Saturday, May 31, 2008

Last days before election all about money

If money buys you love, hearts are pounding for Nancy Skinner.

Skinner is leading three other candidates in campaign contributions for the 14th Assembly District race up for grabs on Tuesday.

Skinner, an East Bay Regional Park District member and former Berkeley City Councilwoman, has raised $279,250 with just a few days to go before the election, according to records filed with the California Secretary of State's office.

The district represents voters in Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Kensington, Richmond and portions of Oakland as well as Orinda, Moraga, Lafayette and part of Pleasant Hill.

Last days before election all about money

If money buys you love, hearts are pounding for Nancy Skinner.

Skinner is leading three other candidates in campaign contributions for the 14th Assembly District race up for grabs on Tuesday.

Skinner, an East Bay Regional Park District member and former Berkeley City Councilwoman, has raised $279,250 with just a few days to go before the election, according to records filed with the California Secretary of State's office.

The district represents voters in Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Kensington, Richmond and portions of Oakland as well as Orinda, Moraga, Lafayette and part of Pleasant Hill.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Contra Costa recorder-clerk plans own same-sex wedding

Contra Costa County Recorder-Clerk Stephen Weir not only has to prepare his office to handle same-sex marriages, he must pick out centerpieces too.

The 59-year-old Concord resident and his partner of 18 years plan on being the first same-sex couple to marry in Contra Costa County.

"I didn't think it could happen in my career or in my lifetime," said Weir, who balked at getting hitched in 2004 when San Francisco began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples questioning the legality. "Plus, I wanted to get my own license from my own offices."

More requests to stay same-sex marriage ruling

Another conservative group and 10 state Attorneys General have asked the state Supreme Court to stay its decision striking down state laws that ban same-sex marriage until after voters have had a chance to enact a constitutional ban this November.

The Campaign for California Families filed its petition Thursday, as did the Attorneys General of Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah. The Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund had filed a similar request May 22; the San Francisco City Attorney's office and attorneys for same-sex couples filed oppositions earlier this week.

Schools seek parcel tax, bond measures

Only two school districts in Alameda and Contra Costa counties will be asking voters to approve parcel taxes for educational programs Tuesday, but there may be many more such ballot measures.

Two other school districts on Tuesday will ask voters to approve bond measures to pay for school facilities improvements.

"In this year there are more going out for parcel taxes," said Dublin school board President Denis King.

The district will soon see results of a survey gauging support for a parcel tax measure. He said the state budget deficit, and its effect on schools, shows why a stable, locally controlled school funding source is needed.

Anti-Glover mailer is false, misleading

An opponent-funded campaign mailer targeting Supervisor Federal Glover of Pittsburg contains major misstatements and false impressions.

Erik Nunn of Oakley, one of five candidates running June 3 for the District 5 seat on the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, paid for the four-page glossy brochure.

The Times periodically examines campaign literature and informs voters of the facts. Here's a breakdown of what the mailer says, the facts and Nunn's responses:

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Property rights initiatives triggers rent-control clash

SACRAMENTO — Many residents of California cities that control rent fear a property-rights initiative on the June 3 statewide ballot — and half those cities are in the Bay Area.

Whether renting apartments in downtown Oakland or San Francisco, or mobile homes in Concord or Daly City, thousands of residents embrace caps on their rents in one of the most expensive regions in the nation, say opponents of Proposition 98.

The ballot measure would phase out current rent controls and ban new ones, raising tenants' living costs.

Martinez congressman dedicates years to tiny island worker abuse reforms

Rep. George Miller doesn't follow the Old West maxim, "Know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em."

The veteran Democratic congressman in 1992 held the first House hearing on sweatshop abuses in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth 5,700 miles from his hometown in Martinez.

Undeterred by the distance and time, he would spend the next 16 years fighting for island labor reforms, spurred by horrific stories of desperately poor people lured into indentured servitude, inhumane working and living conditions, rapes and forced abortions.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Aide, boss now battle for district seat

Both candidates for the Third District Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors seat say they feel betrayed.

"Absolutely," says incumbent Mary Piepho, a 45-year-old former aide to her opponent, state Assemblyman Guy Houston, District 15. "He encouraged me to run for the job to begin with. ... Not only did he encourage me to run for the job, he supported me once I got here and then he encouraged me to run for his (Assembly) seat."

Houston, a 47-year-old San Ramon resident, says he was also hoodwinked.

Time working against Assembly speaker's legacy prospects

SACRAMENTO — The emerald green Scalamandre silk drapes flowing from 15-foot-high windows, a massive mahogany partner's desk and Turkish leather chairs featured in her 821-square-foot office all speak to the trappings of power that enveloped Karen Bass as she assumed her new role earlier this month as speaker of the Assembly.

As the first African-American woman speaker in the state's — and the nation's — legislative history, the Los Angeles Democrat has already carved her place in history. She stands in as a symbol of progress and a triumph of California's diverse reservoir of talent.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

GOP hard-pressed to keep Houston's seat

The stakes may be high for the six candidates vying for the District 15 Assembly seat of termed-out incumbent Guy Houston, R-San Ramon, but there may be more on the line for the four Republican candidates.

With three-termer Houston being the only Bay Area Republican serving in Sacramento, the region's Capitol contingent could become GOP-free if the Democrats win District 15 in November.

Four Republicans and two Democrats have been campaigning hard for the June 3 primary, each hoping to earn their party's nomination for the November general election.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Property rights initiatives triggers rent-control clash

SACRAMENTO — Many residents of California cities that control rent fear a property-rights initiative on the June 3 statewide ballot — and half those cities are in the Bay Area.

Whether renting apartments in downtown Oakland or San Francisco, or mobile homes in Concord or Daly City, thousands of residents embrace caps on their rents in one of the most expensive regions in the nation, say opponents of Proposition 98.

The ballot measure would phase out current rent controls and ban new ones, raising tenants' living costs.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Dems gain control in East Bay cities

The East Bay's slow but steady transformation from conservative suburb to Democratic stronghold appears nearly complete.

In the past six months, four well-established GOP cities have flipped to a Democratic Party registration advantage, leaving only Danville and Clayton in the GOP's column.

East Bay leaders in both parties credit the uptick in Democratic Party participation to the sharply contested presidential contest, the national candidates' dogged pursuit of the youth vote, and hot issues including the Iraq war and the sour economy.

Election excitement energizing younger voters

Inspired by a fierce interest in the presidential election, a gasping economy and the ongoing Iraq war, a growing number of East Bay young people see voting and politics as a path to change.

Nearly half the 58,000 new registrants in Contra Costa and Alameda counties since Sept. 1 are younger than 30, a Times analysis of voter registration data showed. Sixteen percent of all East Bay registered voters fall into this age category.

"Young voters' lot in life is tough right now," said California Young Democrats President Rocky Fernandez, citing the poor economy, college debt, less access to health insurance and the war. "But our generation is still hopeful. We see government as a tool for good, and we think we can have an effect at the polls."

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Hancock pulls ahead of Chan with late fundraising push

SACRAMENTO — Over the last two months heading into the June 3 primary, Berkeley Assemblywoman Loni Hancock has reeled in twice as much cash as former lawmaker Wilma Chan, her opponent for an East Bay state Senate seat.

Hancock has been the Democratic establishment's choice, and her lead in fundraising reflects that, according to campaign finance reports filed Friday with the Secretary of State's office.

She has raised $249,379 since mid-March to Chan's $97,992 in the same period. Overall this year, Hancock has raised $374,476 to Chan's $131,552 — indicating the current lawmaker is an overwhelming favorite over the ex-lawmaker, at least among the money-giving crowd.

Five vie to represent District 5

Has Federal Glover delivered?

The incumbent and his campaign signs say yes. The four opponents vying for his District 5 seat in the June 3 election say no — emphatically.

"I think he's been mediocre. He's done a lot of show, with summits and a lot of nongovernmental policymaking work," says Gary Agopian, an Antioch school board trustee.

"The joke is he still thinks of himself as the mayor of Pittsburg. Everything goes there and stops," Brentwood business owner Don Parscal said.

Friday, May 23, 2008

CSUEB will try again to expand Concord offerings

Though rebuffed by skeptical community college leaders last year, Cal State East Bay administrators again will ask the same group to permit expanded use of the university's Concord campus.

For the third time since October, university leaders will make their case Wednesday to the Contra Costa Community College District.

The same tough questions are likely to face the university administrators, who want to offer first- and second-year courses in Concord. And the contentious issue has picked up political steam, with Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, opposing other state and local politicians on the matter.

GOP hard-pressed to keep 15th District Assembly seat

The stakes may be high for all six candidates vying for the District 15 Assembly seat of termed-out incumbent Guy Houston, R-San Ramon, but there may be more on the line for the four Republican candidates.

With three-termer Houston being the only Bay Area Republican serving in Sacramento, the region's Capitol contingent could become GOP-free if the Democrats win District 15 in November.

Four Republicans and two Democrats have been campaigning hard for the June 3 primary, each hoping to earn their party's nomination for the November general election.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

PPIC poll shows big property rights concern but indecision on Props 98, 99

SACRAMENTO — Most Californians are concerned about government's power to take away private property, but many likely voters remain wary of a clash over two property-rights initiatives on the June 3 ballot, according to a poll released today.

The Public Policy Institute of California survey shows that 7 in 10 voters think the government's power of eminent domain needs some kind of reform after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling narrowed property rights in 2005.

Grand jury recommends closure of Mount Diablo Health Care District

Nearly all of the $1.3 million in property tax revenue generated over the last four years by the Mount Diablo Health Care District has gone toward administrative costs, leading the county's grand jury to recommend its closure.

In more than a decade, the embattled district has spent $5,000 on health-related services — a single 2007 donation to the California State University, East Bay, nursing program, according to a Contra Costa County grand jury report released Monday.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Public transit advocates make case in state Capitol

By Erik N. Nelson

SACRAMENTO — While there's no shortage of people making rounds at the Capitol asking for more money from the state's cash-strapped treasury, those organized by the Oakland-based Transportation and Land Use Coalition on Tuesday were unusual.

There's plenty of money designated for their cause. They just want to keep it.

Last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature diverted $1.3 billion from booming gasoline tax receipts from public transportation to other uses to help cover a budget shortfall. This year, the shortfall in the $101.8 billion budget is more than $15 billion, and the proposed transit diversion from the governor's May budget revision is being repeated by nearly the same amount.

For some, politics begets citizenship

SAN FRANCISCO — Emmanuel Addo has carefully followed American politics for a long time now — longer even than the 18 years he has lived in this country.

But it took the excitement surrounding this year's upcoming presidential election for the San Leandro resident and immigrant from Ghana to decide he should stop talking about politics and start voting. On Tuesday, Addo joined 1,474 other Bay Area immigrants from 100 countries who took the oath of citizenship during a mass ceremony in San Francisco.

Governor's trips must be disclosed

SACRAMENTO — Some of the most influential business leaders who've underwritten Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's trips abroad will now have to do so more openly under a rule adopted Monday by the state's political ethics watchdog agency.

The rule will prohibit private groups from providing gifts such as travel expenses to agencies on behalf of elected officials and others — a practice employed by Schwarzenegger that has been criticized as too secretive. Starting in July, the Fair Political Practices Commission will require donors to make gifts directly to officials, who must report the details on their publicly available statements of financial interest.

Tribes unite to discredit Berkeley lawmaker

An East Bay assemblywoman and state senate candidate says a recent mailer slamming her record on education shows nothing more than an American Indian tribe's vengeance about her opposition to its big casino plans in San Pablo — and even her main rival came to her defense.

Democratic voters in the 9th Senate District recently received a mailer accusing Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, of trying to weaken state academic standards in legislation she sponsored in 2006. Hancock faces off in the June 3 state Senate primary against former Assembly Majority Leader Wilma Chan of Alameda.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Governor's trips must be disclosed

SACRAMENTO — Some of the most influential business leaders who've underwritten Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's trips abroad will now have to do so more openly under a rule adopted Monday by the state's political ethics watchdog agency.

The rule will prohibit private groups from providing gifts such as travel expenses to agencies on behalf of elected officials and others — a practice employed by Schwarzenegger that has been criticized as too secretive. Starting in July, the Fair Political Practices Commission will require donors to make gifts directly to officials, who must report the details on their publicly available statements of financial interest.

Feds officially kill off Oakland casino plan

Four years after meeting with harsh rebuke from local officials, an Indian tribe's plan for a big casino near Oakland International Airport officially died Monday.

The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs announced a decision to cancel work on an environmental review of the Lower Lake Rancheria Koi Nation proposal for a casino, hotel and spa complex on 35 acres of parking lot near Pardee Drive.

The tribe's 2004 plan found isolated support from Oakland Councilman Larry Reid, who was angling for some $20 million a year in payments to the city. But the City Council rejected the idea, which Alameda, Berkeley and San Leandro also opposed. In 2005, the tribe let its option lapse on the land. In a notice published Monday in the Federal Register, the agency said the 50-member tribe had "ceased pursuing activity" on the environmental review.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Schwarzenegger wants to double lottery profits

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger calls the California lottery an "underperforming asset,'' and there's solid evidence that the state does rake in fewer dollars per resident than many others in the lottery business.

But exactly how would the state double lottery profits — the centerpiece of the governor's plan to close a $17.2 billion budget deficit?

Consider these possibilities: How about playing the lottery online? Or sliding your credit card into a machine to buy tickets, instead of waiting in line to fork over cash to a convenience store teller?

Club tries, fails to solve budget riddle

ORINDA — Blame the heat. Or maybe it was just too hard to choose between an affordable college education and health care for poor people in wheelchairs.

But the 40 hardy folks of the Lamorinda Democrat Club gathered in a community room with no air conditioning on an unseasonably warm Friday night just couldn't balance the out-of-whack state budget.

The exercise was courtesy of Next 10, a Palo Alto-based nonpartisan organization that brought its portable version of the online California Budget Challenge to Orinda.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Budget protesters surround Capitol

SACRAMENTO — Students protested Thursday on one side of the Capitol against $3 billion in public school funding cuts, while demonstrators on the other side attacked broader, deeper slashes in health and human services programs.

The rallies came the day after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed ways to deal with a state budget deficit that has grown to $17.2 billion, due to a "spending problem."

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell told students, mostly from Contra Costa, Alameda and Santa Clara counties, that California doesn't have a "spending problem" but actually "a problem with our values, a problem with our priorities."

East Bay residents gratified about court's fairness

People interviewed near eateries in Oakland during lunchtime Thursday mostly agreed with the court's ruling.

"This should have been taken care of in the 1960s. That's when everybody should have had their civil rights granted."

— Elaine Jackson of Los Angeles, now living in Oakland

"It's great. It's a surprise and a happy one because government doesn't belong in that part of our lives."

— David Pomfret of Los Gatos

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Court to rule on same-sex marriage Thursday

California's Supreme Court will deliver a decision today on whether the state's statutory ban on same-sex marriage is constitutional, a bellwether ruling for the nation that could alter the issue's framing for years to come.

At issue is whether marriage is a fundamental civil right only when it is between one man and one woman, or when it's between any two people.

Several same-sex couples and advocacy groups, joined by the city and county of San Francisco — which ratcheted up the rhetoric by issuing same-sex marriage licenses in 2004, only to see them voided by this court — argue that California law's ban violates same-sex couples' equal-protection rights and has no rational purpose.

Craigslist founder urges activism in UC Berkeley commencement speech

BERKELEY — Playing to the UC Berkeley's liberal reputation, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark told graduating seniors Tuesday that they will be responsible for "rebuilding" the country after President Bush's term ends.

In a rambling and mostly off-the-cuff speech under a hot afternoon sun, Newmark said he no longer has the energy to save the world but has been encouraged by the drive of the younger generation.

"The bad news is I'm going to ask you to do it," he said. "The good news is you're already doing it."

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Craigslist founder urges activism in UC Berkeley commencement speech

BERKELEY — Playing to the University of Califoirnia, Berkeley's liberal reputation, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark told graduating seniors Tuesday that they will be responsible for "rebuilding" the country after President Bush's term ends.

In a rambling and mostly off-the-cuff speech under a hot afternoon sun, Newmark said he no longer has the energy to save the world but has been encouraged by the drive of the younger generation.

Lawmakers to governor: Sell unneeded land, not lottery

By Steve Geissinger

SACRAMENTO — Lawmakers of both parties moved Tuesday toward making sale of unneeded state properties — not the lottery — a way to ease painful cuts in services as a result of next year's huge budget deficit.

After MediaNews reports on unsold surplus property and a little-known University of California research station on a tropical island, senators held a special hearing and directed the state auditor to obtain updated land inventories — not only unused, but also underused and "exotic" holdings.

Craigslist founder urges activism in UC Berkeley commencement speech

BERKELEY — Playing to the UC Berkeley's liberal reputation, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark told graduating seniors Tuesday that they will be responsible for "rebuilding" the country after President Bush's term ends.

In a rambling and mostly off-the-cuff speech under a hot afternoon sun, Newmark said he no longer has the energy to save the world but has been encouraged by the drive of the younger generation.

"The bad news is I'm going to ask you to do it," he said. "The good news is you're already doing it."

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Lawmakers see potential, untapped gold mine in surplus land

By Steve Geissinger

SACRAMENTO — Legislators plan to grill state officials today about failure to sell surplus land, call for a full accounting of unneeded property, and question the University of California about retaining a donated parcel in the South Pacific.

Spurred by MediaNews reports last month, lawmakers want to explore whether longtime but ignored recommendations for streamlining sales of surplus property in high-value markets, such as the Bay Area, could finally be implemented to reduce a budget deficit of perhaps $20 billion.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Governor may face donor fatigue

SACRAMENTO — Kicking his fundraising machine into high gear this spring, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has tapped donors for just enough cash to position his redistricting initiative for the November ballot.

He has raised $5.5 million through the first four months of the year, largely on the backs of 17 six-figure donors — those who have given $100,000 or more — including New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who gave $250,000 to the Schwarzenegger-led California Voters First ballot measure.

Parsing Perata requires deeper look

SACRAMENTO — Perhaps sensing that few in the media would accept his explanation at face value for why he was dropping his bid to remove a Republican colleague from office, Senate leader Don Perata declared pre-emptively "there was no quid pro quo."

It was an interesting insight into the Oakland Democrat's thinking of how he's viewed: that anything he does must have an ulterior motive and must be plumbed for deeper meaning.

Among the curious onlookers at the surreal scene — on the steps of the Capitol, after hours and put together in a matter of 20 minutes after a cryptic advisory was sent out — were a handful of Democratic legislative staff members who were themselves trying to make sense of Perata's abrupt decision to back down from the recall drive he launched against Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced, for voting against last year's budget.

"What do you think this is really about?" one staff member asked.

No simple explanation could cover the range of possibilities tied to his decision, though Perata tried. He insisted that the only reason he gave up the recall bid — for which he and the state Democratic party had invested hundreds of thousands of dollars — was so that he could enter upcoming budget negotiations without a partisan cloud looming.

It may be true, said political observers, that Republicans were telling Perata at every opportunity that the recall was a major obstacle to resolving the budget Advertisementcrisis. But, it's also true, they said, that the recall was headed for a big defeat, a prospect that Perata insisted had no bearing on his decision.

"Why doesn't he say it?" asked Garry South, a Democratic political consultant. "Hey, you got to paste the high-principled patina on even the most political of actions. He's probably being realistic (in anticipating skepticism). He's known as a dealmaker, a powerbroker. He has a certain leadership style that's somewhat old school. He is intriguing, and somewhat inscrutable."

Using the importance of budget negotiations was a "convenient, graceful way out" of explaining a potentially "embarrassing" loss at the polls, said Larry Gerston, political science professor at San Jose State.

But Perata's explanation strained credulity, Gerston said, given the fact that the budget deficit, in the billions, was understood as a crisis before the "Dump Denham" campaign even turned in signatures to get the recall on the ballot.

"If his main concern is the budget, he knew about the budget problems when the recall was started," Gerston said. "If that's his reason, it begs the question of, why did the recall begin in the first place? All these things don't add up."

Perata said the gravity of the state's finances didn't hit him until recent conversations he had with state Treasurer Bill Lockyer and state Controller John Chiang.

Perata's decision to drop the recall bid shows his political flexibility, said Democratic strategist Darry Sragow.

"I'm told it was unlikely to succeed, that it was an expensive uphill climb," Sragow said. "The prospects were not looking particularly good, coupled with the need to get Republican votes on the budget, so it made perfectly good sense to pull the plug. I think he gets credit for being flexible.

"He's a political leader who plays chess pretty well," Sragow added. "He can think in complex terms and several moves ahead."

Too often, however, he plows ahead with his political agenda, critics say, without regard to consequence.

"Millions of dollars have been wasted and public attention has been distracted from critically important issues by a recall attempt that's been seen as a personal vendetta," said Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring. "How Perata ultimately reconciles that with his own legacy will be interesting to see. But clearly this was seen widely as an abuse of power and an abuse of the process."

Being a leader has taken a toll on Perata, once a government teacher who rose to the top of the Oakland political machine before arriving in Sacramento in 1996. The cloud of an influence-peddling FBI investigation has hovered over him for his entire tenure as leader. He had to withstand withering criticism, and was made a poster child for power-hungry politicians, for making sure Proposition 93, the term limits extension ballot measure, would have applied to him. He is under investigation by the Fair Political Practices Commission for possible campaign finance violations.

But through it all, observers said, he has proved his durability by remaining Senate leader.

"He's the seasoned politician who's seen it all," said Barbara O'Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and the Media at Sacramento State. "He's played the game well."

Still, he may not have been up for the two-pronged fight that Republicans were vowing — at the polls and the negotiating table.

"What do you do if you're Don Perata? He needs to leave some kind of legacy, so he had to cry uncle," said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst at the University of Southern California. "Or an already battered image would be more battered. It certainly wasn't out of the goodness of his heart that he pulled the recall off the table."



  • Oil Surpasses $125 Per Barrel
  • Perata drops ‘Dump Denham’ campaign
  • Governor may face donor fatigue
  • Sunday, May 11, 2008

    County supervisor candidates debate in televised forums

    It didn't take long for the District 3 Contra Costa County supervisor's televised candidate round-table to get muddy.

    State Assemblyman Guy Houston, R-San Ramon, running against his former staff member Mary Nejedly Piepho, opened the debate attacking the incumbent for voting herself a 60 percent pay raise and then slammed her on "voting to violate the county's urban limit line."

    Piepho later accused Houston of attempting to "slash and burn" the relationship between management and county employee unions.

    Saturday, May 10, 2008

    Crackdown on bingo machines worries East Bay charities

    East Bay charities that operate electronic gaming machines to lift their bingo parlor profits fear a sudden state crackdown this week on some games in Sacramento could spread — and slash a major source of nonprofit revenue.

    The state Department of Justice for years had done little to enforce laws over what it considers illegal bingo machines that in some cases mimic slots — which only Indian tribes can legally operate on tribal land in California. State Attorney General Jerry Brown issued an opinion on electronic bingo in August, but some charity officials called it vague. With no enforcement, few stopped using the machines.

    But the lack of enforcement ended Wednesday, when state agents launched a sweep of bingo halls known to operate the suspect machines. By Friday, agents had handed 30-day cease-and-desist orders to seven Sacramento-area bingo parlors and one in Southern California, Department of Justice officials said.

    The department could seize machines if the charities fail to comply, the letter warned.

    Many of the more than 300 bingo charities in California rely on the machines to salvage losses from a double hit: a decade-old smoking ban, and the explosion of Indian gaming into a $7 billion industry since California voters passed Proposition 1A in 2000.

    Without its machines, "our charity will be significantly hurt and might not survive," said David Gibbs, executive director of the world class Concord Blue AdvertisementDevils drum and bugle corps, which supports 600 youths as well as a variety of school and community music programs. The charity gets about $250,000 annually — about 80 percent of its fundraising — from paper bingo and machines, Gibbs said.

    "What it means is our programs get cut back, our teachers get cut back, the community is impacted," he said. "Short-term, we could probably make do. Long-term we wouldn't be able to compete."

    Other charities in Oakland, Pleasant Hill, Albany and Antioch operate the machines, although it is unclear if the state will try to stop them.

    Casino-owning Indian tribes, meanwhile, have long complained about the machines. Some tribes claim the lack of enforcement violates the terms of their gaming compacts and the monopoly they hold on slot machines and other electronic gaming devices in California. At least one tribe has threatened to suspend tens of millions of dollars in annual payments to the state.

    Complaints have grown, and so has use of the machines, said Matt Campoy, acting chief of the state Bureau of Gambling Control, an arm of the state Department of Justice.

    "More and more people were starting to believe that maybe it's OK (to operate the machines)," Campoy said. "We decided to take action to slow it down. Obviously, we're sympathetic toward the charities. But you can't conduct illegal business. It's illegal money."

    Campoy said the enforcement would continue.

    "A lot of the people we've been visiting, they knew we were coming," Campoy said. "They're kind of like, 'We knew this was going to happen, we just didn't know when.' "

    A spokesman for a group of six powerful gaming tribes praised the state action. The group includes the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians, which operates more than 1,000 electronic bingo machines at the former Casino San Pablo site, which is now tribal land.

    "The attorney general would not be out there delivering cease-and-desist orders if the state didn't feel they were violating the state constitution," said Doug Elmets, a spokesman for the California Tribal Business Alliance. "We realize the charities need assistance, but sneaking slot machines into bingo halls is not the solution."

    Campoy, echoing an opinion from the Schwarzenegger administration, claimed that the machines used by bingo parlors are not slots, but that some are still illegal. According to Brown, bingo halls can use electronic "readers" to determine if a card is a winner, but not machines that substitute for bingo cards.

    At the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in Antioch on a recent night, dozens of bingo players sat at long white plastic tables, dabbing paper bingo sheets and also playing on black, computerized "Turbo Bingo" tablets. When the bingo caller dropped a ball, players dabbed their sheets and also entered the number into the electronic bingo "minders," which tracked hundreds of bingo matrices and sounded off when a player won. Other East Bay bingo halls use similar machines.

    Those machines may be illegal, Campoy said, but the agency for now is targeting only more sophisticated machines that look and play like slot machines.

    "In most cases, if they're not using paper, it's a strong possibility that they're illegal," he said. "Once the device is the major component of the game, you've changed the game."

    Legalizing the machines for charity bingo halls would require a constitutional amendment, he said.

    Gibbs, of the Concord Blue Devils, said it wasn't clear which of the charity's machines Brown might deem illegal. The charity has been running electronic bingo for about four years, Gibbs said.

    Gibbs is treasurer of the California Charity Alliance, a newly formed group of about 40 bingo charities, that was pushing Friday for a meeting with Brown.

    "We don't quite know what's happening," Gibbs said. "They're selecting certain machines the attorney general deems as not being legal. We just want a twig."



  • Crackdown on bingo machines worries East Bay charities
  • Tribe wanting to buld casino granted 254 acres in Bay Area
  • Crime top issue in North Oakland council contest

    NORTH OAKLAND — Councilmember Jane Brunner says in the 40 years she has lived in district, she's never seen the crime situation like it's been in the last year.

    "It's more personal," she said. "It's during the day. It's people coming up to you physically, with a gun or a knife at times of day when people are used to being able to walk around. It's more violent."

    Brunner has made reducing crime the top issue of her re-election campaign against Pat McCullough, an electronics technician and neighborhood activist who made headlines three years ago when he shot a 15-year-old boy in the arm in what authorities called self-defense.

    Local organizations, agencies rally against budget cuts

    With the state facing a budget deficit of as-yet-unknown proportions, organizations across the county who serve children, seniors and the disabled are becoming increasingly worried that cuts could soon close many programs.

    With this in mind, representatives from nearly two dozen community organizations and city and county agencies — calling themselves the Alameda County Safety Net Coalition — warned Thursday the state's threatened cuts will have a wide-ranging effect and will not hurt just the county's vulnerable population.

    "These cuts will affect everyone," said Wendy Peterson, director of the Senior Social Services Coalition of Alameda County, one of the groups making up the Safety Net Coalition. "We will all hurt, from cuts in safety net services to public services, to schools to our roads."

    Peterson echoed the comments of many representatives of the coalition, saying cuts to safety net programs would be penny-wise and pound foolish. During Thursday's news briefing, coalition members pointed to the effects cuts in public and social services really would have in the long run, such as increased visits to emergency rooms that would more than offset money saved from possible cuts.

    Members also voiced concerns over losing more funds for their programs than they would lose from state and local funds, since they also would lose matching federal dollars.

    What cuts the state budget will bring remains to be seen. Gov. Arnold AdvertisementSchwarzenegger's May revision is due next week, but the current budget deficit seems to fluctuate daily, with people in Sacramento claiming it's anywhere between $8 billion and $20 billion.

    Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, addressing the coalition, said it's time the state finally, seriously addresses its budget problem, after years of delay.

    "The state has basically balanced its budget with smoke and mirrors," Miley said.

    He added the county is facing a $73 million budget deficit it will have to close, and it also faces more than $11 million in cuts from the state, a number that could rise with the governor's revision.

    Professor Kim Geron, who teaches political science at Cal State East Bay, said the state has options other than making what he termed "short-sighted" cuts to key programs.

    "There are other ways to get out of this crisis," said Geron, such as possibly raising vehicle license fees or the corporate tax rate.

    Alameda County Safety Net Coalition members are supporting closing tax loopholes, eliminating tax cuts from the past decade and updating the state's tax system as ways to balance a troubled budget without cutting into social programs and directly affecting some county residents who can least afford it.

    Kent Ellsworth, executive director of Bay Area Community Services, says his organization serves 4,000 in the county, and more than 1,000 of those are home-bound, low-income elderly in Oakland who need more, not less.

    "These people are already on the edge," Ellsworth said. "They cannot survive any cuts in the safety net at all."



  • Clergy, teachers, civil rights groups oppose prison measure
  • Crime top issue in North Oakland council contest
  • Tribe wanting to buld casino granted 254 acres in Bay Area
  • Friday, May 9, 2008

    College trustee takes siblings to court

    In court documents, John T. accuses his siblings, Contra Costa Supervisor Mary Nejedly Piepho and Central Contra Costa Sanitary District member James Nejedly, of manipulating their father into changing the terms of his trust two years prior to his death at age 91 in 2006.

    Piepho and James Nejedly called their brother's decision to go to court unfortunate but say they welcome the chance to legally resolve the issue.

    "We're going to defend our dad's wishes to the best of our ability," Piepho said. "The record stands for itself and we look forward to airing the issue."

    John T. filed the petition on May 2 after a judge ruled earlier this spring that a lawsuit challenging the validity of amendments to the trust would not violate the trust's no-contest clause or result in the disinheritance of his three children.

    A hearing has been set for 9 a.m. June 19 in Dept. 61 in Superior Court in Martinez.

    The lawsuit has exposed a severe rift in one of Contra Costa County's most prominent political families.

    The chasm is so wide, in fact, that John T. has endorsed his sister's challenger, Assemblyman Guy Houston, in her re-election campaign for the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors.

    Friends close to the late senator adamantly deny John T.'s allegation that his father was mentally infirm or under the undue influence of James and Mary.

    Nejedly disinherited his eldest son, they say, over John T.'s failure to repay Advertisementloans and his unwillingness to preserve intact the senator's only major asset, a wooded, 13-acre parcel on Montecillo Drive in Walnut Creek with a home and a cottage.

    The senator was also heartbroken, they say, over John T.'s admitted struggles with cocaine and alcohol abuse, serious marital problems and a sexual misconduct allegation.The senator and his eldest son hadn't spoken to each other since late 2004 after a major falling out.

    But prior to his death, Nejedly made a videotape and explained his reasons in detail for cutting John T. out of his estate.

    Nejedly's initial 1998 trust left the Montecillo property to John T., except for 11/2 acres each to Mary and James or payments of $75,000 apiece.

    The senator amended the trust in 2003 and left the property to James, with provisions for payments of $300,000 to Mary and $250,000 to John T.

    In 2004, however, Nejedly stripped his eldest son completely of his estate in a third amendent. He continued to leave the property to James but directed $200,000 into a trust for his eight grandchildren and $300,000 for Mary.

    John T. is challenging the third amendment on the grounds that his father was physically unable to resist his siblings' efforts to undermine the father-son relationship and discredit him.

    In court documents, he asserts that his father was under "heavy pain medication, suffering from memory problems and delusional episodes." He also denied that he had failed to repay financial obligations to his father.



  • Tribe wanting to buld casino granted 254 acres in Bay Area
  • Tribe wanting to buld casino granted 254 acres in Bay Area
  • Clergy, teachers, civil rights groups oppose prison measure
  • Perata drops ‘Dump Denham’ campaign
  • Thursday, May 8, 2008

    Tribe wanting to buld casino granted 254 acres in Bay Area

    In a major step toward a Las Vegas-style mega-casino in the Bay Area, federal officials on Wednesday announced a decision to take 254 acres into trust for an American Indian tribe just off Highway 101 in Sonoma County.

    The 1,000-member Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria still needs a finalized environmental review, then must seal a state gaming compact before it can build a planned 760,000-square-foot casino complex with a 300-room hotel near Rohnert Park. But the decision pushes the tribe closer to that plan, which local opponents have fought for five years. Like the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians, which gained 9 acres of trust land in San Pablo — and now runs more than 1,000 electronic bingo machines there without a state compact — the decision Wednesday stems from a controversial act of Congress, not the usual regulatory approval process.

    Perata drops 'Dump Denham' campaign

    SACRAMENTO — After millions of dollars raised and spent and a long trail of acrimonious campaigning, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, said Wednesday he is dropping his bid to recall Sen. Jeff Denham, saying he worried it would get in the way of fixing the state's precarious fiscal condition.

    The abrupt move came, he said, after deciding that a recall of the Merced Republican would directly affect his ability to negotiate a budget with Republicans, who have assailed him for pursuing the recall.

    Clergy, teachers, civil rights groups oppose prison measure

    SACRAMENTO — Civil rights groups, teachers and clergy — many from the Bay Area — plan to form a coalition today to oppose a pending ballot initiative that they say would divert funds needed for schools and health care into misguided attacks on crime.

    The "Safe Neighborhoods Act: Stop Gang, Gun, and Street Crime" aims to bolster law enforcement funds and toughen gang-related crime penalties.

    Republican lawmakers and other authors of the proposed initiative submitted petitions bearing voters' signatures to election officials April 25 in hopes of qualifying it for the November statewide ballot.

    Governor enlists former foe for redistricting reform

    SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday enlisted former foe Gray Davis, whom he dispatched from office in the 2003 recall, to join the cause of redistricting reform.

    It was a much-needed show of unity for an effort that has been criticized as a Republican power grab, and it came on the day that organizers submitted 1.2 million signatures to election officials in a step toward qualifying the measure for the November ballot.