politics

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Schwarzenegger on Pensions: An Unusual Address Which May Help UC

Byuclafaculty

Governor Schwarzenegger’s weekly radio address of 10/15/10, which is also posted on YouTube, slammed various Republicans by name for voting against the bill in the legislature that was needed to approve the deals he has cut with SEIU and other unions and was part of the budget agreement. (See earlier post.) In the YouTube version, he not only names errant Republicans but puts pictures of them on the screen. Below is the text of the address. A link to the YouTube version is also below. However, note that whatever the Regents come up with in December as the UC version…

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More Focus on the Outside Political Scene Needed When We Review Retirement Options?

Byuclafaculty

Uncomfortable Question: Are we too focused on internal UC politics in evaluating the various pension and retiree health care proposals? Is it a form of UC GroupThink? That issue was raised in a conversation with an administration official. We have tended to worry about what President Yudof thinks, what the Regents think, what various UC officials think, what Academic Senate leaders think, what UC unions think, etc. But in fact we could come up with a plan that somehow balances all these views but fails a public sniff test. Below is a straw in the wind from the San Diego…

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The Final Brown-Whitman Debate: 10-12-10

Byuclafaculty

Audios of the Jerry Brown-Meg Whitman debate are available below. (They are videos with a still picture). The audio is divided into 5 parts due to time limits at video-Yahoo. Click where indicated on the image for Part 1. Click on the urls for the other 4 parts. Of special interest was Meg Whitman’s comment that pensions for faculty and staff at UC were driving out students. The statement occurs in Part 2. In Part 2, the pension discussion starts around the 9 minute mark. The comment on UC is around 11:45 minutes. Brown-Whitman debate 10-12-10 Part 1: Public sacrifices,…

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Upcoming Events of Interest

Byuclafaculty

The final gubernatorial debate between Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 6:30 PM. Channel 4 – KNBC – will carry it. UPDATE: Local public radio stations as of the morning of the debate are not listing on their websites whether or not they will carry the debate. KQED radio in San Francisco will carry the audio and its programs are streamed on line at http://www.kqed.org/radio/listen/ FURTHER UPDATE: Apparently KCRW 89.9 will carry it. There will be a campus-level forum on the Post-Employment Benefits (PEB) Task Force report on Thursday, Oct. 14, Royce Hall. See…

He Said, She Said: Another Gubernatorial Debate Today

Byuclafaculty

For those who did not satisfy their debate hunger last week, there will be another gubernatorial debate today (Saturday, Oct. 2) on Channel 34 Univision, 4 PM. This one will be bilingual. Given the week’s housekeeper-gate events (see lower picture), there will surely be questions on immigration. Whether there will be much on higher ed literally remains to be seen. UPDATE: You can see major excerpts from the debate at http://univision34.univision.com/destino2010/gubernatorial-debate/gubernatorial-debate-videos/ Since it is not clear how long those excerpts will remain posted, here are links to audio (video with a still picture): Brown-Whitman Univision debate 10-2-10: Part 1 (Latino…

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More on Growing Public Pension Issue In California

Byuclafaculty

As noted in previous posts on this blog, the UC pension funding issue may be difficult to isolate from the more general issue in California, particularly if the Regents don’t have a policy in place when the next governor takes office. Below is an excerpt from a piece reporting on a variety of local ballot initiatives on the pension topic, especially a high-profile San Francisco ballot measure. Pension cost cuts on ballot in eight cities (excerpt) Ed Mendel, calpensions.com, 9/30/10 Proposals to cut public employee pension costs are on the November ballot in at least eight California cities and one…

There Was Also the Lt. Governor Debate

Byuclafaculty

Hidden in the news about the Brown-Whitman gubernatorial debate was the fact that there was a Lieutenant Governor debate on KQED radio between San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and incumbent Lt. Governor Abel Maldonado. The Lt. Governor is not a powerful position (understatement!), but whoever holds that office is an ex officio Regent. There was some mention of increases in UC and CSU tuition in the debate. A very brief write-up is at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/29/BA0O1FL47O.DTL But you can listen at Haven’t had enough political debates? As an added bonus, you can hear the senatorial debate, Boxer vs. Fiorina, at http://media.scpr.org/audio/upload/2010/09/29/boxer-fiorina-KPCCdebate.mp3

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Audio of Jerry Brown – Meg Whitman Debate of 9-28-10

Byuclafaculty

The first debate between Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman in the 2010 gubernatorial contest was held on Sept. 28. Although video via internet was promised, I found that one feed did not work at all and another was sporadic and often froze. Although public radio stations KCRW and KPCC did carry the audio, local TV stations did not. (I note in that respect that KCET – which now has 4 digital over-the-air channels – did not bother to carry the debate.) Bottom line: Only audio could be recorded. There may be other sources for the audio. But I have posted…

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Yudof Quits CalChamber Board Over Political Endorsement in Gubernatorial Race

Byuclafaculty

From the PolitiCal blog of the LA Times Education leaders California Chamber of Commerce board to protest Whitman endorsement (excerpt) http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2010/09/community-college-chief-quits-chamber-board-to-protest-whitman-endorsement.html [Updated] September 3, 2010 | 12:29 pm [Updated at 4:40 p.m.] The president of University of California and the chancellor of the California community college system has resigned in protest from the California Chamber of Commerce board of directors after the organization backed Meg Whitman’s bid for governor. Jack Scott, a former Democratic state senator from Pasadena who was appointed as chancellor by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, announced his resignation in a letter to chamber President Allan Zaremberg after the…