Jerry Brown’s campaign is downright bizarre.  His slogan is “Let’s get California working again.”  But then if you go to his website, there is NO PLAN as to how he’s going to accomplish that.   This is classic Jerry Brown, all sizzle no steak.   The truth of the matter is that he’s is way past his sell-by date and he literally has NO PLAN.  He accomplished nothing as Mayor of Oakland and less than nothing as Attorney General.   He’s the same old egomaniac he’s always been, his bid for the governor’s mansion is nothing more than a grasp at past glory – he’s the political equivalent of Norma Desmond wanting her one last closeup.  We simply can’t imagine voting for him.

Meg Whitman is plain scary.  Her entire goal seems to win, from the $40 million plus she has pledged to her campaign, to her refusal to talk to the media, to her phony “town halls” – where people with opposing viewpoints are escorted out by the police, to her over-the-top negative ads against Steve Poizner, we have no idea what she stands for or who she is.  And no, we’re not impressed by the fact that she ran ebay from 1998 until 2007, come on.  The trick to running eBay from 1998 until 2007 was to stand back and watch the money roll in.  It wasn’t exactly a turnaround story – she was in the right place at the right time. Before ebay she was the CEO for FTD (the florists) and then Hasbro (the children’s toy company).  She has ZERO public service experience and ZERO experience in California politics — which, as we learned from Gov. Schwarzenegger’s tenure is actually important in California.

And that brings us to Poizner — OK we don’t know a lot about him.  But we do know this, he’s got a plan.  Go to his website and see for yourself.  The guy has put some real thought as to how he can right the ship.  It may not be a plan we agree with, but right now – he’s the only one with real ideas.  We are also intrigued by his thoughtful approach to spending cuts.  He also is more than a former CEO, he actually started two wildly successful software companies from scratch and he’s spent the last four years as California’s Insurance Commissioner – a gritty, non-glamorous, out-of-the-spotlight elected office.

The bottom line is this:  Steve Poizner is a nerd.  And right now California does not need a blowhard relic from another era or a showboating corporate executive trying to wow us with her cash flow.  Right now California needs a nerd who will actually do the hard work.  Poizner may just be that nerd.  We’ll see.

Here’s the latest example:  Last week,the Governor  issued an Executive Order closing state offices every other Friday with the workers going on unpaid “furlough” for those two days.   Unfortunately for the Governor,  this Executive Order does not apply to state offices run by other state elected officials.  The SacBee reports:

Schwarzenegger’s executive order — which applies to most state workers — cannot be mandated on the offices of California’s other statewide elected officials.

This issue will likely be added to the Governor’s “State of the State” address which he delivers this Thursday.  It’s going to be a bummer. The San Jose Mercury News reports:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will be hard-pressed to find good news for his State of the State address on Thursday as he continues his search for a budget compromise with state lawmakers before California runs out of cash in a few weeks.The Republican governor will focus his annual speech on the state’s dismal revenue outlook amid a deepening national recession. He also is likely to press for a combination of spending cuts and tax increases, as he has done for months.

On Monday, he was meeting with legislative leaders from both parties after vetoing an $18 billion Democratic budget proposal last week.

“We are starting again. As the governor said, we are turning the page on negotiations this week with all four legislative leaders at the table,” Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said.

California is expected to run out of cash in February, which would force the state to issue IOUs to vendors for only the second time since the Great Depression. It last gave IOUs during the recession of the early 1990s.

Running out of money also means California might have to delay checks to taxpayers owed refunds or issue them IOUs.

Schwarzenegger has described the current situation as “financial Armageddon.” Nevertheless, his pleas have failed to coax majority Democrats and, most notably, members of his own party out of their ideological corners.

We’ll do a full analysis of the argument once we read through the brief and analyze it (it’s 111 pages long — we’ll need a little time).  But the basic argument is that the California Constitution protects “inalienable” rights (rights that nobody can take away), since Prop 8 takes away the inalienable right to “liberty” and “privacy” it’s unconstitutional.  This is a broad big-picture, swing-for-the-fences kind of argument. 

Good for you Jerry Brown.  This almost makes up for your ridiculous war on alcohol-based energy drinks.

In other news, the Yes-On-8ers filed a brief opposing AG Brown’s argument (obviously).  The Yes-On-8ers also want to nullify the 18,000 pre-Prop 8 same-sex marriages.  Oh, and in March, guess who is going to argue the case to the California Supreme Court on behalf of the Yes-On-8ers:  Ken Starr. Yep, that Ken Starr. 

UPDATE 11/22/10:  The following caffeinated alcoholic beverages are now BANNED in California:

1. Joose
2. Four Loko
3. Max
4. Core High Gravity HG Green
5. Core High Gravity HG Orange
6. Lemon Lime Core Spiked
7. Moonshot

The California Department of Health pulled this off by determining that since there are no laws on the books which allow caffeine to be added to alcoholic beverages, that these beverages are considered unsafe “adulterated products” and therefore illegal to sell in California.   Of course, you can still walk into any bar and order a Red Bull and Vodka.

Here’s the announcement:

California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced that 13 states and the City of San Francisco have forged an agreement with MillerCoors to stop “the growing and widespread use” of caffeine-spiked alcoholic beverages, often marketed to young adults.

“With this agreement, we’re shutting down 90% of the market in caffeine-spiked alcoholic beverages,” said Attorney General Brown. “The growing and widespread use of caffeine mixed with alcohol can distort judgment, weaken inhibitions and encourage risky behavior, especially in young people.” Brown added.

Alcoholic energy drinks mix alcohol with ingredients like caffeine, guarana, taurine or ginseng. The alcoholic content in these drinks range from 6-12% per volume, more than most beers. Together, the stimulating effect of caffeine in the beverage mixed with the alcohol can mask how intoxicated the drinker actually is. A drinker may feel alert, but will still suffer the debilitating effects of alcohol consumption, including diminished reaction times and basic motor skills.

Sparks currently has 90% of the market share for alcoholic energy drinks. Last June, Attorney General Brown and other attorneys general announced that Anheuser-Busch had signed an agreement to stop producing its alcoholic energy drinks. With today’s agreement, most of the alcoholic energy drinks that were available in the beginning of the year will now be taken off the market. California and the other states will continue to investigate the smaller companies that continue to sell alcoholic energy drinks.

Young people are most vulnerable to the effects of alcoholic energy drinks like Sparks because they are prone to engage in risky behaviors such as binge-drinking and are less experienced in gauging the debilitating effects of alcohol. They are also more at risk of acute alcohol problems, including traffic crashes, violence, sexual assault, and suicide.

A study by researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine found that students who consumed alcoholic energy beverages were twice as likely to be involved in alcohol-related accidents and injuries. They were also more likely to be involved in sexual assaults or drunk driving.

After an investigation into the product, Attorney General Brown and the participating attorneys general alleged that Sparks was unsafe, MillerCoors was making false or misleading health-related statements about Sparks’ energizing effects, and much of the marketing was directed toward youth, a violation of California laws on marketing tobacco or alcoholic products to minors.

But get this…MillerCoors is trying to say that Sparks will still exist, it’ll just be uh–different.  From the company’s press release:

MillerCoors today said it has reached an agreement with a coalition of state attorneys general to voluntarily reformulate Sparks to remove caffeine, taurine, guarana and ginseng from the product. The brewer also agreed not to produce caffeinated alcohol beverages in the future.

OK, but if they remove the caffeine, taurine, guarana and ginseng from Sparks is it still Sparks?  Isn’t it just malt liquor at that point?  We’re confused.

MillerCoors, says that despite what the AG claims they weren’t doing anything wrong:   Form the company’s  press release:

While the formulation, labeling, marketing and selling of Sparks was approved by federal regulatory authorities numerous times, the company decided to reformulate the product based on concerns expressed by the attorneys general.

…[T]he agreement with the attorneys general contained no finding that MillerCoors engaged in unlawful behavior or marketed its Sparks brand to people below the legal drinking age.

MillerCoors cooperated fully with the state attorneys general investigation of its Sparks brands.  “While we have listened closely to the AGs and respect their position, we strongly disagree with their inaccurate allegations about the marketing and sale of Sparks,” Long said. “The Sparks brand has been responsibly marketed only to legal drinking age consumers.”

Also, Sparks is the only alcohol-based energy drink that’s actually banned, but it accounts for 90% of the market.  It’s a safe bet that the smaller players, like Joose, aren’t going to push their luck.

If you want to read the actual settlement agreement, click here.

If you ever want to understand California’s budget problems, why the government is so dysfunctional, and how it needs to change, then you should watch this. These guys are surprisingly relaxed, straight-forward, candid, and funny-for-politicians. They explain the problems in plain language that’s easy to understand.  And most importantly, they discuss the importance of crafting policy that responds to California’s population growth — which never happens during a campaign.

Even though this event was 3 1/2 years ago, the problems with the budget process are exactly the same.  There’s much talk about the importance of re-districting which finally came to pass with the passage of this year’s Prop. 11 (although not with retired judges as these guys originally hoped, but with a the bi-partisan committee).

If you want to understand California, this is worth 59 minutes of your time.  Actually,  the first 13 minutes are introduction, so you can scroll through that if you want.

Click here to view the embedded video.