Apathy Has Its Consequences In California

The LA Times has decided to expose, not before Election Day but a month after, the juicy little fact that 1/4 of all state lawmakers have outside jobs which can cause direct conflicts of interest with their lawmaking duties, as they often vote on legislation that directly impacts their private income.

There can be a case made, though not a compelling one, that the shortness of legislative terms requires lawmakers to have some backup income in place for the future beyond their $150,000 a year salary. However, when termed-out legislators can grab highly sought and lucrative state board positions, that point becomes fairly moot. Not to mention the fact that political donors can continue to fund termed-out politicians for "strategic purposes," a perfectly legal enterprise.

Assemblywoman Nicole Parra may have found the perfect antidote to life in the Assembly doghouse – travel to political bashes in Maui, Las Vegas, Chicago and New Orleans, courtesy of political donors [...]

Campaign disclosure statements show that Parra, a lame-duck lawmaker who did not seek election to another office, largely emptied her campaign coffers this year – in part by spending thousands of dollars on travel, meals, parties and conferences [...] Parra spent more than $150,000 in campaign funds this year, including donations of $30,000 to WEAVE in Sacramento, $15,000 to the California Democratic Party, and $3,600 apiece to about a half-dozen legislative colleagues.

California law allows legislators to spend unlimited campaign sums for a political, legislative or governmental purpose.

My larger beef is with the 38 million who permit this activity through our collective silence, relatively speaking. Without an independent media dedicated to exposing sunlight and ferreting out these ugly deals inside Sacramento, and then without significant follow-up from citizens and groups to force consequences, we basically get the government we deserve. California's media landscape shrinks almost by the day, as a nation-state of 38 million has a number of political reporters that you may not even have to go into double digits to count. The "watchdog" groups are competent press release factories, but extract little in the way of consequences. And everybody has so internalized the concept that state elections are essentially a formality, including both sides of the political aisle, that the public wastes its own opportunity to have a voice on these matters. The perfect example is AD-30 this year, a hotly contested race with millions of dollars spent on both sides, which attracted an appalling 84,804 voters total at last count, less than half of the number for a similarly contested race in AD-10, and close to 1/3 of eligible voters, registered and unregistered, in the Bakersfield-area district. And this was a Presidential election! If I were elected from there I'd be embarrassed to serve.

This outright apathy allows corruption to slip through the cracks, as an unwatched Sacramento goes about its plunder. The byzantine series of rules have made California ungovernable because so few people show a legitimate interest in changing them. The future of California lies only in finding more people who care about the state than currently exist. Otherwise, a narrow political class will continue to take profits, and nobody will even notice.

State GOP Bugging Out Of Unwinnable Races

Much as we've seen on a national level, the California Republican Party is leaving its candidates on the side of the road and playing pure defense this cycle:

Democratic and Republican sources have informed CMR that the GOP has pulled the plug on future ads for Assemblymember Greg Aghazarian's bid to replace termed out Democratic Senator Mike Machado in California's 5th Senate District. Aghazarian's Democratic opponent, Assemblymember Lois Wolk, is up around 20 points in internal polling, so Republicans have decided to cut their losses.

This means that there will be no more than 15 Republican Senators (and probably less) and no more than 32 Republican Assemblymembers (and probably a lot less). They will not pick up a single seat at the state level.

Unless you think they can still win in AD-30, where an intra-party feud has left drama queen Yacht Dog Democrat Nicole Parra to endorse the Republican in the race between Danny Gilmore and Democrat Fran Florez. Florez' response ad to Parra's endorsement is hilarious, check it out at the link.

The truth is that while AD-30 is competitive, it's not a likely pick-up. And the CRP had better get in the habit of cutting losses; a couple assembly seats are lost causes for them, too.

Campaign Update: CA-11, AD-80, SD-19, AD-15, AD-30, LA Board of Supes

Here's what's happening on the campaign trail.

• CA-11: Apparently trying to win some kind of award for the worst attack website in history, Jon Fleischman of the Flash Report (a terribly designed website in its own right) has put together One Term Is Enough, in all of its way-too-large masthead, ridiculously-spare with no action items or columns, design out of Quark X-Press glory. Man, that's ugly. And I think the focus on Jerry McNerney's earmarks, given the summer of scandal that Dean Andal has lived through which is entirely about a construction contract with a community college (if he was in Congress, that would be, basically, an earmark), is kind of silly. Meanwhile, McNerney is up with his first ad of the cycle, focusing on his work on behalf of troops and veterans.

• AD-80: As soyinkafan noted, Manuel Perez and Gary Jeandron had a debate where Jeandron stated his support for a tax increase in Imperial County. That's not likely to help him with the conservative base, but clearly Jeandron understands that he has to move to left if he has any chance to win this seat. The Palm Springs Desert Sun has a debate report here.

• SD-19: Tony Strickland's latest endorsement is Erin Brockovich, of all people. However, this could be less of a reach across the aisle as it appears.

Ventura County Star columnist Timm Herdt got Strickland's Democratic opponent Hannah-Beth Jackson on the phone, who said she was "a little surprised" by Brockovich backing her opponent.

While Brockovich says she is a Democrat in the ad, she writes on her blog that she's ready to leave the party and become an independent.

"I am ready to turn because both parties are acting foolish and judgmental and attacking," she writes.

She also has kind words for GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

"I am proud to be a member of the same Strong Woman's Club that Sarah Palin is in." Brockovich writes.

• AD-15: As has been noted, Joan Buchanan released her first campaign ad of the cycle. Her opponent Abram Wilson responded with his own ad, also biographical in nature, and his campaign has questioned the Buchanan spot and her commitment to fiscal responsibility. I suppose signing a "no-tax" pledge is the height of responsibility, then.

• AD-30: We were all expecting it, and now Nicole Parra has officially endorsed Republican Danny Gilmore in the election to replace her. This is a family fight moved into the political sphere - the Parra-Florez feud is well-known.

Parra's support of Danny Gilmore angered Democratic Party leaders, but comes as no surprise because she has been praising Gilmore for months.

"I will endorse Danny Gilmore in the near future and I will campaign for him and do commercials," Parra said in an interview. Gilmore, a retired California Highway Patrol officer from Hanford, is running against Democrat Fran Florez, mother of state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, a longtime Parra rival.

• LA Board of Supes: Turns out that not only is Bernard Parks turning to Republicans to help him get elected over progressive State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, but for ten years he was a member of the American Independent Party (!).

According to voter registration forms certified by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder:

Bernard Parks left the Democratic Party and registered as an American Independent on February 12, 1992 – just in time to miss the opportunity to vote for President Bill Clinton.

He registered again as an American Independent on August 9, 1996.

President George Bush was elected in November 2000 – but Parks still wouldn’t become a Democrat for nearly a year and a half.

Parks was fired as Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department on April 9, 2002. Shortly thereafter, he began to prepare to run for Los Angeles City Council, and re-registered as a Democrat on May 30, 2002. Less than a year later, he was elected to the City Council.

That is very strange, especially for an African-American to sign up with a party which is the legacy of George Wallace.

Nicole Parra, The Door; The Door, Nicole Parra

Yesterday, when the Assembly mustered a simple majority but not a 2/3 vote for the Democratic budget plan, Yacht Dog Democrat Nicole Parra did not cast a vote. She has said that she would not vote for a budget unless it included a water bond for the November ballot.

Actions have consequences.

In the latest episode of Capitol punishment, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass tossed Assemblywoman Nicole Parra from her office on Monday morning after the Central Valley Democrat failed to vote for the budget on Sunday.

In a twist, Parra hasn't been reassigned to more cramped quarters in the Capitol itself - but booted straight across the street to the Legislative Office Building. She will be the only member of the Legislature whose office is not housed in the Capitol.

"I knew going in Sunday that if I didn't support the budget, something was going to happen," Parra, D-Hanford, said in an interview shortly after receiving the news. The budget, now 49 days late, failed 45-30, with 54 votes needed for passage.

The state Assembly's chief administrative officer informed Parra of the change shortly before noon and gave her staff until late afternoon to clear out of the office, she said.

"Boxes have been delivered," said Parra, who added that she was unhappy she would be unable to pack her "personal stuff" because the Assembly was in session and she was on the floor.

Move her into Storage B for all I care. Parra, who has all but endorsed a Republican to succeed her in the 30th Assembly district when her term ends in November, is putting her own interests above the needs of the state. Water is obviously a crucial issue to the Central Valley but there are a variety of opinions on how to best deal with it. There are no other Democrats in the Central Valley intending to hijack the state budget. Parra, in short, is a selfish Yacht Dog who is comfortable with drawing attention to herself and being a media darling and uncomfortable with moving the state forward.

The quotes in the piece of Todd Spitzer coming to Parra's defense are fairly nauseating, too. Parra is done as a viable electoral prospect in the Democratic Party. And when Fran Florez wins in November, we'll at least have some leadership in the 30th Assembly district. In my mind, that'll be a pickup.

...by the way, SEIU is running ads inside the district of Republicans who may be vulnerable to flipping on the budget in a targeted campaign. I hope they're up in AD-30, too.

California State Legislative Scorecards

The Capitol Weekly did their first annual legislative scorecard of members of the State Assembly and Senate. They go into detail about their methodology and recognize that devising these types of scores is more art than science. In addition the voting sample size is fairly small. But I still believe there's some value to them.

The full list (PDF) is here. Some interesting tidbits:

You can pretty obviously see that we have an ideologically rigid legislature. 8 Republican Assemblymen have a "perfect" 0 score on legislation (fully conservative), and 13 Democrats have a 100 (fully liberal). In the Senate, there are 2 Republicans with a 0 score and 5 Democrats with a score of 100.

The Republicans, however, are FAR more unified. There are no Assembly Republicans with a score above 20, and no Senate Republicans above 30. Put it this way, the 2nd-most "moderate" Republican in the legislature is right-wing loon Tom McClintock, I guess because he is occasionally libertarian.

By contrast, a handful of Democrats dip into the other side of the ocean. Here are the Democrats with scores under 50.

Assembly:
Cathleen Galgiani 20
Nicole Parra 20
Juan Arambula 50

Senate:
Lou Correa 40
Mike Machado 45

All 3 Assembly Democrats live in the Central Valley (Galgiani's from Stockton, Parra's from Bakersfield and Arambula's from Fresno). Mike Machado is also from this area (Stockton, Tracy). Correa is the only exception to this rule.

Galgiani's election site features the line "I'll never raise your taxes." Machado endorsed Steve Filson in last year's Congressional primary against Jerry McNerney.

I'm not making value judgments, this is all just somewhat interesting stuff and I'm trying to make sense of it, particularly in the context of yesterday's discussion about the Central Valley. The spotlight is not usually shined on this area; is that how we end up with Democrats like this?