I am a recent graduate of the FBI Citizen’s Academy in Los Angeles. The Citizen’s Academy was set up to in 2000 as part of the FBI’s Community Outreach Program.
Firing a 1930s era Tommy Gun at the FBI firing range with an FBI instructor looking on
Mention the Long Count and those with a sense of sporting history will immediately think of the Gene Tunney — Jack Dempsey heavyweight title fight in 1927. Say the Long Count to those with a sense of California politics and they might think of Tom McClintock.
State Senator McClintock is waiting out a Long Count of votes in the Fourth Congressional District. As of this writing he currently leads his Democratic opponent, Charlie Brown, by 928 votes out of 320,334 counted. McClintock’s race for Congress is one of three candidate races in California that have yet to be resolved over a week after the election.
What is odd about this is that McClintock is not only a veteran legislator—he’s a veteran of the Long Count. This is the third time he has had to wait out election results in a nip-and-tuck election. In both the state Controller’s race of 1994 and 2002 McClintock had to wait until after Election Day to see if he won the job. He lost both times, first to Kathleen Connell by 2.3%, then to Steve Westly by less thee-tenths of one percent, a mere 16,811 votes out of over six-and-a-half million cast.
I will not offer an opinion on whether the California Supreme Court will or will not invalidate Proposition 8. Others are having that debate throughout California, including on the pages of Fox and Hounds Daily.
However, I will venture a guess that the legal verdict could lead to political consequences for some of the justices who make that decision.
Two of California’s Supreme Court justices come up for retention elections at the 2010 general election. One of the two is Chief Justice Ronald George who wrote the majority opinion in the narrow 4 to 3 decision recognizing the right for homosexuals to marry. The other justice on the 2010 ballot is Ming Chin who dissented from the George opinion.
The California electorate votes to retain or reject a Supreme Court justice every twelve years. The justices do not “run” against an opponent. The voters choose Yes or No on whether to keep a justice on the job.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared California has a revenue problem and he plans to fix it by increasing taxes. But his tax increase proposals raise a number of questions.
The tax increases will come most notably in the form of a temporary sales tax of 1.5 percent for three years and adding sales taxes to certain services such as appliance and furniture repair, vehicle repair, veterinarian services, amusement parks and sporting events. In addition, an oil severance tax placed upon oil producers in the state; and increased taxes on alcohol at a nickel-a-drink.
Few should be surprised that the governor proposed a sales tax increase. After all, he pushed a sales tax proposal during the prolonged budget negotiations over the summer. However, he’s upped the ante this time—a 1.5-cent increase for three years. His office says that will bring in $3.5 billion for the 2008-2009 General Fund by the time it is implemented.
Who said San Francisco doesn’t have a conservative bone in its body? Voters in SF voted down a measure to decriminalize prostitution, supported Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps in the schools, and rejected the idea to humiliate President George W. Bush by naming a sewage treatment plant after him. At this rate, we’ll see Republican Clubs popping up all over the city any day now.
Could it be that African-American voters, eager to put Barack Obama in the White House, were also the reason Proposition 8, the gay marriage constitutional amendment, passed? According to exit polling provided by the Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Alert, African-Americans made up 10% of the California electorate on Tuesday. While they were voting 95% to 5% to elect Barack Obama president, they also voted 70% to 30% in favor of Proposition 8. While Latino voters made up a larger portion of the electorate, 19% overall, Latinos nearly split on Prop 8, 51% Yes, 49% No.
Barack Obama was not my candidate for president. But, the voters of the United States have spoken and now he will be the president of all the people. The difficulty and reality of governing such a diverse and complex nation will take unique skills and a broad vision. A mix of tradition and progress must be in balance. Here’s wishing that our new president can meet the challenge, and in a traditional sendoff on this difficult journey, I wish you Godspeed, Mr. President-elect.
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With the help of the Internet, a few thoughts on voting as you head to the polls this Election Day——
“People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote – a very different thing.”
Walter H. Judd, Congressman
“Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against.”
W. C. Fields, American Comic and Actor
“Democrats are the only reason to vote for Republicans”
Will Rogers American entertainer
“Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.”
George Jean Nathan, American Drama Critic
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s executive order creating a tax commission to modernize California’s revenue gathering system is missing an important ingredient. Stating the rational for a tax commission, the second sentence in the order reads: “Our tax system has not been restructured in over 80 years even though our economy has changed dramatically.”
While that is basically true what is missing is the other side of the equation–how we spend our revenue. Spending of public money has also dramatically changed in 80 years, and spending drives the need for revenue. Would it not be wise to examine spending as well to eliminate unnecessary programs or to remodel the way services are delivered so the that tax restructuring and spending programs can be fashioned at the same time to meet the actual needs of California?
This is not to say that the tax commission is a bad idea. There is value in looking at the tax structure and its relationship to the state’s economy. No doubt changes need to be made. But, if we are going to do a reconstruction job let’s do it right the first time. Patch the leaks in the roof as well as rebuild the foundation.
The governor’s call for a special session of the legislature to deal with the budget problem served as a perfect backdrop for the budget panel at the Milken Institute’s annual state of the state conference yesterday in Beverly Hills.
The budget hole the governor and legislature have to deal with may get bigger if state Treasurer Bill Lockyer has his way. As reported on Fox and Hounds Daily yesterday, Lockyer said at the conference he would join Senator Dianne Feinstein to oppose the piece of the recently signed budget deal to securitize the lottery. That provision is supposed to provide $5-billion for the state coffers but must be approved by the voters in a special election that the governor will call next year. If it is defeated at the polls, the budget hole will be that much deeper.
The panel, moderated by Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton, consisted of Republican Senate Leader Dave Cogdill, former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, Senior Advisor to the Governor David Crane, newly appointed Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor, as well as Treasurer Lockyer.