The governor said, we need to fix the state’s fiscal
condition with half tax increases and half spending cuts. He wanted a tax
election in June.

The Republicans said NO. The Republicans said they made a
pledge not to raise taxes.

The governor said they should not stick to the pledge.

The governor said he would negotiate with some Republicans
to put reform measures on the ballot along with taxes.

The Republicans offered an initial list of 53 variations of
reforms.

The governor said NO.

The Democrats and public unions said the people should just vote
on tax extensions.

Polls came out and said the tax measures would probably
lose.

The Republicans said let’s vote on taxes and reforms.

The Democrats and public unions said NO.

The Democrats and unions said the people didn’t need to vote
on taxes, that’s the legislature’s job.

Last week, an op-ed in the Sacramento Bee by Justine Sarver of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center urged California legislators to clampdown on the state’s initiative and referendum process by passing a number of new restrictions on the rights of Golden State citizens to petition their government.

Though she acknowledges that the California Legislature is “corporate-controlled,” Ms. Sarver nonetheless suggests that these new legislative attacks are “common-sense reforms.” Common sense? Many of the bills endorsed by Ms. Sarver and her K Street outfit have been struck down in other states as unconstitutional violations of fundamental First Amendment rights.

These days, a company
looking to move to a bigger location has suitors. That was true for our
company, Equipois, a four-year old venture-funded company with an exoskeleton
technology that lets people maneuver objects as if weightless.  The technology can greatly reduce workplace
injuries and increase productivity.

For several years, we had
been approached by cities (and even countries) that said they would be thrilled
to be our new home, with nice incentive packages to welcome us. As a management
team, especially one tasked with taking good care of outside investors’ money,
we had to take such offers seriously.

For us though, the
decision to stay in Los Angeles was compelling. 
Our technology comes from an invention that originated on film sets –
the Steadicam, pioneered by inventor Garrett Brown.  Yet we sell to major manufacturers and
utilize the supply chain that services the aerospace industry. 

L.A. is the rare city
that sits at the convergence of both entertainment and manufacturing; in a few
minutes you can drive from movie studios to huge factories operated by Boeing
and Northrop Grumman, as well as scores of top quality machining operations.

In vetoing the budget bill, Governor Brown criticized Republicans for stymieing his proposed election to extend temporary taxes. But the real message was delivered to Democratic leadership in the Legislature: "I’m in charge here."

Pressured by a deadline to play-or-not-get-paid, Democratic majorities passed a gimmicky budget, described by the Governor https:> as "not a balanced solution." He further said the budget "continues big deficits for years to come and adds billions of dollars in new debt. It also contains legally questionable maneuvers, costly borrowing and unrealistic savings. Finally, it is not financeable and therefore will not allow us to meet our obligations as they occur."

Since the beginning of this year, California has experienced 129 disinvestment events, an average of 5.4 per week. Comparing this year thus far with 2009, when the total was 51 events, essentially averaging 1 per week, our rate today is more than 5 times what it was then.

Hence, California is experiencing the fastest rate of disinvestment events based on public domain information, closure notices to the state, and information from affected employees in the three years since a specialized tracking system was put into place.
No one knows the real level of activity because smaller companies are not required to file layoff notices with the state. A conservative estimate is that only 1 out of 5 company departures becomes public knowledge, which means California may suffer more than 1,000 disinvestment events this year. The capital directed to out-of-state or out-of-country, while difficult to calculate, is nonetheless in the billions of dollars.

Pirates aren’t what they used to be. No longer content with sailing the seven seas, they’re now entering the open waters of the Internet, searching for new sources of stolen treasure. With a few clicks of a mouse or taps on an iPad, one can find thousands of movies, song recordings and full-featured video games available to download at little to no cost. Sadly, many computer users downloading copyrighted content aren’t even aware that they are trafficking in stolen property.

“These maps are a worst case scenario for the Latino community. The lines drawn by the Commission gerrymander Los Angeles Latinos into a district with the millionaires of Beverly Hills and Pacific Palisades. These lines would disenfranchise Latinos by denying them a fair voice in the democratic process.” So says Arturo Vargas, redistricting expert with the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.

What is this all about? Did the Arizona Legislature sneak into California and draw the new district lines released by the Redistricting Commission last week? Aren’t Latinos responsible for 90 percent of the net growth in California over the past decade? Is it possible a nonpartisan citizens commission could treat them so badly?

Well, Mr. Vargas is absolutely correct; California Latinos take it in the shorts in the Commission’s draft plans.

In assessing the impact of redistricting plans on minority groups, the courts tell us to look at purpose and effect. Is the purpose to deny fair representation? Is that the effect?

UPDATE: Governor Jerry Brown has vetoed the budget presented to him less than 24 hours before. In his veto message Brown said, "I am vetoing it today because I don’t want to see more billions in
borrowing, legal maneuvers that are questionable, and a budget that will
not stand the test of time."

As my original commentary for today that follows below the break argued, this budget was crippled from the start and faced many lawsuits. Brown did the right thing.

More on the governr’s veto message from the Sacramento Bee here.

———————————-

This isn’t the first time someone gets paid for sloppy work.
Looks like the legislature (read Democrats) passed the budget by the deadline
meaning under the provisions of Proposition 25 legislators will get paid. However,
the budget is made up of gimmicks, previously failed budget proposals and
almost certain illegal taxation.

No one knows the decision that Governor Jerry Brown will
make on this budget. John Wildermuth yesterday on this site drew
a picture of the governor’s difficult choices.

But if Brown signs the budget, expect lawsuits on the
revenue raising pieces.

Following the budget passing both houses, Jon Coupal,
president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association tweeted, "How can this stuff be legal?  Hi Ho,
Hi Ho, it’s off to court we go."?

Cross-posted at LAObserved.

Recently, Joel Fox the editor of Fox and Hounds Daily, an online political newsletter widely read around the state, wrote an article titled, Will a Business Leader Become LA’s Next Mayor.

While I won’t try to predict the outcome of the mayoral race in 2013, as the field of candidates is just beginning to gel, there was one statement that Fox made that I felt needed to be clarified.

In his column he wrote: "A number of analysts looking at the coming mayor’s race feel the environment is similar to the time Republican attorney and businessman Richard Riordan captured the mayor’s office in 1993. The opportunity may be there for a business executive to take control of the city government once again."

This section is where I find the most disagreement — and by the way who are these analysts?