The Terrible Law That Tripped Up Brown Aide
While reporting a magazine piece on Jerry Brown this summer,
I talked a few times to his spokesman Scott Gerber, who resigned Monday after
reports that he recorded phone calls with reporters without their knowledge. We
don’t know which reporters Gerber taped. If I’m one of them, I don’t feel at
all violated.
Here’s why: the state law that
Gerber may have violated with his secret recordings is a terrible statute. In
fact, under federal law and the law in 38 states, what he did is perfectly
legal. (Those states have one-party consent laws; if one party to a
conversation knows it’s being recorded, then the recording is legal). The irony
of the Gerber case, the first "scandal" of the Brown campaign is this: the supposed
victims of Gerber – journalists and the public they serve – are the people who
suffer most under the law.
This Election Day’s Politics Are Local
Happy election day and a big shout out to the few Californians who will actually take time to cast ballots today.
Elections in odd-numbered years are generally a thin soup of city council races and school board contests, with a few local-interest ballot measures tossed in. The turnout numbers are usually dismal, with the statewide primary election that’s still seven months away usually drawing far more attention from the press and the public.
The special congressional election in and around Contra Costa County to replace Democrat Ellen Tauscher will add a little spice to the day, however. Political prognosticators across the country will be trying to tease the results there, in New York’s 23rd Congressional District and in the Virginia governor’s race to see what they can tell us about the country’s response to President Barack Obama and his policies.
Ain’t It ‘Cool’ News? CARB’S Latest Embarrassing Scheme.
"There’s
no trick to being a humorist" – Will
Rogers once said – "when you have the whole government working for you."
Even
though he observed this decades ago, Rogers’ quote sure says a lot about the
comedy club of contemporary California. And it would be downright funny
if it wasn’t so seriously troubling.
Everyone
in Sacramento is aware of our disastrous deficits, unprecedented unemployment,
enduring government gridlock and continuing water shortages. If the
record low approval ratings of the Governor and Legislature are any indication,
the public understands as well.
Given
the need for serious action, perhaps we can expect California’s powerful
regulatory regimes to take a break from operating their red tape factories and
reduce costs on business and consumers?
Could Long Beach Sail Ahead?
I shook my head in pity when I looked at the Port of Long Beach over the last couple of years. Poor thing, I thought. It sure is getting hurt by its bigger neighbor, the Port of Los Angeles.
But last week, I started thinking exactly the opposite. The L.A. port is helping the Long Beach port. In fact, thanks to L.A.’s missteps, Long Beach might be able to sail right past Los Angeles and become the nation’s No. 1 port.
The reason I went full astern, nautically speaking, is because of recent events.
Notably, a couple of weeks ago, the Port of Los Angeles boosted to $205,000 the payments it can give to the well-connected lobbying firm headed by former Congressman Richard Gephardt to push for a change in federal law. That change would allow the L.A. port to do what it most wants: upend the longstanding system that relies on independent and contract truck drivers (the ones who pick up and deliver cargo containers at the port) and replace it with a system in which drivers would be employees of big companies. That way, the employee drivers could be unionized by the Teamsters. The Teamsters, by the way, helped Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a former union organizer, craft the employee-driver rule.