"Presenting a high-profile display of bipartisan cooperation in the wake
of California's hard hit economy, President Barack Obama Thursday
was showered with effusive praise from the state's Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as a "leader in economic recovery" - and in turn offered encouragement for the governor's reform initiatives which will be on a special election
ballot in May," reports Carla Marinucci in the Chron.
"Obama's words of support for Schwarzenegger's May ballot initiatives - lead by a budget spending cap - came en the second of a two-day listening tour in California, one in which the
President offered millions of new dollars in federal
funding to ease California's housing crisis and unveiled a $2.4 billion program to encourage hybrid vehicle development.
"The Democratic president's packed finale to his Southern California trip Thursday
included a mix of serious talk on the economy with
more than 1,000 at a town hall meeting in Los Angeles, a visit to
a cutting edge green technology firm, a meeting with
state and local leaders, and a high profile televised
sit-down with late night comic Jay Leno. And in all those
venues, he aimed to reassure voters here that his administration
will seek to tackle some of the key economic challenges
facing the hard-hit Golden state."
Tom Torlakson announced Thursday he was not running for Congress,
and endorsed Sen. Mark DeSaulnier to replace Ellen Tauscher.
Tauscher has been tapped for a post in the Obama administration,
and Torlakson, who is running for state schools superintendent,
was seen as a strong contender for the seat.
"California's Medi-Cal program, which provides health care to millions
of low-income Californians, has been bilked of hundreds of
millions of dollars by medical laboratories that charged the state excessively for their services
while trying to freeze other labs out of the market,
according to a whistleblower lawsuit backed by the
state," reports Capitol Weekly's John Howard.
State Attorney General Jerry Brown was scheduled to
publicly release details of the case Friday. The suit
names about a dozen labs, including the medical laboratory
handling the most business in California, Quest Diagnostics.
Just how much money is at stake was not immediately
clear. But one estimate put the figure at $500 million, an incomplete amount that could be doubled
or tripled after the final tally of millions of claims
is calculated.
"A Sacramento County judge has ruled that state Controller
John Chiang exceeded his authority last summer by defying Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's order to cut the pay of state workers to the federal
minimum wage in the absence of an approved budget," reports the LAT's Michael Rothfeld.
"In his decision, received by the Schwarzenegger administration
Thursday, Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley wrote that the controller cannot pay civil service
workers more than the federal minimum wage until a
spending plan is approved. Once a budget is approved,
the workers must be repaid in full for the hours they
worked, he said.
"The ruling is moot for the moment, because state officials
have approved two spending plans since the dispute
over workers' pay. But for future standoffs, it handed a clear victory
to Schwarzenegger, a Republican who has frequently
jousted with Chiang, a Democrat elected to one of the
few other constitutionally independent statewide positions.
"In a statement, Schwarzenegger said the decision 'confirms that if California were to face another budget
impasse, the governor has the authority to control
spending and make the necessary payments to keep our
state functioning.'"
Meanwhile, that budget deal last month isn't being praised by Wall Street.
The Bee's Kevin Yamamura reports: "Fitch Ratings downgraded California's general-obligation bond rating Thursday due to concerns about the state's economy and ongoing budget problems, likely raising
costs for taxpayers and dampening demand for $4 billion in bonds the state intends to sell next week.
"California's bond rating now ranks worst among the 50 states, according to Fitch.
"The announcement came days before State Treasurer Bill Lockyer plans a bond sale starting next Wednesday to replenish
the state's Pooled Money Investment Account and enable California
to begin paying out $500 million to projects that desperately need public funding
to continue."
Lockyer was last seen calling Gary Coleman.
"Fitch Ratings downgraded California's general-obligation bond rating from A+ to A, which likely means the state will have to offer
more attractive rates and could preclude some investors
from purchasing the bonds, said Alex Anderson, portfolio manager of Los Angeles-based Envision Capital Management. Fitch had California
on a negative ratings watch since early last year."
Using the governor's recent budget veto, Dan Walters uses the opportunity
to question at the utility of the lieutenant governors' office.
"All in all . . . the lieutenant governor's office may be the state's most pointless governmental appendage. When Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger slashed Garamendi's budget last month by nearly two-thirds, it was apparent punishment for his loud criticism
of the budget deal the governor had made with the Legislature
- but in the larger context it's not difficult to justify the cut, given the state's budget crisis.
"The next step should be to either abolish the office
altogether, emulating some other states, or make it
part of the administration with some substantive duties.
It may be something for the proposed constitutional
convention to ponder."
"A Nebraska-based voting machine maker has agreed to pay California $3.25 million to settle 2007 allegations that it sold unapproved voting systems to the state's counties, the secretary of state said Thursday," writes Andrew McIntosh in the Bee.
"Debra Bowen said that after deducting attorneys' fees, her department will get $2.93 million from Election Systems & Software Inc. by 2012. The money will be spent on strengthening California's electoral system, Bowen said. 'Californians have the right to know the systems they
use for voting have met the legal standards for security,
accuracy, reliability and accessibility,' Bowen said in a statement announcing the settlement."
Term Limits alert: "Rep. Pete Stark (D-Fremont), dean of the California congressional delegation,
has claimed his Maryland home as his principal residence
to qualify for a $3,770 tax break, even though it is thousands of miles from the Northern
California district he represents -- and where he is registered to vote," reports Richard Simon in the Times.
"A senior member of the House's tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, Stark said he was
unaware that he might not be eligible for the tax break.
Asked whether it was questionable for him to receive
it, he said, 'I guess it is.'
"To qualify, a property must be the owner's principal residence: He or she must live there at least six months of the
year, use the address for voter registration and driver's license purposes, and file Maryland income taxes.
"Stark is registered to vote at his wife's parents' address in San Lorenzo and has a California driver's license. He said his 3,600-square-foot Maryland home, on 6.35 acres with an assessed value of about $1.6 million, is the only residence he owns. He rents a
town house in Fremont."
And finally, Reuters reports on Bob Dylan's controversial toilet.
"Bob Dylan has sung about wind many times -- winds of change, the "Idiot Wind," and the winds that hit heavy on the borderline.
"But some of his California neighbors Tuesday were singing
a new tune about what is blowin' in the wind from his Malibu toilet.
"A family living near the 67-year-old folk and rock icon's house in the
posh California beachside community of Malibu have
complained to city
officials about an outdoor portable toilet, which is
apparently used by guards on Dylan's compound.
"Cindy and David Emminger say the toilet wafts fumes
from waste treatment chemicals, and that the smell
carried by breezes from the Pacific
Ocean makes their family feel ill.
"But Malibu Mayor Andy Stern
said other neighbors report smelling nothing from the
toilet, and that
he has left the matter to the enforcers of the city's code on
objectionable odors.
"'I really have not involved myself in Bob Dylan's toilet, and by the
way I haven't involved myself in anyone else's toilet in Malibu,' Stern
told Reuters."
