Hurricane causes delay for campaign finance case

Hurricane Sandy, which is threatening millions on the East Coast with flooding and high winds, has even conspired to disrupt California politics. 

A court hearing involving the $11-million donation from an Arizona nonprofit has been delayed from Tuesday to Wednesday because the storm was preventing the group's Virginia lawyers from flying out on time.

The Arizona nonprofit, Americans for Responsible Leadership, gave the money to the Small Business Action Committee, which is fighting Gov. Jerry Brown's tax-hike campaign and pushing a ballot measure that would curb unions' political influence.

The donation sparked a lawsuit from the Fair Political Practices Commission, which is investigating whether the nonprofit is improperly hiding its donors' identities.

Americans for Responsible Leadership filed its second rebuttal on Monday, saying the nonprofit has a 1st Amendment right to keep its donors confidential. The Fair Political Practices Commission will submit its own brief Tuesday.

The dispute will probably spill over into the Legislature later this year. Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) plans to introduce legislation in December to tighten the rules for disclosing political donors using nonprofits to influence California elections.

“Just because you’re funneling it through a nonprofit doesn’t mean you should hide the donor's name," said Adam Keigwin, Lee's chief of staff.

ALSO:

Gov. Jerry Brown says shadow lurkers should be 'ashamed'

Gov. Jerry Brown denies making racially charged remark in speech

Hearing set on $11-million election donation from Arizona nonprofit

-- Chris Megerian in Sacramento
twitter.com/chrismegerian

Photo: Sen. Leland Yee (D–San Francisco) plans to push for tighter rules on disclosing political donors. Credit: Randy Pench / The Sacramento Bee

Finish line in sight for California budget

It's going to be a marathon day in the Capitol on Wednesday as lawmakers plan to vote on the last pieces of the state budget. Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to sign the spending plan into law by the end of the day.

The final budget is pegged at $91.5 billion, but that could be reduced if Brown uses his line-item veto power to pare down spending further.

Democrats pushed a budget through the Legislature without a single Republican vote June 15. Since then, Brown and legislative leaders have continued to negotiate a series of related bills.

That has lead to revisions to the budget in recent days, with a compromise on welfare, additional funding that could prevent college tuition hikes and the elimination of a proposal to limit liability for wildfires.

Democrats are also pushing changes that could give Brown's tax plan better placement on the November ballot.

Meanwhile, the Brown administration has continued negotiating with public employee unions in hopes of reducing compensation by 5%. It reached a deal with the largest state workers union, SEIU 1000, over the weekend.

RELATED:

California Legislature passes $92.1-billion budget

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Gov. Jerry Brown, Democratic legislative leaders reach budget deal

-- Chris Megerian in Sacramento

twitter.com/chrismegerian

Photo: Gov. Jerry Brown waves to a tour group as he returns to his office after unveiling his revised budget plan at a Capitol news conference in May. Credit: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press

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

No sticks, but one Stone and plenty of name-calling

In a letter sent to Southern California newspapers, Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone peppered his critique of Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax plan with plenty of exclamation points, bold words and an extra helping of unsavory name calling.

Stone repeatedly referred to the governor as “Gov. Brown(nose).”

Stone, a Republican pharmacist from Temecula, called on voters to reject the governor’s tax proposals in November. He said new taxes shouldn’t be on the table until Brown stops caving in to unions, special interests and illegal immigrants.

“Until this Governor stops "Brown-nosing" the special interests in Sacramento and truly begins to show real courage, demanding that all state employees share responsibility for fixing our budget woes, NO ONE should support his tax increases!!" Stone wrote on county letterhead.

With the state facing a $16-billion deficit, Brown wants voters to pass a quarter-cent increase in the sales tax and hike taxes on individual incomes of more than $250,000.

Gil Duran, the governor’s spokesman, noted that Stone was the same politician who last year led an unsuccessful campaign to split California into two states – with 13 mostly inland, conservative counties breaking away to form a separate state of "South California.''

“Mr. Stone was unsuccessful in his attempt to secede from California last year, but it appears he has had better luck seceding from reality,’’ Duran responded in an email.

ALSO:

Jerry Brown unveils revised budget

California lawmakers vote for legalization of sports betting

Panel slashes state leaders' pay 5% in wake of state worker cuts

 

--Phil Willon in Riverside

Photo: Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone. Source: Riverside County.

 

 

 

After data breach, new rules for sending sensitive information

A data breach that jeopardized personal information for more than 700,000 people has spurred California officials to change how they transport sensitive information.

Packages of payroll data, including Social Security numbers, will be delivered by courier rather than dropped in the mail. And officials are examining ways to transmit encrypted data, rather than storing it on microfiche.

The changes were confirmed by Oscar Ramirez, a spokesman for the California Department of Social Services.

“We’re looking to improve the process," he said.

The overhaul stems from a breach that occurred earlier this month while transporting information on more than 700,000 people who provide or receive home care for the elderly and disabled.

A package shipped by Hewlett-Packard, which handles payroll data for workers in California's In-Home Supportive Services program, arrived damaged and incomplete at a state office in Riverside.

The breach upset unions who represent home care workers.

"We are dismayed by the revelation that confidential IHSS payroll information is being stored on non-encrypted microfiche tape," said a statement from Doug Moore, head of the UDW Homecare Providers Union. "It is shocking that a large state like California would use such antiquated procedures to maintain confidential personal information -- especially in this time of increasing identity theft."

An investigation into the breach is ongoing, Ramirez said.

ALSO:

Jerry Brown unveils revised budget plan

California continues courtroom push to cut costs

California's legislative analyst says deficit may be even higher

— Chris Megerian in Sacramento

twitter.com/@chrismegerian

 

we are dismayed by the revelation that confidential IHSS payroll information is being stored on non-encrypted microfiche tape.  It is shocking that a large state like California would use such antiquated procedures to maintain confidential personal information--especially in this time of increasing identity theft.

L.A. County labor federation picks its candidates

The  influential Los Angeles County Federation of Labor  on Tuesday announced its endorsements in  this year's congressional and legislative elections--support that can be crucial in hotly contested races.

The AFL-CIO-affiliated federation, the second-largest in the country, represents more than 300 local unions.  It has several avenues for helping its endorsed candidates, including communicating its choices to members, spending money independently to support or oppose candidates  and providing  volunteers to walk precincts and call voters.

Several of this year's congressional and legislative races are featuring intraparty fights in strongly Democratic districts, where the federation's backing is likely to count most. The endorsements  include one for Rep. Janice Hahn (D-San Pedro), who is competing with Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Long Beach) for a newly drawn House seat.

But in the area's hottest congressional race to date--in which Democratic Reps. Brad Sherman and Howard L. Berman are vying for a newly drawn district in the San Fernando Valley--the federation  could not agree on a candidate.

Among the several Assembly races with at least two Democratic contenders, the federation endorsed the following candidates:

Richard Alarcon for AD 39, Adrin Nazarian for AD 46, Betsy Butler for AD 50, Jimmy Gomez for AD 51, Reginald Jones-Sawyer for AD 59 and Anthony Rendon for AD 63.

Candidates seeking an endorsement were required to pass muster with three separate federation groups.

"We expect politicians to stand up for working men and women across Los Angeles County," Maria Elena Durazo, the federation's top executive, said in a statement announcing the endorsements.

Under the state's new elections system, at least some of these intraparty fights are likely to last into the fall  because the top two finishers in the June primary will advance to the general election,  not the top finisher from each party, as before.  In addition,  candidates are running in new districts, drawn for the first time by an independent citizens commission  without regard to party registration or  incumbents' homes.

The federation has also made endorsements in several upcoming races for local offices.

ALSO:

Jerry Brown takes on Washington Times reporter

Three strikes law costly and ineffective, study says

Feds seize additional computers in Kinde Durkee case

--Jean Merl

Photo: Rep. Janice Hahn, right, won the county Federation of Labor endorsement over Rep. Laura Richardson. Credit: Associated Press, Los Angeles Times

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Podcast: Taxes, union power mark latest initiative wars

This week, the next round of the California initiative wars was set into motion. Gov. Jerry Brown introduced his plan to hike income taxes on the wealthy and sales taxes across the board. A measure to limit the political clout of labor unions qualified for next year's ballot. These measures are expected to highlight another multimillion-dollar fight at the ballot box next fall.

Brown's tax plan is just one of a handful of similar proposals filed with the attorney general's office. A group of liberal Democrats, led by the California Federation of Teachers, filed their own plan exclusively targeting upper-income earners.

As the governor prepares to introduce his budget in January, he will first try to convince other tax-initiative sponsors to abandon their plans and back his. Brown said this week that it was his job "to get everyone singing from the same page" in the weeks ahead.

Times reporter Anthony York joins KQED's John Myers and Marisa Lagos from the San Francisco Chronicle in KQED's weekly Capital Notes podcast to discuss the latest batch of initiatives and what they mean for the political and policy fights ahead.

Listen to the podcast here.

RELATED:

Brown polishing his tax plan

Jerry Brown to take tax-hike plan straight to voters

"The Daily Show" takes aim at California initiative process

Photo Credit:  Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times / MCT

State bans alcohol sales from automated checkout counters

Alcohol sales will no longer be allowed at automated checkout counters after Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law Sunday to ban the practice.

As of Jan. 1, 2012, all alcohol sales must be processed by a cashier. The bill’s author, Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) called it a protection against minors obtaining alcohol illegally.

The bill received backing from law enforcement groups and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Opponents said it was a transparent effort by grocery workers’ unions to protect jobs against the automated checkout machines.

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill, saying, "It is unclear what problem this bill seeks to address."

RELATED:

New law alters local-government bankruptcy process

Jerry Brown extends tax credit for filmmakers until 2015

Gov. Jerry Brown signs bill placing limits on DUI checkpoints

--Anthony York in Sacramento

Gov. Jerry Brown reaches deal with prison guards

California prison guards, who are represented by one of the largest and most politically powerful state-employee unions, have reached a contract agreement with Gov. Jerry Brown.

Neither the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. nor the governor's office would provide details of the long-awaited contract on Tuesday afternoon, but David Gay, a spokesman for the Department of Personnel Administration, confirmed a deal was struck early Tuesday morning.

The prison guards, who have a reputation for being among the best paid state employees, have been operating without a formal contract since reaching an impasse over wages and benefits with former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006.

The union –- which represents about 30,000 employees -- spent millions of dollars on Brown's election campaign. Its annual conference in Las Vegas was one of the few public speaking engagements Brown made between his election in November and his inauguration in January.

-- Jack Dolan

PolitiCal Roundup: Jerry Brown ready to deal on pensions, more census trends

Pension reform, a GOP demand, is now officially on the negotiating table in California's budget talks. Gov. Jerry Brown says he's working on a proposal in the final days left to strike a deal.

In Wisconsin, the union defeat is resounding: Gov. Scott Walker signs the bill to limit collective bargaining for most public workers.

More notes from this week's census release: From the Bay area, a story of waning black enclaves in California's coastal cities. Oakland, for example, has lost 25% of its black population this decade.

And from Riverside County, the story of Murrieta, biggest boom town in a booming country. That city more than doubled its population in the census decade, even as L.A.'s population barely budged.