Gridlock

Since when did checks and balances become gridlock? PAM BROWN Northridge

SACRAMENTO - For years, running for office as a Republican in California boiled down to one core pledge, bound by a candidate's signature and enforced with a vengeance: no new taxes. Not anymore. The state's new political landscape, scrambled by freshly drawn voting districts and new election rules, has given rise to a handful of GOP hopefuls proudly bucking the anti-tax orthodoxy. Their candidacies have the potential to end years of partisan gridlock here. It would have been unimaginable in the last election, just two years ago: At least five viable Republican contenders for the Assembly are refusing to sign the no-tax pledge that helped ensure protracted budget negotiations and gimmick-laden spending plans as California limped from one fiscal crisis to another.

Many Americans think badly of the government because of “gridlock” in Washington. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is not one of them. Americans “should learn to love gridlock,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. “The framers (of the Constitution) would say, yes, 'That's exactly the way we set it up. We wanted power contradicting power (to prevent) an excess of legislation.' " And that was in 1787, he added. They “didn't know what an excess of legislation was.” Scalia, the longest-serving justice, contrasted the American system to those of governments in Europe, and he said this country's Constitution is better because it provides for an independent president, an independent judiciary and two independent branches of Congress.

With the Lakers, Clippers and Kings all in postseason action this weekend and the final stage of the 2012 Amgen Tour of California, authorities are warning of street closures and heavier than normal traffic in the downtown area. "There's never been a weekend like this in Los Angeles," said AEG's Michael Roth. "Six playoff games in four days? In Los Angeles? Never. And the bike race will be a really big deal. " Officials are expecting normal game traffic Thursday and Friday evening, and Saturday's back-to-back Clippers and Lakers games should not be a problem, Roth said, noting that Staples Center has handled more than a hundred doubleheaders.

Re "Corona Basks in Boom Times" (May 14): Basks ! Do people still talk like that, over what will turn out to be more smog, more freeway gridlock and more crowing? Incredible! J.E. GOOD San Bernardino

I am a responsible businesswoman who believes in due process and am appalled that a group of malcontent, irresponsible people, such as Gridlock, with its unverified estimates of traffic and jobs, can usurp legitimate City Council review, Planning Commission meetings, environmental impact studies and planning for 20 years. Its circulating of petitions was not even honest. It gave false information to signers. The benefits from the improved traffic flow and the much desired amenities, which most communities would die for, will all be wiped out by this group.

On June 7 you ran a Voices piece, "Transportation of Tomorrow Exists Today." On June 8 you ran "Valley's Silver Bullet Hits Mark," featuring Gerald A. Silver ("the most public face of opposition to freeway expansion"), and "O.C. Doesn't Want to Leave the Suburbs." The latter two articles are why the first article doesn't stand a chance. Today, Silver and his ilk are heroes to a small but vocal number of Valley residents, and the citizens of Irvine are patting themselves on the back for voting to delete their portion of the 11.4-mile light-rail system.

The traffic nightmare feared by commuters failed to develop Friday as President Obama mostly used a helicopter to crisscross Los Angeles. "There are no major delays. Everything has been A-OK," Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Richard French said. The California Highway Patrol also reported no unusual tie-ups on area freeways. That was a relief to Angelenos and to Democrats who did not want a repeat of the anti-Obama hostility caused by traffic jams in August, when his motorcade shut down roadways for hours.

Republican leaders feel good about their chances for big gains in November's congressional elections, and they should. Polls show that most voters don't think the Democrats' stimulus plan has helped the economy and are ready to try something different. Charlie Cook, publisher of the Cook Political Report and Washington's chief prognosticator of congressional elections, predicts that unless the economy turns around, the GOP will probably win the 39 seats it needs to take control of the House.

SAO PAULO, Brazil - If you plan to fly somewhere in Brazil on a busy weekend, you'd better be prepared to wait. At some airports, up to a third of the flights can be canceled or delayed. If you choose to drive, you'll sit in traffic. The 50-mile trip from Sao Paulo to nearby beaches for the Carnaval holiday this year took as long as five hours. If you're counting on the planned bullet train between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, good luck with that. It won't be ready when Brazil hosts soccer's 2014 World Cup. In fact, the transportation minister said recently that it won't be operating until 2022, at the earliest.

With the federal highway program due to shut down in 10 days, House and Senate leaders remained at odds Wednesday over how to break the legislative gridlock over a new transportation bill, even as Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood pleaded for action. LaHood joined Democratic senators on Capitol Hill to urge his former House Republican colleagues to pass the Senate-approved two-year, $109-billion bill. But House GOP leaders, who have struggled to unify their majority behind a bill, are preparing to consider a three-month extension of the highway program beyond March 31 while they continue to work on their own long-term legislation.   Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)

When Gov. Jerry Brown sees President Obama at the White House on Friday, he will be looking in a political mirror. Both Democratic leaders promised to end the partisan gridlock that had plagued their respective capitals, and so far neither has had much success. Obama was unable to win any Republican support for his signature healthcare legislation and has seen his calls for further economic stimulus measures shot down by the GOP. Legions of his nominations have stalled amid Republican objections, as did his quest for a grand deficit deal last summer.

  Washington's political gridlock has had at least one advantage: It allowed businesses and interest groups to reduce their lobbying expenses last year, the first time that's happened in more than a decade. Overall, the amount spent on lobbying was nearly $3.3 billion last year, down from $3.5 billion the year before, according to a preliminary analysis of disclosure forms by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. It marked the first time since 1999 that spending on lobbying, year-over-year, dropped in Washington.

Congressional Republicans were shocked, shocked , when President Obama circumvented a Senate filibuster by appointing a director for the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau without the consent of Congress. The appointment of former Ohio Atty. Gen. Richard Cordray did, in fact, push the edge of the constitutional envelope. But it was a rational response to an increasingly gridlocked Congress and a growing willingness among lawmakers to employ procedural tools to stop the executive branch from functioning.

In what he called an end-run around Sacramento's partisan gridlock, Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday unveiled his bid to raise taxes on high earners and boost the sales tax by a half-cent for the next five years. Brown wants to increase income taxes 1% to 2% for individuals making $250,000 or more, in addition to the sales-tax hike, and hopes to qualify the proposal for next November's ballot. The new revenue -- up to $6.8 billion per year for the five years, according to administration estimates -- would be used to fund public schools and guarantee money for counties to house more inmates in local jails instead of in state prisons.

Gov. Jerry Brown is drafting a ballot initiative that would raise income taxes on the wealthy and hike sales taxes for everyone, insiders say. Much political finesse is involved. Each step is delicate. First, the governor must choose taxes that voters might agree to increase. That means, for the most part, taxes paid by someone else. He probably can sell raising taxes on the top 1% of income earners. But he probably cannot peddle income tax hikes on the middle-class and poor.

We're at a rankings standstill. Nobody budged in this week's top 11. It's as if everyone is standing at a bus stop waiting for November. There's nothing anyone can do until Alabama, Louisiana State or Oklahoma loses. Wisconsin beating Indiana by 52 points last week earned the Badgers a big-deal No. 6 in the first Bowl Championship Series standings. Boise State is stripping gears at No. 5, and Stanford hasn't lost in more than a year yet sits behind the No. 8 BCS ball. Only one bit of housekeeping: Washington enters the poll at No. 25 and Texas, once 4-0, drops out after dropping to 4-2. 1; Alabama 7-0; May have more NFL-ready players on defense than the Kansas City Chiefs.