Downey police question man in shootings that killed three

A man matching the description of the gunman who shot five people — killing three and critically wounding two — was being questioned Thursday night by Downey police.

Two other men and a woman who had been detained and questioned in connection with Wednesday's shooting rampage have been released, Lt. Dean Milligan said at an evening news conference. Police recovered a vehicle stolen from one of the victims by the gunman.

The three people killed were identified as Josimar Rojas, 26, of Downey; Irene Cardenas, 35, of Cudahy; and Susana Perez-Ruelas, 34, of Downey, police said.

In a statement, Downey police said they had "developed information that led to the detention of an adult subject matching the description of the suspect involved in the fatal shooting." The man, whose name has not been released, "is currently in the process of being questioned."

The shootings shocked residents in the southeast Los Angeles County city. Police said that they do not know the motive for the attack, but that it was "targeted" and "not a random act of violence."

The violence unfolded shortly after 11 a.m. Wednesday, when a man entered United States Fire Protection Services on Cleta Street, police said. The attacker killed Rojas and Cardenas and wounded another woman; she remains hospitalized.

Family members of some of the victims said Thursday that the shooting was the result of an attempted robbery of a black 2010 Camaro advertised for sale on Craigslist.

One person close to the family said the shooter showed up at the business and demanded the keys to the car. When a female family member working at the business refused, she was shot and wounded. Two others in the building, a man and woman, were shot and killed, the family member said.

Immediately following that shooting, the person said, another family member and her 13-year-old son stopped by the business on their way to a dentist appointment. The suspect forced them to drive him in a Chevy truck to the family's home to get the keys to the Camaro. After retrieving the keys, the gunman shot and killed the woman and wounded the son, the person said.

Authorities say they have yet to confirm details of the attack and could not confirm whether the shooting was related to the potential sale of the Camaro.

Police initially said that all of the shooting victims were related, but people identifying themselves as family members have told various media outlets that at least one of the victims was not related to the rest.

Downey police said Thursday that they were working to locate other family members and residents of the house, which property records show is in foreclosure.

The shootings turned the normally quiet street into a chaotic scene. Witnesses described seeing the wounded 13-year-old boy running out of the house, screaming hysterically, and another woman sitting outside the business, bleeding from the head.

On Thursday, neighbors and friends placed candles and flowers in a small memorial outside the family home. Many said they're searching for a reason for the attack.

richard.winton@latimes.com

wesley.lowery@latimes.com

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Independent spending pours into California congressional races

Democratic congressional candidate Jay Chen couldn't begin to match the nearly $2.5 million raised by longtime Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton), whom Chen is challenging for what is widely regarded as a safe GOP seat.

But a little-known group called America Shining recently started spending money — more than $610,000 so far — to oppose Royce and help Chen, drawing attention to the race in ways the Chen campaign couldn't afford. The outlay by the 3-month-old America Shining, whose only donor is Chen's brother Shaw, is a fraction of the nearly $42 million in independent spending poured into unusually competitive California congressional races this year.

More than half that amount has gone to just three of the state's 53 districts.

In some cases, such as Chen's, the independent spending has nearly matched or exceeded what the candidates have raised. The growth of such spending was largely enabled by federal court decisions that eased restrictions on unlimited donations for or against candidates — as long as the giving is not coordinated with the campaigns. The new rules have changed the political landscape across the nation.

The influence of independent spending is especially strong in California, experts say. The nation's biggest congressional delegation has 10 competitive races this year that will figure strongly in the parties' battle for control of the House, in part because of new political maps that resulted in fewer sure bets for either party.

"We've got an arms race going on, and clearly there is a lot at stake," said Kathay Feng, executive director of California Common Cause. She added that her organization is especially concerned about aspects of the rules that in some cases allow the identity of contributors to remain hidden.

The Sacramento-area battle between Republican Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Gold River) and Democrat Ami Bera is among the House races that have drawn the most outside money: more than $7.3 million. Two other California contests have each attracted more than $6.9 million in external spending.

A chunk of the money has come from the political parties. But in the Inland Empire, the National Assn. of Realtors' political arm has made its biggest investment — more than $2.1.million to support Rep. Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar) over fellow Republican Bob Dutton.

"You need to spend money to have your voice heard," said Scott Reiter, managing director of the Realtor PAC.

Groups affiliated with GOP operative Karl Rove, anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist, environmental groups and labor unions also are active in California this year.

"It seems clear from the trends over the last month or so that outside groups have realized that $1 million may have more punch spent in a House or Senate race than on the presidential level," said Rick Hasen, a UC Irvine professor who specializes in elections law. "Dropping that much money can really give a candidate who's behind a fighting chance.''

Records show the vast majority of the spending fights rather than supports candidates, adding to the heap of negative ads popping up in tough matchups. Among those is a race in San Diego County, where port official Scott Peters, a Democrat, is challenging Rep. Brian P. Bilbray (R-Carlsbad).

Independent spending in that contest has surpassed $7.1 million, almost half to undermine Peters and slightly less to oppose Bilbray.

"It definitely makes the tone far more negative," said MaryAnne Pintar, spokeswoman for the Peters campaign. "And it causes a great deal of skepticism on the part of the voters, because they don't know what to believe."

And the prohibition against outside spenders coordinating with candidates' campaigns concerns many strategists, who say groups wanting to be helpful can actually hurt their favored candidates with conflicting messages or ads so negative against opponents that they turn off voters.

"It's pretty hard for a candidate to break through all that negative messaging," said Dave Gilliard, a Republican consultant in Sacramento. Suddenly "everybody is a scoundrel."

"The candidates aren't responsible for their own campaigns anymore," said Democratic consultant Bill Carrick, who is running the campaign of Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) against Republican challenger Abel Maldonado in Santa Barbara County, where independent spending is exceeding $2.5 million. "It's all this three-dimensional chess that's going on, with all these outside groups."

Some consultants have an additional worry: that campaigns may be illegally consorting with outside groups. Complaints alleging collusion have been filed with the Federal Election Commission in at least three California races, including Chen's in a district that spans parts of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties.

Gilliard, who is overseeing Royce's reelection campaign, said it strains credulity to think the Chen brothers are not collaborating.

"They claim they don't talk to each other and coordinate things," Gilliard said. "But we don't find that believable. "

Jay Chen's campaign manager, Sam Liu, said the campaign is not coordinating with Shaw Chen. "There has been no coordination whatsoever," Liu said, citing an America Shining ad that parodies 1950s horror films in hitting at Royce. "It's certainly not like anything we would have produced ourselves."

jean.merl@latimes.com

richard.simon@latimes.com

Merl reported from Los Angeles and Simon from Washington.

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A High Sierra state of mind

MONO PASS TRAIL — Mary Breckenridge crosses the High Sierra every year, with only her horse and two mules for company.

She always leaves in September, when heat still tents the Central Valley but cool mountain breezes stir silvery-green aspen leaves.

Higher up, the nights could be so cold that the water in her coffee pot turned rock-hard. It's happened. She kept going. Packing and unpacking 300 pounds of gear daily, making and breaking camp, starting her fire from twigs.

Reporter's notebook: Follow the journey

It made her feel thrillingly self-reliant. A true Western woman.

Except, now she's 64, and she's not sure she can do it anymore. Not alone.

Bucko Davis had sworn he was done with packing. He'd had enough of being so tired that he would unload a pile of gear from a mule, plop down on top of it and have people walk by without realizing there was a limp body beneath the cowboy hat pulled over his face.

Then Mary tracked him down. They've been friends for 30 years, since he was a packer and she was a cook on commercial High Sierra trips. She needs him as backup.

Once long ago, Bucko said he would never tell her "no." He agrees to the trip.

He's spent his whole life in these mountains. He loves how the junipers line up for sentry duty along the ridges, the way edible mushrooms pop out amid the damp undergrowth.

Maybe now he can know if they will ever let him leave in peace.

::

Climbing the ridge out of Lake Edison on the first morning of their trip, Bucko, a Mono Indian, points to a distant peak.

"My brother Henry's up there now," he says.

Mary was at Henry's all-night funeral powwow — the only non-Indian woman dancing and chanting beneath the stars and oaks. Henry had given her the eagle feather she wears on her black cowboy hat.

Bucko scattered his older brother's ashes on Volcanic Knob. The ashes of Henry's best friend were spread on the mountain across from his. "They were both ornery. You can still hear them hollering across at each other," Bucko says, referring to thunder.

The horses are as fidgety as children on the first day of school. Mary's favorite mule, Dixie, keeps trying to kick her pack-mate, Woody.

"Dixie, huh-nee, don't " Mary chides in her Bakersfield twang.

She's blond with broad shoulders and a broad smile. Bucko, gray showing in his dark ponytail, is small, lithe and tends to limit his expressions to his gray-blue eyes. Both have the rolling gait of people who've spent a lot of time on horseback.

The three-day ride will carry them over the 12,000-foot Mono Pass, one of the shorter routes Mary has traveled in the past. Bucko has ridden almost every Sierra trail but somehow never crossed over on this old Indian trading path. It runs through a vast wilderness area where, for hundreds of square miles, there are no paved roads.

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Electric-car maker Tesla bucks traditional dealership network

When electric-car company Tesla Motors Inc. started selling its flagship Model S luxury hatchback earlier this year, it eschewed the traditional dealership network to open its own stores.

But that's not sitting well with U.S. auto dealers, who have controlled new-vehicle sales for nearly a century.

The nation's roughly 18,000 new-car dealers got a cut of every one of the 12.8 million new cars and trucks sold in the U.S. last year, from the biggest domestic sport-utility vehicle to the tiniest Japanese import. It's an exclusive arrangement that has made many of them very rich — and one that they're not about to cede to some tiny Palo Alto automaker.

Some individual auto dealers and regional associations have already filed lawsuits attempting to block Tesla, which now operates 16 stores in 12 states. A La Jolla store opens today.

The upstart automaker's battle with dealers is shedding light on a little-known practice that it contends amounts to legalized restriction on trade. The franchised new-car dealership system dates back to the start of the U.S. auto industry, when hundreds of manufacturers were fighting for market share. Setting up showrooms was expensive and time-consuming. So automakers sold other entrepreneurs the right to market their cars in specific cities.

Over time, car dealerships became crucial sources of employment and tax revenue for local communities. To prevent manufacturers from opening their own stores and undercutting neighborhood dealers, states developed laws governing the franchise relationship. Bottom line: Carmakers had to leave their retail sales to someone else.

Tesla isn't buying it. The company wants to sell directly to consumers. That way it gets to keep the profit that dealers make on new-car sales. It's also the only way an electric car will get a fair shake, co-founder and Chief Executive Elon Musk said.

"Existing franchise dealers have a fundamental conflict of interest between selling gasoline cars," Musk said. "It is impossible for them to explain the advantages of going electric without simultaneously undermining their traditional business."

A South African-born serial entrepreneur, who co-founded an Internet payment company that eventually become PayPal, Musk thrives on disrupting established industries.

His Hawthorne rocket maker SpaceX is breaking the historic monopoly that governments have long held on spaceflight. In May, his Dragon spaceship became the first private spacecraft to supply the International Space Station, a test of a $1.6-billion contract to carry out 12 cargo missions.

If Musk can beat back the auto dealer associations, other fledgling automakers as well as foreign brands launching for the first time in the U.S. could follow his lead and cut dealers out of the loop.

Elaine S. Kwei, an analyst at Jefferies & Co., said Musk's strategy makes sense. It would enable Tesla to keep control of the sales experience and educate consumers about its electric car, an automotive technology that most shoppers know little about.

Tesla "is at a disadvantage compared to the vast existing networks of dealerships and marketing budgets of the major automakers," Kwei said. "As a brand-new manufacturer with a new vehicle technology, they have to try something different."

Dealers are nervous that other, larger manufacturers might adopt Tesla's sales model, said Aaron Jacoby, a Los Angeles attorney who heads the automotive industry group at the Arent Fox law firm. On average, dealers make about $1,300 on a typical new-car sale before expenses.

According to the National Automobile Dealers Assn., 48 states either prohibit or in some way restrict automakers from owning sales facilities. For example, in California a manufacturer can't have a store within 10 miles of a franchised dealership of the same brand.

Still, laws in most states do allow automakers to open their own stores if they don't have an existing dealer network. That's why "Tesla is more likely than not to prevail," Jacoby said.

Dealers aren't conceding. Last week, the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Assn. and a dealer in the region sued Tesla and the New York Department of Motor Vehicles, alleging that they violated state franchise laws when Tesla opened a store in Westchester, N.Y., in late May.

Additionally, the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Assn. is seeking a preliminary injunction to close Tesla's store in suburban Boston. The legal actions were first reported by the trade journal Automotive News.

Musk said the lawsuits, "are starkly contrary to the spirit and the letter of the law," adding that the plaintiffs "will have considerable difficulty explaining to the court why Tesla opening a store in Boston is somehow contrary to the best interests of fair commerce or the public."

Tesla has no existing dealers who have risked their own money building showrooms and marketing the brand. Therefore, Musk said, there are no franchisees "anywhere in the world that will be harmed by us opening stores."

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Facebook foe Paul Ceglia charged with trying to defraud Facebook

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the Gorki residence while meeting with the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow in October. (Alexander Zemlianichenko / Associated Press)

By Jessica Guynn

October 26, 2012, 8:58 a.m.

Paul Ceglia, who sued Mark Zuckerberg for half his stake in Facebook Inc., has been charged in a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud the social networking giant and its founder and chief executive officer.

Ceglia was arrested at his home in Wellsville, N.Y., on Friday, federal prosecutors said, and is scheduled to appear in federal court in Buffalo, N.Y., Friday afternoon.

The complaint unsealed Friday alleges Ceglia doctored, fabricated and destroyed evidence to falsely claim he was entitled to a 50% stake in Facebook.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Ceglia in seeking a "quick payday" had attempted a "massive fraud"  and "corruption of our legal system."

Prosecutors say Zuckerberg agreed in 2003 to perform programming work for Ceglia and his fax business to earn money while he was a Harvard University student. Facebook denies that Zuckerberg gave Ceglia a stake in Facebook, which launched in 2004.

Dean Boland, who has been representing Ceglia in his civil case against Facebook, could not be immediately reached for comment. It was unclear who will represent Ceglia in court.

For years Zuckerberg battled allegations from fellow Harvard alumni Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss that they, not Zuckerberg, came up with the idea for Facebook. Ceglia was yet another person making claims to the billions in wealth created by Facebook, which went public in May.

Ceglia's claims were met with skepticism because of his checkered past, which includes a conviction for possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms in 1997 and fraud allegations involving his wood-pellet business. He has had a revolving door of lawyers representing him in the civil case against Facebook.

ALSO:

Paul Ceglia seeks Mark Zuckerberg sanctions

Federal judge orders Paul Ceglia to pay fine in Facebook case

Facebook charging 'stratospheric' attorney fees, Paul Ceglia says

Follow me on Twitter @jguynn

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U.S. sues BofA, calling loan fraud 'brazen'

Bank of America thought it was laying claim to a crown jewel of American mortgage lending when it scooped up Countrywide Financial Corp. at the depths of the housing crisis in 2008.

With a name reflecting its ambition, Countrywide transformed itself from a regional lender in Calabasas to a burgeoning powerhouse. It seemed to have perfected the elusive art of making home loans to borrowers with scuffed credit.

But the deal quickly became a millstone for Bank of America, U.S. taxpayers and the American economy when Countrywide dissolved in a heap of bad loans and shoddy bookkeeping.

The extent of Countrywide's wayward behavior is still coming to light four years after the deal. New revelations emerged Wednesday in a mammoth lawsuit filed by the federal government.

The $1-billion civil suit alleges that Countrywide fraudulently deceived mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into believing the company's risky loans were safe and sound.

Document: The complaint filed against BofA

Countrywide code-named its mortgage program "the Hustle" to prod employees to churn out loans as the housing market was beginning to crack.

The name was apt, said Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan who brought the suit, because it underscored dubious behavior that began at Countrywide and continued at Bank of America. In its haste to stick the government with loans that it knew were flawed, Countrywide dispensed with traditional internal safeguards designed to ensure loan quality, according to the suit. The suit, which seeks treble damages, says the abuses occurred from 2007 to 2009.

"The fraudulent conduct alleged in today's complaint was spectacularly brazen," Bharara said. "Countrywide and Bank of America made disastrously bad loans and stuck taxpayers with the bill."

Bank of America said in a statement that it "has stepped up and acted responsibly to resolve legacy mortgage matters."

"At some point, Bank of America can't be expected to compensate every entity that claims losses that actually were caused by the economic downturn," the statement said.

Housing advocates hailed the suit but said Countrywide-related losses far exceed the amount the government is seeking.

"It's better late than never, but it sure as heck should have been earlier and should have been more," said Dennis Kelleher, chief executive of Better Markets Inc., a liberal nonprofit group focused on financial reform.

The case underscores the lasting damage caused by Countrywide, critics say.

BofA bought Countrywide for about $2.5 billion and has racked up more than $30 billion in legal costs, write-downs and other charges since the acquisition. Numerous reports said BofA's directors last year discussed putting the Countrywide unit into bankruptcy if it continued to hemorrhage money.

U.S. taxpayers had to ante up $137 billion after the government bailed out Fannie and Freddie in the financial crisis. The companies are quasi-governmental entities that guarantee millions of home loans.

By inflating the mortgage balloon, Countrywide played an outsized role in the housing crisis and ensuing recession, critics say.

"Countrywide was the poster child for the problems that precipitated the financial crisis," said Kevin Stein, associate director of the San Francisco-based California Reinvestment Coalition.

"We're still seeing the effects in terms of people going into foreclosure as a result of the Countrywide practices," Stein said. "People are still suffering."

Though the U.S. housing market recently has begun to rebound, many areas of the country remain shaky.

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Hope rules this part of the swing state of Iowa

INDIANOLA, Iowa — Friday was senior night at Indianola High School, the Indians set to play the Lincoln Railsplitters in the last home game of the season. First, though, came a dose of tradition, celebratory and sweet.

Every football player, cheerleader, cross-country runner and band member poised to graduate in spring marched down the track, their names and plans called out over the public address system as the shivering crowd cheered.

Bob Kling did the honors for the marching band's seniors: Samantha Barth, Central College, pre-med … Hannah Hayden, Concordia University, Christian education … Travis Huss, undecided.

It's hard to be a pessimist when faced with such a parade of possibility. As election day nears, Kling says he is, more or less, hopeful about the future. He worries — about education cuts, stagnant wages, the possibility of war — but on the whole, the retired high school art teacher said, "I feel pretty good about things."

The economic recovery has been only middlingly successful. The national conversation is stuck on jobs and the lack thereof. Yet here in Warren County, a kind of Iowa in miniature south of the state capital, interviews with voters reveal a hint of optimism — resilience, even — in the waning weeks of the presidential campaign.

Maybe it's the default mind-set in Iowa, where hard work is a religion and debt a cardinal sin. Perhaps it's because the recession did less damage here than elsewhere.

Either way, voters in Indianola, the Warren County seat, sounded more upbeat recently than their brethren in most other states. What is less clear is which candidate will benefit from the cautious cheer apparent in this small but strategic state. President Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are in a dead heat here, and both campaigned in the state Wednesday.

Indianola, population upward of 15,000, is surrounded by rolling hills and broad fields of corn and soy, gone brown with autumn's chill. A giant grain silo looms over the east side of town, just behind the Hy-Vee supermarket, not far from Mark and Mary Clark's house.

Mark Clark is past president of the Indianola Athletic Booster Club. While the Indians and Rails prepared to take the field and Mary took tickets at the gate, the 54-year-old grilled cases of cheddar brats and dozens of turkey legs for sale at the concession stand.

Four years ago Clark lost his job at a local concrete manufacturing company. Now he works as a one-on-one aide to an elementary school child with behavioral problems. And as a crossing guard. And as second vice president of the National Balloon Classic, a volunteer post he fills in an effort to give back to the community.

Clark's income has dropped by three-quarters. He worries about having enough money to retire on and visit his grown children, who live in eastern Iowa, Missouri and Southern California. He fears that his beloved granddaughter, Addyson, age 1, will be saddled with the stubborn debt of a careless government.

But he also believes in change. And fortitude. In Indianola, the town that has embraced his family for the last 16 years. Clark looked out across the brightly lit stadium, at the bundled-up fans and the almost bare trees. And he smiled.

"This is so nice," Clark said, as the marching band struck up the national anthem. "This is home."

Of course it helps that Iowa has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, tied for fourth place with Oklahoma at 5.2%. Nationally, 7.8% of the workforce is looking for a job.

Although the drought hit Indianola hard, the recession had a softer touch here. And the last two years or so have seen a burst of construction, particularly to the north along U.S. 65/69, the main drag that bisects town.

The vista heading toward Des Moines is particularly telling: a tall, sky-blue water tower, "Indianola" emblazoned across the tank's width. A neat red barn in a stand of trees losing leaves with the approach of winter. And the new YMCA, a crane looming over unfinished walls, with opening day nine months or so in the future.

Mayor Kenan Bresnan is the first to cheer Indianola's recent additions — the Y, the two health clinics, the farm equipment store, the assisted-living center, the middle school sports complex, St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church.

But Bresnan is also wary. After all, many of those buildings were constructed using public or donated money. The percentage of children receiving free or reduced-price lunches here, he said, has more than doubled in the last eight years. His own retirement plan, he joked, is to hang up his briefcase at 65 and die at 66.

"There's a great spirit of optimism, but we're not building more houses," said Bresnan, 65 and nowhere near retirement.

The most striking addition to the Indianola skyline is the Kent Campus Center at Simpson College. The liberal arts school was founded in 1860 by members of the Iowa United Methodist Church. Today it is one of the town's biggest employers.

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Initial jobless claims, still volatile, dropped 23,000 last week

WASHINGTON -- First-time claims for unemployment benefits continued their recent roller-coaster ride last week with the second big drop in the last month, but economists said the overall trend is consistent with moderate -- though not great -- job growth.

The mixed economic picture also was clear in Thursday's Commerce Department report on durable goods.

Though orders for big-ticket items such as jetliners increased 9.9% in September from the previous month, a key measure of business activity that strips out volatile defense and aircraft orders was flat last month.

Initial jobless claims fell 23,000 to 369,000 for the week ending Saturday, down from a revised 392,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday. That figure was a major increase from the week before, when claims had unexpectedly plunged to a 4 1/2-year low of 342,000.

Big shifts are common in the volatile weekly unemployment data, particularly at the start of a new fiscal quarter. But the recent swings have been more dramatic than usual and have triggered allegations the Obama administration was cooking the numbers in the weeks before the presidential election.

Labor Department officials said there was no manipulation.

Last week's number was consistent with analysts' expectations of 370,000 initial claims. And the less-volatile four-week average increased slightly to 368,000. With the fourth quarter of the year fully underway, the claims probably will remain more steady at about that level, which is consistent with monthly job growth of about 125,000.

"Unemployment claims fell back to earth today," said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist for the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in New York. "There is no worsening of economic conditions."

But Rupkey said he was worried about capital orders by businesses contained in the durable goods report.

"Business capital spending is not bouncing back after taking a hit in June and July," he said. And that does not bode well for third quarter economic growth.

The government will report its first estimate of third quarter gross domestic product  Friday.

ALSO:

Federal Reserve holds steady on stimulus, interest rates

Initial jobless claims jump 46,000 to 388,000, but there's an asterisk

Housing industry recovering more quickly than many economists expected

Follow Jim Puzzanghera on Twitter and Google+.

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Support plunges for Prop. 30, Gov. Jerry Brown's tax initiative

SACRAMENTO — Support has plunged for Proposition 30, Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to raise billions of dollars in taxes, a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll shows, with less than half of voters planning to cast ballots in favor of the measure.

Only 46% of registered voters now support Brown's initiative, a 9-point drop over the last month, and 42% oppose it. The findings follow a lackluster month of campaigning by the governor, who had spent little time on the stump and found himself fighting off attacks from backers of a separate ballot measure that would raise taxes for schools.

Although Brown recently launched a frantic push for votes, both proposals could fail. Tax measures rarely gain support in the closing days of a campaign.

Proposition 30 would temporarily raise taxes on individuals earning more than $250,000 a year and impose a quarter-cent hike in the state sales tax. Enthusiasm for the governor's plan has fallen across the political spectrum.

The steepest decline is among voters who register without a party preference — a crucial voting bloc for Brown. Support from those Californians dropped from 63% a month ago to 48%.

"Proposition 30 has been under attack from the left and the right," said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC. "It has taken a toll."

The USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences/Los Angeles Times poll surveyed 1,504 registered voters by telephone from Oct. 15 to Oct. 21. It was conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, a Democratic firm, in conjunction with American Viewpoint, a Republican company. The margin of error is 2.9 percentage points.

The poll yielded some hopeful signs for Brown. His approval rating, now at 45%, has not dropped along with his initiative, suggesting that he can be a credible pitchman for undecided voters, the largest group of which are fellow Democrats. A strong turnout for President Obama on election day could also give him a boost.

The governor is now hitting the campaign trail, with events aimed at mobilizing Democrats, whose support for his proposal slid in the last month from 72% to 65%. He has been making stops at colleges and churches and rallying Latino leaders.

Brown campaigned this week with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in Inglewood and then bounded to events in San Diego, Bakersfield and Fresno, dismissing campaign watchers who say his engagement may have come too late.

"People are just starting to pay attention now," the governor said in an interview Tuesday in San Diego. "I'm going to spend the next two weeks doing everything I can to spread the word."

Meanwhile, Brown's opponents have been arguing that Sacramento cannot be trusted with the public's money and should cut waste before hiking taxes. Some poll respondents were skeptical of the governor's warning that billions of dollars will be cut from public schools and universities if Proposition 30 fails.

"I just think they're using that as a scare tactic," said Michael Anderson, a 63-year-old retiree from Alturas, in northeastern California, who is not registered with a political party.

Blake Stephens is a 21-year-old Republican and insurance agent from Hollister. He said a recent accounting scandal, in which state parks department officials hid away tens of millions of dollars, confirmed for him that "there's no accountability in Sacramento."

Others agreed with the governor that the ballot measure reflects the cost of providing the services voters expect.

"If you want schools, police and fire, you have to pay what those services are worth," said Miriam Sherry, 31, of Cupertino, who states no party preference and said she was leaning in favor of Proposition 30. "We are asking for a heck of a lot of services out of the company we call our government."

Another tax-hike tax measure on next month's ballot, Proposition 38, sank 6 points in the poll and continues to lag behind Brown's. Just 28% of voters support Proposition 38, down from 34% in September.

That measure, bankrolled by millionaire civil rights lawyer Molly Munger, would increase income taxes for most Californians to raise funds primarily for schools and early childhood education. Brown has feared the measure would siphon support from his plan and confuse voters. He may have been right.

"I'm voting for both of them, but I don't even know what that means," said Nick Drews, a 33-year-old Democrat in Costa Mesa.

If both pass, the one with the most "yes" votes takes effect under state law, although there could be court fights over some provisions.

A quarter of the Californians supporting Proposition 38 are not inclined to also vote for Brown's measure, however. That group has grown substantially since last month, amid a blitz of ads funded by Munger that denounced the governor's plan.

Another challenge for Brown has been keeping public employee unions focused on his effort. Their campaign dollars and get-out-the-vote efforts are crucial.

But the top priority for unions this year is defeating Proposition 32, which would curb their influence by preventing paycheck deductions for political purposes. That measure is trailing, 39% to 46%.

With the threat of that measure dissipating, Brown is seeking to bring labor's attention back his way. At a campaign rally in Bakersfield this week, he said voters face a simple choice.

"This is second-grade arithmetic," he said. "Yes on 30 — money into schools. No on 30 — money out of schools.... There is no compromise."

chris.megerian@latimes.com

anthony.york@latimes.com

Megerian reported from Sacramento and York from San Diego and Bakersfield.

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Colin Powell endorses Obama for president

Colin Powell endorsed President Obama's bid for reelection Thursday.

By Christi Parsons

October 25, 2012, 8:20 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Former secretary of state Colin Powell endorsed President Obama for reelection Thursday, saying he has been "very solid" on protecting the country during his watch.

Speaking on CBS' "This Morning," Powell credited Obama with ending the war in Iraq, drawing down troops in Afghanistan and avoiding entanglement in new wars despite tensions around the globe.

"I think that the actions he's taken with respect to protecting us from terrorism have been very, very solid," Powell said. "And so I think we ought to keep on the track that we are on."

The Obama campaign promoted the endorsement with a video released shortly after the appearance by Powell, a Republican who served as the country's top diplomat under President George W. Bush.

PHOTOS: President Obama's past

Powell backed Obama in 2008 and said he plans to "stick with him in 2012" based on his record and on the proposals of Republican Mitt Romney.

"I'm not quite sure which Gov. Romney we'd be getting with respect to foreign policy," he said, calling his positions a "moving target."

"There are some very, very strong neo-conservative views that are presented by the governor," said Powell, "that I have some trouble with."

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christi.parsons@latimes.com

Twitter: @cparsons

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