We're beginning to think the real reason there's been no progress in the special session is because the speaker is reluctant to get a quorum of his members in the same room.
For those of you who have been locked in a wine cellar for the fall, the speaker has had, shall we say, a less than stellar time of it with the press. And today is no different.
Apparently, when reporters have spare time on their hands, they spend it finding ways to badger Fabian Nunez.
First, it's the Bee's Jim Sanders,
taking a look at legislation the speaker pushed through his house more than a year ago.
"Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez solicited $120,000 in charity contributions from Verizon shortly after pushing successful legislation last year that is expected to bring billions to telecommunications firms in coming decades.
Less than three months after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Núñez's hotly contested bill, Verizon spread holiday cheer to seven of the Assembly leader's designated charities in amounts ranging from $5,000 to $30,000.
The contributions all were recorded in state disclosure documents on the same day, Dec. 7, weeks before the new legislation would allow Verizon, AT&T and other telephone firms to obtain statewide franchises to offer cable television programming.
Then there's the story from the Los Angeles Times' Nancy Vogel and Evan Halper. "Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez
used a small charity as a conduit to funnel almost $300,000 from companies and organizations with business in the Capitol to events that helped him politically.
By giving to the charity, the donors whom Nuñez solicited earned tax deductions for which they would not have qualified had they given directly to Nuñez's campaign accounts. They were also able to donate more than the $7,200 maximum allowed under California's campaign fundraising rules.
Those donors include Zenith Insurance Co., AT&T, Verizon Communications Inc., the California Hospital Assn., the state prison guards union, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Blue Cross of California -- all groups with high stakes in legislation.
"
That arrangement may have violated federal tax laws, according to experts. The Internal Revenue Service has a strict policy against charities serving as a pass-through for funds.
In addition, experts say, a plan under which a politician solicits a donation to a charity and then directs how it can be used may violate state ethics rules."The charity, based in the MacArthur Park neighborhood of Los Angeles,
was not supposed to be operating at all at the time. State tax authorities suspended it two years ago -- before the donations -- for failing to file tax returns." Nunez said he was unaware of the suspension.
"It's appropriate to request of corporations to be good corporate citizens, especially if you can put those monies or resources in the hands of the neediest Californians, absolutely," Nunez said.
Both of these stories focus on so-called behested payments, which
first got ink in the Capitol Weekly this summer. But it wasn't just Nunez directing funds, that story reported.
Senate Leader Don Perata has behested nearly $90,000 a month since January to a variety of groups, including a breast-cancer research organization, the United Way, a Livermore-area school district and a group called the Third Wednesday Peacekeeper Fund. The money came from Kaiser Permanente and several others who each gave $25,000; Del Mar businessman John J. Moores and the CSU Institute of Long Beach, who each gave $100,000; and $50,000 each from Chartwell Partners, a national law firm, and the California Alliance for Jobs, a political campaign committee.
More than half of the $530,000 went to the Rebuilding California Foundation, a new nonprofit--not to be confused with a political committee with a similar name--that was created in January and lists Oakland businesswoman Judith Briggs as its president and veteran Democratic attorney Lance Olson as its registered agent.
"The aim of the Rebuilding California Foundation is to make sure the infrastructure bonds get done. In essence, to keep policy makers, civic leaders and the general public informed of and involved in the process of funding and building the new roads, new schools, safe housing and flood control projects our state needs to keep our economy strong," Perata said. The grapevine whispers indicate Perata may get his share of ink on campaign contributions in the coming days...
Capitol Weekly reports that the
opponents of a tweak in the state's term limits law may have found a financial champion.
"Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner is considering helping to bankroll a campaign to defeat the February ballot initiative that would ease term limits and allow the current crop of legislative leaders to retain power for several more years.
A donation by Poizner, a billionaire Silicon Valley businessman and the ranking GOP state official after the governor, could force a high-stakes ballot showdown with the Legislature's Democratic leaders, who have raised millions of dollars to win passage of the initiative, Proposition 93, on the Feb. 5 ballot. "
"a number of Capitol insiders said Poizner was actively considering financing the campaign against Proposition 93.
"He signed the ballot argument, and that's where this is coming from," said Wayne Johnson, a Poizner strategist, referring to Poizner's signature on the official rebuttal to the ballot argument favoring Proposition 93."
Meanwhile, the Chron's Tom Chorneau writes,
Californians are increasingly pessimistic about the state's direction.
" In a survey in the spring, half of voters interviewed statewide said that California was among the best places in the world to live, with 52 percent saying the Golden State was also moving in the right direction.
But now, burdened by a sputtering economy and doubts about the ability of elected officials to deal with mounting problems, voters' outlook is split -
42 percent of them said the state is headed in the right direction, while 42 percent gave a negative view and 16 percent were undecided.
And immigration and border protection questions have jumped back into the forefront of voter issues."
Gee, we wonder if any Republican presidential candidates will notice...
"California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres
vowed Thursday to challenge a proposed initiative to change how the state's electoral votes are counted if it qualifies for the ballot," writes the Bee's Kevin Yamamura.
"Torres insisted the initiative would be illegal because the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the power to determine their presidential electors. The proposal being circulated by Republican consultants would assign California's electors on a district-by-district basis rather than award the statewide winner all 55 electoral votes."
Looks like
the war between consumer groups and the insurance industry has flared up again, this time
over an aide to Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.
"Consumer advocates called Thursday for state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner to fire one of his top aides '
because he covertly assisted insurance companies in a lawsuit they brought against the commissioner,'" writes the LAT's Marc Lifsher.
Harvey Rosenfield, a Santa Monica lawyer who wrote the landmark Proposition 103 insurance initiative, said that electronic mail messages obtained under the California Public Records Act show that Poizner's special legal counsel, Bill Gausewitz, colluded with the insurance industry in its effort to avoid paying $300,000 in legal fees."
A nd just in time for the holiday travel season, this should set your mind at ease.
"A commercial pilot and his first officer
fell asleep while approaching Denver International Airport in an A319 Airbus jet, going twice the speed as allowed, according to a federal safety Web site.
The incident, which occurred on March 4, 2004, was one of several incidents that was brought out during a congressional hearing on airline safety in Washington this week."
Happy trails!