Unfair fight?
State and local housing councils act as prosecutor, judge and jury against perceived discrimination. Critics see a conflict of interest.
SACRAMENTO A few little words could cost Dan Bader a fortune.
In 2006, Bader advertised an apartment for rent on Craigslist. He wanted $1,950 a month for the adjoining 480-square foot unit in back of his Newport Beach home. As an afterthought, he added, “Well suited for professional adults” and “Perfect for 1 or 2 professionals.”
Bad move. . .
Dan Walters: Illegal immigrants didn’t cause California fiscal crisis
With illegal immigration a burning concern among Californians – as demonstrated anew by a recent Public Policy Institute of California poll – and the Capitol’s politicians sparring over how to close a whopping budget deficit, it was inevitable that the two issues would be merged.
It happened last week when Republican Assembly members unveiled legislation aimed, they said, at eliminating public services to illegal immigrants, echoing Proposition 187, a 1994-vintage ballot measure that voters enacted only to see it voided in the courts. Republicans claim illegal immigrants cost taxpayers $9 billion a year, just about the remaining budget deficit, citing a 2004 study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
And the mother of Republican Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee confronted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger during one of his “town hall” events on the budget in San Luis Obispo, asking him how the state should handle fiscal burdens caused by illegal immigrants. . .
Students to cut classes for Cesar Chavez day
Student activists at UCLA and other schools around the state plan to cut classes today—Cesar Chavez day—to protest the failure of schools to close down on the state holiday marking the birthday of the co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America.
The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action Integration and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary—which calls itself BAMN —will lead a rally and march planned by the student activists. Other rallies will be held elsewhere in Los Angeles, Oakland and Sacramento, organizers said.
“On Chavez Holiday, we will be marching for dignity, equal treatment and respect,” said Los Angeles BAMN organizer Hoku Jeffrey. . .
California officials find Nevada ads ‘un-Bear-able’
SACRAMENTO — As California business leaders bristle at vows by lawmakers to close the budget gap with new corporate taxes, the good people of Nevada see a Golden State opportunity.
In a series of advertisements in newspapers and business journals that portray California in cartoons, the Nevada Development Authority is trying to lure California enterprises across the state line.
“Doing your part to carry the un-Bear-able load?” asks one ad, which features a cartoon of a businessman lugging the bear from California’s state flag on his back. The bear has a fistful of cash in its mouth and, just to be clear, the words “California Taxes” on its left hind leg. . .
Supervisor’s expenses are questioned
Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby, who earlier this month admitted using political contributions to pay for a hotel stay during a spat with his wife, spent nearly $8,000 from his campaign account in the last months of 2007 on unexplained charges, campaign finance records show.
The spending, which included more than $1,300 in payments to himself, occurred during a period when Norby moved out of his home because of marital problems and was living in a hotel and, briefly, his office in the county Hall of Administration in Santa Ana.
Norby recently acknowledged that a $340 hotel charge—labeled a “study of homeless and hotel families” on his campaign committee report—was a weeklong stay for himself. He repaid the money to his campaign account when asked about it by The Times. . .
