Today, Chief Privacy Officer at Facebook Chris Kelly announced an exploratory committee for the race for California Attorney General. He joins a field that includes Assemblymembers Ted Lieu, Pedro Nava and Alberto Torrico; San Francisco DA Kamala Harris, and Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo. In his statement, which you can find at his website, Kelly talked about efficienct and effective government, Internet safety, proper training and equipment for law enforcement, and stopping trafficking. The words "prisons," "jails," "corrections" or "parole" was not mentioned.
Our prison system is a mess. We have the highest recidivism rate in the country, mostly because 2/3 of our prisoners returning to jail go there because of technical violations of their parole. This turns jails into giant holding pens instead of areas for rehabilitation and treatment, as well as colleges for nonviolent offenders on how to get involved in violent crime. The overstuffed prisons cost more money to staff and service as they become more dangerous, leading to the state spending more on incarceration than higher education. Despite all this spending, conditions in the prisons are medieval, with the ACLU proposing the closure of the LA County Men's Central Jail. Prison officials are discussing release of 8,000 nonviolent and terminally ill offenders, but that's a drop in the bucket. We also have denied prisoners their Constitutional right to health care, and have a federal receiver now remedying that situation, taking it out of the hands of the legislature. The "tough on crime" mantra that has ruled the thinking of both parties on this issue has utterly and completely failed.
And yet, our Attorney General candidates and our gubernatorial candidates view this absolute crisis as just another check on their list, instead of the serious problem it is. Gavin Newsom didn't bring it up in his speech, though I did ask him about it in the blogger meeting afterwards. He talked about how we need a re-entry strategy better than the failed parole system, and cited some re-entry reforms in San Francisco that have helped matters. And he stated that having the courts step in to fix the problem presents an opportunity for real reform. With respect to the drug war, which lies at the heart of this, he expressed his support for drug courts and mental health courts and the kind of options that wouldn't consign nonviolent offenders to the rigors of overcrowded prison life when they need medical treatment. And he vowed to have more detailed programs available soon. But when it counted, on stage, he said nothing. Jerry Brown did tackle the issue, but his non-stop fight against the prison health care receiver and sensible steps like Prop. 5 destroy any credibility he may have had on the issue.
I have appreciated Greg Lucas' interviews with some of the candidates in the Attorney General's race, and I have paid particular attention to their views on the prison crisis. (over)
• Some advice to the conference committee: IGNORE REP. JERRY LEWIS, who was appointed to the conference committee for the stimulus. The man is corrupt. On the other hand, I'm sure if you built a highway near his land, he might be willing to talk.
• The Washington Post is reporting that Obama is considering Lloyd Dean, head of Catholic Healthcare West for the Health and Human Services gig. (h/t CapAlert) Dean was a big Arnold fan during the so-called (and failed) "Year of Healthcare Reform."
• The Majority Report begins a series looking at potential Yacht Party targets for 2010. First up is Cameron Smyth in AD-38 (Santa Clarita). We'll be ramping up this kind of coverage a few months down the road.
• LA City Attorney (and AG hopeful?) Rocky Delgadillo settled with HealthNet over their practice of rescinding coverage for their insureds when they dare to make a claim. PDF Press release here. In addition, Anthem Blue Cross is agreeing to take back clients and pay a $1 million dollar fine in its rescission case.
Here's a little something so you can head into the weekend informed.
• The SEIU put together a rally of over 1,000 members in Sacramento today, demanding a budget solution. More are expected in Sacramento, San Francisco and Fresno tomorrow. Given the desperation, I see nothing wrong with taking it to the streets. You can also contribute to their letter-writing campaign to the Governor here.
• Here are a couple of real victories for organized labor and working people. First, UNITE-Here's workers won a court decision that will expand the Living Wage ordinance in Southern California and gives 550 laundry workers a better chance to sue Cintas for back wages. Speaking of back pay, TV networks settled two class-action lawsuits with reality-show workers for $4 million dollars. These workers were made to falsify time cards and work up to 20-hour days without overtime or meal breaks. I have some friends in the industry who were parties to these lawsuits and I'm very happy they reached a good conclusion. The fight continues.
• The Senate GOP is slow-walking the confirmation of Hilda Solis as Labor Secretary, which is annoying. She is more than qualified and her views on the Employee Free Choice Act, which is a legislative fight, are hardly germane as well as well-known. She deserves a vote and not this nonsense. America needs a friend to labor at the Labor Department again.
• I have no idea why Rocky Delgadillo is running for Attorney General again. Rocky has been a real hero in fighting insurance industry malfeasance like rescission, but his recent troubles over his wife running his city-owned SUV into a pole (and she didn't have a license) and paying for it with city money is a 30-second ad waiting to happen. Maybe he should wait out a cycle?
• The FDA has approved a Menlo Park-based company for a human trial for a stem cell treatment, the first ever in the US. This is not just a victory for science but could prove to make California a real leader in medical therapeutics. We need some expansion in industry here, anyway.
• Good article from Open Left about how cleaner ports can add lots of middle-class green job, as it has with the Clean Trucks program at the port of Los Angeles.
(From the Courage Campaign's own Rick Jacobs. - promoted by David Dayen)
About thirty of us gathered in front of the closed Starbucks on the plaza in front of the LA courthouse to assemble our petition materials for the rally and march a few blocks away. MoveOn.org, Courage Campaign (full disclosure: I founded Courage) and Credo Mobile have, over the past week, gathered over 200,000 signatures on a pledge to repeal Prop. 8. Our group that met for the first time this morning, was volunteers who signed up to get more sigatures from the crowd. And boy did they ever!
We made our way to the staging area outside of City Hall where we were greeted by thousands of jubilant folks with home made signs. The backstage set up reminded me in some ways of the May 1, 2006 immigration march on Wilshire Boulevard that had also sprung up from the peoplem, but was managed by organized labor: there was security, a rope line, a little blue tent under which speakers gathered before their turn. Rodney Scott, who puts on LA Pride every year, did a brilliant job with logistics along with a new group of young people called FAIR.
A few months ago, there was great hope that the Department of Managed Health Care was going after the big insurance companies on the rescission of individual policies. The DMHC is an executive department, and thus reports to Arnold, not to the Insurance Commissioner (Poizner). So, a few weeks ago we got the news that the DMHC called off the dogs against Blue Cross because they knew Blue Cross would just litigate them to death. Or something like that.
I know, it's shocking that Arnold's administration wouldn't pursue a corporation, but they thought it better just to let BC get off on that charge and settle with them elsewhere. Ther problem with that? The settlement that the DMHC agreed to with the biggest five insurers in the state is barely a slap on the wrist. The new procedure requires patients to go through a vague arbitration procedure where they have to prove their case.
Mind you the arbitrator will see far more of the insurance companies than the patients. Where do you think this is going? Yup, just like other arbirtration settings this is going to end up favoring the big company. By the by, that link above states that 99.8% of the cases filed by consumers against credit card companies decided on the merits end up with the company winning. 99.8%! That's a track record minor deities wouldn't mind. And even when they get to the arbitrators, cases under $15,000 will typically be decided on the paperwork only. Furthermore, the settlement doesn't define any legal standards for these decisions, but it appears the legal burden of proof is on the patient to prove he didn't lie rather than the insurer to prove they did.
This is no victory at all. And that's part of why LA City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo filed suit against Blue Shield in mid-July.
"For decades, health insurers have gamed the system and reaped billions," Delgadillo said. "The time has come to . . . set things right."
The suit also accuses Blue Shield of falsely advertising its coverage, alleging that the company often reneges when its members need substantial medical care.
Dr. Richard Frankenstein, president of the California Medical Assn., and Dr. Robert Bitonte, president-elect of the Los Angeles County Medical Assn., praised Delgadillo's efforts to stop the practice known as rescission. (LAT 7.17.08)
Single-payer (likely at the national level) is the ultimate solution, but meanwhile, back in reality land, the insurers are getting off scott free. If the DMHC is going to claim to do its job, it can't leaving gaping loopholes like this. Delgadillo and other attorneys will have to press the insurance companies for every last concession, because they're not giving anything away for free.
By my count, we had nine local and federal candidates or elected officials from California joining us in Austin for Netroots Nation. So much for the adage that us dirty hippie bloggers are to be avoided at all costs. These candidates and politicians represent the foundation of a progressive alliance that can transform the party and the state over the next decade. And they all received varying degrees of support at the convention. Here is a brief roundup in alphabetical order:
1) Secretary of State Debra Bowen - Debra apparently accepted the invitation to appear on a panel about election reform by replying on Facebook. She is one of our favorites because of her progressive credentials, her commitment to election reform, and her accessibility. Far from dropping in for the panel and dropping out, she took time to hang out with plenty of us Caliticians. In fact, during the netroots candidate event, she was simply watching the proceedings when Christine Pelosi called her to the stage - it was not her intention to come as a candidate, but to just attend the conference. That said, there was a lot of talk among the California delegation about Bowen's plans for the future. At least four California convention-goers told me they would quit their jobs to work for Bowen if she sought higher office than the Secretary of State. She has a bright future and, judging from the reception she received, a national profile. She is one of our best hopes to get a real grassroots progressive into a legitimate position of power.
Like so many others in California, The Courage Campaign has long championed the battle for affordable and accessible health care. It's why Courage joined with a diverse coalition asking Terry McAuliffe to please don't do it as we approach his high-priced speaking engagement in San Francisco for insurance executives tomorrow. And it's why Courage partnered with the California Nurses Association and Senator Sheila Kuehl today to introduce our new "Insurance Jive" ad.
We've all been touched in one way or another by the catastrophic failure of the private insurance system. Whether it's ourselves, our family or friends, or diarists like CarlsbadDem, we've all seen the results of too many people sick and injured without recourse. Heck, providing for the common welfare is right there in the Preamble to the Constitution. Like the ad says, it doesn't have to be this way. The move for reasonable access to quality health care is growing stronger by the day and we need to keep up the momentum. The first $6,000 raised by the Courage Campaign via the ad's ActBlue page will be matched by the California Nurses Association and Sen. Sheila Kuehl in order to get this ad on the air in San Francisco in the next 48 hours.
Earlier today, Rick Jacobs emailed Courage subscribers about the ad explaining just how much is at stake and and how much a small contribution to air this ad can accomplish:
Well, it's the season of legislative accomplishments. I can't possibly point out all of them as the sheer volume would be rather oppressive for a blog format. But I do want to point out a couple of bills here and there. Specifically, SB 275 and SB 2, both from Senator Gil Cedillo.
SB 275 creates civil penalties for dumping the homeless against their will. Initially, as drafted by Cedillo and LA City Atty Rocky Delgadillo, the bill was supposed to have a criminal charge associated. However, the criminal charges were stripped under pressure from the hospital lobby. However, the bill will prohibit a hospital from transporting a patient to a location other than their residence without written consent and make such offenses subject to civil penalties of $150,000 on second offense and $300,000 on a third offense. These penalties are large enough to attract attorneys to file on behalf of the dumping victims. I do not yet know if an attorney's fees provision is included, but that would certainly also be helpful.
SB 2, the Fair Share Zoning bill would require cities and counties to include an inventory of sites suitable for emergency shelters, supportive housing, transitional housing and residential rental developments in the housing element of their general plan. SB 2 includes provisions allowing these facilities as permitted use rather than conditional use or other discretionary permits.
As juls noted in a quick hit, Mayor Villaraigosa's girlfriend Mirthala Salinas has been put on temporary leave by Telemundo, calling her job into question. Elsewhere though, the LA Times is all over this latest scandal. There are 133 pages and counting of users comments in response to the situation and Steve Lopez is wondering "Who needs telenovelas when you have Los Angeles City Hall?" Lopez brings up several legitimate questions, like whether taxpayers have paid for any part of the relationship and what effect the relationship may have had on the Telemundo newsroom. But as compelling as all of that is, the real fallout may not be felt until next fall. In light of scandals for Antonio Villaraigosa and Rocky Delgadillo, the Times is also exploring the extent to which the Latino community may be disillusioned by their political superstars.
The wheels are falling off of Rocky Delgadillo's career. Well, if you enjoy implosions, grab some popcorn. Not since Chuck Quackenbush has the state of California such a spectacular downfall of a politician. While Delgadillo didn't garner that much support against the far more well-known Jerry Brown in the Attorney General primary, he certainly wasn't laughed off the stage.
So, the litany of stories about Delgadillo's downfall were a bit much. First came the stories about Michelle Delgadillo driving without a valid driver's license, and then emerged the stories about Delgadillo driving without auto insurance. You know, both of those things are pretty big no-nos. Especially considering that the suspended license charge was the same one that Delgadillo prosecuted Paris Hilton for. Now, Mrs. Delgadillo didn't have the extensive history of run-ins with the lase like Paris Hilton, but it does seem a bit sketchy.
And that's not all on the driving mishaps. You can throw in the fact that Mrs. Delgadillo backed into a pole with a city SUV (while driving without a license), and then Rocky had it repaired at city expense. Rocky since reimbursed the city for the repairs.
But, wait, there's more. Next, allegations that Delgadillo used his staff, improperly, for babysitting and other services came to light. But, don't you worry, his staff used "personal time" to run Delgadillo's errands. This is how I imagine it going:
Rocky: Hey, there, Chip, how's work going?
Bill: Sir, work is great, I have many cases on my docket. But my name is Bill.
Rocky: Ok, Ok, Phil.That's great. So, Phil, what are you doing this afternoon?
Bill: Well, it's Bill, but I plan on working this afternoon, like I do everyday. But, I'd love to spend my free time running errands for you. Can I pick up your dry cleaning?
Rocky: Why Gil, that is so kind of you. But you'll have to take personal time to run my errands, I'm always on the up and up.
Bill: It's Bill, but, no problem, Mr. Delgadillo, sir. I'd love to run your errands, and then come back and do my work during the evening. That wouldn't be coercion under Section 49.5.5 of the city's Municipal Code at all.
Rocky: I'm glad you feel that way. Make sure you checkout on your way out so that we can dock your personal hours. Here are the cleaning tickets. That's Chip!
Bill: It's Bill, sir.
Well, maybe not exactly that way, but I'm sure it's something just like that, you know. All perfectly innocent.
But, of course, there is more to the story. It appears that Mrs. Delgadillo didn't pay taxes on her business, CRD,Inc. On disclosure forms, Rocky said that the business made between $10K-100K from 2002-2005. Generally, people file taxes when they make money. That's kinda the deal, sorry Delgadillo Family.
Anyway, it's really too bad that this is happening, but at this point Mr. Delgadillo's resignation isn't a case of if but when. It's a tragedy on many levels. When the media gets into a feeding frenzy like this, all gets revealed. Too bad they couldn't get into the frenzy on BushCo back in 2003, you know?
It is always interesting to watch how a scandal can so easily jump to a parallel perp. In this case, Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo has a wife who seemed to serve as a role model for driving with a suspended license.
This news, dug up by my colleague Patrick McGreevy, was of note because Delgadillo was squawking about the release of Paris Hilton from jail, where she was doing time for driving with a suspended license.
Then, on Tuesday, we learned that Delgadillo's city-owned GMC Yukon was banged up in 2004.
No big deal there, except that McGreevy's sources leave the impression that Delgadillo might not have been behind the wheel.
A few points of good news from the Legislature. First, the homeless dumping bill, SB 275 passed out of the full Senate. Press release over the flip.
Also, Loni Hancock's clean money bill, AB 583 was passed out of the Appropriations Committee. AB 583 is currently a focus of clean money that will use one open Assembly seat and one open Senate seat along with the 2010 Gov's race to test the system. It could be a really good way to test the system. You can write your Legislator via the CA Campaign for Clean Money's letter program. They'll actually fax the letter for you.
We've had a spirited discussion about recent events in the state Senate. With everybody talking about winners and losers, I think it's important to note who's really being impacted.
Tomorrow night 60 Minutes will have a feature story on homeless dumping at Skid Row in Los Angeles. You can watch a preview at the link, featuring an interview with a paraplegic named Gabino Olvera, who was dumped and left to pull himself across the street by his hands.
The CEO of Hollywood Presbyterian, whose hospital dumped this man downtown, blames the bus driver. On tape.
When asked by Cooper whether the van driver was the only person who made a mistake, (Kaylor) Shemberger replies, "Well, she's the person who made the decision to drop the patient off." To which Cooper responds, "And to those who would say that you're basically making a scapegoat of this low-paid van driver?"
"I don't think anybody is making a scapegoat out of anybody," Shemberger says.
The next time you want to rant and rave about who has a smaller office and who's on what committee, get a mental picture in your head of Gabino Olvera pulling himself across the street, while people like Kaylor Shemberger sit in their plush office and look the other way. Let's not lose perspective.
(By the way, a special thanks to City Attorney and former Attorney General candidate Rocky Delgadillo, who reached a deal with Kaiser to stop the practice, which apparently Hollywood Presbyterian, in the wake of this 60 Minutes episode, will now sign on to.)
On the night before the California Primary, I'm hearing a lot of buzz among the posters at New West Notes that, while Jerry Brown should nominated Attorney General, Rocky Delgadillo may surprise everyone and make it a closer race than expected, perhaps because Brown has not been on the air. Any thoughts out there?
The down-ballot Field poll was released this morning. So, I'll run down the numbers, starting with the Constitutional offices.
Lt.Gov
Jackie Speier has moved into a small lead over John Garamendi, apparently all those billboards aren't paying off for him like he would have hoped. Liz Figueroa has continued to slide into oblivion. Currently, Speier has 30%, Garamendi 25%, and Figueroa 8% with 37% undecided. It was thought by some that Figueroa would act as a spoiler for Speier, but that doesn't seem to be playing out. Figueroa has only 7% of women and only 5% in Speier's and Figueroa's home region of Northern California. She is a bit stronger in Southern California at 10%, but this is probably just due to Latino identity politics. Speier's large lead amongst women might push her over the top in a primary that is dominated by women. She currently leads 33-21-7 on that figure. On the GOP Side, Tom McClintock is running unopposed.
Attorney General
Jerry Brown's name recognition, (and a Time Magazine feature story didn't hurt on that account), without much in the way of campaign spending, has allowed him to retain his large lead over Rocky Delgadillo. Currently Brown has 51%, Delgadillo 24%, and 25% are undecided. I would go deeper into the numbers, but Brown seems to be dominant in all the crosstabs. On the GOP side, Poochigian is running without siginificant opposition.
Controller
This race has flown under the radar, with a huge 63% undecided. Joe Dunn is clinging to the slimmest of leads with 19 points, while John Chiang has 18. Unsuprisingly, Dunn is doing better in Southern California (21-14) and Chiang better in Northern California (25-15). This one will probably get a lot fewer people voting on it that the gov race, and name recognition just might push a state senator over a BOE member. But, at this point, it's too close to call. And on the plus side, both campaigns in this race have run great campaigns. I'm excited to see either man win. On the GOP side, Strickland has a 43-32 lead over Maldanado.
Treasurer
Bill Lockyer is running unopposed. On the GOP side, Keith Richman is leading small government loon and current BOE member Claude Parrish at 18-17 with 65 undecided.
Secretary Of State
Deborah Ortiz narrowly leads Debra Bowen at 25-19. However, this might be merely identity politics as 65% is undecidided. Ortiz seems to be holding her home region of Sacramento and NorCal (28-15), but with undecideds so high, it's hard to glean much from the poll. And another thing, am I totally missing something, or does Ortiz not have a campaign website? That would be pretty crazy, and if so I would definitely have to publicly give my support to Bowen. C'mon folks, technology is a big part of that job, get with the 21st century. McPherson is running unopposed for the GOP nomination.
Prop 82
Prop 82 has been crashing in support recently. And the news today is not good either. Currently it's losing by a margin of 41 Yes to 46 No. The scare tactics used by the No on 82 folks seem to be working. And I must admit, I've heard several very progressive people admit that they are a bit nervous about voting for the program. I think at some level people just don't like instituting such a large program via direct democracy. Also, part of this is the additional taxes. Those on the right jsut hate government, those on the left seem to want to use those taxes for other purposes. However, I think it's going to be a close race for 82. The SacBee notes that:
Despite the new poll numbers, supporters say they believe they will win. They expect to do well among Democrats, who will be more likely to go to the polls to vote in the gubernatorial primary and other hotly contested Democratic races, said Nathan James, a spokesman for the Yes on 82 campaign.
"We always knew this election was going to come down to the wire," James said. "We have a number of advantages going into this election."
But opponents of Proposition 82, including the California Chamber of Commerce, have been pushing the arguments that the program would be too costly and would potentially drive private preschools out of business.
Pamela Zell Rigg, president of the California Montessori Council, said opponents were hoping voters would turn against the measure as they learned more about it. (SacBee 6/3/06)
So, obviously turnout will be key in all these races. But for Prop 82, where both parties get to vote and Ds are skewed in favor of 82(53-33) and Rs are skewed against 82 (25-65), the "who" of turnout will be key. If many Republicans stay away from what is an otherwise uninteresting primary election for them, it might allow 82 to pass.
KQED's Forum will focus on the Democratic primary for the Attorney General. Rocky Delgadillo is scheduled to appear. Streamed live and a podcast is available.
Not since 