John Marelius looks at what the state might look like
after new political districts are drawn.
"Major population shifts in California from coastal
to inland areas
over the past decade will dramatically change the state's political
landscape as congressional districts will need to be pushed eastward
to
follow the population tide.
"For the first time in history, California will gain
no congressional districts after the 2010 census and could lose one
because other states are growing faster.
"If, as appears likely, Democrats are in charge of
redrawing the lines, they will be looking to undermine
districts held
by Republicans. A prime target could be Rep. Brian
Bilbray's 50th
District in North County.
In the wake of a scandal involving board investments,
CalPERS is looking to tighten its investment regulations , Marc Lifsher reports.
"The tougher proposals are to be discussed by the CalPERS
board
today as the country's largest government pension fund overhauls the
way it manages its massive investments, which total
$200 billion.
CalPERS'
principal outside investment consulting firm is calling
for changes.
Wilshire Consulting, a unit of Wilshire Associates
of Santa Monica,
recommends that CalPERS subject investment managers
to stiff monetary
penalties if they fail to tell it about all fees paid
to the
intermediaries, known as placement agents.
A number of placement
agents and private equity fund managers contacted by
The Times declined
to comment on the proposed CalPERS disclosure rules."
Looks like the line for budget hand-outs has already begun. Matt Krupnick reports the University of California wants some more cash.
"UC President Mark Yudof
said in a written statement he would ask the university's Board of
Regents this week to approve the request, which follows
last week's
announcement that the California State University system
would seek
nearly $900 million more in the 2010-11 state budget.
"Both
systems have been hit hard by budget cuts the past
two years. Without
the additional funding, the UC budget deficit could
grow to at least
$1.2 billion next year, the university said.
"If ever there was a
time to fight for and invest in the institution best
positioned to
power this state from recession, now is that time," Yudof said in the
statement.
Jack Chang looks at Meg Whitman's online fundraising.Or is it business investing? You decide...
The social networking Web site Tokoni officially hit
the Internet
last year with attractive selling points, including
its unique network
of blogs and funding from alumni of online auction
giant eBay. About
a year later, however, only 4,000 people were visiting the site every
month, compared with Facebook's 125 million monthly visitors. For a
Silicon Valley startup, such numbers usually spell
trouble.
Tokoni, however, is thriving, thanks to help from an
unlikely source
– Republican gubernatorial candidate and former eBay
CEO Meg Whitman.
The
billionaire candidate, who already has given her campaign
$19 million
of her own money, paid the privately held company about $940,000 for
work and expenses over the first six months of the
year. In
return, Tokoni is running Whitman's online campaign, from designing her
Web site to creating the template of the campaign's e-mail blasts,
according to Whitman press secretary Sarah Pompei.
For only $1 million? What a bargain!
Meanwhile, Jerry Brown has ACORN troubles? Joe Garofoli investigates.
"Brown is investigating the filmmakers, who posed as a prostitute and
a pimp, for possible violations of state privacy laws. He
is also
investigating the group for what is shown in the video: an employee of
ACORN apparently advising the filmmakers how to smuggle
Mexican girls
across the border to work as prostitutes.
"After the tapes were released, House Republicans used
a series of
similar videos to pass a resolution to cut all federal
funding for
ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations
for Reform Now.
The group sued the federal government Friday to restore
funding,
claiming Congress punitively targeted an individual
organization.
"Brown, the state's top law enforcement official, is stepping into that
political quicksand in California. If he charges the filmmakers, he'll be accused of hypocrisy because
he chose not to bring charges against his own spokesman,
who has
admitted secretly recording journalists. If he doesn't bring charges
against the filmmakers, he faces criticism from grassroots
liberals and
supporters of ACORN, which Republicans have also accused
of voter fraud."
Something tells us the AG isn't losing much sleep over this one...
And congratualtions to our friends across the pond
who have been selected as among the ugliest people in the world.
"Britons are among the ugliest people in the world, according to a dating website that says it only allows
"beautiful people" to join.
Fewer than one in eight British men and just three
in 20 women who have applied to BeautifulPeople.com have been accepted, an emailed statement from the
website showed.
"Existing members of the "elite dating site" rate how attractive
potential members are over a 48 hour period, after applicants upload a
recent photo and personal profile.
"Only the male Russian and Polish applicants fared worse
than British
men, although Russian women had a 44 percent acceptance rate. Polish
women did not appear in the table."
