratic activists. The evening didn’t disappoint (Except perhaps in his failure to use profanity. When Burton was leading the state Senate five years ago and I was a reporter haunting the halls of the Capitol, he rarely failed to say interesting things in language that I couldn’t quote in a family newspaper).
Burton talked dismissively of “business Democrats” and urged the room of liberals to “work in the primary and elect the libs.” He also thundered at one point: “I’m to the left of anyone in this state, including Barbara Lee.” Let’s just say he’s not exactly the Terry McAuliffe of the West.
Bonds Sell; Campbell Responds
Investors gobbled up California’s general obligation bonds the last couple of days and that could be a positive indication that the market might look favorably on California’s fiscal fix.
On Monday, I suggested that the sale of general obligation bonds offered by the state would be an early test of investors’ attitude toward some Special Election ballot measures.
Proposition1C in particular, the lottery modernization measure, needs Wall Street to plunk down billions to help balance the budget with payoff to investors from lottery proceeds down the road.
Treasurer Bill Lockyer sold around $2.5 billion more in bonds than he originally anticipated putting on the market. About half the bonds were taken by individual investors, the other half by institutional investors. Relatively high interest rates accounts for some of the bond sale success. However, the successful offering also indicates that investors have positive feelings about California’s economic stability. That could bode well for Prop 1C if the voters support it in May.
Grab Your Pitchfork and Meet Me at the Barricades
While I was hiding late last week through last weekend in the Mendocino redwoods with friends celebrating anniversaries and times spent there in the simpler world of the early 70’s, America shifted into full-on Populist Revolt-time. Maybe it was the AIG-bonus massacre, maybe Madoff, maybe Geithner’s still unready for primetime presentations of this and that staggering new program, maybe the Cable News and Talking Heads’ onslaught of video clips from protesters with those Anti-FatCat signs (I particularly like the Oliver Twist – ‘Please Sir, May I have Some More,’ one).
Perhaps it is the drumbeat, starting softly last Fall, and growing in urgency with revelations of wretched excess and corporate risk-taking madness, growing even louder since, but my return from a four-day trip feels like I’ve been away for months and have returned to something which once again feels like we are caught in the throes of another B-Movie screenplay, splashed across American Media.
Grad Rates & March Madness
The first two rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament make for the most exciting weekend in all of sports. I love March Madness, especially when small colleges get their 15 seconds of fame by taking powerhouse programs down to the wire.
This year, President Obama has made things even more interesting with his picks. He obviously knows more about college basketball than us Pac-10 followers who cried we were underrated.
Yet, it’s hard to remember that this is college basketball, particularly when the academic performance of so many schools is unacceptable.
According to the latest study from the Institute for Diversity & Ethics in Sports (TIDES), only 63% of the tournament teams graduated half or more of their student athletes. And the authors are calling this good news because it’s better than last year!