February 2012
28 posts
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The beginning of Hayward's turnaround?
I’ll make a bold prediciton here. The recent 5-year, $25 million grant from the Department of Education to the beleaguered schools in Hayward is the break that leads the city back from the brink.
Hayward’s school district is one of the most dysfunctional government bodies in the entire East Bay, but a new superintendent and focus from City Hall portend for good things down the long...
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SCOTUS watcher pegs Kamala Harris as Ideal Obama...
Tom Goldstein, a noted Supreme Court reporter, believes Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will likely retire sometime during President Obama’s potential second term.
Who would be the ideal candidate for the appointment, according to Goldstein?
None other than California Attorney General Kamala Harris.
Assuming that President Obama is re-elected and that Justice Ginsburg does retire at some...
“These rules were made for people who walked or rode their horse to the bank.”
– San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting in the Chronicle on the city’s real estate rules. Eighty-four percent of residential mortgage loans in foreclosure contain one or more errors.
A nice reset for Occupy Oakland
Admit it, you’re worried this amazing political movement blossoming in Oakland is beginning to run out of steam? One, it’s not. Second, this period just may be the calm by a tumultuous Spring.
Those with a smidgen of doubt might be interested in a nice reset offered by Jay Youngdahl in this week’s edition of the East Bay Express.
Like activists of the 1960s and 1970s, occupiers are...
New law will force indy candidates to show their...
Here’s a little bill signed Tuesday by Gov. Jerry Brown that could have lasting effects on the state’s inaugural use this June 5 of the open primary system:
AB 1413 will force independent candidates to reveal their true political colors.
Timm Herdt in the Ventura County Star writes:
“‘If a candidate is registered to vote as a Republican, he or she must list on the...
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County probation chief accused of sexual...
As I reported yesterday for the East Bay Express, David Muhammad, the hugely popular Alameda County chief probation officer, was placed on paid adminsitrative leave. The 38-year-old Muhammad was accused by one of his deputies of sexual harrassment.
Demian Bulwa has the details of the lawsuit in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Ominous Observation?
Adam Nagourney of The New York Times here with a ominous observation from the Cook Political Report. The editor of the noted newsletter believes additional members of the California Congressional delegation may hang ‘em up soon.
Mr. Wasserman predicted that more incumbents would retire in the weeks ahead, chased out by the fear of running in districts filled with unfamiliar voters. There...
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Tribune's Josh Richman hearts Eric Swalwell
Sorry for missing the opportunity for a Valentines-themed posting yesterday.
What is going on with the burgeoning bromance between Josh Richman of the Oakland Tribune and East Bay congressional candidate Eric Swalwell? Hubba hubba.
Is Richman merely promoting a potentially staid re-election campaign between Swalwell and Rep. Pete Stark or are other dynamics at work? Kissy kissy.
The elements of...
“I’ll tell you this: If the Legislature had been in charge of redistricting...”
– House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi explaining to the New York Times about the unintended benefits for Democrats after Redistricting in California.
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The reason why Stark cleared his town hall of KTVU...
A scary proposition averted at Oakland City Hall
The most unique aspect of my coverage of politics at all levels of government in the East Bay is my perch above the entire machinery of interconnected city halls, county offices and our representatives in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.
Most of the action is typical political intrigue and juicy gossip in places like Hayward, San Leandro and Alameda, but what almost happened Tuesday night at the...
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Funny Or Die spoofs controversial Hoekstra ad
By now, most political junkies have seen the infamous Super Bowl campaign ad from former Rep. Pete Hoekstra that aired in Michigan markets. In the spot, an Asian actress standing before a rice patty reads her lines in broken English and thanks Hoekstra’s Democratic opponent for the U.S. Senate, Debbie Stabenow, for sending jobs to China.
The comedy web site Funny Or Die has their own take...
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“I still don’t think she’s using it, by the way.”
– Elizabeth Emken, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate from the East Bay telling the Daily Caller she thinks Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s staff is tweeting for her. (Emken does her own tweeting, she said.)
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Oakland's AstroTurf response to Occupy
Faux grassroots groups, colloqually known as AstroTurf, are typically funded by right-wing nuts within the Republican Party. In the East Bay, the group “Stand for Oakland” is funded by business and pro-police interests.
The scene reported Monday by Indy Bay Media did not put pro-Hosni Muburak supporters in Egypt to shame—not by a long shot. Before long, there were met with...
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Cal State East Bay editorial calls Occupy an...
In an editorial that sounds vaguely like a 55-year-old sophomore wrote it, the student newspaper at Cal State East Bay in Hayward called on the Occupy Oakland movement to “recapture its common goal,” but not before criticizing its recent actions.
The editors of The Pioneer also called the movement “frankly an embarrassment to the rest of the nation.”
You don’t have to go...
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Oakland council takes another shot at honoring...
Last month, the late Oakland City Hall gadfly Sanjiv Handa was posthumously handed an insult when the council surprisingly rejected naming its press room after the editor of the East Bay News Service.
Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente, long a bitter rival of Handa, voted against the proposal saying it would have rendered him a “hypocrite.” Councilwoman Nancy Nadel also criticized her...
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Short doc: "The Battle of Oakland"
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The inherent problems of crime reporters covering...
Shoshana Walters of the Bay Citizen is an excellent crime reporter, but when if you send her to cover issues combining Oakland PD and Occupy Oakland, you get articles like this one: “Occupy Oakland Provides a Lens into the Deep Dysfunction at OPD,” or, also known as “These hippie kids playing around downtown and stopping the police from doing their jobs.”
Forget the...
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Rep. Lee on Susan G. Komen controversy
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Even with possible Bay Citizen merger, the future...
A marriage between the Bay Citizen and the Center for Investigative Reporting is in the works, according to a report this week.
If a deal is struck for the twin non-profit sites of which nobody in the Bay Area actually reads, yet knows about, it would put editor/playboy Phil Bronstein at the helm.
Of course, I’ll never agree with people who say journalism is dying because it’s not....
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McNerney looks for a new home, but why?
Rep. Jerry McNerney is looking for a new home in San Joaquin County to suit his redrawn congressional district. McNerney like local Reps. Pete Stark and John Garamendi are facing criticism because they do not actually live in the district’s they represent.
The Miami Herald has a good look at the issue that is an election season oldie, but goodie.
Members of Congress are not legally obliged...
Khanna's genius move
Is Ro Khanna running for Rep. Pete Stark’s seat this year or 2014? He adamently says no, at least, until he knows the 80-year-old is officially hanging them up.
Don’t believe him?
According to campaign fundraising reports due today, Stark’s campaign is a benefactor of Khanna’s support.
The former Obama commerce depeartment official gave Stark $1,000 in campaign...
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Watch out Quan! Occupy San Diego tries to arrest...
San Diegoans are still miffed over an odd short-term name change for Qualcomm Stadium, the home of the San Diego Chargers.
San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders personally approved the change to Snapdragon Stadium for only two bowl games and a Chargers game last month.
The group attempted to make a citizens arrest on Sanders charging embezzlement.
Occupy San Diego and other locals think the name change...
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As Stark targets tax loophole, HuffPo profiles...
Rep. Pete Stark’s hilariously poignant NEWT Act offered today in the House seeks to limit the ability of small businesses to use a loophole in how Medicare payroll taxes are collected. Stark also used the bill to skewer Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich, hence, the acronym spelling out his amphibious surname.
The Huffington Post today shows the breadth of unscrupulous tax...
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Daily Kos: Alameda County Sheriffs 'Tortured'...
The entry may appear a bit over-the-top, but a diarist at Daily Kos posted this message today charging Alameda County sheriffs refused protesters arrested during last Saturday night’s confrontation with police in Oakland medical treatment, sufficient access to restrooms and funneled tear gas into a cell block.
“Just got out of Santa Rita Jail last night the prisoners from the Oakland...
January 2012
91 posts
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“DeLaFuente sounds and looks like Somoza or some other Central American fascist....”
– Dan Seigel, Mayor Jean Quan’s former advisor, on Twitter Monday night, criticizing Oakland Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente for saying actions by Occupy Oakland demonstrators were akin to “domestic terrorism.”
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Newspaper Guild seeks Quan's audience after...
Six journalists covering last Saturday’s Occupy Oakland demonstration for the San Francisco Chronicle, East Bay Express, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Mother Jones and KGO Radio were arrested during the hectic night in downtown Oakland as over 400 protesters receiving the same fate.
The arrests have the local media rightly in an uproar over the dismissive actions of cops who on many occasions...
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Former assemblyman Torrico helps rural school...
Alberto Torrico, the former East Bay assemblyman who failed in his 2010 bid for state attorney general, returned to the private sector with financial success.
This Sacramento Bee story from this past weekend profiles Torrico and the prestigious law firm he works for successfully moving some rural school districts in the state to change the way they elected trustees and without disenfranchising...
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“It’s an escalation that in my opinion, basically amounts to domestic...”
– Oakland Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente telling reporters Saturday night the events leading to 400 arrests of Occupy Oakland protesters amounted terrorism.
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'..."Oh, he's with the media?" the officer... →
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Plastic bag ordinance leaves room for Alameda...
The Alameda County Waste Management Authority, or their more hipper name, StopWaste.org, approved Wednesday a potentially groundbreaking plastic bag ordinance banning the toxic totes at grocery stores and pharmacies, but it’s likely not the last you will hear about it this year.
Surprisingly, the body didn’t get greedy eating the entire politically-fulfilling pie. Instead, it left a...
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AC Transit's potential boondoggle gets a new...
AC Transit’s proposed Bus Rapid Transit line from Berkeley to San Leandro is getting a new director.
The plan, what’s left of it after officials in Berkeley and San Leandro chopped up its main selling point—a dedicated bus lane from Telegraph Avenue to East 14th Street—remains a potential boondoggle dripping with federal and state grants.
Even if AC Transit can deliver...
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All that yammering about extending redevelopment...
The Oakland City Council Wednesday night spent about 30 minutes debating the finer points of Southern California state Sen. Alex Padilla’s AB 659 hoping to extend the life of redevelopment agencies by another few months.
Despite clear signals from lawmakers in Sacramento, along with Gov. Jerry Brown’s comment last week that the bill would only “extend the funeral,” the...
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O.co Coliseum ain't good enough to be a home...
When the A’s eventually scamper to San Jose; the Raiders to Los Angeles and the Warriors to San Francisco, here’s a good plan to put the aging stadiums they leave behind to good use:
Turn them into homeless shelters.
Florida State Sen. Michael Bennett wants to reinstitute a 1988 state law that gave sports franchises tax dollars to build stadiums in return to housing the homeless on...
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Scott Olsen Rolling Stone feature falls flat
Mark Binelli’s eagerly-awaited Rolling Stone feature on Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen and the Occupy Oakland movement paints some of the main characters in a bad light.
The article in the current issue of Rolling Stone, reveals Olsen as a Johnny-come-lately to politics, in addition, to be discharged from the military for alleged cocaine use.
Curiously, the author chose to employ funky...
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Hayashi offers first in the state LGBT license...
For those of you wondering if there is any connection between this and the group Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi is rumored to have posed as a lesbian to gain campaign fundraising support, it is not.
Nevertheless, Hayashi introduced AB 1539 Wednesday which would create the state’s first lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender specialty license plate.
“This will be an important opportunity...
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Former East Bay Rep. steps down from State...
Ellen Tauscher will resign her post as undersecretary of state for arms control next month, according to Foreign Policy.
The former seven-term congresswoman from the East Bay had previously suffered from esophageal cancer.
Although her health has been improving, she plans to take time off from her duties as the state department’s top arms control official for the newly-created...
