Capitol Weekly looks at a former state watchdog who is now catting around with
Arnold Schwarzenegger's Dream Team.
"A former chairwoman of the Fair Political Practices
Commission -- who once battled Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in court
over campaign finance laws -- now serves as an attorney and advocate at the lobbying
and legal firm hired by Schwarzenegger’s multi-million dollar political committee, the California
Dream Team.
"Attorney Liane Randolph left the FPPC in 2007 after four years as chairwoman, serving as an appointee
of former Gov. Gray Davis. That same year, she took
a position at the law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw
Pittman LLP, a lobbyist employer. Randolph, although
not a registered lobbyist, is now paid to advise and
represent a committee once squarely in her crosshairs
as head of the watchdog panel.
Since August 2007, the Dream Team has paid Randolph's firm more than $690,000, campaign records show.
As chairwoman of the FPPC Randolph pushed through new
regulations to crack down on committees like the Dream
Team, which commissioners ruled were being used to
skirt campaign contribution limits.
"But four years later, Randolph appeared before the
FPPC as a paid advocate for the Dream Team, the same
group once targeted by those regulations. And this
time, Randolph was urging the commission to oppose
new crackdowns on those committees.
A Dream Team spokeswoman, Becky Warren said Randolph's work for the firm "did not present a conflict because (as FPPC chairwoman), Liane was the client, not the attorney in court. Fundamentally, Liane's role as Chairman of the FPPC was to make policy and
enforce the Political Reform Act.
She has a different job now as an attorney representing
clients who are complying with the Act.
They are two completely different and not inconsistent
roles."
After 7.5 hours of budget talks, the Big 5 is set to reconvene
Wednesday afternoon, in hopes of wrapping up talks
to close a $25
billion budget deficit.
The LAT's Evan Halper reports, "
Legislative leaders emerged from late-night budget negotiations Tuesday
to announce they were closing in on a final agreement
on how to address
the state's $26.3-billion deficit.
As talks ended just before midnight, they said they
hoped to complete their work today.
"I don't think there is anything that would make negotiations
shut down
at this point," said Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles).
Senate GOP leader Dennis Hollingsworth (R-Murrieta) agreed that a final budget deal was probably imminent."
Hmmm, does his caucus know that?
"Legislative staffers involved in the confidential talks
said the
leaders had largely resolved the most contentious issue
in negotiations
-- education cuts.
"Staffers involved in the talks said the legislative
leaders and the
governor have agreed on how to solve all but $400 million of the
deficit. The governor is pushing to close that last portion
of the
deficit with more cuts in social service and healthcare
programs, while
Democrats are angling to blunt the effect on those
programs by
achieving the savings through accounting shifts and
expense deferrals."
Jim Sanders the two sides have agreed to disagree on a two-tiered pension system that would change benefits for new state workers.
"California will not impose a two-tier pension system promising lower benefits to future
state workers as part of any wide-ranging deal to solve its $26.3 billion budget shortfall, The Bee has learned.
"The controversial proposal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
has been shelved in budget talks, but options for cutting
pension costs are expected to be discussed again in
coming months.
Will California lose a Congressional seat in 2010? Richard SImon reports, "Here's yet another result of the bad economy: California's
congressional delegation is unlikely to grow and could
even lose a seat after next year's census for the first time since stagecoach days.
"If the state loses a seat, it could weaken California's clout in
Washington and reduce the amount of federal money flowing
to the state.
It could also set off a game of political musical chairs,
forcing two
incumbents to run against each other.
"As if that weren't enough, the state that stands to gain the most new
seats is California's longtime rival, Texas, the second most populous
state."
Wait, we have a rivalry with Texas? Why doesn't anybody ever tell us these things?
This is obviously a big concern for the California
Congressperson with the lowest seniority -- Congresswoman-elect Judy Chu.
"State Board of Equalization member Judy Chu, who forged multiethnic
coalitions during more than two decades in public office,
was winning
Tuesday's special election to the San Gabriel Valley-based 32nd
Congressional District as returns were being tallied.
If Chu's wide lead in early returns holds up as expected,
she will
become the first Chinese American woman elected to
Congress, according
to the Office of the House Historian and the Congressional
Research
Service. Democrat Chu was running for the seat made
vacant by Hilda
Solis' elevation to U.S. Labor secretary.
Chu's apparent defeat of Republican Betty Tom Chu, a cousin by
marriage, and Libertarian Christopher M. Agrella was widely expected
after she finished first in a field of 12 in the May 19 primary.
Latinos make up the largest voting group in the strongly
Democratic
district, which runs from Los Angeles' East Side through Covina."
Matier and Ross report there's no business like state business .
"One of the reasons the state agreed to shell out $335,000 to settle a lawsuit over Carole Migden's infamous wild ride and rear-ender was that the then-state senator crashed while on state business.
"In this case, however, the "state business" that Migden was on her
way to conduct May 18, 2007, was a meeting with former state
Assemblyman Joe Nation - who says the topic was the possibility of him endorsing
Migden's re-election bid.
"I was scheduled to meet her at Bogie's Cafe in San Rafael that
morning," Nation recalled. When he got there, he said, "Carole's
scheduler called to say that something unavoidable
had come up."
As it turns out, that "something unavoidable was Migden herself...
" A New Hampshire man says he swiped his debit card at a gas station to buy a pack of cigarettes and was charged over 23 quadrillion dollars.
"Josh
Muszynski checked his account online a few hours later
and saw the 17-digit number — a stunning $23,148,855,308,184,500
(twenty-three quadrillion, one hundred forty-eight trillion, eight
hundred fifty-five billion, three hundred eight million, one hundred
eighty-four thousand, five hundred dollars).
"Muszynski says he spent two hours on the phone with
Bank of America trying to sort out the string of numbers and the $15 overdraft fee."
Upon hearing the story, Sen. Alex Padilla immediately amended his tobacco tax bill ...
