The Legislature's ruling Democrats, who are counting
the minutes to Schwarzenegger's departure, are in no mood to pay much heed to his budget proposals
in the looming special session. The Bee's Kevin Yamamura
tells the tale.
"Democrats expect more palatable solutions from Brown,
especially since Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear has
promised "ugly cuts" and no new taxes in Schwarzenegger's stopgap
December proposal."
"But Democratic leaders also think the deficit problem
should be viewed in its $25.4 billion entirety – not just as a short-term $6
billion gap with an end date defined by the lame-duck governor."
Speaking of money, the battle over urban casinos is
picking up steam and foes of those gaming houses are finding a powerful ally in the U.S. Senate -- Dianne Feinstein.
From Capitol Weekly's Malcolm Maclachlan: "Under Feinstein’s changes, a tribe would have to show
both a “substantial direct aboriginal connection to the land” and “substantial
direct modern one.”
"While many tribes have argued a historical connection
to lands they wish to
acquire and use for gaming, showing a current connection
to empty urban land
may be more difficult. She has reportedly explored
attaching the language to
appropriations bills that would be passed in the current
lame-duck session of
Congress, but has yet to get it into legislation."
And still more on money: The California Correctional Peace Officers Association
has been in the wilderness during the Schwarzenegger
administration, but the powerful union hopes that's about to change,
reports Capitol Weekly's Jennifer Chaussee.
"CCPOA and the members worked hard to help elect Jerry
Brown. Now that the campaign is over we can begin talking
with Gov.-elect Brown
and his team about what it will take to better our
working conditions,” the
CCPOA wrote in a letter to its members.
The union spent at least $1.8
million backing Brown or opposing his rival, GOP contender
Meg Whitman."
"Will Brown deliver?"
“We’re very hopeful,” said Lance Corcoran, chief of Governmental Affairs
for
the CCPOA."
Meanwhile, the governor is looking at a number of appointments
before he leaves office, including two on the California Coastal Commission. Capitol Weekly's John Howard has the story.
"In that case, why would Schwarzenegger do it all?
A press
aide to Schwarzenegger said the governor does not discuss
appointments, or
their timing, prior to their public disclosure...."
"But the reason may be in the Dec. 15 commission meeting in San Francisco, when
the panel will select its new chair. If Schwarzenegger
appoints two new
members, he may be able to influence the outcome of
the leadership change. The
commission sets up its own committees to recommend
a new chair and vice chair,
and the two positions are filled by a vote of the full
commission."
Steve Cooley just lost a close race for state attorney
general, but he's not ruling out running for a fourth term as
district attorney of Los Angeles. Rick Orlov of the Daily Breeze has the story.
"And while he has no interest in running for statewide
office again, Cooley left open the possibility of running
for a fourth term in 2012."
"If I think the person looking to succeed me isn't
qualified, I will seek a fourth term," Cooley said.
"I know there are a lot of people out there, ambitious
politicians, who would love to have this job. But if
I think they will hurt this office, I will run."
And from our "Six Feet Under" file comes the tale of Lee Harvey Oswald's coffin
going up for auction -- minus the gunman's remains, of course. This could
only happen in Los Angeles.
"The pine coffin is partially water-damaged by the 18
years it spent in the ground before Oswald's body was
exhumed in 1981 to lay to
rest rumors that a lookalike Soviet agent was buried
in his place."
"The body -- confirmed as genuinely his -- was reburied in
another casket, and the original is only now being
offered for sale at auction."
"We've already had a lot of interest," Nate D Sanders
auction house
manager Laura Yntema told AFP, adding: "This is the first time it's ever
been on the market."
"Oswald, charged with killing president John F. Kennedy
on
November 22, 1963, was himself shot two days later and buried on November
25,
fueling conspiracy theories which still rage to this
day."
Truth is stranger than fiction....
