Patrick McGreevy looks at
the primary election scramble that has pit allies and friends against one another.
"
Mervyn Dymally, Jerome Horton and Roderick Wright have all burnished their political reputations in the gilded chambers of the state Assembly.
"Their Los Angeles County constituencies have overlapped. On many issues, the three Democrats' voting records have been identical. They have sat together at political rallies and legislative hearings."
"Now they are battling one another for a single seat in the state Senate in a game of musical chairs triggered by term limits. 'I'd prefer that we didn't have to compete,' said Horton, whose six years in the Assembly overlapped the tenures of Dymally, who is still serving, and Wright, whose term ended in 2002. 'We are friends,' Wright said."
McGreevy goes on to preview eight other races that are dividing usual constituencies.
And yet,
we're not going to get the Contra Costa showdown between two candidates who don't like each other, reports Lisa Vonderbueggen.
"
Former Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla, a Pittsburg Democrat, has dropped out of contention for the state Senate race despite more than a year of campaigning and a $600,000 campaign chest.
"Canciamilla, a maverick who often bucked partisan politics during his six years in the Assembly, said he wanted to avoid a costly "blood bath" in the June primary against Assemblyman Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord. Incumbent Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, terms out this year.
"
Incoming Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, who has publicly endorsed DeSaulnier, personally asked Canciamilla to stay out of the race in a phone call Monday. The Senate leader and Canciamilla met in person Wednesday."
The LAT's Evan Halper and Michael Rothfeld report that the governor
is being criticized for the environmental impact of his commute.
"After flirting briefly with buying a Sacramento abode for his family, then living alone for a while in a 2,000-square-foot hotel penthouse across from the Capitol, the governor has decided to stay nearly every night at his Brentwood mansion.
"The commute costs hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, which aides say the governor pays for himself. Some environmentalists say the trips expand his carbon footprint enough to undermine his image as a crusader against global warming, despite the pollution credits he buys to offset the damage.
"Abandoning more glamorous parts to settle in Sacramento has long been a trade-off governors made for the privilege of running the state. But Casa de los Gobernadores, the 12,000-square-foot suburban ranch home that
Ronald Reagan and his family had built when they ruled the town, did not lure Schwarzenegger and kin, despite five visits to the home by California first lady
Maria Shriver and a realtor.
"'
I just don't have a home in Sacramento,' Schwarzenegger said in a recent interview at a Starbucks in Washington, D.C., where he had flown -- by private jet -- to attend the winter meeting of the National Governors Assn.
"
The governor's Gulfstream jet does nearly as much damage to the environment in one hour as a small car does in a year, according to figures compiled by the Helium Report, an online publication for buyers of luxury items."
But then again,
after reading this story, who can blame the guv for not flying commercial.
"The Federal Aviation Administration proposed
a record penalty of $10.2 million against Southwest Airlines on Thursday, saying the carrier had continued to fly 46 Boeing 737s that it said it had grounded because they had not been properly inspected for fuselage cracks.
"
Four of the planes had four-inch-long cracks, requiring repairs, said Ms. Spitalieri, although no deaths or injuries resulted.
"'They knowingly flew those aircraft,' an FAA spokeswoman said. 'They knew they shouldn’t be.'
"A spokeswoman for the airline,
Beth Harbin, said six of the planes had 'the start of small cracking.'"
"California's massive budget woes
sparked golden handshake offers Thursday to more than 200 veteran Assembly staff members along with a host of other spending cuts," reports Jim Sanders in the Bee.
"The plan, effective immediately, is designed to cut about $7.3 million, roughly 10 percent of the Assembly's budget through June.
Is that really what the plan is designed to do? We can't help but wonder just who might benefit from this "cost-saving" measure. But we digress...
"Besides the golden handshake, the plan contains unspecified cuts in Assembly hearings outside Sacramento, staff travel, office renovation, printing, furniture purchases and various other expenses.
"'
The Legislature has been cutting everybody else's budget, so it's time to tighten our own belts,' said
Steve Maviglio, spokesman for Assembly Speaker
Fabian Núñez.
"Waldie said 222 Assembly employees are eligible for the incentive. There is no cap on the number who can receive it, but a rough estimate is that 30 to 40 employees will apply, he said.
"The golden handshake could be particularly attractive to longtime employees working for a legislator termed out this year.
Hmm...what longtime employees working for termed-out members are planning on leaving this year?
"Trustees of the California State Teachers' Retirement System
agreed Thursday to allow the state to reduce its contribution to a supplemental pension plan as long as payments from the fund to teachers never dip below a fixed rate," writes Deb Kollars in the Bee.
"The plan would give Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger something he wants – a substantial budget savings – but it also exposes the state to possible fluctuations in inflation that could prove costly in the future.
"If approved by the Legislature during the budget process, the proposal would save taxpayers about $80 million in 2008-09, and between $70 million and $75 million in subsequent years."
"The Canadian
political operative hired by the California Republican Party on a coveted H-1B visa to do campaign consulting has been fired after it was revealed he was apparently working in violation of immigration law," report Carla Marinucci and Lance Williams in the Chron.
"The dismissal, announced this week, came after The Chronicle reported last month that
Christopher Matthews apparently violated federal immigration law when he also earned money from a second employer.
"Matthews, a Canadian citizen, was hired last year as deputy political director for the California Republican Party, with responsibility for handling campaign operations and information technology for the country's largest state GOP operation, U.S. Department of Labor records showed."
"A California appeals court ruling
clamping down on homeschooling by parents without teaching credentials sent shock waves across the state this week, leaving an estimated 166,000 children as possible truants and their parents at risk of prosecution," writes Bob Egelko and Jill Tucker in the Chron.
"The homeschooling movement never saw the case coming.
"'At first, there was a sense of, 'No way,' ' said homeschool parent Loren Mavromati, a resident of Redondo Beach (Los Angeles County) who is active with a homeschool association. 'Then there was a little bit of fear. I think it has moved now into indignation.'
"The ruling arose from a child welfare dispute between the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and
Philip and Mary Long of Lynwood, who have been homeschooling their eight children. Mary Long is their teacher, but holds no teaching credential.
"The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that California law requires parents to send their children to full-time public or private schools or have them taught by credentialed tutors at home."
Now,
how exactly are you supposed to take this editorial if you are a mayor running for reelection?
"Thank you, Kevin Johnson. And please do not misunderstand, Heather Fargo: This is not an endorsement.
"It's way too early for this page or anyone else to decide which of these two, Fargo or Johnson, would make the better mayor for Sacramento going forward.
"Still, at this challenging point in Sacramento's history, it is clear that the city will benefit from a real mayor's race."
We're guessing the Fargo camp isn't thrilled...
And from our
No Sense of Humor Files, AP reports, "A cable sports network says it
no longer will make Athol the butt of its jokes.
Comcast SportsNet said Thursday it would pull a newspaper ad that leaders of the small central Massachusetts town called insulting and offensive.
The ad featured two side-by-side signs that together read: "We can pronounce Worcester ... without sounding like an Athol."
Hey, Athols, it could be worse. You could be living
here...
