Time for Brown to Take a Stand on the Budget
Let’s imagine, for a moment, that the major candidates for governor were asked to answer a single question: How would you deal with California’s budget problems?
Republican Steve Poizner: “Cut taxes and freeze spending.”
Republican Meg Whitman: “Rein in state spending and fire 40,000 government workers.”
Democrat Jerry Brown: “Well, since I’m not an official candidate for governor at this point …”
That answer’s getting old. There’s no one in the state, including the guy sitting in the attorney general’s office in Oakland, who isn’t convinced that Jerry Brown is running for governor.
Sure, the campaign account in the secretary of state’s office is called “Brown for Governor 2010 Exploratory Committee,” but any “exploratory” questions about a run for governor were answered long before Brown set up that committee last September. He told KGO radio in San Francisco Thursday that he has about $12.5 million in the bank for the race, which is a mighty official sounding pile of cash.
Have You Seen Initiative Signature Gatherers?
Everyone is expecting a big initiative election year—and it still could happen. But where are the petition signature gatherers?
There were none in front of a Sacramento Wal-Mart yesterday. There were none in front of a Los Angeles Wal-Mart on Saturday. In fact, I have not run into one person carrying a petition seeking signatures for a ballot measure.
By rights the signature gatherers should be everywhere pulling a cart full of different petitions. They could not carry all the measures that have passed through the Attorney General’s office for title and summary.
All who follow such things know that about 90 or so initiatives have been filed as citizens try to compete with legislators to see who can write the most laws. With so many initiatives on record you would expect signature gatherers to be hard at work. Many of the major initiatives that have big money backers are ready to go but so far no major push.
Joe Paine for Senate
"And I compromised–yes! So that all these years I could
stay in that Senate–and serve the people in a thousand honest ways! You’ve got
to face facts, Jeff. I’ve served our State well, haven’t I? We have the lowest unemployment and the
highest Federal grants. But, well, I’ve had to compromise, had to play
ball. You can’t count on people voting, half the time they don’t vote, anyway.
That’s how states and empires have been built since time began."-Sen. Joseph Paine, the corrupt but successful logroller
played by Claude Rains, explaining the facts of Senate life to the idealistic
new Sen. Jefferson C. Smith (Jimmy Stewart) in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
California has one of the highest unemployment rates and
among the lowest rates of federal grants.
So it’s time, way past time for Senators Feinstein and Boxer
to play ball.
Hardball.
Why Northrop’s Exit Matters
Northrop Grumman Corp.’s decision to move its headquarters out of Los Angeles, in and of itself, is no biggee.
We’re only talking about the loss of 300 jobs. That’s less than one-hundredth of 1 percent of all payroll jobs in Los Angeles County.
What’s more, Northrop’s departure doesn’t necessarily say anything derogatory about L.A.’s relative business climate. Northrop’s explanation that it wants to move to the Washington, D.C., suburbs to be close to its prime customer, the Defense Department, is perfectly plausible. It needs to be there; it didn’t say it’s itching to flee from here.
But rather than focus on the decision of one company to move, it’s far more instructive – not to mention important – for the community to look at the decisions of a bunch of companies. In other words, the Big Picture. Are more companies moving out or moving in? Are companies that are born here staying here and growing here? One the whole, are we thriving economically or slowly dying?
Alas, the big picture may make you squirm.