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Feinstein is a remnant of the old wealthy Republicans of San Francisco in the 1950's & that streak makes her aristocratic & out-of-sync with most Californians. But she also appeared in anti-Prop 8 ads & has shifted Left for the past few years. We need a new senator like mayor Gavin who would be able to get support in both Northern Cal & SoCal. I agree about the antipathy toward mayors from LA in statewide elections but Villaraigosa has been in DC 3 times since Obama became president. If Villaraigosa brings home the "bacon" [ie. get the subway to Santa Monica built] he will gain stature. Remember he was the Assembly speaker for many years [that position always seem to be someone from LA].
I agree wholeheartedly that Prop 11 will be a major improvement. Gerrymandering is unfair & diminishes democracy in my opinion. Plus differences among voters is becoming less geographic as we realized in the past election.
I never voted for him but respect Schwarzenegger for his attempts to govern California. I am proud that voters in California have such a strong hand via propositions
People who criticize unions are nuts Only the wealthy bankers\ international corporations\ Republicans despise regular Americans of making a decent living! Unless people on this forum are very wealthy, otherwise we all should strive for union job protection & salary negotiation. Nurses do quite well in California.
It always amazes me that so many Republicans actually vote against their own well-being
The problem is the bad unions. Unions that don't compromise during times of economic duress. The unions that force their members to pay so much of their earnings in dues and initiation fees that they'll make less than minimum wage overall for their first few years working there(which was my experience with Teamsters at UPS as a warehouse person). Unions like the California Teachers Association(or whatever it's called) that has leadership that takes political stands regardless of their members views on the matter. Unions like the MLBPA that resist all drug testing and punishment. Unions that reject more efficient port terminals that would save in time, fuel, and dramatically increase safety at the expense of a few jobs, while also closing down the ports long enough to deplete drug stores of common medicines.
I've done all kinds of work and labor, and my best paying jobs have been non-union. The best place I ever worked was a non-union Anheuser-Busch facility. Doing similar work to UPS I made 2.50 more an hour(not including all the money I'd have lost in dues), received free beer, a prepaid debit card to purchase beer when I was out, holiday turkeys and hams(1 for Xmas, 1 for Thanksgiving), free regular health checkups(and free care for any injuries, no matter how minor), onsite workout room/washroom, frequent employee appreciation events, and access to all A-B facilities(like Seaworld and Busch Gardens).
You don't need a union to make a good wage. You just need to market yourself to the right employer.
It's necessarily the idea of unions are bad, its when they get too much power, become corrupt, and only see things from their side and demand too much to the point of causing businesses to lose their competitiveness, such as the Big 3 automakers. Just look at how much unions screwed them. Or in the case of public unions, just look how much benefits they demand that the private sector does not get or gets for a much lower cost. They inflate govt budgets and help cause budget deficits and lead to tax increases b/c they are wasteful, overly bureaucratic, and only look out for themselves.
Just look at the Prison's Guards Union, that is the most wasteful, corrupt union in CA and if you don't play by their rules they'll make sure you're not reelected or will even try to recall you. They sleep at the prison and collect overtime for it! Yeah it makes a lot of sense for some GED High school drop out to start at $70k a year while a college grad with a BA/BS has to start at $40k or less a year.
Some unions are good but others have become absolutely corrupted with power. You really need to stop labeling people and their views as so black and white all the time b/c its not that simple but you always try to make it out to be like its republicans vs the world or something.
I agree with you, sav858 more than you may know.
The Prison Employee Union exerts amazing power though I can not understand how this is so My whole point about unions is that they really shouldn't even be necessary. If employers didn't have to provide health benefits that revenue could go for improving employee safety & good salaries. The government must take over the responsibility for medical care & free up companies from that huge cost. Also, if the government provided free child care & extensive school programs [before & after school] that would greatly help working parents. It's just a matter of eliminating the need for unions rather than some unions being greedy & corrupt.
My comments about Republicans in California is that they have been taken over by the extreme religious right & have antipathy toward anything new, it seems. During the Republican primary debates 3 out of the 8 Republicans candidates said that they don't believe in evolution
We need a new senator like mayor Gavin who would be able to get support in both Northern Cal & SoCal.
What makes you think anyone outside of SF would elect him? Most people in SF don't even like him but he was basically they're only choice after barely winning his first election. I doubt even the Bay Area counties would elect this guy and sure as hell not Southern Ca. The only thing Gavin has going for him is his gay marriage work as he's been a complete failure at everything else. The whole sanctuary policy and several high profile incidents from it will ensure he never hold a high office, at best he might get elected to the state legislature and that's it. CA would never send that guy to Washington.
The Prison Employee Union exerts amazing power though I can not understand how this is so My whole point about unions is that they really shouldn't even be necessary. If employers didn't have to provide health benefits that revenue could go for improving employee safety & good salaries. The government must take over the responsibility for medical care & free up companies from that huge cost. Also, if the government provided free child care & extensive school programs [before & after school] that would greatly help working parents. It's just a matter of eliminating the need for unions rather than some unions being greedy & corrupt.
My comments about Republicans in California is that they have been taken over by the extreme religious right & have antipathy toward anything new, it seems. During the Republican primary debates 3 out of the 8 Republicans candidates said that they don't believe in evolution
I agree with that to a certain extent. I think some CEO's and the upper brass of companies hoard too much money for themselves and workers at the bottom get screwed. Unions and many govt regulations wouldn't be necessary if companies paid their workers well and did what was right, but that will probably never happen.
As far as republicans, there are some good, honorable ones out there that have integrity. I like some of the fiscal conservatives but I don't like the socially conservative ones at all.
Feinstein is a remnant of the old wealthy Republicans of San Francisco in the 1950's & that streak makes her aristocratic & out-of-sync with most Californians. But she also appeared in anti-Prop 8 ads & has shifted Left for the past few years.
Feinstein has been pretty good on gay rights issues since the recall attempt against her as SF Mayor failed (pre-Gray Davis, she was the most prominent CA politician to face recall). That recall was sponsored by an unlikely coalition of gay rights activists and the NRA. After it made the ballot (despite its loss) she realized she needed to be more gay-sensitive, and for the last quarter of a century she's made an effort to be attentive to gay concerns.
The possibility of losing her job (and of ending her future political ambitions) did scare her greatly.
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We need a new senator like mayor Gavin who would be able to get support in both Northern Cal & SoCal. I agree about the antipathy toward mayors from LA in statewide elections but Villaraigosa has been in DC 3 times since Obama became president.
I hear different things about Tony's relations with Obama.Tony backed Hillary in the primaries, reluctantly endorsed Obama as the nominee, and had to be convinced to campaign for Obama. Obama reportedly disapproves of Villaraigosa's role in getting Carlos Vignali pardoned.(In case people don't remember, he was a coke dealer whose father is a major property owner in downtown L.A. - Tony and Bob Hertzberg both pressured Clinton into pardoning him. ) However Obama did offer Tony some sort of position which Tony declined (perhaps because said position would entail more responsibility and make it more difficult for Tony to lead a celebrity lifestyle?)
Newsom or Tony as a Senator would be more palatable to me than either as governor. Members of Congress can get away with not having the responsibilities of an executive. Barney Frank's statements defending Jim McGreevey's resignation as NJ governor despite Frank not leaving Congress during his own sexual harassment scandal come to mind. The Massachussets Congressman said that an executive like a president or governor (or a mayor) cannot let his own personal problems interfere with his job due to the responsibilities it entails, while a legislator can deal with those issues and still remain in office.
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If Villaraigosa brings home the "bacon" [ie. get the subway to Santa Monica built] he will gain stature.
Despite my criticisms of Tony for not delivering on his promises, this does NOT mean I want him to fail even worse. If he manages to achieve something good for the city than many of his failings will be redeemed.
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Remember he was the Assembly speaker for many years [that position always seem to be someone from LA].
Only since Tony (who replaced Cruz Bustamante, from Fresno). Tony was the first Assembly speaker from L.A. since Unruh. However all of Tony's successors have been Angelenos (two have even represented the same racially and economically diverse district in the Assembly - Herb Wesson and the current speaker Karen Bass who was my Assemblywoman before I left. )
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I agree wholeheartedly that Prop 11 will be a major improvement. Gerrymandering is unfair & diminishes democracy in my opinion. Plus differences among voters is becoming less geographic as we realized in the past election.
Rare signs of hope in the very bleak CA of today.
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I never voted for him but respect Schwarzenegger for his attempts to govern California. I am proud that voters in California have such a strong hand via propositions
Despite my criticisms of the initiative process, CA voters every once in a while make wise decisions at the ballot box. 11 is a good example, also 36 and 215.
Re: Arnold, I admire that he got elected despite the opposition of the prison guards' union, but he has caved into them in hopes of getting money for his run for US Senate against Boxer.
Does your hatred for unions include the California Correctional Peace Officers' Union, who helped get Deukmejian and Wilson elected as governor (as well as Gray Davis) and who have massive influence on BOTH parties?
If there was no two thirds rule for passing budgets, then CA wouldn't be constantly lurching from financial crisis to financial crisis. Other states don't have two thirds rules (although 55% rules are common) - why does CA need to do things different?
Did I say I hated the unions?
It's a fact that the unions are a powerful lobby in California, as well as other states. You made my point for me.
What makes you think anyone outside of SF would elect him? Most people in SF don't even like him but he was basically they're only choice after barely winning his first election. I doubt even the Bay Area counties would elect this guy and sure as hell not Southern Ca. The only thing Gavin has going for him is his gay marriage work as he's been a complete failure at everything else. The whole sanctuary policy and several high profile incidents from it will ensure he never hold a high office, at best he might get elected to the state legislature and that's it. CA would never send that guy to Washington.
I agree Gavin has been an inept administrator and is more concerned with living a celebrity lifestyle than running SF from first hand experience having to live under his rule. However being in DC would free him from the responsibilities that come with an executive position.
As for how he'd win an election for Senate should Feinstein retire or actually make good on her oft repeated ambitions of running for governor, it depends who his opponent would be. Never underestimate CA GOP primary voters for making bad choices in who they elect. If they'd voted for Dick Riordan rather than Bill Simon (another wealthy carpetbagger with no roots in CA and who'd never held any office....) then Gray Davis would've been a one term governor and there would not have been a recall. Other than Arnold, Poizner, and a few others, the old time CA Republican moderate is a thing of the past. CA GOP voters seem enamored with people who have no hope of winning a statewide election like Tom McClintock. In particular the CA GOP's failure to nurture Latino talent has deeply hurt it and will hurt it even more in the future. (Interesting that Abel Maldonado's considering a run for governor ; however his problem is that he's not from a major media market - has there even been a governor from Santa Barbara County since the 19th century?)
^okay that's a good point, didn't really consider who he might be running against. If he runs against a republican Californian's really dislike then we might be forced to choose the lesser of two evils, which seems to be the case with many elections.
I agree Gavin has been an inept administrator and is more concerned with living a celebrity lifestyle than running SF from first hand experience having to live under his rule. However being in DC would free him from the responsibilities that come with an executive position.
As for how he'd win an election for Senate should Feinstein retire or actually make good on her oft repeated ambitions of running for governor, it depends who his opponent would be. Never underestimate CA GOP primary voters for making bad choices in who they elect. If they'd voted for Dick Riordan rather than Bill Simon (another wealthy carpetbagger with no roots in CA and who'd never held any office....) then Gray Davis would've been a one term governor and there would not have been a recall. Other than Arnold, Poizner, and a few others, the old time CA Republican moderate is a thing of the past. CA GOP voters seem enamored with people who have no hope of winning a statewide election like Tom McClintock. In particular the CA GOP's failure to nurture Latino talent has deeply hurt it and will hurt it even more in the future. (Interesting that Abel Maldonado's considering a run for governor ; however his problem is that he's not from a major media market - has there even been a governor from Santa Barbara County since the 19th century?)
Granted it's terribly difficult to nurture that talent when all of the hispanic areas are all gerrymandered to always vote Democrat to prevent that type of thing from ever occurring. In the mean time, we have to deal with idiots like the Sanchez sisters because of this. If the districts return to more normalized lines(rather than horseshoes, isthmuses, donuts, etc) we could see a rise in hispanic conservatives. We know for a fact that there is a large base of social conservative hispanics from the Prop 8 results.
For example, Lakewood is a fairly conservative family oriented city, but is also fairly multicultural. Currently, it's stuck with Linda Sanchez because of the awful district maps. If this is changed, you may see a change of hands, and Lakewood is the type of area that could put up a conservative black or hispanic.
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Only the wealthy bankers\ international corporations\ Republicans despise regular Americans of making a decent living! Unless people on this forum are very wealthy, otherwise we all should strive for union job protection & salary negotiation. Nurses do quite well in California.
My whole point about unions is that they really shouldn't even be necessary. If employers didn't have to provide health benefits that revenue could go for improving employee safety & good salaries. The government must take over the responsibility for medical care & free up companies from that huge cost. Also, if the government provided free child care & extensive school programs [before & after school] that would greatly help working parents. It's just a matter of eliminating the need for unions rather than some unions being greedy & corrupt.
