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.

 

 

Skelton: Capitol lacks compromise and camaraderie

Sacramento is on its way toward becoming a one-party town. Democrats are expected to control both houses of the Legislature, and they already hold every statewide elected office.

In Monday's column, George Skelton says it's another sign that bipartisan compromise is becoming further out of reach.

"Democratic and Republican legislators just don’t hang as they used to," he writes.

Former Assemblyman Jim Brulte (R-Rancho Cucamonga), who's being recruited to take over the Republican Party, said conservative lawmakers need to focus on "serious proposals."

“A good idea is a good idea regardless of how many Republicans are supporting it. If it’s really a good idea, the Democrats will steal it and put their name on it. But the Republicans’ goal should be to get good public policy enacted.”

All of Skelton's columns are here.

ALSO:

California sees strong October for tax revenue

Federal budget standoff could hurt California economy

Proposition 30 win no guarantee of fiscal safety for California

Photo: A crane places a Christmas tree in front of the Capitol in Sacramento on Nov. 7. Credit: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press

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

Skelton: California Republicans teetering on irrelevance

The results of Tuesday's election has given California Republicans little to be excited about. Gov. Jerry Brown's tax hikes were approved by voters, and Democrats are poised to gain supermajorities in each house of the Legislature.

George Skelton says in Monday's column that Democrats' overwhelming power has all but erased the GOP as a major factor in state politics.

"Until last week, it was possible to be guardedly optimistic about the ultimate restoration of a healthy two-party system in California," he writes. "But now it’s hard to argue with the numbers."

Less than 30% of California voters are registered as Republicans, and the party could be losing what little leverage it has in the Capitol.

“It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” predicts Matt David, a consultant who managed moderate Jon Huntsman’s campaign for the presidential nomination and was communications director for Gov. Schwarzenegger.

All of Skelton's columns are here.

ALSO:

Jon Stewart impressed that California passed tax hikes

Brown found path to Prop 30. victory in a divided California

Gov. Brown calls Prop. 30 victory start of a national movement

Photo: Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) speaking with Assembly Republican Leader Connie Conway at the Capitol last year. Credit: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press

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

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

Tuesday's election was not a good one for the GOP in California, and State Republican Party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro says it portends worse things to come for residents.

California on election day "moved further to the left with a big push from public employee unions,'' he said in a statement. "There can be little doubt now that California public employee unions are, by far, the most powerful political force in this state. However, that comes at a heavy price for struggling Californians.''

Unions helped Gov. Jerry Brown pass the tax increases in Proposition 30, and their involvement appears to have helped expand Democratic control of the Legislature to the point where the majority party will be able to raise taxes even if all Republican lawmakers refuse to vote for the measures.

At the same time, the Republican share of voter registration dipped below 30% just before the election.

"In my view, Californians will now get to see the plain results of the Democrat-controlled policies both nationally and here at home as the California economy undoubtedly continues to struggle, if not get worse, under those policies,'' Del Beccaro said.

"In the meantime, it will be up to Republicans to continue to reach out to more voters and make the case that we need to bring balance to our policies in California. This task has been made more daunting but ever more necessary."

ALSO:

Voters reject Proposition 32, AP says

Jerry Brown confident of Proposition 30 victory

Assembly speaker confident he has a two-thirds majority

--Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento

Bono Mack declines to concede, citing uncounted ballots

Republican Rep. Mary Bono Mack of Palm Springs, who is trailing
Democrat Raul Ruiz by just over 4,500 votes with all precincts reporting, on Wednesday declined to concede defeat because of a large number of ballots that have yet to be tallied.

“With more than 180,000 ballots still to be counted around
Riverside County, it is premature to consider any election results final," said Marc Troast, the congresswoman’s political director.  “Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack and her campaign will be awaiting the impact of this large number of remaining ballots before making any further statements on the 36th Congressional District race.”

The number of uncounted ballots Troast mentioned is the countywide total, not the number of uncounted ballots in the much smaller area of the 36^th Congressional District. A representative of the Riverside County Registrar of Voters said the office did not have an estimate for the number of uncounted ballots in that congressional district.

It's common to have uncounted ballots remaining in the days or weeks after a major election. They include mail-in ballots that arrived on election day, plus provisional or damaged ballots that must be inspected by election officials.

Ruiz, an emergency room doctor, grew up in the Coachella Valley as the son of a farm workers and he has been an active proponent of providing greater medical care to the underserved area.

This was Ruiz's first political campaign, and he proved to be the toughest challenger Bono Mack has faced in her 14-year congressional career. Bono Mack was first elected to replace her husband, singer Sonny Bono, in Congress after his death in a skiing accident.  

Bono Mack had attacked Ruiz as a “radical” for taking part in a Native American protest of Thanksgiving when he was a Harvard medical student in the late 1990s, including reading a letter written by a Zapatista rebel leader from Chiapas, Mexico, in support of Native American activist Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of killing two FBI agents during a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Ruiz attacked Bono Mack for supporting the budget plan of GOP vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, which he said would decimate Medicare. The Democratic Party also has aired television ads criticizing Bono Mack for benefiting from tax breaks for Florida residents.

The parties and outside political groups have spent more than $3.3 million on the race.

--Phil Willon

Photo: Rep. Mary Bono Mack. Source: Bono Mack campaign.

Fran Pavley wins 27th state Senate District

State Sen. Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) defeated Republican prosecutor Todd Zink in the newly drawn 27th Senate District, preliminary election results show.

The race was seen by both parties as crucial to Democrats' hopes of gaining a supermajority in the upper house.

Pavley beat Zink by 5 percentage points, according to election results with all precincts reporting.

FULL RESULTS: California races

Pavley, 63, already represented much of the newly drawn district in the Senate. About 40% was represented by Republican state Sen. Tony Strickland of Moorpark, who is running for Congress. 

Each candidate spent more than $1 million and was helped by outside expenditures -- largely from business groups for Zink, a 43-year-old deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County, and from organized labor for Pavley.

Zink, a Westlake Village resident, is a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve and has served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Pavley was a Moorpark school teacher and mayor of Agoura Hills before she was elected to the Assembly in 2000. She was elected to the Senate in 2008.

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

-- Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento

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

Capps wins in 24th Congressional District

Democratic Rep. Lois Capps of Santa Barbara beat Republican Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria in the race to represent the Central Coast in Congress, according to incomplete returns.

Maldonado conceded to Capps shortly before midnight. "A short while ago, I spoke with Rep. Lois Capps, and offered her my congratulations on her victory," Maldonado said in a statement.

The seat was one of the few in California that the Republican Party hoped to wrest from a Democratic incumbent on an election day that was expected to feature a strong statewide showing for Democrats.

The intensity and attacks sharpened as the political parties and independent political groups -- including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Planned Parenthood and a PAC supported by the son of billionaire investor Charles Munger  -- poured more than $3 million into the contest.

The 24th Congressional District had been a safe Democratic seat until new boundaries were crafted last year, giving Democrats just a 3-point edge over the GOP in voter registration. The new district includes San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties and a sliver of Ventura County.

Capps and Maldonado accused each other of being in league with their party’s extremes while portraying themselves as moderates willing to work across the aisle.

Capps, in Congress since 2003, cast herself an even-tempered former school nurse who prides herself on recruiting Republicans to co-sponsor her bills.  Maldonado emphasized his impoverished, immigrant roots and his independence as a state senator when he bolted from GOP party ranks and voted for a 2009 budget that triggered tax increases.

-- Phil Willon