Looks like another veteran Congressional Dem is bidding adieu to their post. After 40 years in the House, Rep. Henry Waxman of Southern California announced yesterday he would also be retiring at the end of the year following a slieu of recent announcments from legacy members, including California representatives George Miller and Howard P. McKeon.
From The New York Times' Johnathon Weisman: "Mr. Waxman, 74, joins a growing list of House members who are calling it quits, many in disappointment over the partisanship and ineffectiveness of a Congress that may end up as the least productive in history.
“It’s been frustrating because of the extremism of Tea Party Republicans,” Mr. Waxman said in an interview on Wednesday. “Nothing seems to be happening.”
"The frustration is felt on both sides. More than 30 House members have announced they will retire, resign or run for other offices this year, including stalwarts like George Miller, Democrat of California; Tom Latham, Republican of Iowa; Frank R. Wolf, Republican of Virginia; and Howard P. McKeon of California, chairman of the Armed Services Committee."
And now it's time to start placing bets on who will assume Waxman's covetted seat,
From the LA Times' Mark Z. Barabak, Seema Mehta and Jean Merl: "Potential contestants include state Sens. Ted Lieu of Torrance and Fran Pavley of Agoura Hills; Assemblyman Richard Bloom of Santa Monica; Secretary of State Debra Bowen, a former South Bay lawmaker; local radio host Matt Miller; women's rights activist Sandra Fluke — all Democrats — and Manhattan Beach businessman Bill Bloomfield, an independent and former Republican who spent $7 million of his own money in an unsuccessful 2012 race against Waxman."
"Even before the congressman announced his 20th term would be his last, two other political independents had stated their plans to run: Brent Roske, a television producer and director, and Marianne Williamson, the author of several self-help books."
"Amid Thursday's swirl of rumors and speculation, with fresh names surfacing almost hourly, a few possible contenders took themselves out of the race.'
The excessive retirements reigning in from the House could be for the lack of party investment in upcomming midterm elections, leaving many to speculate where this leaves former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi stopped by The Daily Show last night to kick off her reelection campaign. But host and comedian Jon Stewart wasn't playing softball with her.
Here's an excerpt from his questions about why she didn't know more about the pitfalls of the HealthCare.gov launch, courtesy of Real Clear Politics, but I suggest the whole interview if you have time during your Super Bowl prep this weekend:
"STEWART: Let me get the House Minority Leader here, I can ask her. Hold on. What do you mean you don't know? How do you not know?"
"PELOSI: It's not my responsibility. But I will say this, we worked very hard to honor our responsibility to pass the bill that honors the vowels of our founders: life, a healthier life, liberty to pursue your happiness. "
"STEWART: Really?"
Speaking of the big game comming up this Sunday, in today's Sac Bee, courtesy of AP writer Mae Anderson, here's 10 Super Bowl ads to watch out for... because as we all know the ads are the best part:
"Advertisers are in the game to win. The Super Bowl is advertising's biggest showcase, with more than 108 million people expected to tune into the game. And companies are paying an estimated $4 million to have their ads be a part of the action."
Yesterday, former California First Lady Maria Shriver dropped back into Sacramento to promote her new report entitled A Woman's Nation Pushes Back from the Brink.
From Sac Bee's newest Capitol Alert reporter Alexi Koseff: "Her afternoon kicked off with a discussion of the report's findings at the California Museum, attended by dozens of the capital's most powerful women, including Secretary of State Debra Bowen and U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento."
"Shriver emphasized that women's empowerment efforts must broaden from the "1 percent" and "talking about getting the corner office" to include the one-third of American women living in financial insecurity."
Another new report worth mentioning here is one released Wednesday by the Center of Juvenile and Criminal Justice that found no connection between realignment and the recent upticks in crime rates.
Beatriz Valenzuela in the LA Daily News reports: "This lack of a clear pattern of crime shows it’s still too soon to draw any conclusion when it comes to the relationship between realignment and crime, according to a Center of Juvenile and Criminal Justice news release."
“We are pleased that CJCJ took an impartial look at the data and found no causal relationship between crime and realignment...,” said Jeffrey Callison, spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation."
"Callison said crime rates are continually rising and falling, and they vary from one community to the next, and from one crime category to the next."
On to the election cycle, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed's contenious intitiative to reform public pensions is expected to go to court over what he considers an unfair title and summary from Attorney General Kamala Harris.
Mark Emmons in the Mercury News says: "Reed, who leads a group of California city leaders campaigning for the proposal as a solution to soaring retirement costs, said Thursday they are mounting a court challenge to the state Attorney General's ballot wording, claiming it mischaracterizes their initiative's intent.
"Reed said it's unclear if a legal fight would allow enough time to collect the required signatures to get the pension reform measure on the ballot -- or push the effort back to the 2016 election cycle."
If you're hankering for a wonky dive into California's modern political infrastructure, check out political data expert Paul Mitchell's article on The Washington Post blog Monkey Cage co-authored by Eric McGhee of the Public Policy Institute of California.
"The analysts speculate whether recent reforms in our state politics could cure the headache that is the federal government, but we should wait and see how things play out for the golden state before following suit nationwide:
"If redistricting or the top two primary had an impact, it might make sense to press the same in other states. But if single-party control made the difference, then similar unified control under either party — plus perhaps ending the filibuster in the Senate — might be the way to go."
"The nation is watching California’s experiment carefully, and a lot may be riding on its example. Before we make the same changes elsewhere, we need to know how to measure what is working and think carefully about which changes to make."
