[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

As California newspapers go, the Bakersfield Californian is firmly in the conservative column. I'm not talking the nonsense editorials that appear in the Orange County Register or the ones penned by uber-right editorial writer Chris Reed in the San Diego Union-Tribune. But the Bakersfield Californian generally reflects the political views of the Central Valley. In other words, pragmatic conservativism.
 
That's why it's fascinating to see the newspaper juxtaposing the positions of two conservative members of its legislative delegation and their votes on closing the yacht tax loophole. 
 
The paper notes: "When closing the yacht loophole came before a committee earlier this year, Fuller voted to end it. However, she abstained when it came to a full Assembly vote. She told The Californian she saw the issue as another case of taxing businesses and the rich, when state spending should be cut instead.

There's more...

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

(full-disclosure: I work for Courage)

There is an interesting and troubling pattern emerging.  The California media is being greatly outclassed by papers from out of the state and country on the developing story about the residents of Potrero pushing back against Blackwater's attempts to move a massive base into their town.  This seems like it could be chalked up to the major cutbacks at California newspapers over the past year, but it is a stark reminder about the impacts of those losses.  California stories are no longer being covered by California newspapers.

It was the Guardian UK who had a lengthy, detailed article on the push for a recall of the Planning Group members who had voted to approve Blackwater's plans.  They talked to Brian Bonfiglio, Blackwater's Vice-President who is deployed to San Diego County to work on the project.  The Guardian also interviewed a number of the town residents, including several people who were on the ballot this week.

This week it was the New York Times who dispatched a reporter to Potrero to preview the recall.  The reporter ended up breaking news, even though I don't believe he knew it:

(much more on the flip)

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

There are studies after studies of academics, a Committee headed by a former law and order Republican Governor, and bipartisan groups such as the state's Little Hoover Commission decrying the ceaseless ratcheting up of the years of punishment for crime in this state since we adopted a "determinate" sentencing law in 1976. You can see a stack of them in the picture to the left. California's newspapers have recognized this problem and there have been a number of editorials on this of late.

Republicans have been the main culprits in the thirty years war in this state to prove they are the toughest on crime. Their behavior reminds me of George Wallace, the segregationist Governor of Alabama, a Democrat, who after losing an election early on vowed to never be "outsegged" again.

Whether it is through ballot propositions or the dozens of bills to increase sentences they introduce every year, they try to intimidate Democrats in marginal districts into this game of one-upmanship. They complain of bills being held up in committee if they don't get that way. When sentences are increased one year, they are back next year trying to up the ante. To quote a phrase, "There ain't enough red meat to feed that alligator."

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Deborah Snow

The Sacramento Bee as well as other California newspapers have run many articles lately concerning the California Chiropractic Board. Staff and Board member behavior reported includes illegal firing procedures, violating open meeting laws and a possible attempt to influence the judicial progress with an ongoing case against a chiropractor. I’m relieved that this board’s unethical behavior is finally in the public eye.

My own experience with this board came several years ago when I contacted them to file a complaint of misconduct against a practicing chiropractor. I had one phone interview with Catherine Hayes (then an enforcement employee) at my own initiative, and she told me that they didn’t like to refer cases of misconduct to their investigators without hard proof or third party witnesses in part due to the expense of paying their investigators.