Job Creation Proposals from CA Gubernatorial Candidates

Main Topic

Creating Jobs in California ()

Two million people are out of work and the official unemployment rate is 12%. Republican Meg Whitman has issued a 48-page economic policy plan. Democrat Jerry Brown has proposed policies on green jobs and pensions. But despite their different approaches both deal with economic renewal, public spending, taxation and, most important of all, jobs. Whitman says she'll create 500,000 jobs a year in her first term. She also says she'd suspend Governor Schwarzenegger's environmental law, enacted as AB 32. But Jerry Brown says AB 32 us essential to creating jobs by promoting the green economy.

Guests:

• Bill Watkins: Executive Director, California Lutheran University's Center for Economic Research and Forecasting
• Michael Reich: Professor of Economics, UC Berkeley

Links:

• Reich's report on Whitman's economic policy proposals

Reporter's Notebook

The Dodgers, the McCourts and the Money ()

Fans know that the Dodgers' payroll is down, while owners Frank and Jamie McCourt borrowed $108 million from the team to help finance a lifestyle they now admit was excessive. Seven homes, seven country clubs, private jets and $150,000 a year for haircuts. Their contentious public divorce has made for licentious headlines, and now Gene Maddaus of the LA Weekly has gone back to Boston to see where it all started.

Guests:

• Gene Maddaus: Reporter, LA Weekly, @GeneMaddaus

Main Topic

Same-Sex Marriage, Gender and the Prop 8 Ruling ()

Same-sex marriage has become a national issue since federal Judge Vaughn Walker overturned Proposition 8, in which California voters banned a practice that had only been legal for a few months. One aspect of Walker's ruling that has been overlooked is the role played by the women's movement. We hear from two journalists and a well-known scholar who's married to another man, but still says the judge's decision was too much, too soon.

Guests:

• Audrey Bilger: Professor of Literature and Gender Studies, Claremont McKenna College, @AudreyBilger
• Dahlia Lithwick: Legal Correspondent, Slate, @Dahlialithwick
• Brian Brown: Executive Director, National Organization for Marriage
• Jonathan Rauch: Guest Scholar, Brookings Institution, @BrookingsInst
• William May: Chairman, Catholics for the Common Good, @ccgaction

Links:

• Governor Schwarzenegger's brief opposing motion to stay ruling on Prop 8
• Attorney General Jerry Brown on Prop 8 ruling
• Bilger on post-Prop 8, a more feminist world
• Lithwick on Walker's ruling as 'factual, well-reasoned, and powerful'
• Rauch's 'Gay Marriage: Why It's Good for Gays, Good for Straights and Good for America'