Capitol Weekly's John Howard reports on the water bill scheduled to be heard in the Capitol
Monday .
"The leader of the state Senate has proposed a top-to-bottom overhaul of
the management of the heart of California's water-delivery system, the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, by setting up a new panel
to decide critical policy, expand the power of California's water-use
enforcers and create the position of Delta Watermaster
to ride herd over the delta protections.
"The legislation, the product of months of negotiations, faces its first
hearing Monday. It would set up an independent scientific panel to
examine
the delta's needs. It includes fines of up to $5,000 per day for
illegal diversions of water. It authorizes
the State Water Resources Control Board to initiate
investigations on its own, rather than in response
to complaints, and it requires the state to put into
effect an aggressive groundwater management program."
Wyatt Buchanan reports changes have been made to address the concerns of San
Francisco utilities.
"The support from the San Francisco Public Utilities
Commission is
important to Bay Area lawmakers, who comprise a critical
block of votes
and may be more likely to back the package that could
be voted on as
soon as this week.
A joint Senate and Assembly committee is scheduled
to hear details of the legislation this morning.
State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento,
called the support from San Francisco a "significant step" and
predicted today's hearing "will show wide support for the essential
work of fixing California's water infrastructure."
Debra Saunders asks the question we've all wanted answered: Is Steve Poizner too short to be governor of California?
"He's not Gary Coleman short, and he's taller than Napoleon
Bonaparte. But he is short, and he wears glasses and you have
to wonder
if his button-down looks keep Poizner from wowing the fundraiser
circuit.
"How short is he? "This isn't the NBA draft," Agen shot back. "This
is serious, we're electing a governor. Voters want somebody who's going
to bring the jobs back."
"Of course, Agen is right. Performance - not size - is what matters."
Keep tellin' yourself, buddy.
Dan Weintraub notes that all of the gubernatorial wanna-bes are from NorCal.
"
The last time California elected a governor from Northern
California, John F. Kennedy was president, the San Francisco Giants had just won
their first National League pennant, and Gavin Newsom, now San Francisco’s mayor, had not been born. It was 1962 when Gov. Edmund G. Brown won a second term by defeating Richard M. Nixon."
"But there are still issues where a northern or southern
orientation can shape a governor’s views. Water is one, and with the
Legislature tilting south, a governor from the north
could provide
crucial balance. Public transit is more popular in
the north than the
south, and the environment is a higher priority. Southern
Californians,
with their proximity to Mexico, seem to have a darker
view of immigration than do residents of the Bay Area
and the rest of Northern California.
"Yet even if the eventual winner would govern without
regard to
latitude, he or she will not be elected that way. Southern
California
still is home to 60 percent of the voters, and those voters will hold
sway in deciding who next leads the state.
And Jim Miller takes a look at the Tom Campbell campaign.
Jon Fleischman gets down in the mud in the 72nd Assembly District race.
"As has been talked about, there is pretty well funded
(six figures)
Independent Expenditure (not coordinated with the candidates) taking
place to benefit Ackerman, with money coming out of
Sacramento where
the Ackerman's have a lot of well-placed friends (from Dick Ackerman's
many years in the legislature from the early 90's through last year).
The IE Committee has dropped its first "hit piece" on Norby.
"Finally the Norby campaign dropped to voters what is
the hardest
hitting negative piece of mail I have seen yet from
their campaign,
accusing Ackerman (among other things) of "money laundering" because
donations to her husbands political campaigns, in part,
were going to
compensate Linda for work done raising funds."
While Faye Fiore focuses on Pete Stark's big mouth.
"His colorful tirades don't offend the working-class Fremont
district that has sent him to Washington 19 times. Now, though, Stark's
temper threatens to cost him one of the most prestigious
seats in
Congress -- chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
The job could come open if a pending House investigation
finds that the
current chairman, Rep. Charles B. Rangel of New York, broke ethics laws
by failing to report thousands of dollars in taxable
income even while
he was head of the tax-writing committee.
"He once called the American Medical Assn. a bunch of
"greedy
troglodytes." He assailed one Republican colleague as "a whore for the
insurance industry," called another a "fascist" and a third a
"fruitcake." Recently, when a pesky journalist asked the same question
too many times, Stark threatened to throw him out the
window."
George Skelton writes the Legislature's sudden interest in reform has been goosed by the threat of a part-time Legislature.
"There's a proposed ballot initiative to reduce the full-time
Legislature to part-time status, cutting members' salaries in half.
That wouldn't be reform, only public retribution.
"The part-time
movement is struggling. But lawmakers are responding
to the threat,
trying to show voters that they can reform themselves.
As the
18th century English writer Samuel Johnson observed: When a man knows
he is about to be hanged, "it concentrates his mind wonderfully."
But politicians know about sacrifice. Just ask Chuck DeVore. His latest tweet shows just how much politicians have to give up in the name
of democracy: "Was invited to U2 concert. Had to say no. Today: 2 speeches & a
mailing. Then fly to Sacramento for special session."
A hard-knock life, indeed.
