Pray for California.

[Fire Walk With Me]

It appears that Enron/Ahnold/Republicans are getting their way/plans and that we're going to be Gerrymandered... Or pray that I'm wrong. Enron are rumored to have met secretly with Ahnold prior to their purposely causing the "rolling blackouts" and phony energy crisis which resulted in enough civil distress, that the Governor was outsted in a special runoff election. A newspaper article read "Enron planned schemes in advance", if you wish to reference some of this. I've believed that Republicans hate California for its blue status and number of votes, and have long wanted to "do something" about it.

To this scheme-seer, looks like Arnold is merely doing another Enron on our state economy. His comment about "giving the voters what they want" raised my hackles.

Please tell me where I'm wrong as I'm always interested in new information.

[The Hope Mobile]

1. I hadn't heard anything about gerrymandering recently. Where did

you hear this?

[Fire Walk With Me]

2. I'm wondering if they'll use the worsening economy to attempt to split CA

into two voting districts, North and South, or some such. Just something to keep an eye out for, among their many negative tricks for their own benefit.

[The Hope Mobile]

5. I heard something last week about there being a lot of buzz about

splitting California into 4 parts. 4 separate states. Not sure how serious that was.

[rvablue]

6. Not really something to "keep an eye out for" as it would violate the California Constitution. n/t

[The Hope Mobile]

9. Well, we've certainly seen the federal constitution violated in recent years.

Could it be done here too?

[Xithras]

12. Many of us up here in NorCal would be quite happy to see that.

The proposals to split the state really aren't partisan, as there are huge numbers of people in both parties who both support and oppose the idea.

[depakid]

3. California's already been gerrymandered to hell!

Therein lies part of the problem with the state.

[The Hope Mobile]

7. Hate to sound ignorant but could you explain that a bit?

thanks!

[depakid]

10. A lot of districts are split into very "safe" seats

so you can't get rid of Republicans -no matter how off the deep end or destructive to the state that they are. There's no accountability- and thus no incentive for the extremists to behave reasonably or responsibly during budget negotiations.

[rvablue]

4. Fire, CA was gerrymandered a while ago and it really had nothing to do with Ahnuld.

The fault lies with selfish politicians of both parties who wanted to protect their seats:

In California, the power to draw district lines resides with the State Legislature (as it does in thirty-seven other states). In addition to drawing congressional and board of equalization districts, state legislators decide the boundaries of their own districts. In 2001, California state legislators – both Democrat and Republican – agreed to create safe seats for every incumbent in the legislature and all of California's Congressional Districts. The result of this was that in the 2002 election, not one congressional challenger (of the 50 running in the general elections) won even 40% of the vote. In 2002, 2004, and 2006, not one incumbent lost a state legislative seat to a challenger. In 2006, only one Congressional incumbent lost (Richard Pombo).

http://caredistricting.org/history


And I would be interested on reading up for myself about Ahnuld meeting with Enron as he didn't hold any official capacity at that point and one would think such information would cause a huge scandal. Do you have a link for it, as "rumors" don't really cut it for me.

[catzies]

11. Your summary is correct, and my reply is serving as a bookmark

because on my hard drive at home I may have links relating to the May 2001 meeting of Ken Lay and Ahnold, pre-recall, and I hope I can help separate facts from rumors for you.

[rvablue]

13. Thanks, I do want to read about it. And if there is anything there, then the AG of CA

has a civic responsibility to investigate why a Hollywood actor with no official capacity whatsoever was meeting with a CEO of an energy company who then went on to criminally bilk CA of billions of dollars which then prompted a recall of a sitting Governor who was then replaced with said Hollywood actor.

I'm not being glib here. If there is evidence of this, then the AG and newspapers, for that matter, would be hard pressed into giving me a proper explanation of why this has not been investigated.

[RufusTFirefly]

15. Enron E-mails Confirm Schwarzenegger-Ken Lay Meeting

Santa Monica, CA -- Internal Enron e-mails confirm that Arnold Schwarzenegger was among a small group of executives who met with Lay at the posh Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel in May of 2001, in the midst of California's energy crisis. The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, which obtained the e-mails, is calling on Schwarzenegger to acknowledge the meetings and disclose the information that was presented and discussed. The meeting with Enron occurred ten days after rolling blackouts darkened California for two consecutive days; Schwarzenegger has previously said that he does not remember such a meeting.

"You don't meet with America's most well-known corporate crook in the middle of California's biggest financial disaster and not remember," said FTCR's senior consumer advocate Douglas Heller. "Mr. Schwarzenegger should come clean about what happened at that meeting and if he shares Ken Lay's views on energy regulation."

The documents provide a list of invitees to the hastily arranged meeting and a list of those who actually attended. Only eleven of the 45 invitees attended, including Schwarzenegger. The meeting was meant to be an opportunity to gain business community support for Enron's "comprehensive solution" to the energy crisis. In one e-mail, Enron's VP of Public Relations wrote: "We'd like to position this meeting as an insider's conversation of what's going on with the energy situation. This meeting should be for principals only." (emphasis in original)

FTCR contends that Enron policies were responsible for the severe energy crisis California faced in 2000 and 2001. The group noted that the crisis had dramatic implications on the state economy and state budget and will continue to impact consumers for years to come. FTCR has called for a repeal of the deregulation and supported SB 888 (Dunn) to re-regulate the state's electricity system. FTCR has been critical of Enron's involvement in the California energy crisis, in which the company developed schemes for manipulating the power market that forced massive price spikes in the state.

More at Scoop

[slackmaster]

8. The state could not possibly get MORE gerrymandered than it already is

I have high hopes for the change in redistricting that will start in 2010. I'd like to see an end to the domination of our political system by incumbents and their heirs apparent.

[Wednesdays]

14. K&R

:kick: