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Primary Candidate Tracking Report (2/14/2012)

February 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

There are currently 176 candidates for Congress and 299 candidates for the State Legislature in the 2012 Primary Election who are currently being tracked in preparation for updating the JoinCalifornia database.

Congress (53 Seats; 176 Candidates)
89 Democrats
79 Republicans
3 Libertarians
2 Greens
3 Independents/No Party Preference

State Senate (20 Seats; 47 Candidates)
30 Democrats
14 Republicans
1 Libertarians
2 Independents/No Party Preference

State Assembly (80 Seats; 252 Candidates)
150 Democrats
82 Republicans
1 Green
1 Peace and Freedom
17 Independents/No Party Preference

Of the 299 state legislative candidates, 115 have appeared previously on General Election ballots, 75 are current legislators, and 13 are former legislators.

Filed Under: 2012 Election, Current Research, ElectionVolunteer

Merv Evans for…

February 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Merv Evans with Jerry Brown

Friday marks the 59th birthday for Mervin Evans, one of California’s prolific candidates for public office.

In the two decades since he began running, Evans has sought election to statewide office (4 times), the State Assembly (5 times), State Senate (just once), Congress (8 times), and U.S. Senate (three times in two states), while running for local office in Los Angeles six times as well.

Running for so many offices can be confusing; the title bar on his website [http://mervpac.net/] currently reads “Mervin Evans for State Assembly” while the banner at the top of the page clearly indicates that Evans is running for Congress in District 37.

Evans runs similar campaigns in each election, focusing on the core issues of stopping child molesters and bear poachers while protecting the Second Amendment and expanding services for military veterans. Evans faces another tough race this year, running against Congresswoman (and former Assembly Speaker) Karen Bass for the seat she first won in 2010.

Filed Under: 2012 Election, Current Research, JoinCalifornia

Current Voter Registration Numbers

February 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Apologies for not posting this earlier. The latest voter registration numbers for California’s political parties are (as of January 3, 2012);

Bold indicates a Qualified Political Party
Italic indicates a Political Party Seeking to Qualify

Democratic – 7,429,684
Republican – 5,170,592
No Party Preference – 3,617,466 (Voters registered with no political party)
American Independent – 428,560
Green – 111,319
Libertarian – 93,300
Peace & Freedom – 59,012
Reform – 20,722 (Disqualified December 31, 2002)
Americans Elect – 3,165
Conservative Party – 494
La Raza Unida – 461
We Like Women – 382
Justice – 183
Whig – 167
Constitution – 121
Christian – 117

Note: Parties with fewer than 100 registered voters are not included on this listing.

Filed Under: 2012 Election, Current Research, ElectionVolunteer, JoinCalifornia

Presidential Candidates List Released

February 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Secretary of State released the list of Presidential candidates who will appear on the June 5th Primary ballot in California.

The candidate list at ElectionVolunteer.com has been updated to include the names of the these candidates and is now available.

Filed Under: 2012 Election, Current Research, ElectionVolunteer

Watsonville Caucus

February 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Register Pajaronian newspaper had an article about the “Watsonville Caucus” in Sacramento, a group of ten Capitol staffers who grew up in the small Central Coast city.

LINK: Locals find careers at Capitol by Todd Guild

Filed Under: Current Research, JoinCalifornia, State Assembly

Primary Candidate Tracking Report (2/1/2012)

January 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

There are currently 177 candidates for Congress and 324 candidates for the State Legislature in the 2012 Primary Election who are currently being tracked in preparation for updating the JoinCalifornia database.

Congress (53 Seats; 177 Candidates)
88 Democrats
79 Republicans
3 Libertarians
3 Greens
3 Independents/No Party Preference

State Senate (20 Seats; 58 Candidates)
34 Democrats
21 Republicans
2 Libertarians
1 Independents/No Party Preference

State Assembly (80 Seats; 264 Candidates)
156 Democrats
88 Republicans
1 Green
1 Peace and Freedom
21 Independents/No Party Preference

Of the 298 state legislative candidates, 130 have appeared previously on General Election ballots, 85 are current state legislators, and 17 are former legislators.

Filed Under: 2012 Election, Congress, Current Research, ElectionVolunteer, JoinCalifornia, State Assembly, State Senate

Krekorian Bill overturned by U.S. Supreme Court

January 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The U.S. Supreme Court released it’s finding in National Meat Association v. Harris (10-224) this morning. In the decision, the court found that AB 2098 (2008) by Paul Krekorian, which require the immediate euthanization of any nonambulatory animal, violated Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA).

The FMIA includes a preemption clause (§678) which precludes states from imposing requirements that are “within the scope” of the FMIA. On this basis, the Court overturned the California law.

Prior to Krekorian’s bill, the most recent California law to be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court was AB 1179 (2005) by Leland Yee. That bill, overturned last June, prohibited the sale of violent video games to minors.

Filed Under: Current Research, JoinCalifornia, State Assembly

Blakeslee Attempts Veto Override

January 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

During the Senate floor session today, State Senator Sam Blakeslee brought up one of his bills in order to attempt a veto override. The override of SB 356 (2011), vetoed in September by Governor Brown, failed on a 13-22 vote.

Earl Warren

Although veto-overrides are threatened on occasion, it has been more than 30 years since the legislature exercised this ability. This is because veto-overrides are seen as a significant insult to the Governor and major disruption to the balance of power relationship between the three branches of government.

In the last 72 years, only six bills have had their vetoes overturned by the legislature. In his ten years in office, Earl Warren had only one veto overridden (in 1946). Governor Reagan had a single override as well (in 1974). In his previous two terms in office, Jerry Brown had a total of four vetoes overridden (in 1977 and 1979).

 

Number of Veto Per Year Over-rides by Governor (since 1921)
Date Governor Majority Party
(Senate / Assembly)		  Veto Overrides
1979 Jerry Brown (D) Democrat / Democrat  3
1977 Jerry Brown (D) Democrat / Democrat  1
1974 Ronald Reagan (R) Democrat / Democrat  1
1946 Earl Warren (R) Republican / Republican  1
1941 Culbert Olson (D) Republican / Democrat  8
1939 Culbert Olson (D) Republican / Democrat  3
1933 James Rolph (R) Republican / Republican  17

 

Filed Under: Current Research, JoinCalifornia, State Senate

Kevin Mullin for AD-22

January 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Kevin Mullin, son of former Assemblyman Gene Mullin, has filed to run in the 2012 Primary for AD-22. After serving on the South San Francisco City Council (1995-2002) Gene Mullin served three terms in the Assembly (2003-2008).

Following in his father’s footsteps, currently a member of the South San Francisco City Council (2007-Present), Kevin Mullin also has experience as a legislative staffer, serving as District Director for State Senator Jackie Speier (1998-2001).

By our count, Mullin is the only candidate in the AD-22 race so far.

Filed Under: 2012 Election, Current Research, ElectionVolunteer, JoinCalifornia, State Assembly

Senator Ruben Ayala died

January 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Ruben S. Ayala

Former State Senator Ruben Ayala died Wednesday night in Ontario. A report in the Sacramento Bee noted that Ayala had fought a long illness. Ayala, who served in the Senate from 1974-1998, was the long-time Chair of the Agriculture and Water Committee, a powerful position that he used to draft a bill authorizing the construction of a peripheral canal through the Sacramento Delta.

Senior staffers at the Capitol noted that Ayala (who served in World War II) had been active in the Legislative Marine Brigade, a group of former Marines who had served in the legislature. Other members of the group included Pete Wilson, Bill Craven, and Don Rogers.

LINK: Sacramento Bee CapitolAlert obituary

Filed Under: Current Research, Deaths, State Senate
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