Jerry Brown has filed suit against two former CalPERS officials in
an allegedy bribery case.
"State authorities sued former top California pension
fund officials
Federico Buenrostro Jr. and Alfred R. Villalobos on
Wednesday for their
role in an alleged scheme to get business for investment
firms by giving
pension officials luxury trips and other gifts.
"The civil suit alleges that Buenrostro — chief executive of the powerful
California Public Employees' Retirement System from
2002 to 2008 — took
tens of thousands of dollars' worth of gifts from
Villalobos, a former
Los Angeles deputy mayor who now works as a go-between for investment
firms.
"Villalobos and his company, Arvco Capital Research,
obtained more than
$47 million in "undisclosed and unlawful commissions for
selling
approximately $4.8 billion worth of securities to CalPERS" from 2005 to
2009, according to the suit, filed by the state attorney
general's
office in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
"Buenrostro … played a key role in assisting Villalobos and Arvco
in
their fraudulent activities," the suit alleges.
Meanwhile, the campaigns of Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner
gathered media in a pair of warring conference calls
Wednesday to spin the state of the governor's race.
Michael Rothfeld reports, "The spin war is on among Republican candidates for
governor, but
both campaigns agree on at least (and probably only) one thing: Steve
Poizner has narrowed the huge lead Meg Whitman once
held in polls for
the June 8 primary.
"The two sides staged dueling conference calls with
reporters
Wednesday to talk about their internal polling, which,
as Whitman
strategy Mike Murphy cautioned, should be taken with
a few grains of
salt, given that they are administered by people with agendas
(like
pleasing their employers). The Poizner campaign scheduled its call
first, for 1:30 p.m.; Whitman's aides then launched a preemptive strike,
announcing a 1 p.m. call with less than an hour's notice (a.k.a., the
"pre-buttal").
"Poizner's new
internal poll, by Public Opinion Strategies, put Whitman's
lead – 50 points in public surveys in March – at 10 points, 38% to 28%."
The Chron's political team appears to buy the Poizner numbers.
"Whitman's lead over state Insurance Commissioner Steve
Poizner, which
approached 50 points two months ago, has tightened to just 8-10 points
just days until voters begin casting absentee ballots
for the June 8
primary, according to polls by both Poizner's campaign
and by Democratic
labor organizations opposing her candidacy.
Mike Murphy, Whitman's top strategist, downplayed Poizner's
suggestions that the race was tightening to single
digits, saying her
campaign's polls do not reflect that.
"Since Friday, Poizner has run a TV ad statewide called
"Vulture,"
which depicts Whitman as an executive who profited
from the nationwide
financial meltdown through her Wall Street connections.
In their
televised gubernatorial debate Sunday, Poizner attacked
Whitman for
receiving sweetheart stock deals from the firm.
Maeve Reston looks at how Arizona's immigration law may impact California's U.S.
Senate race.
"The three-way Republican primary race to challenge Democratic
Sen. Barbara Boxer has been dominated by pocketbook
concerns, but the
new Arizona law requiring police to question subjects
about their
immigration status has quickly captured the attention
of voters. It is
also likely to be a focus of Thursday night's debate in
Los Angeles
between the three major contenders — Campbell, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore
of Irvine and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina.
"With five
weeks to go before the primary, the issue already has
proven volatile.
Both the Fiorina and DeVore campaigns have questioned
the authenticity
of Campbell's position on the Arizona law. DeVore has
blasted Fiorina
for "flip-flopping" on immigration issues and for refusing to
take a
position on Proposition 187, the 1994 California ballot measure that
would have denied public education and social services
to illegal
immigrants.
"As with the issue of healthcare, immigration imposes
on the three Republican contenders a difficult dilemma
— how to appeal
to conservative Republicans who are the most reliable
primary voters
without alienating independents who would be crucial
to defeating Boxer
this fall."
A jusge has refused to kick Proposition 16 off the June ballot. David Baker reports, "City officials argued that the
text did not state the measure's true
purpose - protecting PG&E from future competition. PG&E is the
measure's sole financial sponsor.
"But Wednesday, Judge Allen Sumner issued a tentative decision saying
that the text accurately described the initiative."
John Howard looks beyond T-Ridge at how Abel Maldonado's confirmation may impact state environmental
law. "For the first time in more than three decades, the
powerful-but-obscure State Lands Commission has a majority of
Republicans
– a political shift that has drawn new attention to
the three-member panel that rides herd over offshore oil drilling
and the state’s navigable waterways.
"But other issues come before the commission. A liquefied
natural gas project – ultimately rejected – drew international attention
three years ago. Although
much of the property once under the jurisdiction of
the State Lands Commission has been sold off over the
years, some land remains – including desert property suitable for
renewable energy
projects.
The commission is wields enormous authority but with
a tight focus, and it’s day-to-day actions rarely draw public attention –
unlike the Coastal Commission, for example, that although
smaller than the State Lands Commission has a much
higher public profile. The Lands Commission has authority
over tidelands and some wetlands; over piers and wharfs, over state
offshore waters
and inland navigable waterways, including sloughs and
rivers. Want to build a dock for your riverside home
in the Little Pocket? Go see the Lands Commission."
Malcolm Maclachlan looks at the govenror's efforts
to revive a dormant water board.
"The California Water Commission has been inactive for
years, but it
is poised to become a major player again if voters
approve an $11.1 billion water bond in November. The governor gets
to appoint all nine slots to the Commission, which
would suddenly be in control of $3 billion of that money.
"But those appointments would need to be approved by
the Senate. While Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s press office confirmed
that he was talking to potential
nominees, they would likely face a tough road. If Democrat
Jerry Brown maintains or expands his slight lead in
the polls over likely Republican nominee Meg Whitman
in the race for governor, Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg,
D-Sacramento, would appear to have little incentive to
confirm anyone Schwarzenegger appoints."
And finally, AFP reports, "A Russian MP has asked an
eccentric regional leader to explain his
behaviour after claiming on state television that he was visited at
home
by aliens in a UFO, media reported Thursday.
"Kirsan Ilyumzhinov,
head of the Buddhist Kalmykia region of southern Russia
and president of
the World Chess Federation (FIDE), announced without apparent irony on a
high-profile chat show he had met the aliens in 1997.
"In an
equally bizarre twist, Andrei Lebedev, an MP for the
nationalist Liberal
Democratic Party, has now written to President Dmitry
Medvedev raising
fears that secret information could have been disclosed
in the close
encounter.
"I ask you to say if the head of Kalmykia has made
an
official report to the Russian presidency about his
contacts with
representatives of an alien civilisation," he said,
quoted by tabloid
Komsomolskaya Pravda and other media. "Is there an
established
procedure of informing about such contacts by high
ranking people who
have access to secret information like Ilyumzhinov?
"And did he in
the course of his seemingly innocent conversation
disclose secret
information?"
And you thought California politics was good...
