"The assemblyman at the center of a controversy over the issuance of official-looking badges to campaign supporters on Thursday
called the fellow lawmaker asked to investigate the practice "
the most racist legislator I have encountered in over 40 years," reports Nancy Vogel in the Times.
"Assemblyman
Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton) made the comment about Assemblyman
Hector De La Torre (D-South Gate) in response to a question from a television reporter."
"De La Torre, chairman of the Assembly Rules Committee, was asked Monday by Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles) to investigate the public distribution of Assembly wallet badges. Nuñez called for the inquiry in response to a Dec. 5 Los Angeles Times story that detailed how Dymally's office had given more than a dozen of the metal badges with a likeness of the official Assembly seal to donors and constituents."
Can't help but wonder if some of this isn't a little turf war over health care policy. De La Torre has been coordinating the major health care push on the Assembly side, while Dymally is the chair of the Assembly Health Committee.
"A group of Republican activists
has revamped its lawsuit challenging outgoing Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown's eligibility to serve as state attorney general," writes Josh Richman in the Oakland Tribune.
"The amended complaint filed Wednesday in Sacramento County Superior Court seeks to prevent Brown, 68, from taking the office to which 56 percent of voters elected him Nov. 7."
"While the original lawsuit, filed Oct. 19, named local voter registrars as defendants in an attempt to get Brown booted from the ballot, the new complaint names Secretary of State
Bruce McPherson and state Controller
Steve Westly in an attempt to keep them from spending any taxpayer money to certify, swear in or pay Brown."
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is
considering moving Proposition 36 drug treatment funding into a new program that
requires counties to put up $1 for every $9 they receive," writes Laura Mecoy in the Bee.
"At present, counties don't have to provide any money for implementing the voter-approved initiative requiring treatment instead of prison for first- and second-time drug offenders."
"The funding shift is one of many ideas under consideration as Schwarzenegger makes the final decisions on the budget proposal he'll present in January."
Meanwhile,
Stan "Rosenstein -- who was profiled in a piece that ran in Monday's Bee -- on Thursday
announced that he would stay and continue to run the $33 billion program that insures 6.5 million poor and disabled Californians."
"Rosenstein, 55, had been planning to leave for a private sector consulting job after 30 years working for Medi-Cal."
"But with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger set to unveil a health care reform plan next year and big changes in federal Medicaid policy looming, state officials decided they couldn't afford to have him leave. Rosenstein, who routinely got up at 4:30 a.m. to do paperwork, had been earning about $118,000 a year.
[Kim] Belshé offered him a $67,000 raise."
"A month after voters rejected a ballot initiative to raise tobacco taxes, California lawmakers are shrugging off long odds and
proposing new curbs on how much it costs Californians to light up and where they're allowed to puff," reports Kate Folmar in the Merc News.
"At least three smoking-related bills have been introduced in the Legislature so far. One bill that could attract attention during the so-called year of health care would raise cigarette taxes by $1.90 a pack to generate almost $2 billion for children's health care and smoking-cessation programs."
"Two other measures seek to limit the effects of second-hand smoke on nonsmokers. They would impose a fine of as much as $100 on anyone who smokes in a cars with children younger than 18, including on private property, and would make it illegal to smoke in state parks or on state beaches, where discarded cigarette butts can befoul the sand and water."
"'We can do more to stop smoking, to save lives and end suffering,' said Sen.
Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, who proposes to raise the tobacco tax with
SB24. 'We can do more to save billions that are going down the drain in health care costs.'"
Dan Walters looks at Steve Westly's
actions on Intuit and Sutter Health in his final days in office. "Westly is being praised for his willingness to oppose an erstwhile ally from Silicon Valley and help ordinary taxpayers. As the praise was rolling in this week, however, Westly cast another vote -- through his official representative on another board -- and this time it was
to cave into pressure from another powerful interest group, the unions."
"Westly had no personal stake in the Intuit/ReadyReturn squabble, but it's no secret that he still harbors political ambitions and would, if he could, run for governor or some other high office in 2010. And to do that, he'd need union support, as his gubernatorial campaign this year demonstrated."
"Westly was doing quite well against Angelides in their primary duel until the unions weighed in to help Angelides win the nomination. The unions saw Westly as too moderate and too unwilling to raise taxes or otherwise endorse the unions' agenda.
With his surrogate vote on Sutter, Westly may be signaling that he won't repeat that mistake."
"It's smart politics, perhaps, but hardly a profile in courage."
Matier and Ross write: "When it comes to dress, incoming House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi certainly makes an impression -- and as Chronicle political writer Carla Marinucci discovered when she did some price checking,
it doesn't come cheap."
"First up, Pelosi's signature 18-inch strand of multicolored Tahitian pearls. The folks at www.PearlParadise.com price it at $9,800."
"Then comes the Giorgio Armani power suit, which lists for $1,195 -- on sale for a bargain $389.99 at Overstock.com this week."
"The shoes: classic Salvatore Ferragamo pumps from Nordstrom at $360."
"But take heart, there is a budget version available at Target.com: a faux multicolored pearl necklace at $14.99 and a faux Pelosi suit, complete with a sharp Isaac Mizrahi gabardine silver birch jacket, at just $27.99. Add the matching skirt, $17.49 -- a steal."
Where was the rundown on
Dennis Hastert's wardrobe?
KABC in Los Angeles reports the trial begins today in the
lawsuit filed by LA Unified against Antonio Villaraigosa. "A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to secure partial control of the Los Angeles Unified School District goes to trial today."
"The suit, filed Oct. 10 in Los Angeles Superior Court by a coalition of district parents, students, administrators and the League of Women Voters, maintains that the legislation is unconstitutional and infringes on the rights of voters."
"
The plaintiffs want a judge to overturn Assembly Bill 1381, which was signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in September and
gave Villaraigosa the authority he sought over the district, though far less than he originally wanted."
The Fresno Bee's Jim Guy reports the DMV will begin
cracking down on uninsured drivers today. "The state Department of Motor Vehicles will begin notifying some drivers without auto insurance today that their registration has been canceled."
"The cancellations follow warning letters sent last month to more than 13,000 registered owners in the central San Joaquin Valley and 314,000 in the state, according to the DMV."
"'What we are trying to do is to encourage people to keep current insurance,' said Mike Miller, a spokesman for the DMV. 'Pay now or pay a lot more later.'"
The AP reports
Alex Padilla is recovering from brain surgery." Padilla, 33, had surgery Saturday at Kaiser-Permanente Hospital in Anaheim to correct an abnormal connection between an artery and a vein in the membrane covering his brain."
"He was released Monday and said he was busy catching up on his Christmas shopping."
"'I'm back on my feet. I'm feeling good. I'm not 100 percent, but I'm getting there,' Padilla said by telephone Thursday as he headed to a lunch with state Sen.
Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica."
Obviously plotting to take out
Don Perata.
