GOP legislators want feds to investigate fire fund

California Republican legislators want the U.S. attorney to investigate the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for putting $3.6 million from legal settlements in an off-budget account.

In their letter to Gov. Jerry Brown, the GOP legislators said the state attorney general had authorized sending the money to the California District Attorneys Assn. Brown served as attorney general from 2007 to 2011.

The letter follows a story in The Times that said that from 2005 to 2012, Cal Fire placed funds with the no-profit attorneys' group to use for training and equipment. Cal Fire regulations say the money is supposed to be sent to the state general fund.

"This subterfuge money has been spent on a wide array of questionable expenditures that has nothing to do with reimbursing the state for firefighting costs," the GOP legislators wrote in a Feb. 1 letter to Brown.

The attorney general's office did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

A joint Assembly and state Senate committee announced last week that it will conduct a hearing to determine the extent California agencies are using off-budget accounts to hold money outside the state system.

The state Department of Finance has begun its audit of the fund, which is expected to take about two months.

"While millions of taxpayers’ dollars have been hidden in this secret fund, cash-strapped local fire safety councils are scrambling to find money to provide preventive services such as fuel reduction and forest thinning," the letter stated.

Senate Republican leader Bob Huff and Assembly GOP leader Connie Conway also sent a letter last week to Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris asking that she refer the matter to the U.S. attorney.

After questions from The Times about the fund, Cal Fire Director Ken Pimlott notified the state Natural Resources agency, which has oversight of Cal Fire and the Department of Finance.

Cal Fire's own internal audit discovered problems with the fund, raising questions whether it was allowed. However, many of the critical comments were dropped from the audit's final version.

The scrutiny follows similar revelations that the state Department of Parks and Recreation hid $20 million as budget cuts were forcing the closure of parks. Although the Department of Finance looked for other secret funds, they did not find Cal Fire's account with the prosecutors' association.

ALSO:

Lawmakers to study agencies' use of hidden accounts

Cal Fire kept $3.6 million from state's treasury, records show

-- Jeff Gottlieb

Photo: A Cal Fire firefighter mans a hose line to help control a 50–acre fire. (Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times)

Gov. Jerry Brown: 'Texas, come on over'

Gov. Jerry Brown said Monday that he was hardly alarmed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s latest effort to poach California businesses.

“Of course they’re coming here,” Brown said. “So are the British coming here, so are the French, so are the Russians, so are the Chinese — everybody with half a brain is coming to California. So Texas, come on over.”

Brown spoke Monday in Hollywood at Founders Forum 2013, a conference on innovation for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. During his brief speech, he urged business leaders to be creative and invest in online education. He cited companies such as Apple, Google and Facebook as a sign of California’s modern successes.

After his speech, Brown responded to a new survey of California business leaders, released Monday by the California Business Roundtable. The survey found that 69% of business leaders said it was harder to do business in California than in other states. Nearly the same number, 62%, rate California’s economy worse than the rest of the country.

“It’s nonsense,” Brown said. “Some things are hard to do. If you want to open some kind of tannery on Wilshire Boulevard, you’re going to get a lot of opposition. If you want to open a creative enterprise, you’re going to get open arms.”

He said that between his two terms as governor, California’s gross domestic product rose from $150 billion a year to nearly $2 trillion, a testament to the success of California businesses. Although California doesn’t allow everything, he said, the ideas and opportunity on the Pacific Rim make it an ideal place to do business.

“That’s life — life is obstacles,” Brown said. “I didn’t get to be governor 37 years later by not overcoming obstacles. Yes, there are problems. But that’s the stimulus for our current creativity.” 

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Brown commits to major Medi-Cal expansion

Texas Gov. Rick Perry launches ads to lure California businesses

State of the State: 'California did the impossible,' Brown says

— Laura Nelson in Los Angeles

Follow her on Twitter: @laura_nelson

Photo:  Google+ logo is seen at annual developer conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco last year. Credit: AFP Photo / Kimihiro Hoshino  

 

Former Sen. Jim Brulte to compete for state GOP chairmanship

Former state Sen. Jim Brulte  announced at a meeting of Republican activists in San Diego on Monday night that he was officially a candidate to become state GOP chairman.

Brulte becomes the frontrunner for the California Republican Party leadership position at a time when voter registration by the party has dropped below 30% and Democrats have won supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature.

He said his goals include rebuilding Republican grassroots organizations, recruiting more diverse candidates from more neighborhoods and boosting the party's fundraising ability to pay off a debt that at one point approached $500,000.

"Candidates come and go, but political parties should be eternal,'' Brulte told The Times. "The Republican Party needs to rely more on itself rather than elected officials to raise money.''

Brulte represented part of San Bernardino County when he was the Senate Republican leader from  2000 to 2004 and Assembly Republican leader from 1992 to 1996.

He is now a partner in the public affairs firm California Strategies, heading up the company’s Inland Empire office.

The chairmanship will be filled at the state Republican Party’s spring convention in March.

ALSO:

Gov. Jerry Brown commits to major Medi-Cal expansion

Gov. Jerry Brown wants changes at state university systems

Democratic legislative leaders relieved by Gov. Brown's budget

--Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento

Photo: Former State Sen. Jim Brulte (R-Rancho Cucamonga). Credit: Robert Durell.

 

 

Lungren unseated by Democrat for Sacramento-area House seat

Democrat Ami Bera has defeated veteran Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Lungren in a nationally watched  Sacramento-area race, the Associated Press declared Thursday.

A Lungren spokesman, however, said the congressman was not conceding.

"It will be an honor to serve Sacramento County in Congress," Bera said in a written statement.

"Now is the time to find common ground and move forward to rebuild an economy that works for the middle class," he said. "Congressman Lungren deserves our appreciation for his long record of public service."

While thousands of ballots remained uncounted, Bera campaign manager Josh Wolf said that Bera has been widening his lead over Lungren since election day. On Thursday, Bera led Lungren by more than 5,000 votes.

The tight race has created an awkward situation on Capitol Hill where Bera, a physician, is attending an orientation for new House members organized by the Committee on House Administration, chaired by Lungren.

The race was among the House contests that drew the most outside money -- more than $9 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. 

Lungren has been a political fixture in California: a former state attorney general, Republican nominee for governor and one of the few members of Congress to have represented two different districts hundreds of miles apart.

Last week's election -- following the redrawing of district boundaries by a citizens' commission instead of politicians and a spate of retirements by incumbents -- has led to the biggest shake-up of the California congressional delegation in 20 years.

ALSO:

Poll: Enthusiasm for ballot measures motivated state voters

Assemblyman Chris Norby loss cements Democratic supermajority

County Supervisor Antonovich recalls last Assembly supermajority

 -- Richard Simon in Washington, D.C.

Photo: New U.S. Rep. Ami Bera. Credit: AP Photo / The Sacramento Bee, Lezlie Sterling

After election, what's next in California? [Google+ hangout]

Times reporter Evan Halper will join city editor Shelby Grad in a Google+ hangout at 2 p.m. to discuss the passage of Gov. Jerry Brown's tax measure and the likely Democratic supermajorities in the Assembly and Senate.

From Halper and The Times' Anthony York's story Thursday:

The supermajorities would mark a dramatic shift in Sacramento's balance of power, where GOP legislators have aggressively used their ability to block state budget plans and prevent revenue increases to scale back the scope of state government.

Coupled with the approval of Brown's tax plan, Proposition 30, the Democrats now have not only the power but also the money to break free of the deficit that has paralyzed state government for years.

The pressure on Democrats to restore funding for the many services slashed to balance the budget in recent years will be intense.

Already, activists are pressing lawmakers to pump new money into such programs as college scholarships, dental care for the needy and, of course, public schools.

But the first move Brown and legislative leaders made Wednesday was to reassure voters that they would show restraint.

They promised there would be no frenzy of tax hikes.

"Voters have trusted the elected representatives, maybe even trusted me to some extent, and now we've got to meet that trust," Brown said at a Wednesday news conference in the Capitol. "We've got to make sure over the next few years that we pay our bills, we invest in the right programs, but we don't go on any spending binges."

Still, lawmakers can appear to hold the line on revenue generation without actually doing so.

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Secret Arizona donation failed to dent Democrats and unions

California 'moved further to the left,' state GOP chairman says

More than 792,000 ballots uncounted in L.A. County, registrar says

Jerry Brown, California Democrats appear to be big winners in election

Gov. Jerry Brown’s $6-billion-a-year tax initiative to rescue California schools and the state's finances appeared to squeak by with a victory early Wednesday, and Democrats' grip on Sacramento tightened as the party crept toward winning a super-majority in both houses of the Legislature.

Tuesday's election also brought an end to the three-decade-long congressional career of Rep. Howard Berman, who early Wednesday morning conceded defeat in his political slugfest against fellow Democrat Brad Sherman in the San Fernando Valley.

The bitter contest between Sherman and Berman, awash in more than $13 million in campaign spending by the candidates and independent political groups, was triggered when California's newly drawn political boundaries put the two incumbents in the same district.

"I congratulate Brad. ... I will do whatever I can to ensure a cooperative and orderly transition," Berman said in a concise concession statement early Wednesday.

FULL RESULTS: California races

In a similar high-profile mash-up between Democrats, Rep. Janice Hahn of San Pedro was cruising to an easy win against Rep. Laura Richardson of Long Beach in a newly drawn district that includes many minority, working-class communities, election results showed.

Among other closely watched races for California House seats, Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Oak Park) narrowly defeated state Sen. Tony Strickland (R-Moorpark) in Ventura County, and Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) bested former Republican Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, according to results with all voter precincts reporting in those districts.

California's senior U.S. senator, Democrat Dianne Feinstein, won an easy reelection victory over nonprofit executive Elizabeth Emken, her underfunded, little-known Republican challenger.

PHOTOS: California voters head to polls

The governor woke up Wednesday as one of the biggest apparent victors in Tuesday’s election, however.

Facing well-funded opposition, Brown campaigned heavily for Proposition 30 as a way to restore fiscal sanity to Sacramento and to stave off deep cuts to public schools and universities. The initiative calls for a quarter-cent increase to sales taxes for four years and a seven-year tax hike on California’s highest earners.

Californians have not approved a statewide tax increase since 2004.

Voters overwhelmingly rejected a competing measure bankrolled by millionaire civil rights lawyer Molly Munger -- Proposition 38 – which would have increased income taxes for most Californians to raise funds primarily for schools and early childhood education.

In one of the highest-profile state ballot measures, labor unions appeared to defeat Proposition 32, which would have reduced their political influence by barring unions from using paycheck deductions for political purposes.

Californians also soured on a measure to abolish the death penalty -– Proposition 34 -- which was trailing badly with most of the voter precincts reporting Wednesday morning.

Other law-and-order measures were greeting more warmly. Voters favored Proposition 36, which would change the three-strikes sentencing law so offenders whose third strikes were minor, nonviolent crimes could no longer be given 25 years to life in prison.

Voters also supported Proposition 35, which promoted increased punishment for sex trafficking of a minor. Both led by wide margins with most ballots counted.

With most ballots tallied across California, initiatives to label genetically engineered foods and change state law to create a new car insurance discount appeared headed for defeat.

One of the biggest surprises of the election was the Democrats' strong showing in legislative races. Democrats appear on the verge of winning a two-thirds majority in the state Senate and Assembly, enough to approve tax measures without Republican support.

In Los Angeles County, veteran prosecutor Jackie Lacey became the county's first female and first African American district attorney after defeating Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Jackson. Jackson conceded early Wednesday morning.

Lacey, 55, touted herself as the only candidate with the experience to run the office. She had the support of her boss, Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, who is retiring after three terms.

Los Angeles County voters also approved a local measure requiring adult film actors to wear condoms. With most precincts reporting, a measure to fund transportation projects by extending a countywide sales-tax increase for an additional 30 years remained just shy of the two-thirds vote required for approval.

Some races remained too close to call, including the San Diego congressional race between Rep. Brian P. Bilbray (R-Carlsbad) and Democrat Scott Peters, a San Diego environmental attorney. In the Coachella Valley, Democratic emergency room doctor Raul Ruiz was leading Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Palm Springs) with just under two-thirds of precincts reporting early Wednesday morning.

ALSO:

Munger’s Proposition 38 fails, according to AP

Prop. 40, on state Senate districts, passes, per AP

Proposition 36 on three-strikes law passes, AP says

-- Phil Willon

Photo: Gov. Jerry Brown addresses supporters of Proposition 30 and 32 at the Sheraton Hotel in Sacramento Tuesday. Source: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

California GOP finds film tax credit curious

It's the kind of policy that is usually popular in the GOP: A tax credit that will save California businesses about $100 million.

But things get complicated when the film industry, typically aligned with Democrats and big labor unions, is involved.

GOP officials used the credit approved by Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday night, intended to help curb the flight of film productions out of California, to take a shot at him and his November ballot initiative to increase billions of dollars of other taxes.

"Presumably, the Governor believes that the lower tax rates will provide incentives for more films to be made here, resulting in more jobs," California Republican Party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro said in a statement. "More jobs will result in more tax revenue because working people pay more taxes." 

Del Beccaro went on: "Someone needs to ask the Governor why that sound economic logic doesn't apply to every other aspect of the economy. We need to ask Gov. Brown why he wants want to raise taxes on small businesses through Prop. 30 but lower them for the film industry?"

Proposition 30 would temporarily raise the state sales tax by a quarter of a cent. It would also raise income tax rates on individuals with incomes above $250,000 a year and couples earning more than $500,000 annually. 

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Endangered turtle is named state marine reptile

New law is fallout from state official's killing of mountain lion 

Gov. Jerry Brown tweets that he signed social media privacy bills

-- Evan Halper in Sacramento

GOP updates California House race prospects; Democrats disagree

 
A National Republican Congressional Committee official painted a rosey update of the GOP's prospects in several California House races on Tuesday but, not surprisingly, the group's Democratic counterpart had a different take.

"The Democrats' 'road to the majority' has become the roadblock to the majority," Brock McCleary, deputy political director for the NRCC told reporters in a conference call outlining the GOP's views on the dozen or so contested House seats in the state.

Democrats need a net gain of 25 seats across the nation to win back a House majority and party leaders are looking to California races as a key to that goal.

The call came the same day Republicans launched a "mobile billboard campaign" in four open-seat districts--in the Central Valley, Ventura County, Long Beach/Orange County and Riverside County. The billboards attack the Obama administration's healthcare legislation, McCleary said. He also announced the congressional Republicans have reserved $4.7 million in television advertising in Sacramento and San Diego, two battleground areas.

Republican candidates in those and other districts have more campaign cash in the bank than their Democratic opponents, McCleary said, adding that he believes the GOP has been more successful than Democrats in recruiting strong candidates to run in the contested districts.

Democrats, however, plan to remind voters why they should turn out to vote for President Obama and Democratic House candidates.

"After redistricting, Democrats are on the offense across California because House Republicans have put millionaires, insurance companies and Big Oil companies over the middle class time and again," Amber Moon, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement.

She noted that even some Republican leaders have acknowledged the GOP likely will lose seats in California.

Also, the California Democratic Party has launched  a microsite attacking  House Republicans in the state whom they consider  vulnerable  (www.wrongforca.com).

 ALSO:

Jerry Brown targets latest trends in student bullying

Jerry Brown gives Apple's new "spaceship'' campus a boost

Gov. Brown signs bill aimed at public officials convicted of felonies

--Jean Merl

Photo: The U.S. Capitol at night. Credit: The Lighting Project

Surprises shake up congressional races in the Inland Empire

One of the biggest upsets in Tuesday’s “top two” primary came in a San Bernardino County congressional race where the top Democratic candidate, Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar, appears to have failed to collect enough votes to make it to the November runoff election, according to the preliminary ballot count.

The top two finishers were Republicans -- Rep. Gary Miller of Diamond Bar and state Sen. Bob Dutton of Rancho Cucamonga.  What makes it so surprising is that Democrats have a five-percentage-point edge in registered voters in the district, which spans from Redlands to Upland.

Democratic leaders in Washington were hoping to pick up the seat, one of a handful in California they consider critical to the party’s effort to recapture control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

INTERACTIVE MAP: California primary results

The race in the 31st Congressional District was tight: Miller nabbed 26.7% of the vote, compared to 24.9% for Dutton and 22.8% for Aguilar.

The remaining votes went to a trio of other Democrats on the ballot: Justin Kim, Rita-Ramirez-Dean and Renea Wickman. Combined, they received a quarter of the votes, siphoning support away from Aguilar, who was backed by the Democratic Party.

The Redlands mayor missed making it to November by slightly more 1,000 votes, according to the state’s preliminary election results. Some votes still need to be counted, however, including provisional and late-arriving mail-in ballots.

That congressional race was among the top targets of "super PACs" and other independent expenditure committees, which spent more than $1 million. The vast majority came from the National Realtors Assn., which backed Miller.

The political sands are shifting in California

Voters are still trickling into polling places throughout California, but already there are a few safe bets on how the state’s new “top-two” primary system and political boundaries are changing the political landscape.

“There will be incumbents who lose tonight," said Republican consultant Rob Stutzman.

It’s a culling of the field that happens, to varying degrees every 10 years after a new U.S. Census count, when political districts are redrawn and incumbents find themselves in unfamiliar territory or pitted against fellow lawmakers. That’s especially true this year, when the new boundaries were drawn by a panel of citizens instead of politicians prone to gerrymandering districts to protect those already in office.

LIVE RESULTS: California primary

Don’t expect to see a ton of independent or centrist candidates in the November runoff election.  California primaries have traditionally attracted a low turnout, meaning that many of the voters who take the time to cast ballots will be pretty partisan.

“There’s one group of people who may be disappointed, and that’s the political observers who believe these reforms will automatically lead to the election of more moderate candidates,"  said Dan Schnur,  director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC.

The vast majority of candidates who survive the primary still will be loyal Democrats or Republicans, but there may be enough reaching out to independents or voters in the rival party to have a pretty big impact.  “We are going to see a greater number of competitive elections, and that’ll lead to the election of more responsive candidates, he said. “That’s going to lead to a fundamental change in the dynamic in the capital this year."

The most powerful political players in California, including labor and business groups, already have caught on.  “Any time you change the rules, smart people adapt and figure out how to get in on it," said Raphael J. Sonenshein, executive director of the Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State Los Angeles.

Case in point: a Service Employees International Union California political action committee spent more than $60,000 opposing tea party Republican Assemblyman Tim Donnelly of Twin Peaks. The independent campaign has boosted the prospects of the other GOP candidate in the race, Big Bear Lake Mayor Bill Jahn.

“If you want someone who is going to be friendly to labor, you’re better off not getting a Democrat into the run off. They’ll get crushed in a district like that," Sonenshein said. “It’s better to have a moderate Republican.

ALSO:

A statistical snapshot of California's primary

Economy top priority for many Westwood voters

New rules, low turnout mark state's primary election

--Phil Willon in Los Angeles

Photo: Tracy Bree looks over her ballot while voting in Sacramento. Credit: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press