Lights, Camera, Investments All Around
Mike Murphy’s film development company picked up a cool million from Meg Whitman before he signed on to advise her political campaign. Talk about stopping run-away production. News articles suggest that the investment stopped Murphy from running away to Whitman’s opponent in the primary.
I happen to know Murphy is serious about making a go in the movie business. He talked about it with Arnold-the-actor right before he was sworn in as Arnold-the- governor back in 2003 and soon after Murphy declared he was staying in California, taking a break from politics and setting up shop in Hollywood. Murphy is not the first person to come back to his roots while trying a new venture.
Speaking of investments, I see Roger Salazar, spokesman for the union sponsored independent expenditure in support of Jerry Brown, responded to the new Whitman ad, which pointed out Jerry Brown is the public employee unions’ candidate by saying that the IE’s messages must be resonating with voters.
Meg Whitman Stops Bullet Train With Teeth
Cross posted on Hoguenews.com
Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has stated that she
believes the ‘bullet to the brain train’ is too costly for California’s
fiscal crisis, and that it has no evidence of adequate ‘ROI’
for California’s tax payers’ investment.
She’s right and she has respected bi-patisan backing.
University of California, Berkeley, researchers issued an analysis
contending the state High-Speed Rail Authority’s ridership projections
suffer from statistical modeling flaws, and may not reflect real
ridership numbers.
Don’t Let Texas Oil Companies Kill California Clean Tech
I
guess it’s too much to ask the business-as-usual dirty energy companies
to play fair. They see the writing on the wall as states like
California take meaningful steps towards clean alternatives to burning
fossil fuels. Now it’s clear their response will be to wage a cynical
and deceptive battle that maintains the profits they earn from their
dirty ways.
The latest is Proposition 23, a California ballot measure sponsored by
two Texas oil companies (Valero and Tesoro) that aims to kill popular
climate and clean air legislation known as AB32.
The proposition is a cynical effort to fool voters in the 2010 fall
elections by appealing to concerns about difficult economic times.
Proponents falsely claim that AB32 will cost the state jobs and money.
Disclose Act and Cheese Factories on the Moon
On Off The Presses last week, we caught up with Dick Castner of the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce who explained how the pending "Disclose"
Act will put business interests at competitive disadvantages when
supporting candidates.
Still
awaiting action by the U.S.
Senate, the bill would sets new rules for American corporations and
interest
groups, including a prohibition of corporations and other interest
groups in
coordinating spending with candidates or political parties. Plus, CEOs
would
have to appear in any ads paid for by their corporations (which, of
course,could help launch the political careers of more corporate
executives).
We also spoke with CSU Channel Islands political science
professors Sean Kelly
and Scott Frisch,
who have co-authored a new book about Congressional pork spending,
"Cheese Factories on the Moon: Why Earmarks are Good for American
Democracy," which will be published this summer by Paradigm Publishers.