August 2009 Archives

But, in the end, it was great theater

It was boisterous.  At times it was vulgar and borderline abusive. But above all, Rep. Lynn Woolsey's town hall meeting this evening at the Petaluma Veterans Memorial Hall was authentic.

In an aged of scripted TV debates and overly orchestrated political events, it was also refreshing. How often do you get this many people together to cheer or jeer passionately about something, something other than a sporting event?

The fact is I've been to Dodger-Giant games that were far less rowdy - and far less interesting.

It's good to see people so fired up.

Some of you who were there may disagree with me, like the woman behind me who said, with about 30 minutes left, "This is useless" and soon got up with her friend and left.

Yes, sometimes people were disrespectful. More than once, the speaker had to say something like "Please, let me finish." But it was a self-regulating crowd. Those who sought to disrupt were shushed into submission. There were some brief shouting matches, some expletives exchanged and lots of grandstanding. But there were no fisticuffs. Nothing was thrown, and no one stormed the stage or pulled any pointless stunts.

Once, someone below me tried to unfurl a large banner in front of a row of people but someone pulled it down and motioned to a police officer. The banner was quickly put away before the officer could get close. I counted seven police officers in all, and not once did I see any of them confront anyone during the evening.

Some in attendance clearly came just to be confrontational. But that was not the majority. Most were real people debating real issues with real impact on lives. Some of the 30 or so people who were lucky enough to have a turn at the microphone were really angry and/or afraid with what is happening -  from the Marin County Presbyterian minister who said her brother died for a lack of health insurance, to the North Bay businesswoman who's angry that of the 1,300 health insurers in the nation, she can only choose from the six that are allowed to operate in California.

This was, for the most part, compelling.

It was also unbelievably crowded.

I arrived 40 minutes early, to find the parking lot full and drivers parking along the sides of Petaluma Boulevard. I ended up parking a quarter-mile away before scrambling inside just in time to get one of the last single seats available, one up high in the grandstands.

"Is that seat next to you taken," I asked a man with an American flag on his cap.

"It depends on what persuasion you are," he said smiling.

I told him I was "Californian," which I guess sufficed, and soon found myself seated among a group of conservatives, strong opponents to Obamacare. But most of them were kind and respectful throughout the event.

"I hope there's no silliness tonight," said the man with the cap who identified himself as Mark from Freestone. He was a stay-at-home dad who was homeschooling his children.  "I hope people are respectful and listen to one another."

By 5:30 p.m., the hall was at capacity. Fifteen minutes later, the overflow room was full as well. Police said attendance was about 1,000. But I'm estimating the main hall held at least that many, with another 300 or so in the overflow room. The average age was probably north of 55.

When Woolsey went to the podium at 6 p.m. half the crowd cheered loudly while a third to a half booed. It was fairly balanced, at least in volumne. 

"We love you, Lynn" someone shouted.

"Go home," a woman near me called.

"Heil Hitler," someone shouted as Woolsey talked about a "public option."

It would go back and forth like this for most of the evening.

"What is more important to you," one speaker pleaded with the reform opponents in the crowd, "you money or your children's lives?"

"Our liberty," someone shouted.

By 8 p.m. the event was over and nobody had any lasting scars. Woolsey, for her part, performed admirably. Although her answers didn't shed any particularly new light on the subject, she was straight forward and, give her credit, outspoken in her support for the creation of a "public option" insurance carrier.

"I'm just so disappointed how close-minded and disrespectful some people were," said Santa Rosa architect Mark Quattrocchi, who was somewhat less sanguine than I was as the room emptied. Moments earlier, he had tried to engage a reform opponent in a discussion about why he supported a public option. But the woman shouted him down, accused him of looking for a "handout" from government and walked away.  "That's really not my interest," he said. "I'm simply interested in providing better health care than we have now" for his 44 employees.

"It wasn't the Norman Rockwell town hall meeting that I was expecting," said Quattrocchi.

No. It was more authentic - and perhaps raw - than that.

- Paul Gullixson 

We twitted CHP officers in an editorial last month because they were poised to collect a pay raise while other state employees were being furloughed, effectively cutting their pay 15 percent. Well, credit where credit is due, the union representing CHP officers has reached an agreement to forgo pay raises over the next two years, according to a report on the Sacramento Bee's state worker blog.

CHP officers benefit from a provision of state law that ties their pay to the average wage paid by five of the state's largest law enforcement agencies. From their perspective, it beats negotiating. For those picking up the bill, it means that the state's means aren't a factor in setting pay scales. The law still ought to be changed, but I'll try to stick to the speed limit more often in recognition of CHP officers doing the right thing.

- Jim Sweeney

Capitol Weekly columnist says state senator's health issues were "no secret."

Here's an interesting read:

Malcolm Maclachlan, a staff reporter for Capitol Weekly, said in a column today that this week's decision by state Sen. Pat Wiggins not to seek re-election took few in Sacramento by surprise. He says her health issues were "no secret." He uses the column to take a well-deserved shot at the Capitol's code of silence on issues like this.

"Around the Capitol, the Wiggins announcement was greeted with a sense of inevitability. Wiggins' health was one of the issues in the Capitol that was informally off limits," Maclachlan writes. "It's no accident that the story that preceded her eventual announcement was not written by a Capitol beat reporter but, rather, by a reporter based in Santa Rosa."
(Here he gives credit to The Press Democrat story on Friday by Derek Moore.)

"The details of Wiggins' deteriorating health is just the latest example of this Capitol code of conduct that is, depending on one's point of view, either a deceitful reminder of the cliquishness of the Capitol community or an example of one of the last personal boundaries to exist in the current media age."

He writes, "Wiggins is the latest in a series of lawmakers who, suffering illness or debilitation, have been protected by their staffs."

He also noted the case of former state Sen. Carole Migden whose behavior " had become increasingly erratic, ultimately culminating in a May 2007 reckless driving incident that ended in an accident causing two injuries and ultimately cost the state a $335,000 settlement. Midgen blamed the events on medication from an undisclosed case of leukemia. Despite all these problems, Senate Democrats circled the wagons around Midgen . . ."

To read his column in full, click here.

- Paul Gullixson

I was part of the press pack trailing Ted Kennedy a number of times, and I'm not sure I've seen another politician with such celebrity presence. I understand Ronald Reagan had it too, but he was president and deep inside the bubble the few times I covered him.

I claim no special insights into Kennedy, who was an out-of-town pol on a California campaign swing whenever I encountered him, but he's today's headline, and a couple of anecdotes stand out in my mind.

In 1986, my first year as full-time political correspondent, Kennedy came to California to stump for Alan Cranston, a fellow liberal who was at peril of losing his Senate seat to a moderate Silicon Valley congressman named Ed Zschau after running poorly in a presidential bid two years earlier.

Following an early morning appearance in Los Angeles, we caught a commercial flight to Oakland for another rally. Practically every head turned and there was an audible buzz, "Hey, wasn't that Ted Kennedy?" as he headed down the aisle of the crowded PSA jet, trailed by a couple aides and about a dozen reporters.

During the flight, we pinned Kennedy near the restrooms in the rear of the plane for a short press conference. Someone asked him about a comment by political consultant Bob Shrum that's become my favorite description of California elections: "A campaign rally in California is three people sitting around a TV set."

Shrum is a former Kennedy staffer, and when the question came, Kennedy guffawed and shouted across the plane in his Boston brogue, "Can you believe it? These guys want me to comment on my press secretary."

The last time I saw Kennedy was at Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles nine years ago, when he sang "Guadalajara" with a Mariachi band at a closing-day rally for California delegates who were beginning to seem more enthusiastic about Green party nominee Ralph Nader than fellow Democrat Al Gore, perhaps foreshadowing the outcome of the election.

That, coincidentally, was the last news article I wrote for this newspaper before moving full-time to the night city desk, where I worked for eight years before becoming an editorial writer last spring.

- Jim Sweeney

A recurring theme of recent letters is the failure of Reps. Lynn Woolsey and Mike Thompson to hold local town hall meetings on health care. We joined the chorus in an editorial last week, prompting Thompson's staff to complain that he had one in Covelo (with signs posted on the street to announce it) and Woolsey defenders noting that she attended one at The Sea Ranch (though she wasn't the sponsor).

Woolsey's office just announced that she will host a town hall meeting on health care at 6 p.m. Monday at the Petaluma Veterans Building, 1094 Petaluma Blvd. S. The announcement said she'll take questions for about two hours.

"We have been talking about health care with voters at numerous public events across the 6th District, in a telephone town hall meeting, and in many of the 5,000 e-mail, letter and phone inquiries our office answers every week," Woolsey said in a written statement. "A town hall, which has been requested by some constituents, is another way to continue the dialogue on this important issue."

Will Thompson follow for the portion of Sonoma County that he represents?

- Jim Sweeney

But don't expect any Sonoma County town hall meetings on health care in the near future

In an editorial Wednesday headlined "Town talk", we called on Reps. Lynn Woolsey and Mike Thompson to hold a town hall meeting on health care for our readers. Given the importance of the subject - and the overwhelming response to our online health discussion on Tuesday - "it wouldn't hurt our congressional representatives to live on the edge a little, plan a town hall meeting and hear what North Bay residents have to say."

Thompson's spokeswoman Laurel Brown called to complain, saying she felt the editorial was unfair and didn't give Thompson credit for the health care meetings he has held. She pointed out that he held a town hall meeting in Covelo on Aug. 4 and participated in three health care forums in Yolo County (all sponsored by other organizations) on Aug. 5 and one in Napa on Aug. 3, which also was sponsored and organized by a community group. In addition, he has held two town hall meetings by conference call. (All of these were mentioned in an earlier news story on the subject.)

I pointed out that the editorial referred to Thompson's and Woolsey's conference calls, but that the point of the editorial is that residents of Sonoma County - our primary readership area - have not been able to attend a face-to-face town hall meeting with one of their Congressional representatives. Covelo and Sea Ranch (where Woolsey held a public meeting for two hours last week) are not exactly accessible to most of our readers.

Any chance one may occur in the future? Brown only said that nothing was planned. A Woolsey staffer I talked to on Wednesday said the same thing.

- Paul Gullixson 

Charles Krauthammer writes today about the "death panel" issue, shooting down the worst invective while insisting that if docs were reimbursed for end-of-life discussions, they would have an incentive to press patients to skip treatment and die sooner.

On Sunday, we'll have an op-ed from a local lawyer about his experience with a couple who prepared advanced directives before encountering a potentially terminal illness.

So, let me tell you about my experience.

My father was diagnosed as terminally ill in April, and my family went through five weeks of fear, confusion, unity and grief. Well, the grief has lasted more than five weeks.

But during those five weeks, we had several sessions that certainly would fall within the scope of the "death panel" debate - and they were among the most humane moments in a situation that no one is adequately prepared for.

I don't know if the doctors, case managers, nutritionists and nurses we met with were reimbursed or not; my dad was covered by Medicare.

Three different doctors who were involved in his care explained treatment (and non-treatment) options, answered all our questions and made themselves available by phone for further questions, or for family members who weren't able to be present for the appointments. I don't think any of felt as if we were directed toward a particular option.

We also met twice with a team at the convalescent hospital to go over his condition and care. Again, we got all the time we needed. Our questions were answered. Information was provided, and our wishes were followed.

Of course, it helped that we understood my dad's wishes.

So, have other people had different, less satisfactory experiences? Sure.

Do I believe for a minute that ensuring doctors were reimbursed for this time would lead to death panels, mandatory euthanasia and Soylent Green? No. I wish I believed this was all cynical political posturing, but there are some gullible people out there.

- Jim Sweeney

Since the story broke about Sonoma State University making development loans from its academic foundation, I've wondered about Santa Rosa Junior College.

The disclosure and the subsequent uproar came as SRJC was asking for donations to its "Bridge the Doyle" program, which aims to make up for some of the Doyle Scholarships lost when Exchange Bank cut off its stock dividends last year.

The dividends funded the Doyle program, which handed out about 4,000 scholarships annually, each worth $1,000 - about $76 million altogether over 58 years.

SRJC President Robert Agrella hosted our editorial board for lunch today, and he told us that his school's foundation doesn't make loans and only recently began dabbling in anything riskier than stocks. The board adopted a policy last year allowing investments of up to 5 percent of its money in hedge funds, Agrella said..

The foundation, by the way, lost 18 percent of its value in the past year - an ugly number but better than many investment funds.

Agrella said some donors have asked about the foundation's investment policy, but he doesn't think the SSU situation has had any impact. As for the "Bridging the Doyle" program, it has brought in a little more than $200,000.

Agrella said it may fund 400 scholarships worth $500, or 500 scholarships worth $400.

You can donate via the school's Web site, www.santarosa.edu/bridging-the-doyle.

- Jim  Sweeney

According to our latest informal online poll, 65 percent of PD readers said they were worried that the 70-bed hospital Sutter Health has proposed building near the Wells Fargo Center -- to replace the existing 135-bed facility on Chanate Road - would be too small to meet the area's health care needs.

In the same poll, 80 percent of respondents said they believed the county needs to find a way to reopen the county landfill on Mecham Road and stop trucking its garbage - averaging 65 truck trips a day - as far away as Solano County and the East Bay. But they are divided over whether to sell the landfill to a private company.

What do you think? We invite you to take the survey and leave you're own comments. Click here.

If you would like to join our e-mail list of readers who are invited to take these periodic surveys, please send me your name and address at paul.gullixson@pressdemocrat.com. We've got about 1,400 people on our e-mail list right now.

- Paul Gullixson

North Coast Assemblyman Jared Huffman may be first legislator to go on record supporting a constitutional convention

Although 10 days have passed since the governor signed an amended budget, the state controller hasn't stopped issuing IOUs.

As Assemblyman Jared Huffman told us during a meeting with the Press Democrat Editorial Board this morning, the IOUs are costing the state $25 million a day.

The controller cannot stop issuing IOUs until he determines that a budget signed into law provides all the money necessary to help the state pay its bills. Given the gimmicks in this revised spending plan, that's a tough call.

In addition, it's unclear - possibly unlikely - that the budget will bolster the state's credit rating, which is the worst in the nation, better only than that of Puerto Rico.

 "I don't think we know yet just how seriously Wall Street will take this budget," Huffman said.

Like his caucus colleagues, Huffman, D-San Rafael, placed much of the blame for the budget fiasco on California's archaic system of requiring a two-thirds majority approval for tax increases. But he had plenty of criticism for his own party. He also may be the only state legislator to go on record supporting the idea of a constitutional convention.

He said the state would have saved money if many of these budget cuts had been made earlier in the year. The state also might have avoided issuing IOUs and seeing its credit rating plummet. Getting out front on those cuts also might have helped build support for increasing revenues, at least through fee increases. The governor was already on record supporting some of those, Huffman noted.

"We knew we were going to have to make these cuts back in the spring," he said.

"We empowered a small Republican minority by our own delay."

In the end, Huffman believes the idea of a constitutional convention deserves more discussion than it's getting from the Legislature. He points out that the Legislature would be in the driver's seat because it would appoint the delegates to such a convention and determine the rules for how delegates are determined. This would allow them "to weed out the zealots and the activists."

"It's distressing that the Legislature is largely a bystander" on this issue, he said. "We should own it."

- Paul Gullixson

If you've been around politics for more than a nanosecond, you've heard Jesse Unruh's oft-quoted line, "Money is the mother's milk of politics." Well, if mid-year fund-raising reports are any guide, state Sen. Pat Wiggins may have been orphaned.

The Santa Rosa Democrat opened a re-election account for 2010, but records filed with the secretary of state show that she raised less money than any other state senator eligible to run for re-election next year, in most cases considerably less money. She also raised less money than all but one of the senators eligible to seek re-election in 2012.

In fact, her $49,014 haul for the first six months of 2009 is less than the $51,500 raised by Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, for a state Senate committee she has formed for the 2014 election.

The obvious question is whether Wiggins is serious about seeking re-election.

Unfortunately, she's been hard to find and harder to talk to since her outburst in a legislative committee hearing a year ago. Her erratic behavior was the subject on an editorial in The Press Democrat last August. A similar editorial appeared last week in the Napa Valley Register.

Wiggins has declined interview requests, and staffers have blocked reporters seeking to questions her on the Senate floor on in Capitol hallways, so it's hard to know what her intentions really are. I called Wiggins for this report. Her husband - and campaign treasurer - called back and brushed off questions about her fund-raising, while saying she plans to run for another term next year.

Wiggins once was a prodigious fund-raiser, banking $200,000 without the benefit of incumbency to scare off any challengers in the Democratic primary in 2006, effectively winning the seat, given the political realities of Northern California. As recently as last year, she raised $191,000, pumping more than half of that money into the campaigns of other Democrats.

If Wiggins is serious about raising money for re-election, she not only is an incumbent but she's a member of the Government Organization Committee, which despite its innocuous name has jurisdiction over alcohol, tobacco and gambling.

Perhaps a better question is whether local Democrats will allow her to run unchallenged once again.

-- Jim Sweeney

A gift, even if it's unwanted

A federal court order to free 40,000 inmates from California prisons may be a gift to state lawmakers.

The state budget package approved last week includes $1.2 billion in unidentified savings from the prison system, but the deal nearly blew up when details leaked that 27,000 inmates would be released early to achieve the savings. Republican lawmakers insisted they weren't party to the agreement and threatened to withhold their votes if the budget meant early releases.

The potential stalemate was broken by a last-minute deal to postpone any formal decisions on the prison savings. Of course, that just meant putting off the fight until lawmakers return from their summer recess. Then, if the votes weren't there to cut prison spending, the budget would be thrown out of balance (which could very well happen anyway).

But on Tuesday, a three-judge panel of federal judges gave the state two years to reduce the prison population by 40,000 inmates - about 50 percent more than the scuttled budget plan. The judges are presiding over a constitutional challenge to health care provided for the state's 168,000 prison inmates. The state's prisons are designed to hold about 80,000 inmates.

Appeals are likely, but releasing parole violators and non-violent offenders early is bound to be a lot less expensive than the new prison hospitals and related health facilities previously ordered by the federal judges.

They won't admit it, but saving big money without taking a tough vote will look good to legislators in both parties.

-- Jim Sweeney

Sonoma County ER doctors call new Sutter Hospital plan a "step backwards" that will strain emergency care

Days 7, 8 and 9 - Wedding on a Minnesota farm

Minnesota gets its name from a Dakota Indian word for "sky tinted waters." That's because everywhere you look, you see a reflection, usually off lakes but sometimes off the water that you have to pour into the street when you discover your ice chest is leaking again.

It's a fact that Minnesota sells itself short by calling it the "Land of 10,000 lakes." Everyone knows that this state has many more than that, especially given this year's early-summer rains. But it's part of that state's Norwegian Lutheran code to be understated. Nobody wants to be accused of being boastful out here. 

We spent three days in Minnesota, mostly in the northwestern part of the state. I have roots here. Plenty of them. Relatives on my father's side came from this part of the country via Wisconsin and Iowa. Some went back but usually just to visit. I have three siblings and one niece who attended St. Olaf College, a small Lutheran college in Northfield, Minn. The library wing at Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul is named Gullixson Hall after my great Uncle Thaddeus, who was once the president there.

But I've had very little personal interaction with Minnesota other than that one visit years ago with my friend Darren in Duluth who had great stories to tell about bears that wandered into town. Beyond that, most of my engagement with Minnesota has been through listening to Prairie Home Companion, which, it so happens, was preparing to celebrate its 35th anniversary broadcasting from the little town of Avon, not far from where we were, on July 4th..

I wish we could have stayed. It would have been better than being in Barstow.

On Day 7, a Friday, we all migrated south from the Detroit Lakes area to the small town of Morris, where University of Minnesota has a relatively new campus. I like to say new because it opened in 1960, the same year I was founded.

My brother-in-law, Kevin and his bride-to-be, Heather, both teach at the university. They bought a farm about 15 minutes away. Not much of a commute. The only honking to be heard comes mostly from Canada Geese. Their home is in a colorful and serene place: blue house and red barn adrift on a sea of green cornfields - all fed by dusty brown roads that quickly embrace your car in a coat of native soil.

It's a welcoming place. Much as the people. Friday was spent erecting a large white tent, rolling out circular tables, setting up white folding chairs on the lawn next to the house and making other preparations. The men did most of that. Inside the women - not all were women, but most - were putting together flower displays, preparing food and putting final touches on bridal gowns.

In the grand scheme of things, this was, as Tamara described it, "like a barn raising."

Family members and friends had been working on the house and the farm for many days. Our contributions were pretty meager by comparison. Yet the work we did gave us a sense of purpose and participation. We were given a stake in the whole affair, and we appreciated it. Weddings should do more of that as far as I'm concerned.

Our kids had more critical roles. Clara,6, was one of the flower girls and Christopher,10, was a ring bearer. From this point, I will let Christopher tell the story. Here are excerpts from his journal (reprinted with permission.):

"Friday: Today we are doing to do a dress rehearsal of the wedding. . .  I met a new friend. His name is Joey. We played together all day. He is really nice, but his second-youngest brother is not really nice. His brother likes to punch people and point his little hands at people like they're guns. Then he'll 'fire' and if you don't pretend to be hurt, he will follow you and punch you."

"Saturday: Today is the wedding. Last night were was thunder and lightning. We are staying in the dorms at the University of Minnesota. It is gray, cool and there is a slight breeze blowing through the air . . . At the rehearsal dinner, Kevin and Heather were calling people up to the front and giving them little gifts. Then they called up the flower girls and ring bearers. I was really surprised. . . . The boys got red and tan hats and the girls got white and light blue hats."

"Sunday: Yesterday was the wedding. We had a lot of fun. I had around five to seven sodas. After the dancing and the music were over, there was a huge bonfire . . . Last night was the best night of the whole trip. At the wedding, I got to walk down the aisle with Clara. I got to wear a tuxedo. It included a black shirt, a white tie, a black vest, a black coat, a white hankerchief and black pants. I was really hot."

By this, I believe he means he was warm because he was dancing so much and had a lot of soda. I could be wrong, but I hope not.

- Paul Gullixson