Posts Tagged: colleagues

Historic moment for Black, Asian caucuses

Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, second from right, former chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, speaks at a 2013 Capitol ceremony. Others include Assemblyman Reginald Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, the new caucus chair, left; Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, and Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento, right. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

by SAMANTHA GALLEGOS posted 12.08.2014

California’s Legislature has reached a historic moment for diversity. Latinos are still wining seats in the Assembly and Senate as demographics shift favorably in their direction, but this election year brought a surge in California’s other ethnic caucuses. The number of members in the Black Legislative Caucus has reached a historic high, as has the Asian and Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus. The Latino Legislative Caucus fell by two members.

OPINION: Health care industry-funded ads sounding the Prop 46 privacy alarm flunk the straight face test. The ads allege Prop 46 sets up a secret medical record database that will be vulnerable to hacking. Not only is this absolutely false, it’s galling when you consider that the hospitals and insurance companies funding the ads have exposed millions of their own patient records through their negligence.

In the months since the FBI raided the offices of Senator Ron Calderon, the most interesting thing that’s happened in the State Capitol is what hasn’t happened in the State Capitol. Unlike broader efforts for political reform that accompanied previous corruption scandals, there has been barely a peep from California politicians of either party about the need to clean up a system that has become consumed by non-stop fundraising.