"The top leaders of the California Legislature on Wednesday
said they will work to advance the state's presidential primary to Feb. 5, 2008, and allow voters to relax legislative term limits in the same election," reports Aurelio Rojas in the Bee.
"'The only way Washington is going to pay attention to us is if we're on the national agenda,' said Assembly Speaker
Fabian Núñez, who maintains that the June primary minimizes California's clout in picking nominees.
And we thought having the Speaker of the House might give us some clout.
"Núñez, D-Los Angeles, said he's also committed to working this year with Senate President Pro Tem
Don Perata to change how voting lines are drawn.
"But Perata -- who joined Núñez at a luncheon of the Legislature's Latino Caucus -- said he
will oppose any redistricting plan that changes the way congressional lines are drawn."
"'Unlike legislative districts, where we are really doing for each other or doing for ourselves, the congressional redistricting of this state has to be seen within the context of the entire United States House of Representatives,' Perata said.
In other words,
Speaker Pelosi has said "Keep your hands off my majority."
"Under Núñez's term-limit proposal, lawmakers could serve up to 12 years -- in one house or a combination of both.
"The current limits are eight years in the Senate and six years in the Assembly.
"Núñez said
current senators would be allowed to serve beyond their present limit as a 'transitional' measure, 'which means that Sen. Don Perata gets an additional term.'"
Oh,
that's the sweetener.
"Núñez, who is scheduled to be termed out of office in 2008,
would be allowed to serve an additional six years in the Assembly."
Anybody taking bets?
The governor held a health care press conference at the Capitol today, and Capitol Weekly reports that while he may be driving the debate,
nobody will introduce the governor's plan.
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger received international attention when he unveiled his plan for universal health-care coverage. The plan made the front page of the New York Times and the Washington Post, and landed on network evening news. But
here at home, he still can't find anyone in the Legislature to introduce his plan.
"Schwarzenegger has outlined his proposals, but so far there is nothing in writing. And there may never be. Schwarzenegger spokeswoman
Sabrina Lockhart says, as of now, there are no formal plans to introduce the governor's health-care package.
Part of the problem may be finding someone willing to carry a health-care bill for the governor.
"The key thing is not to get caught up in ... how you get there," Schwarzenegger said Wednesday. "The key thing is, we're going to get there."
Let us ask again...anybody taking bets?
CW's Malcolm Maclachlan looks at
new legislation on the stem cell front.Senator George Runner, R-Antelope Valley, and Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, are preparing bipartisan legislation that would affect the stem-cell agency created by Proposition 71 in 2004.
Kuehl confirmed that they had submitted two bills to Legislative Counsel by last week's drafting deadline. The deadline to submit actual legislation is February 23.
She said one of the bills would change the makeup of the Independent Citizen's Oversight Committee, which oversees the work of the state stem-cell research
agency, the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine. The second bill sets standards for royalty returns on the state's $3 billion stem-cell investment and ensures access to any treatments that were developed."
"In California's
latest ballot-spending bonanza, campaigns exhausted more than $330 million on initiatives last fall, while the state's major gubernatorial candidates spent a record $128 million combined throughout the year," writes Kevin Yamamura in the Bee.
"The governor's race cost $128 million when both primary and general election contests are included. Schwarzenegger spent $45.9 million, Angelides spent $39.0 million and Democrat
Steve Westly spent at least $43.9 million in a largely self-financed primary bid. The 2006 total tops the $122 million spent in 1998 when multimillionaire
Al Checchi contributed $40 million to his own losing effort.
"Angelides
only spent $11 million of his $39 million after June 30, though he received advertising help from the California Democratic Party. Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, spent $30.4 million after June 30.
"Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, who defeated Democratic challenger Phil Angelides by nearly 16 percentage points, also handed out campaign bonuses to four of his closest state aides, according to records filed Wednesday with the Secretary of State's office.
"In December, [
Susan] Kennedy received a $100,000 campaign bonus on top of her $131,000 state salary and $92,500 she has received in campaign income. All told, she received $323,500 in her first year working for the governor.
"[
Adam] Mendelsohn received a $75,000 campaign bonus, in addition to $13,000 in campaign income, to supplement his $123,000 state salary. That added up to $211,000.
"
Daniel Zingale, a senior adviser to the governor and chief of staff for first lady Maria Shriver, received a $50,000 bonus on top of his $123,000 state salary.
"
Clay Russell, who travels with the governor as his personal assistant, received a $48,000 bonus."
"The average annual cost of housing an inmate in the California prison system has
more than doubled over the past decade to $43,287 a year, according to figures released Wednesday by the Legislative Analyst's Office," reports Andy Furillo in the Bee.
"Most of the increase is due to rising labor costs, but health care expenditures resulting from federal court orders in Sacramento and San Francisco have more than tripled in the 10-year period and figured significantly into the increase, the LAO reported.
"'A little bit of it is due to the growth in the inmate population, but that's a relatively small share,' said
Brian Brown, the author of the LAO's criminal justice report that contained the cost figures. "The bigger portion has to do with the combination of the increases in salary for the correctional officers, who make up the bulk of the prison staff, and all the increases related to health care services for inmates.'
"'
Wow,' said state Sen.
Mike Machado, D-Linden, the chairman of the budget subcommittee that oversees prison spending, when told about the $43,287 figure."
"San Francisco Mayor
Gavin Newsom's re-election campaign manager resigned Wednesday
after confronting the mayor about an affair Newsom had with his wife while she worked in the mayor's office, City Hall sources said," report Phil Matier, Andrew Ross and Cecilia Vega in the Chron.
Hey, at least she was age appropriate, right?
Perhaps Gavin
can hire Silvio Berlusconi to help mend fences.
"
Alex Tourk, 39, who served as Newsom's deputy chief of staff before becoming his campaign manager in September, confronted the mayor after his wife, Ruby Rippey-Tourk, told him of the affair as part of a rehabilitation program she had been undergoing for substance abuse, said the sources, who had direct knowledge of Wednesday's meeting."
Man, that
fifth step is a bitch...
"Rippey-Tourk, 34, was the mayor's appointments secretary from the start of his administration in 2004 until last spring. She told her husband that the affair with Newsom was short-lived and happened about a year and a half ago, while the mayor was undergoing a divorce from his then-wife, Fox News host
Kimberly Guilfoyle, said the sources, who spoke on condition they not be identified.
"Asked at City Hall Wednesday evening about Tourk's resignation and the affair, Newsom said, '
I'm not making any public comment. I'm just not.'"
Meanwhile, Newsom's communications director and former Davis aide
Peter Ragone is having some problems of his own.
But we have to ask,
Who's afraid of Gavin Newsom? Matier and Ross report
a lot of national Democrats are. "God as my witness ... one of the three Democrats you mentioned as presidential candidates (we're told it was
Barack Obama) will not be photographed with me, will not be in the same room as me, even though I've done fundraisers for that particular person not once but twice, because of this issue."
Finally, "Best-selling author and columnist
Molly Ivins, the sharp-witted liberal who skewered the political establishment and referred to President Bush as “Shrub,”
died yesterday after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 62."
"Ivins died at her home while in hospice care, said
David Pasztor, managing editor of the Texas Observer, where Ivins was co-editor."
