Capitol Weekly hits the stands today, and tells
the story behind the push for Kevin Murray's privacy legislation. "Despite the honest policy disputes over Kevin Murray's bill to seal financial records in divorce cases,
the debate over S.B. 1015 has focused on just about everything but policy.
"The story of this bill is a story of how lawmakers and advocates make political calculations. It is about how to know when you're beat, and about cutting your losses to limit the political damage that your opposition may inflict on you down the road. To some, it is a tale of political cowardice. To others, it is a tale of the ultimate political pragmatism and democracy in action."
"It is a parable of how business gets done in the Capitol halls and the ways political power can manifest itself, both through direct and indirect pressures. It is a story of how a bill really becomes a law."
"The fight over this one little bill involves two Senate leaders, one Assembly speaker, a well-connected multi-billionaire, one of Sacramento's largest lobbying firms, a nasty divorce case, women's groups, newspaper publishers, identity theft, the First Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment,
Bill Clinton, Jennifer Lopez, and the California Supreme Court."
"In a
contentious debate over the environment, state Controller
Steve Westly on Wednesday attacked Treasurer
Phil Angelides for his record as a Sacramento land developer and Angelides assailed Westly for being a follower, not an environmental leader," reports Laura Mecoy in the Bee.
"The two top contenders for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination sharply challenged each other's commitment to the environment and their records before and after taking office during the hourlong exchange hosted by the California League of Conservation Voters."
"Westly called Angelides' record as a developer 'questionable,' citing criticism of his Laguna West development in Sacramento as a 'catastrophic failure.' Then, turning to Angelides near the end of the exchange, he challenged the treasurer's campaign contributions."
Angelides attacked Westly for allegedly owning oil stocks.
"'
If you are so interested in cleaning up California, start by cleaning up your own portfolio,' he said."
"Westly replied that he has put his investments in a blind trust since his election as controller so neither he nor Angelides knows in which stocks he's invested."
"'I'll ask the big boys like Exxon Mobil to pay their fair share again,'
Angelides said in arguing for increasing taxes on corporations and high-income individuals to raise more money for public schools."
"Westly hammered Angelides on that proposal, pegging the cost in the range of $10 billion to $15 billion."
"'That is not a recipe to fix this state,' Westly said. 'That is a recipe for disaster.'"
The LAT's Michael Finnegan
looks at the contradiction that is Phil Angelides. "There is the Angelides who campaigned in Santa Barbara for coastal protection — and the one who took $143,200 in campaign checks from developers who, over Sierra Club objections, bulldozed the Dana Point Headlands to build 118 oceanfront houses."
"There is the Angelides who crusaded for higher ethical standards in corporate boardrooms — and the one who said it was none of his business that a securities firm had hired friends as consultants to grease its way into state bond deals, a practice now banned by regulators."
"There is the Angelides who mocked Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger for treating the state like an 'all-you-can-eat special-interest buffet' — and the one whose campaign accepted $574,000 from law firms he hired to be state bond counsel."
Legislative leaders and the governor
appear close to a deal on an infrastructure bond package for the November election, reports Jordan Rau in the Times. "Although details are still in flux, the new proposal is more modest than the $68 billion in borrowing that Schwarzenegger announced in January as his top priority. It is also far smaller than a $49-billion package that fell apart in March amid disagreement over how much new debt California should assume and other perennially polarizing topics. Those include use of state money to build dams and municipal parks."
"The sticking points are not much different now; they concern the overall amount of borrowing and the way the money would be spent."
"People familiar with the negotiations said lawmakers want to place four bond proposals on the ballot. Voters would be asked to borrow roughly
$19.2 billion for new roads and public transportation, $10.4 billion for school construction and renovation, $3.1 billion for shoring up levees and $2.6 billion for affordable housing."
The Bee's Andy Furillo
writes that a vote is expected today. "'We're close, but there are a million little pieces to the puzzle,' said
Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker
Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles. "Three or four don't fit, and the puzzle's not done.'"
"State Senate President Pro Tem
Don Perata, D-Oakland, scheduled a vote for 5 p.m. today, while Núñez planned to call his chamber into session at 5:30 p.m."
With the bond talks progressing,
Arnold Schwarzenegger is
quietly rebuilding his image as the Democrats tear each other apart, writes George Skelton in the Times. "As the Democratic candidates battle each other for their party's nomination, the Republican governor is quietly healing his wounds and moving into better position to run for reelection.
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger even is getting some Democratic help in the Legislature, where leaders are nearly agreed on a roughly $35-billion infrastructure bond package for transportation, schools, flood control and urban housing."
"'
It's scary,' says one Democratic consultant, envisioning the Republican governor and Democratic legislators campaigning chummily for the bonds that would go on the November ballot. '
If the Legislature locks arms with him and sings 'Kumbaya,' does that hurt [Controller Steve] Westly or [Treasurer Phil] Angelides? I think so.'"
Is
Fabian Nuñez pushing for
tax breaks for porn directors? CW's Malcolm Maclachlan investigates."Cue the bad sequel jokes, the runaway production bill is coming back--and this time it's part of the May budget negotiations.
"Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez is going to try to insert language from his stalled bill to give tax breaks to film production into the budget bill later this month. Núñez also is going to continue to push his bill, A.B. 777, designed to keep film production in California. The dual effort is way to improve the legislation's chances by placing it within the context of the larger budget, said Núñez's press secretary
Richard Stapler."
"Critics said that there was
nothing to prevent tax credits from going to producers of pornographic films. Stapler said that it would be difficult for a law to pass constitutional muster if it specifically excluded pornographic films, but a minimum cost requirement could be legally used to bar all but the most extravagantly financed of adult films."
Call it the Porn Improvement Act.
Smelling blood in the water in an election year, "[t]hree members of the state Senate Education Committee
called Wednesday for the resignation or firing of University of California President Robert Dynes, saying the public trust in his leadership has been broken by a compensation scandal over the past six months," writes Tanya Schevitz in the Chron.
"The criticism of UC's administration was led by Senate Majority Leader
Gloria Romero and Sen.
Abel Maldonado at a Capitol news conference at which they urged Dynes to resign. Separately, Sen.
Jeff Denham, who serves on the 11-member committee with Romero and Maldonado, encouraged
Gerald Parsky, chairman of UC's governing Board of Regents, to fire Dynes."
"But others, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker
Fabian Núñez, who are both ex officio regents, urged moderation and said Dynes should be given a chance to correct the problems in the way UC compensates its top employees."
Apparently feeling left out, the California Faculty Association
is attacking CSU for hiring former chancellor Barry Munitz, according to a press release. "On a press conference call, CSU Faculty and Senator
Jackie Speier will address concerns about spending taxpayer dollars on high executive pay at our state's public universities – be it the UC system or the CSU system – when student fees are being raised to a level at which eligible students are finding it harder to afford a four year college education."
"The CSU faculty is
deeply troubled about the CSU system's decision to hire the former J. Paul Getty Trust president Barry Munitz at a salary of $163,000 a year, well above the top of the state university pay scale, to teach one class. In the context of Mr. Munitz's hiring and the investigation of CSU Board member
Bill Hauck and the California Business Roundtable (CBR), information has come to the CSU faculty’s attention about Mr. Munitz's connection to Mr. Hauck's CBR. The CSU Faculty will reveal the details and call on the Chancellor to come clean on whether Mr. Hauck or the CBR was involved in the decision to allow Mr. Munitz to return given that Mr. Munitz played a major role in promoting the CBR’s agenda."
In addition to teaching one class, Munitz has been assigned fundraising duties, according to CSU.
If you had a hard time working yesterday, you can blame the California Faculty Association for the rowdy protest yesterday outside the Esquire building, where Hauck's office is located.
A pair of old political battles are back. Shane Goldmacher reports the forces behind last year's Proposition 73 to require
parental consent for abortion is heading back to the ballot this fall. And John Howard looks at
an old battle between two card clubs heating up again in the Legislature.
"Colma, the graveyard town south of San Francisco where the dead outnumber the living by 650 to one, is ground zero in a dispute over a gambling bill that could change wagering limits in card rooms throughout the state. Backers include a dozen major gambling houses and, to the surprise of some in the Capitol, state Attorney General
Bill Lockyer."
"Proponents say the legislation, which thus far has drawn little public attention, deftly fixes a glitch in the state's moratorium on gambling expansion. But others in the Capitol aren't so sure. They believe the bill,
S.B. 1198 by Sen.
Dean Florez, D-Shafter, is a thinly disguised attempt to help a major Bay Area card room, the $25 million Lucky Chances Casino in Colma, and hurt Artichoke Joe's Casino, a San Bruno-based card room and a longtime competitor and critic of Lucky Chances."
The crazy red truck is going to have a field day, as the "bill prohibiting discrimination against gays in school curricula
passed a key Senate committee Wednesday despite arguments that it would intrude on a parent's right to teach morals to his or her children."
"Written by Sen.
Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, and sponsored by Equality California,
Senate Bill 1437 attempts to create bias-free social science curricula by requiring schools to recognize the contributions of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community."
"'Parents send their children to school for academics, not for transsexual, bisexual or homosexual indoctrination," Thomasson said after the hearing. 'SB 1437 means schools will promote same-sex 'marriages' and even sex-change operations to kids.'"
"At the hearing, he testified: '
I seriously doubt California students will excel from learning about our leaders based on who they decide to sleep with.'"
Absolutely.
Jennifer Delson
profiles the race for the 69th Assembly District for the Times. "They're both Latinos in their mid-30s. Both are Mexican immigrants and both have graduate degrees. They both sit on the Santa Ana City Council."
"Now
Claudia Alvarez and
Jose Solorio are seeking the same Assembly seat June 6."
And they face a potent challenge from political newcomer
Armando de la Libertad, 34, a Santa Ana bank administrator with the endorsement of his former boss, Rep.
Loretta Sanchez (D-Santa Ana), and others."
"'The question becomes, who does De la Libertad take votes from? It's really a tossup between Alvarez and Solorio, and I'd give a slight nod to Solorio,' [Target Book publisher
Allen] Hoffenblum said. 'Those supported by labor coalitions tend to win Democratic primaries.'"
We'll see.
