"California and at least four other states will
file a lawsuit against the federal government to force Washington to pay unexpected costs associated with its troubled new Medicare program," writes Evan Halper in the Times.
"At issue is a provision in the new program requiring states to reimburse the federal government for drugs provided to low-income seniors and disabled people. The states had been paying those costs until the new federal drug program took effect Jan. 1. But state officials say flaws in the financial formulas behind the new drug program are leading Washington to overbill them."
George Skelton weighs in on the
campaign finance reform bill that just passed the Assembly. "This was not a meaningless move. It marked a significant step toward urgently needed campaign finance reform — toward the people, rather than the private interests, buying the politicians."
But Capitol Weekly's Shane Goldmacher provides evidence to the contrary. He reports on a provision stuck in the bill that
renders it absolutely meaningless.
"Lost amid the media reports and the cheering from advocates was a small provision, buried in the second-to-last paragraph of the 16-page bill. It stated that, 'The provisions of this act are set forth for display purposes only and shall not be operative.'"
The Merc's Edwin Garcia reports on
the marathon debate over
Mark Leno's
AB 50 on the Assembly floor this week.
The debate at times bordered on raucous, with many members accusing each other of
using the bill to further their political careers in an election year. Numerous Assemblymen invoked their roles as fathers and grandfathers to explain why the measure was good or bad for families.
Assemblywomen told intensely personal stories. [
Rebecca] Cohn, who as a child was physically abused by her alcoholic stepfather, implored colleagues to "do the right thing" for the children. And
Bonnie Garcia, R-El Centro, disclosed she was the victim of an attempted rape in her own bed.
"'You know these molesters, these animals, let's call them what they are, they don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican,' she said, imploring her colleagues to not support what Republicans called a 'watered-down imitation of Jessica's Law.' 'When they're intent on molesting a kid, that's all they're focused on.'"
While teachers didn't like the idea of cutting education funding to bridge state revenue shortfalls, their pension board has tried to
cut benefits to bridge a $24 billion "long-term funding gap." And guess what? They don't like that either.
"Union representatives for educators and teachers also urged CalSTRS leaders to guard against harsh solutions that could erode benefits for the fund's 776,000 members and future teachers. 'We would not support benefit cuts and go back to a time where the benefits were not adequate,' said
David Walrath of the California Retired Teachers Association."
We thought
Mike Murphy was scaling back his operations, but CW's Malcolm Maclachlan reports his PR firm, Navigators, is opening a new Florida office. "Murphy may be scaling back his candidate work, but that’s not stopping his firm from
opening an office in Florida, reports Capitol Weekly’s Malcolm Maclachlan. So, is Navigators expanding or scaling back? The answer, it seems, is yes.
"
Mike Murphy is smart enough and energetic enough to be successful at whatever he wants to do," said Republican political consultant
Dan Schnur, who worked with Murphy on John McCain's 2000 presidential campaign. "If he wants to oversee campaigns in California, they will probably be successful. If he wants to leave it to others, they probably won't be."
That Comedy Central show better be damn funny.
Capitol Weekly looks at a pair of Orange County Senate races – the special election to replace
John Campbell in
SD 35, and the battle Royale shaping up in Joe Dunn’s seat,
SD 34.
In SD 35, “Assemblyman
Tom Harman hopes to replace John Campbell in Orange County's 35th Senate District, but he has to beat two opponents. One is Dana Point City Councilwoman
Diane Harkey. The other is the Orange County Republican political establishment.
In Dunn’s seat, both Democrats and Republicans have contested primaries for now, with
Lou Correa, Tom Umberg, Van Tran and Lynn Daucher all running for the seat. But leadership maneuvering on both sides will set up a $10 million showdown between the parties in the fall.
“There has also been speculation that Sen.
Don Perata was quietly encouraging Correa to run, and that his political team has taken an active role in Correa's campaign. Among those who heard those rumors was Umberg, who confronted Perata directly last week. "I can only tell you what the pro tem told me," Umberg said. "He said he didn't recruit Correa to run, and that he's made no decision on who he would support."
From our
It's a Bird, It's a Plane... Files, be on the lookout for pigeons with cell phones over the South Bay. San Jose is about to get it's own set of
highly callibrated air pollution detection devices -- a flock of pigeons. "A flock of pigeons fitted with mobile phone backpacks is to be used to monitor air pollution, New Scientist magazine reported. The 20 pigeons will be released into the skies over San Jose, California, in August. Each bird will carry a GPS satellite tracking receiver, air pollution sensors and a basic mobile phone."
Finally, Capitol Weekly cartoonist Dan Carino offers a California spin on Groundhog Day. We’re not sure exactly what it means, but it sure did make us laugh.
