State lawmakers don't seem to have much problem telling
other people
what to do.But an effort to have them post
the salaries of lawmakers and legislative staff online appears
stalled in the state Senate.
"As legislators rush to bring more transparency to
the salaries of city
officials — like the eye-popping compensation enjoyed until recently by
administrators in Bell — they're balking at passing a law that would
make it easier for the public to find out their own
pay.
"A measure that would legally compel lawmakers to post
their salaries,
and the salaries they pay staff, on the Internet has
stalled in the
state Senate. Leaders of the upper house said Thursday
that they may
instead address the issue through an internal rule,
which can be changed
much more easily, and with much less public fanfare,
than a state law.
"As the struggle over legislative pay disclosure played
out in the
background, lawmakers approved several other proposed
laws, including a
stiff new rule meant to protect hospital patients from
radiation
overdoses and a ban on alcohol sales from self-service lines in grocery
stores. A controversial bill to require sterilization
of family pets,
however, failed to get the votes it needed and appears
to be on life
support."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he
will go to Asia, as planned, for an official trade mission
beginning September 9, whether or not there is a state budget in place.
Shane Goldmacher reports, "Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to jet out of California for a six-day,
three-country trade mission to Asia early next month — even if the
state has no spending plan in place.
"With a state budget nearly two months overdue and
California facing the
prospect that it could run out of cash within weeks,
the Sept. 9 trip
would come at a politically awkward time for the governor.
Thousands of
vendors who do business with the state are not getting
paid. And the
checks to health clinics that care for the poor are
on hold until a
budget is signed.
"Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders have been locked
in a stalemate
all summer, with no indication a budget deal is within
sight."
Jerry Brown released documents showing the Whitman campaign mischaracterized the
size his public pension.
Evan Halper reports, "Speculation that Democratic gubernatorial
nominee Jerry Brown had
positioned himself to receive an extra fat pension
went viral online
earlier this month, helped by this report in the Orange County Register. Brown's
campaign said such projections were flawed and eventually
disclosed that
the pension of the 72-year-old candidate, who is now the state attorney
general and previously served as state governor and
mayor of Oakland,
would be less than $80,000 annually.
"Brown's GOP opponent, Meg
Whitman, expressed skepticism of that number and called
on Brown to
release official documents backing it up.
"On Thursday evening,
Brown's campaign produced what it says is an official
document from the
California State Employees' Retirement System that
appears to confirm he
is not entitled to any wildly inflated retirement
plan. It shows
Brown's total pension payment would be $79,530. Click here
to see the document."
Meanwhile, Brown and Whitman exchanged barbs on the campaign trail Thursday.
"Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jerry
Brown argued Thursday that his experience makes him the
only
candidate who can right California, and he slashed
at Republican rival Meg
Whitman by calling her a neophyte who has run an ugly and
inaccurate campaign against him.
"Everything I've done in my life has prepared me for
this moment in
time, to do what I can to protect the state I love,"
said Brown, the
former two-term governor and current attorney general, standing
in front
of a vat of sulfuric acid after touring New Leaf Biofuel
in San Diego.
"I'm confident at the end of the day, though it's going
to be a close
race, people are going to vote for change, they're
going to vote for
integrity, and they're going to reject the negativity
and the
carpet-bombing of deceptive commercials we've been facing
these last two
months."
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is dropping its push for a controversial bill that would delay planned environmental upgrades to
its plants.
David Zahniser reports, "The interim head of the Los
Angeles Department of Water and Power
said Thursday that his agency would withdraw a bill
before the
Legislature designed to delay environmental upgrades
to its power plants
so that talks about changing those regulations can
be conducted with a
state panel in charge of water quality.
"DWP Interim General
Manager Austin Beutner issued a statement saying he
was pleased with the
progress of negotiations with the state Water Resources
Control Board,
which imposed a series of deadlines earlier this year
for replacing
equipment at three DWP power plants that rely heavily
on seawater to
cool their operations.
"As a result, at this time we will focus
our efforts to resolve this matter with the water board
rather than
through the Legislature," Beutner said.
Sarah Palin received $75,000 for a speech at Cal State Stanislaus earlier this
year, according to documents released by court order
Thursday.
The Chronicle reports, " The contract, which details
everything from the type of vehicle Palin
should be chauffeured in to the type of straws to
place at the lectern,
became a big deal when the CSU Stanislaus Foundation
refused to release
it or reveal how much Palin was paid to speak at the
June 25
fundraiser.
State Sen. Leland Yee, D-San
Francisco, who has been trying to change a state law that shields
campus foundations from public scrutiny, claimed the
college
administration and foundation board were virtually
the same and were
therefore illegally hiding important information from
the public. He
said Thursday the entire college administration should
be fired for
hiding the information.
"It was never about Sarah Palin," Yee said. "It was
about how
foundations do business and the cozy relationships
they have with public
university administrations."
And finally, from our Psychic Croc Files, "A crocodile that picked the winner of the soccer
World Cup has predicted Australian Prime Minister Julia
Gillard will be re-elected.
The saltwater croc named Dirty Harry made his choice
Thursday in his enclosure in the northern city of Darwin
when he snatched a chicken carcass dangling beneath
a caricature of Gillard. Opposition leader Tony Abbott's
chicken was left hanging.
Analysts say Australia's elections Saturday could be
the closest contest since 1961 when a single seat decided who governed."
Paul the Octopus was one thing, but this animal psychic
stuff is getting a little out of hand. If you're that
desperate for attention, couldn't you just make YouTube videos of your kitten sneezing or something?
