"Assemblyman
Mark Leno sparked ethical questions Wednesday
by holding a $1,000-per-person fundraising event just one day before the committee he chairs decides the fate of more than 600 bills totaling $8 billion in spending," reports Jim Sanders in the Bee.
"'To be honest with you, it just doesn't pass the smell test,' said
Hector Barajas, California Republican Party spokesman.
"
Carmen Balber, of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, said the group is pushing legislation in Leno's committee to slow health insurance rate hikes.
"'You have to raise the question: Is health-insurer money that goes into that fundraiser going to influence whether or not that bill (survives)?' Balber asked.
"Leno dismissed the controversy as much ado about nothing. The three-term San Francisco assemblyman, who plans to challenge fellow Democrat
Carole Migden for her Senate seat next year, said Wednesday's fundraiser will not influence actions he takes today."
CW's John Howard reports the fight over a Long Beach Congressional seat is stirring up
old feuds in Black Los Angeles.
"The Congressional Black Caucus, torn between two major African-American candidates in the special election to replace the late Rep.
Juanita Millender-McDonald in California's 37th Congressional District, has refused to endorse either candidate.
"The decision, in part, stems from
an internal political feud between two of California's most visible black members of Congress: Rep. Maxine Waters and Rep. Diane Watson, who split over who should get the Caucus' backing in the June 26 special election. In the end, the Caucus declined to endorse either one in the Long Beach-area race. Waters favors Assemblywoman
Laura Richardson and Watson supports
Valerie McDonald, the daughter of the late congresswoman.
The dispute over the endorsement was marked by heated exchanges involving Waters and Watson. "During his 24-hour trade mission trip to Toronto, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
painted a picture of a bright, green future and gave Canadians a pep talk on the precarious state of the environment," writes Craig Offman in the National Post.
"'My view is that humanity is smart, and nature is amazingly regenerative,' the former bodybuilder and blockbusting action man told a luncheon hosted by the Economic Club of Toronto, which named him its 2007 Newsmaker of the Year.
"'
You know how when a forest burns, the seeds of its renewal are still there? When it comes to global climate change, those seeds are within us.'"
We are the world...Meanwhile, back at home, Capitol Weekly reports on
what the death of Fiona Ma's toxic toys bill may mean for other legislation. "The state Assembly this week rejected a measure by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, that would have banned a chemical found in many baby toys that Ma says is toxic.
The bill's defeat casts an uncertain future over a handful of other bills, also authored by Democrats, seeking to ban chemicals found in common household items."
The debate over all of these bills often sounds eerily similar to the debate over global warming, with advocates urging quick action, citing scientific proof of pending dangers. Opponents, meanwhile, question the scientific validity of the proponents' claims and balk at the potential economic impact of new regulations."And it's not just Republicans who are balking at these chemical bills. Though
Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, was the only Democrat to vote against the bill, 11 Democrats abstained on the measure. Among them were some proven moderates, like Fresno's
Juan Arambula, and a large number of freshmen members. In all, eight freshman Democrats did not cast votes for Ma's measure.
"
That has raised questions about just how liberal the Assembly will be as bills flood the floor in the coming days. Moderate Democrats have emerged as a force in the Senate, but have not been visible as a voting block in the Assembly."
The Bee's Aurelio Rojas reports that
the health care ad wars have begun. The Bee's Aurelio Rojas reports: "Today, a TV ad imploring Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature to 'get something done' this year will begin running in Sacramento before branching out to the rest of the state in coming weeks.
"The 30-second ad, which features a doctor lamenting overcrowding in emergency rooms by patients who do not have medical coverage, is sponsored by 'Together For Health Care.'
"The broad-based coalition includes the 35,000-physician California Medical Association, the California Teachers Association, unions representing health care workers, insurers and consumer groups.
"The ad comes a week after Blue Cross of California, the state's largest health insurer with more than 8 million members,
disclosed it has set aside $2 million to contest changes being pushed by the governor and Democratic lawmakers."
"Californians
are feeling better about the state's fiscal health than they did three years ago, but that might be because they know little or nothing about how the state is handling their money, according to a
survey released Wednesday," reports the Bee's Judy Lin.
"Over the past three years, the share of Californians who describe the state's budget as a big problem has declined from 73 percent in May 2004 to 44 percent today, according to the survey by the nonprofit Public Policy Institute of California.
"At the same time, many residents admitted they don't know basic facts about the state's $103.8 billion general fund budget. The independent think tank's survey found
only one in 10 of those surveyed could identify both the state's top spending category as K-12 education and the top revenue source as personal income tax."
CW's John Howard reports on the
closed-door meetings that could determine the future of the state's greehouse gas system.
"As deadlines loom in California's landmark law to curb greenhouse-gas emissions, the
Senate hopes to write into the state budget a rule that forces Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Market Advisory Committee to eschew closed-door meetings and allow the public to view its deliberations. The committee is charged with proposing the heart of the carbon-emissions law--the system of rewards and penalties that will actually make the statute work.
"The confidential nature of the committee is well known in the Capitol but has been largely ignored outside the state, where the focus has been as much on Schwarzenegger, an actor-turned-politician with a huge fan base, as on the new law. Experts note that the committee's role is to make recommendations only, and that the final decision will be made publicly by the Air Resources Board."
"
But the deliberations leading up the Market Advisory Committee's recommendations have largely been private--and that rankles Senate Democrats. "
"A key Senate committee approved a bill Wednesday
to place an advisory measure on California's February 2008 presidential primary ballot asking voters whether the United States should leave Iraq," writes the Chron's Greg Lucas.
"Opponents said such a measure would complicate foreign policy, embolden America's enemies and demoralize U.S. troops.
"Supporters said having such a vote would give Californians a chance to register their position on the war, which polls show a majority of Californians oppose.
"'The largest state in the nation will be on record,' said the bill's author state Senate President Pro Tem
Don Perata, D-Oakland, testifying before the five-member Rules Committee. 'Will it mean anything? The answer is, who knows?'"
The Chron's Matthew Yi
looks at the name change bill. "The measure, AB 102, would require applications for marriage licenses and certificates of registered domestic partnerships to include a line for name change for all parties.
"Seven other states -- Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York and North Dakota -- allow a man to take on his new spouse's family name.
"But if the bill by Assemblywoman
Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, becomes law, California would be the first state to allow domestic partners to have that same right. The issue has been a point of contention among many conservative groups, who argue that the legislation is another step toward legally recognizing same-sex marriage."
"The state Supreme Court took up two cases yesterday dealing with
whether the right to know who is on the public payrolls and how much they make is outweighed by privacy rights of public employees," reports Greg Moran in the Union-Tribune.
"In one case, there appeared to be
">broad agreement among the justices favoring the public's right to know. A majority of justices seemed ready to side with media groups seeking the names and salaries of Oakland city workers making more than $100,000 per year.
"But in the second case, the justices seemed divided. That case concerns whether the names and some employment data of peace officers can be disclosed under the state Public Records Act, or whether it is protected under laws shielding police personnel records."
The East Bay Express's
hit piece on Don Perata's political consultant, Sandi Polka, is over the top, and filled with unattributed quotes throughout the article. But we are offering a link only becaused we couldn't help but bow when we read this sentence, the kind of sentence journalists, if we're lucky, get to write once, maybe twice, in a lifetime.
Speaking of Polka's divorce papers, the reporter writes, "She demanded custody of the couple's three donkeys, the rototiller, two Chinese rugs, and a 1993 Taurus wagon."
