Brian Leubitz Posts

DOMA faces skeptical Kennedy
The audio of the DOMA Oral Arguments is now available online, and all signs are positive for the LGBT community. I'll post some snips to this post shortly. At any rate, Justice Kennedy seemed very skeptical of the federal government's right to ignore state definition of marriages.
If the Supreme Court can find its way through a dense procedural thicket, and confront the constitutionality of the federal law that defined marriage as limited to a man and a woma

Election to replace Ben Hueso, who won Senate special election
by Brian Leubitz
A quick break from the Prop 8 coverage with some local elections news. Fresh from the SoS twitter feed, we learn that the Governor has just set the date for the AD-80 special election:
Governor sets special election for AssemblyDistrict 80 (part SanDiego County): primary=5/21, runoff(if needed)=7/30. Candidates file by 3/29— CA SOS Vote (@CASOSvote) March 26, 2013
That filin

Court looks unprepared to make a sweeping decision for marriage equality
by Brian Leubitz
Any decision is still months away, but today's oral argument did give some strong clues that the Court, and Justice Anthony Kennedy particularly, is not ready to make any big decisions one way or another. From Tom Goldstein at SCOTUSBlog:
The bottom line, in my opinion, is that the Court probably will not have the five votes necessary to get to any result at all, and almost

Feb. 10,2011
Feb. 10,2013

Political Party
# Registered
% of Total
# Registered
% of Total
American Independent
417,567
2.43 %
476,157
2.64 %
Americans Elect
N/A
 N/A
3,417
0.02 %
Democratic
7,569,581
 44.04 %
7,932,373

Makes argument for marriage as a "fundamental right"
by Brian Leubitz
Attorney General Kamala Harris (disclosure: I worked on her 2010 campaign) has always been a stalwart defender of marriage equality, and has appeared in many forums on the issue. Her appearance on CNN's morning show with Candy Crowley was much the same. You can view that segment to the right.
The Prop 8 case can go a number of ways. The Court can strike down Prop 8 for California alone, along the same lines as the 9th Circuit. They could strike down bans on same-sex marriage more generally. Or they co

$11B bond package to lose storage money
by Brian Leubitz
California's water issues have never been easy. North vs South. Environmentalists vs Developers vs Agriculture. And more. There's never enough to satisfy everybody.  And, oh yeah, we spend some big bucks on procuring it.
The water bond scheduled for 2014 is not without its share of controversy, and some have called for a slimmed down package. And now Sen. Steinberg is saying that he expects

GOP faces credibility and demographic issues
by Brian Leubitz
I left one set of numbers off the previous PPIC poll post, mostly because they deserved to be called out independently. Namely, this party data is deeply troubling for the future of the Republican Party:

If you are a Republican, the only thing I suppose you can hang your hat upon is that you still just as well with white voters as the Democrats do.  Except that with t

New PPIC Poll shows voters want HSR and water projects on the cheap
by Brian Leubitz
Everybody likes getting stuff. Whether it is a free smoothie or a shiny new high speed train. However, most of those everybodies are not so into paying for it. At least, that's what we hear from the latest PPIC numbers):
Voters passed a $10 billion bond in 2008 for the planning and construction of high-

San Francisco has been there from day one
By Brian Leubitz
Back in 2004, Gavin Newsom was not a popular dude in Democratic circles. Well, scratch that, he was an enormously popular dude in almost all circles in San Francisco, with approval ratings over 80%. But, take a few steps out of the SF bubble, and Democrats were seething over what many saw as the reason for John Kerry's loss in 2004. From the New York Times in 2004:
Some in the party were suggesting even before the ele

Will continue to foster development of so-called "farm team"
by Brian Leubitz
In case you hadn't noticed, the Democratic Party is doing pretty well in the Legislature and our Congressional delegation.  However, the new CRP chair, Jim Brulte, is looking to start small, as you can hear in the video to the right if you care to wade through some shaky camera work and uninspiring Republican anecdotes.
John Burton, who is running for re-election to CDP chair and who worked relatively effectively with Brulte during their Leade

Reform package would change makeup of board
by Brian Leubitz
Pension reform is always a thorny issue, and when you just defeated the Assemblyman who was supposed to be the chair of the public employees retirement committee, the issue might become a little more salient. And so, it shouldn't come as a huge surprise that Asm. Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) is spending some of his time on the issue. In this case, he is putting forward a bill on the m

AB 417 would increase bicycle transit plans
by Brian Leubitz
Every so often I delve into the joy of filed legislation, and now seems like a good time. There hasn't been too much progress made at the subject matter committees. So, with that, I jumped into the decrepit website that the state pretends is a suitable California legislation tracking system with a random number. My choice this time: 417.
I had my choice between an SB 417 and an AB 417. Considering that SB 417 was a technical change to the Dept of Consumer Affairs, off I went to check out AB 417, a bill by Asm.

A guest post from our friends at the Burnt Orange Report
by Katherine Haenschen
The Texas Tribune released an interesting nugget from their polling results -- it appears that the majority of Californians who flee the Golden State for the Lone Star are actually conservatives, rather than likely Democratic voters who can help turn the state blue.
As Joshua Blank of the

Bench is deep for California Democrats
by Brian Leubitz
Congressional seats don't come up often, and when people get there, they tend to stay. The California Congressional delegation is no different. Except right now, the delegation has several septuagenarians, and as Pete Stark learned, there are always a few people spoiling for a fight. And so Roll Call, a publication that caters to DC insiders,

Cites high costs and skewed priorities
by Brian Leubitz
Gov. Jerry Brown didn't like the prison receivership when he was Attorney General and tried to get it closed up. And he sure doesn't like it any more from the Horseshoe. And he let the world know about said dislike ahead of a hearing to consider the future of the prison receivership.
"During the life of these lawsuits, the prison health care budget has gone from $700 million to $2 billion. ... That money is coming out of the university, it's coming out of child care. It's a situation you wouldn't dr

Special elections mean supermajority will come and go
by Brian Leubitz
You would need a supercomputer to keep up with the supermajority these days. But perhaps the better question is what that means for the state.
With the recent Los Angeles elections, the Assembly will certainly lose Bob Blumenfield, and the May run-offs could mean that Curren Price will need a replacement for his Senate seat. The LA Times attempts to break it down:
Blumenfield, chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee, won't leave state office until July 1. But his planned depa

Garcetti and Greuel favorites for run-off
by Brian Leubitz
With no clear favorite, Los Angeles looks ready to set up a run off for mayor, and possibly several other elections. As of the most recent LATimes/USC poll, Garcetti and Greuel are deadlocked on the trail of the top two runoff spots:
The survey, taken last Sunday through Wednesday, found Garcetti at 27% and Greuel at a statistically even 25%. Bunched behind the two Democrats were Republican lawyer Kevin James at 15% and Democratic Councilwoman Jan Perry at 14%. Former technology executive Emanuel

New funding scheme would give districts with high rates of English learners additional resources
by Brian Leubitz
The Department of Finance issued a report with a new funding scheme for K12 schools in the state, with bonuses going to schools with high percentages of English learners and low-income students. Both of these  have been pri
The rep

Several Republican governors have already rejected medicaid expansion
by Brian Leubitz
There was never any real whiff of news that Governor Brown would consider opposing the federally supported medicaid expansion, but in recent months he has been explicit about that support. Now he has some support from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's office
Legislative analyst Mac Taylor urged lawmakers to adopt an optional Medicaid expansion that features an enhanced cost match from the federal government, meaning Uncle Sam will pick up most of the tab and send b

Multiple candidates aiming to get into top two in March balloting
by Brian Leubitz
While the value of newspaper endorsements has surely waned, in a municipal election where many of the candidates are finding difficulties distinguishing themselves from each other, the LA Times endorsement could grab a few votes. And this round, City Councilman Eric Garcetti gets that nod:
As council president, [Garcetti] worked behind the scenes to awaken his colleagues to the depth of the city's financial crisis and to take action they did not want to take, imposing layo...