Once More California Senator and Lt. Governor Candidate Dean Florez Proposed Legislation gains high profile national attention; California is often viewed as leading the Nation. This time the bill that proposes an Animal Abuse Registry is featured in the latest issue of Time Magazine. I have written before about this bill and Time Magazine captures one of the more important arguments for passage of this legislation right up front.
Should There Be an Animal-Abuser Registry?
Cruelty to animals, it is said, is often a precursor to graver crimes. So would there not be some usefulness to a registry of individuals convicted of felony animal abuse? Legislators in California want the Golden State to be the first to establish such a record - just as California was the first in the nation to create a registry of sex offenders.
The popularity of such legislation can be measured in many ways. I noted while reading the Time coverage, even though the story was just released over 2000 Facebook users have noted the legislation and took some type of action.
"We think California is primed for this kind of a bill," says state senate majority leader Dean Florez, who introduced the bill in late February. "We've progressed to the point where we as a legislature are moving in a direction of this bill, which is ultimately, How do we in essence prevent repeat offenses when it comes to cruelty to animals in the state of California?" It is an issue that, Florez says, Californians care for deeply. About 60% of California residents own pets, he says; add in farm animals, and 80% of the population has some kind of ownership of animals.
Again, from SoCal media today, Lt. Governor Candidate Janice Hahn campaign seems to be going down in "flames" this week in the Southern California media over ethics (actually I read the charge is not having ethics) or is clueless, and money changing hands and, well, there is even more. This is starting to appear to me like a bad movie script.
From Ron Kaye Blog (and he has been correct in these breaking matters earlier this week):
Now, I'm heartbroken. But because I'm not really housebroken, I'm going to come out and say it: Janice Hahn may be the dumbest person to ever hold office in Los Angeles - and if you know your LA history, that's pretty freaking scary.
Earlier this week, I got on her for trying to pull a fast one with her City Council/Lieutenant Governor's campaign web sites (insert link). Then I teased her for posing in a newspaper photo with former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who isn't exactly the kind of guy you want endorsing you in a Democratic primary for statewide office.
In a story coming out of Los Angeles today, Ron Kay, the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News, has released a story in which he raises a number of potentially serious concerns for Candidate Hahn and the use of her Official City Web Site that, if you click on certain links, takes you directly to her Lt. Governor Campaign website.
Quote from Mr Kay:
Hahn has the nerve -- or perhaps is so used to abuses at City Hall -- that the has a box near the top right of her Council website inviting readers to "SIGN UP NOW for our newsletter" and when you click on it you're asked for your name and email to mark the issues you care about from Airport, to Neighborhood Councils, 12 in all. Click save when you're done with that exercise.and you land on the Hahn 2010 campaign page for lieutenant governor.
It's a phony invitation to find out about city issues from the Councilwoman. It's nothing but a dirty trick to lure you to her campaign site. It ought to be stopped and the abuse punished.
In what has to be a major embarrassment to LT Governor candate and LA City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, when it comes to campaign fundraising, it appears she does not have the support of many high profile SOCAL residents she has served and/or live "in her own back yard". While she heads out of town this week headed for Oakland for two campaign fundraisers, Candidate and State Senator Dean Florez, has not not one, but TWO MAJOR campaign events in the Los Angeles area.
The two campaign events in Oakland for Hahn, both arranged by Oakland City Attorney John Russo, are for a $150 per person breakfast at the Cathedral Building Gallery and a $300 a head luncheon at Leavened East, both on Thursday December 10.
Meanwhile, candidate Florez supporters will have a show of force on Monday, December 14th, when top luminaries in their field, from real estate, medicine, and the arts show their support at The Regency Club in Los Angeles.
Last Tuesday, I had one of those days we treasure for life. I had the honor of receiving a public endorsement from President Bill Clinton at a rally with hundreds of enthusiastic Bay Area supporters at the Basque Cultural Center in South San Francisco.
The crowd was enthusiastic attentive, and the issues discussed far ranging - from solving the healthcare crisis to stabilizing our economy to slowing the ravages of climate change to creating high quality, middle-class jobs.
It's impossible to upstage the former President, and I won't try. Below are excerpts of his wonderful speech. CBS 5 has partial video.
FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON:
"I was thinking today as I was driving down here of so many things of the extent to which my life has been intertwined for the last 18 years with the Garamendi family.
"You heard John say that he and Patti served with great distinction. He was the Deputy Secretary of the Interior where he worked on everything from climate change to resolving water disputes in California, and he did a superb job of everything. And Patti at the Peace Corps, where we began what has now been an unbroken strain of bringing back the Peace Corps. Bringing more people back into it, going into more countries. ...
"This world has been pretty good to us. But on the other hand, California has the 4th highest unemployment rate in the country; Compton was ground zero of the earthquake of home mortgage foreclosures even before the failure of Lehman Brothers and the financial collapse. On September 15th, 2008, the day that Lehman Brothers collapsed, before that happened, already two-thirds of the American people were actually worse off than the day I left office. Little known fact. The median income after inflation was $2000 lower on September 15, 2008, than the day I left the presidency. And health costs after inflation had doubled. College costs after inflation have gone up 75 percent. ... We can't go on for eight more years where nobody gets a raise." ...
What a night! As you may have seen, last night I was the highest vote-getter in the 10th Congressional District special primary election and will now face Republican David Harmer in the November 3rd general election.
I want to thank our incredible team of hard working volunteers. They spent countless hours knocking on doors, making phone calls, and making their presence known at community events throughout the district. Our success would not have been possible without them, and they have my deepest gratitude. Because of their efforts, we won all four counties in the district.
I also want to take a moment to acknowledge my competitors in this election:
To David Harmer: Congratulations on your victory among Republicans. I look forward to two months of dialogue focused on the issues and solutions that matter to the people of the 10th Congressional District. I intend to make it clear that a radical right wing agenda that seeks to stop health care reform, starve the education of our children, fails to finance the transportation and infrastructure systems we need, and advocates more tax breaks for the most wealthy is not in the interests of the people of the 10th Congressional District, California, or America.
To Senator Mark DeSaulnier: Your health care town halls helped establish an important dialogue in the campaign about the need for comprehensive health care reform. You are an institution in Contra Costa County, and you have many admirers. You deserve special acknowledgement for your work seeking a constitutional convention. The two-thirds majority requirement has worsened California's problems and I look forward to working with you to bring a working democracy and majority rule back to California.
Among Democrats, my lead is even starker: 37 percent favor me, 23 percent favor DeSaulnier, 18 percent favor Buchanan, 13 percent favor Woods, and only 2 percent are undecided. Most importantly, our great team of volunteers is effectively converting the support identified in the Survey USA and other polls into actual votes cast. Among those who have already voted, our considerable lead holds: 27 percent voted for me, 18 percent for DeSaulnier, 13 percent for Buchanan, and 10 percent for Woods.
Our lead holds among all demographic groups, including Obama voters, men, women, all age groups, all races, all levels of educational achievement, and all income levels. Our support is broad based and diverse. As the only candidate who has represented all corners of the 10th Congressional District, the voters know where I stand. As CBS 5 explained, "DeSaulnier and Buchanan have failed to make inroads since CBS 5's last poll 16 days ago."
Clearly, with Election Day fast approaching this Tuesday, we like where we stand.
The poll explains the what, but it fails to explain the why. I'm proud of the campaign we've run. We're convinced the polls are a reflection of voter support for a positive issues-based campaign that has emphasized solid Democratic principles and experience that can deliver results.
Last night, our country lost one of the most important public servants in U.S. history, Senator Ted Kennedy. My thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Vickie, his children, First Lady Maria Shriver, the Governor and the entire Kennedy family. The nation and the world have lost a leader with unparalleled passion for social justice and equality, and his legacy will live on in the many lives and hearts he touched. They will carry the flame of justice and service forward.
Senator Kennedy fought for health care access for every American. In the 1990s, he was one of the lead architects of S-CHIP, which has provided millions of low-income children with the health care they deserve, and he tirelessly promoted universal coverage throughout his career. As Kennedy said during his riveting address at the Democratic National Convention in Denver last year:
"This is the cause of my life - new hope, that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American - north, south, east, west, young, old - will have decent quality health care as a fundamental right and not as a privilege."
Nothing has ever come easy to the University of California Merced and that makes this Saturday's commencement of the first four year graduating class a profound moment for the San Joaquin Valley.
When First Lady Michelle Obama honors the class of 2009 by delivering the commencement speech, it will no doubt be time to take stock of how far this area has moved forward to educate its children. I will be there to applaud the graduates and the often ignored but always tenacious Central Valley community.
UC Merced is now a 2,700-student campus. It has breathed new life and vitality into the San Joaquin Valley and given thousands of high school students a sense of purpose. This first graduating class will showcase how the Merced campus will continue to embrace San Joaquin Valley students and others who might not otherwise attend a UC campus.
(Some notes on organizing from our LG. Also see his diary from today. - promoted by Brian Leubitz)
Today I'll be joining Vice President Joe Biden in San Diego to promote job growth in California. At a time when California's unemployment rate is at 11.2 percent, the highest rate on record, it's certainly premature to declare that happy days are here again. But in this time of economic uncertainty, it's nice to know that our leadership in Washington is in tune with the needs of everyday Californians.
President Barack Obama's stimulus package wisely addresses both short term needs and long term goals in a way that prepares our country for an internationally competitive, green by necessity economy. The stimulus package passed in February includes $144 billion for state and local fiscal relief, $53 billion for priority education spending, $111 billion for infrastructure and science projects, $43 billion for energy needs, $81 billion in funds to help protect the vulnerable, and $288 billion in targeted tax cuts. The package also calls for doubling our renewable energy production in three years.
In California alone, it will create or save 396,000 jobs. Job-creating projects include $1.5 million for alternative energy efficiency grants for business and workforce housing in Livermore, $500,000 for affordable housing in Palm Desert, $200 million for flood levy improvements in Natomas, and $250,000 for storm water capture in Pasadena.
