In reponse (I believe) to Speaker Karen Bass’s explanation that “legislative leaders have compromised,” Cheslog writes, “The Democrats have been compromising with themselves on the state budget crisis. The Democrats have agreed to horrible spending cuts and other measures that go against their interest groups…The myth of bipartisan intransigence may be a more interesting story for state pundits to tell, but this fiction does nothing to move the state towards a solution to this problem.”

Here is the Bloomberg report on the plan Governor “blow the box up” Schwarzenegger proposed on December 31.

Here is the transcript of Speaker Bass’s reactions to the Governor’s proposed budget plan

Will the last sane adult leaving California please remember to turn out the lights?

Mary Piepho, our current supervisor has been sending out a campaign material touting her accomplishments of the past three years. The message is, this inexperienced member from the community swept in and has single handedly fixed all the county problems, in spite of the fact that the Board votes in lock step 5 to 0 on every issue. If I were on the Board with her I would be insulted that she gets all the credit. But then again, maybe they are happy under her “Leadership” to give her all the credit for the County Grand Jury report that came out on Friday:

“Supervisors have said that they have learned their lesson, that they will do better, and that they are on the road to fiscal sanity. Their record says otherwise.” The report says:

- Individual supervisors are individually communicating with labor leaders undermining the negotiation process
- The Board has continued to approve labor contracts through the last couple of months that “…in each case, the Supervisors as a group have failed to take any meaningful steps to address out-of-control health benefit costs, attributable largely to the generous union agreements.”
- The Board has targeted only 40% of the OPEB debt, the Grand Jury recommends raising the target to 85% of the debt. They say the Board should come up with a plan in the next six months as to how this will be achieved.
- The current annual “gap between the required and planned contributions” for OPEB is estimated to be $54 million. The Board is not required to actually “fund” that amount, but it must fund it, reduce it in some manner, or disclose the $54 million as a liability on the financial statements. Currently, the plan is to report the liability.

Guy Houston’s accomplishments in the State Legislature are too numerous to list in one blog. Here is but a sample of what he has accomplished in Sacramento:

- Equalization for school funding which has brought millions of extra dollars to not only Contra Costa County but under funded districts across the state.
- Introduced a bill to equalize county funding across the state, which would bring millions into Contra Costa County and other under funded counties in the state.
- A bill to enhance penalties for people that maliciously post someone else’s information on the internet.
- Authored a bill which helps address State’s critical shortage of specialists for disabled students.
- Introduced a bill to increase the tax exemption for 100% totally disabled veterans.

Additionally, he was appointed this year to serve on the Banking and Finance committee, the Local Government committee and the Transportation committee. He received the American Electronics Association prestigious award as “Legislator of the Year.”

Guy Houston doesn’t promise to swoop in like Superman and make this County whole overnight. But with his background and experience at the State level Guy has gained the support of the Assessor, the Auditor-Controller, the County Treasurer (the financial Big Three) and the Sheriff.

So let’s move away from the gender arguments, nice person arguments, hard working arguments and elect the most qualified candidate with a proven track record. That person is Guy Houston.

There have been no surprises so far in the filing of nomination papers for the June 3 primary election. The top candidates, even with few incumbents running, were pretty much decided when Prop. 93, the term limits extension, failed in February. Most of these had announced their intentions last year.

The February election left all five of the incumbents in legislative districts in the county termed out of their respective offices as of early December. Three of the five are seeking to switch legislative houses. State Sen. Don Perata of Oakland is collecting funds for a run at the State Board of Equalization in two years. Assemblyman Guy Houston, R-San Ramon, is going down the ladder, looking for a seat on the county Board of Supervisors.

Candidates have until this 5 p.m. this Friday, March 7, to complete their nomination papers and turn them in, except in the cases where incumbents do not file for re-election. They then have until 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 12.

Candidates in the county’s three congressional districts will all have to file by this Friday, since all the incumbents are seeking re-election. All are multi-county districts, so the list here is incomplete, including only Contra Costa candidates.

In addition to the partisan primaries, voters will decide three county supervisor seats , nine Superior Court judgeships and seats on political party county central committees. None of the nine incumbent judges is being opposed so far.

As of last Friday, most candidates for partisan office or supervisor have taken out nomination papers, but have not filed them to get on the ballot. The Contra Costa Elections Office listed the following candidates. Other would-be candidates can take out papers and complete filing by Friday or, in the case of extensions, March 12. (*=incumbent)

CONGRESS
7th District
(not including Solano County portions)
Democrat — *George Miller, D-Martinez
Republican — Virginia O. Fuller-Kendall, Pinole
— Roger A. Peterson, Clayton (filed final papers)
Libertarian — Camden McConnell, Pittsburg
Peace & Freedom — William Callison

10th District
(not including Alameda, San Joaquin and other county portions)
Democrat — *Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo
Republican — David Peterson, Walnut Creek
— Nicholas Gerber, Moraga (filed final papers)
Peace & Freedom — Eugene Ruyle, Oakland

11th District
(not including Alameda, San Joaquin and other county portions)
Democrat — *Jerald McNerney, D-Pleasanton
(Republicans and others are expected to file in other counties.)

STATE SENATE
7th District
(*Tom Torlakson not running)
Democrat — Mark DeSaulnier, Concord
Joe Canciamilla, Pittsburg

9th District
(not including full Alameda County filings)
(* Don Perata not filing)
Peace & Freedom — Marsha Feinland, Berkeley
Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, and former Assemblywoman Wilma Change are expected to be the main candidates.)

ASSEMBLY
11th District
(* Mark DeSaulnier not running)
Democrat — Tom Torlakson, Antioch

14th District
(not including Alameda County filings)
(* Guy Houston not running)
Democrat — Joan Buchanan, Alamo
— Stephen Filson, Danville
— Ted Ford, Walnut Creek (filed final papers)
— Seven Thomas, Danville
Republican — Abram Wilson, San Ramon
Judy Lloyd, Danville

COUNTY SUPERVISOR
2nd District
*Gayle Uilkema, Lafayette

3rd District
*Mary Nejedly Piepho, Discovery Bay
Guy Houston, San Ramon

5th District
*Federal Glover, Pittsburg
Donald Parscal, Brentwood
Erik Nunn, Oakley
Gary Agopian, Antioch

Information on the filings in Contra Costa County can be obtained from the elections office at (925) 335-7800.

Filing papers which are available to the public include state and local candidates’ declarations of intent to run, pledges to stay within state or local voluntary mandated funding limits, conflict of interest statements and other materials. Congressional candidates file only nomination papers locally. Other requirements are met with filings with the Federal Elections Commission or the House of Representatives.

—————
Pat Keeble is former Political Editor of Lesher Newspapers, Inc., now known as Contra Costa Newspapers, and is editor and publisher of her own online news site Contra Costa Insider.

The ability of Republicans to block spending represents a tyranny of the minority. We need to make budget decisions in California the same way they do it in nearly every other state and in Congress.

For heaven’s sake! She’s blaming Republicans for not letting Democrats spend more money California doesn’t have as a way to grapple with the State’s deficit. Are all Democrats such blockheads?

1) A veto-proof, 2/3 Democratic Majority in the Legislature spells the ruin of California.

2) Legislative leaders in Sacrmento don’t trust the County party organizations to get the job done.

David Dayen reports in California Progress that, “Each of the marquee races are expected to be $1 million+ contests. The new Assembly Speaker will be responsible for raising funds and overseeing the campaigns.” Dayen goes on to question why

the Speaker (and the President Pro Tem of the Senate) have the sole responsibility of overseeing these elections and creating advertising, GOTV, etc. It seems…that the California Democratic Party would be able to do a much better job in these districts, with their membership already on the ground and involved, and with a larger fundraising base to conduct the operations necessary. Yet for some reason, there is this bifurcation: the CDP deals with statewide races and Congressional seats, and the Assembly and Senate leadership do the legislative races. Is this just tradition? Why can’t the CDP play in whatever race they wish?

On the Republican side, in addition to losing Pombo’s 11th Congressional seat, AD-15’s strong Republican registration lead has slipped into coin-toss territory thanks to the leadership of Tom Del Beccaro, chair of the County’s Republican Central Committee. Across the aisle, Nagaraja Rao, who seems to spend more time outside the country than in it is under fire by party members and the public for raising false alarms over sham death threats and ham-fisted support of Maria Alegria during the recent Pinole Recall campaign.

If the current Contra Costa County Democratic and Republican Central Committees responsible for election results in AD-15 are any indication, it is no wonder that legislative party leaders Nunez and Perata in Sacramento want to run the show to make sure some incompetent petty fiefdom doesn’t get in the way and botch the job.