Capitol Weekly reports on the campaign finance loophole that has allowed Sen.
Don Perata to
take to TV to push his healthcare plan. "Perata launched an early salvo this week in the air war to revamp California's health care system. But his pre-emptive strike does more than just push health care reform: It exploits a campaign loophole that allows the Senate leader to continue to raise money in unlimited sums, and get his face on television without restrictions from California's campaign finance laws.
The ad is the latest example of the state's ever-growing campaign-industrial complex, and a growing trend of finding creative ways to keep the campaign money flowing.
"Perata is not the only elected official to have an issue advocacy committee. Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has his California Recovery Team committee which raised millions of dollars for the governor's special election in 2005, and other causes.
Speaker
Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, used a committee of his own, the Committee to Protect California's Future to raise money to oppose the governor's special election proposals in 2005. That committee remains open, and raised more than $12.6 million last year, through October 21. The committee also helped finance some of last year's bond campaign.
"Among the largest donors to Nunez's committee were the California Teachers Association, which gave more than $700,000. The state Council of Service Employees (SEIU) contributed $350,000. Another $400,000 came from Voter Registration 2006, a committee that receives major funding from SEIU, CTA and Southern California Edison.
The largest contributor to Perata's committee was the California Building Industry Association, which ponied up $1 million to the committee in 2006. The California Association of Realtors gave $300,000, Univision head Jerry Perenchio wrote a $250,000 check, and the Paskenta Band on Nomlake Indians gave $200,000."
CW's Malcolm Maclachlan writes on a new UC Berkeley report that shows
California's stem cell initiative will never recapture the state's $3 billion investment.
"Dr.
Richard Gilbert originally published his report--titled 'Dollars for Genes: Revenue Generation by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine'--in the Berkeley Technology Law Journal in June. It finds that the state will likely make only minimal financial returns on any stem cell research it funds via the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).
"'The study finds that stem cell research could be good for the people of California,' Gilbert said. 'But
it is probably not going to make a lot of money for the people of California.'"
Speaking of not recouping costs, the Chron's John Wildermuth writes that "California
will have to spend as much as $90 million to move its 2008 presidential primary to early February, and registrars across the state are hoping they won't get stuck with the bill.
'There are lots of concerns being expressed,' said
Steve Weir, Contra Costa County's top elections official and president of the state's county clerk's association. 'No one has money in the budget for an extra election.'
Republican
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the legislative leaders of both parties support a bill that would move the state's presidential primary to Feb. 5 and leave the rest of the state's legislative and congressional races on the traditional June ballot. The earlier election, they argue, would make California a player in the presidential nomination races and force both Republican and Democratic candidates for president to campaign in California and address issues important to the state."
"The prison medical care receiver and the State Personnel Board
presaged an upcoming constitutional clash between their offices Tuesday, one that would pit the overhaul of the correctional health system against the rights of state workers to appeal disciplinary actions taken against them," reprots Andy Furillo in the Bee.
"In an exchange between prison health czar
Robert Sillen and board Chairman
Sean Harrigan, the receiver signaled that he's ready to go to federal court to overturn agency actions that get in the way of his trying to fire substandard physicians -- part of his effort to bring the prison health care system up to constitutional standards.
"All I'm saying," Sillen countered, after stating several times that he is prepared to seek federal court orders to get what he wants to overcome state laws that impede him, "is that's the process as it exists now.
We're merely sharing with you where we're going to change the process."
Harrigan, becoming visibly angry, told Sillen that the board invited him to the meeting to begin a dialogue 'to try and figure out innovative ways to deal with some of the challenges you may have.'"
Meanwhile,
the governor may visit Canada this spring.
"As part of California's continued quest for cleaner energy, state utility regulators Tuesday
announced a new standard for long-term electricity contracts that effectively steers the state away from coal," writes Edie Lau in the Bee.
"A so-called greenhouse gas emissions performance standard basically says that fuel used to generate electricity for California consumers must be at least as clean-burning as natural gas.
A spokesman for Pacific Gas and Electric Co., the state's largest utility to come under the regulation, said the company supports the standard in spirit, though it has not yet seen the details.
'Only 1 percent of our energy mix comes from coal, so in that sense, I think there's a limited impact on our business,' said
Keely Wachs, PG&E's environmental communications manager."
When longtime followers of California politics hear "Lake Davis" they immediately harken back to the state's move to
poison the lake to get rid of northern pike, a predatory fish threatened to destroy the lake's ecosystem. In order to help preserve said ecosystem, the state killed everything in the lake -- except, it appears, the pike, who are back, and still vexing state officials.
Now, the LA Times' Eric Bailey reports,
there's a new plan for Lake Davis.
"A decade after poisoning a scenic Sierra reservoir in a controversial and failed attempt to exterminate invading northern pike, California wildlife officials proposed Tuesday to
again turn Lake Davis into a chemical stew in hopes of finally finishing off the saw-toothed predatory fish."
Cue
Homer Simpson: Mmmmmmmmm...chemical stew...
Finally, from our
Is That a Shark in Your Pocket? Files, A San Francisco-area pastor who pleaded guilty to helping
smuggle young leopard sharks from California to aquariums in Europe and the United States has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.
Kevin Thompson, 48, a Unification Church pastor in San Leandro, was one of six men charged with harvesting thousands of sharks smaller than 36 inches (91.5 cm), which are protected by law. The five others have also pleaded guilty."
