More reports of blatant voter fraud!  This time in San Bernardino County where they have chased out the same company who is "slamming" Democratic voters in Ventura County. See press release below:

SAN BERNARDINO -- Democrats added 2,246 to their numbers this week, gaining 967 on Republicans and coming within 1,423 voters of turning San Bernardino County "blue," according to registration statistics released by Kari Verjil, county Registrar of Voters, and reported by Patrick Kahler of www.BlueCounty.net.

Democrats gained 899 on the Republicans last week.

In the two weeks since Mark Jacoby and his Young Political Majors have fled the county after being accused of committing massive voter fraud felonies, Democrats have registered 1,866 more voters than the Republicans have.

At the present rate of registration Democrats will achieve their long-held goal of turning the county "blue" by registering more Democrats than Republicans in San Bernardino County within the next two weeks.

"This is our largest single gain in a week since the February Presidential primary," Kahler said.  "Thanks to increased legitimate voter drives and the ending of the slamming we are back on track to be blue in the next 2 weeks!"

"Our Democratic clubs and activists have gone into overdrive to give the citizens of the county the opportunity to participate in our democracy and vote," said Carol Robb, County Democratic Party Chair.  "This is what makes America great!"

The timing could not be better for county Democrats who will host a San "BLUE-nardino" County Celebration on Oct. 11 at the Brotherhood of Teamsters local #63, 379 West Valley Boulevard, in Rialto.

Actor and Activist Edward Asner, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, California Democratic Party Chair Art Torres and Los Angeles County Democratic Party Chair Eric Bauman are confirmed to attend.

 

When we saw that the 19th State Senate race would be fought between Republican Tony Strickland and Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson this spring, activist Democrats predicted a terrific battle.

Yet we never dreamed we would find Florida- and Ohio-like tactics from Republicans intimidating and registering voters.

Evidence of voter fraud involving a technique called "slamming" has been turned over to the Ventura County Elections Division and the Ventura County District Attorney by Vote Blue - Central Coast. The alleged fraud occurred over a one-month period in several cities in the county. Voters were tricked into registering for the Republican Party in several different scenarios.

Here are two recent accounts from Ventura County Democratic voters:

"My friend and I were shopping in Thousand Oaks. We were approached by two people and were told that they were collecting signatures for a petition to enforce that all sex offenders wear ankle bracelets which would track them. We signed the petition. Then they told us we had to register as Republicans in order for our signatures to count on the petition. They re-registered us right there but gave us no receipt. We are upset because we felt pressured and we are not Republicans."  

And another account:
 
"A young woman knocked at my door asking me to participate in a poll.  She identified herself as a Republican and I told her I was a Democrat and didn't want to change that.  She said that the questions and the signature wouldn't change my registration as a Democrat. So I signed.  Six weeks later I got notice from Ventura County that I was registered as a Republican."

Vote Blue has an initial dozen official Complaint to Election Officials forms filled in by angry Democrats and Decline to State voters. This is a felony, according to the fraud unit of the Secretary of State's office. The Ventura County Democratic Central Committee and Vote Blue are calling for the Ventura County District Attorney's Office, the Secretary of State and the Attorney General's office to investigate and prosecute those who knowingly are committing this fraud against voters.

And even more dirty tricks: A fellow blogger has posted an account of receiving a push poll call from a "research" group spreading misinformation about both Barack Obama and Hannah-Beth Jackson. 

Push polling, for those unfamiliar with the term, was made infamous in the 2000 presidential primary race when it was alleged that the Bush campaign used the technique to damage the reputation of Senator John McCain. Voters in South Carolina reportedly were asked "Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain for president if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?"

McCain was reportedly furious over the smear. So now Republicans are using the same propaganda technique to prop up McCain and Strickland?

Push polling and slamming.  Welcome to Republican campaigning.  

How did we get into this mess in the mortgage banking industry? And how will we get out now?
 
Even to an average investor like me it is clear that the debacle on Wall Street is not just a little kink in the circulation of the nation's money supply. Clearly the Fed and Bush Administration have recklessly disregarded their duty to operate our government as a guardian of its citizens' rights. An illegal war in Iraq and the billions George Bush is spending now can only add to this serious domestic financial crisis. John McCain, who knows little of economic policy, will further erode the stability of the markets with his Bush-like policies if he is elected on November 4.
 
Those who consider themselves to be no-tax, Grover Norquist-like free-market conservatives will righteously retort some sound bites of supply-side Reaganonomics to make their arguments, but they are hollow and unsubstantiated by our own market experts.
 
Just one example for the sake of conversation comes from this week's edition of Barron's, a publication noted for its very conservative point of view on fiscal matters.
Stephanie Pomboy, the founder of the economic consulting firm MacroMavens, who has been right repeatedly in forecasting the severity and duration of the housing and credit crises said, "Once again, we can't resist pointing out that had Paulson (Secretary of the Treasury) and his bailout crew used their powers for 'good' from the get-go, they could have saved a lot of time, energy and, most importantly, money. Had they simply established a fund to buy up the surplus housing inventory, presently valued at just over $1 trillion, they could have stitched up this wound for less than they've spent layering Band-Aid after Band-Aid on top of it."
 
These crazy shifts by the Bush Administration between radical free market laissez fairism and heavy-handed government intervention make it very apparent Republican officials in Washington, D.C. can't exercise the necessary professional detachment needed to fix this crisis in the U.S. economy. To illustrate that point, just note the behavior of the foreign markets in Russia and China on Friday of this week.
 
The waste, greed and wretched excess going on in the corporate world has been rewarded by both federal bailouts and golden parachute deals to departing incompetent executives. The reckless government borrowing to finance wars and now bailouts has added to an estimated $53 trillion in government obligations. We have dug a hole we may never get out of.
 
On the state level, despite last-minute wrangling Friday, we still have an irresponsible budget which also relies on borrowing. While workers are now off the hook to pay an extra 10 percent upfront in taxes, we are left with a shaky lottery financing scheme which will need to be approved by the voters next year.
 
The tyranny of the Republican minority and the 2/3 vote requirement in the State Legislature has left us with little choice but to borrow our way through to the next year or make deep cuts to education and services for the poor.
 
These rigid, no-compromise minority Republican ideologues in the state need to go, along with the failed economic policies of the Bush administration.

In a game of legislative chicken, California Democrats blinked in the wee hours Tuesday morning and gave in to Republican demands.

Held hostage by the minority party and their plan which a recent Field Poll says most Californians don't support, taxpayers will now be forced to lend the state government funds. We see that the California Legislature can't govern responsibly.

"You might look at it as a no-interest loan from taxpayers in the state," Jean Ross of the California Budget Project told the Sacramento Bee. "We're not solving California's real long-term structural problem."

Those who file quarterly reports and high-wage earners who experience windfalls would be required to pay their taxes sooner. Others, who can ill afford it, would see a 10 percent increase in income tax withholding. Overpayments would be refunded some time in 2010.

On top of all this, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to veto the deal by Friday because it doesn't include all of the reforms he was asking for. And Lt. Gov. John Garamendi has his support.

"The Republicans have already agreed to a tax hike for every Californian who receives a paycheck and for every California Corporation. A 10 percent increase in tax withholding is nothing more than a tax increase. This flawed budget affects those least able to put food on the table. California's working families deserve real solutions and vital investments which ensure a better tomorrow," Garamendi said.

Which Republicans supported this plan? Why, locally, it was none other than Audra Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks) who is running for re-election this fall.  

It's a patchwork budget of gimmicks which pushes the problem off to next year and also includes "voter approval of a so-called securitization of the lottery," Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata said. "There's not five human beings who know what that means."

In other words, we will have another pricey special election in our future.

In the end, Democrats were forced to cave in to stop the bleeding going on in their own districts, Perata said. "I didn't want to answer one more phone call or run into one more person in my district who was crying, literally, because their child care program had quit or somebody was not receiving the service that they need. We were hurting the very people that Democrats come to Sacramento to serve, so it was time to end it."

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass said she would continue to move forward with a bipartisan commission with budget experts from all sides to bring our revenue system into line with the 21st century economy.  Hopefully she can also persuade the extreme-right Grover Norquist kill-government Republicans who are uninterested in making government work.

"The tyranny of this minority when it comes to budgeting for this state and providing for our future must end," Bass said. "When the majority of Californians and the majority of their duly elected representatives support a responsible budget but that budget can't overcome the 2/3 hurdle then there's something wrong going on." 

This budget stinks and merely holding your nose isn't going to help.  

Our own Republican Daddy Warbucks - uber right-wing Tony Strickland, running for the 19th State Senate seat in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties against moderate Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson, has reportedly refused to debate her in a Sept. 24 forum sponsored by none other than the Ventura County Star and the local Chapter of the California Association of Political Centrists.  

Jackson, on the other hand, had no trouble agreeing to this debate or a question-and-answer forum with Strickland last spring sponsored by the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce. Jackson performed quite well there in "Strickland Country."

The forum provided by the Star will likely be televised and would have given all voters a chance to see the two candidates in action. It's a shame they aren't being given this opportunity.

I must conclude he doesn't want to answer questions local voters want to put to him.

Since he's basing his entire campaign on his new company, GreenWave Energy Solutions, and not his actual record in the Assembly before he was termed out, I'd like voters to know more about it. Here's a link to Star Reporter Timm Herdt's article on the company. GreenWave has no paid employees, no technology, no business and its requests to study a wave energy project off the coast were sent back by a federal agency as deficient.

But his voting record on environmental issues and alternative energy was among the very worst, getting a 1.7 percent rating from the California League of Conservation Voters.

OK, so maybe he doesn't want to talk about that.

Maybe he's also afraid of questions about the $50,000 donation from Altria, parent company of Philip Morris, made to the Ventura County Republican Central Committee on his behalf. Here's Herdt's story on that. Apparently he has an excellent pro-tobacco industry record as Assembly member, voting against two bills which would make it harder for minors to buy cigarettes. He might also not want to talk about the almost $85,000 he's taken directly from tobacco companies.

Those are just a few questions he wants to duck.  So how do we put the truth screws to Strickland if he is afraid to debate Jackson? Tell it like it is on blogs like this. And as Shakespeare wrote in the "The Merchant of Venice" - "truth will out."

37th Assembly District candidate Ferial Masry, a vocal critic of the proposed prison hospital in Camarillo, urged her supporters at the grand opening of the Camarillo Democratic Club's headquarters on Saturday to get involved in the fight to keep this facility out of our community.

"I see this as an issue for everyone living along the Highway 101 corridor in Ventura County," she said, speaking to the crowd of 80 supporters along with 19th State Senate District candidate Hannah-Beth Jackson.

Federal Receiver J. Clark Kelso is empowered to build seven hospitals for 1,500 prison patients each across California. Apparently the Ventura County Youth Facility in Camarillo is the third location on his list. He wants $8 billion to build these facilities and can take it from the state coffers because he has the power of the U.S. court to make Sacramento comply. He has asked the legislature to approve lease revenue bonds for the building. Kelso expects to have a hearing in Sacramento on Sept. 22.

Masry cited three reasons why she opposes this project:

1. The staffing for such a large hospital would draw away scarce medical staff from other health facilities in the county, many of which already are understaffed. Thus it could decrease the quality of health care for all of Ventura County.
2. The hospital would place additional demands on local law enforcement agencies that are already understaffed, especially when prison patients would have to be transported to and from other medical facilities in the county for special treatment.  
3. The additional traffic burden on Highway 101 and local surface roads puts a strain on just completed improvements and infrastructure adding further congestion to our roads.

All of this is in the face of California's current budget shortfall and the prolonged standoff to get a budget passed in Sacramento.  

"My opponent Audra Strickland's spokesperson mentioned that the Assemblywoman had two possible pieces of legislation that would help Camarillo fight this imposition on their community,"  Masry said. "We all wonder what exact legislation this was in reference to?"

Nothing has been heard about this supposed legislation to date. Many of us have been reading the Ventura County Star looking for news of these bills.  Like Masry, I question the effectiveness of any legislation at this point while the budget battle continues. It seems that local opposition from the county and city may have the most impression on federal receiver Kelso.

I agree with Masry that a wider lens is necessary to see how California has arrived at the inhumane treatment of prisoners which prompted the prison expansion order. The growth in prisons and older prisoners has skyrocketed since the 1990s as tougher sentencing laws brought many longer sentences for crimes and literally outstripped the system's ability to house, treat, rehabilitate and care for prisoners.  

Masry acknowledges the seriousness of our current problem, but she points to addressing issues of education and opportunity for young people in the future that will lead to decent paying jobs. As a teacher, she knows that we must balance these problems with an eye to the future of our children.

At the same time, we must speak out about the safety and environmental disaster such a huge prison hospital will bring to the community.

California Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) weighed in Wednesday on the budget plan crafted by her colleagues across the aisle, which they grudgingly released after many months.

"Frankly I wish the Republicans had been as forthcoming back in July, May or January," she said. "As Assemblymember Laird said, 'We've been held hostage for months without a ransom note.' "

The state budget, now setting records for its tardiness, has been held up by the stubborn refusal of the minority party to compromise. This refusal has wreaked havoc on those who depend on state dollars to provide needed services.

Bass said the Republican proposal would make $5.5 billion in cuts to education, $1.5 billion in service cuts to the poor and roll the rest into a borrowing scheme, compounding our troubles in the future.

Cuts to social services will be particularly devastating in this economic downturn. Enrollment in the Healthy Families program is up 7.1 percent; requests for food stamps are up 11.4 percent.  And Education Week issued a report showing that California already spends $1,900 less per-pupil than the national average in public education.

Why won't the Republicans compromise one iota? It seems all but one Republican member of the state legislature that has taken Grover Norquist and the Americans for Tax Reform's No New Taxes Pledge.  Breaking this pledge is political career suicide. Republicans who have broken ranks in the past have been targeted for defeat in their next elections.

"Effective governing requires compromise," incoming Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, (D-Sacramento) told the Sacramento Bee. "In part because of the pledge, and what underlies it, they've limited their ability to be effective partners in government."

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has made major concessions from his original January budget proposal. The Democrats have as well with agreements for additional spending cuts, a "rainy day fund" and allowing governors to make spending cuts by 7 percent during a budget year when the state is in a deficit period.

In a recent Public Policy Institute poll on how to balance the state's budget, 56 percent of Californians wanted a plan that would require the Republicans to compromise. But the GOP won't even consent to cutting the ridiculous tax loophole for multi-millionaire owners of yachts and other pricey toys.

It's time for the state Republicans to work for the people of California rather than on protecting their own hides.