U.S. State Politics

Will Sheila Kuehl Reach Become First Openly Gay L.A. County Supervisor?

It came as a surprise to no one following L.A. politics, but one-time TV actress, former state senator, and current and proud lesbian and gay rights icon Sheila Kuehl announced her run for Los Angeles County Supervisor on Thursday. Kuehl, 72, could be the first openly gay person elected to the L.A. ... More >>

Council District 3 Race: Frontrunner and Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield Officially Flip-Flopped 89 Times in Sacramento

The Los Angeles Times may have glowingly endorsed California State Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield for the southwestern San Fernando Valley's L.A. City Council District 3 race -- he's one of those politicians looking for greener pastures and to turn L.A. into "Sacramento South" -- but he's picked up at ... More >>

Why Did the L.A. Times Endorse Felipe 'Worst Legislator in California' Fuentes For L.A. City Council?

One of the most troubling endorsement's this campaign season came from the Los Angeles Times when the paper recently backed former state Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, also known as the "Worst Legislator in California." He's running for the L.A. City Council District 7 seat in the northeast San Fernand ... More >>

Broken Meter Tickets In Los Angeles Could Be Banned Under Proposed Calif. Law

In some ways Los Angeles is becoming New York in the 1970s, a city of crumbling streets with a bully of a City Hall that could care less about constituents or justice. Pot holes crack your wheels and eat your tires, traffic cops are quick to give fund-raising tickets, and parking citations are just ... More >>

California Assembly District 50: Campaign Mailers Slam and Tout Richard Bloom and Betsy Butler

In the final days of the hotly contested California Assembly District 50 race, a bevy of campaign mailers sent to voters are slamming and touting rival candidates Richard Bloom and Betsy Butler. They make for hilarious, if not worrisome, reading. Themes range from Butler's "courage and integrity" t ... More >>

Assembly District 50: Gay Republican Brad Torgan Says He Won't Endorse Betsy Butler or Richard Bloom

In an email to the press titled "Brad Torgan Announces Endorsement Decision," gay Republican and one-time California Assembly District 50 candidate Brad Torgan alerts political journalists that he is, in fact, endorsing no one. So much for that. Torgan placed a somewhat surprising third in the extr ... More >>

Eric Garcetti Is A "Rising Star" At Democratic Convention, Says Eric Garcetti

Everybody knows who the Democrats will nominate for president this week. But who will they nominate in four years, or 12? Chances are those folks are in Charlotte, and party regulars are looking for them. Away from the TV cameras, a convention can resemble an NFL scouting combine, as everyone hunts ... More >>

Will Felipe Fuentes and Gov. Jerry Brown Water Down Teachers' Evaluations?

California's education reform wars are popping up again -- this time over a controversial bill called AB 5, which reform activists say will water down teachers' evaluations. The grassroots group EdVoice has taken a full-page ad in today's A section of the Los Angeles Times to sound the alarm and g ... More >>

Farmers Field NFL Stadium Downtown Could Be Slowed By Serious Legal Challenge

If you were a gamblin' man, and a good one at that, you'd probably put your money on Farmers Field getting built, or at least getting every approval it needs by the soft-spine L.A. City Council. The owner of Staples Center and LA Live, Anschutz Entertainment Group, has steamrolled over City Hall, s ... More >>

Waning Support for Jerry Brown Initiative to Raise Taxes

Gov. Jerry Brown's ingenious and inventive plan for California's budget woes is to raise taxes. He wants your support for an initiative that would increase taxes on the mildly rich and on retail items. He's bringing a ballot initiative to you, but the support you've shown for this appears to be wa ... More >>

Assemblyman Mike Davis, Running for L.A. City Council, Will Fit Right in: He Voted 'No' on 0.01% of Assembly Bills

Few voting bodies are as creepily hive-minded as the Los Angeles City Council. In 2011, under the leadership of former City Council President Eric Garcetti (now running for mayor), the group of 15 local politicians, who also happen to be the highest-paid councilmembers in the country, voted unanimo ... More >>

'Hands Off Proposition 13,' Two-Thirds of California Voters Tell Gov. Jerry Brown and Respected Field Poll

Green: Who backed Proposition 13 in 1978. Red: People who watched a ball game instead. ​Wow, this is pretty definitive: With all kinds of California newspapers bashing Proposition 13 (often inaccurately claiming that it has starved the state budget -- which has skyrocketed since 1978 even as c ... More >>

Farmers Field 'Fast Track' Bill Passes California Assembly

Charger Girls. Hint hint.​Updated at the bottom: This thing could go all the way. Read about how the stadium could cause more traffic than you think, here. And see our piece on how it could create a sea of billboards, here. First posted at 4:11 p.m. on Wednesday. The forces behind downtown L. ... More >>

DREAM Act (Part II) Passes State Legislature, Ready to Be Signed by California Governor

Associated PressAssemblyman Gil Cedillo celebrated the passage of Part I of the DREAM Act just last month.​Taxpayer dollars to fund the college careers of illegal immigrants? Yes, please!, said both the California State Senate and Assembly this week, giving their blessing to the DREAM Act's c ... More >>

Juan P. Garcia-Machado, Illegal Immigrant and SDSU Student, Is Reportedly Employed by State Capitol, Has Advised Politicians

LinkedInJuan P. Garcia Machado​Looks like the California government can now be added to the list of employers who have hired illegal immigrants. The employee's name is Juan P. Garcia-Machado, a San Diego State University student set to graduate in 2012. And from the looks of his NBC LA profil ... More >>

Fabian Nunez Riles Crime Victims

Bill inspired by Luis Santos' murder targets political favors for criminals like Esteban Nunez

California Redevelopment Agencies' Demise

New York Legalizes Gay Marriage, LGBT Activists in California Respond

​On Friday night, June 24, the New York State Senate passed a bill that legalizes gay marriage in the Empire State. Governor Andrew Cuomo quickly signed it into law, which will go into effect in 30 days. LGBT activists in California and elsewhere quickly responded to the news. "We are beginn ... More >>

California Redevelopment Agencies Forced to Share Millions With Low-Income Schools?

Hollywood High, movie-star hotspot gone crazy ghetto, might finally get some glory back​Updated after the jump: Redevelopment honchos aren't going to take this sitting down. Budget-butchering California Governor Jerry Brown watched angrily the last few months as the state's rogue redevelopmen ... More >>

Charles Calderon, California State Assemblyman and Worst Legislator: 96 Percent of His Cash Gushes in From Outside His District

By David Futch Charles Calderon: Counting his money, or slapping his name on a law he never wrote?​Emboldened by bulging campaign coffers, brothers Charles and Ron Calderon don't merely introduce laws designed to reap profits for huge special-interest groups. Many of the laws that bear their ... More >>

Schwarzenegger Used CHP Officers to Procure 'Scantily-Clad' Women at Hotel, Former Lawman Says

Ve vant females.​Updated at the bottom: Schwarzenegger's top cops, and a Hyatt manager, say this is absolutely untrue. As if fathering a love child with the help hasn't been enough, now comes an allegation that Arnold Schwarzenegger used at least some of his California Highway Patrol security ... More >>

Governor Jerry Brown: He's Just Like Us! Or, the Southwest Flight That Wooed a People

Byte-sized fares make for better budgets​At a time when ex-Prez of Egypt Hosni Mubarak is private-jetting off to his sprawling estate in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikha, where a charmed life awaits the loathed 30-year dictator (free of angry mobs and full of luxury frond-fan type shit - ... More >>

Governor Jerry Brown to Californians, Via 'State of the State' Address: We Seek Your Guidance (and Cash Money)

Governor Brown vs. the deficit​Governor Jerry Brown reached out to the broke-ass peoples of California this evening in his career-second State of the State Address, telling us over and over that he respects our right to vote. (He even juxtaposed our glorious ballot-wielding powers with a shout ... More >>

Death on Valentine's Day for California Governor Jerry Brown? Graffiti, Swastikas Pop Up in Santa Ana (PHOTOS)

Santa Ana Police Department​​Well, this is creepy. Santa Ana makes national headlines this morning as the host of two separate death threats on brand-new California Governor Jerry Brown. (And the OC Weekly had it first!) At West Alton Avenue and South Greenville Street, someone spray-pa ... More >>

Arnold Schwarzenegger, State Prisons Sued Over Sentence Reduction for Esteban Nunez, Son of Fabian Nunez

Esteban Nunez.​Did the Governator violate California's own rules when he reduced the prison sentence of Esteban Nunez, son of pal Fabian Nunez? A lawsuit filed this week claims he did. Baby Nunez was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 16 years in prison for his involvement in the 2008 ... More >>

Governor Jerry Brown's New California Board Of Education Appointments Could Disable Compton 'Trigger'

A new State Board of Education might be Brown's way of pulling the trigger on charters​Jerry Brown announced his California Board of Education appointments yesterday -- and they're sure to throw a wrench in the spokes of the Parent Trigger movement. For a group of parents in Compton, this wil ... More >>

Gov. Arnold's Last Move: The Gift Of A Shorter Sentence For Manslaughter Convict Esteban Nunez, Son Of Democratic Player Fabian Nunez

Thanks, Arnold: Esteban Nunez.​We called them the "Bad Little Suburban Boys," the foursome accused in the brutal, beer-fueled stabbing of a San Diego State University student in the fall of 2008. And, true to form, bad little suburban boys, especially ones who are the sons of powerful state po ... More >>

FAIRY-y Tales

Kamala Harris Victory in Attorney General Race Thrills California Gay Rights Groups

California Attorney General-elect Kamala Harris​Two prominent gay rights groups in California didn't waste any time celebrating Kamala Harris's victory over Steve Cooley in the state attorney general race, which L.A. Weekly called yesterday. "Today's decision in the attorney general race mea ... More >>

Mike Murphy: Meg Whitman's Medicine Was Too Tough

Photo by Ted SoquiMeg Whitman​Republican strategist Mike Murphy went on "Meet the Press" this morning to give his take on why Meg Whitman lost. His view is that Whitman was offering "tough medicine," and the voters weren't interested."We just had some tough answers that people didn't want," Murphy ... More >>

Welcome Home, Jerry Brown

But really, what were you thinking? This state is a mess

Prop. 25 Election Results: Breezy Simple-Majority State Budgeting Looks Like A Possibility For Gridlocked CA Politicians

California State Legislators at a budget meeting​Update, 1 a.m.: The Los Angeles Times calls it a win for Prop. 25, with 54.8 percent of voters saying 'Yes' and 45.2 percent saying 'No.' Only 40 percent of California precincts have yet to submit their data. Prop. 25 has been steadily leaning ... More >>

Surprise: Rest Of The Shoo-Ins Win* California State Senate, Assembly And Congressional Districts In Election 2010, Banding Together For Mass Extermination Of Opponents

In a startling upset, Gerrymandering Congressman Howard Berman wins again​*OK, so we fibbed in the headline. The final results aren't in. But -- thanks to sleazy incumbent fixing of elections in California by the Berman brothers -- the new crop of California Senators, Assemblymen and Congressm ... More >>

California 'Governor' Jerry Brown Will Call Special 2011 Election To Raise Taxes, Says Gloom Meister Gray Davis

Via OC Register​Via the mayorsam blog via the Fresno Bee, that super-upbeat, super-flashy guy, gloomy Gray Davis, is saying that California Governor Jerry Brown, um, probable governor, will immediately set a Special Election to ask Californians to raise taxes. God, which is worse? Another spe ... More >>

William Harsh, Meg Whitman's Princeton-Attending Son, Charged With 'Careless' Driving

GawkerDid Meg Whitman spawn demon children?​In her $160 million or so of self-funded campaigning (yeah -- it's up to $160-mil-plus now), Meg Whitman boasts that she ran a major corporation, eBay, so she'll have no trouble making Sacramento more efficient and businesslike if she's elected Calif ... More >>

Meg Whitman Won't Touch Police Pensions, Predicts Union Prez Alan Barcelona

Ted SoquiMeg Whitman​The head of a state law enforcement union predicted Tuesday that Meg Whitman won't cut police pensions if she is elected governor."I wouldn't think that would be on her radar," said Alan Barcelona, president of the California State Law Enforcement Association, which is backing ... More >>

Cell Phones Flooding to Mexican Mafia Prisoners

Schwarzenegger vs. Legislature pissing match means no crackdown

'Gerrymandering' Documentary Is Going To Inflict Damage On Proposition 27. Too Bad For Fat Cats Who Want To Fix California Elections

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger​"Gerrymandering" looks into the sleazy politicians' game of drawing crazy-shaped "voting districts" that chop up cities and cross over mountains, all with the aim of separating Republican voters from Democratic voters to fix an election victory for one par ... More >>

Gloria Allred Announces That Latina Housekeeper Will File Claim In Los Angeles Against Meg Whitman, Woman's Former Employer

​Updated after the jump with more comments from Whitman and a response from Jerry Brown's campaign. First posted at 10:38 a.m. If you were waiting for the dirty tricks to start dropping in the governor's race, wait no more: Attorney Gloria Allred announced Wednesday morning that a former hous ... More >>

10 Terrified States Want Gay Marriage Ban to Stand in California

Wyoming Attorney General Bruce Salzburg​10 states not known for their gay-friendliness are mightily nervous about last month's federal court ruling that deemed California's Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional. Why? If the Proposition 8 decision stands as it goes through the federal appeals ... More >>

Meg Whitman May Have Broken Through Against Jerry Brown; Up In New Poll

​The California governor's race has been fairly stable this summer. Jerry Brown has a long history and celebrity in this state, has spent barely a dime of his campaign money but has a campaign operation that hasn't always been stellar (the other day Obama made a fundraising pitch for him and i ... More >>

Prop. 8: Meg Whitman Expresses Support For Same-Sex Marriage Ban

​Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman said over the weekend that, if elected, she would defend the California law that outlaws same-sex marriage. A reporter for the Sacramento Bee asked the former eBay chief if she would defend the law in light of its run through the court system. ... More >>

Jerry Brown And Meg Whitman Go Mano-A-Mano With 'Attack' Websites

Meg Whitman.​It looks like California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has found a new place to sink her millions: Campaign websites. California Watch reports that her campaign has quite a few, including Jerryfails.com as well as sites for women, students, nurses, Latinos, and Chinese-speak ... More >>

Jerry Brown And Steve Cooley Merge Bell Investigations; Bipartisan Camera Mugging

Bell residents​Attorney General Jerry Brown and Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley put out a terse statement that was nevertheless incredibly intriguing: They'll be coordinating their investigations of potential voter fraud and public corruption in the city of Bell. The small ci ... More >>

City of Bell Corruption

The people yell over the smell in the hell that is Bell

City Of Bell's Highly Paid Officials Resign

​The three Bell city officials who drew the most fire for their extraordinary salaries resigned after a six-hour marathon session of the Bell City Council held behind closed doors Thursday into early Friday. Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo, police Chief Randy Adams and Assistant Cit ... More >>

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Approval Rating At An All-Time Low; He's Less Popular Than Gray Davis

​According to a Field Poll released Wednesday (PDF), Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's approval rating is at a all-time low, matching Democratic predecessor Gray Davis' ratings just before he was ousted from office. The poll shows that only 22 percent of voters approve of the governor's performanc ... More >>

Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado Sidesteps College Tuition Controversy

Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado​When California State University trustees passed a 5 percent tuition hike for undergraduates last Friday, Lieutenant Govenor Abel Maldonado, who sits on the board of trustees, was sure to vote against the fee increase. Why? Maldonado, a moderate Republican in a state ... More >>

CSU student fee hike is a big one: 5 percent slams California kids in November 2010

Abel Maldonado attacked the adults​If you attend CSUN, Cal State Los Angeles or Cal State Long Beach get ready, because costs for students and their families are taking a major leap, and graduate students are getting slammed even harder. Big college fee hikes were approved just minutes ago. R ... More >>

Jerry Brown Challenges Meg Whitman To 10 Town Hall Debates

​It didn't take long after Meg Whitman snatched the GOP nomination for fellow gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown to challenge her to ten town hall debates around the state to discuss employment, education, and the state's fiscal crisis. The Democrat argued that the town hall debates would bri ... More >>