You need a road map to follow the intricate trail by which Koch brothers' money was shunted to and fro between nonprofits and ultimately wound up in California at the 11th hour before last year's general election. By the way, some $10 million seems to have got lost in the shuffle.
From the LAT's Chris Megerian and Anthony York: "The Republican consultant and his team had raised piles of cash to use in California politics as last November's election approached. But a wrinkle in state law meant he couldn't spend it in the final two months of the campaign without jeopardizing the anonymity he had promised his rich donors."
"So Russo turned to what he called "the Koch network." He asked a political consultant who has worked with billionaire Republican contributors Charles and David Koch to shuttle the money through an Arizona nonprofit. That group, which is not required to reveal its donors, could send cash to California causes without names attached."
"But things went from bad to worse. Although Russo handed over $25 million, only about $15 million ended up back in California. And when the money surfaced, it sparked an investigation by state authorities, who last month[ levied $16 million in penalties against the Arizona group and three others."
Despite investigators'' knowledge of that campaign money trail, a critical issue remains unresolved -- disclosure.
From the Bee's David Siders: "When FPPC officials announced a settlement 10 days ago with political groups tied to billionaire businessmen Charles and David Koch, they touted their ability to hold the Arizona groups accountable by announcing a record $1 million fine."
"Yet even as state regulators celebrated the outcome of the case – including a $1 million fine against two Arizona-based groups, the largest ever levied by the FPPC for a campaign violation – the limitations of their efforts were laid bare."
"The information people wanted to know most of all had been the identities of individual donors, which remain perfectly legal for campaign organizers to conceal. Only because a document provided to the FPPC was sloppily redacted could any of them be identified."
Speaking of money, there's the federal investigation of state Sen. Ron Calderon: Echoes of a past sting.
From the LAT's George Skelton: "I mean, only 25 years after a highly publicized FBI sting in the Capitol resulted in the convictions of 14 politicos — legislators, staffers, lobbyists — in what became known as Shrimpscam."
"Didn't every California politician learn from that? Maybe at least one flunked the history course."
"Twenty-five years is just enough time for people to forget," says Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC and a former chairman of the state Fair Political Practices Commission."
As the Affordable Care Act cranks up in California, the financial impacts are causing controversy.
From the Bee's Christopher Cadelago: "Notices began arriving in recent weeks informing consumers that their plans are being phased out and replaced with policies that comply with requirements of the health care law. Many are being told to expect double-digit percentage increases in monthly costs, in part to help balance the cost of covering the underprivileged and those with pre-existing medical conditions who may not have had coverage."
"The notices throw into sharp relief an e stirring reality of the law: While many will benefit, a smaller segment may not."
“There is certainly going to be heat around this, and lots of understandably unhappy people,” said Janet Coffman, a professor at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and the department of family and community medicine at the University of California, San Francisco."
Gov. Brown's wife says her business and political accomplishments hold lessons for other women in a competive world.
From the Chronicle's Carla Marinucci: "California first lady Anne Gust Brown, in a rare public appearance, told a crowd of Silicon Valley leaders Friday that going from a top executive at the Gap to key adviser to her husband, Gov. Jerry Brown, was "a leap" that holds lessons for women in competitive business environments."
"I don't know what came over me. ... I was ready to try something new," said Gust Brown, former chief administrative officer for the Gap, where she worked for 15 years until leaving in 2005. "But the notion that I would leave the Gap, marry Jerry Brown and run his campaign for attorney general was really crazy."
"I had to learn everything," said Gust Brown, 55. "I had to learn, what is polling, how do you do a TV ad, how do you raise the money? Every day, I had to learn something new."