Bay Area News Briefs

Bay City News

June 3, 2008

Pelosi Says Obama Won’t be ‘Backing In’ to Nomination

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday Sen. Barack Obama would not be “backing in” to the Democratic presidential nomination if he wins.

Pelosi, speaking to reporters after participating in a panel discussion at the 30th anniversary celebration of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, maintained her neutrality in the race between Obama, the presumptive nominee, and Sen. Hillary Clinton. She noted both candidates would make excellent nominees and would help elect Democrats to Congress in the fall.

“I’m so excited about both our candidates,” Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said.

However, when asked about a sentiment expressed by some Clinton supporters that Obama was “backing in” to the nomination because his victory is relying on delegates selected at caucuses instead of primaries and on unselected super delegates, Pelosi quickly replied, “He’s not backing in to the nomination.”

Joining Pelosi on the Leadership Group panel were three other members of the Bay Area congressional delegation including Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, and Rep George Miller, D-Martinez, as well as Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass. They discussed several issues, including education, transportation, housing and health care, that have been the focus of the Leadership Group since its founding by David Packard in 1978.

Miller told the audience of Silicon Valley business and political leaders the federal government needs to rethink President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind program.

“As one of the original co-sponsors of No Child Left behind, it clearly needs a 2.0 version,” Miller said. “It’s not working.”

Also on the panel was Applied Materials CEO Mike Splinter, the current chairman on the Leadership Group. He told the members of Congress that there needs to be federal action on immigration reform in order to not only maintain Silicon Valley’s competitiveness but also the entire country’s.

“(An) H-1B visa is impossible to get,” Splinter said. “We can hire people in Singapore, China, India but we’d rather hire them here.”

Before the anniversary celebration began, Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said the issues that the group focused on in its first 30 years remain relevant today.

“The issues have not gone away and in some cases they’ve gotten worse. With four dollar-a-gallon gas, transportation is a more important issue than ever,” Guardino said.

The Leadership Group was founded by Hewlett-Packard co-founder David Packard in early 1978 and is dedicated to bringing the region’s senior business leaders together to improve Silicon Valley’s vitality and quality of life, according to Guardino.

City Attorney Opposes Bid by 10 States for Same-Sex Marriage Stay

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera told the California Supreme Court Monday that concerns by 10 state attorneys general about the effects of California gay marriages on their own states are “grossly overstated.”

As promised last week, Herrera filed a letter with the court in San Francisco Monday opposing a bid by the 10 states for a delay in the court’s same-sex marriage decision until a November vote in California.

The 10 state officers, led by Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, said postponing implementation of the decision could avoid “premature and burdensome” litigation about the effects of California same-sex marriages in their own courts.

But Herrera wrote that the other states already have to deal with issues stemming from same-sex marriages legally performed in other states and countries such as Massachusetts, Spain and the Netherlands.

Herrera wrote, “It is not this court’s responsibility, in deciding what rights our own state constitution guarantees, to minimize conflicts of law for other states.”

The seven justices of the California court have until June 16 to decide whether to stay their May 15 decision that gay and lesbian couples have a state constitutional right to marry.

Unless the court issues a stay, or extends its time to consider one, the ruling will take effect at the end of June 16 and county clerks will begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses on June 17.

Two California groups opposed to gay marriage have also asked the court for a stay until the Nov. 4 vote on a proposed initiative that would amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

In addition to Utah, the states seeking a stay are Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, South Carolina and South Dakota.

They contend that “marriage tourism” by gays and lesbians marrying in California and then coming to their states would create complex legal issues in areas such as tax filing status, standing to file lawsuits, and the right not to testify against a spouse.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown has urged the court not to grant a stay. Brown wrote in a brief filed Thursday that “this historic litigation has now concluded.”

Man and Teen Shot Dead in West Santa Rosa Home

The shooting death of a 15-year-old girl and a 40-year-old man in a Santa Rosa house Monday afternoon appears to be a murder-suicide, a police spokeswoman said.

Officers responded to reports of a shooting just before 4 p.m. in the 1000 block of Dickens Drive near West College Avenue and found the victims suffering gunshot wounds, according to Santa Rosa police Sgt. Lisa Banayat.

Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene, Banayat said.

A 13-year-old girl was home when the shooting occurred, according to Banayat. After the shooting the girl told a neighbor her uncle had just shot someone and then shot himself, Banayat said.

Police confirmed the teenage victim was related to the man and the shooting appears to be a murder-suicide, according to Banayat.

Schwarzenegger Says Spending Must be Kept in Check

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told a group of local elected officials, law enforcement officials and business and community leaders Monday that spending must be kept in check for the state to reduce its $17 billion deficit.

“We have to live within our means,” Schwarzenegger said while participating in a budget reform discussion at Oakland City Hall.

The governor said, “We’re spending money we don’t have. It’s irresponsible.”

Schwarzenegger and the state Legislature are supposed to approve a state budget for fiscal 2009 soon, but after Monday’s discussion he told reporters he doesn’t have a firm answer about when a new budget will be finalized, saying only that he hopes it will be “as quickly as possible.”

During the discussion, Schwarzenegger said, “The great thing about our state is that we don’t have a dictatorship” and “120 great minds” in the state Legislature are working with him on the budget.

But Schwarzenegger played the role of stern schoolteacher at times, using charts and graphs to try to support his belief that the state’s budget woes are the result of state officials spending more money than they receive in revenue.

Pointing to different colored lines on a chart, Schwarzenegger said, “The spending line goes up more than the revenue line.”

The governor complained that the state doesn’t have “a rainy day fund” in which money from years when there’s extra revenue can be used to supplement years when revenues decrease.

Schwarzenegger said there are two main reasons why the state has a $17 billion deficit: the economic slowdown due to woes in the mortgage and housing industries and what he described as a “dysfunctional” budget system.

He said an example is that the state spends one-time revenues for ongoing programs, so that when the one-time revenues are gone the ongoing programs remain even though there aren’t funds to pay for them.

Expressing frustration at the system, Schwarzenegger said previous California governors Gray Davis, Pete Wilson and George Deukmejian also had problems reining in the state’s budget.

The governor told those who attended the discussion, including \Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, several Oakland City Council members, Alameda County Administrator Susan Muranishi and Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff, “People will say there’s not enough money in the budget for me, but it’s all we have.”

A discussion participant who’s on Dellums’ education commission asked Schwarzenegger about ways of raising more money for education, but the governor said education money should be spent more wisely.

“You spoke little about the school system being more efficient with the money it gets,” Schwarzenegger said. “No one talks about efficiency.”

He cited the school district in Los Angeles as an example, saying that it spends $171 million annually on outside consulting fees.

Schwarzenegger said that money should be spent on students and facilities instead of consultants.

Dellums didn’t comment on any specific proposals by Schwarzenegger but he said the discussion was helpful, calling it “a classic example of democracy.”

State Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, D-Oakland, who worked as an aide to Dellums when Dellums was in Congress, said, “I’m very encouraged” by the discussion.

“The governor is going around the state talking about the budget and that’s how you get movement,” Swanson said.

Swanson said, “I appreciate the good relationship he has with Mayor Dellums and his quick response when the MacArthur Maze freeway collapsed last year.”

Swanson said the revised budget issued by Schwarzenegger on May 14 is “an improvement” on the budget initially proposed by the governor in January and said the task of finalizing a budget is “a dynamic process and it’s not all up to him.”

Swanson said Schwarzenegger “is motivated to try to solve the budget because it’s an election year.”

He said, “The governor doesn’t want to leave California in worse shape than it was when he took office.”

Police Still Searching for a Man Reported Missing More Than a Week Ago

A 56-year-old Antioch man who was reported missing more than a week ago has still not been located, Antioch police Lt. Leonard Orman said Monday.

Forrest French was reported missing May 23 after he took his wallet and left his home on a bicycle, Sgt. Don LaDue said Friday.

Although he could be with family in Southern California, French also reportedly has some ties with the homeless community in Antioch. Police have checked parks and other areas frequented by the city’s homeless population, but so far haven’t come up with any leads, police reported.

French possibly has a psychological condition and is known to experience mood swings, LaDue said.

He is described as a white man, 5 feet 9 inches tall and 155 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes, and was last seen wearing a red and black long-sleeved button-up shirt, brown cargo pants and a baseball cap, according to LaDue.

FCJ Editor

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