Obama Seeks Both Support and Money
President Barack Obama’s Wednesday afternoon visit
to Facebook, the grandfather of the social networking biz, showed that his
team has grasped political truism that has eluded many California campaigns:
Bucks ain’t ballots.
Now it’s true the president reportedly plans to raise a
breathtaking $1 billion for his effort to win four more years in the White
House and yes, that’s billion with a "b."
And since no one in the campaign business has ever suggested
that "Big Daddy" Jesse Unruh’s observation that "money is the mother’s milk of
politics" is any less valid now than when the former Assembly speaker made it
in 1966, the $35,800-a-napkin dinner he had with 60 of his closest friends
Wednesday night in San Francisco was a pleasant reminder of why it’s good to be
the president.
Major League Baseball to take over State of California
Applying the same criteria in which Major League Baseball (MLB) stepped in to take over the operation of the Los Angeles Dodgers, MLB decided it needed to rescue the State of California from a similar crisis, baseball commissioner Bud Selig announced in a statement.
“Like the Dodgers, the state of California is on shaky financial grounds and there is a question of who is in charge.” Selig said. “Under these same circumstances that forced us to rescue the Dodgers, we decided to step in and help California.”
Selig explained that, like the Dodgers, the state has borrowed to meet its payroll and is potentially facing the need to use IOUs to pay its obligations as it has done in the past. “We could not stand by and watch that happen again,” he said.
Selig noted other similarities between the Dodger situation and the woes of the state.
Pointing to safety concerns faced by fans at Dodger Stadium and the need for beefed up security, Selig said he is similarly concerned with the safety of California residents after hearing Governor Jerry Brown say there could be layoffs of police officers if the budget is not resolved.
The Political Tool Brown Needed, But Couldn’t Have
Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget and temporary tax push is stuck,
in part for lack of leverage.
It sure would have been nice if he
had been able to gather signatures on a ballot initiative as he negotiated with
lawmakers in March. But that would have cost too much (thereby giving too much
power to his financial backers) and taken too much time.
Jeez, it’s too bad there isn’t a
quick, fast, cheap way to collect signatures on an initiative petition.
Oh, that’s right. There is such a
way.
Electronic signatures.
Redevelopment: California’s Secret Government
Cross-posted at City Journal.
In Sacramento, Governor Jerry Brown is planning to close California’s $26.6 billion structural deficit through spending cuts and tax extensions. Opposition has been spirited but less contentious than expected, probably because of the size of the budget hole. But one item of Brown’s plan—something that would save about $1.7 billion annually—has generated heated debates between local officials and the new administration. The governor has proposed eliminating California’s approximately 400 redevelopment agencies (RDAs).
In theory, RDAs spearhead blight removal. In fact, they divert billions of dollars from traditional services, such as schools, parks, and firefighting; use eminent domain to seize property for favored developers; and run up California’s debt to pay those developers to construct projects of dubious public value, such as stadiums and big-box stores. Most Californians have long been unaware that these agencies exist. As the activist group Municipal Officials for Redevelopment Reform puts it, RDAs constitute an “unknown government” that “consumes 12 percent of all property taxes statewide,” is “supported by a powerful Sacramento lobby,” and is “backed by an army of lawyers, consultants, bond brokers and land developers.”