CTA Spending Big for Business Tax Battle
The California Teachers Association has put another $500,000 into its effort to overturn a trio of business tax breaks, setting the stage for a nasty November ballot battle.
While half a million dollars is probably way less than the “incremental investment” Republican Meg Whitman has promised to add to the $39 million she’s already spent on her campaign for governor, it’s a sign as to just how seriously public employees unions are taking this fall’s election.
That’s serious as in $2.2 million serious, which is how much the CTA has spent in its effort to qualify the repeal measure for the ballot.
The business community also is gearing up for a fight. On Wednesday, Amgen, a Southern California biotech company, became the ninth big-name business to write a $100,000 check to the “Stop the Jobs Tax” campaign.
BREAKING NEWS FROM 2011: California GOP Guards the Border
“If I have to, I’ll send the National Guard to the border. If that doesn’t work, I’ll send the California Highway patrol to the border. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll send the California Republican Party to the border.” – Steve Poizner, March 2010
CALEXICO, Calif. (Associated Press), July 5, 2011 — The difficult first day of Gov. Steve Poizner’s deployment of thousands of California Republican Party regulars to the Mexican border ended in frustration, with reports of dozens of injuries.
No immigrants were harmed during the day – or even apprehended. Those who were confronted by Republicans as they tried to cross the border found that they could easily outrun their would-be GOP capturers, who in most cases appeared to be more than a quarter-century older than the would-be migrants they attempted to turn back.
The Republican border watchers were not nearly as fortunate. Several collapsed from the heat during the chase for immigrants. There were dozens of reports of falls and broken hips, and paramedics were dispatched to treat two GOP border police for heart attacks.
Oil, Oil Everywhere, But Not a Drop to Drill (off California)
When it comes to oil, California is the new Nebraska
The Obama administration thinks that off shore oil drilling is important to meet America’s energy needs. However, it is only important enough to open up underwater oil fields off the southern Atlantic coast, Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. California and the West Coast states are treated differently where off shore oil drilling is still prohibited.
Guess this continues the Washington trend of cutting political deals to move the ball on big issues. California, Washington and Oregon fall into the same class as Nebraska. Recall in the heated healthcare debate Nebraska was given concessions to secure a crucial congressional vote.
In the case of California, the administration is not so much after the votes of senators or congress members but to help keep the biggest bundle of electoral votes in the president’s corner.
Big Signs, Bigger Problems
Carmen Trutanich has complained that since he came into office as city attorney on July 1, he’s done little but cut.
He faced an immediate 18 percent budget cut. He cut 100 lawyers. Now he faces more cuts. The poor guy. He just keeps cutting and cutting. (Well, one thing he doesn’t seem eager to cut is his own $214,000 salary.)
But I’ve got a question. If he’s really hurting all that much, why is he spending so much time and creative energy on something as silly as his war on supergraphics?
Trutanich a month ago jailed a Hollywood building owner for draping a supergraphic on his building. The jailing was shocking enough, but Trutanich did it late on Friday so the guy would have to spend a whole weekend in the hoosegow. I mean, that’s deviously creative. And bail was set at $1 million. One million? For hanging a big sign?