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With Only A Week To Go Before the CA-36 Special Election, It's Janice Hahn - 13, Trees - 0
The campaign to replace Jane Harman in CA-36 is no different. Spread out on my coffee table right now are a couple of mailers from Debra Bowen, one from Marcy Winograd that a volunteer stuffed under our welcome mat, one from Mike Gin, and even one from Tea Party candidate Craig Huey. However, none of these candidates holds a candle to Janice Hahn and her supporters, who sent out a thirteenth full-color mailer today. According to the FEC, Hahn leads all candidates but Craig Huey in cash-on-hand (money left in the bank after expenses), and that's enabled her to fund this juggernaut-in-wood-pulp with over $300,000 in donations and independent expenditures from business interests and lobbyists connected with LA City Hall, real estate developers,the nuclear industry,health insurance PACs, and even rent control opponents. Combing though the latest FEC reports, I found a number of interesting nuggets, but one recent donation worth noting in particular was from Tim Larkin, CEO of Warren Resources. Why this donation? Because Warren Resources, a New York City-based oil company with considerable ties to the Wilmington and Harbor area oil fields, was a vocal critic of Measure O,the oil extraction tax Hahn opposed putting on the ballot after initially supporting it. In the end, Hahn was the only LA City council member to vote against bringing the measure to voters, saying at the time,"I've reconsidered this and I have heard from various business groups who do feel like this might be the wrong climate to put this on the ballot." In addition, The Cooperative of American Physicians IE Committee, a PAC which represents medical malpractice insurers, has upped it's investment in Janice Hahn to over $75,000. A year ago, this same PAC partnered with oil, tobacco and other special interests to go after 53D Assemblymember Betsy Butler in the June 2010 primary. Butler has endorsed Debra Bowen in this congressional race. According to FEC reports, Janice Hahn is the only candidate so far to benefit from independent expenditures. It's likely to get worse before it gets better. I've heard rumors CAPC is planning to send out a negative hit-piece against Bowen this week, just as they did Butler, and that Hahn will be taking a page out of the Meg Whitman campaign, sending out yet another 20-30 page full-color brochure to voters for the general election. But hey, there's good news too. According to the Sierra Club (who've endorsed Debra Bowen), it turns out all those mailers are recyclable.
All Avenues
Dozens of teachers marched outside state Sen. Tony Strickland's Simi Valley office Monday, saying their students deserve a better future. And in Orange County: Nearly 300 educators, parents, students and rallied on Monday outside the Orange County offices of state Assemblyman Chris Norby, R-Fullerton to support proposed tax extensions they said will prevent billions in cuts to public schools. This is by no mean sufficient to change the tide in the state. We still need a lot of work before we can really change the narrative in the state. But this is how we do it. Go to the offices of these intransigent legislators and let them know what these cuts are doing to the state. And more importantly, mostly because many of these legislators hear lobbyists dollars far louder than their constituents, make sure that the story is picked up by the media. And the California Teachers Association and their allies are doing a pretty good job at getting the attention of the media. Whether the state is listening is a better question. However, given the nature of this problem, we need to be using every possible avenue. Big protests like this, and small conversations with your neighbors. This budget is simply not going to resolve itself, no matter how much wishful thinking we engage in.
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The last week of a campaign, as our mailbox fills to overflowing with glossy brochures extolling the virtues of competing candidates, we often find ourselves donning black, rending our garments, and contemplating the death of a million innocent trees. 
