Tourk, Migden, Veterans and the Fisher Museum - It's Cooky Time!

Fingers Crossed!

I think I’m still on Cape Town time, so I was up at 3 am sending emails to befuddled recipients and reading Matier and Ross. Imagine my bleary-eyed glee at seeing that Jerry Brown is rumored to have reached out to Alex Tourk to work on Brown’s gubernatorial election campaign!

Ohplease ohplease ohplease be true!!

I don’t know much about Jerry Brown, but if he is really trying to bring Tourk on board in a campaign against Mistermayor, he obviously (a) has great political sense and (b) loves bloggers - so he basically already has my vote.

You Need it for What?

You may recall that Carole Migden sued the California Fair Political Practices Committee back in March, alleging that the FPPC’s enforcement of Cal. Govt. Code section 89519 (a restriction on the use of campaign funds) violated her First Amendment right to free speech. Later that month, the FPPC countersued asking $9 million dollars for Migden’s myriad code violations related to campaign fund misuse.

On April 3 the District Court preliminarily let Migden use the $647k at issue to run her re-election campaign for Senate District 3. Which she lost. Soundly.

So, what’s going on back at the ranch?

In a case where there are no facts in dispute (Migden doesn’t deny violating the statute) the parties can just file what is called a Motion for Summary Judgment which allows the judge to rule on the legal issues without things gettin' all dramatic. That’s what the parties have done in this case. The parties’ lawyers are scheduled to argue the legal issues on August 4, 2008. But the court is requiring the parties to report on settlement negotiations in the meantime.

Having lost the election, what does Carole now need the money for? According to her recent Motion for Summary Judgment (here: Download migden_msj.pdf): to pay off campaign debts and (gulp) run for office in the future.

Court to Veterans: Tuff Sh(i)t

Last year, two groups (Veterans United for Truth and Veterans for Common Sense) brought a highly-publicized lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs (among other parties) alleging that the monumentally ineffective methods of identifying veterans with PTSD and the unreasonably long and confusing process of getting benefits for PTSD victims are unconstitutional and violate the VA’s mandate to provide care to veterans.

Sadly, on June 25, 2008, the U.S. District Court Judge ruled against the veterans groups, citing the fact that (a) the federal government made a rule that says you can’t sue the federal government, and (b) sometimes you can sue a federal agency, but only in rilly rilly limited circumstances, (c) them circumstances ain’t here, and (d) Congress gave the VA Secretary the power to whatever he wants – with no judicial oversight.

What’s truly disheartening about reading the decision is that, even as the Court is saying “there’s nothing we can do” – it points out things like:

• it takes an average of 4.4 years to get through the veteran’s benefits appeals process,
• it takes about 183 days from the time of filing for benefits to getting an initial decision, and
• the “suicide assessment” done at patient intake consists of two questions – “During the past two weeks, have you felt down, depressed or hopeless?” and “During the past two weeks, have you had any thoughts that life was not worth living or any thoughts of harming yourself in any way?”

Actually, I was feeling just fine until I read this decision…

The vets groups say they will appeal the ruling to the Ninth Circuit. But I doubt the decision will be different there. I think it’s time to call my Congresswoman.

Y’all Know How I Love Public Comment

Tonight at 6:30 I’ll be at the Officers Club in the Presidio watching the hearing before Presidio Trust Board regarding the proposed Fisher Museum (and some other stuff). I’ll be taking notes and trying to understand why protecting ye olde bowling alley is better than building an art museum. (Though my friend assures me that in Wisconsin this would make perfect sense.) From what I can tell, opposition to the museum isn’t entirely organized so it’ll be a good opportunity to learn about people’s concerns. See you there!

--Melissa