Election 2008: July 2008 Archives

If Los Angeles Unified officials decide Thursday to place a $7 billion bond on the fall ballot, they are expected to campaign on a plan to build small schools of 500 students or less. George Sanchez in the Daily News.

But while the district has been talking up the need for smaller schools for at least five years, it has continued to build mammoth campuses to warehouse thousands of students.

District officials defend their construction program, saying they may be developing large school sites, but they are trying to break them down into several mini-schools on each campus.

And some say it's too late and costly to redesign already-built or under-construction mega-schools, even though they acknowledge the LAUSD should have never gotten to the place it finds itself now.

"We have just built all these schools. We can't deconstruct them," said LAUSD Board of Education member Yolie Flores Aguilar.

"If I had my dr

The California Republican Party today released its final list of delegates and alternaties to its convention in Minnesota.
The group will be led by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and was described as a cross-section of California Republicans.
Bill Jones, who is chairman of the state's convention, said those selected represent a broad array of activists, elected official and community leaders.
"I am proud to stand as the leader of this fine delegation," Jone said. "As the largest delegation at the GOP Convention, California leads the way to a brighter future in America. California has produced two Presidents in the past, and I know that we are unified in support of my friend and colleague, Senator John McCain."
The full list of delegates is available at the party's website.

Faced with the potential loss of a telephone users' tax worth $65 million a year, Los Angeles County supervisors are asking voters to approve a new measure in November that would preserve the tax at a lower rate - but also expand it to include new technologies.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Supervisors voted unanimously last week to place the measure on the Nov. 4 ballot, reducing the tax individuals and businesses pay on phones, natural gas and electricity from 5 percent to 41/2 percent in unincorporated areas, affecting more than 1 million people.

But the measure also would expand the types of communications that could be taxed, including text messaging on cell phones, paging, conference calls and other new technologies.

We are just guessing here, but don't expect to see a very crowded room on Thursday when the California Republican Party holds a leadership conference sponsored by the California African-American Republican Coaltion.
The conference will take place at the Burbank Airport Marriott & Convention Center.
It is to feature NFL Hall of Famer Lynn Swann. The confrfence will have panels and workshops on how the GOP can attract more African-Americans.
"Republican principles of entrepreneurship, promoting personal responsibility, and protecting private property rights work in every community where they're put into action,' the oarty said in a statement.
"To succeed, the Republican Party in California must continually expand its coalition into those communities that have recently favored other parties. This conference represents not a one-time occurrence, but the beginning of an ongoing commitment to expand our party in this state."

A group seeking the recall of two longtime San Fernando City Council members turned in enough signatures by Tuesday's deadline to potentially qualify for the November ballot, city officials said.Connie Llanos and Adolfo Flores in the Daily News.

Backers turned in 2,220 signatures to recall Julie Ruelas and 2,250 signatures to recall Jose Hernandez.

San Fernando City Clerk Elena Chavez now has 30 days to determine whether at least 1,760 of the signatures - the minimum required to qualify the effort - against each of the two council members were gathered from properly registered voters.

Former Sen. John Edwards said Monday he will do all he can to help elect Sen. Barack Obama as preisdent _ including being his running mate.
``What I have said many times now is first, I'm not seeking the job. I
don't expect to be asked,'' Edwards said at a news confefence.
``Anything that I'm asked to do by Sen. Obama, either as a presidential
candidate or as the next president of the Untied States, I would take seriously
and seriously consider.''
Edwards was the VP nominee to Sen. John Kerry four years ago and ran for president this year until dropping out before the California primary in February.

Its leaders like to see this city as a sort of Latino Mayberry, an idyllic small-town oasis surrounded by the most urbanized areas of the San Fernando Valley.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

With new redevelopment plans, a beefed-up police force and more government grant money flowing, San Fernando city officials have been working hard to live up to that image.

But even as those efforts move forward, an increasing number of city residents have grown dissatisfied with the city's leadership, prompting them to launch a recall effort against two of the City Council's five members.

The signatures are due Tuesday, and organizers say they fully expect to qualify for the November ballot.

Amid concerns that voters may hesitate to approve a fifth multibillion-dollar school construction bond in a decade, Los Angeles Unified officials and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa have crafted a proposal to woo the public with promises to fund charter schools and small learning communities. Kerry Cavanaugh and George Sanchez in the Daily News.

At a hastily called news conference Friday afternoon, Villaraigosa and LAUSD leaders provided few details of the proposed bond measure but said a portion would be dedicated to developing charter schools and breaking up behemoth public schools into independent, mini-campuses.

"This is not about slapping another coat of paint on a problem," Villaraigosa said. "This reform-minded bond will create smaller, independent schools rooted in community and free from downtown bureaucracy."

More likely voters oppose than favor a November ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage in the state constitution, according to a survey released Friday.AP in the Daily News.

The Field Poll found that 51 percent of likely voters say they would vote against Proposition 8, while 42 percent say they would vote for it.

The poll shows a turnaround from 2000, when 61 percent of voters cast ballots in favor Proposition 22, which strengthened the state's 1978 one-man, one-woman marriage law with the words "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

With seemingly about as much thought as one of those old movies where kids came together to put on a show, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, School Board President Monica Garcia and a bunch of other folks came out Friday for a new multi-billion dollar bond issued to go on the November ballot.
The announcement came at a hastily called news conference -- less than an hour's notice was given -- and on a Friday afternoon, a move seen as guaranteeing little news coverage.
The purpose of the measure is to help create small charter schools as part of the new initiative at th Los Angeles Unified School District _ a program yet to be put into practice to even see if it works.
The bond measure is for an undetermined amount. The cost to taxpayers is not known. The language of the measure and what it would actually do is not available.
Local officials are fond of saying the devil is in the details. It would be nice to see them.

After record-low turnout in California's June primary, political analysts expect a vastly different scenario this fall as voters go to the polls to decide the next president and the fate of at least a dozen statewide propositions. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Bonds totaling about $16.8billion and measures to crack down on gangs, expand the use of renewable energy, ban same-sex marriages and redraw the state's legislative district boundaries are just some of the issues voters will settle.

"It's a real smorgasbord," said Allan Hoffenblum, a Republican political consultant. "You have cultural issues, social issues, animal-rights issues - you name it, it's on there. And then you have what is perceived to be one of the more exciting presidential races in recent history.

California Democrats and independent voters who backed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton have gravitated in huge numbers to Sen. Barack Obama - a consolidation of support that has given him a 24-point lead over Republican rival John McCain in the nation's most populous state, the latest Field Poll shows. San Francisco Chronicle in the Daily News.

The poll shows that Clinton's supporters prefer Obama to McCain, 80 percent to 8 percent, and the Illinois senator holds a 2-to-1 lead among California's likely female voters.

However, the poll carries a margin of error of 5.1 percentage points for its questions to 376 likely Democratic and nonpartisan voters asked about Obama's running mate.

California Democrats, looking to further bolster its ranks in Congress and the state Legislature, are developing a 58-county strategy go turn out voters.
Party Chairman Art Torres announced Monday that state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter in the Central Valley, will head up the effort
Florez, who was elected to the Assembly in 1998 when he defeated a Republican incumbent, knows what it takes to win, Torres said.
"Voters are more tuned in to the tough issues we face as a state and a nation than they have been in many years, and we need to give them the tools and opportunity to translate those strong feelings into effective action," Torres said.
Florez said he will meet with the Democratic Central Committees in each of the state's counties to serve as a liasion with the state praty.
"We are at a turning point in history, and voters are rightfully excited," Florez said.

Councilman Bernard Parks is rushing -- unbidden -- to the defense of Sen. Barack Obama against the "New Yorker" Magazine cover.
Parks, a candidate against Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas for the Board of Supervisors, is calling today for a boycott of the magazine and the way the magazine depicts Obama and his wife, in a send-up of the internet rumors regarding the couple.
"I have seen the front cover of 'The New Yorker Magazine' that is set to hit newsstands Monday. The publication's decision to illustrate Sen. Barack Obama in a turban and Mrs. Michelle Obama armed with an assault rifle and wearing military fatigues and combat boots is absolutely appalling," Parks said.
"he illustration takes me back to a time in this country that none of us should be proud of."
As part of their campaign, Parks and Ridley-Thomas have also battled over who is closest to Obama. Parks claims to be the first local official to endorse Obama, while Ridley-Thomas lays claim to being a national co-chair of the campaign.

***
And it works
Parks got a lot more attention than just the media in Los Angeles. He became a talking head on CNN as the magazine cover became a daily talking point in the presidential campaign.

TIPOFFS: Political maneuvring behind sales tax plan; multi-tasking for mayor?

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in an interview aired Sunday that he would be open to the idea of serving as energy czar in a Barack Obama administration. Politico

Regardless of whether he takes that particular job, Schwarzenegger, a Republican, added on ABC's "This Week" that he's now committed to continuing public service even after he leaves Sacramento.

Schwarzenegger endorsed John McCain at the end of January, and McCain has appeared with "the Governator" to praise his efforts to deal with climate change.

With a leading critic absent, the Los Angeles City Council pushed through a measure for the Nov. 4 ballot asking property owners to pay $36 a year to fund citywide gang-prevention and -intervention programs.Daily News.

The 12-0 vote Friday gives final approval to move forward with a parcel tax that has been debated for nearly two years after the gang-related slaying of 13-year-old Cheryl Green in the city's Harbor Gateway area.

The vote comes just days after a heated dispute over a provision that had been quietly inserted into the measure that would have allowed the council to increase the tax every year to reflect the cost of inflation.

Los Angeles voters will be asked this November to revamp outdated policies that could prohibit the city from funding low-income housing projects larger than five units and taller than two stories. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

While the policies have been on the books for more than 30 years, housing officials have gotten around the restrictions and funded many three-story and taller affordable-housing projects for families and the homeless.

But last fall, the state's Housing and Community Development Department started looking more closely at the old policies, and Los Angeles Housing Department officials realized they needed to update their rules or risk losing $1.2 billion in housing bond money approved by voters in 2006.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Thursday proposed a $9.3 billion bond to shore up California's water supply through a combination of reservoirs and conservation projects. AP in the Daiiy News.

Billions also would be spent to help the ecologically fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the heart of the state's intricate water-supply system.

Schwarzenegger hopes to win approval from leaders in the state Legislature and put the plan before voters in November.

Mayor Antonio Villariagosa is being pressed into service again to help Sen. Barack Obama.
But this time, it's just down the freeway in San Diego.
Villaraigosa is scheduled to introduce Obama at the convention of the National Council of La Raza at its annual convention _ similar duties to what he performed this week in Washington, D.C., before LULAC.
However, aides said, this time the mayor will also be making a major speech of his own, talking about the nation's; immigration policy and the need for Latinos and African-Americans to work together.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who switched his loyalty from Sen. Hillary Clinton to Sen. Barack Obama, is going on the road Tuesday to introduce Obama to one of the largest Latino organizations.
Villaraigosa is scheduled to be in Washington, D.C., to introduce Obama at the annual convention of LULAC.
During the primary season, Obama was easily outpolled by Clinton among Latino voters. Villaraigosa has pledged to put the same energy out for Obama as he did for Clinton, when he traveled across the country for her.
Also invited to address the group is Clinton and Republican nominee Sen. John McCain.

Shortly after becoming the presumptive Republican presidential nominee last spring, John McCain packed a downtown hotel ballroom with Southern California GOP faithful who cheered his political triumph in the heart of what was once Reagan country. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

But several months later, McCain has been all but an absentee candidate in the Southland, prompting the popular blog LAist to wonder after his recent campaign swing into other parts of the state: "Why did John McCain avoid Los Angeles?"

It is the same question of the McCain operation that has been asked even by some of his followers in the San Fernando Valley - especially as the local Barack Obama grass-roots campaign in recent weeks has regularly scheduled bake sales, house parties, voter registration drives and other activities.

The presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama turned to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Los Angeles, to serve as surrogates for his reponse to the new Spanish language ads by Sen. John McCain.
Villaraigosa, of course, was a high profile national co-chair of the campaign for Sen. HIllary Clinton.
The mayor and Obama met recently in Miami where he pledged his support to the presumed Demoratic nominee.
The full statements are after the jump?