California State Assemblyman
Democratic Assemblyman representing the 55th District (Carson, West and North Long Beach, Wilmington) and Chair of the Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee; candidate for Los Angeles City Council and long-time resident of Harbor Gateway, which is part of the 15th District
Can a New Member Shake Up the LA City Council? The LA City Council has been described as "ideologically homogenous," where members who disagree don't vote "no" but call in sick to protect the image of tranquility. In 2009, the members voted unanimously 99.3 percent of the time. Last year it was 97.5 percent. Janice Hahn left the 15th Council District when she was elected to Congress and the runoff to replace her will be held next Tuesday. The district includes Watts, South Los Angeles and a four-block wide, eight-mile long strip of neighborhoods called Harbor Gateway stretching south to San Pedro, Wilmington and Harbor City. The runoff candidates are LA Policeman Joe Buscaino , a San Pedro native who's never run for elected office, and Warren Furutani , who was born in San Pedro but lives in Harbor Gateway. He was an elected LA School Board member for eight years and is currently a Democratic state Assemblyman. Council offices are technically nonpartisan.
The State Budget and Public Pension Reform Governor Brown has declared a stalemate on closing the $25 billion gap between state spending and revenue. He wants roughly half made up by spending cuts and the other half to be an extension of tax increases approved by the voters. Republicans won't give him the two-thirds vote required to put that on the ballot, but there might be a deal on public pension reform. The state's bipartisan Little Hoover Commission has concluded that underfunded pensions threaten both state and local governments. The Legislative Analyst , also bipartisan, agrees.
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?