Thursday, June 25, 2009

Press Release: Assembly Committee passes Kehoe's Seals bill

The question remains if this bill supersedes the ruling of the court.



Tue at 10:50am
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 23, 2009


SAN DIEGO – Sen. Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) announced today that her legislation giving the City of San Diego final say about seals at the La Jolla Children’s Pool passed an Assembly committee.

“Passage of this bill will give the City of San Diego the discretion to decide which allowable use of the Children’s Pool to adopt, thus returning local control to the city on what has become a very controversial issue,” said Kehoe. “It is my hope the Assembly will promptly pass the bill and forward it to Governor Schwarzenegger for his signature.”

The Assembly Natural Resources Committee passed SB 428 by a vote of 8-0 on June 22 and it will next be voted on by the full Assembly.

The legislation would amend the Children’s Pool trust so that it may be used as a marine sanctuary. Ultimately, the San Diego City Council would decide whether to allow seals on the Children’s Pool beach. To view the text of the bill, visit www.senate.ca.gov/kehoe and click on “legislation.”

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Wednesday, June 24, 2009

And then there were two

Villaraigosa has removed himself from the 2010 gubernatorial field citing the numerous issues that bedevil Los Angeles. His own issues involving any signature accomplishments, his inability to elect his own supporters to the city council, and his dating life were hobbling any effort to run for Governor. As such, Jerry gets a bump in the short term but Gavin could pull it out in the end.

Labor, which would have formed the backbone of the Villaraigosa race, is now free to choose and will probably go Brown for no other reason than they know him. Being progressive is one thing statewide labor has not been and Gavin may appear to be too progressive for them.

Many know Jerry and, because Gavin has yet to explode onto the consciousness of Californians, Brown has the edge. His fanatical followers are at the ready and his fundraising operation is beginning to gather steam. He has a fundraiser scheduled for San Diego with a number of the usual suspects hosting.

Gavin has been here a number of times already and has had lower level fundraisers with activists and Young Democrats. He can easily scoop up the remnants of the Obama campaign that are still engaged politically and present himself as the voice of the future.

This primary has shades of the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary in its generational casting and in typical Californian style, is more extreme. This is where Gavin can come from behind to pull it out. Brown will run on his experience but his campaigns have always felt like ad-hoc affairs. Newsom can put together a tight organization and build on what Steve Wesley left; targeting the Democrats who are quietly revolted at the farce that Sacramento has become.

We are a little under a year away and neither side has ramped up their election machines. These two should take this campaign to the mat. California needs a fighter and playing nice for the sake of victory is a surefire way to lose.

Monday, June 22, 2009

San Diego for Newsom Mixer

When: June 25, 6-8 pm
Where: Universal Hillcrest, 1202 University Ave, San Diego, CA
Info: Colin Parent (colin.parent@dlapiper.com)

Join local supporters of Gavin Newsom’s campaign for governor. We’ll give a brief campaign update, and folks will get a chance to meet and mingle with likeminded Newsom fans.

Plus, learn how you can march with Gavin at this year’s San Diego Pride Parade!

Free to attend, cash bar, with happy hour prices. Invite your friends, this will be a fun night.

[You might notice that the event begins an hour before the monthly San Diego Democratic Club meeting, and only a few doors away. We wanted this mixer to be easy to attend for folks who were already planning to attend the meeting of the SDDC.]