California Politics—Follow the Money $

October 25, 2014October 24, 2017 Joe AuBuchon

Money in Politics

Mid-Term elections are coming up in another week—Tuesday, November 4th, 2014 and we are currently being bombarded by, what seems to me at least, an obscene number of ads. These ads appear on almost every street corner, in newspapers and magazines, on radio, television and the internet. All of these ads take money. This money is contributed by individuals, organizations and corporate entities.

These individuals and others do not contribute money out of the goodness of their hearts but because they hope to get something from that contribution.

Many individuals spend their own money to get elected. Why? Ego? Impose their own standards/beliefs upon others? Think they’re better/know more than others? Gain an economic advantage by voting for things that they think will help them and those like them? (Yes, I know I’m a bit cynical, but haven’t you ever had these thoughts about, at least, one politician?)

Organizations, through their individual members, contribute money to further their own aims. The Democratic and Republican parties funnel millions of dollars to election and re-election campaigns in every state and (nearly) every election. Unions (teamsters, teachers, electricians, etc.), associations (nurses, doctors, dentists, etc.), the ACLU, LLPs (limited liability partnerships-many of them lawyers), etc.

Sometimes you will find an organization contributing money to opponents running against each other. Perhaps, the organization wants to influence the winner, no matter who that is? (Yeah, I know, more cynicism, but can you really believe they do it out of the goodness of their hearts?)

“California” Money

For the current election in California the California Secretary of State’s (Debra Bowen) office maintains a website delineating those organizations and individuals who have spent a large amount of money trying to influence the November 4th, 2014 election. This is the Cal-Access website. It contains quite a bit of information on who and what groups are spending money trying to influence the election.

By clicking on the link to the Top 10 Contributor Lists you can find the Top 10 Contributors to Statewide Ballot Measure Committees and the Campaign Finance Data for All Ballot Measure Committees as well at the same data for individual candidates.

Proposition 1 – Water Bond. Funding for Water Quality, Supply, Treatment, and Storage Projects.

Proposition 2 – State Budget. Budget Stabilization Account. Legislative Constitutional Amendment.

18 individuals and groups listed for supporting and none listed for opposing the above propositions. (Remember, this does not mean that no one opposes these propositions.)

Proposition 45 – Healthcare Insurance. Rate changes. Initiative Statute.

For: Consumer Watchdog Campaign, California Nurses Association, Kathryn Taylor, Consumer Watchdog, Thomas Steyer

Against: Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., Wellpoint, Inc. and affiliated entities, Blue Shield of California, Health Net, Inc., UnitedHealthCare Insurance Company

Follow the money: could it be that the healthcare/insurance industry doesn’t want the state Insurance Commissioner to veto their increases of rates and charges?

Proposition 46 – Drug and Alcohol Testing of Doctors. Medical Negligence Lawsuits. Initiative Statute.

For: Consumer Attorneys of California and its sponsored committees, Kabateck, Brown, Kellner, LLP; Brian S. Kabateck, Robinson Calcagnie Robinson Davis, Inc., Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP, Shernoff, Bidart, Echeverria, Bentley, LLP

Against: Cooperative of American Physicians IE Committee, The Doctors Company, Norcal Mutual Insurance Company, California Medical Association Physicians’ Issues Committee, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., and The Hospitals

Follow the money: maybe the lawyers do want more lawsuits for larger amounts of money and higher fees, and the doctors and insurance companies don’t.

Proposition 47 – Criminal Sentences. Misdemeanor Penalties. Initiative Statute.

For: American Civil Liberties Union, Inc., Open Society Policy Center, Hughes, B. Wayne, Atlantic Advocacy Fund, Munger, Molly

10 individuals and groups listed for supporting and none listed for opposing the above proposition. (Remember, this does not mean that no one opposes this proposition.)

Proposition 48 – Indian Gaming Compacts. Referendum.

Against: Table Mountain Rancheria, Brigade Capital Management, LLC through affiliated entities, Chukchansi Economic Development Authority, United Auburn Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria, Riva Ridge Recovery Fund LLC

10 individuals and groups listed for opposing and none listed for supporting the above proposition. (Remember, this does not mean that no one supports this proposition.)

Follow the money: could it be that other Indian tribes (and maybe Nevada casinos) don’t want the competition?

Other Information

There is a tremendous amount of information available on this site. All state-wide offices, the Board of Equalization (what a name), the State Senate and Assembly are included. For much of that information you have to dig through several layers, but, if you are interested in following the money, it is well worth the effort.

Be sure to read the fine print.

There is plenty of information about the contributors cited above on the Cal-Access website. Other information is available if you just copy the name and past it into your browser or search engine.

Please, if you are going to vote, cast an intelligent ballot. Do not just rely on television advertising or on the biases of others (or your own biases). Vote to bring about the greatest good or the least harm.

In the interests of openness:

I am a lifelong Democrat, who on occasion votes Republican
I am liberal to moderate on social issues
I am conservative on most economic issues
I was a teacher in California public schools for forty years and, for most of those years, I was active in my local union
I am retired

POLITICS, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage. (From The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce)

Advertising—Door Hangers—Trash

October 4, 2014October 4, 2014 Joe AuBuchon

A couple of days ago in the late morning I was greeted at my front door by trash advertising. You know, those annoying door hangers. It isn’t enough that we get bombarded by advertising in radio, TV, billboards, email, etc., but people come on to our property and right to the front door and attach it to the door knob. Dirty word, dirty word, dirty word.

Let’s see what we got:

Super Sale – Vinyl Gates – $594.00 installed www.americraftvinly.com
Affordable Floors Inc.
Rainbow Environmental Services
Michael Gates for HB City Attorney
Concrete Ideas – Driveway Special – www.concreteideas.us

I abhor this kind of advertising. Trash at/on my front door. This is worse than the throwaway newspaper and advertising supplements that are thrown on the driveway.

This kind of advertising tells a thief, or potential thief, that I am not home. Please, come and rob my house.

I have an extra bone to pick with three of the above trashers.

Affordable Floors Inc. A simple black print on white, no pictures and a folksy beginning: “Hello, thank you for taking a minute to read this. I’m your neighbor – . . . at 1624 Sandlewood Ave.” Intimating that he is nearby. I live in Huntington Beach; his address is in Fullerton, which is halfway across the county. Neighbor? Bullfeathers!!!
Rainbow – These people collect trash. On their hanger is an ad for Clean-a Can.com . We have to separate our trash: garbage, recyclables, yard waste. OK, we use three cans. Clean-a-can will clean these cans for me: “Up to 3 Trash Cans for only $9.99 per month.” Ten dollars a month (One hundred twenty dollars per year) to clean trash cans? What a rip.
Michael Gates for HB City Attorney: Gates4HB.com . It isn’t enough that we have obscene numbers of signs and posters on almost every intersection of the city for the upcoming elections, but we now have candidate trash left on our front doorsteps. “My Promise to Voters, I will…
- Protect HB Taxpayers (From what? An elected politician, like he wants to be, who will hurt me by spending my tax money?)
- Allow Only Constitutional City Ordinances (Like someone else will allow unconstitutional city ordinances?)
- Eliminate Waste (What kind of waste? Trash advertising waste that he leaves at my front door?)
- Defend the City of HB (From what? Santa Cruz trying to be Surf City?)
- Restore Professionalism (You mean the current City Attorney is not acting professionally. I beg to differ.)

Ahhh, well. There you have it. Rant, rant, rant. Rave, rave, rave.

Oh, yeah. Of the above only the one from Concrete Ideas was actually on the door knob, attached with a rubber band. All of the others were just tossed on my welcome mat.

The Instrumentalities of the Night

June 6, 2013June 16, 2013 Joe AuBuchon2 Comments

Several different Mediterranean eras are portrayed in the stories. In the East you have Mamluk Egypt with Saladin and Syria as separate powers. The Byzantine Empir e still exists and there is danger from the peoples of the Eurasian steppes, Huns/Tatars/Mongols. In the West you have the Reconquista and the Gr Tyranny of the Night eat Schism of the Catholic Church. The Holy Roman Empire is attempting to dominate Italy and the Papacy. The Italian mercantile republics are trying to maintain their independence and influence and the Papacy is attempting to reunite the Church and stamp out heretics in France and, of course, destroy the Muslim powers and recover the Holy Land. This is all complicated by politics, family politics, dynastic politics and a coming ice age.

The Instrumentalities of the Night is, currently, a trilogy (The Tyranny of the Night, Lord of the Silent Kingdom and Surrender to the Will of the Night, and TBA Working the Gods’ Mischief) by Glen Cook. The story revolves around one Piper Hecht (Else Tage) in a pre-Renaissance Medieval Mediterranean world where God(s), devils and all other supernatural creatures exist, or can exist. And, as Piper has discovered, can be killed.

A major obstacle to understanding precisely what is happening is the lack of a defined geography. If one has a basic understanding of the medieval Mediterranean world, the major regions are fairly easy to pick out:

Dreanger – Egypt
Al-Qarn – Cairo
Lucidia – Syria
Holy Lands – Palestine
Calzir – North Africa/Barbary coast

Eastern Empire/Rhun – Byzantine Empire
Andoray – Norway/Scandinavia
Grail Empire/New Brothen Empire – Holy Roman Empire/Germany
Santerin – England
Direcia – Spain
Platadura – Barcelona/Spain
Navaya – Northern Spain
Artecipia – Corsica/Sardinia (a single island, connected by an isthmus, because of lower sea levels)
Shippen – Sicily
Arnhand – France
Khaurene – France/Toulouse
Viscesment – France/Avignon
Firaldia – Italy
Brothe – Rome/Papal States
Sonsa – Genoa: “The west coast of Firaldia, approaching Sonsa from the south, was the most heavily settled rural land Else had ever seen.”
Aparion – Venice
Dateon – Pisa

While I might have some of these wrong, as I am now re-reading the series, I believe that it is, for the most part, correct. One must also realize that the Mother Sea (Mediterranean Sea) is land locked. The Escarp Gibr al-Tar cuts it off from Ocean (the Atlantic Ocean). The surface of the Mother Sea is several hundred feet below what we would expect. Because of this it is far less extensive than the Mediterranean Sea and the European, Asian and African coastlines extend quite a bit farther than we would otherwise expect. Hundreds, if not thousands, of cities with millions of people exist in areas our Mediterranean Sea would would cover in salt water.

If you lack a background on the Mediterranean world at this time, and would like some easily readable background, you might try Will and Ariel Durant’s The Story of Civilization series. (Yes, I know there are a lot of books, I own a set, and it’s fifteen million pages long, but each volume has an index and the writing is for the layperson not a dedicated historian.) It will give you a background for all of the “history” in Instrumentalities. For the character and motivations of Sublime V and the other Patriarchs try Barbara Tuchman‘s The March of Folly (the chapter on the Renaissance popes).

In terms of groups of people you have:

Chaldereans – Catholics/Christians
Maysaleans – Chalderean heretics (Albigensians/Cathari)
Pramans – Muslims
Dainshaukins – Jews (Orthodox)
Devedians – Jews
Hu’n-tai At – Huns/Tatars/Mongols

And all of the various nationalities and sub-groups.

In terms of individuals there are dozens of characters with unusual names to learn. A half dozen storylines are active at any given moment and succeeding chapters interweave among them. None of the characters is perfect, including Brother Candle; each has his own virtues, faults and past. Their characters are reminiscent of those in the Black Company books. Moral ambiguity is everywhere; survive at all costs.

Characters

Piper Hecht/Else Tage – Protagonist – Praman captain/soldier (Sha-lug – Mamluk/Janissary)
Anna Mozilla – Piper’s lover/mistress
Pella, Vali and Lila – Piper’s “adopted” children
Muniero Delari – Piper’s grandfather/Eleventh Unknown/Sorcerer
Cloven Februaren – Muniero’s grandfather/Ninth Unknown/Sorcerer
Heris – Piper’s sister
Grade Drocker – Brotherhood of War/Piper’s father

Redfearn Bechter – Brotherhood of War/Piper’s aide
Pinkus Ghort – Mercenary/Commander of Brothen City Regiment
Titus Consent – Deve/Piper’s intelligence director

Johannes Blackboots Ege – Emperor
Lothar – Johannes’ son and heir
Katrin – Lothar’s half-sister/second in line
Helspeth – Lothar’s and Katrin’s half-sister/third in line
Ferris Renfrow – Imperial Intelligence
Algres Drear – Imperial commander and bodyguard

Gordimer the Lion – Sha-lug ruler of Dreanger/Egypt
Er Rashal (the Rascal) al-Dhulquarnen – Sorcerer
Osa Stile/Armand – Sha-lug/Spy
Al-Azer er-Selim – Sha-lug
Nassim Alizarin al-Jebal – the Mountain

Sublime V – Brothen Chalderean Patriarch

Brother Candle – Maysalean Perfect

Starkden – Sorceress
Masant al-Seyhan – Sorcerer
Rudenes Schneidel – Sorcerer
Grimur Grimmsson/Shagot the Bastard – Andorayan sturlanger/viking
Asgrimmur Grimmsson/Svavar – Grimur’s younger brother

There are literally scores of other major and minor characters in the story; as I get the time and inclination I’ll add to the above lists. I’ve just finished re-reading the three books and hope number four comes out before I have to re-read them again. If you find something wrong (please, page and quote for evidence) or would like to add to the above, let me know.

Oh, yeah. I enjoyed The Black Company and Darkwar books. I’m waiting for A Pitiless Rain and Port of Shadows. But, what I’d most like is a sequel to The Dragon Never Sleeps; hands down, this is my favorite Glen Cook book.

6.1.2013

Voting

June 6, 2013June 16, 2013 Joe AuBuchon

The Op-Ed page of the Los Angeles Times this morning had an article titled “Voting, California-style”. In this article Morley Winograd and Michael Hais advocated “a simple, online registration process” and “voting by mail” as two ways of increasing voter participation. I would like to add a third: extending voting hours or days.

My former car pool buddy volunteers to work at polling places near where he lives. Although polling places are open from 7 am to 8 pm, he works from about 6 am to about 10 pm. There are also other hours devoted to preparation and training. Extending these hours would mean added hardships to him and his fellow unpaid poll worker volunteers. It would also mean adding more volunteers and, possibly, paying them to work.

I have been voting by Absentee Ballot or Mail-in Ballot for the last several elections. I find it more convenient to fill out my ballot in the quiet atmosphere of my home than to go to my polling place, a fire station three hundred yards up the street, and then to stand in line and vote in a booth. I do, however, drop off my ballot at the polling place rather than mail it. (I used to drop it off at the polling place set up in the auditorium of the school where I taught.)

One of the disadvantages to living in a country which covers several time zones is that when polls close in the eastern part of the country they are still open in the west. Votes are counted and reported in the eastern states while people are still voting in the west. If you include exit polling, the results of a national election may be “known” before millions of people have yet to vote. In their own minds at least, they are being disenfranchised. I would like to introduce some proposals to end this.

First I would propose that polls in all states open and close at the same time. Not the same hour, say, 7 am in the East, 7 am in the Central, etc., but at the same time: say, 7 am in the East, 6 am in the Central, 5 am in the Mountain, etc. They would close in the same way. If everyone opened and closed at the same time, there would be no results posted while anyone still hadn’t voted. I know that it wouldn’t do anything about exit polling and would create logistical problems.

My second proposal is related to the above and advocates having all polling places open and close as above but have them stay open the entire day – twenty-four hours. Nobody needs to rush to the polls before or after work.

Third, I would advocate making National Election Day a national holiday. Close schools and businesses and nobody would have an excuse for not voting. Don’t move it to Monday as too many people would make it a three-day weekend and not vote.

Or, and this is what I would really like to see, move the elections to weekends. Have all polls open and close at the same time and open for forty-eight hours on Saturday and Sunday. Can’t find time to vote over an entire weekend – I don’t think so.

Yes, I know, all of these proposals would cause problems and increase the cost of elections. I also believe that they would both increase voter participation and eliminate the perception of people living in western and Pacific states that their votes don’t seem to matter. I believe that the benefits of such changes far outweigh the costs and would be good for our country.

11.23.2012