"Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman’s campaign spent nearly $19 million in 2009, according to figures provided by her advisers. The former EBay chief executive donated an additional $20 million this week to her gubernatorial effort -- bringing her personal contributions thus far to $39 million," the LA Times reports.
"With the new $20-million infusion, Whitman will have $30.5 million in her gubernatorial bank account, according to a campaign statement. Whitman has said she is willing to spend more than $100 million of her own money in her quest for the governorship.
"Whitman’s massive campaign spending comes before a single television commercial has aired. But she has been advertising on radio for months. On Wednesday, her campaign unveiled a new radio spot that calls for massive cuts in the state’s welfare system."
Meanwhile, a new Field Poll shows Tom Campbell may have made the right move. He's gone from also-ran to front-runner in the Republican race for U.S. Senate, clinging to an early 5-point lead over Carly Fiorina.
Meanwhile, there's plenty of handwringing over what the Massachusetts Senate race means for California. Here's a clue: Democrats should be worried.
George Skelton writes, "Only a few months ago, political
junkies and insiders were privately
calling Democratic Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown a slam-dunk to win back the
governor's office he occupied in the 1970s. That expectation was based
largely on California being a blue state, after all,
where candidate
Barack Obama in 2008 had rallied the party faithful and corralled
independent voters. Meanwhile, Republicans seemed hapless.
Nobody's talking like that any more.
"Anybody who thinks that all we have to do is put up
somebody with a
'D' after their name and a measurable pulse is smoking
something," says
Democratic consultant Garry South. "They're taking
advantage of the
medicinal marijuana laws."
Capitol Weekly reports two former lawmakers have joined forces their former political consultant to form a new legal and lobbying superfirm.
"Former Democratic senators Martha Escutia and Joe Dunn are teaming with longtime Democratic strategist Richie Ross in the new venture dubbed The Senators Firm.
"Dunn and Escutia will also be partners in a new law
practice that will operate under The Senators moniker.
"The new firms are part of a growing trend in Sacramento,
with former lawmakers joining forces with well-established consultants
into new political super-firms. In this era of term limits, the
creation of
the Senators Firm symbolizes the continual hemorrhaging
of the Capitol’s institutional memory into the private sector."
John Howard looks at some of the faulty foundations of the state budget.
"By “scoring” dubious revenues, the magnitude of the problem is cloaked. For example, the governor’s latest budget estimates a $19.9 billion shortage on a 2010-11 General Fund draft of roughly $83 billion. The reality is that the gap is probably wider by several billion, says the Legislature’s fiscal analyst, partly because of the scoring, partly because of lawsuits challenging the current-year budget’s provisions and partly because “federal government relief will total billions of dollars less than the governor wants.”
“Accordingly, to balance the 2010-11 budget, the Legislature and governor eventually may
have to address a budget problem a few billion dollars
larger than the administration identifies,” said the Office of the Legislative Analyst in its
January 12 overview.
"The use of funny money is not new. Earlier administrations did the same thing.One memorable example: The sale of Agnews State Hospital in the Silicon Valley, scored in successive budgets as a revenue producer, finally was sold. “It was a classic. They must have scored Agnews seven times before it sold, and each time it went up and got more valuable,” said one fiscal expert familiar with the issue. The 81-plus acres finally sold for $51 million in the mid-1990s."
Malcolm Maclachlan gets ahold of a Senate memo asking lawmakers to return for a check-in session just so they can receive their tax-free daily stipend.
"An email from a consultant to Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, appears to show his office recruiting Senators to show up for a check-in session last Friday — a session that allowed Senators to collect per-diem payments over the long holiday weekend.
According to Steinberg’s staff, holding a check-in session before a long weekend is customary because
of rules that require a quorum to be present for certain
Senate business to be done."
Patrick McGreevy reports 26 lawmkaers have admitted to not disclosing gifts to the FPPC.
"At least 26 state legislators have admitted they failed to report accepting gifts from lobbying groups and will pay fines for violating financial reporting laws.
"The fines are the first penalties revealed as part of an investigation by the state's political watchdog agency into suspicions that 38 state lawmakers – including Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) — and 15 staff members failed to disclose gifts. The gifts included sports and concert tickets, meals, spa treatments and hotel rooms; those who gave included a casino, horse-racing track, union, bank and various other interest groups."
Strong letter to follow.
And finally, from our Oxymoron Files, AP reports, "Police responding to a complaint of loud noise have cited a Fond du Lac man for "rocking out" to the music of John Denver. A police who responded to the man's apartment last week could hear Denver's music through the door. The officer pounded on the door but the man didn't answer. Finally the officer found out the man's name from a neighbor and called to him, bringing the man to the door.