California Roundup: Will Golden State Fall Behind On License Plate Advertising? Cortines: No More!

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Say it ain't so, Ray! L.A. schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines -- like former LAPD Chief William Bratton a whipping boy in both the Giuliani and Villaraigosa administrations -- will quit before his self-mandated three-year tenure is up. L.A. Times' Howard Blume reports.

* Do tax hikes help budgets? Get your five minutes of econ at Calwatchdog.com. It will clean out the pipes.

* George Skelton rallies the base with an improbable warning that HPCEO Carly Fiorina (R) might unseat Sen. Dianne Feinstein Barbara Boxer (D). [Doh! Thanks to commenter Ron for pointing out my Freudian slip, which in my defense I can only say stemmed from my love of DiFi, not my disapprobation of Boxer.]

* Legislative Analysts' Office rules on pot-legalizing Prop 19: Fiscal Impact: "[P]otential increased tax and fee revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually and potential correctional savings of several tens of millions of dollars annually." So why are the Democrats against it?

* If you can randomize my license number you've got a deal: State Sen. Curren D. Price Jr. defends his forward-looking plan to study digital license plates against a say-no-to-digital weigh-in by Nick Goldberg's L.A. Times ed board.

Comments

[John]

http://jalopnik.com/5591644/ho.....-a-porsche

This, if true, is an amazing story.

[SFC B]

It is true, but the kid got one step too smart for his own good. The vehicle he traded to get the Boxster was a low mileage, excellent condition 1974 Ford Bronco, not the sexiest car on Earth, but a very good vehicle and in the quality of the vehicle he'd received would have likely brought him $8-10,000 selling it, assuming he didn't keep it for himself. He traded it for a highish mileage Boxster which was in need of some TLC, and Porsche TLC does not come cheap.

Given his experience in the trading market I'm sure he'll turn out fine, but he'd have likely been better off being the 17 year old with a running truck he can afford than being the 17 year old with the Boxster he has to unload because he's too broke to own it.

[Hank]

"why are the democrats against it"

Without going to link, I am going to guess that pot providers aren't unionized, or somehow the legalization of the devil's lettuce will throw a wrench in the union machine.

[John]

If it was legalizing organic free range ditch weed harvested by $40 an hour retire at full pay after 15 years SEIU members, I am sure they would be on board.

[mad libertarian guy]

That's probably only half of it. The other, without question, is that it will render useless about half of the heavily unionized law enforcement/prison guard state employees.

Pot legalization is a win-win for liberty. No more risk of going to jail for smoking a fucking plant, and a sizable downsizing of the LE/corrections welfare state.

[Ron]

I think you mean Fiorina might unseat Boxer, not Feinstein.

[G Wallace]

That's what makes the warning so "improbable," I suppose.

[prolefeed]

Realclearpolitics shows CA as one of ten tossup Senate seats. Not sure where the improbable part enters in, given the sucky CA economy being dragged down by economically ignorant Democratic policies.

[John]

Me either. I don't see any incumbent losing this year as "improbable".

[mad libertarian guy]

Never underestimate the stupidity of Californians as a polity.

[Spoonman.]

Boxer is the Senator running for reelection, not Feinstein.

[An Inconvenient Masseuse]

Take care of THIS.^

[Tim Cavanaugh]

Thanks for the heads up. Fixed.

Re. "improbable," Boxer has 11 times as much money, is polling well ahead, and in my opinion is a better campaigner than Fiorina so far. Like everything this year, it's a tossup, but the hallowed history of Senate re-election rates, the fecklessness of the California GOP and the inertial power of California Democrats all make me doubtful.

[John]

Tim,

Fiorina has a gazzilion dollars. She can just spend her own money. So Boxer's money advantage really doesn't mean much.

[Peter Lambert]

She has the money, so she can spend it, but she might not want to. It is much easier to spend other peoples money than to spend your own, as governments the world around have proved over and over again.

[R C Dean]

I do think its improbable that a Republican will unseat a Democrat in a close race in any state as heavily penetrated by unions as California.

[Cy Nical]

The idea was met with overwhelming support from my fellow legislators in the state Senate, who are fully aware that the language in the bill simply offers the option to research this technology.

"Fully aware"? You're claiming that legislators actually read the bill?

It will not cost the state a dime.

Where have I heard this "dime" thing before?

[SFC B]

It won't cost them A dime. It will cost them a bajillion dimes.

[PapayaSF]

Am I the only person who thinks adding flashing and blinking ads to the back of vehicles might not be the best idea?

[juris imprudent]

Why? Are you afraid of distracting people from their texting?

[?]

he'd have likely been better off being the 17 year old with a running truck he can afford than being the 17 year old with the Boxster

He's a 17-year-old nerd who looks like a 47-year-old landscaper. He can't sell that shit out of a pickup.

[R C Dean]

he'd have likely been better off being the 17 year old with a running truck he can afford than being the 17 year old with the Boxster

Eww.