State lawmakers don't seem to have much problem telling other people what to do.But an effort to have them post the salaries of lawmakers and legislative staff online appears stalled in the state Senate.
"As legislators rush to bring more transparency to
the salaries of city
officials — like the eye-popping compensation enjoyed until recently by
administrators in Bell — they're balking at passing a law that would
make it easier for the public to find out their own
pay.
"A measure that would legally compel lawmakers to post
their salaries,
and the salaries they pay staff, on the Internet has
stalled in the
state Senate. Leaders of the upper house said Thursday
that they may
instead address the issue through an internal rule,
which can be changed
much more easily, and with much less public fanfare,
than a state law.
"As the struggle over legislative pay disclosure played
out in the
background, lawmakers approved several other proposed
laws, including a
stiff new rule meant to protect hospital patients from
radiation
overdoses and a ban on alcohol sales from self-service lines in grocery
stores. A controversial bill to require sterilization
of family pets,
however, failed to get the votes it needed and appears
to be on life
support."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he will go to Asia, as planned, for an official trade mission beginning September 9, whether or not there is a state budget in place.
Shane Goldmacher reports, "Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to jet out of California for a six-day,
three-country trade mission to Asia early next month — even if the
state has no spending plan in place.
"With a state budget nearly two months overdue and
California facing the
prospect that it could run out of cash within weeks,
the Sept. 9 trip
would come at a politically awkward time for the governor.
Thousands of
vendors who do business with the state are not getting
paid. And the
checks to health clinics that care for the poor are
on hold until a
budget is signed.
"Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders have been locked
in a stalemate
all summer, with no indication a budget deal is within
sight."
Jerry Brown released documents showing the Whitman campaign mischaracterized the size his public pension.
Evan Halper reports, "Speculation that Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jerry Brown had positioned himself to receive an extra fat pension went viral online earlier this month, helped by this report in the Orange County Register. Brown's campaign said such projections were flawed and eventually disclosed that the pension of the 72-year-old candidate, who is now the state attorney general and previously served as state governor and mayor of Oakland, would be less than $80,000 annually.
"Brown's GOP opponent, Meg Whitman, expressed skepticism of that number and called on Brown to release official documents backing it up.
"On Thursday evening, Brown's campaign produced what it says is an official document from the California State Employees' Retirement System that appears to confirm he is not entitled to any wildly inflated retirement plan. It shows Brown's total pension payment would be $79,530. Click here to see the document."
Meanwhile, Brown and Whitman exchanged barbs on the campaign trail Thursday.
"Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jerry
Brown argued Thursday that his experience makes him the
only
candidate who can right California, and he slashed
at Republican rival Meg
Whitman by calling her a neophyte who has run an ugly and
inaccurate campaign against him.
"Everything I've done in my life has prepared me for
this moment in
time, to do what I can to protect the state I love,"
said Brown, the
former two-term governor and current attorney general, standing
in front
of a vat of sulfuric acid after touring New Leaf Biofuel
in San Diego.
"I'm confident at the end of the day, though it's going
to be a close
race, people are going to vote for change, they're
going to vote for
integrity, and they're going to reject the negativity
and the
carpet-bombing of deceptive commercials we've been facing
these last two
months."
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is dropping its push for a controversial bill that would delay planned environmental upgrades to its plants.
David Zahniser reports, "The interim head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said Thursday that his agency would withdraw a bill before the Legislature designed to delay environmental upgrades to its power plants so that talks about changing those regulations can be conducted with a state panel in charge of water quality.
"DWP Interim General Manager Austin Beutner issued a statement saying he was pleased with the progress of negotiations with the state Water Resources Control Board, which imposed a series of deadlines earlier this year for replacing equipment at three DWP power plants that rely heavily on seawater to cool their operations.
"As a result, at this time we will focus our efforts to resolve this matter with the water board rather than through the Legislature," Beutner said.
Sarah Palin received $75,000 for a speech at Cal State Stanislaus earlier this year, according to documents released by court order Thursday.
The Chronicle reports, " The contract, which details everything from the type of vehicle Palin should be chauffeured in to the type of straws to place at the lectern, became a big deal when the CSU Stanislaus Foundation refused to release it or reveal how much Palin was paid to speak at the June 25 fundraiser.
State Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, who has been trying to change a state law that shields campus foundations from public scrutiny, claimed the college administration and foundation board were virtually the same and were therefore illegally hiding important information from the public. He said Thursday the entire college administration should be fired for hiding the information.
"It was never about Sarah Palin," Yee said. "It was about how foundations do business and the cozy relationships they have with public university administrations."
And finally, from our Psychic Croc Files, "A crocodile that picked the winner of the soccer World Cup has predicted Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard will be re-elected. The saltwater croc named Dirty Harry made his choice Thursday in his enclosure in the northern city of Darwin when he snatched a chicken carcass dangling beneath a caricature of Gillard. Opposition leader Tony Abbott's chicken was left hanging. Analysts say Australia's elections Saturday could be the closest contest since 1961 when a single seat decided who governed."
Paul the Octopus was one thing, but this animal psychic stuff is getting a little out of hand. If you're that desperate for attention, couldn't you just make YouTube videos of your kitten sneezing or something?