California Adventure at Disneyland
Lengthy senate sessions M-F this week. Noon-5pm today then
10am start times thru Friday- which btw is the last day to amend bills
on floor
The California State Senate’s Schedule is here and the Assembly is here.
Plus, there are a whole bunch of Legislator fundraisers today between floor sessions.
Back in Sacramento, anybody plunking down change for a legislator’s fundraiser has plenty of choices in between the Senate and Assembly floor sessions. Capitol Alert counts two dozen scheduled events.
Breakfast eaters can choose Republicans Mike Morrell, Curt Hagman, Tony Strickland and Ted Gaines or Democrats Christine Kehoe and Jim Beall. The lunch bunch gets Democrats Alyson Huber, Nora Campos, Mary Hayashi and Rich Gordon or Republicans Dan Logue, Sharon Runner, Sam Blakeslee and Paul Cook. And … the evening lineup includes Republicans Diane Harkey and Mark Wyland plus Democrats Fiona Ma, Henry T. Perea, Noreen Evans, Mark Leno, Bill Monning, Bonnie Lowenthal, Bob Wieckowski and Isadore Hall.
On to today’s headlines:
Brown says lawmakers view taxes as ‘sexually transmitted disease’
Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday accused some state lawmakers of adhering to “the notion that taxes are like some kind of sexually transmitted disease.”
Brown made the comments at a clean-energy summit in Las Vegas, during a panel discussion that included Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval.
Brown’s original 2011-12 budget included a plan to raise vehicle, sales and income taxes, but could not find any Republican support for the measure in the Legislature. He has said he would like to see revenue proposals on the November 2012 ballot, but has not yet backed any specific tax proposal.
President Obama plans seventh trip to CA in September — fundraising in Silicon Valley, LA
President Barack Obama is hitting two California fundraising gold mines for his seventh trip to the state later this month — including a Sept. 25 stop in Silicon Valley, we’ve learned.
And there will also be a two-fundraiser stopover the next day to the Los Angeles area.
So far, there are not a lot of details on the Northern California event, but area Obama supporters and donors were told about the date and advised this week to put it on the calender.
This much is known: Obama hits Los Angeles on Sept. 26 for a pair of entertainment-related events in which tickets will range from $250 to $35,0000, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news last night.
The first Los Angeles event, aimed at entertainment industry bigwigs, is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at the House of Blues on Sunset Blvd, the Reporter said. “A mere $250 will get a single person in the door, while $10,000 is the cost to take a photo with the President,” the paper reported.
An evening event will be held at the Fig & Olive Restaurant on Melrose Place, where $35,000 “allows you to bring a date” or you can go solo for $17,500. That event “will be a chance to participate in a Q&A with the President,” the paper said.
Herdt: Maps are done, but intrigue lingers
It’s been a little more than two weeks since maps of the new political districts in California were certified, but it’s becoming more apparent by the day that approval of the maps was just the beginning of an extended period of political intrigue.
We’re now into an intense phase of poll-taking, name-dropping, deal-making and just plain high anxiety, as candidates faint, dodge and play coy over the questions of who will be running where and for what office next year.
There are some interesting possibilities in play on the Central Coast, none more intriguing than an attempt to persuade a former Assembly speaker to run for the new Senate seat that includes eastern Ventura County.
High-level discussions, initiated by the Democratic leadership in Sacramento, have taken place in an effort to persuade former Speaker Bob Hertzberg to run in the 27th Senate District, which stretches east from the Conejo Grade along the Highway 101 corridor to Encino.
Hertzberg is likely the best-known political figure in the San Fernando Valley, and 63 percent of the district’s voters live in L.A. County.
Although the chances of him running seem slight, Hertzberg isn’t saying no.
In a recent message responding to my inquiry about a potential candidacy, Hertzberg detailed all the reasons he wouldn’t do it: His solar energy business is going great guns, the bipartisan California Forward reform group he co-chairs is about to release a package of proposals, and he’ll soon lead a delegation to China with the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., which he also chairs.
But, as noted above, he didn’t say no.
“People have talked to me,” he acknowledged, while also asserting he has done “nothing of consequence” to pursue the idea.
If Democratic leaders could succeed in getting Hertzberg to yes, it would set off a tricky game of musical chairs.
Sen. Fran Pavley of Agoura Hills would move to her Oxnard beach condo and run in the west county-Santa Barbara 19th District, which is much more favorable to a Democrat. That would put pressure on the two announced Democratic candidates, former Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson of Santa Barbara and Oxnard Harbor Commissioner Jason Hodge, to drop out.
Enjoy your morning!