Why things don’t get done…

With the federal government’s failure to find solutions to the illegal immigrant solution, individual states are putting forth their own proposals in unprecedented numbers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The NCSL says that as of mid-November, the 50 state legislatures had come up with 1,562 measures relating to immigration issues, in areas from education to voting rights. Of that number, 244 had been enacted.

But no one should confuse all that activity with actual solutions. For example, Illinois passed a law that prohibits that state’s companies from complying with a federal program that lets employers electronically verify a worker’s identification. Arizona passed a law that requires employers to use the system.

So which state should be a model for, say, California? Beats me. Both laws are tied up in legal battles.

“Save me a Diet Coke…”

Like all of us at one time or another, state senators sometimes get so busy they’d love to be two places at once. Take Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacto.
The Stein-man is hosting a Town Hall meeting in South Natomas this evening at 6, to “discuss issues of importance to the citizens of the 6th District.”

But, alas, he’s also scheduled to swear in the new board members of the new school district in North Sacto at the Lions Gate Hotel at McClellan Business Park at the very same time. Unlike lesser politicos, however, Steinberg acknowledged his time conflict in a press release. To wit: “The program will start without Sen. Steinberg, who will join late.”

So go early, have one of the “light refreshments” served “not at taxpayer expense,” and hold your tough questions until later in the evening…

Multiplying, Singapore-style.

Among the 41 new math textbooks approved by California’s board of education earlier this month – the first new ones since 2001 – are books used in Singapore schools. Singapore’s math programs are reputedly among the best in the world. (Of course in Utah, where they’ve been battling pretty fiercely this year to adopt new standards, they think California’s math programs are pretty good.)
The texts, for grade levels K-5, have been modified to substitute American spelling for British and replace Singaporean money with U.S. currency, which apparently does not affect the books’ overall worth.
Sample problem: “If a classroom of 35 eighth-grade math students all chew gum in class, how many total cane strokes are necessary to discipline them?”
Just kidding.

Friends! In High Places!!!

Former government official Phil Angelides may no longer be in office, but that doesn’t mean he’s no longer enthusiastic about politics. Should you doubt this, just count the number of exclamation points in the message he recently sent out to members of his “Standing Up for California” group:

My friend, Senator Hillary Clinton, is coming to Los Angeles to
debate her fellow Democratic candidates on December 10th in a
nationally televised debate, and we want you to gather your
friends and neighbors to watch the debate LIVE!
Please join us in hosting one of the hundreds of parties across
the state by inviting fellow Democrats to your living room, to
the workplace, or even to your favorite local restaurant to
watch the debate and be a part of history on December 10th! … From Eureka to San Diego supporters like you will host a party
with the best keynote speaker of all - Senator Hillary Clinton!
Watch Senator Clinton as she talks about her plans to fight for
the middle class, make health care accessible to every American
and end the war in Iraq!
Following the debate, Senator Clinton will join a conference
call with house party participants across the state.
Sincerely,
Phil Angelides

Calm down, Phil!

For what it’s worth…

Take some numbers provided by the state Dept. of Finance and the Dept. of Industrial Relations, and stick them in an inflation calculator from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and here’s what you get:
· The minimum wage in California has gone from $2.50 in 1977 to $7.50 currently. Adjusted for inflation however, the wage has actually gone down 11.9 percent.
· During the same period, the state’s operating budget has gone from $11.6 billion to $102.3 billion. Adjusted for inflation, it’s increased 61.4 percent.
If only we had been paying legislators the minimum wage…

Good news for gobblers?

Is it just me, or is there something vaguely cannibalistic about the fact that some legislators are taking part in something called “Operation Gobble,” in which they are giving away more than 1,400 turkeys to various charitable groups?

Along those lines, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (CPR), the money spent lobbying various federal government entities by the National Turkey Federation and the Cranberry Marketing Committee so far this year is only about half of what it was last year (a combined $110,000 versus $220,000 in 2006.)
This means:
1. Times are tough in the Thanksgiving Feast industry, and they’ve had to cut back on lobbying;
2. Times are good, and they don’t need as much from the feds;
3. They’re planning a big pre-Christmas push, or
4. The folks at CPR are spending waaay too much time analyzing this stuff.

And speaking of the National Turkey Federation, this is the 60th anniversary of the NTF presenting live turkeys to the White House, which are then “pardoned” by the president to live out their lives at Disneyland or Disney World. Unfortunately, domestic turkeys bred for consumption are so fat they have a hard time getting around on their own, and die pretty quickly even if they’re not executed.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Sticking with what works…

If you tune in the morning political talk shows the Sunday after Thanksgiving, pay attention to the commercials. One of them is likely to feature our very own governor, Arnold “The Barbarian” Schwarzenegger, along with Gov. Jon “the Huntsman” Huntsman of Utah and Gov. Brian “No Nickname” Schweitzer of Montana.

The 30-second ad, which is being paid for by a tree-hugger advocacy group, Environmental Defense, has the guvs posing in scenic spots and scolding Congress to get off its duff and do something about reducing carbon emissions.

We know about this because the guv’s press people – mindful of all the good pub Schwarzenegger has garnered from his forays into saving the environment -- told us. In the face of tottering efforts at health insurance reform, overhauling the water system and patching that pesky $10-billion state budget hole, goading Congress on global warming seems the politically wise way to go.

Well, there are gaps, and then there are gaps…

State Schools Chief and pretty-good-bet-to-at-least-test-the-waters 2010 gubernatorial candidate Jack O’Connell is hosting a two-day “achievement gap” conference at Sacto’s convention center starting today. The conference is designed to explore ways to close the gap between the best and brightest students and the dull and dimmest.
The several thousand attendees this morning were given the usual thanks-for-coming goodies, which included a tote bag, pen and highlighter. All of them naturally bore O’Connell’s name – and a “made in China” tag.
Maybe they’re talking about closing the wrong achievement gap…

The Maine thing is…

The people against Prop. 93, which is the Democratic legislators’ effort to change term limits so they can stay in office longer, would like you to know that in Maine on Tuesday, voters soundly thrashed a measure to change that state’s term limit laws.
They’d also like you to know that people from Maine are called “Mainers.” It’s true. As the late Casey Stengel used to say, you could look it up. If that’s your idea of fun this weekend…

Way to go, Fourth Estate

Here is the sum total of the guv’s question-and-answer session with the media after the guv appeared at Sea World Wednesday to promote Southern California tourism in the wake of the devastating fires:
“Q: What did you think of Shamu?
GOVERNOR: Well, a very muscular character. All of a sudden I felt very puny. So it was a nice hug; I needed one, so that was really nice.
And it is nice to be back, like I said, in the San Diego area, and I think this is a very important part of what we always talked about when we talked about follow through. You know, we all know that this was a terrible disaster that has happened, and a lot of people have lost a lot of property. And I think it's very important to now go out, since there has been so much play on television and in the media, the newspapers, magazines, about our fires, to let people know that we are now open again for business. Even though right now there are still two fires that are still not contained fully, but we are open for business. And the businesses were not hurt; the infrastructure is there for the tourists. And it is a beautiful, beautiful area. This is the most gorgeous place in the world, so come on out here and enjoy yourself. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause)”

Dynamic Duo?

Here’s a quote from your attorney general, Jerry Brown, at his appearance yesterday with your governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to announce the state’s lawsuit against the feds for failing to agree to Californian’s tougher tailpipe emissions rules:
“And with this combined power of Schwarzenegger and Brown, EPA, get out of the way.”
Sounds like the birth of a bumper sticker…

This Just In

Alert readers of yesterday's blog will doubtless be heartened in this news from the Libertarian Party: "Libertarians Win 17% of Their Races in Elections Across the U.S."
Not only that, according to the party's press release this afternoon, "all Libertarian incumbents won re-election." For those keeping score at home, that breaks down to 14 victories out of 81 local office races. Libertarians won races in Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, North Carolina and Pennsylvania -- and four out of five contests in Michigan!
"Last night's election once again proved that the Libertarian Party offers a viable option that many Americans take advantage of when selecting the leaders of their government," said party executive director Shane Cory.
Emigration is another viable option.

A whale of a day…

To: “Arnold Schwarzenegger"

From: Staff

Subject: Things to do today…”

1. Fly down to Lake Arrowhead. Look at lake. Go to a coffee shop. Say it’s fantastic to be there. Hold press conference. Remind people that Southern California is still open for tourism, despite recent fires, and is “a beautiful, exciting and safe place to visit.”
2. Fly down to San Diego. Go to Sea World. Watch killer whale splash tourists. Remind people that LEGOLAND is still “open and unaffected” by the recent fires.
3. IF TIME: Fly back to Sacramento and solve water, health insurance and budget crises.

We’re No. 3, We’re No. 3…

Being America’s third-largest political party is a little like being the world’s biggest flea: It sounds pretty cool if one is speaking comparatively, but really isn’t that big a deal otherwise.
Still, the Libertarian Party is patting itself on the back today as the nation heads into a round of local elections. Of the various candidates running for councilman, alderman and dogcatcher, the Libs say 156 of them are registered with their party. And, they say, for the first time in the party’s 36-year history, there are incumbent Libertarians running unopposed, such as City Councilman T.J. Rohr in Lenoir, N.C., and Town Court Judge Susan Bell in Hagerstown, Ind.
“While this may not be the most candidates we’ve ever run in an election, it should certainly prove once again that Americans have a viable third choice for the leaders of their country,” said Andrew Davis, the party’s media coordinator. “That choice is the Libertarian Party.”
And if we can lead the country from Lenoir, N.C. and Hagerstown, Ind. instead of Washington, D.C., sign me up.

“We have to find these people and talk them out of it…”

It’s sometimes amusing when a Field Poll comes out on a ballot issue well ahead of the election to look at the demographic breakdowns on who’s voting for it and against it, before the onslaught of ads ruins everything.
Take Prop. 93, which would change legislative term limits from a max of 14 years (six in the Assembly, eight in the Senate) to 12 years (in any combination in the two houses.)
According to the Field numbers, the person most likely to vote for 93 is a moderately conservative Republican woman of Asian descent who lives in San Diego, is separated or divorced, older than 65, not a Catholic or Protestant, and lacking a college degree.
The person most likely to vote no is a moderately liberal Democratic man of Hispanic descent who lives in Bay Area, is married, between the ages of 40-49, a Catholic, and a college graduate.
In fact, about the only thing they have in common is they both have incomes of more than $80,000 a year.
How’d you like to the be folks trying to run the campaigns for and against this one?

Never say something nice….

No sooner had Governing Magazine announced that Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez was one of its “public officials of the year,” then the news broke that the L.A. Democrat was in the midst of another controversy, this one having to do with him directing special-interest charitable contributions to pet charities from which he may have benefited in a political sense.
Undaunted, the doughty folks at the mag posted a link to an L.A. Times story recounting the speaker’s travails. Not only that, they put it right under the article praising Núñez’s peerless leadership of his peers.
Talk about providing one-stop shopping convenience for readers…

Fabian Núñez: 'Policy Fulcrum'

Our very own Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez has been named a "public official of the year" - and not by European hotel owners either.

Nope, Núñez was honored by Governing Magazine, which is a magazine about, well, governing. The speaker was the only state legislator among this year's honorees, who included the mayor of Houston, the governor of Washington and the police chief of Los Angeles.

In a press release, Núñez modestly said he was sharing the award "with all my colleagues in the Assembly, who have worked very hard to increase the Legislature's effectiveness."

According to the magazine, when Núñez took over as speaker, he saw "a chamber that had been riven by turmoil and unstable leadership for nearly a decade, and asked whether a newcomer might be able to run things a different way: through bipartisan consensus. The result has been a sustained period of legislative achievement that many thought had become impossible in California's tense political climate."

And we thought things weren't going all that well.