"Democratic lawmakers
charged the Schwarzenegger administration Friday with bullying the state's air board into softening enforcement of environmental laws, as two former top regulators testified that the governor's chief deputies routinely pressured them not to push ahead with policies that industry found objectionable," reports Evan Halper in the Times.
"At a hearing of the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources, the legislators attacked the aides at the center of the allegations, Chief of Staff
Susan Kennedy and Cabinet Secretary
Dan Dunmoyer, for refusing to testify. Committee Chairwoman
Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) warned that she may try to force their appearance through subpoenas as her committee continues to investigate the implementation of California's landmark law to curb greenhouse gases.
"The controversy at the state Air Resources Board, a regulatory body appointed by the governor but meant to work independently, has tarnished the governor's image as an environmental crusader and widened the rift between him and Democratic leaders over how to move forward in the effort to curb global warming."
"'
The pressure has been relentless, and it has all run one way,'
Catherine Witherspoon, a 22-year veteran of the board, told committee members. She said the administration's resistance to the board's efforts to curb global warming and improve air quality moved her to quit her post as executive director Monday. ' 'Slow down. Do less. Go easier on industry…. ' Nothing was off-limits. We'd even get calls during our regulatory hearings with specific instructions on what to do.'"
"Republicans are outraged that
more than two dozen bills in the Legislature that would create new crimes or lengthen sentences will languish until next year in a committee controlled by Democrats," writes Aurelio Rojas in the Bee.
"Sen.
Gloria Romero, who chairs the Senate Public Safety Committee, imposed a one-year moratorium earlier this year on all Senate and Assembly bills that would worsen crowding in California's prisons and jails.
"But Sen.
Dave Cogdill, vice chairman of the committee, maintains the panel "shouldn't be holding the safety of the people of California hostage to this situation."
"The Modesto Republican concedes prison crowding 'is very real, but the reality is any bill that we take action on this year wouldn't become law until January 2008.'"
Speaking of prisons, the Bee's Andy Furillo
talks to Mike Jimenez about the decline in CCPOA's influence. "The union has gone more than a year without a contract, failed to stop a major prison construction bill, lost 35-1 in a bid to torpedo a key gubernatorial appointee and endorsed a guy for governor who lost by 1.2 million votes.
"In a political world of ebb and flow, CCPOA President Mike Jimenez concedes that his 31,000-member union has drifted off into "one of those eddies right now," and that Capitol insiders might think the union's influence is on the wane.
"But Jimenez added that it would be a mistake to read too much into the recent events. All the union really wants, he says, is to make sure its voice is heard.
"'
I don't desire a relationship that has authority, control, power or any undue influence over any person in government,' he said. '
If our argument or position doesn't carry itself on the merits or on its weight, maybe we've taken the wrong position.'"
The U-T's Bill Ainsworth says
the GOP isn't thrilled with the governor's latest hire. "During the 2003 recall that thrust him into office, Arnold Schwarzenegger accused then-Gov.
Gray Davis of mismanagement and hinted that he was corrupt.
"
But when his administration has needed expertise or become embroiled in political trouble, Schwarzenegger hasn't hesitated to hire top officials who worked for Davis, a Democrat.
"Last week the Republican governor selected
Mary Nichols, a former chief environmental aide to Davis, as chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board to try to calm the controversy over his firing of the state's top air-quality regulator."
"A year after a heat wave caused widespread power outages in Los Angeles,
lawmakers are moving to give the state a new role to assess the reliability of the city Department of Water and Power and nine other municipal utilities.
"A bill written by state Sen.
Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) would require the state to 'evaluate the adequacy' of electricity distribution systems operated by the municipal utilities and compare them to private utilities, including Southern California Edison. It has passed the Senate and is being considered by committee in the Assembly.
"But the bill — SB 980 — has sparked a battle over whether it is intended to help consumers as another hot summer bears down or whether it is a gift to politically potent organized labor.
"Opponents, fearing the loss of local control over the DWP and other city-run power systems, say it is Padilla's attempt to curry favor with utility unions that would benefit from the change. Padilla and his allies counter that the DWP has failed to invest enough money to keep its electricity system reliable and cannot be trusted to operate without state scrutiny."
"Despite the successes of local volunteer groups in making their communities more fireproof, the state of California
contributes no money to a program that awards fire prevention grants to those groups," writes the Chron's Greg Lucas.
"State forestry and fire prevention officials say their tight budget means every dollar spent on fire prevention is one less available for firefighting.
"But supporters of the California Fire Safe Council, which operates a statewide grant clearinghouse, say prevention is far cheaper. A few million dollars out of the state's $143 billion budget would fill more grant requests from the estimated 160 local fire safe councils, they argue.
"Currently, federal and private money only fund about one-third of the annual requests.
"'If California was an independent nation, it would be the eighth-largest economy in the entire world. You'd think a state like that could find some millions of dollars to put in this clearinghouse to help communities protect themselves,' said
Jay Watson, a California Fire Safe Council board member from Oakland. 'The more you spend in advance to protect communities, the less you spend putting those fires out.'"
"Millions of motorcycle, dune buggy, four-wheel-drive and other off-road riders
could see California's vehicle recreation parks shut down next year unless agreement can be reached on overhauling the state program.
"Prairie City in Rancho Cordova is one of eight off-road riding parks whose fate could be decided by sensitive, behind-the-scenes talks between environmentalists and recreational riding groups.
"'The stakes are very high,' said
Daphne Greene, deputy director of the off-highway program, a branch of the state parks department."
"State law authorizes the 36-year-old, off-highway program only until Dec. 31. Nobody is pushing to eliminate it, but a tug of war has developed between groups pushing for new trails, more environmental protection and better policing."
Charles Calderon's focus on the porn industry continues. Calderon
is pushing to tax X-rated products, sex shows, and explicit pay-per-view movies to help supplement public services," reports Jim Sanders in the Bee.
"Assemblyman
Charles Calderon said he is not attacking pornography, only trying to ease its impacts on neighborhoods.
"'I'm not concerned with the morality of it,' the Whittier Democrat said of pornography. '
Is it good? Is it bad? I don't know.'"
Here, can I look at it some more before deciding?
"Calderon's Assembly Bill 1551 would assess an 8 percent tax on sexually explicit nightclub acts, items sold by sex shops and pay-per-view movies featuring unprotected sex or X-rated acts in a public place.
"'
So, Mr. Calderon does not want to tax sex in the bedroom, he wants to tax sex in the backyard,' quipped attorney
Jeffrey J. Douglas, representing the adult entertainment industry."
George Skelton
sums up Antonio Villaraigosa's first two years in office.
"I'm beginning to understand. He was distracted.
"
It's sad, and incredibly stupid. Villaraigosa frittered away his first two years in office."This player is close to striking out. He better lay some solid wood on the ball. There won't be a free pass."
Cindy Sheehan said recently she was retiring from the anti-war movement. Now, it appears, she's reconsidering. The AP reports "Cindy Sheehan, the soldier's mother who galvanized the anti-war movement, said Sunday that
she plans to run against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unless she introduces articles of impeachment against President Bush in the next two weeks.
"Sheehan said she will run against the San Francisco Democrat in 2008 as an independent if Pelosi does not seek by July 23 to impeach Bush. That's when Sheehan and her supporters are to arrive in Washington, D.C., after a 13-day caravan and walking tour starting next week from the group's war protest site near Bush's Crawford ranch."
And for our
Catfight of the Week, we turn to
the spat between Steve Maviglio and the LA Weekly's Marc Cooper.
LA Observed reports,"Steven Maviglio, deputy chief of staff to Speaker Fabian Núñez,
called the LA Weekly's Marc Cooper the state's worst political journalist on the state Democrats' Web site."
Of course, there's only 6 journalists left in California, but that's another matter. LA Observed continues, "
Cooper calls it a great compliment coming from one of California's 'most notorious, whining political hacks.'"
Cooper promises, "I'll answer this shot in next week's L.A. Weekly column. Who could resist?"
