Sign here ... and see you 'round midnight

A Sacramento man is being arraigned this afternoon in Superior Court here for allegedly using information he got from initiative petitions he was circulating to "pursue a woman without her consent."

Seriously.

According to a press release from the secretary of state's office, a guy named John Edward James was collecting signatures on at least five different initiatives when he ran into a woman he had known in the fifth grade outside a local bank. James allegedly got her to sign the petitions, and then used the address on them to visit her gated apartment complex around midnight that night.

A security guard told him to take a hike, and the woman called the cops. It's apparently against the California Elections Code to do this kind of stuff. Who knew? He's also charged with falsifying signature collection data, which is also against the law.

That we knew.

What 11th commandment?

Back when Ronald Reagan was the living embodiment of all things GOP, the hard-and-fast rule was "thou shalt not speak ill of they fellow Republican."

Boy, have times changed. Witness the letter being sent to GOP denizens of the 4th Congressional District, where former Congo Doug Ose is taking on state Sen. Tom McClintock for the seat being abandoned by nine-time incumbent John Doolittle.

The letter, from former Gov. Pete Wilson, rips McClintock for being a lone wolf:

"As governor, I could never count on Tom McClintock," Wilson writes. "He was always the first to criticize, but the last to help the team.

And to rub it in even more, Gov. Pete is holding a press conference at the Vietnam Vets Memorial at 2 p.m. today to point out what he says are McClintock's failings when it comes to veterans issues.

"McClintock has the worst record in the California legislature when it comes to supporting veterans' issues," Wilson writes.

Of course it's not the first time Wilson has crossed the Reagan line: In 1976, he endorsed Jerry Ford over Reagan for the GOP presidential nomination, something that many California Reeps were a long time forgiving.

Of course they have memories like elephants...

There are no new ideas, only new rhetoric about them

If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s remarks Wednesday concerning his revised budget proposal sounded a bit familiar to you, you’ve got a great memory – and are really really old.

Here’s what the guv said Wednesday:
“The cold hard truth is that we cannot continue to run our state like this, where there is no connection between our revenues and our expenditures.”

Here’s what Gov. Ronald Reagan said in 1967:
“The time has come to match outgo to income, instead of always doing it the other way around.”

Here’s what the guv said:
“The rainy day fund that I first called for in January would stop Sacramento from spending all the money that comes in when revenues spike … future governors and legislators may still face tough choices, but with a rainy day fund they should never be this extreme…”

Here’s what Gov. Earl Warren said in 1947:
“When I previously proposed to the Legislature that we should set something aside for unforeseen needs, some people said I was talking a defeatist attitude … I am as optimistic as anyone about the economic future of our state, but I think it is elementary prudence to establish a rainy day fund.”

Here’s what the guv said:
“We have to live within our means. And this became very clear when I went up and down the state and had my town hall meetings, that the people said government has got to live within its means … There are some people here in our Capitol that immediately say ‘raise taxes.” I think that you have to think it through.”

Here’s what Gov. George Deukmejian said in 1983:
“Repeatedly over the past few years, the voters have expressed the strongest of sentiments that the government already collects too many taxes. Therefore because I believe our first obligation is to listen to the people, we must make every effort to restore fiscal responsibility without a net tax increase.”

All of which proves that the one thing the Capitol never runs short of is déjà vu.

And I'm outta here until May 27.

Of Bears and Recalls

Amazing what escaping a contested recall election will do to a fellow. Just witness this headline from state Sen. Jeff Denham’s press machine this morning:

DENHAM LOOKING FORWARD TO HEARING ON STATE SURPLUS REAL PROPERTY

Now, you know A) He’s really feeling good about the Democrats’ decision to abandon their efforts to recall him in the June 3 election, or 2) Things are more dull than usual around the family farm.

And as long as we’re talking Senate Reeps, take a look at the masthead on Sen. Sam Annestad’s website, here. That looks like a grizzly bear up there (the one on the right.) The last California grizzly bear was executed in 1922.

There are all kinds of symbolism we could discuss in connection with this, but I can’t focus. I’m too excited about that surplus property hearing...

Hone your own budget skills!

With the May Revise only two days away, there’s still time for all you armchair budget quarterbacks to play fantasy budget here.

This is the Web site for the “California Budget Challenge,” sponsored by an outfit called Next 10. Next 10 is a nonprofit nonpartisan group out of Palo Alto. Its admirable-if-pretty-much-unobtainable goal is to make Californians better understand how their state government works.

You can go the site, answer a dozen or so multiple-choice questions, and see what the budget would be like if you were king or queen of the state for a few years. It doesn’t take long and it does give one a feel for the daunting challenges facing our elected leaders.

Me? I finished with a $4.7 billion surplus by 2012-13, mainly by raising spending only slightly and increasing everyone else’s taxes.

Probably why I’m not a candidate…

'Steal a car, lose your license…'

Sometimes things aren't as dumb as they originally sound, even in the California Legislature.

Take SB 1751. This is a bill by Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, that would take away driver’s licenses from people convicted of car theft. Now, on the surface that seems like kind of a goofy bill. I mean, how many people are going to worry about whether they will lose their license if they steal a car? Or whether they have a license while doing jail time after their conviction?

But according to a committee analysis of the measure, it's not all that ridiculous. It turns out that most car thieves don't even do any real jail time, and that car thieves have higher recidivism rates than other criminals.

So Runner's bill is apparently designed to disrupt the thief's life enough to get his or her attention and put them on the straight-and-narrow. Other states that have followed similar courses have seen their car thefts go down. And Runner amended the measure to allow the convicted to drive in certain cases, such as to training programs or addiction treatment programs.

Just goes to show you can't always judge a bill by its contents…

I hate Mondays…

Here are the headlines, in order, from the National Conference of State Legislatures’ news summary from this morning. I am not making this up:

“Economy may face prolonged pain, history suggests”

“College grads face tougher job market”

“States' welfare caseloads starting to rise”

“Fiscal pressures lead some states to free inmates early”

“Cyclone death toll nears 4,000 in Myanmar, state radio says”

Have a nice day.

You gotta spend a little to make a little…

The California Tahoe Conservancy (you know, the state outfit that works to preserve that big lake we share with Nevada) is looking for someone with good ideas as to how to get more people to buy the specialized Lake Tahoe license plates – and it’s willing to pay 100 grand for them.

Money from the plates goes to help fund the conservancy. And with budgetary conditions being what they are, the percentage of the conservancy’s budget from plate sales is set at about 58 percent for the coming fiscal year.

Obviously it behooves the group to sell as many plates as it can. So it’s posted a request for proposals from PR and advertising whizzes “to assist with public outreach efforts for the Lake Tahoe license plate.” The pay is up to $100,000 for a year, but there’s a catch: Bidders are expected to come up with additional cash or in/kind services support for an additional $50,000 to finance the publicity drive.

If only more of state government operated this way…