Are candidate’s spouses off-limits? Assembly votes to gather sexual orientation information on state contractors. Orange County journalists’ roundtable. Could genetically engineered foods soon come with a label? Should Cal State reach into the kids’ cookie jar for exec pay? Louie Perez has a new gig.
Are candidates' spouses off-limits?
Ann Romney has become a bit of a lightening rod in recent weeks. First there was the question of how many Cadillac’s she drove, then there was the Hilary Rosen “never worked a day in her life” firestorm and now we have Bird-Shirtgate.
Yesterday, Ann Romney appeared on CBS’s “This Morning” with her husband, wearing a t-shirt with a bright yellow bird boldly emblazoned across the front. Not long after, someone looked it up and found that the shirt cost nearly a thousand dollars. The twitter-sphere and net-iverse immediately exploded with “Ann Romney Wears an Expensive Shirt!” headlines. And that prompted many high-profile politicos, including Obama’s former deputy press secretary, Bill Burton, to publicly defend Mrs. Romney, saying that candidate’s wives and families should be “off limits.”
This is a view shared by the president himself. After Hilary Rosen made her comments about Mrs. Romney’s working life President Obama said that while candidates themselves are fair game, wives and other family members are along for the ride and should be left out of it. It’s an argument that’s heard every election cycle on both sides of the aisle.
WEIGH IN:
We heard it about Meghan McCain and Todd Palin, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama…but are these people innocent bystanders? If members of a candidate’s family willingly head out on the stump, are they then subject to the same scrutiny as the candidates themselves? Is that simply part of the equation? And how far is too far? Is making fun of a bird shirt or a headband fair game but comments about Michelle Obama’s posterior too extreme? Is it a question of policy? Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush all spearheaded policy, does that mean they’re up for attack?
Assembly votes to gather sexual orientation information on state contractors
Earlier this week the California assembly voted to require the state to ask contractors whether or not their owners are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender when handing out contracts. If the bill passes the Senate, and it most likely will, California could become the first state in the nation to gather sexual orientation data on state contractors.
Proponents of the bill say the information will only be gathered for statistical and reporting purposes, however, the bill’s author, state assemblyman Roger Dickinson, says AB 1960 is “dedicated to the advancement of LGBT-owned businesses. That may be what some lawmakers are worried about.
"If you’re in San Francisco and you’re going after a government contract it would benefit you financially to be identified as a gay or lesbian contractor.," said Mike Spence, President of Conservative Republicans of California. "And we all know that, intuitively, and you’re absolutely right. There’s no committee that’s gonna find out and check whether you are and if they did it would be a big intrusion of privacy and a violation of our freedom and that’s exactly what this bill does."
According to the Sacramento Bee, assemblyman Chris Norby, a republican in Fullerton, is worried that the bill is the beginning of a slippery slope towards giving special privileges to gay and lesbian owned companies. State law in California prohibits quotas or giving minority owned businesses priority. That being said, some agencies like the California Public Utilities Commission do try to ensure diversity within their suppliers by having “goals” of using minority-owned firms.
Is gathering this information the first step towards giving preference to gay-owned businesses? Or is this just way to value the contributions of members of the business community who identify as LGBT? As a group that may have been marginalized in the past, do LGBT businesses deserve special treatment?
Guests:
Benjamin Phillips-Lesanana, Board of Directors Member, Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce. An LGBT business group that sponsored AB 1960
Mike Spence, President, Conservative Republicans of California
Orange County journalists’ roundtable
Larry and our talented trio of Orange County journalists riff on the latest news from the O.C. including stories about the troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant; questions about a 300k remodel for the CSUF President’s house, the Supreme Court’s denial to review the appeal of former Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona's conviction for public corruption, news statistics showing that Irvine and Brea are the fastest growing cities in California, Santa Ana's historic Santora arts building being bought by an Irvine-based evangelical church called Newsong, a proposed farm worker memorial at the OC County Fair and more.
Guests:
Teri Sforza, Staff Writer for the Orange County Register
Norberto Santana, Editor-in-Chief of the Voice of OC, a non-profit investigative news agency that covers Orange County government and politics
Gustavo Arellano, Editor of the OC Weekly and author of “Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America”
What Orange County issues matter most to you? Click here to get in contact with our OC reporter Ed Joyce!
Could genetically engineered foods soon come with a label?
If proponents of natural and organic foods get their way come November, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) will require labels in California.
The California Right to Know campaign, which has taken up this fight, amassed 971,126 signatures for their cause, nearly double the minimum for ballot qualification. This will be the first initiative in California regarding labeling, so natural food advocates and volunteers who worked on the campaign have quite a reason to celebrate.
Kathy Fairbanks, spokeswoman with the Coalition Against the Costly Food Labeling Proposition, agrees that polling shows voters overwhelmingly want to know if their food contains GMOs.
"It's much more complicated than a simple 'right-to-know' measure," she said. "And as people look into the details – who is behind it, how it will increase food prices in California – we think that they will come to oppose it in November."
Fairbanks said that the labeling measure will enable lawyers to take advantage of small businesses.
"The labeling measure was written by a trial lawyer who spent a career suing small businesses and generating fees for his law firm. He drafted this measure to create a new cause of action so that lawyers can go out and sue for alleged labeling violation," she continued. "They don't even have to show proof, they don't have to show damages, but they can file a lawsuit against small family farmers, food processors, food manufactures and grocery stores and markets, which will increase food prices for Californians across the board."
Stacy Malkan, media director of the California Right to Know Campaign, said there's no proof to support that food prices will see a major increase.
"This is just sort of standard procedure. There are huge corporate interests that do not want transparency in our food systems. They don't want accurate labeling. They want to convince everyone that labeling is confusing, is scary, is weird, but it's just not credible. There's no evidence whatsoever that costs would be driven up. We're talking about adding a little bit of ink to a label," she said.
She added that there's no reason to believe companies wouldn't comply with the law.
"It simply requires adding a line to the ingredient deck that the product contains genetically engineered ingredients, just like companies label calories. You don't see them leaving off or fudging on the calorie content because they think consumers don’t like it," she went on to say.
One of the main reasons so many signatures were compiled could be the fact that labeling of genetically engineered foods is a popular idea across the political spectrum. In fact, a 2012 Mellman Group poll found 9 in 10 American voters were in favor of it. If the initiative were to pass in November, California would join 40 countries which already have instituted the practice.
WEIGH IN:
Do you think these foods should be labeled in California? What difference does it make? If the initiative passes in California, could that set a precedent for the rest of the country? How hard are companies which produce GMOs fighting this?
Guests:
Stacy Malkan, Media Director, California Right to Know Campaign – lead proponent of this ballot initiative; long-time advocate in the area of environmental health & chemical pollutants
Kathy Fairbanks, Spokeswoman with the Coalition Against the Costly Food Labeling Proposition
Should Cal State reach into the kids’ cookie jar for exec pay?
California State University trustees, who have come under fire for doling out hefty executive pay raises, are considering putting a freeze on state-funded pay increases until 2014. The plan has one caveat, though: schools in the Cal State system would be allowed to dip into foundation money and other auxiliary funds to make up the difference.
Foundations raise money through donations, campus bookstores and other means, and the funds are used for scholarships, research, faculty endowments and purposes. But if that money is used to beef up the top brass’ salaries, what will be left? Governor Jerry Brown and several lawmakers have already criticized the trustees for being too generous with executive bumps while students try to squeak out a degree in the face of rising tuition rates. But Cal State has already lost around $1 billion in state funding since 2008, resulting in class cutbacks, shrinking faculty and staff layoffs.
With a possible seven vacancies to fill next year, trustees say they need the extra scratch to make competitive offers to executive candidates. Cal State’s recent 9% tuition hike sparked very public student protests and a spate of negative press for Cal State. And yesterday, faculty union members voted to authorize a strike for next fall.
What’s next for Cal State? Could using foundation money to attract leadership help or hurt the university system? Should execs be getting double-digit pay increases at the expense of student programs?
Guests:
Claudia Keith, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs, California State University
Leland Yee, California State Senator, D-San Francisco
Louie Perez has a new gig
“Evangeline, the Queen of Make-Believe” is a multimedia play with music that features songs from Louie Perez and David Hildago's 40-year songbook.
The two are the founding members of the Grammy-winning and commercially successful group Los Lobos, whose roots rock and Chicano influenced aesthetic reflect the cultural mash-up of their East Los Angeles upbringing. With Hildago upfront on lead guitar and vocals and Perez on the drums, the two met at Garfield High in East Los Angeles in the late 70’s and have since then been a bastion for Mexican American pop songs.
Perez is one of the co-writers of the piece, which is an East L.A. coming of age story inspired by the Los Lobos 1985 rocker "Evangeline." Evangeline is a young Chicana, whose neighborhood roots and make-believe world collide when she experiences the West Side art scene and the music of the Sunset Strip. The play is set during the 1968 East LA high school walkouts and the fight for equal education and civil rights. Songs including “Good Morning, Aztlán,” “River of Fools,” “The Neighborhood” and “Revolution” will be played live on stage with featured vocals by CAVA (Claudia Gonzalez-Tenorio).
Musical direction is by Ollin’s Scott Rodarte. The preview performances on May 4-11 coincide with the upcoming Los Lobos Cinco de Mayo concert at the Greek on May 5. The play opens for press at the Bootleg on May 12, where it will run through May 27.
GUEST
Louie Perez, songwriter, percussionist and guitarist for Los Lobos and Latin Playboys. He is one of the founding members of Los Lobos established in 1973. Pérez continues to be Los Lobos' primary lyricist, paints in his free time and works as an art director & artistic supervisor on many of Los Lobos albums and CDs.
TICKETS: (213) 389-3856 or www.bootlegtheater.org
WHERE:
BOOTLEG THEATER
2220 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90057
WHEN:
Previews: May 4-11
Performances: May 12 – May 27
Thursdays @ 7 pm*: May 10 (previews), 17, 24
Fridays @ 7 pm*: May 4, 11 (previews), 18, 25
Saturdays @ 7 pm*: May 5 (preview), 12 (opening night), 19, 26**
Sundays @ 2 pm: May 6 (preview), 13, 20, 27