The White House wasn’t happy last week when ace San
Francisco Chronicle political reporter Carla Marinucci videotaped a protest at
the president’s San Francisco fundraiser. Marinucci was part of the reporter
"pool" that witnessed the fundraising event and was supposed to report back on
the proceedings to reporters who were not in the room.
Marinucci, who often videos political events and presents
them on the web under the title Shaky Hands Productions, caught supporters of the
accused provider of documents to Wikileaks, Bradley Manning, singing a protest
song to the president.
The White House insisted that only pen and paper
transcription of events was authorized for pool reporters. According to the Chronicle,
the White House threatened to end Marinucci’s privilege of covering presidential
events and even threatened to bar other Hearst newspaper reporters.
The White House denied the threats.
But the Chronicle pushed back and said they did occur. Here’s
an updated
piece by Chronicle Editor at Large Phil Bronstein on the dispute.
And, to the White House – Carla "Shaky Hands" Marinucci is
good at what she does and she makes all of us in the political world squirm one
time or another. Join the club.
****
Oil Tax Initiative
The attorney general released the title and summary for an oil
severance tax initiative this week. The proposal would tax a barrel of oil extracted
from the ground at $15 and designate the funds for education, estimated to be
between $2 and $3 billion a year.
Proponents claim to have a provision that prevents oil
companies from passing the tax on to consumers. Right! The proponents claim
that market forces set the price of oil. And taxes don’t play a role in market
forces? Small producers will certainly feel the effects and that could reduce
the oil taken from the ground here requiring more foreign oil to be imported.
Greater demand, smaller supply, greater price.
You’ll note the lion’s share of the revenue (48%) will go to
community colleges. Guess who is behind the initiative?
I wonder what the powerful California Teachers Association
thinks about how the revenue would be split? The initiative designates 30% for
K-12 and 11% for the universities and colleges.
****
More Outlandish Pension News
They keep telling us that the outlandish pension payoffs to
some public employees that we hear about are just an aberration – then we learn
of another.
The latest
incomprehensible pension news is about a Salinas public hospital district
chief executive receiving a $4 million dollar payoff on top of his $150,000 a
year pension.
How does anyone deserve a $4 million retirement bonus when
budget cuts are reducing services to the ill at the hospital?
Next we’ll hear that the legislature can’t even support a
bill to eliminate pensions from city and state officials who misuse taxpayer
money.
Which is exactly what happened a couple of days ago.
The Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee killed
a bill by Senator Tony Strickland that would have denied pensions to state
and city managers who misused public funds. The bill was a reaction to the
issues raised in the City of Bell scandal.
The bill would have applied the same sanctions on city and
state managers that elected officials and judges face.
There is overwhelming evidence that public pensions need
reforms but the majority of legislators in Sacramento refuse to act. Don’t be
surprised if the people do the job for them.