California GOP moving HQ to Sacramento

The GOP Moves - Why Bother?

• The GOP abandons their Los Angeles HQ for a move to Sacramento.
• But really, does it even matter?  When the GOP last controlled the Governor's office they increased spending, increased debt, increased taxes and "reformed" our elections by banning smaller opposition political parties from the ballot.  
• As far as I am concerned the Republican Party might as well disband and become Democrats.

(Sacramento Bee)  -  After three decades with a Burbank mailing address, the California Republican Party is moving its base to downtown Sacramento.

The state GOP has paid $1.6 million for the fourth floor of an office building one block north of the Capitol at 1001 K St., party Chairman Jim Brulte confirmed Wednesday. The purchase, first reported by the Sacramento Business Journal, follows the sale last year of the state party’s Southern California headquarters.

The property at the corner of K and 10th streets was formerly a Roos Atkins department store. It went through extensive upgrades between 2008 and 2013, according to the real estate firm marketing the property, Turton Commercial Real Estate. Sharif Jewelers anchors the ground floor.

1001 K St., soon to be the home of the California Republican
Party headquarters, will be named the Ronald Reagan
California Republican Center. | Jon Ortiz The Sacramento Bee

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article23056629.html#storylink=cpy

Like its old headquarters, the new Republican base will be named the Ronald Reagan California Republican Center, in honor of the former governor and U.S. president.

Political sensitivities being what they are, particularly when it comes to California’s own Republican icon, “I didn’t want to be the guy to sell the Reagan headquarters in Burbank,” Brulte said.

So before the building went on the block, he asked former first lady Nancy Reagan for her approval. She gave it, and Brulte said he promised the party’s new base also would carry the Reagan name.

The move is a no-brainer, Brulte said, because nearly all the party’s 21 staff members already work in Sacramento.

“We just have two employees in Burbank,” he said, and the building – built in the 1970s – needs renovation to accommodate modern technology.

Party officials settled on the K street property because of its proximity to the Capitol for fundraising events and because much of the space is already gutted and ready for immediate customization, Brulte said.

“Anything outside a three-block radius might as well be five miles away,” Brulte said. “And this is like a blank canvas” that can accommodate up to 30 employees.

Party officials would like to move in by year’s end, but Brulte thinks the first quarter of next year is more realistic.

“Our drop-dead is March,” he said, because that’s when the 2016 election season will kick into high gear.

In keeping with the law, both the sale and purchase transactions were handled by the California Republican Party Building Fund, which is independent of the party’s political operations, Brulte said.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article23056629.html#storylink=cpy

Read More . . . .

California voters gather to view the
nearly extinct Republican Party.

Jerry Brown - President of California?

Independence for California?

What the Hell.  Washington is so screwed up 

let's take that final step.

(Los Angeles Daily News)  -  Backers of initiatives to require the display of the California flag above the U.S. flag, change the governor’s title to president of California and ban out-of-state contributions to California election campaigns have received permission to begin gathering signatures, Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced today.

The California National Flag Act would require the display of the California state flag above the U.S. flag on poles and in position of “first honor” when both are displayed at schools, universities, colleges, courtrooms, government buildings and state parks and events held in coliseums, stadiums, bowls, other open air sites and race tracks.

California "President"
Jerry Brown
(AP File Photo)

The President of California Act would amend the California Constitution to replace the word governor with president.

“These initiatives are about Californians standing up and demanding the recognition we deserve as a nation within a nation like Quebec in Canada or Catalonia in Spain,” Louis J. Marinelli, the proponent of all three initiatives, told City News Service.

“With a population of over 38 million and the seventh largest economy in the world, California is more of a nation than a state and we believe it’s time for us to start acting like it.”

Marinelli is also the proponent for the initiative to create an advisory group to explore establishing California’s autonomy from the United States.

Another reason Marinelli offered to sign the California National Flag Act is that “we don’t believe the U.S. flag is the greatest symbol of our freedom.

“Around the world, the American flag represents many different things to different people,” Marinelli said. “To some it represents freedom, to others it represents colonialism and imperialism.

“If we really want to talk about a flag that represents freedom for Californians, it is the bear flag. California passed women’s suffrage before the United States did so nationally. Segregation was ended in California almost a decade before Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.

“A woman’s right to choose was established in California before the United States. California repealed its ban on interracial marriage and sodomy before the United States did so. California is a marriage equality state yet the United States still has not established a federal right to same-sex marriage.

“When it comes to the advancement of civil rights and protection of freedoms, California has been much more progressive and has secured more rights for us and at a faster pace than the United States has.”

Read More . . . .

How California and Washington Could Return to Blanket Primaries

Two bastard liars in just one photo.
Minnie Me liar former GOP Lt. Governor Able Maldonado and his
Puppetmaster GOP Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

 "Corruptus in Extremis"

• GOP Governor Schwarzenegger pushed a corrupt midnight deal with no public hearings.  Both the California Democrats and Republicans passed a ballot measure to ban all independent candidates and smaller opposition parties from all future general election ballots.
• Ever since then lovers of freedom and small opposition parties have been fighting in court to restore something like free elections in the People's Republic.

(Ballot Access News)    Washington state used a blanket primary from 1934 to 2002, and California used a blanket primary in 1998 and 2000. Under a blanket primary, all candidates appear on a single primary ballot. Then, the top vote-getter from each party appears on the November ballot. Independent candidates can be handled in a variety of ways. 

In California in 1998 and 2000, independent candidates didn’t run in the primary and instead petitioned to get on the November ballot. But in California special elections 1967-2010, independent candidates did run in the primary and also were automatically put on the runoff ballot if there was a runoff. In Washington’s blanket primaries, independents didn’t run in the primary 1934-1976 but they did 1978-2002, and went on the November ballot if they got 1% of the primary vote.

Both states stopped using blanket primaries because in 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled they are unconstitutional, if a party objects to them. That case was California Democratic Party v Jones. States can continue to use blanket primaries if parties don’t object to them. Alaska still uses a blanket primary, in which all of Alaska’s parties except the Republican Party participate. Also California continued to use blanket primaries for special elections for ten years after the U.S. Supreme Court decision, and no one objected.

Banned in California
Chelene Nightingale was the nominee of the American Independent Party
for Governor of California.  Her party had been on the California ballot since
1968 until "reforms" pushed by Democrats and Republicans banned her
party from the general election ballot along with the California Libertarian Party,
the Peace and Freedom Party, and the Green Party.  Other nations that
ban opposition political parties include Cuba, China and Vietnam.

Recent federal court activity from Utah and Montana indicate that Washington and California could return to a blanket primary if the law providing for a blanket primary also said that if a party doesn’t like the blanket primary, then it is free to opt out and nominate by convention. 

In Utah, the legislature had passed a law requiring parties to permit independents to vote in their primaries and also to let people petition onto the primary ballot whether they had any support at a party meeting. The new law says parties that don’t permit both of these things can still nominate candidates but they won’t be given a primary. The Republican Party challenged the new law in Utah Republican Party v Herbert, 2:14cv-876, but U.S. District Court Judge David Nuffer refused to enjoin the new law and said it is probably constitutional.

In Montana, where the law originally said parties were required to elect party officers at an open primary, the Republican Party challenged the open primary. But then the legislature in 2015 passed a law saying if parties don’t want to elect party officers in the primary, they are free to elect them in party meetings instead. It seemed so obvious that the 2015 cured the constitutional problem, the Republican Party dropped its appeal in the Ninth Circuit, in its 2014 case Ravalli County Republican Central Committee v McCulloch, although parts of the case not involving party officers are still pending in U.S. District Court.

Also, Republican Party lawsuits earlier in Virginia and South Carolina against being forced to use an open primary to nominate candidates for public office failed, because in both states any party is free to nominate by convention instead of primary.

The logic of the Utah, Montana, Virginia and South Carolina cases suggests that if California and Washington required parties to use a blanket primary or to nominate by convention, such a law would be constitutional.

Sample of a Free Election

The United States is the only democratic nation on earth with only two political parties in elected office.  In every other nation the people have multiple choices of real and meaningful political parties to represent their concerns.  Below is the election in a state of Germany where voters have real election freedom.

Maybe we should try election freedom in the People's Republic of California?

Summary of the 13 May 2012 Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia elections results
< 2010    Next >

Party		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands - SPD	3,050,160	39.1%	4.6%	99	32
	Christian Democratic Union Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands - CDU	2,050,633	26.3%	8.3%	67
	Alliance '90/The Greens Bündnis 90/Die Grünen	884,136	11.3%	0.8%	29	6
	Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei – FDP	669,971	8.6%	1.9%	22	9
	Pirate Party Germany Piratenpartei Deutschland	608,957	7.8%	6.2%	20	20
	Left Die Linke	194,239	2.5%	3.1%	0	11
	Other parties	335,730	4.4%	0.9%	0
Valid votes		7,794,126	98.6%
Invalid votes		107,796	1.4%
Totals and voter turnout		7,901,922	59.6%	0.3%	237	56
Electorate		13,264,231	100.00	—
Source: Die Landeswahlleiterin des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen

San Fernando leaders confront state officials over bullet train route

From left to right: Jesse Avila, Sylvia Ballin, Mayor Antonio Lopez,
Robert Gonzales and Joel Fajardo.
Photo courtesy of the San Fernando Sun.

San Fernando Democrats Resist

• The corrupt slush fund that is called the High-Speed Rail Authority was confronted by Democrat officials in a Los Angeles area city.

(Los Angeles Times)  -  Finding a route into the Los Angeles Basin for the California bullet train is proving far more difficult than it seemed a year ago, as opposition is surging in wealthy and working-class communities alike.

The depth of opposition became more apparent Thursday evening when protesters in the city of San Fernando took over an open house meeting held by the California High-Speed Rail Authority. They demanded that state officials answer questions about the project's impact on their community.

But unlike typical protests, this one was led by elected officials. Seventy people, headed by the city's mayor pro tem and other current and former city officials, marched into a city auditorium and set up their own public address system.

With their Police Department on hand, they confronted state officials with anger that has not been seen even in the virulent opposition to the project in Northern California or the Central Valley.

"The bottom line is you are not really welcome," Mayor Pro Tem Sylvia Ballin told state officials, whose plans call for bisecting the small working-class city with high sound walls that the city fears will become an eyesore and magnet for graffiti.

"We will lose in the city $1.3 million annually as a result of your brilliant planning," she said, referring to projected losses of tax revenue when businesses shut down. "We are here to tell you we will not accept it quietly, not one bit."

Farmers in the Central Valley delayed the project with lawsuits and refused to sell their fields at prices they considered low. Now, finding a way for the train to pass into the nation's second-largest city is proving difficult and time-consuming.

Stunned state officials stood stone-faced at the protest, refusing to answer questions that Ballin and other city officials and residents asked.

"The route would destroy this community, splitting it north to south," City Manager Brian Saeki said in an interview.

Opposition has also steadily mounted in Pacoima, Sylmar, Santa Clarita and Los Angeles neighborhoods over the original route, which would bring the rail line from Palmdale to Burbank Bob Hope Airport via an alignment following California 14 and the 5 Freeway. The communities have been riven in the past by the 5, 118 and 210 freeways.

Protesters said they would not accept the state's way of conducting meetings on the project, which includes refusing to allow residents to ask questions during an open forum.

"We say no," San Fernando Councilman Jaime Soto told state officials from his microphone. "This is not your regular meeting. You are a guest here."

Read More . . . .

Amtrak rail lines in California.
.
Nothing to Steal
An intelligent person would simply connect the Amtrak line that dead ends in San Luis Obispo with the Amtrak line at San Jose.  For a tiny fraction of the cost of the insane "high speed" rail fraud most of the state from Mexico to Sacramento would be connected by rail.
.
Instead countless billions will be pissed away as payback to the businesses and unions that fund the campaigns of the Sacramento hacks.  All the special interests have their snouts in the trough of corruption. 

.
Amtrak Pacific Surfliner at Del Mar, CA
Simply connect San Jose and San Luis Obispo and you have a statewide rail system.  But easy and cheap are words the liar politicians have never heard.

PANIC - California Snowpack Hits 0%

Kent Brockman:  Professor, without knowing precisely what the danger is, would you say it's time for our viewers to crack each other's heads open and feast on the goo inside?
 
Professor:  Yes I would, Kent.

Big Panic in a Tiny Article

• As the People's Republic's snowpack hits zero the moronic politicians in Sacramento continue to beat the bullet train drum and ignore building desalination plants.

(Business Insider)  -  The worst drought in recorded history just got worse.

California's main source of surface water during the state's dry summer months is the remaining snow on its highest mountains. 

But it has officially melted. The snowpack levels, which hovered at around 7-15% of normal for this date in 2009, before the 4-year-drought began, are currently at 0%.

See more Business Insider

And we keep building water sucking cities,
golf courses, businesses and farms.

Newly built water sucking California housing
as far as the eye can see.

Sex Goggles must be worn says Democrat run agency

Protective sex gear as designed by government drone workers.

More Jobs to Leave California

Why would a business stay in California when they 

can move to Nevada or Mexico? 

LOS ANGELES — Adult film performers in California could soon be required to wear condoms and goggles to prevent exposure to bodily fluids, and producers would have to pay for medical visits and Hepatitis B treatments, under a new set of safety procedures recently released by the state Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (Cal/OSHA).

The 21-page proposal, released by the Board on Thursday, outlines new standards for ensuring that porn performers remain safe from sexually transmitted diseases and bloodborne pathogens.

The proposal would require producers to provide condoms and other “barrier protection,” like protective eye gear, to adult film stars.

But the porn industry and its supporters say the new regulations go too far.

“These are regulations designed for medical settings, and are unworkable on an adult film set – or even a Hollywood film set,” Free Speech Coalition CEO Diane Duke said in a statement. “We’ve come to San Diego with ways to amend the regulations, with input from both performers and public health officials, in ways that protect adult film performers without stigmatizing and shutting down an entire industry.”

According to the Los Angeles Daily News, the new regulations are the result of a campaign by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation to ensure safety on adult film sets. In 2009, AHF President Michael Weinstein wrote a letter to Cal/OSHA complaining that California porn production companies were refusing to provide condoms on all adult film sets in California, elevating the risk of disease transmission. To underscore his point, Weinstein mailed 60 DVDs of California-shot porn films that did not use condoms to the regulatory agency along with the letter.

In 2012, AHF and Weinstein were instrumental in the passage of Measure B, regulation that requires condom use on all adult films shot in Los Angeles County. Efforts to pass a statewide condom law failed in an Assembly committee last year, but the organization is already working on measure to be placed on the 2016 ballot.

Illegal Sex
Sex goggles are not being worn by the actors, and there are no government
drone workers in the studio to monitor the movie production.

Five years after he mailed his letter, Weinstein told the Daily News he is “pleased” with the agency’s proposal.

“Getting to this point is a necessary part of the process, and we’re pleased that this has been completed,” he told the paper. “The process is designed to give everybody a say. I think it was conducted fairly.”

But porn industry executives and performers say existing regulations are already adequate to ensure performer safety. Actors and actresses are already required to be tested for STDs every 14 days, and are not allowed to work until receiving a clear report.

“There is already a code of honor between performers [to get tested], because you could kill someone,” actress Anya Ivy told Breitbart News at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas earlier this year.

Still others say that increasingly tough regulations in California could force the estimated $7-13 billion adult film industry out of California and into states like Nevada and Florida, where safety standards are more relaxed.

“From a sustainability standpoint, the industry has to move to Las Vegas,” PornCareerBuilder.com’s Michael Wondercub told Breitbart News. “In general, California has higher taxes and a higher cost of living… This is a safe industry if you play by the rules and Nevada just has less regulations.”

Read More . . . .

Democrat Sex

.
Democrat Party Condom Police
Democrat run California will send condom inspectors to the sets of porn movie shoots to make sure the condoms are properly installed and snug with no leakage. Moron Democrats want to get a firm grip on both our wallets and deployed condoms.

No, beer goggle do not qualify under
State of California rules.

Supreme Court could take away 6 California congressional seats

Scum and Villainy

Six less jerks going to a nest of corruption.  

I'm trying to see the downside.

(Los Angeles Times)  -  The U.S. Supreme Court's agreement Tuesday to hear a case that could potentially overhaul how political districts are drawn has sparked waves of speculation among political and legal wonks -- including questions as to how a ruling could affect California's clout in Congress.

The case, which the court will hear this fall and rule on next year, centers on the "one person, one vote" principle that has long guided how political districts are drawn. Currently, districts are drawn to be of roughly equal size based on total population. But a Texas conservative group wants those lines to be drawn based on citizens who can vote.

Although the case pertains to state and local districts, experts say the justices could issue a ruling broad enough to also affect congressional lines, as well as the number of representatives each state sends to the House of Representatives.

Congressional seats are apportioned every 10 years, based on the census. States with large noncitizen populations -- such as California -- may be assigned fewer seats if only eligible voters are considered.

If the court's ruling affected reapportionment, "California would be the biggest loser," said Paul Mitchell, vice president of consulting firm Political Data Inc.

Mitchell estimated that California would lose six congressional seats, dropping to 47 seats from 53. Texas, which also has large numbers of people living in the country illegally, would face the second-largest drop,  going to 32 seats from 36.

"The average size of a congressional district would go from the current 710,000 to approximately 500,000 per seat," Mitchell said. 

Read More . . . .

Grand jury probes PG&E's ties with California regulators

Erin Brockovich

Erin was involved with the PG&E case about contamination of drinking water with hexavalent chromium in the southern California town of Hinkley.  The case was settled in 1996 for $333 million, the largest settlement ever paid in a direct-action lawsuit in US history. 

Corruption in PG&E - Say it ain't so

• Only a "crazy" person would think that a government granted monopoly that is in bed with movers and shakers could possibly be corrupt.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal grand jury is investigating ties between executives with California's largest utility and state regulators, a newspaper reported Friday.

The San Francisco Chronicle said it's the latest probe involving relations between Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and regulators with the California Public Utilities Commission since a PG&E pipeline explosion in 2010 killed eight people in suburban San Francisco.

A federal investigation after the blast concluded that lax oversight by the utilities commission was partly to blame.

Federal investigations last year charged the utility with violating safety laws and obstructing justice in connection with the pipeline blast. In April, the panel approved a record $1.6 billion penalty against PG&E in connection with the disaster.

The explosion prompted state and federal investigations into allegations of back-channel dealings between PG&E executives and the utility commission's former head, Michael Peevey, whose term expired earlier this year. Peevey has not commented publicly on the probes.

PG&E officials say company officials involved in the relations with regulators no longer work for the utility.

In the letter disclosing the grand jury investigation, two assistant U.S. attorneys told PG&E lawyers that they plan to use some of the evidence from the probe in the prosecution of the San Bruno case against the company. They did not provide further details.

PG&E spokesman Greg Snapper told the Chronicle in a statement: "We've publicly reported that state and federal attorneys have begun investigations in connection with these communications. We're going to keep cooperating with officials as the process moves forward."

(San Jose Mercury News)

PG&E Suggested “Prozac” for Injured

New e-mails brought to light between Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) reveal the extent of corruption and backroom dealing that have characterized the state’s smart meter program.  

E-mails reveal that former CPUC President Michael Peevey was aware of health problems caused by smart meters early on in the program.   Commissioners and staff experienced overcharging and electronic interference issues with smart meters on their homes.  Meanwhile, utilities schemed with regulators behind the scenes to raise opt-out fees to force people in poverty to stick with the unpopular meters and prop up the failing multi-billion dollar smart grid program in California.

Read more:  Scoop Feed.net