Chris, Margaret, and I went to a BBQ last Sunday for
Gabe Castillo for Congress. Gabe, should he win, will represent the fine people of Sacramento's eastern and southern suburbs, as well as parts of Amador, Alpine, Calaveras, and Solano counties (3rd congressional district). He faces a steep uphill battle against Dan Lundgren, a known and very conservative quantity.
If you're like me, you live in a district that is a lock for progressive thinkers. I don't have to worry about my Congressman, my Assemblymember, or my State Senator. They'll be good progressives. This means that, if I want to get involved in some campaigns, I'll have to do a little activist carpetbagging and work for the likes of Castillo. I encourage everyone living in a locked-up district to go find a candidate who is trying to win a traditionally non-progressive seat and help him or her.
Two other important items of note happened in the last week. First, Governor Schwarzenegger signed his first budget, and it looked just like a Gray Davis Budget.
Download a summary here.Furthermore, Schwarzenegger has taken the first step in his quest to "blow up the boxes" of state government. His
California Performance Review is complete. My first impressions are that it has all of the usual good ideas (use more eGov solutions, centralize purchasing, etc.) but it also has plenty of dubious ideas involving consolidation, contracting out, program elimination, and so on. It's 2500 pages of easy reading, but I highly recommend at least reading the
summary. The Gov will be taking this plan on the road and will need to hear from people.
