News 24/7

Schwarzenegger says he's not seeking any office

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:04:00 -0800

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday put to rest those rumors that he might seek another elective office after his term as governor ends.

He says he's not running for any seat, which made it easier for him to broker a difficult political compromise this year over how to solve California's $42 billion budget shortfall.

The deal included billions in tax increases and massive cuts to social programs. The governor says all the lawmakers who bucked their party and supported the compromise plan faced threats of recalls.

But he said Wednesday that no one could threaten him because he is not running for any other office.

As a native of Austria, the Republican governor is prohibited from seeking the only other office he covets -- the presidency.

"I am not running for Senate, I am not running for Congress, I am not running for another term as governor, and I definitely cannot ... run for the presidency because the Constitution doesn't allow it," he said.

Schwarzenegger, 61, also been asked if he would be interested in working in the administration of President Barack Obama, possibly on energy and environmental issues. He hasn't ruled out taking such a job but has repeatedly said he will finish his term, which ends in January 2011.

The Republican governor made the remarks during a news conference at CalExpo, the state fairgrounds, where he appeared with Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson to promote a relocation plan for the homeless.

Another marriage petition cleared for California

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:00:47 -0800

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- The sponsors of a second ballot measure seeking to repeal California's ban on same-sex marriage have been cleared to start collecting signatures.

The secretary of state on Friday gave the group Yes on Equality until Aug. 17 to collect the nearly 700,000 signatures needed to qualify its initiative for the 2010 ballot.

If approved by voters, the group's proposed constitutional amendment would rescind Proposition 8, which passed last November. The California Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on legal challenges to the voter-approved measure.

Earlier this month, two Southern California college students got permission to start circulating petitions for a separate initiative that would end all marriage as a state-sanctioned institution and instead make couples -- gay or straight -- eligible only for domestic partnerships.

San Bernardino City Unified Superintendent Delgado to run for county superintendent

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:05:46 -0800

San Bernardino City Unified School District Superintendent Arturo Delgado is announcing his plans to seek the office of San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools at a press conference Wednesday at the Feldheym Library at 4:30.

deborah.pfeiffer@inlandnewspapers.com

Fred Shorett takes big lead in San Bernardino council race

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:36:12 -0800

Here are the first batch of results with 25.09 percent of precincts (3,151 ballots) reporting. The Registrar of Voters' next round of info will not come out until around 5 p.m. Thursday.

Fred Shorett leads with 73.03 percent of the vote.

Joe Arnett is in second place with 19.59 percent of the vote.

John Valdivia claimed 5.72 percent of the vote.

Saman Saman took 1.66 percent of the vote.

Read more at SB Now.

andrew.edwards@inlandnewspapers.com

Fontana Councilwoman Acquanetta Warren to run for Assembly

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:15:47 -0800

Fontana Councilwoman Acquanetta Warren is the latest 63rd Assembly District hopeful, eyeing a seat that Mayor Don Kurth and Councilman Rex Gutierrez are fighting for. Warren, who recently termed out as a California Republican Board of Directors, recently e-mailed me about her higher office plans.

"I resigned from the State Board of Parks and Recreation on March 11 so that my ties to the state level are open," Warren wrote. "I'm a state candidate ready to go. It's official."

Warren is so far the lone non-Rancho Republican candidate in the 2010 race. In addition to Kurth and Gutierrez, Rancho resident Mike Morrell is also planning to replace the termed out Assemblyman Bill Emmerson.

There's a rumor out there that if county supervisors appoint Sen. Bob Dutton to be the assessor, Emmerson, who has plans to run for Dutton's seat, will then run in a special election leaving his 63rd District seat open earlier than usual. If Emmerson wins, that would mean Warren, Kurth, Gutierrez and Morrell could face off in a special election sooner than anticipated.

Of course, all the planets would have to allign perfectly for this to happen.

Read more at RC Now.

wendy.leung@inlandnewspapers.com

Schwarzenegger decries capital's dysfunction

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:00:46 -0800

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday he wants bipartisan support for a package of budget-related measures on the ballot this May but also slammed critics, calling them defenders of the status quo.

The Republican governor took swipes at what he said were extremists during an address to The Commonwealth Club. He blasted fellow Republicans who oppose all tax increases because of ideology and Democrats who he says have fostered a "more, more, more" spending mentality in the state capital.

Schwarzenegger defended the compromise he reached with legislative leaders last month to close the state's budget shortfall, which he called a "$42 billion Valley of Doom." It included billions in spending cuts, temporary tax increases and borrowing, but much of the plan's success depends on voters approving the measures during the May 19 special election.

Governor schedules May election to replace Solis

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:30:05 -0800

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has scheduled a primary election for May 19 to fill the congressional seat left vacant when former Rep. Hilda Solis was confirmed as U.S. labor secretary.

The primary will coincide with the special statewide election in which voters will consider six ballot measures related to the state budget.

The winner of each party primary will face off in a July 14 special general election to fill the remainder of Solis' two-year term in the 32nd Congressional District.

Solis had represented eastern Los Angeles County and east Los Angeles in Congress since 2001. She was confirmed last month as President Barack Obama's pick to head the U.S. Department of Labor.

San Bernardino's special election less than a week away

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:15:07 -0800

The race to choose the Fourth Ward's next City Council representative has entered its home stretch.

The campaign features four candidates, information technology manager Joe Arnett, self-employed sales contractor Fred Shorett, Internet mattress salesman Saman Saman and pharmaceutical company representative John Valdivia.

Whoever wins will get to fill out the remainder of now-Supervisor Neil Derry's term and will then have the opportunity to start another campaign. The election for a full term will be held in November.

Proposal to strike 'marriage' from Calif. law

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:10:14 -0800

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- California's top election official says supporters can start collecting signatures for a proposed ballot measure to strike the word "marriage" from all state laws.

Supporters of this ballot measure want to replace it with the term "domestic partnership," while keeping all the rights of marriage in place.

The proposal is in response to a voter-approved gay marriage ban that passed in November. The new measure would repeal the ban, and define domestic partnerships as unions between all couples, regardless of sexual orientation.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen said Tuesday that supporters must gather nearly 700,000 signatures by early August to get the initiative on the ballot.

The measure is the grassroots effort of two heterosexual college students from Southern California.

Supreme Court refuses to expand minority voting rights

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:14:29 -0800

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court limited the reach of the Voting Rights Act on Monday, a decision that could make it harder for some minority candidates to win election when voting districts are redrawn.

In a 5-4 decision, the justices ruled that the law cannot be used to create voting districts favorable to the election of minority candidates unless at least half the population is minority.

The decision could make it more difficult for Democrats, particularly in the South and Southwest, to draw electoral boundaries friendly to black or Hispanic candidates following the 2010 Census.

Calif justices hear arguments in gay marriage case

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:04:16 -0800

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- As thousands demonstrated outside Thursday, California Supreme Court justices weighed whether the electorate's decision to ban same-sex marriage was a denial of fundamental rights or within what one justice called the people's "very broad powers" to amend the state constitution.

Gay rights advocates are urging the court to overturn the ban, approved in November as Proposition 8, on the grounds it was put before voters improperly, or at least prematurely. Under state law, the Legislature must approve significant constitutional changes before they can go on the ballot.

Proposition 8's sponsors, represented in court by former Pepperdine law school dean and Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr, argue that the ballot initiative was approved correctly. They argue it would be a miscarriage of justice for the court to overturn the results of a fair election.

Calif. Legislature supports gay marriage challenge

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:10:54 -0800

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Both houses of the state Legislature passed resolutions Monday endorsing the legal effort to overturn California's same-sex marriage ban, just days before the issue goes to the state Supreme Court.

The resolutions passed along party lines, 18-14 in the Senate and 45-27 in the Assembly, with several members absent in both chambers.

Supporters of the resolutions said Proposition 8 should not have been placed on the November ballot through the initiative process. They said it represented a revision to the state Constitution because it stripped away existing rights and argue that only the Legislature can place such revisions before voters.

Calif. lawmakers back Prop. 8 challenge

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:06:32 -0800

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- A legislative committee on Tuesday endorsed legal efforts to overturn California's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, as gay rights activists worked the halls of the Capitol to try to get the full Legislature on record as opposing Proposition 8.

After hearing conflicting and often emotional testimony about who deserves the last say on the marriage question, the Assembly Judiciary Committee voted 7-3 in favor of a resolution stating that citizens lacked the authority to put the gay marriage ban directly to voters.

Supporters of the resolution, authored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, said that because the November measure stripped same-sex couples of a right they already enjoyed, it should have been up to the Legislature to decide whether to submit it to a popular vote. That is the process California has for making significant changes to the state Constitution.

Attorney General Jerry Brown plots potential run for governor

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:30:05 -0800

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Attorney General Jerry Brown isn't an official candidate for governor -- but he's sure thinking a lot about it.

He told a gathering of California newspaper publishers and editors Wednesday that he spends his spare time, often late at night, "plotting" his potential return to the governor's office.

He refused to say definitively whether he will run. Instead, he says he is focused on his job as attorney general and does not plan to make a decision about the governor's race until later this year.

Brown is one of several potential candidates considering a run to replace Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose term expires in January 2011.

The 70-year-old was elected to the first of his two terms as governor in 1974. His campaign committee, Jerry Brown 2010, has $4.1 million cash on hand.

Whitman makes exploratory bid for GOP nomination

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:29:54 -0800

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman officially launched her bid to seek the Republican nomination for California governor on Monday, capping a yearlong tour on the political stage after leaving her high-profile Silicon Valley job.

The 52-year-old political neophyte began testing her affinity for politics after leaving a 10-year stint with the online auction site last January. She served as finance chairwoman for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign and then as a national co-chair of John McCain's.

"California faces challenges unlike any other time in its history -- a weak and faltering economy, massive job losses and an exploding state budget deficit," Whitman said in a statement on her Web site. "California is better than this, and I refuse to stand by and watch it fail."