After an "impassioned" debate that went on for more than an hour, the Senate passed a bill that would
legalize same-sex marriage in California. "Senators invoked
God, the founding fathers and the civil rights movement before passing
AB 849 on 21-15 vote. All of the yes votes were cast by Democrats. One Democrat, Sen. Dean Florez of Shafter, voted no along with most Republicans. Four lawmakers abstained."
The bill faces a much tougher road in the Assembly, where it was already defeated once this year. And "Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's spokeswoman said he
preferred to let judges sort out the legality of gay marriage; such a case is moving toward the state Supreme Court," the LA Times reports. Sounds like the rough draft of a veto message.
A
new Field Poll shows "
opposition to the special election is growing" and the governor's disapproval rating at 52 percent. "Opposition to the special election has helped fuel a broad-based erosion of support for the governor during the past year, with 52 percent of voters now disapproving of the job that Schwarzenegger is doing. Last August, 65 percent of voters surveyed approved of the job he was doing, and just 22 percent disapproved," the Chronicle reports.
"As bad as Schwarzenegger's ratings are,
approval numbers for the Legislature are worse. Only 27 percent of voters like the job lawmakers are doing, and 49 percent agreed with the statement: "the state Legislature is more to blame than Gov. Schwarzenegger for blocking reforms needed to improve the way state government is run.'"
Speaking of which, Jim Sanders reports on Sen.
Carole Migden pushing some Assemblymembers' buttons -- literally. " Toward the end of Wednesday's floor session, Migden, a San Francisco Democrat,
pushed the voting button of a GOP assemblyman who was temporarily away from his desk. Her action violated Assembly rules and drew an angry response from Republicans "That behavior cannot be tolerated," said Assembly Republican leader
Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield. "It's unheard of on this floor, it's against the rules, and it cannot be tolerated."
"Migden, chairwoman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, declined to comment Thursday about her actions on the Assembly floor the previous day.
"There's no story there," she said.
Well in that case, let's move on...
"After pushing Houston's button, which would have been the 41st vote needed for passage of SB 484,
Migden called for the tally to end, saying, "Set the roll," Huff said.
"I was shocked," Huff said. "I said, 'Wait you can't do that -
that's Guy Houston's seat.' "
Huff quickly erased Migden's vote before it became official."
McCarthy said maybe the Assembly should
ban Migden from the floor of the Assembly. "You've got to talk about whether the senator can be allowed on the floor again," he said. "You cannot have this type of activity going on."
Here's a prediction -- sometime in the near future, some sort of McCarthy bill dies a mysterious death in Senate Appropriations.
The nomination of
Cindy Tuck to head the Air Resources Board was
formally tanked on the Senate floor yesterday. " The party-line vote of 24-14 came a day after a Senate committee recommended against appointing Cindy Tuck to head the Air Resources Board. Tuck lobbied against strict air quality standards on behalf of the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance."
The Daily Breeze
profiles Assembly candidate Ted Lieu, who is running in the race to replace the late
Mike Gordon.
The
anonymous "Mayor Sam" blog in Los Angeles is
anonymous no more. "
Brian Hay, 29, who has worked as a political consultant to former mayoral candidate Bob Hertzberg, said he has posted items as "Mayor Frank" since last year.
Mike Trujillo, 26, a spokesman for a preschool ballot initiative headed by
Rob Reiner, said he was "Chief Parker" for several months during the mayoral campaign earlier this year.
LA Observed reports there may be
a bit of backlash now that the bloggers identity is revealed. "They didn't confine their posts to spinning issues and pursuing political agendas. They hid behind anonymity to—sometimes—
insult people they have to work with if they intend to stay in the local political swirl. They also have tried to intimidate journalists."
Hey, if you can't intimidate a journalist, who can you intimidate?
Finally, we have a story from San Diego that demonstrates the
hazards of lap dances.
"An angry San Diego topless dancer pulled out a knife and stabbed a customer after he refused a lap dance, police said on Thursday.
"
Lawanda Dixon, 24, was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon shortly after the altercation with 33-year-old
Melik Jordan at the Dream Girls Cabaret early on Wednesday, San Diego police Det.
Gary Hassen said.
"'He was in the club with some friends watching the shows when she came up and asked if he wanted a lap dance," Hassen said. '
He said no, she got upset about it, they argued back and forth. She pulled knife out of her bag and stabbed him.'"
Now, how do you explain
that to the wife?