Monday, August 31, 2015
Walker goes full Forrest Gump, says Canadian border wall is “legitimate issue for us to look at”
Update: Readers who hunger for more mockery of Scott Walker should check out the #CanadaWall tag on twitter. ————————————– Today on Meet the Press, Scott Walker said that a border wall between the United States and Canada is “a legitimate issue for us to look at”. I expect his campaign will tomorrow release a “clarifying” more »
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Walker goes full Forrest Gump, says Canadian border wall is “legitimate issue for us to look at”
Update: Readers who hunger for more mockery of Scott Walker should check out the #CanadaWall tag on twitter. ————————————– Today on Meet the Press, Scott Walker said that a border wall between the United States and Canada is “a legitimate issue for us to look at”. I expect his campaign will tomorrow release a “clarifying” more »
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
1,200 Teamsters show SBCo. BOS they mean business
San Bernardino County leaders scoffed at the idea that the county’s general employees have had enough of pay and benefit cuts so much so that they would take a few hours out of a weekend morning to attend a union rally. They were expecting a low turnout. They were wrong. More than 1,200 Teamsters showed for the event, which featured presentations by San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos and California State Treasurer John Chiang.
Historically, employees in the county’s general units have rolled over and taken whatever pay reductions San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors deemed necessary. Attendance at union-sponsored events was often light. But after years of pay cuts, earlier this year the general employees voted to affiliate with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and were excited to show their support of their new union on Saturday.
The Teamsters promises a different way of dealing with the board of supervisors. Saturday’s rally was the first public display of how things will change. It was meant to set the tone for an economic reopener scheduled next month. Employees were quick to show their enthusiasm.
To read the entire article, click here.
Monday, August 24, 2015
Quinnipiac poll of FL,OH,PA: fortunes of Walker and Clinton sink as Biden’s rise
Notice that in the crucial state of Ohio, Scott Walker is only at 2%. This is all come to a poll looking for these days: Walker’s failure. But other people are paying attention to the bigger picture, of course. Rubio is the only Republican polling ahead of Clinton in Ohio. Quinnipiac Poll: @MarcoRubio is the more »
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Scott Walker flip flops on birthright citizenship. Blames tiredness.
"Scott Walker said he accidentally took a position on [citizenship] because he was 'tired'"
https://t.co/BBMDYMZQJo pic.twitter.com/vqBv0rSU8b — Billmon (@billmon1) August 21, 2015 At the Iowa state fair, Walker was for elimination of birthright citizenship. By Friday he had “no position” on it. “I’m not taking a position one way or the other,” Walker said in an more »
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Scott Walker flip flops on birthright citizenship. Blames tiredness.
"Scott Walker said he accidentally took a position on [citizenship] because he was 'tired'"
https://t.co/BBMDYMZQJo pic.twitter.com/vqBv0rSU8b — Billmon (@billmon1) August 21, 2015 At the Iowa state fair, Walker was for elimination of birthright citizenship. By Friday he had “no position” on it. “I’m not taking a position one way or the other,” Walker said in an more »
The Sun: Legislative report card: How have San Bernardino County legislators done so far this year?
Cheryl Brown represents California’s 47th State Assembly district and is seeking reelection in the June primary elections. (Courtesy photo)
By Beau Yarbrough and Ryan Hagen, The Sun
and Sandra Emerson, Redlands Daily Facts
Posted: 08/19/15, 12:57 PM PDT |
California’s legislators returned to work in Sacramento on Monday, poised for the battle to get their legislation approved before the 2015-16 session ends on Sept. 11.
They’ve got their work cut out for them, as they push for success. But even small changes can pack a lot of punch for a lawmaker’s constituents, one expert said.
It’s important to not just look at a legislator’s batting average, according to Claremont McKenna College political science professor Jack Pitney.
“If you’re running in a red district and you promise to cut state spending by 20 percent, not going to happen,” he said. “But if you make a small change in the law, that means a great deal to, say, local farmers, then that’s a great deal for those local farmers.”
Assemblyman Jay Obernolte, R-Hesperia, has introduced 24 items this legislative session, five of which have been signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, as of midday on Monday. Those five include Assembly Bill 249 on legal appeals fees; AB 250 on rules regarding marriage and family therapist interns and trainees; AB 868, updating the rules regarding CalPERS pension contracts; Assembly Concurrent Resolution 21, designating a portion of state Route 18 as Rim of the World Veterans Memorial Highway; and Assembly Concurrent Resolution 25, declaring March 14, 2015 to be Pi Day.
To read expanded article, click here.
The post The Sun: Legislative report card: How have San Bernardino County legislators done so far this year? appeared first on InlandPolitics.com.
Friday, August 21, 2015
The Press-Enterprise: WORLD LOGISTICS CENTER: Moreno Valley OKs megawarehouse on 3-2 vote (UPDATE)
“This project is a game-changer of proportional magnitude not only for the city but the entire region,” said Mayor Jesse Molina, who was one of three supporters. Council members George Price and LaDonna Jempson opposed the project.
Published: Aug. 19, 2015 – Updated: 11:50 p.m.
After three years of controversy that has divided residents, Moreno Valley officials voted Wednesday, Aug. 19 to dramatically transform the city’s east side with what would be one of the largest warehouse complexes in the country.
To read article by Imran Ghori in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
The post The Press-Enterprise: WORLD LOGISTICS CENTER: Moreno Valley OKs megawarehouse on 3-2 vote (UPDATE) appeared first on InlandPolitics.com.
Los Angeles Times: D.A. called out county supervisors on jail vote that violated state law
Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey appears at a news conference on June 29, 2015. Lacey sent a letter to county supervisors last week saying that their vote on a jail plan had violated the state’s open meetings law. (Mel Melcon)
By Abby Sewell
August 19, 2015
Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey notified the Board of Supervisors last week that their vote on a controversial downtown jail plan violated the state’s open meetings law, the latest in a string of incidents in which the board has run afoul of the Ralph M. Brown Act.
In a letter sent last Thursday and released to The Times on Wednesday, Lacey told the board that its Aug. 11 vote on the jail plan did not comply with the Brown Act, which requires that officials give the public adequate notice when they plan to discuss an issue so that anyone can participate.
The board voted last week to move forward with the design and construction of a new 3,885-bed jail to replace the dilapidated Men’s Central Jail.
But the jail plan did not appear on the publicly posted agenda before the meeting. Instead, the supervisors added the vote to an item on the agenda involving a new multimillion-dollar program to divert mentally ill criminal defendants from county jails.
Lacey headed up a task force focused on the diversion issue. The Brown Act letter, written by Assistant Head Deputy Sean Hassett, advised board members that the item that appeared on the agenda “involved implementing a comprehensive jail diversion plan, and made no mention of the jail construction projects, thus violating the public’s right to be notified.”
The letter asked the board to “cure and correct this violation at its earliest convenience by setting the matter on an agenda for proper reconsideration and discussion.”
See the most-read stories this hour >>
To read expanded article, click here.
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Thursday, August 20, 2015
The Lou Desmond & Company Show: Children Grow Up in San Bernardino Motels, CA Pensions, and Donald Trump’s Success
Monday, August 17, 2015 – 05:00 p.m.
The Lou Desmond and Company Show is broadcasting from the Toyota of San Bernardino Recording Studios!
On the show today, Estimable Economist Jay Prag joins Lou on the show. First, NPR featured a story about children in San Bernardino who grow up in motels described as “meth addict summer camp.” What do stories like these do for the city’s image?
After that, there are proposed changes for the state’s pension funds. Is there a reason that public employees pensions shouldn’t be altered? Or after the market crash should they take a cut like private sector workers? Finally, why is it that Donald is resonating with likely voters?
To listen to the full show, click here.
Follow Lou on Twitter @WiseGuyLou and on Facebook at “The Lou Desmond & Company Show.”
The post The Lou Desmond & Company Show: Children Grow Up in San Bernardino Motels, CA Pensions, and Donald Trump’s Success appeared first on InlandPolitics.com.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
The Washington Post: Backers fear old weaknesses stalk Clinton campaign
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at the Iowa Democratic Wing Ding at the Surf Ballroom Friday, Aug. 14, 2015, in Clear Lake, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) (Charlie Riedel/AP)
By Anne Gearan, Karen Tumulty and Dan Balz
August 15, 2015 at 9:03 PM
It was supposed to be different this time. After the wounds of 2008, many of them self-inflicted, Hillary Rodham Clinton rebooted for 2016 with a new message, new advisers and new energy.
But two dynamics have crystallized this month, suggesting the New Hillary is hobbled by old weaknesses. Once again, worried supporters see signs of a bunker mentality in response to bad news about her e-mail server and other controversies, and they see a candidate who can seem strangely blinkered to the threat posed by a lesser-known challenger.
“A lot of the people who were hired by the campaign were new to the Clintons,” said a prominent Democrat who counts both Hillary Clinton and former president Bill Clinton as friends. “I kind of assumed it would be different. But it hasn’t changed.”
That Democrat and other supporters requested anonymity in order to discuss the shortcomings of a candidate whom they still overwhelmingly support and think can win the White House. Several supporters said that while no one is pulling the fire alarm, they see worrisome patterns emerging.
Among them: insularity, rigidity and a sense that the operation is tone-deaf to changes happening around it.
The concerns come as Hillary Clinton is weakened by forces both within and outside her control, allies outside the campaign said. And if her campaign is doing some things well — raising money and organizing in early states — Clinton has not been able to shake off basic questions about her skills as a candidate.
Her campaign has been slow off the mark in responding to the surprising surge in national support for Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, several Democrats said. That’s one reason Vice President Biden and his allies are pondering a challenge to Clinton.
Meanwhile, the confusing saga of Clinton’s private e-mail system took what many Democrats saw as a chilling turn last week, with more news about the FBI’s investigation into the potential mishandling of classified material on Clinton’s home computer server. Clinton is not the target of the investigation but, in the words of one Democrat, no one wants their candidate’s name in the same sentence as “FBI.”
To read expanded article, click here.
The post The Washington Post: Backers fear old weaknesses stalk Clinton campaign appeared first on InlandPolitics.com.
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
InlandPolitics: The Clinton Slow-Drip Update
Tuesday, August 18, 2015 – 10:00 a.m.
Here’s the latest from the Hillary Clinton slow-drip, death by a thousand cuts, political blowout.
The number of emails containing potentially classified material jumped from 60 to 305 late Monday. To read the article published in The Washington Times, click here.
The 17,855 emails related to a close advisor to Hillary Clinton, the State Department said never existed two years ago, have now materialized. To read the article at Breitbart.com, click here.
This never-ending saga and cover-up isn’t ending anytime soon.
The post InlandPolitics: The Clinton Slow-Drip Update appeared first on InlandPolitics.com.
Sunday, August 9, 2015
The Sacramento Bee: Dan Walters: California has big housing shortage
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
August 8, 2015
- California needs at least 150,000 new units a year
- Current production is just two-thirds of that
- Should developers be required to provide low-income housing?
California’s severe housing crisis is easy to describe – supply too low, prices too high.
The state’s population is still growing, albeit slowly, and as it adds about 350,000 bodies each year, it needs at least 150,000 new units of housing to keep pace.
We’re not meeting that standard. Housing construction, as high as 213,000 units in 2004, plummeted to 36,000 in 2009.
It has since rebounded somewhat and now approaches 100,000 units, mostly rental apartments, but that’s still well short of demand.
Therefore, the demand-supply gap still widens, particularly in coastal areas. Both prices of single-family homes and rents have skyrocketed, hammering low- and moderate-income families.
During the 2010-14 period, for example, Los Angeles County’s population grew by nearly a quarter-million, but it added fewer than 40,000 housing units. During the same period, San Francisco, despite its geographic limitations, grew by nearly 50,000, but built fewer than 10,000 housing units.
The obvious solution would be to build more housing.
However, as a recent report from the Legislature’s budget analyst, Mac Taylor, points out, our development and construction costs are very high.
Moreover, many coastal communities are very hostile to new projects they see as generating more traffic and other environmental effects.
To read expanded column, click here.
The post The Sacramento Bee: Dan Walters: California has big housing shortage appeared first on InlandPolitics.com.
Saturday, August 8, 2015
Los Angeles Times: L.A. will transfer airport ownership back to Ontario
Los Angeles and Ontario battled for years over ownership of LA/Ontario International Airport. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
By Dan Weikel
August 5, 2015
After years of litigation and contentious negotiations, Los Angeles has agreed to transfer ownership of struggling LA/Ontario International Airport back to the city of Ontario, The Times learned Wednesday.
The deal reverses a 30-year-old acquisition and marks a retreat from the vision of Los Angeles’ airport agency as an ascending, regionwide air travel powerhouse with major branch operations in the Inland Empire and Palmdale.
The high desert airfield, once planned as a sprawling “intercontinental jetport” by L.A. officials, was never completed and was turned over to Palmdale officials two years ago.
See the most-read stories this hour >>
The tentative agreement with Ontario calls for Los Angeles World Airports to be reimbursed for its investments in the facility, job protection for the facility’s 182 employees and the settlement of a lawsuit in which Ontario sought to regain control of the airport.
The Inland Empire city allowed Los Angeles to operate the airport beginning in 1967 and handed over ownership in 1985 on the condition that L.A. officials do their best to attract airlines to the facility.
Interested in the stories shaping California? Sign up for the free Essential California newsletter >>
After the number of annual passengers dropped from 7.2 million in 2007 to 4.2 million in 2012, Ontario sued, alleging that Los Angeles mismanaged the airport and violated its agreements. L.A. airport officials denied the allegations, blaming the decline on the worst economic recession since World War II.
The lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial Aug. 17 in Riverside County Superior Court.
Returning the airport to Ontario will require approvals from the Federal Aviation Administration and multiple local government agencies, a process that could take a year, sources familiar with the deal said.
To read expanded story, click here.
The post Los Angeles Times: L.A. will transfer airport ownership back to Ontario appeared first on InlandPolitics.com.
Los Angeles Times: After years of scandal, L.A. jails get federal oversight, sweeping reforms
By Cindy Chang and Joel Rubin
August 5, 2015
Capping years of scandal, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has agreed to federal oversight of its jail system in an effort to end abuse of inmates by sheriff’s deputies and to improve chronically poor treatment of mentally ill inmates.
The agreement announced Wednesday establishes an independent monitor, overseen by a federal judge, who will make sure the reforms are carried out. Richard Drooyan, a former Los Angeles Police Commission president who served on a blue-ribbon commission that was highly critical of Sheriff’s Department operations, was appointed as the monitor.
The move comes as federal prosecutors continue to pursue criminal charges against several sheriff’s officials, including the department’s former second-in-command — Undersheriff Paul Tanaka. Prosecutors already have won convictions against deputies accused of abusing inmates or of obstructing federal investigators looking into jail violence.
Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies use electronic devices to log the location of each inmate in the High Observation Mental Health Housing unit in the Twin Towers Correctional Facility.
Last June, federal officials stated their intent to seek the agreement in a strongly worded report that described a spike in jail suicides, many of which they termed “preventable.”
Sheriff Jim McDonnell, who took office in December and previously served on a citizens’ commission on jail violence, says he welcomes federal oversight of the nation’s largest county jail system. Many of the reforms required by the settlement are completed or well underway, he said.
To read expanded article, click here.
The post Los Angeles Times: After years of scandal, L.A. jails get federal oversight, sweeping reforms appeared first on InlandPolitics.com.
Thursday, August 6, 2015
John Doe developments: Walker was target in 2011, Appeal impending
Eagle Scout integrity: “Gov. Scott Walker was under criminal investigation in 2011 for misconduct in office — even as he insisted he wasn’t — over a proposed real estate deal when he was Milwaukee County executive, according to records filed Wednesday in federal court” Source: Despite denials, Scott Walker was target of probe in 2011 more »
InlandPolitics: SBIA fraud case continued again
Thursday, August 6, 2015 – 08:30 a.m.
Former San Bernardino International Airport developer Scot Spencer appeared in San Bernardino County Superior Court for another hearing on Wednesday, and once again the once highly-touted and publicized case was continued by stipulation.
This time the matter was put off until November 10, 2015.
Spencer and co-defendant Felice Luciano are charged in an eight count criminal complaint filed by the San Bernardino County District Attorney, which alleges the two men tricked the San Bernardino International Airport Authority (SBIAA) into paying out more than $1.5 million involving a fabricated contract.
Wednesday’s hearing was the fifteenth since the case was brought back March 22, 2013.
SBIAA paid Spencer and his web of companies millions of dollars to renovate and develop San Bernardino International Airport, formally Norton Air Force base, into a commercial passenger facility.
To date approximately $300 million has been sunk into the failed project.
The post InlandPolitics: SBIA fraud case continued again appeared first on InlandPolitics.com.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
InlandPolitics: GOP Debate: It’s all about Trump
Tuesday, August 5, 2015 – 08:15 a.m.
With the GOP debate field now set. It’s the Donald Trump show.
Based upon polling, he’s the only candidate with seemingly universal name recognition.
Expect Trump to keep doing what he’s been doing. The unscripted, unconventional approach is making his opponents look like cardboard, and frankly speaking, it doesn’t appear that any of the men know how to handle it. The situation is already an advantage for Trump, who is a skilled marketing genius, speaker and negotiator.
It should be noted that Trump is at least 10 points or more ahead of his closet opponent in the last four major polls completed this weekend.
Former Texas Governor Rick Perry is mighty unhappy these days.
Perry has relegated to the little kids table Thursday afternoon, after coming in eleventh in the polling, which took him out of the prime time debate. If Perry keeps up his tantrum he might be afforded a high chair to sit in.
Does anyone really believe a large audience is going to tune in to a candidate forum that airs at 5 p.m. EDT and 2 p.m. PDT?
The answer is NO!
The main event at 9 p.m. EDT and 6 p.m. PDT should capture a massive audience thanks to Trump.
The post InlandPolitics: GOP Debate: It’s all about Trump appeared first on InlandPolitics.com.
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Proof: Scott Walker’s aide Archer lied. Maltreatment she claimed rec’d during #JohnDoe raid refuted by newly released recording
Recorded audio from the FBI-assisted raid of Cynthia Archer’s home has been released. “The audio of the raid is being released now in an attempt to rebut claims Archer makes in her suit. For instance, she said in her filing that officers stormed into her house “throwing the (search) warrant at her without giving her more »
Monday, August 3, 2015
California Fish and Game Commission to consider banning bobcat trapping
This past week the world focused on the death of Cecil the lion, a death that has been mourned around the world. The actions of Walter Palmer, a dentist from Minnesota, who paid $55,000 to kill Cecil, brought to light the horrific, and sometimes illegal, methods used to bag a big cat.
What many here in California, a state considered to one of the most progressive and enlightened for animal welfare, do not realize is that we have our own dirty little secret in regards to how wild cats, specifically bobcats, are treated. In California it is legal to trap bobcats.
The bobcats are then shot in the head and skinned for their pelts. The pelts are shipped off to China, Russia and Europe. Trappers get $600 to $1,000 per pelt.
To read the entire article, click here.
Sunday, August 2, 2015
The Sun: San Bernardino, police negotiators agree on contract
San Bernardino Mayor Carey Davis called the contract agreement between the city and the San Bernardino Police Officers Association “very favorable” to the city.
By Ryan Hagen, The Sun
Posted: 07/29/15 – 5:42 PM PDT |
After more than two years of police leaving San Bernardino, saying the lack of a contract robbed them of a sense of stability in a city where many residents say crime is their top concern, the police union and city negotiators both say they’ve agreed on a new contract.
City officials trumpeted the deal, although it must be ratified by the City Council before it goes into effect. The police union met Friday night to discuss the deal and tallied their votes Wednesday, said San Bernardino Police Officers Association attorney Ron Oliner.
“SBPOA has voted overwhelmingly in support of the deal with the city,” Oliner said, speaking by phone during a bankruptcy hearing in Riverside. “We also anticipate that the deal … will hopefully keep men and women on the force from exiting the city of San Bernardino.”
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Meredith Jury praised the two sides for reaching the deal and a mediation judge for helping broker it.
“It is an incredibly important step,” Jury said, saying she hoped it would end adversarial court filings by the union that had been one of the city’s main challengers in court. “Obviously that’s not going to happen with fire (union), but at least it happened with police. It is a very big step, and I hope the city votes in favor next week.”
After the hearing, Mayor Carey Davis said the deal was “very favorable” to the city, and City Attorney Gary Saenz said it was a milestone in efforts to turn around the city.
“This is a very good deal for the city and a very good deal for the police, but most of all, it’s a very good deal for the citizens of San Bernardino,” Saenz said. “The Police Department and the city are once more on the same side, and police will have the stability to improve the crime rate that many people, in the survey we did as part of the strategic planning process, identified as one of the main issues in the city.”
To read expanded article, click here.
The post The Sun: San Bernardino, police negotiators agree on contract appeared first on InlandPolitics.com.
Saturday, August 1, 2015
Milwaukee Bucks arena is product of bizarre and bipartisan bedfellows
It takes an incestuous bipartisan pile of snakes to foist this expense upon Wisconsin when only 9%* of the Wisconsin public wants to help fund it AND when the administration is slashing public education funding. Steve Horn and Michael Arria have a long and interesting piece out on Truthdig that exposes backroom bipartisanship and public more »
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