Capitol Weekly releases its annual legislative scorecard, in an effort to stick an ideological ranking on the state's 118 current legislators.
"Every political scorecard has its problems, and this one is no exception. The selection of bills is subjective, chosen after conversations with Capitol staff and experts, and our own observations of big debates over the last year under the dome. We also took our cues from other organizations who do this kind of thing on a regular basis. In fact, the Capitol Weekly scorecard is, in many ways, a compilation or synthesis of other scorecards that have been floating around insider circles in recent weeks.
"We did try to insert a little Capitol Weekly flare.
For example, we chose the vote on renewed oil drilling
for our scorecard, even though the vote was purged
on the Assembly side. No worries. We’ve got the vote tally, and it’s there on our list for the world to see. The bills
we chose were not necessarily the most publicized,
or even the most hotly contested in all cases. But
we sought to pick a variety of bills dealing with diverse
topics that lawmakers have been asked to tackle over
the last legislative session."
"Voters are very much focused on the economy and the budget going into the new year," said PPIC President Mark Baldassare, "and they have yet to develop a solid opinion of who they want to be their next governor."
"Peevey, a PUC appointee of two governors to the powerful
regulatory panel, was the only PUC appointment under
consideration by Rules.
"The committee’s approval – and that of the full Senate – is required by the end of the month in order for Peevey
to continue his position as head of one of the state’s most powerful regulatory bodies. The full Senate
is all but certain to follow the recommendation from
the five-member Rules Committee".
The Examiner looks at the war of words between Gov. Schwarzenegger and Sarah Palin. Schwarzenegger dismissed Palin's views on environmental regulations, saying she was more concerned with presidential politics than protecting the environment. Palin responded in kind Wednesday.
""Why is Governor Schwarzenegger pushing for the same sorts of policies in Copenhagen that have helped drive his state into record deficits and unemployment? Perhaps he will recall that I live in our nation's only Arctic state and that I was among the first governors to create a sub-cabinet to deal specifically with climate change. While I and all Alaskans witness the impacts of changes in weather patterns firsthand, I have repeatedly said that we can't primarily blame man's activities for those changes. And while I did look for practical responses to those changes, what I didn't do was hamstring Alaska's job creators with burdensome regulations so that I could act "greener than thou" when talking to reporters.""
Zing...
Marc Lifsher reports CalPERS now wants placement agents to register as lobbyists.
"On Wednesday, the pension fund's board endorsed a
not-yet-written
measure that would require such sales intermediaries
to register as
lobbyists with the state the same way that the people
who lobby the
Legislature, the governor's office and other government
agencies do.
Such lobbyists must disclose regularly the names of
their clients and
the fees they receive.
The proposal got only one dissenting vote
on the 13-member board. That came from George Diehr, a Cal State San
Marcos business professor and head of the CalPERS investment
committee."
Diehr was immediately taken out back and shot.
And finally, from our Bad Santa files, "Santa Claus is in trouble with the law in one western Wisconsin city. Police in Sparta said they cited a man dressed as Santa after witnesses told officers he stumbled out of a vehicle, approached several children playing in a yard, hugged them and demanded to know the whereabouts of his reindeer.
"The man was cited for open intoxicants. The driver of the car in which he was riding was arrested for drunken driving."
No word yet on the whereabouts of those reindeer...