The race between Mary Salas and Juan Vargas is down to one vote (one vote!) with a final tally expected today as late ballots arrive from San Diego. But you can bet that regardless of the outcome, this on eis heading to a recount.
Shane Goldmacher reports, "Spending from outside interest groups topped $2.5 million in the contest. After all that money, Salas, a San Diego assemblywoman, has 24,014 votes. Vargas, a former San Diego assemblyman, has 24,013. Vargas has been slowly picking up votes since election evening, when it appeared Salas was headed toward a narrow victory."
Meanwhile, November just got a lot more complicated. A flurry of measures qualified for the ballot this week, including a proposal backed by Congressional Democrats to referend Proposition 11. Basically, Nancy Pelosi wants the Legislature to control the drawing of her colleagues' districts. The measure qualified late Thursday, joining the majority-vote budget plan, the CTA-backed corporate tax cut rollback, and the "Sinclair fix" which requires a two-thirds vote to raise fees.
If you're keeping score at home, that brings the number of measures on the ballot up to ten. But that, of course, is assuming the water bond goes ahead as scheduled...
"Meanwhile, Don Thompson follows up Jon Fleischman's scoop that Democrat Michael Rubio may be inelligible to run for the 16th Senate District seat.
"A Democratic state Senate nominee may be ineligible to run for the southern San Joaquin Valley office in November because he lives two doors outside the district, state and county elections officials said Thursday.
Kern County Clerk Ann Barnett said she learned Thursday that an improperly drawn map put the East Bakersfield precinct where Michael Rubio lives in the 16th Senate District in 2002, after the census 10 years ago. He really lives in the neighboring 18th Senate District, she said.
The news sets up a likely court battle over whether the Kern County supervisor can continue his bid for the Legislature.
California Republican Party Vice Chairman Jon Fleischman said a court challenge is certain.
"I feel bad for Rubio because he's a victim, but he's not qualified to be the nominee and he's not qualified on the face of it because he doesn't live in the district," said Fleischman, who first reported the residency problem on his conservative blog, Flash Report."
Between the Rubio flap, the Blakeslee win and the Vargas comeback, it's been a rough week for Senate leader Darrell Steinberg....
Meanwhile, Meg Whitman wants you to know she's not really a big meanie. Answering questions about a 2007 incident at EBay that apparently got physical, Whitman said, "her behavior was an “anomaly” and doesn't speak to her temperament," Seema Mehta reports.
"Whitman and her campaign had previously characterized the incident as a "verbal dispute" and suggested it was a run-of-the-mill clash in the high-pressure business world. The incident led to a settlement with the subordinate that has been estimated at $200,000.
“It escalated and I … escorted her out of the room and then I went back to what I needed to do in that meeting,” Whitman told reporters after a campaign event at a sneaker and sports apparel shop in South Gate. Pressed for details, the former EBay chief executive officer said she “physically guided her out of the conference room into a hallway.”
Jack Dolan reports welfare recipients withdrew $1.8 million in cash from casino ATMs over an eight-month period. Oops.
"California welfare recipients using state-issued debit cards withdrew more than $1.8 million in taxpayer cash on casino floors between October 2009 and last month, state officials said Thursday.
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an executive order requiring welfare recipients to promise they will use cash benefits only to "meet the basic subsistence needs" of their families. The order also gave the state Department of Social Services seven days to produce a plan to reduce other types of "waste, fraud and abuse" in the welfare program.
"The moves came after The Times reported Wednesday that officials at the department failed to notice for years that welfare recipients could use the state-issued cards to withdraw taxpayer cash at more than half of the tribal casinos and state-licensed poker rooms in California. The state initiated the debit card program in 2002."
And finally, nothing says kindergarden graduation like a parent brawl.
From our Victorville bureau, AP reports, "Two women have been arrested following a parents' brawl that interrupted a Southern California kindergarten graduation ceremony.
"School officials placed Puesta del Sol Elementary in the desert town of Victorville on lockdown Wednesday morning after a fight broke out among a group of parents.
"The San Bernardino County sheriff's department says witnesses told deputies several mothers were involved in an argument and it got physical in a field near the ceremony. Several men then jumped into the fray, and the incident turned into a brawl."
And in case you're wondering, no, Meg Whitman was not in Victorville yesterday....