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Donnelly mentioned in “Odd Future” rap song

April 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Getting a write-up in Rolling Stone isn’t an everyday event for most members of the California legislature. But in late March, the magazine noted that the rap group “Odd Future” had mentioned Assemblyman Tim Donnelly in a song on their newest album. The song, titled “P” references Donnelly’s recent legal troubles, which began when the Assemblyman was cited for possession of a firearm at LA/Ontario International Airport.

The lyrics read;

“I’m headed out to Sydney Australia with Tim Donnelly
He gets caught up at security, the TSA don’t follow me…”

LINK: Review by Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone

Filed Under: Current Research, JoinCalifornia, State Assembly, Top Stories

Bio Update: Fletcher (R) to (I)

March 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

JoinCalifornia was updated to reflect Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher‘s party registration from Republican to Independent.

LINK: San Diego Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher quits GOP

Filed Under: Current Research, State Assembly

First seven election winners of 2012

March 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Karen Bass

Following the release of qualified candidates on Friday, we now know whose names will be appearing on the June primary ballot. We also know the names of the first seven candidates to win their elections; seven races have only a single qualified candidate.

Although in previous years there was an outside chance of a write-in candidate winning against the sole candidate on the ballot (which last happened in 1944), the top-two primary system prohibits write-ins, guaranteeing these candidates a victory in November. The seven are;

Of the 154 partisan contests (not counting the Presidential campaign, which doesn’t fall under the top-two rules);

  • 7 races have 1 candidate
  • 44 races have 2 candidates
  • 103 races have 3 or more candidates (and the ‘top two’ will be selected in June).

Stay tuned for more.

UPDATE (4/2/2012; 9:21 pm): A check of the final list shows that one more candidate, Assemblyman Henry T. Perea, is running unopposed in 2012. Perea will be the only candidate in AD-31.

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

Random Letter Drawing

March 15, 2012 By

One of the overlooked events on the election calendar is the random letter drawing by the Secretary of State’s office.

The logic behind the event goes like this; some voters are relatively uninformed. They don’t research the issues, the candidates, or (sometimes) even what the actual duties of a given office are. Although voters usually know who they support for the offices at the top of the ballot (President, U.S. Senate, and Congress), they may have absolutely no idea who they support by the time they work their way down to Municipal Utility District Board, Irrigation District Board, or school board.

Because the voter in these cases would be just a little bit more likely to throw their vote at the first name on the ballot, it’s important to rotate the order of the names (to prevent giving an unfair advantage to the Bealls, Conways, and Donnellys of the world at the expense of the Wieckowskis, Yamadas, and Yees.

Thus, 82 days before each election in California, the Secretary of State’s office draws the letters of the alphabet to have a unique order for the coming election. Today, as the 82nd day before the June Primary, was the day. The results, as written on the whiteboard at the drawing today, were U-N-A-D-I-V-X-W-Q-G-O-Z-L-T-R-K-S-J-H-M-C-B-F-P-Y-E.

You totally needed to know that, didn’t you?

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

Assembly candidate excoriates his voters

March 13, 2012 By

You really don’t get to see political exits like this very often.

Adnan Shahab

While researching candidates recently, I found the website of Adnan Shahab, a Republican Assembly candidate who had run in 2010 and had filed to run again in 2012. In a statement on his website, Shahab had announced that although he was doubtless the best person to represent the area, he had decided not to run;

“There is still no doubt in my mind that I am the best person to represent Assembly District 20 in Sacramento. But at the same time, I believe the voters in the district are not ready to comprehend the fact that I am exactly the kind of person who they should be electing into office. For now, the majority of the voters in the area seem to be content electing unremarkable people into office.”

Shahab went on to scold the voters for being uninformed, ignorant, and displaying a “disgusting” apathy when it comes to selecting their representatives;

“The vast majority of the people in this area have absolutely no idea what is going on with their elected officials. I condemn the ignorance and apathy on the part of these people, as well as their acceptance of mediocrity in their elected officials. Clearly, I am not the right person to represent these people at this time.”

Shahab’s departure left the contest without a Republican. At the close of the filing period, the candidates in the race included three Democrats and one Independent.

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

2012 Candidate Listing begins

March 13, 2012 By

With the close of the regular candidate filing period on Friday, work has started on the listing of candidates for the 2012 elections. Of the 155 partisan contests to be decided in November, two (for President and U.S. Senate) have many candidates from many parties and the information will be posted as it becomes available.

The other 153 are being broken down into four categories;

  1. Extended Nominations – Races in which the incumbent officerholder has not filed to run for reelection (and the filing period has been extended until tomorrow (3/14). Because candidates can still file, the final number of candidates isn’t yet known.
  2. Listed Contests – Races in which the filing period has closed (so we know who the candidates are) and the total number of candidates is 1 or 2. With California’s new primary system, both candidates will go on to the November General Election.
  3. 3+ Candidates – In these races, the filing period has closed but there are three or more candidates who have qualified. In these cases, the candidates who will appear on the November ballot are not yet known.

The current break-down of candidate processing is;

Congress (53 seats)

  • 9 contests have extended nomination periods
  • 4 contests have been listed (all four have two candidates)
  • 15 contests have three or more qualified candidates.
  • 25 contests are spread over multiple counties and the qualified candidates have not yet been determined.

State Legislature (100 seats)

  • 44 contests have extended nomination periods (9 in the Senate and 35 in the Assembly)
  • 36 contests have been listed (33 have two candidates, 3 are single-candidate contests)
  • 11 contests have three or more qualified candidates.
  • 9 contests are spread over multiple counties and the qualified candidates have not yet been determined.
Filed Under: 2012 Election, Congress, Current Research, JoinCalifornia, State Assembly, State Senate, Top Stories

One Term Assemblymembers since 1991

March 9, 2012 By

Assemblymember Halderman

Assemblywoman Linda Halderman announced today that she would not seek a second term this November. The announcement, coming less than five hours before the filing deadline for the seat threw the race into confusion. According to the Secretary of State’s website, Halderman was the only candidate who had filed to run in the 23rd Assembly district, leading to an easy reelection.

Taking a look at the history books, there have been forty-four legislators who served a term or less in the Assembly in the “term-limits era” of 1991 to today. Half of the 44 had been legislators prior to term limits and the single term each served after 1991 was just the end of a longer career.

For the story of the other twenty-two;

Elected in 1990
Xavier Becerra – Skipped a second term in the Assembly to run for Congress. First elected Congress in 1992.
Tom Mays – Ran for a second term in 1992 and lost in the Primary.

Elected in 1992
Hilda  Solis - Skipped a second term in the Assembly to run for State Senate. Elected to the Senate in 1994. Elected to Congress in 2000.  U.S. Secretary of Labor (2009-Present)
Julie Bornstein  -Ran for a second term in 1994 and lost in the General Election.
Vivien Bronshvag  – Ran for a second term in 1994 and lost in the Primary.
Tom Connolly  – Ran for a second term in 1994 and lost in the General Election. Connolly is now listed on the Megan’s Law website after being convicted of two felonies involving a minor in 1997.
Margaret  Snyder  – Ran for a second term in 1994 and lost in the General Election. Worth noting is that Snyder was the author of the resolution that imposed the first ‘bill limits’ on the Assembly.
Kathleen Honeycutt  – Declined to seek another term citing health reasons.

Elected in 1994
Brian  Setencich - Served as Speaker in 1995-1996 with the support of Democrats. Ran for a second term in 1996 and lost in the Primary. Ran in the General Election as a write-in candidate and lost. Convicted of tax evasion in 2000 and was sentenced to seven months in a halfway house.
Phil Hawkins  – Left the Assembly to run for State Senate in 1996. Lost. Ran for Assembly again in 1998. Lost.

Elected in 1996
Deborah Ortiz  – Left the Assembly to run for State Senate in 1998. Won.
Robert Prenter  – Ran for a second term in 1998 and lost in the General Election.

Elected in 1999
Audie Bock   – Elected as a Green in a Special Election. Ran for a second term in 2000 as an Independent and lost in the General Election. Was a recall candidate for Governor in 2003.

Elected in 2000
Dennis Hollingsworth -  Left the Assembly to run for State Senate in 2002. Won. Served as Senate Minority Leader in 2009-2010.

Elected in 2002
Bob Dutton - Left the Assembly to run for State Senate in 2004. Won. Served as Senate Minority Leader in 2010-2012. Had announced that he would run for Assembly again in 2012, but has since decided to run for Congress.
Steve Samuelian  – Declined to run again after some embarassing issues.

Elected in 2004
Mike Gordon  – Died in office.
Joe Baca Jr.  – Left the Assembly to run for State Senate in 2006. Lost. Running for Assembly again this year.

Elected in 2006
Mark DeSaulnier  – Left the Assembly to run for State Senate in 2004. Won.
Richard Alarcon  – First elected to the Senate in 1998, Alarcon termed out after two full terms in 2006. He was elected to the Assembly in 2006 and served 102 days before resigning after being elected to the LA City Council. Now termed out of the City Council, Alarcon is running for the Assembly again this year.
Laura Richardson  – Resigned from the Assembly after 261 days, having been elected to Congress in a Special Election.

Elected in 2008
Danny D. Gilmore  – Declined to seek another term after a ‘frustrating’ year in the Assembly. Gilmore (a Republican) had been elected from a district that previously elected Democrats, earning him the wrath of Speaker Karen Bass.

Elected in 2010 (still serving)
Linda Halderman – Declined to seek another term, noting “This is my home… I just need to go back”.
David Valadao - Leaving the Assembly to run for Congress in 2012.

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

ASM Beall called out. Ouch.

March 6, 2012 By

Newspaper editorials are sometimes less than flattering during election years, but the description of Assemblyman Jim Beall in the San Jose Mercury on Monday might have stung a little bit.

“The prelude to Tuesday’s San Jose City Council vote on a pension reform ballot measure has devolved into a three-ring circus — with the clown imported from Sacramento, where Assemblyman Jim Beall wants a legislative committee to audit San Jose’s pension system for purely political purposes.”
To Read More: Mercury News editorial: San Jose needs to put pension reform on the ballot

Ouch. It’s never fun to have your hometown paper call you out on a political stunt.

Filed Under: Current Research, State Assembly

“Occupation” Day at the Capitol

March 5, 2012 By

I wonder sometimes what people must think of the State Capitol if the only time they ever visit is on a big protest day like today. They probably see the lines of police officers in riot gear and the helicopters circling overhead, and think “Wow, this must be a really crazy place to work”. Yes, sometimes it is.

But on the average day, having the bomb squad pull up to investigate an abandoned package on the West Lawn would have been the most notable thing to happen. Instead today, it was so overshadowed by the Occupy Education protests that hardly anyone even noticed the lunchtime closure of the north side of the West Lawn. At the North and South Doors, lines of people waiting to enter the building were out the door. On the historic first floor, the exhibit rooms and historic offices were closed. In short, it was an unusual day.

Bomb Crew inspects abandoned backpack

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A protester with a trash-can shield

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHP officers on the West Steps

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Occupy Education protest at noon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHP "Orange Team" prepares to occupy the West Steps

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHP "Blue Team" near the West Steps

 

 

Filed Under: Current Research, JoinCalifornia, State Assembly, State Senate, Top Stories

Legislative Biography: John C. Gray

March 2, 2012 By

As we continue our work to research the biographies of California’s elected officials (there have been over 4,300 at this point), we like to occasionally introduce you to legislators who you’re probably not familiar with.

Today, we look at John Carleton Gray, a Republican Assemblyman who represented Butte County in 1874. Gray was born in 1837 and grew up in China. Not the China that Leland Yee hails from, but the small town of China, Maine (whose website declares it “The friendliest town in Maine”).

Gray moved to California in 1863, and settled in Butte County in 1865. He served the county as District Attorney, Assemblyman, and Superior Court judge. In 1886, he started growing olives at his “Mt. Ida Olive Grove”, which today lends it’s name to a handful of locations in eastern Oroville (Hint: near the intersection of Mt. Ida Road and Old Olive Highway).

Filed Under: Current Research, JoinCalifornia, State Assembly, Top Stories
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