AS I REPORTED back in March, it didn't take long for "renewable energy businessman" Sen. Tony Strickland to dodge a vote on a renewable energy bill. That bill, SB 14, would require investor-owned utilities to receive one-third of their power from renewable energy sources by 2020.

Well he's gone and done it again.

This time he failed to vote in committee on AB 920, a bill which would provide incentives for customers to use wind or solar energy systems. According to the proposed legislation by Assembly member Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael): 

The author believes this will encourage homeowners and businesses to conserve more electricity (and thus have more surplus power they can sell to the utility) and will allow property owners to install the maximum number of solar panels on their home.

Our Republican state senator justified his "renewable energy" ballot designation during his campaign against Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson by his partnership in a wave energy company formed around the same time he decided to run in a green-leaning district. And here's a quote straight off his web page:

"I am working with Democrats and Republicans to transition California to a renewable, more energy efficient economy to jumpstart the economy, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, improve the environment, and lower energy prices."
-Senator Tony Strickland

So why then would Strickland take a walk on two important renewable energy bills? When questioning why politicians do what they do it is always wise to find out who supports or opposes a particular bill. 

AB 920 and SB 14 are opposed by Pacific Gas & Electric, which donated $1,250 to Tony Strickland's state senate campaign, $5,600 to Strickland's controller's race and $5,000 to his 2002 Assembly race, according to the very handy online site followthemoney.org.

Strickland's wife, Assembly member Audra Strickland, just plain voted against AB 920, so I will give her some credit for not being dodgy. I would ideally like to give Tony some credit, too, for his package of renewable energy legislation introduced a few months ago, which largely consisted of tax credits, continuing his no-revenue mantra.

But he is not consistent in backing renewable energy legislation, especially that opposed by his donors, and this highlights his credibility problem.

IN A BIT OF RELATED NEWS: According to the Mendocino Beacon it would seem Strickland's fledging wave energy company GreenWave, which is still in the preliminary permit phase and hasn't done much of anything yet, is one of the few left standing with proposed projects off the California coast.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company  and California Wave Energy Partners recently pulled projects, according to the Beacon. GreenWave's application has riled the locals up there with "more interveners and more people commenting than any other hydrokinetic project in the nation," the Beacon writes.

Update: In this video taken Sunday, a clearly angry Sen. President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg lectures Sen. Sam Aansted over the budget.

"My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub,"

-- Grover Norquist in The Nation magazine, 2001.

This astounding quote comes from the president of Americans for Tax Reform, the group which is, as I write this, helping to hold California's budget hostage. It's Norquist's "no tax pledges" that have put fear in the hearts of otherwise reasonable Republicans who might be tempted to -- gasp -- compromise.

Late word comes from Sacramento that just one lone Republican vote in the State Senate is now needed to break this desperate deadlock. Of course it has not escaped me that had Hannah-Beth Jackson been elected, we would've had a budget by now.

And yet it was not to be. In a further ironic twist, it was none other than our former State Sen. Tom McClintock who helped solicit these "no-tax" promises and lit the fuse for this mother of all budget battles, according to the Sacramento Bee.  McClintock's newly elected protege, Tony Strickland, who told voters he was an "independent thinker," has carried on this mission with gusto.

Passing the current budget package requires a two-thirds majority in the Senate and Assembly -- at least three GOP votes in each house. But it's been difficult to get these pledge signers to renege. They fear for their political lives, and with good reason.

"Four GOP assemblymen were denounced as traitors seven years ago when they broke party ranks, in exchange for millions in district incentives, to side with Democrats on a state budget that raised the sales tax by a quarter-cent," the Bee wrote.

LET'S JUST ALL BE HONEST.  There is no fiscally or morally sound way to close the state's $42 billion budget deficit without a tax increase of some kind.

Indeed, the Republicans' own "no tax" version of a budget was resoundingly ridiculed by many for not adding up and pushing even more debt.

"In short, the GOP plan would worsen next year's budget deficit so lawmakers could avoid tough decisions this year. That's not fiscal responsibility. That's not leadership. Nor have GOP leaders been honest about how their plan would work," the Sacramento Bee wrote.

BUT WHO IS BEHIND THIS GROUP, Americans for Tax Reform, which has so powerfully entangled itself in our state's politics? According to the Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW), Norquist's group has been heavily funded by both the alcohol and tobacco industries.

And they further write:

"An examination of Norquist's activities over the past decade shows a pattern: He has maintained a highly visible public persona as a crusader on behalf of the average taxpayer, but his work has also benefited some of his biggest donors who have specific interests."

According to the New York Times, Norquist is also a friend and longtime associate of Jack Abramoff, a former lobbyist now serving time for fraud and other crimes.

This group also had a heavy hand in the 2000 election of George W. Bush.

OUR CURRENT STATE BUDGET is like a sore allowed to fester and ooze over time by ignoring both real reforms advocated by Republicans and sound revenue measures advocated by Democrats.

Had we done a few temporary tax increases long ago instead of putting it all on the state MasterCard, the current bundle of increases would not look as oppressive as it does today.

The Vehicle License Fee should have been raised long ago. This is a $6-billion annual state spending program because the state is locked into reimbursing local governments for the revenue they lost when Schwarzenegger cut the VLF the day he got into office.

The Democrats have done their part in compromising with $15.1 billion in expenditure reductions, even if there is more work to be done in the area of reforms. And the money coming to our state from the federal stimulus package may soften the blows all around.

To the brave Republicans they're throwing under the bus to get this budget passed: I will remember you all with a contribution should you run for re-election. You stared into the face of extreme special interests and you took the high road.

To download details of the current budget bill click here:
Asm Budget Floor Report 2008-09.doc

WHILE WRITING IS A CATHARTIC experience for some, putting painful episodes of my life into words has always been difficult for me.

And so it went with the final outcome of the state senate race between Hannah-Beth Jackson and Tony Strickland. Jackson lost by just 857 votes to an opponent who ran the dirtiest, most deceitful campaign I have ever witnessed.

It was the blog entry that never got written.

But today brought news that finally drew me out of the deep well I had been residing in, a well dug by a temporary loss of faith in our system of democracy. It was a pit dug even deeper by an incident that I witnessed last summer in which I once thought justice would never be served.

Today I heard that Assembly member Audra Strickland's chief of staff -- and Tony Strickland's former chief of staff -- will indeed go to trial for actions that occurred June 17 outside a Westlake fundraiser for Tony's campaign.

The State Attorney General's Office has filed a complaint in Ventura County Superior Court against Joel Angeles on four counts: interference with civil rights (involving Louis Pandolfi of Simi Valley); battery causing serious bodily injury (involving Jack Phillips of Camarillo); battery (involving Pandolfi); and battery (involving Sandy Quiring of Simi Valley). The trial is scheduled for Feb. 6.

These incidents allegedly occurred against three people gathered to protest the acceptance of more than $130,000 in direct and indirect campaign contributions from the tobacco industry for Tony Strickland.

As one of more than 50 anti-tobacco protesters at the Hyatt Westlake, I am also one of 11 witnesses who had to provide a statement about what I had seen that day. I remain unwavering in my account that Angeles' actions were unprovoked and I watched as 67-year-old Phillips, a minister, was knocked to the ground. Phillips later underwent surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff.

LEGAL EXPERTS TELL ME that Angeles could serve a year in jail for each offense, and while he could work out a plea bargain arrangement, the civil rights complaint will make it harder to do so. The violation of Pandolfi's civil rights was filed as a "hate" crime and the battery against Phillips was filed as a major crime with great bodily injury. These charges were carefully crafted to open the door for a civil lawsuit as well as restitution.

No doubt forces were at work throughout the election season to keep the story under wraps. And the file seemingly languished on Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten's desk for an eternity before he recused himself and passed it up to the State Attorney General's office.

Despite the sensitive nature of his office, Totten was a most ardent campaigner for Tony Strickland. The recusal was certainly warranted.

I am more than happy to let the courts determine the final outcome and have no wish to try this case via the press. But the decision today restored my faith that sometimes people determined to do the right thing can prevail.

TUESDAY'S ELECTION results left me curiously unfulfilled.

As it became apparent that Barack Obama was going to become our next president, I found renewed faith in an electorate which looked past skin color and put its faith in an inspiring man with character and great vision.

I listened to the jubilation of my daughter and her friends, far away in college in a firmly red state, who left their dorm rooms and massed out on a field together hugging each other and screaming in absolute joy and amazement that someone had finally listened to them and their hopes for the world.

But late last night I also received emails from several dynamic people in the local gay community who I respect very much. They professed their very great sadness over the passage of Prop. 8 and it made me realize how very far we have to go before we can look past our differences to find common ground.

I have dear friends on both sides of the Prop. 8 issue. My friends in the Mormon community, which invested much money in the Yes on 8 effort, have historically endured misconceptions and persecution over their religion. I have recently defended their belief system to others who have belittled their faith because of the church's activities in the Yes on 8 campaign.

On the flip side, I was shocked to learn of the recent verbal -- and in one case physical -- harassment received by two friends on opposite sides of the county who were displaying No on 8 signs. There is great anguish in the gay community right now over this decision and my heart breaks for two wonderful women I know who were recently married.

Proposition 8 left us more divided than ever. I believe it was a great mistake.

AND FINALLY SD 19: The state senate race between Hannah-Beth Jackson and Tony Strickland remains undecided at this point in time. The district was drawn as a safe seat for Tom McClintock who has recently termed out. But recent gains in voter registration have given a slight advantage to the Democrats.

It is clear to me that the more progressive voices of Santa Barbara County, Ventura and Ojai were more vocal in their support of Hannah-Beth Jackson than the decidedly conservative and more numerous voices to the east were in embracing Tony Strickland. This put Jackson over the top by a razor-thin margin. She also received the majority of precinct votes, by a narrow fraction. Strickland took the early absentees.

There are 100,000 votes left to count in the three counties that encompass State Senate District 19. It could go either way. Late absentee and provisional voters make up this group and in recent elections they have tended to vote more like precinct voters and not the early absentees which favor conservatives. Provisional voters often favor Democrats. I am crossing my fingers for a decisive victory for Jackson.

Part of the rancor in this particular race was due to the way the district is drawn. Very conservative sections of Ventura and Los Angeles counties were thrown in with progressive coastal voters. It is for this reason that I supported the redistricting measure Prop. 11, which appears to have passed.

As we move forward in these difficult times, I hope we can learn to work together for common goals. Divisive issues sap our strength for the things that really matter.

Update: Not only have all the county school superintendents endorsed Hannah-Beth Jackson, but so have the Ventura County Star and the Los Angeles Times, along with the Ventura County Reporter and Santa Barbara Independent (the newspaper with the greatest circulation in Santa Barbara County.)

From the Ventura County Star: "The Star endorses Hannah-Beth Jackson based on her superior record of achievement in the Assembly and her ideas for moving the state forward."

From the Los Angeles Times: "The Times has no problem making its choice. We wholeheartedly back Jackson. The environmental and education credentials she built up as a member of the Assembly will be put to good use in the Senate, and we're counting on her to help work through California's budget mess."

IN AN UNPRECEDENTED SHOW of support, all 19 of Ventura County's school superintendents have endorsed State Senate District 19 candidate Hannah-Beth Jackson. The announcement was made at a press conference held at the Ventura County Superintendent of Schools Office on Monday.

"She has walked the talk consistently in the eyes of the superintendents of this county," Ventura Unified School District Superintendent Trudy Arriaga said. "We know that the health and well being of this nation is based on how well our children are doing. Hannah-Beth Jackson has most certainly shown that she also understands that and cares consistently about the education and well being of the children of this state."

A county-wide endorsement of this nature has never been done for a candidate before, Arriaga said. It demonstrates the incredible support Jackson has within the education community.

As her constituent when she was in the Assembly, I often saw Jackson at local school events and she is also a long-time member of the Ventura Education Partnership's honorary board. She authored legislation to give teachers a tax credit to help with their numerous out-of-pocket expenses and, as I mentioned in an earlier entry, she passed several pieces of legislation to help keep students safe. She has widespread support from school boards across the district and has won numerous awards from the education community.

Her opponent in the race, Tony Strickland, has received very few endorsements from the education community.

EDUCATION IS THE CORNERSTONE of all Jackson's stump speeches in this race and she correctly points out it is one of the keys to building our economy.

"We need to make sure we're giving students a 21st century education because they're going to be competing in a global marketplace," Jackson said. "And if we educate our children properly we're going to be able to reduce the number of young people who end up in a life of crime. We spend $45,000 a year incarcerating people in prison; we spend $7,800 educating them. This is wrong and we need to do better."

Debbie Golden, Ventura Unified School District Board of Trustees member, had high praise for our local legislator.

"When Hannah-Beth was in the Assembly, I had reason to call many times and ask for help. She always returned my calls. Not only would she return my calls, she would work with us so that we could make sure we were doing the best for the children of our community. That's just one reason why all five board members of the Ventura Unified School District are supporting Hannah-Beth Jackson," Golden said.

"I also called Mr. Strickland's phone many times. He never returned my phone calls."

And why Tony Strickland will never have my vote

IT WAS A TYPICAL frantic morning at my house. My daughter, always a sleepyhead, was running late once again. We grabbed her backpack and dashed out the door to our car for the ride to Mound Elementary School in Ventura where she was a fifth grader.

Pulling up to the school we found our car enveloped by a thick fog which I had assumed was weather related. My daughter got out in the middle of it and waved goodbye. I drove home, pulled in the garage and noticed something very odd about my vehicle: it was completely covered in a sticky film.

Hours later I had a sick child holding a note from her principal.

What I had mistaken for fog was actually a cloud of Lorsban, a powerful pesticide which had been banned by the EPA for use in homes because of its neurological effects on children. The citrus operation next to the school had used a speed sprayer during school hours and sent a cloud over the campus. Dozens of children and adults were sickened that day. Testing showed it was all over playground equipment, outdoor eating areas and inside classrooms.

To our horror we discovered there was little we could do to prevent it from happening again to our children or anyone else's. We needed help.

Hannah-Beth Jackson, our Assemblywoman at the time, was quick to respond. She was the only one to come talk to parents. With the help and blessing of the agricultural community, Jackson crafted bipartisan legislation to protect schoolchildren from such incidents. It passed and was signed into law.

This incident taught me something very important about the world: stick up for what you believe in, listen to your heart and don't be afraid of asking for change.

JACKSON, WHO IS NOW running to be our state senator, has spent a lifetime standing up for what is right. As a former deputy district attorney, she put criminals behind bars. She helped to establish a battered women's shelter in Santa Barbara, ran a thriving law business for 22 years in Ventura where she advocated for women's and children's issues, and spent six years in the Assembly, sticking up for her constituents and sponsoring highly effective legislation on their behalf which was signed into law. She voted for billions of dollars in tax relief for middle-income families. And even though neighboring Simi Valley wasn't in her district, she authored a bill to help get the toxic chemical perchlorate out of their drinking water.

While in the Assembly she was part of a bipartisan group which worked together for true state budget reform.

I've found Jackson to be tenacious about doing the right thing. This is in stark contrast to her opponent in the State Senate race, Tony Strickland, who voted against the legislation I just cited to keep our children safe and our water clean and has a long history of siding with big corporations against measures to protect our children, as well as our planet. He even voted against Jackson's bill to provide health coverage for children with cancer in clinical trials.

If our legislators don't vote to protect the weakest among us, who will they protect?

When Jackson's senate campaign opened its Ventura office months ago, I was the first one at their door asking to volunteer. Not long ago, they asked if I would consent to being filmed for a commercial they were planning on the Mound pesticide incident. I immediately said yes. The commercial began airing this week. I have linked to it above. Click on the arrow to play it.

I don't forget it when somebody helps my community as much as Hannah-Beth Jackson did. I want to give her another chance to fight for my family.

It would appear I am not the only one doing commercials these days. Celebrity legal scout Brockovich popped up in one, too. I'll leave it to the other blogs to speculate about her motives. But I did send her an email, which she of course hasn't answered:

Dear Erin,

I always considered you to be a maverick of sorts, somebody who sticks up for the little guy. I just saw the commercial you did with Tony Strickland and I am so disappointed right now.

I am one of the parents at Mound Elementary in Ventura who had a child sickened by a serious pesticide overspray incident. We had nearly 40 people fall ill that day. Strickland's opponent in the race, Hannah-Beth Jackson, wrote a bill to make sure this would never happen again and Strickland voted against it!

In case you didn't know, Tony Strickland has taken more than $55,000 in contributions from oil and chemical companies and consistently votes to put the interests of corporate polluters ahead of the health of our families.
 
He opposed legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect children's health from pollutants, re-authorize the state's recycling program, ban carcinogenic pesticides on school grounds, increase penalties for pesticide violations near schools, ban clear-cutting of forests, ban mercury in children's toys, establish standards to handle toxic perchlorate, and many other environmentally friendly bills.

What kind of guy votes AGAINST all that? He has the worst possible rating from environmental groups. I could name countless bills he voted against that would help clean up our planet.

I know you're busy and famous and probably won't take the time to respond to a mother in Ventura. But just know that I lost faith in somebody I thought was a hero.

Marie Lakin

For a look at what other blogs are saying, go here and here.