On the heels of a good, old-fashioned sex scandal, it looks like California is about to have a big-time political corruption scandal to talk about. The Bee's Dale Kassler reports, " Stepping into a widening national probe of investment marketing agents, CalPERS on Wednesday launched a "special review" of a former board member who made $50 million in fees pitching deals to the pension fund.
"The discovery of hefty fees paid to former board member Alfred Villalobos sparked a significant development in an ongoing investigation of placement agents -- marketing middlemen hired by private equity firms and other money managers seeking investment dollars from public pension funds like CalPERS."
Just asking, but the board had to award this guy the contracts, right? Shouldn't PERS be investigating its own board in addition to the placement agent? Or should we just leave that investigation to the attorney general and the feds?
Malcolm Maclachlan reports there is already opposition forming to the non-existent water bond.
“The bill is only moving closer to a loss for the environment,” said Charlotte Hodde, water program manager for the Planning and Conservation League, which is opposed to the package as it is currently being drafted. “The big Achilles heel for this package has been the financial mechanism.
"The Sierra Club of California joined the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation and nearly two dozen other groups to send a letter last week to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles. The 13-page document outlined numerous concerns around water rates and environmental cleanup."
While the financial world was rocked by the PERS scandal, the political world had a rare bit of coorperation Wednesday. Cue the Kumbaya Chorus -- there's peace in the valley once again. Capitol Weekly reports on the Senate detente ."For one day at least, there were no signs of partisan gridlock anywhere on the Senate floor.
"More than one month after Senate Republicans held up
dozens of non-controversial bills, those same measures sailed off
the Senate floor unanimously Wednesday. The bills passed
affect everything from funding for domestic violence
shelters to local government funding.
"Nearly three dozen bills stalled on the Senate floor
last month amid a personal clash between the two Senate
leaders. Hollingsworth has implied that Steinberg reneged
on earlier promises to strip funding from the state’s free tax filing system, Ready Return, and make changes
to state sales tax law.
"So what changed?
"In the end, it was a matter of politics. A bill to
give tax credits to homebuyers, sponsored by Assemblywoman
Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, was killed. In its place Wednesay, the identical
language was amended into a new bill, SB 3x 37, authored by Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield.
"Senate sources say it wasn’t Ashburn pushing for the change. Senate Republican
leadership simply did not want Caballero to get the
credit for authoring the bill, in hopes that they can
keep her from taking the Central Valley Senate seat
currently held by Jeff Denham, R-Modesto, next year. Denham, who is barred by term limits
from seeking reelection, is running for lieutenant
governor."
The Bee's Jim Wasserman has a story dedicated to the tax credit in question.
James Wagner reports a bill to aide the construction of an NFL stadium in the City of Industry was among the bills passed Wednesday.
"By a 22-14 vote, a bill to exempt a proposed NFL stadium in Industry from state environmental law earned approval Wednesday night in the state Senate.
"The special legislative session, which convened Wednesday to deal with pressing state matters, began weighing the bill late in the day while Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg hung on to the hope a settlement would be reached in the project's legal challenge.
"The bill, sought aggressively by billionaire Ed Roski Jr. and his Majestic Realty Co. in September, would grant the 75,000-seat stadium project an exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act, the environmental law that governs development."
CW also gets ahold of an e-mail from Sam Blakeslee railing against the governor. Though, it does have the sound of one of those e-mails that was written specifically to be leaked...
"Most of us have read in today's papers accounts of the Governor's shocking reversal of position on the issues about which we care most deeply: taxes, second amendment rights, family values, over-regulation, etc," Blakeslee wrote to his members. "This sudden realignment of his position reminds us to remain vigilant as defenders of Republican principles: limited government, individual freedom and opportunity, the sanctity of the family, and public safety."
"Police say an Ohio woman being driven around in a limousine announced at a coat store she'd won the lottery and would pay for everyone's purchases but ended up causing a riot when customers realized it was a hoax. Columbus police Lt. Michael Deakins says the woman announced Tuesday she'd spend $500 on everyone at a Burlington Coat Factory, prompting customers to gather at registers and call relatives.
"When police arrived, 500 people filled the store and another 1,000 were outside. Cashiers rang up sales before discovering the woman had no money. Angry customers grabbed clothes without paying.
"The limo driver turned the woman in."
Figures. She probably didn't pay him, either