Capitol Weekly's John Howard reports on a transportation fight that has pit Los Angeles lawmakers,
and mayor Antonio VIllaraigosa, against a bipartisan
group from the San Gabriel Valley.
"At issue is the extension of a light rail line, new
toll roads and millions of federal dollars.
"A push by Los Angeles lawmakers to capture hundreds
of millions of federal transportation dollars has turned
into a regional struggle among Capitol pols that transcends
party lines.
"Publicly, partisans say there is little or no connection
between the extension of LA's light rail extension to the San Gabriel County line,
and a push for new toll roads in the San Gabriel Valley.
Privately, however, negotiations are afoot linking
them together in what partisans say is a classic case
of Capitol hardball.
"'If they are linked, they are being linked only in the
mind of the mayor,' said Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, referring to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa.
CW's Nick Brokaw chats with the would-be gubernatorial candidate, Gavin Newsom.
"When asked about who his greatest opponent would be
in the governor's race, Newsom says, 'There are no opponents. It would be a goal for the
person who wins to actually do something. The opponent
is inertia. There are no opponents in a race, there
are goals you set forth and must act on. You run against
the problems.'
Dan Walters looks at Gavin Newsom's chances of becoming governor.
"Glib and movie-star handsome, Newsom brings some rakish glamour to
what shapes up as a multicandidate battle royal for
the Democratic nomination (he admitted to an alcohol problem and an affair with
the wife of a top aide). Meanwhile, his stance on gay marriage endears him
to the party's liberal core, even if he's considered a moderate by San Francisco standards
and spars constantly with the city's left-wing politicians.
"That said, he's not even the early favorite among Democrats, a status
that Attorney General (and former Gov.) Jerry Brown, an old Newsom family friend, is believed to hold.
"And beyond Brown, Newsom could face Los Angeles Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, state schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell, and Steve Westly, the former state controller who sought the Democratic
nomination in 2006.
"A crowded field might work to Newsom's advantage; as little as 25 percent of the Democratic primary vote could be enough
to win. But California mayors have been conspicuously
unable to claim the governorship, and Newsom also would
have to overcome San Francisco's reputation for wacko-left politics."
Villaraigosa is being quiet about his intentions.
Meanwhile, the Newsom is under fire for San Francisco's "sanctuary city" status.
The LAT's Maria LaGanga reports: "[I]n recent days, eight young undocumented drug dealers
from Honduras who were convicted in San Francisco walked
away from unguarded facilities in San Bernardino County.
Although Newsom said the city has stopped the practice,
news reports of the escapes have created an uproar
in the electorally important Inland Empire and shined
a national spotlight on this city's singular policies.
"On Wednesday, Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) demanded that San Francisco officials turn over all
convicted illegal immigrant drug dealers to federal
authorities instead of shipping them 'out to San Bernardino County, where they can escape
and victimize the neighborhoods in my district.'
"In a strongly worded statement, Newsom said Wednesday
that he has directed his administration 'to work in cooperation with the federal government
on all felony cases. And I urge the district attorney,
the public defender and the courts to do the same.'"
CW's Malcolm Maclachlan looks at how the recent Supreme Court ruling overturning a Washington
D.C. handgun ban could impact California.
"Last week, the court overturned the D.C. ban. But gun
control groups and others say the court's ruling was too narrow to overturn any state laws.
Meanwhile, some in the gun-rights movement are urging people to be careful about
what lawsuits they file in the wake of Heller vs. D.C.
"The very same day as the ruling, the NRA filed suit
to overturn gun bans in Chicago and San Francisco.
"But California is the real prize for many gun rights
advocates. The state has some of the most restrictive
laws in the country. It's also one of only a few states that doesn't have an individual right to bear arms written into
the state constitution, according to Gene Hoffman,
chairman of the Cal Guns Foundation."
Gentlemen, call your lawyers...
The Bee's Aurelio Rojas checks in on the trial of Julie Lee, the San Francisco fundraiser whose state grant handling
helped bring down Kevin Shelley.
"A federal court jury listened Wednesday to a San Francisco
political power broker, sounding a bit alarmed, trying
to tell her former attorney how to deal with investigations
of state grant money she had allegedly laundered into
a campaign.
"The tape was played while Jeffrey Chen testified for the prosecution under a grant of immunity
on the second day of Julie Lee's trial in Sacramento federal court on charges of mail
fraud and attempted witness tampering.
"Lee, who did not know Jeffrey Chen was taping the telephone
call for the FBI, explained that $25,000 paid to Steve Chen – Jeffrey Chen's friend but not a relative – was for work at her nonprofit organization, and he
voluntarily donated a like amount to Kevin Shelley's 2002 campaign for secretary of state.
"'If he did the work, we pay him,' she said of Steve Chen. 'Whatever he wants to do with this money. That's his money, you know. I mean, it's nothing wrong if he – he did work, he … can go to Reno, he can go do whatever he wants. …'
"Lee, 61, is accused of using five intermediaries, including
Steve Chen, in 2001 and 2002 to funnel $125,000 of misappropriated grant money to Shelley's campaign, and then sending fraudulent paperwork to
state auditors to cover her tracks.
"Before the tape was played Wednesday, Jeffrey Chen
described for the jury how he delivered a check in
an envelope to Steve Chen and took a check from him
back to Lee in late 2001. But he said he didn't know the payment to Steve Chen came out of the grant
funds until 2004."
"The first major bill designed to help prevent more
home foreclosures in California won final passage from the state Senate on Wednesday
and was sent to the governor, who was expected to sign the measure into law," reports Marc Lifsher in the Times.
"The legislation, which passed on a 32-8 vote, would require lenders to give homeowners more
-- and earlier -- warnings that their home loans were heading toward
default. The bill, SB1137, would take effect immediately once it had the signature
of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"The bill also gives renters more time to find a new
place to live when they are being evicted because their
landlord is losing the property.
"A third provision authorizes local governments to force
lenders to maintain property that is sitting empty
after a foreclosure.
"'SB1137 will make a difference right away,' said the author of the bill, Senate President Pro
Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland).
"'This legislation is an important piece of the puzzle
of how to best protect California homeowners and communities
from the fallout from the nation's mortgage crisis,' Perata said."
Meanwhile, a "report issued Wednesday
by the California Reinvestment Coalition says lenders are doing too little, too late to help distressed borrowers avoid foreclosure," reports Emmet Pierce in the Union-Tribune.
"'The backdrop for all of this is the predatory lending
practices of the last few years,' said Kevin Stein, associate director of the San Francisco-based coalition. 'Too many borrowers in California were victimized by
bad lending practices and today ... loan servicers
are not working with them to keep them in their homes.'
"In the survey of 42 nonprofit loan counseling and legal services offices
statewide, 90 percent of those polled said it was “very common” for their clients to have received adjustable-rate loans that they couldn't afford.
"Many borrowers lacked the income to avoid foreclosures
once low, introductory interest rates expired, Stein
said. Weak underwriting practices enabled lenders to
continue issuing home loans after housing prices had
risen well beyond the economic reach of middle-wage earners.
"Responding to the coalition report, Bank of America
Wednesday said it is working to address the problem.
The lender recently completed its acquisition of troubled
Countrywide Financial Corp., which is being sued by
Illinois and California in connection with widespread
home loan defaults."
CW checks in on a bill that could bring online poker back to California.
"While hardly any tribal governments have taken formal
positions on the measure, they have been actively working
behind the scenes, monitoring the bill's progress.
"Politics, not technology, has been the obstacle to
getting a state-only plan approved. Tribes have raised quiet concerns
that they would be shut out of any new online poker
business, or at the very least need to amend their
existing gaming compacts with the state to get in on
the action.
"For tribes to do this, it would have to take a compact
amendment," said Sen. Jim Battin, R-La Quinta, who represents many tribal nations in his
district. That's a very big problem This governor tends to ask for
the world, the sun and the moon" from tribes in negotiations.
"Only one tribe, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians,
registered formal opposition to the bill, and that
was on procedural grounds. Morongo's objections centered on the bill being amended from
a study bill to a bill that would actually implement
"But behind the scenes, a number of the state's largest gaming tribes have closely monitored the
progress of [Lloyd] Levine's plan.
Proponents of the bill insist they want tribes to be
a part of the online gaming action.
"'It's our desire that regulated gaming entities can play,
and we don't intend to exclude anybody,' Levine said. 'My personal opinion is, I think this is going to open
up a new market to the tribes that they don't have access to.'"
And finally, a New Jersey town is struggling with ways
to get 15 trapped bottlenose dolphins who have veered off course
out of a nearby river.
"From the sensible to the silly, there is no shortage
of suggestions from the hundreds of spectators lining
the banks of a river near the Jersey shore on how to
get a group of 15 bottlenose dolphins back into the ocean.
"For nearly three weeks, the dolphins have drawn crowds
along the Shrewsbury River between Sea Bright and Rumson.
But the July Fourth holiday has wildlife officials
worried about heavy boat traffic in the river because
of a nearby fireworks display."
Has anybody thought of deploying John Garamendi?
