Free Republic

...Whitman doubts she will ever again run for elected office, and for many months she said little about the campaign. But she has started popping up recently on radio and TV. For a beaten candidate who wishes to remain relevant in politics – Whitman is advising Republican front-runner Mitt Romney in his presidential campaign, and she plans to involve herself in California ballot initiatives – it helps to stay in view. (snip) She said she plans to support ballot initiatives perhaps as early as this summer, likely involving education policy. She said she will recruit and support Republican candidates for...

Republican gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman said Monday that she would place pension cutbacks on the ballot if negotiations with state workers fail and would consider using her personal fortune not only to win office but to advance her agenda if elected. Taking the issue to voters is "not my first choice," she told The Bee's editorial board. "But if we have to … this is an issue we have got to take up." The former eBay CEO and billionaire said she "possibly" would put her own money behind a ballot measure campaign. "My preference would be to raise the money,...

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Oil billionaires David and Charles Koch have jumped on board an effort to suspend California's global warming law by making a million-dollar contribution this week. A subsidiary of Wichita, Kan.-based Koch Industries, the nation's second-largest private company with oil refineries and pipelines, made a $1 million contribution Thursday to the campaign for Proposition 23. It joins two Texas-based companies, Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp., in backing the measure.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today denounced Proposition 25, which would lower the legislative vote margin for state budgets from two-thirds to a simple majority, and declared that it's a back-door attempt to make it easier to raise taxes. Schwarzenegger,speaking to a business group in Goleta, responded "absolutely no" when asked about his position on the measure, placed on the ballot by Democrats and unions, and then added, "I believe this is also...a majority vote for tax increases."

If marijuana was legal for adults in California, would more people show up at work high? And how would that change the definition of a "smoke break" during work hours? That's the latest issue facing proponents of Proposition 19, the ballot measure that would make marijuana legal for adults in California. Voters will have a chance in November to decide whether to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes for adults over 21 but the political debate over the controversial issue has been heating up for quite some time. The latest argument against the ballot measure is that given the legal freedom...

Sacramento - Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman said Wednesday that she probably will vote against a November ballot initiative that would suspend AB32, California's landmark greenhouse gas reduction law. Whitman, appearing on the conservative John and Ken radio show on KFI in Southern California, said, "In all likelihood I will vote no on Prop. 23," adding that she still backs a one-year moratorium that she would impose if elected. Proposition 23 would suspend AB32 until unemployment drops to 5.5 percent or lower for a year. Whitman had been pressed on the issue but had not stated her position on the...

A Sacramento judge on Tuesday ordered Attorney General Jerry Brown to reword a ballot initiative that would roll back the state's landmark climate change law. In a ruling Tuesday, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley agreed with measure proponents charging that Brown's office used misleading language when it drafted the initiative, Proposition 23. As the Democratic candidate for governor, Brown opposes Proposition 23 and supports the state's climate change law, AB 32. Frawley said use of the term "major polluters" in election materials carried negative connotations with voters and ordered Brown's office to use the less loaded term "major sources...

Two propositions on the November ballot could create a $1-billion hole in California's already beleaguered budget by undoing one of the few agreements that lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have struck this year to shrink the deficit. Tucked into both measures, written before the budget agreement, are provisions that apply retroactively to all of 2010. Opponents are now accusing the special interests behind the initiatives of pressing their agendas at the expense of the state. "These two initiatives are Exhibits A and B as to why the initiative process needs to be reformed," said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg...

SAN FRANCISCO — California's high court on Monday upheld the state's 14-year-old law barring preferential treatment of women and minorities in public school admissions, government hiring and contracting. In a 6-1 ruling, the state Supreme Court rejected arguments from the city of San Francisco and Attorney General Jerry Brown that the law, known as Proposition 209, violates federal equality protections. Opponents of the ban say it creates barriers for minorities and women that don't exist for other groups, such as veterans seeking preference. The ruling written by Justice Kathryn Werdegar came in response to lawsuits filed by white contractors challenging...

In a stunning reversal, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Tuesday he would attempt to pull an $11.1 billion water bond off the November ballot and instead ask voters to approve it two years from now. The governor said the delay was needed to focus on the budget, but the economic climate and persistent criticism of the bond's cost was making the measure a tough sell.

Regulation: An initiative to suspend California's draconian climate law has qualified for the November ballot. The people can now choose between jobs and junk science and fight hot air at the ballot box. Thomas Jefferson once said that when people fear the government, there is tyranny, but when government fears the people, there is liberty. And right now there are politicians and bureaucrats in Sacramento who are at least very concerned. An initiative to suspend Assembly Bill 32 officially qualified for the ballot last week by gathering more than 800,000 signatures, far more than the 433,971 required. Those who signed...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - An initiative that seeks to suspend California's landmark global warming law until unemployment drops will appear on the November election ballot. California Secretary of State Debra Bowen certified the initiative on Tuesday. It's the sixth proposition to qualify for the ballot. The California Jobs Initiative seeks to delay the state's global warming law until the unemployment rate falls from its current rate of 12.4 percent to 5.5 percent or lower and stays there for a year.

In case anyone missed the tea leaves scattered around the country, California’s primary results offer more evidence of voters’ dislike for political parties. The Golden State on Tuesday passed Proposition 14, creating a so-called open primary in which any voter is allowed to cast their vote for any candidate in the primary, regardless of party affiliation. The top two vote-getters would face each other in the general election, even if they were from the same party. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was a big backer of the change, arguing that it would push politics away from the polarized extremes and toward a...

New poll finds only 33 percent of Americans favor, a 9-point drop since April The number of Americans who support same-sex marriage has plunged over the last few months, according to a new poll. The CBS News/New York Times study found that 33 percent of respondents favor same-sex marriage. That represents a 9 percent drop since April. Everett Rice, legislative coordinator for the California Family Council, said he has a theory about the decrease. "People really recognize their core and their values, their heritage," he said. "When people want to go in and redefine that, it really goes against everybody's...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today told a federal court in San Francisco that the state does not dispute that Proposition 8 may violate the federal Constitution and called for quick action to resolve the legality of the ant-gay measure law. "Plaintiffs' complaint presents important constitutional questions that require and warrant judicial determination," the governor said in a written response to a federal challenge of the anti-gay marriage ballot measure. " In a constitutional democracy, it is the role of the courts to determine and resolve such questions. … The administration encourages the court to resolve the merits of this action expeditiously."...

Two of California's top pollsters said Tuesday that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and some lawmakers are miscasting last month's special election as a clarion call against any new taxes to solve California's fiscal crisis. Instead, pollsters Mark DiCamillo and Mark Baldassare characterized the May 19 vote against five budget measures as an order to a dysfunctional state government to fix California's budget mess – and do so quickly. "We've heard a lot of people say the vote means 'no new taxes.' I would question that," said Baldassare, survey director for the Public Policy Institute of California, in the pollsters' joint appearance...

With the ink barely dry on the California Supreme Court's decision upholding a ban on same-sex marriages, proponents are already preparing new political and legal efforts to overturn the ban. But at least some pollsters and legal experts think those efforts may be too soon to have a good chance to succeed. "I think the pro-side would have a significant challenge in 2010," said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll. "I think it would be less of a challenge in 2012." DiCamillo's observation was echoed by Mark Baldassare, director of research at the Public Policy Institute of California. "It...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger considers himself a glass-half-full guy, and he ended his California Small Business Day speech in Sacramento with a dose of optimism. But it seemed clear the governor has just about had it with California's governance system, especially after last week's special election was a colossal failure. Though he blamed many of the state's budget problems on the current economic collapse, he said part of our woes are "self-inflicted." "California hasn't had a responsible fiscal system since Earl Warren in the late '40s and early '50s," he said. The governor ticked off a number of complaints about the...

California is facing economic failure resulting from years of a liberal legislature pursuing a liberal version of utopia. The liberal utopia has become the Forgotten Man's hell. California has been at the forefront of many trends in America including a tax revolt that led to Proposition 13. Is it time for a repeat? Californians have just given the raspberry to the state's legislature's plan to fix the current budget deficit. Had the initiatives passed, California would only be under water by $15B as opposed to the current $21B, and that number is sure to rise as unemployment in the state...

CALIFORNIA FINDS itself in more than a bit of a bind: Facing at least a $21 billion budget deficit, the state could run out of money in a matter of weeks. Borrowing to help fill the hole will be challenging and expensive, given that California has the lowest credit rating of all 50 states. Last week's warning by Standard and Poor's to Britain about a possible debt downgrade will make risky government borrowing even more difficult. The state would like to see Uncle Sam pick up part of the tab; but as steeped in the bailout business as the feds...