The Bee's Phillip Reese looks at the consequences of abstaining ... from voting.
"Given two choices – "aye" or "no" – on every vote, California legislators picked neither and failed to vote roughly 22,000 times so far this session, according to a Bee analysis of all 300,000 votes cast.
"Sometimes legislators were sick. Sometimes they were on vacation. But a lot of times they just didn't want to go on record supporting a particular bill.
"To abstain is really the same as voting 'no,' " said Kersten, because a bill needs a certain number of votes to pass and an abstention does nothing to help it get there. There is a key difference, Kersten said: It's easy for a challenger to rub an incumbent legislator's nose in an unpopular "yes" or "no" vote; it's harder for that challenger to attack the legislator for not expressing an opinion."
George Skelton lobbys for Abel Maldonado's confirmation, calling his potential rejection "another exhibition of petty and partisan politics."
Of course, he says the job itself it pointless. "In fact, the lieutenant governor's office should be abolished. Its only real purpose is to provide a replacement for a resigning governor. That hasn't happened in 56 years, not since Gov. Earl Warren was named chief justice of the United States.
The Bee's Andrew Macintosh looks at Fred Aguiar's car deal.
"Three months after the governor moved this summer to slash the number of state workers allowed to drive government cars between their homes and offices, a top Schwarzenegger administration official personally approved his own take-home vehicle deal.
Fred Aguiar, then secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency and now deputy chief of staff to the governor, received a special state permit that authorized him to use a $34,000 state Honda Accord hybrid for weekend trips between Sacramento and his residence in Central California.
Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said the governor – who takes no salary and pays for his own commutes to Los Angeles – thinks it's fine for Aguiar to drive the vehicle on his weekly eight-hour, 534-mile-round-trip commute."
The NYT's Jennifer Steinhauer looks at Jerry Brown and three other former governors who are running for their old jobs.
"“It is the political version of comfort food,” said David A. Yepsen, the director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, who covered decades of political races for The Des Moines Register. “At the time those people had their last outing there was a lot of unhappiness with them, but people tend to look at the past through sepia-toned glasses.”
Those old enough to remember Mr. Brown’s two terms as governor of California beginning in 1975 may recall a suave bachelor with a thick mane of hair who was famous for traipsing to Africa with the singer Linda Ronstadt, his onetime girlfriend. Now 71, he is bald, married and decidedly more law and order in his political thinking."
No! Not bald!!
The LAT's Bailey and Goldmacher look at the ongoing speakership fight.
"This has not been fun to watch," said Fabian Nuñez, a former Assembly
speaker from Los Angeles who remains a player in statehouse
politics.
"You keep these matters private," Nuñez said. ". . . Not because you're being secretive.
This is your dirty laundry."
"(John) Perez, who would be California's first openly gay legislative
leader,
had surprised the Capitol by entering the contest.
For months, he had
been insisting that he would leave the Assembly to
run for a state
Senate opening next year. A week earlier, Villaraigosa, a former
speaker himself, had hosted a summit of sorts at his
mayoral home to
talk about the speakership race. The attendees were
Perez, (Kevin) De Leon,
Nuñez and the mayor.
"Nuñez declined to discuss what happened, and the other
three men did
not return calls from The Times. But other Capitol
officials said an
agreement was struck that day over a shared bottle
of wine. Perez would
seek the Senate seat and De Leon should ascend to the
speakership."
That was soooo two weeks ago...
Malcolm Maclachlan reports another candidate has entered the Democratic-targeted 5th Assembly District race.
"On Tuesday, Capitol Alliance lobbyist Matt Gray will
throw his hat into an already-crowded race to represent a suburban
"Gray, 37, is a former Capitol staffer who has been lobbying
on free speech and prison reform issues for years.
But he may be best-known around
We're sure 'porn lobbyist' will be a big selling point in the district...
Maeve Reston looks at the spending in Paul Krekorian's city council race.
"By Sunday evening, independent groups, including some
of the city's
most powerful unions, had poured nearly $1 million into the contest for
the San Fernando Valley seat formerly held by Wendy Greuel. More than
90% of that money has been devoted to boosting Essel's
bid. Heading
into Tuesday's runoff, Essel's campaign outspent Krekorian
by nearly
two to one.
"So-called independent expenditure committees are not subject
to the
same city contribution limits as individual candidates,
but they cannot
coordinate with the candidates they support.
"Faced with a constant stream of mailings and commercials
on Essel's
behalf by the political committees of the Police Protective
League
($403,733) and unions representing the construction trade and
electric
workers, Krekorian has tried to turn Essel's financial
advantage into a
vulnerability in the final weeks."
And finally, beware the Halitosis Hold-up Artist. "Police in a Detroit suburb are looking for a bank robber who tellers say has crooked yellow teeth and particularly bad breath.
The Detroit Free Press reports that Ferndale police say the man hit the same Charter One branch in October and again last week. Lt. William Wilson says tellers remember the man as tall, thin and "having very offensive breath and real yellow teeth." Witnesses also say he looks and smells dirty."
Is there no honor among thieves anymore?