"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday
announced a new group of senior aides as he prepares for his second term, including lobbyist and former Gov.
Pete Wilson aide
Chris Kahn as his new legislative secretary," reports Kevin Yamamura in the Bee.
"Kahn, a partner with lobbying firm Sloat Higgins Jensen and Associates, will start work Monday as the governor's top liaison to the Legislature. Kahn, 40, previously served as chief deputy legislative secretary for Wilson and as chief of staff for former Republican state Sen.
Marian Bergeson."
"
Dan Dunmoyer, 44, previously a deputy chief of staff and senior policy adviser for the governor, was named Cabinet secretary. Before joining the administration a year ago, Dunmoyer, a Republican, worked as president and chief executive officer of the Personal Insurance Federation of California."
"
Sean Walsh, 42, was appointed senior adviser to the governor after serving in the Governor's Office of Planning and Research since last year. Walsh, a Republican, was Schwarzenegger's communications director during the 2003 recall election and also served as Wilson's press secretary."
"The governor named Democrat
Ross LaJeunesse as a deputy chief of staff and senior adviser. LaJeunesse, 37, served as chief of staff to outgoing state Controller Steve Westly, who ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic gubernatorial primary earlier this year in a bid to unseat Schwarzenegger. LaJeunesse previously worked for Schwarzenegger Chief of Staff
Susan Kennedy when she served on the Public Utilities Commission."
Also, "Schwarzenegger named
Daniel Zingale, 46, a senior adviser" and "
Cynthia Bryant, 48, as a deputy chief of staff and director of the Governor's Office of Planning and Research"
Daniel Weintraub also reported yesterday that "
Margaret Fortune, who was director of public affairs, shifts to the role of senior adviser." It had been rumored that she might succeed
Alan Bersin as Education Secretary.
Capitol Weekly's John Howard reports on
a new bill by Pedro Nava to merge the Office of Homeland Security with the Office of Emergency Services, which has set off a major turf war.
"Ten days ago, Assemblyman Pedro Nava, the presumptive leader of the Legislature's committee on emergency preparedness and security, proposed a tersely worded bill that would take California's Office of Homeland Security and place it inside the Office of Emergency Services. Nava's AB 38 would make OHS a division of OES. It is the culmination of at least two years of intense Capitol discussion about the chain of command in California's ability to withstand a terrorist attack, and it reflects in part Nava's experiences during the January of 2005 La Conchita mudslide disaster in his Santa Barbara-area district."
"'They should only be together when there is a clearly defined line of authority so that there is no mystery as to who is accountable or responsible for whatever their job is,' Nava said."
CW's Kimberly Geiger
profiles incoming freshman Martin Garrick, a former Reagan aide who succeeds Mark Wyland.
"A California native, Garrick, 53, was born in Glendale. Other than a five-year absence while working for then-President Ronald Reagan, Garrick has stayed in the southern part of the state, living in and around Los Angeles and San Diego. In 1980, he moved east to join Reagan's presidential campaign. Reagan's victory meant a position for Garrick on the White House transition team, followed by a job as Deputy House-Senate Liaison, where
he served as the President's voice on energy policy until 1985."
"But by the summer of 1985, Garrick retired temporarily from the lawmaking business and returned to California. In the early 1990s, he founded two California-based corporations: a telecommunications company and a real-estate investment firm. Since leaving Washington, he has remained politically active, serving on local crime and budget committees and as the first vice chairman of the San Diego Republican Party."
"Garrick proposes
securing the border and cracking down on illegal immigrants and sexual predators as "the first step toward turning our education system around."
An outspoken critic of the three-strikes law, Garrick said it's "two strikes too many," and believes sexual predators should never be released from jail."
Looking for
help from the state to keep the Kings in Sacramento? Don't count on it, reports CW's Malcolm Maclachlan.
"'I don't see it,' said Senator
Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, who represented the Maloof family, owners of the Sacramento Kings, in negotiations for public financing for a new arena earlier this year. He went on to say that he would be against the state taking over stadium funding. "That's just a non-starter because we have a $5 billion deficit in California and much higher priorities."
Meanwhile, "[i]nvestigators in the Schwarzenegger administration
have persisted with a criminal inquiry into how his former opponent obtained audiotapes of the governor's private conversations, even after being told by the state's top law enforcement officer that no crime had been committed," writes Peter Nicholas in the Times.
"The California Highway Patrol investigation stretched past the Nov. 7 election and is now in its fourth month. Still, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration has let stand public statements that Phil Angelides' campaign might have illegally hacked into the governor's computer system to embarrass him in the late stages of his reelection campaign."
"With no sign that the CHP intends to press criminal charges, the affair has sparked questions about whether the governor's office misused a publicly funded law enforcement agency for political purposes."
"The governor's communications director,
Adam Mendelsohn, said: 'It will be left to the CHP to determine whether a criminal act occurred. What we know happened was there was an unethical breach of security.'"
And, on to
Kiddie Booze. "Reversing a decision made a day earlier, the state's tax policy board on Wednesday
voted to take the first steps toward hiking the tax on "alcopops" -- sweet-tasting alcoholic drinks that a coalition of youth groups believes are targeted at teenagers," reports E.J. Schultz in the Bee.
"By approving a petition submitted by the coalition, the Board of Equalization agreed to hold hearings on raising the tax, with final approval to be considered next year."
"Alcopops -- which refer to flavored malt beverages such as Smirnoff Ice and Mike's Hard Lemonade -- are taxed at 20 cents per gallon, the rate for beer. The coalition wants the beverages taxed at $3.30 per gallon, the rate for distilled spirits, with the hope that the steeper price will make the drinks less accessible to minors."
"The petition failed Tuesday on a 2-2 vote. But
John Chiang, a board member who will be sworn in as state controller next month, was not present. He returned Wednesday for a planned second day of hearings to cast the deciding yes vote."
Jim Sanders writes in the Bee: "An African American legislator
charged Wednesday that his skin color and legislative position are partly responsible for a controversy sparked by his staff's issuance of replica Assembly badges to supporters or friends."
"'It's nice and proper and polite to say that racism doesn't exist in American society and politics,' said
Mervyn Dymally, D-Compton. 'But it exists. People have to deal with that.
Why am I being singled out?'"
"The issue is much ado about nothing, fueled by politics and racism, according to Dymally, leader of the Legislature's Black Caucus, chairman of the Assembly Health Committee and a declared candidate for the Senate in 2008.
"'As long as I was not in the leadership in the Assembly, nothing was said of me,' Dymally said. '
All this has happened since my ascension to leadership in the speaker's Cabinet and since the Black Caucus has increased its membership from six to nine.'"
"State Sen.
Alex Padilla has
undergone successful brain surgery and returned to his home in Pacoima, he said Tuesday," writes Dan Morain in the Times.
"Padilla, 33, a Democrat, was diagnosed with a malformation in the outer lining of his brain on Dec. 5, the day after he was sworn in as state senator from the 20th District, which covers the eastern and southwestern San Fernando Valley."
"'The doctor said my strength should be back by the end of the week,' Padilla said Tuesday, after having lunch with his father. "'The doctor said he expects full recovery.'"
"Padilla's condition, known as dural arteriovenous fistula, refers to an abnormal passage connecting an artery and a vein in the membrane covering the brain."
Speedy recovery, Alex.