"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to put a massive package of public works bonds on the June ballot
collapsed in the Legislature late Wednesday, as even a last-ditch effort to approve a much smaller version failed to produce an agreement," write Clea Benson and Kevin Yamamura in the Bee.
"Shortly before 10 p.m., the state Senate approved spending $1 billion on levee repair on a pay-as-you-go basis and adjourned until Monday."
The Senate adjourned quickly after the Assembly "approved [a measure] asking voters in June to approve a $4.15 billion bond for flood control and another $10 billion bond for schools and universities. Their plan also included a $9 billion school bond for the statewide ballot in 2008." The Senate objected to the piecemeal approach taken by the Assembly.
"'
While we are disappointed we did not make the June ballot, everyone knew it would be very difficult,' said Schwarzenegger press secretary
Margita Thompson. 'The governor has always said what is important is not June or November but that he and the Legislature work to rebuild California.'"
Jordan Rau writes in the Times "Over recent days, the governor and his staff implored Republicans and their leaders to support the package, but in the end they
could not find two Republicans in the Senate and six in the Assembly needed to guarantee approval."
"A primary sticking point was GOP demands for money to build two new reservoirs and repair Perris Dam — which is seismically unsafe — in Riverside County."
In other news,
the fight over redistricting is back. "Legislation to strip California lawmakers of their power to draw state Senate, Assembly and other political boundaries
narrowly passed a legislative committee Wednesday."
"Sen.
Alan Lowenthal, a Long Beach Democrat who helped craft
SCA 3, hailed the proposed constitutional amendment as a way to give political power 'back to the people.'"
"Under SCA 3, boundaries for legislative, congressional and Board of Equalization districts would be drawn once every decade, beginning in 2011, after the federal census."
"Boundaries would be set by a citizens commission, with legislative leaders choosing a majority of its members from a pool of candidates nominated by a panel of retired appellate judges."
The Roundup would like to jumpstart the process by nominating
Quentin Kopp and
Jim Rogan.
Meanwhile, Carla Marinucci looks into the role taken in the past by
Phil Angelides as a fundraiser of large corporate donations for the Democratic Party. "Angelides now is in a campaign against state Controller
Steve Westly for the Democratic nomination to face Schwarzenegger, and his past fundraising for his party -- and previous strong defense of corporate donations -- is expected to be scrutinized, particularly in light of his sharp criticism of similar techniques undertaken by supporters of the Republican governor."
"But Angelides' supporters defend his record, saying the former developer raised money as a private citizen from corporations -- but as a public official since 1998 he has been an advocate for campaign transparency and has never relied on nonprofit committees for his funding."
"As president of the California Legislative Forum, Angelides took a lead role in seeking corporate donations for his party. In a
1989 letter to the Tobacco Institute that is still posted on tobacco industry Web sites, Angelides advised corporate leaders how to file their $1,000 donations to his organization under the new state law and expressed thanks 'for your participation as a benefactor.'"
...hmmmm, we thinketh a Google search is in order.
Ah,
satisfied.
"Corporate donors were invited "to send a lobbyist" on the legislators' trip to Washington to "dine, talk informally or go sightseeing with legislators," according to a 1989 report about the group in the Los Angeles Times.
"Angelides defended the practice to the Times, saying that his foundation -- which had raised more than $100,000 -- was involved in '
the kind of thing, frankly, corporations in California ought to do.'"
"'
There's a surprising amount of serious work ... (but) even public officials are human, and they need to go to have a little fun,' Angelides told the newspaper."
"University of California President
Robert C. Dynes, under fire for an executive compensation controversy at the public university, on Wednesday
announced steps aimed at strengthening controls over UC pay practices and reiterated his commitment to fixing the problems."
"Addressing UC's Board of Regents at the beginning of a two-day meeting at UCLA, a somber-looking Dynes said he was 'intent on … tightening up the system so the things that have happened do not happen again.'"
I promise honey, it won't happen again.
Meanwhile, Eric Stern reports in the Bee "Amid a pay-perk controversy and calls for more openness, the University of California's governing board met behind closed doors Wednesday to
consider giving the UC president more leeway to raise salaries for top faculty by tens of thousands of dollars."
"The move drew a rebuke from Sen.
Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, who urged UC regents at the beginning of a meeting at UCLA to hold off on the salary plan because it gives 'too much unilateral authority' to the president and takes decision-making away from the regents."
Assemblyman
Dario Frommer, D-Glendale, announced Wednesday he
has pulled out of the race for state controller, saying he wants to spend more time with his family.
Not exactly busting the needles on the originality meter, never mind the honesty meter. When candidates declare their candidacy, can we start writing that they want to spend less time with their families? But we digress...
Frommer's "withdrawal leaves state Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Garden Grove, and Board of Equalization member
John Chiang as the major Democratic candidates in the June primary.Sen.
Abel Maldonado Jr., R-San Luis Obispo, and former Assemblyman
Tony Strickland are the major Republican candidates."
The withdrawal also leaves Frommer with about $1 million in the bank, which will be a nice account to tap when he and
Carol Liu face off for the 20th Senate District in two years.
Meanwhile, looks like Rep.
Elton Gallegly decided
he wanted to spend less time with his family, at the urging of the President of the United States. Looks now like Gallegly has unretired, and will seek reelection to his congressional seat. "With midterm elections in November,
party leaders were anxious about keeping the seat safely in Republican hands, Gallegly said. He said that concern went all the way to the president, who sent word urging him to get back into the race.
"If the president asks you, you don't take that lightly," he said.
House Speaker
J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and White House Deputy Chief of Staff
Karl Rove also made personal appeals, Gallegly said."
From our
Baca-Baca-Baca Files: "Six members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, including five from California, have
split from their group's fundraising arm because of concerns about donations to caucus members' relatives."
...now, who would be interested in making contributions to relatives?
"The fundraising committee's chairman, Rep.
Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino, defended the donations."
"The members - including Democratic California Reps.
Linda Sanchez,
Loretta Sanchez,
Hilda Solis,
Dennis Cardoza and
Jim Costa - asked in a March 1 letter to be removed from any materials that connect them to the committee, known as the Building Our Leadership Diversity PAC."
"'Over the past months, we have grown increasingly concerned about both the manner in which decisions within BOLDPAC have been made and the selection of certain nonfederal candidates to receive contributions,' the letter to Baca said."
"California Assemblyman
Joe Baca Jr., a state Senate candidate, and
Jeremy Baca, an Assembly candidate, received $3,300 each, Federal Election Commission filings show.
Silvestre [Reyes]'s sister-in-law got $3,000 for her unsuccessful bid for a seat in the Texas legislature, and a donation also was made to [
Ruben] Hinojosa's daughter, according to The Hill, a Washington, D.C.-based newspaper."
The Chron's Carolyn Said reports that supermarket mogul super-donor
Ron Burkle may be interested in buying the twelve newspapers McClatchy plans to dump after buying Knight Ridder, including the Merc News and Contra Costa Times.
We're guessing our friends over at the Merc and the CC Times are rooting for Burkle instead of the other rumored suitor, Dean Singleton's ANG Newspaper Group.
Just wondering, if Burkle bought the papers, would he
allow any reporting on his own divorce?Finally, from our
Legal Affairs Desk,
a man in Lodi wants to sue himself after backing into his own car. "When a dump truck backed into Curtis Gokey's car, he decided to sue the city for damages. Only thing is,
he was the one driving the dump truck. But that minor detail didn't stop Gokey, a Lodi city employee, from
filing a $3,600 claim for the December accident, even after admitting the crash was his fault. After the city denied that claim because Gokey was, in essence, suing himself, he and his wife, Rhonda, decided to file a new claim under her name."