It looks like Paul Krekorian is headed to the LA City Council.
"Krekorian, the former head of the Burbank
Board of Education who was elected to the Assembly
in 2006, defeated
former film executive Christine Essel by a 14% margin with all
precincts reporting.
"Krekorian’s win was a major rebuke to
some of the city’s most powerful unions, which flooded the race with
hundreds of thousands of dollars in independent expenditures
to support
his rival.
"At his campaign headquarters Tuesday night,
Krekorian said voters
had united around, "a common vision about a city government
that is
marked by integrity and accountability, for starters
— a city
government that actually works for the people of the
San Fernando
Valley."
PUC board member Rachelle Chong will not be confirmed for a second term
on the Public Utilities Commission, reports Michael Rothfeld.
"Aides to Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg
(D-Sacramento)
informed the governor's office that he would not hold
a hearing to
confirm Rachelle Chong. Chong, who has been severely
criticized by
consumer groups, was first appointed in 2006 and had been seeking a
term that would have lasted through 2014.
The decision means she will have to leave the commission
at the end of the year."
Schwarzenegger press secretary Aaron McLear suggested that bias was at work.
"It is outrageous that the Senate wouldn't even give
the courtesy of a
vote to the first Asian American PUC commissioner,
particularly in
light of her identical voting record with her male
colleague, Mr.
Peevey," he said.
Meanwhile, Abel Maldonado was in San Bernardino, lobbying newspapers for his confirmation as lieutenant
governor.
"In a meeting Tuesday with editors of the
Daily Bulletin and Sun newspapers, Maldonado said he would push for
open primaries and extended term limits, which he said would make
California lawmakers more knowledgable, thoughtful
and open-minded, and
less tied to the demands of their political parties.
"We have a dysfunctional system," Maldonado said. "We
have
a broken legislature that won't tackle issues and they
won't govern."
Mike Zapler examines Carly Fiorina's net worth.
"Former
Hewlett-Packard chief Carly Fiorina has assets totaling tens
of
millions of dollars and would be among the wealthiest members of
Congress if elected to the U.S. Senate next year, financial
disclosure
records show.
"Fiorina, who last month launched a bid to unseat
three-term incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., is worth at least
$30 million and as much as $119.3 million, according to forms Fiorina
filed this week in accordance with congressional rules.
Those rules
require only that assets be reported in wide ranges
— one category,
which Fiorina checked twice, spans from $5 million to $25 million —
making it impossible to say more precisely how much
the Republican is
worth."
John Cote reports a legal battle is underway to keep the 49ers out of Santa Clara.
"The company that owns Great America has filed a lawsuit that would
void a proposal between Santa Clara and the 49ers to build a
68,500-seat stadium on a city-owned parking lot used by the theme park. The suit, downplayed by both
sides in the dispute, came shortly
before the Santa Clara City Council voted early this morning
to put a
stadium proposal to its residents in June."
With all the hoo-ha over the Assembly speakership, Dan Walters says
the job ain't what it used to be.
"Term limits – and the gerrymander of legislative districts
after the 2000 census – did create a new pattern of legislative
leadership, however. The top Senate position, president pro tem, would
be informally reserved for a white man from Northern
California (Bill
Lockyer, John Burton, Don Perata and now Darrell Steinberg) while the
Assembly speakership would alternate between African
American and
Latino members from Los Angeles."
And finally, from our Rejected Insurance Claims files, AP reports, "A Tennessee man's homeowners insurance
apparently doesn't cover
"acts of cow." Jerry Lynn Davis called the Hawkins
County Sheriff's
office on Thursday, complaining that a neighbor's cows had been licking
his house. In the process, Davis says the curious bovines did
about
$100 in damage by ripping off a screen window, cracking
the glass and
pulling down a gutter."
