Corrupting the Redistricting Commission, Part II
The Citizens Redistricting Commission is taking a page from Inspector Clouseau, the bumbling and incompetent French detective in the Pink Panther movies whose crime investigations always suffer from his own ineptitude. After a corrupt process of selecting a line drawing specialist which I detailed in my post last week, it now turns out that the law firm they hired as their Voting Rights Act “experts” is equally tainted.
The law creating this commission is quite specific: Section 8253 of the Government Code provides: “The commission shall require that at least one of the legal counsel hired by the commission has demonstrated extensive experience and expertise in implementation and enforcement of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. Sec 1971 ff).”
The commission put out bids in order to engage a firm to do this. The choice narrowed down to two well known law firms, Nielsen Merksamer and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. But then Nielsen Merksamer was conflicted out because it is a “lobbying firm” (not unusual for public law firms). I wrote at the time that the real agenda here was to hire as VRA counsel one George H. Brown who served with Commissioner Maria Blanco on the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, a far left bunch of activist attorneys who pass their time with immigrant asylum issues and assuring convicted felons the right to vote. Brown was part of the Gibson Dunn bid along with well known Republican attorney Daniel Kolkey.
What’s Plan B for the budget?
With a June election to extend the 2009 tax increases
now officially kaput, and legislative leaders and the Governor
committing to not place the measure on a June ballot by a majority vote, state leaders are entering
uncharted territory in their quest to resolve California’s fiscal crisis.
What are the fallback options to address another $15
billion or more in budget solutions by the new Prop 25 deadline, which is June
15 or legislative pay is cut off?
Here are my thoughts on a Plan B, and for good
measure Plans C and D:
Plan B: A gimmicky or worse budget approved by the
Legislature by June 15. Legislative Democrats have created the specter of an "all cuts"
budget, even prevailing on the Legislative Analyst to prepare a list of cuts to illustrate the shape
and extent of another $13.5 billion in spending cuts. But an all-cuts budget is
either a myth or a euphemism. More likely will be a revised plan that avoids
most of the worst cuts, whacks some earlier untouched areas, like K-14
education and corrections, but that papers over the gap using tried and true
methods of the past decade.
The Angry Voice of Small Business
The small business community is frustrated and angry about the business and political climate in California, if my experience yesterday is a guide.
At the request of California National Federation of Independent Business executive director, John Kabateck, I had the privilege of moderating a panel on Employer and Labor relations in the current political environment at NFIB’s yearly conference.
However, it was before that panel began that I saw the concern of small business in the questions from the attendees directed at Assembly Republican leader Connie Conway, state senator Anthony Cannella, assembly members Shannon Grove and Henry Perea, and especially senate pro tem, Darrell Steinberg.
Questioner after questioner blasted the state for undercutting business. Many of the business owners complained of laid-off workers, lost profits, and even watching other companies leave the state.
What Leads to a Recovery in California Employment
The monthly state job numbers released last Friday showed
a dramatic increase in payroll jobs in California. Payroll employment jumped by
96,500 jobs. This increase amounted to more than half of all jobs created
nationwide.
How real is this increase? What caused it? What have been
the causes of previous recoveries in California employment following major
recessions?