Perez May Find Speaker’s Job No Prize
Congratulations, I guess.
After a messy in-house squabble, Assemblyman John Perez of Los Angeles was anointed Thursday as the next speaker by his fellow Democrats. Although the formal vote on the Assembly floor isn’t anticipated until January, it’s expected to be a mere formality, with no Republican votes needed
So Perez, who’s been in office less than a year, now gets to step into what historically has been one of the most important posts in California after a landmark win for a young politician.
He should be careful what he wishes for. Just ask Karen Bass.
Bass, who’s also from Los Angeles, was sworn in as speaker in May 2008. During her first two terms, Bass pushed hard to make life better for California foster children, provide health insurance for California young people and make improvements in her district.
Race to the Bottom
The battle over Race to the Top federal education grants is a perfect example of what’s wrong with California lawmaking and lawmakers. To satisfy federal guidelines and capture up to $700 million in federal Race to the Top school reform funds, separate factions in the legislature have engaged in a tug of war instead of pulling on the same end of the rope to secure the funds.
As usual, there is one faction of lawmakers doing union bidding. The unions object to the stronger charter school language in the bill passed by the Senate that also gives more power to those pesky parents who demand excellence from their children’s schools.
Under the Senate bill, authored by Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), if a petition is signed by more than fifty percent of the parents, the school may be taken over by new leadership, including charter school operators. The union backed Assembly bill put forward by Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica) offers a watered down version of the parent trigger, which would just set off a bureaucratic paradise of hearings and little action to improve education for students.
Independents Shift to GOP
In the latest political indicator to show further shift toward Republicans, independent voters are now favoring GOP congressional candidates by 22% over their Democrat competitors, according to Gallup.
The ongoing shift of unaffiliated voters toward the Republican Party stands in stark contrast to the 2006 and 2008 elections when independent voters preferred Democrats. Taken alone this trend is significant enough, but when viewed together with falling Presidential approval (47%) and growing numbers of Americans who are identifying with the Republican Party (40%, up from 35% in Jan.), we see that we are working in a political environment very different than the one we were in a year ago.
When reviewing political trends, one common mistake is to assume that by definition independent voters are all ideological centrists whose personal philosophy falls somewhere in between the Republican and Democrat parties. The subsequent advice from those who make this assumption is that victory goes to whichever side chooses to “move to the center.” Simple.
Perceiving the Truth from Propaganda
I have been afforded the opportunity to interview academics and scholars from throughout the world. I have to say I am quite frightened by what I have learned. I am even more concerned about what the average citizen does not know about what is happening in our world today.
For instance, due to a virtual media blackout, unless you peruse certain internet sites or watch Fox News, you have not heard about what is perhaps the greatest scientific scandal of our time involving some leading scientists and academics on the subject of global warming. The scandal has been dubbed “Climategate”. It involves the most important and central scientists in the world who have led the effort which would serve to scare us into believing that the core manufacturing, transportation and energy sectors of the world are destroying the planet and something must be done immediately or else.