Living rage

Cut, paste and pay: Sacramento city officials just paid the tidy sum of $42,500 for an independent outfit, the Economic Research Associates of San Francisco, to study how the controversial “living wage” would affect the city. The ERA report, which was seen as damaging to the living-wage cause, has been ripped plenty for unclear methodology, missing data and, especially, using overblown cost calculations about how much an ordinance would cost the city. (“Absolutely nuts!” is how City Councilman Dave Jones described the estimates.) Bites has yet another critique. Gee, almost half the thing (history, details and costs related to other California cities’ living-wage laws) reads as though it were lifted straight off the living-wage proponents’ Web site! Former Sacramento ACORN spokesguy Brian Kettenring said the information—on www.acorn.org and in the ERA’s contested report—is widely available elsewhere, too, but gawd … after this, Bites may rethink journalism and leap into the more lucrative report-writing business. Meanwhile, city staff made a “hold off on living wage while we do more endless studying” recommendation to the council based on the ERA report; the council tabled the matter until March 4.

Total control: The SN&R’s Budget Czar, a semi-fictional dictator whose proposal to fill the state budget hole graced last week’s cover, generated plenty of testy responses—especially from the state workers whose paychecks The Czar whacked. Tom McClintock, however, had a soft spot for one provision of The Czar’s plan: that the Republican senator be made a czar with total power to find and slash government waste. After McClintock vowed at a Monday press conference that he’d file a challenge to any approved Vehicle License Fee hike “within minutes,” a curious Bites asked the senator if he’d take The Czar’s job offer. “In a heartbeat!” gushed McClintock. Of course, McClintock probably won’t do cartwheels about another part of The Czar’s plan—restoring the VLF—but Bites will let The Czar know that McClintock would serve if called.

Wanna bet?: Last Friday afternoon, Bites spotted this show-stopper headline on a spam from the gov’s office: “California Governor Gray Davis and Florida Governor Jeb Bush Support Their NFL Teams.”

Really? Yes! But sadly, even when Davis talks about two politicos placing a bet, it still somehow winds up sounding like a yawn-inducing explanation of budget subventions. “I want to commend the Buccaneers for a string of stirring playoff victories on their way to a franchise-first Super Bowl appearance,” Davis said to a gathering of area Raiders fans. “However, the Raiders have the league’s most potent offense and the experience, drive and intensity that will lead them to victory.” Anyway, Davis somehow won re-election but lost this bet. Now, he owes Bush a case of California wine, some unspecified California “agricultural products” (medicinal pot?) and a fish taco dinner at Rubio’s Baja Grill in San Diego. For those, like Bites, who aren’t Rubio’s regulars, it’s a chain. “Dinner at Rubio’s?” snorted one state worker. “Gray must not like Jeb very much.” Or his brother.

Mecca does the math: The gov has just begun to slash and burn his way through the California budget, but some social-service types are saying they’ve already come under the ax. “Hey,” said Frank Mecca, executive director for the County Welfare Directors Association of California, “we’ve been taking our share three years running.” Since June 2001, Mecca told Bites, programs that serve the needy have sustained $716 million in state cuts and lost increases. What does that mean in everyday details? As an example, Mecca took Child Welfare Services, which has lost $28 million in state funding that could have funded 500 investigators across the state. They, in turn, could have examined as many as 8,000 cases of suspected child abuse each month. Meanwhile, said Mecca, a program that helped people get food stamps lost $56.8 million, and Medi-Cal lost $229 million. Uh oh. Welcome to California, where the hits just keep on coming.