Last year, shortly after Gov. Schwarzenegger
vetoed a series of prescription drug reform measures sponsored by Democrats,
PhRMA ponied up $360,000 to Republican legislative candidates. This year, the drug companies coalition is backing drug reform backed by the governor, and is holding fundraisers for the guv around the country. But
Rob Stutzman insists Democrats implications that there is some sort of quid pro quo is "absurd and baseless."
Look for more on the PhRMA story, and the initiatives they are backing for the potential special election, in Monday's issue of
Political Pulse.
In And Justice For All news, advocates for the new
Casino San Pablo are
turning it into a class issue. The Contra Costa Times reports supporters of the
Lytton Band's plans to build a five-story casino say the casino is being blocked by "[r]ich people in the East Bay hills [who] should 'keep their patronizing opinions to themselves' and stop denying working-class people jobs to feed their kids and send them to college, Indian casino proponents said Thursday."
Assemblywoman Hancock, your rebuttal?
Speaking of blogging lawmakers, San Francisco supervisor
Chris Daly has started a blog. Let's hope it's half as entertaining as some of
his outbursts at board meetings. The SacBee points out that Senate and Assembly Rules have
scheduled confirmation hearings on Bruce McPherson next Wednesday and Thursday. They forgot to mention that someone was reportedly distributing a
take-the-gloves-off op research binder on McPherson to Assembly Democrats yesterday...
Speaking of opposition research, the Sacramento News and Review profiles
California's own Ann Coulter, spinmeister
Karen Hanretty. The profile comes complete with wardrobe and manicure details. It also includes some kind words from Democrat
Steve Maviglio: "Her skin is as thick as-- I can't come up with anything that thick," he says.
Maybe Roundup readers can help Mr. Maviglio out. Send submissions for our
"Karen Hanretty's Skin is Thick as ..." contest to
tips@aroundthecapitol.com.JLAC Update: Does JLAC stand for "Just Legislators Acting Childish"? This
exchange of letters between the committee's Republicans and chairwoman
Nicole Parra is getting to be a soap opera. (The latest are the three letters dated March 3-9.) Granted, it's a soap opera that nobody watches, and that will
probably be off the air in a couple of weeks, but a soap opera nonetheless. In this week's installment, Republicans request a list of witnesses to appear at an upcoming hearing, while the chair complains that some of them live outside of Sacramento. (uh, ok...) Meanwhile, Republicans do some complaining of their own, that they are out of money to spend on lawyers. Oh, so
now Republicans like attorneys. Like sands through the hour glass...
The Spanish Inquisition, parte dos: The L.A. Times's Dana Parsons
looks at former Orange County GOP boss Tom Fuentes, who's now on the South Orange Community College District board, and who's rooting out the evils of international education with enemies of the U.S., like Spain. "'Spain has abandoned our fighting men and women, withdrawing their support [from Iraq],' said Fuentes. 'I see no reason to send students of our colleges to Spain at this moment in history.'"
Parsons says it's par for the course for Fuentes, who spent "the 20 years he ran the Orange County Republican Party, crushing enemies real and imagined."
Round two: Labor is
taking the blame for
Jim Hahn's tepid performance, and promises to work harder to deliver a victory for the mayor on May 8.
Dan Walters asks whether labor can really get the 35 percent of its members that voted for Villaraigosa on Tuesday, many of whom are Latino, to switch back to Hahn.
Meanwhile,
second-round endorsements have begun. Controller
Laura Chick jumped on Villaraigosa's bandwagon, while Hahn grabbed the
L.A. Chamber of Commerce. No word, however on the big three endorsements (Alarcon, Hertzberg, and Parks).
Steve Lopez looks into whether
Antonio Villaraigosa's name change, in which he took a "perfectly good name [Villar], slapped on three syllables [wife's name Raigosa] and made it impossible to remember, let alone pronounce"
helps or hinders his political career. A political consultant recently told us "Never take public money. Private money is a fine; public money is jail." Hahn political consultant
Kam Kawata didn't get the memo and
apparently took an unreported $46,000 from L.A's kitty to lobby Sacramento. Though, for the record, "Then-Mayor Richard Riordan in 1998 gave a $70,000 contract to a firm headed by
Ace Smith, who had worked for Riordan's reelection campaign. Smith is now managing Hahn challenger
Antonio Villaraigosa's campaign."
Bob Hertzberg (now back to his ordinary size)
posts on his blog "Together, we set the agenda for this mayoral campaign. Soon I will unveil my new website, BIGideas4LA.com, and we’ll make the campaign focus on what matters in the months to come." Does that mean no run for statewide office in 2006?
Treasurer Hertzberg does have a certain ring to it...