As the Capitol holiday tree was being donned with lights, tinsel and shiny balls, political leaders past and present gathered at the Sheraton to decorate the legacy of the good old days.
Kevin Yamamura reports on the
gathering of the sages.
"Former Gov.
Pete Wilson recommended more booze. Former Assembly Speaker
Willie Brown said more backroom dealings and less open government. Assembly Speaker
Fabian Núñez, the subject of ethical questions over lavish campaign spending habits, said newspaper reporters need to temper their coverage.
"As for former Senate President Pro Tem
John Burton's suggestion? Bond with colleagues,
as he once did at a strip club with former state Sen. Lou Cusanovich."
After all, why couldn't you solve the state's budget and water crises at a place that charges six bucks for a bottle of water? Or, so we've heard...
"'The purpose of this story is, you got to know people,' Burton said, provoking laughter Tuesday from 400 political insiders at a Sacramento luncheon organized by the Public Policy Institute of California, a research nonprofit based in San Francisco.
"Five California political leaders, past and present, gathered at the PPIC event to discuss how to make the California Legislature more effective. Their conversation ranged from serious to bawdy and at times felt more like a roast than a think-tank luncheon."
Dan Walters
writes: "As lively as it was, however, the hour-plus discussion glossed over the chief factor in the Capitol's evident dysfunction, although Brulte, Brown and Burton indirectly alluded to it – the cultural, economic and even geographic complexity of California itself.
"Government worked better four decades ago because California was a simpler, more homogeneous place then with more clearly definable priorities.
A governmental/political process that requires consensus cannot function effectively when the society it serves has become the most complex on Earth and no longer can muster consensus on any issue, as Núñez, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other current Capitol politicians are discovering on such issues as health care and water."
Meanwhile, is health reform dead or alive?
"An expected
vote on legislation overhauling California's $170 billion health care system has been postponed indefinitely, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders disagree on elements of the plan from tax subsidies to insurance reform," reports Tom Chorneau of the Chron.
"But experts said Tuesday that there are also political complications, including the voters who would be asked to approve the plan next November but who may be growing less enthusiastic as the state's economy weakens.
"Some political analysts said Tuesday that growing concerns about the economy and the term-limits measure put passage of the health care measure into the long-shot category.
"'
You have to cut these deals when the iron is hot,' said
Garry South, a longtime Democratic strategist who was chief of staff to former Gov. Gray Davis. 'Part of the problem is that everything is left until the last minute. That's not an environment to make significant progress on an issue like health care.'
"Still, supporters of the overhaul insist an agreement is near.
Schwarzenegger said Monday that he continues to be optimistic that a deal can be reached."
Steve Maviglio, spokesman for Núñez, said that talks will continue around the clock and that he believes a vote will be taken before Christmas."
From our
They Keep Coming Files, the LAT's Phil Willon reports, "Thirteen years after a ballot measure against illegal immigration fractured the state Republican Party,
the issue again is front and center in California's upcoming presidential primary.
"'There is more unity among Republicans in this state on illegal immigration than on anything else, including taxes,' said
Tom Hudson, chairman of the Republican Party in Placer County, near Sacramento, one of the most conservative counties in the state.
"Attorney General
Jerry Brown will take California's campaign to curb global warming to the skies today,
petitioning the Bush administration to impose greenhouse gas emission standards on airlines," reports Michael Gardner in the Union-Tribune.
"Brown's petition faces long odds. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has stalled California's plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars, and it may be reluctant to burden an airline industry staggered by high fuel costs and just emerging from an economic downturn.
"Nevertheless, Brown insisted that the state must push ahead.
"'This is their job. They've been passive, complicit,' Brown said in an interview. 'We have to hammer on the door.'"
The Bee's Dorothy Korber
covers the governor's Medal of Valor awards.
"Arnold Schwarzenegger's cowboy boots stood toe to toe with 31 action heroes Tuesday – state workers who braved bullets, firestorms, rumbling mudslides, icy water and even raw sewage to save a life. The awed governor uttered a word that eloquently summed it all up: 'Wow.'
"Almost tenderly, Schwarzenegger draped a Medal of Valor around each risked neck, then straightened the recipients' lapels and thanked them warmly.
"'They have one thing in common: incredible bravery,' the governor said at the opening of the ceremony in the Crest Theatre downtown.
"'When I was reading their stories, I was blown away. I said, 'This is straight out of Hollywood.' '
The Governor's Medal of Valor, first presented in 1959, is the highest honor California bestows on its public servants. The award recognizes extraordinary acts of heroism, far beyond the call of duty, and often at great personal peril."
"An atheist
pleaded with a federal appeals court yesterday to remove the words 'under God' from the Pledge of Allegiance and 'In God We Trust' from U.S. currency, saying the references disrespect his religious beliefs," reports the AP's Kim Curtis.
"'I want to be treated equally,' said
Michael Newdow, who argued the cases consecutively to a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He added that supporters of the phrases 'want to have their religious views espoused by the government.'
"Newdow, a Sacramento doctor and lawyer, sued his daughter's school district in 2000 for forcing public school children to recite the pledge, saying it was unconstitutional.
"The 9th Circuit ruled in Newdow's favor in 2002, but two years later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that he lacked standing to sue because he didn't have custody of the daughter on whose behalf he brought the case. He immediately filed a second lawsuit on behalf of three unidentified parents and their children in another district."
Speaking of Goofy, the AP reports, Tweety may get a chance to take the witness stand and sing like a canary. An Italian court
ordered the animated bird, along with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and his girlfriend Daisy, to testify in a counterfeiting case.
"
In what lawyers believe was a clerical error worthy of a Looney Tunes cartoon, a court in Naples sent a summons to the characters ordering them to appear Friday in a trial in the southern Italian city, officials said."
The Naples court will have to rewrite the summons, although this will probably delay the trial, said Disney lawyer Cristina Ravelli.
"
Let's hope the characters will not be prosecuted for failing to appear," quipped a Disney lawyer.