GrokSurf's San Diego

The big water news right now is in Sacramento. While I was reading up on the water negotiations underway after the governor called the special legislative session (the best way to keep updated on that, in my opinion, is to keep an eye on Aquafornia and Chance of Rain), I was struck by the difference between the websites for the Democratic and Republican Caucuses (disclaimer: I’m not a member of either party):

I don’t know if it’s always the case that the majority party uses “Majority Caucus” instead of the party name–does anyone out there know? As for the Republican Caucus, well, I guess they wouldn’t want “Minority” in their name.

Then there are the URLs:

The Majority Caucus URL seems normal enough for a state government body:

http://democrats.sen.ca.gov/

The Republican Caucus URL is cryptic, bizarrely long, and uses a .us domain:

http://cssrc.us/(X(1)A(yEGa8keCygEkAAAAYzMyMGE1NzAtMjIyNi00MGE2LTk1ZWMtYTdiMzk3NjlhOGY1Qil1QGZoq-uKpCjmjpGoqOTs3r41))/default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

What’s up with the use of the .us domain name? Republican senators are California state employees, or public servants, aren’t they? Why aren’t they using the senate’s web servers? –and at the bottom of their page it says “WEBSITE BY TAOTI ENTERPRISES, INC.” conveying a corporate rather than governmental website, copyrighted at that.

Just a glance at the contents shows nearly all of the Republicans’ items are dated, partisan, and even contemptuous (a headline, not visible in the shot above, reads “Senate Republicans Reject Democrat Corrections Proposal” — using that well-known technique of insulting Democrats) while the Democratic side appears up-to-date and provides bipartisan links to senate business information sources.

Just thought that was noteworthy.

Back to the water negotiations. Be sure to check the links I provided at the top for the best coverage. I’ll just post this video of senators Steinberg and Bass giving an update on the negotiations this afternoon.