In Maid Story, Time for Meg to Cut the Condescension
On the core charge – that Meg Whitman employed an undocumented immigrant – she has nothing to be ashamed of. Plenty of Californians have done so, knowingly and unknowingly. If this makes her a hypocrite, so what? Immigration law is so thoroughly divorced from the human reality of California that most of us are hypocrites on this issue.
No, Whitman’s problem is how she has reacted to the story. The trouble is not just that she’s had to change her story, most disastrously in insisting neither she nor her husband ever got a letter from the Social Security Administration that he appears to have received. Her righteous attitude — the sense she exuded in Wednesday’s press conference that she didn’t and couldn’t have done the wrong thing – has turned this into a morality play about Whitman’s character. This is bad news for Whitman in two ways.
It’s hard to emerge as the hero of such plays. And the whole story is off message — voters don’t really care about Whitman personally. They care about what she might be able to do for them as governor.
Business Disagreement over Proposition 23
Proposition 23 to suspend the greenhouse gases law until unemployment drops dramatically has split the business community. Early this week, the California Manufacturer and Technology Association president, Jack Stewart, argued on this site that Proposition 23 must pass to preserve jobs and battle the high costs associated with the law. Other business groups including the California Small Business Association and the California chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business join him in this concern.
On Wednesday in Burbank, a press conference, which included business representatives, delivered the message that Proposition 23 must be defeated to create jobs.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was supposed to anchor the media conference but took a pass to continue budget negotiations. Greg Lippe, former board chair of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association (VICA), a business association powerhouse in the San Fernando Valley, led the event noting that "420 individual businesses, chambers of commerce and business associations" opposed Proposition 23 because they felt the measure would kill economic development and jobs.
Prop 24: Fairness or Penalty?
Cross-posted at CalWatchDog.com
It’s not so unusual to hear people making disparaging comments about
one another at the Capitol. However, it was shocking to hear the
executive director of the California Budget Project call the research
of Professor Charles Swenson, PhD, the "most error ridden, sloppy piece
of research I’ve ever seen in my life," when she referred to his
analysis of Proposition 24.
Ross testified in favor of passing Proposition 24 the initiative
that seeks to stop several business tax breaks slated to go into effect
in 2010 and 2012. The three tax policies Proposition 24 would reverse
were passed last year by the legislature.
California’s New Grassroots Movement: High-Speed Rail on the Peninsula
Cross-posted at NewGeography.com
In 2008, California voters approved Proposition 1A to allocate $9.95
billion of the state’s money to a high-speed rail system. Just two
years later, many of these same voters are yelling and screaming at the
High-Speed Rail Authority to revise their plans. Why have Californians
turned against this project so quickly?
Initially High Speed Rail seemed like a wise investment. The California
High-Speed Rail Authority posts a video on its website of President
Obama outlining the benefits of high-speed rail systems. However, by now
this video seems a bit dated. In this April 2009 speech, Obama claims
that not only would high-speed reduce travel time and emissions, but it
would also decrease gridlock and save or create 150,000 jobs. It would
be faster, cheaper, and easier. As if that were not enough to convince
you, he goes on to say that the project is "on schedule and under
budget."
CalVoter.org Delivers Nonpartisan Election Information to California Voters
The
California Voter Foundation (CVF) debuted the Fall 2010 edition of its
California Online Voter Guide to help Californians prepare to vote in
the November 2 election. The guide is online at www.calvoter.org.
California voters face a long and complex ballot. With eight statewide
offices on the ballot, one U.S. Senate contest, nine statewide
propositions, plus legislative, congressional and local races, a
typical voter will confront at least twenty voting decisions this
election."
To help with that daunting task, CVF has produced a new edition of its nonpartisan California Online Voter Guide, serving as a "one-stop shop" to help voters sort through the state and federal contests.