Press Yearns for Brown Governor Fight
With Jerry Brown moving inexorably toward a profoundly boring walkover win in the Democratic primary for governor, desperate political reporters are making the rounds of would-be candidates, shouting their traditional war cry:
“Why don’t you and him fight?”
The latest plea comes from Dan Weintraub of the New York Times, a former Sacramento Bee columnist who should know better. He’s pumping up former state Controller Steve Westly as someone with “a forward looking centrist background” who might be the Democrat “best positioned for a general election campaign.”
Not only that, the story added, Westly could “combine money, experience, high-tech roots and relative youth” into a package that could keep the 71-year-old Brown out of the November election.
Ghost of Willie Brown-Past Hovers Over Speakership Fight
Is there another Willie Brown in the house, a Democratic assembly member who can play political chess as adeptly as the legendary former Assembly Speaker? The ghost of Willie Brown-Past and his political maneuvering hovers over the current Assembly speakership fight.
Competing for the Speaker’s post are two Los Angeles Democrats—John Perez and Kevin DeLeon. Current Speaker Karen Bass believes Perez has the votes in the Democratic caucus to take the position but those votes have not been counted yet. DeLeon’s supporters think he can still prevail.
Another Democratic assembly member might seize the opportunity caused by the caucus split to sneak into the speaker’s chair with the help of unusual allies: Republicans. Nearly thirty years ago, Willie Brown rounded up Republicans to pull the speakership from under the noses of fellow Democrats Leo McCarthy and Howard Berman who were tussling over the post. Brown began his record setting fifteen-year run as speaker by persuading 28 Republicans to join 23 Democrats and put him in the speaker’s chair.
Plunder: New Book Exposes Power of Unions
Last month, the Legislative Analyst Office predicted a budget
shortfall for California’s next fiscal year so large it shocked even
seasoned observers. The projected $20 billion shortfall is larger
than the entire state budgets of all but a handful of other states.
The LAO also excoriated the continued use of budget gimmicks,
including unrealistic assumptions of new revenue and accounting tricks
employed to effectively borrow from future years.
But it is not as though we didn’t see this coming. Try as they might,
our state political leaders simply cannot reduce spending to a level
equal with revenue. Instead, with the help of a few Republicans, last
February the state enacted the largest tax increase ever imposed by
any statehouse in the history of America. The results were
predictable: Like the tax increase of 1991, California plunged deeper
into recession and produced less revenue.
Business is Proud of the Progress at LAPD
At last Thursday’s swearing-in ceremony for new Police Chief Charlie Beck, Angelenos were reminded of the enormous progress made by the Los Angeles Police Department since the 1992 riots. The atmosphere and speeches at this milestone event confirmed that the once maligned police department has regained the trust, confidence and faith of residents throughout the city. That’s good for our community and a very positive sign for businesses.
Beck’s 32-year professional career at LAPD embodies these changes, from his days in the notorious CRASH anti-gang unit to partnering with civil rights groups and community activists. We knew it was a historic day when former Chief Daryl Gates and former State Sen.Tom Hayden—one of LAPD’s fiercest critics, shared the dais in support of the new chief. Their presence was a reminder that Chief Beck’s tenure with the department links its history as the inspiration for the hard-nosed Dragnet television series and recipient of a federal consent decree to its reputation today as a model for community policing and data-driven crime fighting.