Panel at Milken Conference Pounds Whitman Campaign
The political panel analyzing the coming California election at the annual Milken Institute State of the State Conference in Beverly Hills yesterday spent a good amount of time criticizing the Whitman gubernatorial campaign.
Playing off a recent poll that showed Jerry Brown leading Meg Whitman by seven points, Democratic consultant Bill Carrick, Republican consultant Don Sipple, pundit and former Democratic campaign manager Susan Estrich and panel moderator and Fox TV commentator Frank Luntz disparaged the campaign. Only Republican consultant Steve Schmidt argued that the race was not over and that Whitman was in striking distance of Brown.
Green Chemistry: More Uncertainty for California Businesses
In a recent opinion piece on this site, the acting director of the Department of Toxic Substances Control Maziar Movassaghi sought to alleviate the significant concerns of a consumer advocate who had written about the state’s troubled approach to implementing the Green Chemistry Initiative.
Those concerns detailed, among other things, how DTSC’s regulations seemed to lack focus and failed to provide a clear mechanism for ensuring the State’s efforts would be towards those chemicals and products with the greatest exposure risk to sensitive populations.
California Initiative Campaigns Raise $120.6 Million
The campaigns behind the nine initiatives on California’s November 2 ballot have raised over $120.6 million according to a campaign finance analysis by the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation (CVF).
Proposition 23, which would suspend California’s global warming reduction law until the unemployment rate is below 5.5 percent, has attracted the most funding. Supporters have raised $9.1 million, primarily from oil and gas interests. Opponents, funded primarily by environmental organizations and wealthy individuals, have raised over $27 million. By contrast, Prop. 19, the measure that would tax, regulate and legalize marijuana, has raised the least amount, with supporters raising $2.7 million and opponents just over $200,000.
Brown Ignored Union Bill’s Warnings
Crossposted www.calwatchdog.org
One of the few actual, honest issues in the California governor’s race has also been one of the least reported. And while it’s an old issue – dating back to 1977 – it’s nonetheless fascinating.
"Back when Jerry Brown https:> was governor nearly 35 years ago, in his first day in office, he gave public service unions the right to collective bargaining," Republican Meg Whitman https:> said back in April. Her time was off by two years, but the point of her argument was true enough: that granting public employee unions the right to bargain collectively for better pay and benefits paved the way for our state’s current unfunded pension liabilities, which may top half a trillion dollars.