Reviewing the ballot materials for November's election can be a daunting, but - as it turns out - exciting experience. Lots to digest and ponder at all governmental levels: local, state and national. Locally, there are two elections for Sacramento City Council (Districts 2 and 4); several more for council seats in outlying communities; two bond Measures, Q and R, to fund City school facilities; Measure T to curb (no pun intended) yard-waste dumping; U to raise the local sales tax to support "essential city services;" and, finally, the controversial Measure M to establish a charter commission for Sacramento, the up or down vote accompanied by 56 candidates for 12 15 commission seats just i

Hey Sacramento voters, it’s that time of year again when we grab our ballots and vote up or down on matters about which we admittedly know little or nothing – California Propositions. Hiram Johnson’s well-meaning 1911 effort at a grass-roots tool to control the undue influence of big railroads has left us with a legacy of poor public policymaking. And this year is no exception. Come November 6th we’ll be asked to render judgment on no less than eleven Propositions on which sponsors and opponents are spending millions of dollars to influence (aka cajole and mislead) our decisions. If that doesn’t wet your appetite for frivolity, however, don’t fret: 93 more propositions have been filed wit

Before guests could hit the dance floor and mingle with friends at a non-profit organization’s 10th Anniversary celebration, local community leaders gave a “Celebrity Show” posing to be celebrities of the last decade to say a few words. The emcee introduced the first celebrity – Hillary Clinton. Walking and gracefully waving to “Stand by Your Man” by Tammy Wynette from the back of the ballroom to the podium is Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg’s (D-Sacramento) District Director Susan McKee. Guests stood up from their seats to take videos and photos while others clapped and laughed. “I told the President that C.C. Yin has always been my man and all of you know I stand by my man,

As the Wisconsin protests have continued and spread to Indiana and Ohio, with solidarity rallies held in Sacramento and elsewhere, the strategy of Republican Governors becomes clear: cripple public unions. If there was ever any doubt about this goal, it was dispelled by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s conversation with a newspaper editor (impersonating billionaire conservative campaign contributor David Koch) in which Walker discusses their anti-union strategy.  This conservative effort has important implications for the Sacramento area.  Not coincidentally, the effort follows a long decline of unions. In 1945, according to the Department of Labor, unions represented 34% of private empl

Sacramentan Phil Angelides was in town yesterday signing reports at a local bookstore (thankfully there are still some). Noteworthy? Apparently not, there was hardly a mention in the local media. There was, of course, some buzz in January when Mr. A released the report of his federal commission, “The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report,” after an exhaustive 18-month investigation of the worst U.S., perhaps worldwide, financial crisis since the great depression, nearly a century ago. The commission’s work is the definitive piece (apologies to Michael Lewis and other contributors) on this debacle, which is so aptly described in Mr. A’s report as an avoidable result of “human action and inactio

Too bad there’s not an instant replay for political endorsements since the Sacramento Bee recently made a highly questionable call by choosing Dan Lungren over Dr. Ami Bera in the 3rd District Congressional race. “By a slim margin,” the Bee argued, stating that Bera’s grasp of the nation’s and district’s “vast challenges” isn’t “as wide as it should be.” What are these “vast challenges” and what are the two candidates' positions about them? Lungren’s record on the economy and jobs is dismal: voting against the 2009 Recovery Act stimulus and unemployment extensions – job creators/savers – and recently voting against a $30 billion small business lending and tax breaks bill (more jobs help)

As a local small business owner who, like many others, has seen his activity decline during the past two years, I wrestle with changing my business plan, modifying my products and services, and generally reinventing my work, possibly for a different market niche. And I wonder what sort of outside help I’ll get, if any, from the public sector. With fears of a double-dip recession, continuing high unemployment in California (and locally), and evidence that small business employment is lagging, I wonder about the positions of local 3rd District Congressional candidates on whom we’ll be voting in November: incumbent Dan Lungren and challenger Ami Bera. Where do they stand on credit availabili

 Recently, 3rd District Congressman Dan Lungren sent a mailer to his constituents in which he rails against federal stimulus funding and, unethically, promotes his re-election campaign against challenger Ami Bera in the upcoming November election, a contest on which we reported here last January: Lungren, the career politician who defends the Washington D.C. status quo grid-lock, versus Dr. Bera, a newcomer to politics whose fresh, long-term views represent hoped-for solutions to the 3rd District’s most pressing problems. Why is this recent incident important? Aside from being about one of the major local and regional races on the November ballot, what Lungren is doing with his mailer, “p

In case you’ve neglected your political calendar lately, we’re nearly to the 4th of July, beyond the June 8th primary, and the November 2010 general election race for the 3rd Congressional District seat between challenger Ami Bera and incumbent Dan Lungren is in full swing. Nowhere has this race been more evident recently than it was in the mid-June dust-up in which Bera accused Lungren of being silent about the gulf oil spill, calling him “a pawn of BP and big oil” who tacitly defends BP (the firm that caused the Deepwater Horizon spill, easily the nation’s worst environmental disaster ever), because he (Lungren) relies heavily on the oil and gas industry to finance his political campaig

What with the excitement of Sacramento city council and county supervisor races – competition, deals, drama, controversies, strong/weak mayor, and the like – and even some interesting regional and statewide races, who really has time to study and vote intelligently about the propositions that also are on our ballots? Once again Sacramento voters are faced with the usual array of statewide propositions this year: five on the June ballot and another three qualified for November, three pending at the Attorney General’s Office, signatures filed for seven, the Legislature considering nine, 24 gathering signatures for topics like taxes, abortion, pensions, human trafficking, redistricting and r

In January, the Sacramento Press described the 3rd District congressional race beginning between Ami Bera and Dan Lungren and how there’s a clear choice between Lungren, the incumbent, a career politician exemplifying the status quo running against Dr. Bera, a progressive-minded newcomer.  A clear choice, including the way each of the two candidates finances his campaign. The bottom line: Dr. Bera is raising more campaign money from far more small donors than is Lungren. For the 2009-10 campaign, Bera reports raising $1,257,000 versus Lungren’s $953,000, and he (Bera) has raised nearly all (92%) from individuals, rather than political action committees (PACs). By contrast, Lungren has rai

What if community residents wanted to gain access to fresh fruits and vegetables in their fast-food-filled district? What if a community group wanted to obtain more social services in a high-need area? Making those arguments is especially daunting if opposing special interests have more money and better information. One organization – Healthy City – is leveling the playing field so all Californians can now turn their passion into action. Healthy City unites community voices with rigorous research and innovative technologies to solve the root causes of social inequity. They provide detailed information for service referrals, easy-to-use data, and technical assistance to help communities fu

University of California and UC Davis officials announced in a press conference Thursday morning that UC Davis will take over operating the UC Center in Sacramento (UCCS). Initiated in 2003 and funded by the UC Office of the President, the center served UC students system-wide until it closed after the 2009 fall term due to lack of state funding. From now on, students at the UC Center in Sacramento will be enrolled as UC Davis students and receive benefits like health care and access to other UC Davis campus services and teachers. It will continue to offer two programs: an internship program offered year-round, pairing students with another organization, and a summer public policy intern

Each season around this time, polls like Field and others publish early voter preference results and the pundits proclaim that political campaigns have started. In truth, these campaigns have been going for some time, albeit somewhat “under the media radar,” and so it is with the campaigns of incumbent Dan Lungren and challenger Ami Bera in the area’s 3rd congressional district. . As reapportioned in 2001, the 3rd district resembles an ungainly beast, stretching from part of Solano County in the west, south around downtown Sacramento and into the city’s eastern suburbs and on west, incorporating all of Amador, Calaveras and Alpine Counties, extending to the Nevada border in the Sierra mou