Poll Indicates Budget Reforms Unlikely For Now
Here’s a quick read from a report on the Field Poll results dealing with budget reform released today: The status quo seems safe for now.
Yes, a majority of respondents to the poll said they supported fundamental changes to the state constitution by way of a constitutional convention. But, any political consultant worth his or her salt will tell you that a 51% affirmative result is not a ringing endorsement. Once details of the changes are made public that 51% undoubtedly will slip under majority rather quickly.
In fact, some of the most talked about budget related changes the poll respondents batted down. Not surprisingly, reducing the two-thirds vote to a simple majority to raise taxes was crushed, 27% Yes, 69% No. Even the much ballyhooed idea to pass the state budget by a simple majority vote instead of a two-thirds vote couldn’t gain a majority in this poll: 43% Yes, 52% No.
Fiorina Fights DeVore in Battle She Didn’t Want
“Vote for me, I’ve been on advisory boards,” doesn’t have the ring of a winning campaign slogan, but Republican Carly Fiorina is ready to use it.
Irvine Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, the lone official candidate for next June’s GOP Senate nomination, apparently annoyed Fiorina, an almost-but-not-quite-yet-official candidate, when he suggested to a San Diego Republican group Monday night that the former Hewlett-Packard CEO wasn’t ready for the political big time.
After beating up on Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for a bit, DeVore warned that the same people who supported the Hollywood superstar for governor are now saying “we should take a chance on another individual with no public policy experience.”
The charge had the Fiorina camp frothing.
PETA’s Risque Offer to Vallejo: Bikini Ads on Police Cars
This article was originally published at PublicCEO.
In an alleged effort to stir controversy and gain publicity, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, has asked to place sexed up advertisements on city patrol cars.
PETA has claimed they will pay the financially struggling city to run “pro-vegan” advertisements on all police vehicles.
PETA’s illustration of a Vallejo patrol car
City of Vallejo Police Chief Robert Nichelini said, “It seems to us this is a scheme by PETA to obtain free publicity under the guise of a news story.”
A blog posted on PETA’s Web site states, “If Vallejo police chief Robert Nichelini allows PETA to serve our message to his community, no doubt many residents will make changes to better protect animals, the environment and their own health.”
In Pasadena on the Employment Front Lines
No one has better real-time information on California job markets than the administrators of the fifty local Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs), and the administrators of the local One-Stop Centers. Thus when I was in Pasadena last week, I took the opportunity to meet with Michael Dolphin and Ellen Greer, the regional Employment Development Department (EDD) administrators, along with Phillip Dunn, the thoughtful executive director of the Foothill Workforce Investment Board, and quiz them on the current job situation.
Michael and Ellen both have been with EDD over thirty years. This longevity is not uncommon (Al Dave, Michael’s predecessor, known as “Mr. EDD” in Los Angeles, was with the Department for nearly 40 years), and means that they were at EDD during the previous major California recessions of the early 1980s and the early 1990s. They made the following points about what EDD is seeing today at the One-Stop centers in Pasadena and throughout the region.