Jerry Brown, it turns out, isn't the only candidate getting money from outside, special interests. Whitman is, too.
From
Mike Mishak and Patrick McGreevy in the L.A. Times: "Whitman, the billionaire former chief executive of
online auction house EBay, raised more money from outside
donors than her Democratic rival, Jerry Brown, whom
she has criticized heavily for his dependence on support
from the state's public employee unions. Whitman pulled
in more than $10.7 million from individuals, businesses and other groups
to Brown's $9.5 million."
"Although those figures don't tell the whole story
— unions and other special interests separately spent
a further $13.7 million supporting Brown through independent political
committees not controlled by the candidate — they highlight that Brown is not the only one getting
a big assist from wealthy individuals and groups. More
than one out of every four dollars Whitman raised over
the last three months came from someplace other than
her personal fortune."
And more on dough, courtesy of the LAT's Jack Dolan. "Buried in the details
of the deal to close California's $19-billion budget deficit is a roughly $30-million tax break crafted to benefit a company owned
by members of one of the state's richest and most politically
influential families, according to a legislative analysis
obtained by The Times."
"The provision, which will allow the Humboldt Redwood
Co. to deduct $20 million in old losses from future taxes, is also expected
to cover penalties and interest for the firm co-owned by three sons of Donald G. Fisher, founder of
the Gap and Banana Republic, said company Chairman
Sandy Dean."
If he is elected, Brown owes a special thanks to Steve Poizner, the Republican who was vanquished by Whitman in the
primary. The Ventura County Star's Timm Herdt tells
you why.
"It was Poizner who, during the GOP primary this spring,
backed
Meg Whitman into a corner on immigration, forcing her
to retreat from what appeared to be her initial position
on how national immigration policy ought to deal with
people who’ve worked in the country illegally for a number of
years."
"And now it is Whitman’s revised position on that issue that makes it impossible
for her to deal with the revelation that she employed
an undocumented housekeeper in a way that leaves her
any credibility among Latino voters."
And while we're talking about power politics, how 'bout those two new solar energy plants in the
Mojave?
The LAT's Marc Lifsher reports: "The go-ahead from U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar could
bolster the chances for seven other major solar projects
in the state awaiting approval from him and the U.S.
Energy Department."
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is banking on the building
boom to infuse the state with more than $30 billion in new investments in green energy and create
more than 12,000 high-paying construction and manufacturing jobs from about
two dozen planned wind and solar facilities."
As if we didn't have enough to worry about, the Times'
Margot Roosevelt reports that the volume of fresh water pouring into the world's rivers
is on the rise. The increase is linked to -- you guessed it -- global warming.
The flow "has risen rapidly since 1994, in what
researchers say is further evidence of global warming.
The study, led by a team at UC Irvine, is the first
to estimate global fresh-water flow into the world’s oceans using observations from new satellite technology
rather than through computer or hydrological models."
"Published this week in the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, the study found that annual fresh-water flow increased 18% from 1994 to 2006, suggesting an acceleration in the global water cycle
of evaporation and rainfall, which influences the intensity
of storms, floods and droughts."
The power plants' timing is good, because more coventional power sources face problems, reports Janet Zimmerman of the Riverside Press Enterprise.
"The man-made lake formed by Hoover Dam now stands at 39 percent capacity, largely because of an 11-year drought on the Colorado River. It is only the
third time Lake Mead has been this low since it was
filled in the 1930s."
"Hoover, which straddles Arizona and Nevada, is one
of the Southwest's cheapest and cleanest sources of
power. Electricity production at the dam has dropped
along with Mead's volume. Losing that supply wouldn't
leave California in the dark, but it would send utilities
searching for other, more expensive sources, the cost
of which would be passed on to consumers."
And, finally, we leave the world of politics behind
and turn to our "Lights, Camera, Action!" file, where we find
the tale of Shigeo Tokuda, respected Japanese grandfather and porn-star stud. We're not making this up: His titles include "Maniac Training of Lolitas."
"For a long time, Mr. Tokuda was not just the world’s oldest porn star, he was perhaps its most anonymous.
His family didn’t know where the 76-year-old really went and what he did when the retired travel
agent pulled on his blazer and went off to “work” in the morning."
"But among his fans – and there are enough of them to justify the making
of at least one new film a month – Mr. Tokuda is the superstar of the rising genre of
“elder porn,” movies that feature older actors (at least the male ones) and plotlines in which the growing number of Japanese
senior citizens (again, at least the males) can picture themselves. His most famous role is as
a senior citizen who acts anything but his age with
an assortment of nurses, as well as with his twentysomething
daughter-in-law."
Some marketing possibilities here for AARP...
