Matier and Ross look at
how the votes were lined up for Karen Bass. "The behind-the-scenes ascent of
Karen Bass as the first African American woman to be named speaker of the state Assembly was put together by termed-out Speaker
Fabian Núñez, Los Angeles Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa and former Assembly Speaker
Willie Brown - with assists from Democratic Reps.
Maxine Waters and
Barbara Lee.
"Together, the group obtained commitments from 15 Democratic Assembly members to back Bass, a four-year veteran of the Legislature from Los Angeles, before the other nine contenders for speaker even got off the ground.
"The play came to a head Wednesday afternoon, with Núñez and Bass calling in uncommitted Democratic lawmakers one by one and telling them this was their chance to get on the bandwagon.
"Once they hit the critical mass of 30 votes - a majority of the 59 Democrats in the Assembly - Núñez called his Republican counterpart,
Mike Villines, inviting GOP members on board as well.
Weird. Last time we checked, the Dems only had 48 in the Assembly, and that was counting Nell Soto, who hasn't been to work for months.
"The last ones invited to the party were the remaining rival Democratic candidates, who were told the deal was done and the best thing to do was to make it unanimous."
George Skelton writes that Fabian Nuñez
might step down early for Karen Bass.
"He might step down earlier for Bass, who will be the nation's first African American woman to lead a legislative house. After all, Nuñez already has served four years as speaker, a term-limits anomaly.
"'
If my replacement had been somebody I really wasn't fond of, I would have wanted to keep the job until the end of the session,' he says. 'But I'm very fond of Karen Bass. I want her in this office sooner rather than later.'"
"Sooner would be better for Bass. She's already a short-timer."
With both Republican leaders now from the San Joaquin Valley, they
hope more focus (and money) will be dedicated to the issues of the region.
Aurelio Rojas reports: "When [
Dave] Cogdill succeeds Sen.
Dick Ackerman of Irvine as the Senate's top Republican, the top two GOP leaders in the Legislature will be from the valley.
"Assemblyman
Mike Villines, R-Clovis, assumed control of his caucus a little more than a year ago. And when Sen.
Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, takes over as Senate president pro tem at the end of the year, three of the Legislature's top four leaders will be from the interior of the state."
Let the pillaging of the coast begin!
"Cogdill and Villines hope to leverage their clout to bring more attention to issues of pressing concern to the valley like air quality, water and job creation.
"'It'll be great to have two leaders from the valley when we go into 'Big Five' meetings,' Villines said, referring to the conferences between the governor and the four legislative leaders in which deals are cut."
Duke Helfand reports that some people
are criticizing the amount of time Antonio Villaraigosa is spending out of town on the campaign trail.
"For more than 2 1/2 years, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has been the public face of Los Angeles, appearing in one neighborhood after the next and often leading the nightly news.
"But over the last two months, he has devoted noticeable time and energy to a cause outside the city. By today, the mayor will have spent 18 of the last 65 days on the road for presidential candidate Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) -- visiting Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and Texas as the primary election season has intensified.
"On Friday, he started what was supposed to be a five-day swing through the Lone Star State to woo Latino voters ahead of Tuesday's important presidential primary, but he decided to cut the trip short and return home this morning.
"Villaraigosa's aides said he hasn't missed any important events at home and that the majority of his Clinton campaign work is on weekends. They said he is tethered to City Hall by his cellphone and a small army of deputies who keep in constant touch and carry out his directives."
"State and local governments
are facing a sudden spike in borrowing costs in a little-known bond market, the latest fallout from the subprime mortgage meltdown," writes the Bee's John Hill.
"'It could disrupt local services,' California Treasurer
Bill Lockyer said of the auction-rate bond mess. "It could make government more expensive. That's a real thing to be concerned about."
"Public agencies, from the city of Roseville to the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, say they are working to restructure their debt to avoid budget strains, and point out that the same bond markets have saved them money in recent years.
"But there is no doubt that they are scrambling to fix a financial problem that began when some of the companies that insure tax-exempt government bonds were shaken by their losses in mortgage-based securities.
"Sacramento County, for example, saw the interest rate on a pension obligation bond climb last month to 8.5 percent from 6.5 percent,
boosting its monthly interest payment by more than $500,000."
"As gay-rights groups call for marital equality and opponents warn of a public backlash, societal decay and religious conflict, the California Supreme Court
is prepared for an epic three-hour hearing Tuesday on the constitutionality of the state law defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman," reports Bob Egelko in the Chron.
"It shapes up as the most momentous case the court has heard in decades - comparable to the 1981 ruling that guaranteed Medi-Cal abortions for poor women, the 1972 ruling that briefly overturned the state's death penalty law, and the 1948 decision, cited repeatedly in the voluminous filings before the court, that struck down California's ban on interracial marriage."
"California's charitable foundations give hundreds of millions of dollars each year to non-profit groups, but the money rarely reaches organizations led by minorities, says a South Bay lawmaker
seeking to regulate philanthropy as a way to boost funding for a more diverse group of recipients," reports Edwin Garcia in the Merc News.
"The legislation proposed by Assemblyman Joe Coto, D-San Jose, would require the state's largest philanthropic foundations to disclose the race and gender of staff and board members.
"Coto hopes such information will push foundations to redirect their giving to gay and lesbian, African-American, Latino, Asian-American and American Indian causes.
"The bill had initially sought to make foundations publicize the sexual orientation of employees and board members, but that provision was removed after strong opposition surfaced.
"Foundations in Silicon Valley and across the country are fighting the bill, saying the reporting requirements are irrelevant, onerous, unnecessary and violate the privacy of those who dedicate their lives to helping disadvantaged people regardless of race or ethnicity."
Hollywood has its star Walk of Fame, but San Francisco could soon have a Walk of Shame - complete with human-shaped bronze sidewalk plaques marking where the city's homeless have died on the streets.
Matier and Ross also report, "Hollywood has its star Walk of Fame, but
San Francisco could soon have a Walk of Shame - complete with human-shaped bronze sidewalk plaques marking where the city's homeless have died on the streets."
If that doesn't boost tourism, we don't know what will.
And for all you would-be songwriters out there, Reuters reports"Activists is Kyrgyzstan will offer a prize of up to $1,000 in a contest for the
'best song' to protest against the presence of U.S. troops in the Central Asian republic, the event's organizer said."
We think the Reuters headline writers asked it best. " Okay, what rhymes with Kyrgyzstan?"
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