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Home Front: Politix

Former Biden HHS Secretary Becerra launches bid for California governor

2025-04-03

[THEHILL] Former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra on Wednesday launched a bid for Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, governor, joining a growing field of candidates looking to replace term-limited Gov. Gavin Governor Hair Gel Newsom
Gavin <q>Governor Hair Gel</q> Newsom

...mayor of San Franciscoas it transformed itself into Poopville, currently governor of Californiaas it transforms itself into Cinderland...
(D).

''As AG I took on Trump — and won. As HHS Secretary, I took on Big Pharma — and won. It's time to do it again for California,'' Becerra said in a post on social platform X announcing his campaign. ''Let's rebuild the California Dream for everyone.''

Becerra spent 12 terms representing the Golden State in the House and served as California's attorney general before former President Biden tapped him to lead HHS, becoming the first Latino to hold the office.

He now joins state Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former state Senate leader Toni Atkins and former state Controller Betty Yee in the growing group of Democratic primary contenders. Former Rep. Katie Bat Girl Porter
...Dem law professor, attorney and politician serving as the U.S. Representative for California's 45th congressional district (Orange County) since 2019. Katie takes her job and her personal dignity so seriously she once showed up for a committee hearing dressed as Batman....
(Calif.) also jumped in last month.

But some political observers have seen the field as effectively frozen by the question of whether former Vice President Kamala Harris
So Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine. So, basically, that’s wrong
, with whom Becerra worked in the Biden administration, will join the race.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) in February decided against a run for governor and told Politico he'd support Harris if she ran, saying her candidacy ''would be field-clearing.''

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

Maxine Waters May Find Herself In Hot Water Over Fundraising Practices

2018-10-09

[Townhall] The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), a conservative watchdog group, on Monday filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) accusing Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) of violating federal election laws earlier this year.

According to the NLPC, Waters' campaign sent out a "slate mailer" that included former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa who was running for Governor in the Democratic primary. Villaraigoa's campaign agreed to pay a $25,000 fee for the mailer. NLPC says Villaraigosa failed to pay for the mailer but a group called "Families and Teachers for Antonio" paid the fee.

"Whereas candidates like Villaraigosa may legally pay Waters' campaign for the proportional costs of their inclusion on her slate mailer, it is not legal for such payment to be made by a third party like 'Families and Teachers for Antonio,'" NPLC alleges.

NLPC filed a similar complaint with the FEC for another "slate mailer" which was part of the 2016 election. The watchdog group says Waters' campaign accepted $35,000 from the Democratic State Central Committee of California (DSCCC) to include then-Senate candidate Kamala Harris.

Waters has been sending out "slate mailers," which resemble a sample ballot distributed by political parties before an election, for years.

According to the FEC's 2004 advisory opinion, payments from other candidates "would not constitute support of, or in-kind contributions to, any federal candidate appearing in the brochure, so long as the authorized committee of that federal candidate reimburses the Waters Committee."

Link

-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-

How eight elite San Francisco families funded Gavin Newsom's political ascent

2018-09-08

[LATimes] Gavin Newsom wasn’t born rich, but he was born connected ‐ and those alliances have paid handsome dividends throughout his career.

A coterie of San Francisco’s wealthiest families has backed him at every step of his political rise, which in November could lead next to his election as governor of California.

San Francisco society’s "first families" ‐ whose names grace museum galleries, charity ball invitations and hospital wards ‐ settled on Newsom, 50, as their favored candidate two decades ago, said Willie Brown, former state Assembly speaker and former mayor of the city.

"He came from their world, and that’s why they embraced him without hesitancy and over and above everybody else," said Brown, who is a mentor to Newsom. "They didn’t need to interview him. They knew what he stood for."

A Times review of campaign finance records identified eight of San Francisco’s best-known families as being among Newsom’s most loyal and long-term contributors. Among those patrons are the Gettys, the Pritzkers and the Fishers, whose families made their respective fortunes in oil, hotels and fashion. They first backed him when he was a restaurateur and winery owner running for county supervisor in 1998, and have continued their support through the governor’s race.

They are not Newsom’s largest donors: The families in total have given about $2 million of the $61 million that donors have contributed to his campaigns and independent committees backing those bids. But they gave while he was a relative unknown, providing crucial support to a political newcomer in the years before his campaign accounts piled high with cash from labor unions, Hollywood honchos, tech billionaires and donors up and down the state.

Now the families appear poised to see their investments pay off.

These donors are mostly liberal, inspired by Newsom’s history as an early supporter of progressive causes, including same-sex marriage as San Francisco mayor in 2004. But some are Republicans, including President Trump’s new ambassador to Austria, who are drawn by Newsom’s background as a small businessman.

The front-runner’s opponents have attacked him for his connections. During the primary, two of his Democratic rivals, Antonio Villaraigosa and John Chiang, painted Newsom as the beneficiary of wealth and privilege. John Cox, his GOP opponent in the November election, reiterated the theme in a new website titled "Fortunate $on." And an independent expenditure committee supporting the Republican spent a quarter-million dollars late last month on an ad calling Newsom "a child of privilege, his path greased by family and political connections and billionaire patrons."
Hat tip to Drudge for an interesting article from the LA Times, of all sources, on the California gubernatorial race. Newsom is slime but it seems he has some very rich and powerful backers. Much more at the link including great pictures of the guy hobnobbing with San Fran's upper crust. If you like San Francisco, you're gonna love Newsom.

Link

Home Front: Culture Wars

The biblical case for closed borders

2018-06-24

[Wash Times] Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a huge public relations hit for daring to quote scripture while explaining why borders should be secure, even if it means separating children from the adults who’ve carted them into the nation illegally in the first place.

But let’s get this straight, and straight-away: Borders are indeed biblical.

So is the rule of law. So is the concept of keeping out those born in other nations about whom U.S. immigration folk know little ‐ and that goes for children, as well as adults.

The left likes to whip out their Bible books and sell otherwise. But what do they know?

Democrats, after all, were the ones who removed mention of God from their national party platform back in 2012. Facing near-immediate fire, these Dems then quickly voted to revise that anti-God stance and put back what they had just taken out ‐ but it was hardly a do-over that ended decisively.

As ABC remembered it back in September 2012: "The first two voice votes [to put back God into the platform], which require a two-thirds majority to pass, were tied between ’ays’ and ’nos.’ On the third vote it was still hard to tell whether the ’ays’ were audibly louder than the ’nays’ in the half-full [Democratic convention] arena. When [convention chairman] Antonio Villaraigosa ... announced ’the ays have it,’ loud boos erupted across the arena."

Lovers of God the left are not.

Yet on borders, suddenly the Democrats are biblical scholars, as schooled on scriptural truths as, say, Rev. Franklin Graham.

Just recently, Nancy Pelosi railed: "The very hypocrisy of the attorney general to quote the Bible, the hypocrisy of all people of faith in our country not to clamor for what the administration is doing [at the border] ... For this administration to pose as people of faith and pose as people who care about family and children is of a height of hypocrisy that knows no bounds."

Spare us the sanctimony, please.

Pelosi spoke those words after Sessions brought up Romans 13, the chapter here the Apostle Paul tells how individuals should obey the laws set forth by God’s duly selected government leaders ‐ meaning, of course, even illegals.

But that’s not the only spot in the Bible that justifies this White House’s tougher immigration policy.

How about in Genesis where God destroyed the Tower of Babel, for one, and gave the builders different languages ‐ which then sent them scattering, seeking new lands to set up their own nations? Surely, that’s a creation of countries ‐ of countries with their own languages, cultures, laws and, dare say, boundaries-slash-borders. By God’s hands; by God’s design, no less.

Or there’s this, from Paul speaking in Acts 17: "The God who made the world and everything in it ... made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation."

Or this, the part where God tells Ezekiel, before commencing to divide the land into set portions: ’These are the boundaries by which you shall divide the land for inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel."

Link

Home Front: Politix

Nearly 120,000 Voters Reportedly Left off Los Angeles Voter Rolls on Crucial Primary Day

2018-06-06

[FoxNews] Nearly 120,000 names were left off the voting rolls in Los Angeles during Tuesday's crucial jungle primary due to a printing error, local officials said.

The 118,522 voters' names were erroneously excluded across more than a thousand precincts in the state, local officials said.

"We apologize for the inconvenience and concern this has caused," Dean C. Logan, the county clerk, said in a statement. "Voters should be assured their vote will be counted."

The local registrar's office has said registered voters who have been affected by the printing error can cast provisional ballots that will be counted, Los Angeles' KTLA reported.

But former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is locked in a fierce primary fight for the number-two spot in the California gubernatorial race, called for polls to remain open longer as a result of the snafu.

"I'm calling on @LACountyRRCC to keep the polls open longer because of the unprecedented number of voters left off the voter rolls," Villaraigosa wrote on Twitter. "You have the right to vote. If you were turned away, return to your polling place & exercise your right to vote by requesting a provisional ballot."

Los Angeles County Democratic Party Chair Mark Gonzalez said in a statement that many voters probably will be too frustrated to take the city up on that offer, though.

"While it is true that voters whose names are not on their precinct's voter roll can and must obtain that provisional ballot to cast their vote, it is an inevitability that many will have seen their names not on the voter roll and be turned off from voting entirely," Gonzalez said.

"We will work closely with Dean Logan and the County Registrar to ensure this does not happen again and that every vote is counted," he added.

Newsom is the clear front-runner in the race.

Because of California's "jungle primary ," the top two vote-getters -- regardless of party -- advance to a runoff in November.

Newsom has said he would prefer to face a Republican and it's understandable because Democrats dominate in California. Republican registration has fallen for years and the party has not won a statewide contest in more than a decade, when Arnold Schwarzenegger was re-elected governor in 2006.

Link

-Short Attention Span Theater-

Los Angeles warns against gun sex

2012-12-31

[UPI] Los Angeles officials have warned people against firing guns into the air when celebrating the New Year -- anyone caught doing so could face a $10,000 fine.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said firearm misuse is on everyone's minds going into the holiday, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

"Firing into the air weapons in celebration puts innocent lives at risk," Villaraigosa said last week. "Nothing ruins the holiday season like an errant bullet coming down and killing an innocent."

Villaraigosa said authorities will pursue criminal charges for anyone caught in possession of a weapon in public. Anyone found guilty faces a fine of up to $10,000 and a possible three-year jail sentence.

Link

-Election 2012

Democrats Show Their Colours: Jimmy Carter To Be DNC Convention Primetime Speaker

2012-08-16

Brilliant move, O Democrats, to remind Jewish voters exactly why they deserted your party for Ronald Reagan last time.

Former president

Jimmy Carter
... the worst president ever. Maybe the second worst. The votes aren't all in yet...
, who has garnered much criticism in recent years for his harsh words about Israel, will address the Democratic National Convention in prime time.

The Democratic National Convention Committee and Obama for America announced that Carter will speak Sept. 4 via video on the second day of the convention in Charlotte, N.C.

"President Carter is one of the greatest humanitarian leaders of our time and a champion of democracy around the globe," said convention chair Antonio Villaraigosa, who also called the former president "a lifelong champion of human rights
...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
and investments in education and energy."

He said that Carter "will provide unique insight" for economic recovery.

Abraham Foxman, national director of Anti-Defamation League, sharply criticized the invitation.

"I wish he wouldn't [speak]," Foxman said. "I don't think the convention should provide a platform for someone with such a biased obsession with Israel that borders on anti-Semitism."

"I know it's very difficult for any political party to deny a platform" to living former presidents, Foxman said, adding he hoped Carter's speech would not be aired during any discussion about the Middle East or foreign policy.

David Harris, the president of the National Jewish Democratic Council, which in the past has been critical of Carter's Middle East pronouncements, told JTA he was "confident" Carter would not speak about the region at the convention.

"Whether it's Israel in particular or the Middle East in general, President Carter's analysis has been consistently wrong, and harmful to the grinding of the peace processor to boot," Harris said. "I'm confident that he won't be speaking about Middle East policy at the Democratic Convention; today's Democratic Party leaders -- including one of the most pro-Israel presidents in U.S. history, President B.O. -- are best suited to that task."

Republican Jewish Coalition director Matt Brooks said the decision showed how "out of touch" the Democrats had become. "Giving a platform to someone who has been openly hostile to Israel and equated the country to the South African apartheid regime is offensive," Brooks said in an email.

Prime-time speakers at the convention include first lady Michelle Obama and keynote speaker San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, who will also speak on Sept. 4 at Time Warner
...contributed $624,618 to the 2008 Obama campaign...
Cable Arena. Former president Bill Clinton and U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren will deliver their remarks on Sept. 5 at the arena. Both President B.O. and Vice President

Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden
The former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body...
will deliver their acceptance speeches on the final night of the convention, Sept. 6, at Bank of America Stadium.

Link

Economy

Trickle-Down Misery in L.A.- Former SEIU organizer has to deal with SEIU demands

2010-05-11

From Newsweek! But it's George F. Will, who so often gets to be the the lone conservative pundit in the group. He's the one who administered a salutory slap-down to Bill Maher on "ABC News This Week" recently (start around 2:50), again the only conservative at the table.

Los Angeles--to get from downtown to the residence of the man who, in 2005, became the first Hispanic elected mayor since 1870, you drive through a sliver of Korea. With 125,000 people packed into 2.7 of the city's 469 square miles, Koreatown is typical of this polyglot city where more than 100 languages are spoken and nothing is typical except recentness: 46 percent of the residents are foreign-born.

So when His Honor Antonio Villaraigosa was invited to appear at a recent rally protesting Arizona's law concerning illegal immigrants, he went. But he stipulated: "I want American flags." He knows that protesting immigrants should not carry the flags of Mexico and other nations where they have chosen not to live.

The city is chin-deep in California's trickle-down misery, and last week Richard Riordan, who was L.A. mayor from 1993 to 2001, coauthored with Alexander Rubalcava--an investment adviser--a Wall Street Journal column declaring the city's fiscal crisis "terminal." They say Villaraigosa should "face the fact" that "between now and 2014 the city will likely declare bankruptcy." Villaraigosa says that will not happen. But look what has happened.

For 15 years Villaraigosa was an organizer for the Service Employees International Union and the city's teachers' union. Now he is trying to cope with, and partially undo, largesse for unionized public employees: "I have to sign the checks on the front, not just the back."

Riordan and Rubalcava say two numbers--8 percent and 5,000--define the city's crisis. L.A. has conveniently but unrealistically assumed 8 percent annual growth of the assets of the city's pension funds. The two main funds' actual growth over the last decade have been 3.5 percent and 2.8 percent. And Villaraigosa added 5,000 people to the city's payroll in his first term.

Nationwide, government employees are most of what remains of "defined benefit" America. More than 80 percent of government workers have defined benefits--as opposed to defined-contribution--pension plans. Only about 20 percent of private-sector workers have defined-benefit plans. California's parlous condition owes much to burdensome health-care and pension promises negotiated with public employees' unions, promises that are suffocating the state's economic growth.

Riordan and Rubalcava suggest replacing defined-benefit pensions with 401(k) accounts for new public employees. But when another product of America's immigrant culture, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, tried to do that, public employees' unions squashed the idea. Riordan and Rubalcava say the retirement age for public employees should be raised from 55 to 65, employees should pay more than the maximum of 9 percent of their salaries for pensions, and the city should end subsidies of up to $1,200 a month for health insurance for those who retire before becoming eligible for Medicare. But even his ideas for nibbling at the edges of the fiscal problem by privatizing the zoo, the convention center, and city parking lots are opposed by the unions.

They are government organized as an interest group to lobby itself for ever-larger portions of wealth extracted by the taxing power from the private sector. Increasingly, government workers are the electoral base of the party of government. So Villaraigosa must live with the arithmetic of interest-group liberalism. The federal government, he says, can run deficits and print money; the state government (supposedly) must balance the budget but can push burdens down onto cities. There, he says, "you have 10 cookies in the cookie jar and every interest wants all 10."

The nightmare numbers include the state's unemployment rate (12.6 percent)--it is higher than the nation's (9.9)--and the city's rate (13.5), which is higher than the state's. The city's long-term success depends on its schools, in many of which most of the children come from homes without fathers, and in some of which, Villaraigosa says, 40 percent of the children are in foster homes. He has little control over the school system and, anyway, unions oppose radical reforms. He would like to emulate the education reforms of former Florida governor Jeb Bush, a recent visitor to the mayor's residence, but, holding his fingers three inches apart to suggest the thickness of the standard contract with the teachers' union, Villaraigosa calls the union "the most powerful defender of the status quo."

The mayor's residence is near Wilshire Boulevard, which is named for a socialist who made and lost several fortunes before dying destitute. The life of Henry Wilshire is a cautionary tale for this city where the climate is usually Mediterranean and the fiscal climate is now Greek.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Obama: Washington Needs to Be More Like California

2010-04-21

Here's what the president said in Hollywood yesterday while raising bajillions for Mickey Kaus' primary opponent:

But here is what I want you to know: I have never been more optimistic about America's future. And I am optimistic because I know there are people like you out there and I know there are people like Barbara Boxer in the Senate who's fighting to change this country for the better. And because you are out there fighting and because Barbara is there fighting, I draw inspiration. And there are people all across this country who are dreaming of a better tomorrow, and then they are willing to fight for those dreams to come true.

And you know what, that's the story of California. This is a state that always drew dreamers, men and women with the courage to pursue their dreams. It's a state that inspired pioneers to head out across an unforgiving wilderness; a state that spurred glory-seekers to rush westward for gold; the state that draws innovators and entertainers, from Hollywood Hills to Mountain View. And there's always been something about California that inspires us to dream; that's called on us to build a better life; that has helped us imagine the world as it is and then recognize that the world as it might be is out there.

And I'm absolutely confident that if folks in Washington can recapture that same spirit -- that same boundless, resilient American spirit -- we're not only going to rescue our economy, we're not only going to rebuild it stronger than before, but we're going to do what generations did before and make the American Dream more secure for our children and our grandchildren. That's what Barbara Boxer is about. That's what you're about.

While I appreciate any shout-out to my home state, what California's Democratic elite are "about" is enabling their union backers to drive a once-thriving economy into a bottomless pit of unemployment, perennially busted budgets, and unfunded pension contributions that transcend most human comprehension. This is not a spirit Washington should try to "recapture," unless the goal is 12.6 percent unemployment (with a bullet!), a credit rating hurtling toward junk-bond status, and a perpetual round of bailouts from a faraway government entity.

And here's the kickerObama in his speech said that "one of the main reasons our economy faltered was because some on Wall Street made irresponsible bets, with no accountability." The exact same language could be used, with 100 percent accuracy, to describe public officials all over Californiaincluding Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who just today is unveiling his latest too-little, too-late package of reforms. All of these labor-backed bureaucrats bet irresponsibly that they could more than double pension promises to state employees over the past decade, because the "accountability" moment was deferred to when those payments came due. Well, they're only beginning to come due now, and it's a damnable mess:

This year, the city of Roseville will spend about as much to fund its pension plan as it does on parks and recreation.

San Luis Obispo County will spend five times as much on pensions as it does prosecuting criminals.

And Stanislaus County's pension costs will be nearly double its $23.5 million general fund budget deficit. [...]

Yet today's escalating annual pension payments barely touch the looming shortfall: $28 billion in unfunded liabilities the difference between what pension systems have and the pension benefits their employees have earned at the 80 largest city and county governments in California, according to an extensive Sacramento Bee review of pension plan valuation reports.

On top of that, those cities and counties owe about $8 billion in pension-related bond debt all in a time of shrinking budgets. In many areas, the total pension shortfall is more than the annual payroll; in some, it is more than the general fund budget.

California Democrats (and plenty of Republicans too) should not be flattered, they should be locked up.

Link

Economy

L.A. mayor calls for temporary shutdowns of some agencies

2010-04-08

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called for shutting down non-essential agencies two days a week Tuesday as he and City Council members remained locked in a standoff over the intertwined issues of electricity rates and the city's worsening budget shortfall.
If they're non-essential why do they have them?
Villaraigosa's action topped another day of threats and name-calling at City Hall.
I love it when they curse each others' moustaches.
During a morning news conference, the mayor said the council had caused the latest financial crisis by engaging in the "politics of 'no' " and accused it of "the kind of demagoguery you see in the Congress."

Those were "the kind of scare tactics you saw around the healthcare debate," he said.

Councilman Bernard C. Parks, who chairs the Budget Committee, brushed aside the mayor's assertions and said city leaders should be focused on stabilizing city finances.

"I think we have to get beyond the issues of name calling and get to the issue of financial stability of the city," Parks said. He added: "I'm not going to trade names with the mayor. He can call us whatever he wants."

The latest escalation of the financial crisis began Monday when the Department of Water and Power took steps to withhold a promised $73.5-million payment to the city's depleted treasury.

Villaraigosa blamed the action on the council's rejection of an electricity rate increase, which DWP officials said was necessary to cover the DWP's fluctuating fossil fuel costs and the mayor's renewable energy agenda.

City Controller Wendy Greuel has warned that, without the DWP payment, Los Angeles could run out of money to pay its bills and employees within weeks.

The political feud between Villaraigosa and the council -- and the threat to shut down services and stop paying employees -- flabbergasted some officials. Councilman Paul Koretz called the mayor's threat "bizarre" and warned that Villaraigosa and the council were engaging in "a crazier and crazier game of chicken."

"It's absolutely a manhood contest. That's what it's been from the very beginning," said Koretz, who represents much of the Westside.

The mayor directed acting City Administrative Officer Ray Ciranna to prepare to shut down parks, libraries and other general fund services starting Monday. Public safety, trash collection and revenue-generating agencies would be exempt.

"I am duty bound to make sure that I'm not in a position to make people work if we don't have the cash to pay them," Villaraigosa said. Union leaders questioned whether the mayor had the authority to enact what amounts to a furlough program in which thousands of city workers would see their paychecks cut by two-fifths.

"We take this absolutely seriously," said Julie Butcher, regional director for Service Employees International Union Local 721, which represents more than 10,000 city employees. "The mayor's endangering services and people's lives."

As Villaraigosa was addressing the media at City Hall, a few doors away the council was voting unanimously to ask DWP board members to "honor their commitment" to hand over the promised $73.5 million. They also called on the mayor to work with board members, whom he appoints, to find the money within the DWP's cash reserves.

Council members grilled interim DWP head S. David Freeman about the agency's refusal to transfer money from the utility's Power Revenue Fund. Several members noted that as recently as March 1, DWP officials promised to make the $73.5 million payment of "surplus revenue" -- which ultimately comes from ratepayers. At the time, they did not link that payment to a rate increase.

The council agreed last week to allow the DWP to increase bills by 0.6 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity consumed. DWP board members rejected that, however, and said they wanted an increase of 0.7 cents per kilowatt hour instead. The council then killed that proposal.

Link

Economy

DWP rates may rise between 8% and 28% to pay for mayor's green initiatives

2010-03-18

Households that get their power from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power could see their electric bills go up between 8.8% and 28.4%, depending on where they live and how much energy they use, under a plan unveiled Monday by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Appearing with labor and environmental leaders, Villaraigosa said the proposed increases would ensure that the DWP meets his goal of securing 20% of its energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar by Dec. 31.

The increased revenue would help pay for new environmental initiatives, including more aggressive conservation programs and a solar initiative designed to create 16,000 jobs.

But it also would address the DWP's failure to collect enough money to cover the cost of existing renewable energy initiatives and the fluctuating price of coal and natural gas, utility officials said.

"Nobody's denying that this is a big increase -- at least I'm not," said DWP Acting General Manager S. David Freeman. "Because we've put it off so . . . long, [ratepayers] have saved money in the last three years."

The mayor has been talking for weeks about the need for the DWP to charge more. Monday was the first day his team showed its estimate of the effects on consumers of the increase, which is scheduled to be phased in over a full year starting next month.

Under the plan, households that use the smallest amount of electricity -- technically known as Tier 1 customers -- would see an average increase of 8.8%. Those customers make up 58% of the DWP's residential ratepayers.

Tier 2 customers, who use more power and make up 36% of the utility's residential customers, would see an average increase of 16.8% to 18.9%. Tier 3 customers, who use the most power and make up the remaining 6%, would face hikes in their electric bills of 24.4% to 28.4%, according to documents provided by the mayor's office.

In the hotter San Fernando Valley, where ratepayers receive a slight break on their bills, the average Tier 1 customer would see monthly electric bills jump from $38.76 to $42.17 by April 2011. A Tier 2 customer in the Valley would see the monthly bill increase from $92.19 to $107.60, according to the proposal.

Businesses would see increases in the average bill ranging from 20% to 26%. Any increase would become less steep, however, once ratepayers adopt conservation measures or find ways to install solar panels and sell the excess power to the DWP, mayoral aides said.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Brown coy about Calif. governor's bid

2010-03-01

With less than two weeks before he must enter the race for governor, state Attorney General Jerry Brown told college-age Democrats on Saturday to stay tuned for news about his presumed bid.
Right. Governor Moonbeam. Governor Moonbeam needs another crack at Caliphornia.
Brown, 71, has been acting rather coy for more than year about his plans, but he gave his first extensive comments about how he would run California since becoming the Democrats' presumed nominee. "I've done pretty well not doing anything," Brown told a gathering of California Young Democrats when asked if he was running for governor. "We used to have a lot of people running for the Democratic nomination. They're not there anymore, right?"
Nobody wants to get in the barrel when it's about to go over the falls...
Brown's aggressive fundraising and name recognition have been enough to drive potential rivals -- such as San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa -- out of the contest for the Democratic nomination.
Newsom and Villaraigosa as the face of Caliphornia's future don't really look that different from Governor Moonbeam, the face of Caliphornia's past. But likely the state will continue happily voting Democrat until nobody can afford to live there anymore. Then they'll all move to other states, where they'll continue voting Democrat.
But his $12 million campaign account is much smaller than his potential Republican opponents.
I understand the Caliphornia hinterlands used to be inhabited by people who believed in Cause & Effect, but the coastal areas always outvoted them.
Meg Whitman, the billionaire former chief executive of eBay, has given her campaign $39 million so far and is poised to spend more than $100 million. Steve Poizner, a multimillionaire who developed GPS chips for cell phones, has said he will add to the $19 million he already has given his campaign. Brown said facing such a well-funded opponent is one of the reasons he has held off announcing his intentions.

Link

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