As it turns out, today is just another floor session day in the Capitol. Finding that not enough dirt has been turned up already, the JLAC hearing starring
Kevin Shelley has been
postponed until February 22. This gives the secretary another nineteen days to find a
new job. Looks like
Nicole Parra is going to have to find another way to celebrate her birthday.
With
yesterday's court ruling, it's doubtful that Crips founder, children's author and death row inmate
Stanley "Tookie" Williams will get a similar delay.
On the topic of money, state agencies, and questionable management,
the verdict is in on the late Office of Criminal Justice Planning. The LAT's Morain writes that auditors couldn't even reassemble the basic financial information on $425 million in law enforcement grants. "In my 30 years of experience, this is the worst thing I've ever seen," said
Sam Hull, the Department of Finance's chief auditor.
From our We Still Don't Buy It Files,
John Burton says
he may actually run for state superintendent -- in 2010. The former Senator, who was never big on education policy, and would be 77 when the election is held "said the nonpartisan schools chief position would be a natural follow-up to the foundation he started after leaving office, which is designed to help homeless children have more normal lives. Burton, 72, denied that the account he set up was simply a way of preserving his surplus campaign cash."
Skelton writes that neither the Legislature nor the governor are preparing to work out big issues legislatively, but rather are preparing for a
political war. "A
'political-industrial complex' has developed around Schwarzenegger: a team of private campaign consultants who make a bundle off his ballot brawls. The governor spent $1.9 million on political consultants last year, plus $302,000 on fundraising and $802,000 on campaign travel."
Can
Joe Canciamilla negotiate a truce? "We're beyond trying to solve problems," Canciamilla says. "We're arming for war. Some folks even are looking past this election. It's about taking out the governor. That's a pipe dream . . ."
Dueling Dans: Dan Weintraub isn't buying Dan Walters's argument
yesterday that the governor is devoid of being influenced from his enormous fundraising. "The only difference [from Gray Davis] is trust. As long as voters believed that Davis had their interests at heart, they didn't really care who was giving him money. But when they soured on his performance and started to look for reasons to doubt him, the money and its potential ties to policy became a potent issue."
Did the governor hand
Phil Angelides a campaign issue? Angelides is emerging as the
savior of CalPERS and CalSTRS pension systems, and will argue that the governor's pension "reform" plan is not fiscally necessary, but rather intended to stop the organizations from their leadership role on corporate reform.
The Chron's Debra Saunders
chuckles at the celebs who stepped forward on behalf of SB 60. "They should have dubbed the ad: Let my illegal nanny drive my SUV." Debra, come on,
these celebs drive Priuses. (or is it Prii?)
I'll be back . . . After a tour of the dot-com world, political consulting and a controversial stint with the Schwarzenegger campaign,
Sean Walsh will lead the
Office of Policy and Research.
The Schwarzenegger administration will reportedly soon unveil a new
transportation plan featuring toll roads. A tax by any other name . . .
Always bring your No. 2 pencil: An Orange County judge has
thrown out the challenge to the San Diego mayoral election, finding that the 5,551 people that wrote Donna Frye's name in, but didn't fill out the bubble, did not intend to cast a vote.
Seriously, the speech wasn't leaked to us: "One of Iraq's leading democracy and human rights advocates is Safia Taleb al-Suhail. She says of her country, "We were occupied for 35 years by Saddam Hussein. That was the real occupation. Thank you to the American people who paid the cost, but most of all, to the soldiers." Eleven years ago, Safia's father was assassinated by Saddam's intelligence service. Three days ago in Baghdad, Safia was finally able to vote for the leaders of her country -- and we are honored that she is with us tonight. (Applause.)"
While we try not to injure ourselves patting ourselves on the back, for that fabulous prediction, we also have a minor correction to an item posted in
yesterday's Roundup. About the Democrats' retreat at the Hyatt hotel in Orange County, we wrote, "Some labor leaders are irate at the caucus's choice of a non-union hotel," linking to an item on the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union Web site. As it turns out, according to
Nuņez's spokesman
Gabriel Sanchez, "This hotel has a union contract, but just not with the local chapter of HERE."