Philadelphia isn't the only place deep in the throes of Monday-morning quarterbacking this morning. Even before Sunday's Super Bowl kickoff, columnists and reporters were taking a look back at the meteoric rise and fall of
Kevin Shelley.
The Chronicle's Martin and Marinucci see
the Shelley story as a morality play -- "Be good to people on the way up, because you'll need them on the way down" -- while the rest of the Chronicle team takes an inside look at
the secretary's final days in office. "In the weeks leading up to his resignation Friday, Shelley made many phone calls -- to former San Francisco Mayor
Willie Brown, retired lawmaker
John Burton, state party chief
Art Torres, and a long list of other friends and advisers. Often, according to his friends, Shelley lapsed into monologue, weighing what he should do. They portray him as uncertain about what to do, genuinely shocked at the turn in his political fortunes."
While
Don Perata may be ready to pave the way for
Ross Johnson to become Secretary of State,
Fabian Nuñez isn't so crazy about the idea. The LAT
quotes Nuñez saying "I don't want to outright nix anybody, but I certainly think a nonpartisan administrator — who can really bring some integrity back to the office of the secretary of state and make sure we upgrade our voting systems — needs to be the driving force. It might not be [a matter of] who's got a good friend we can all live with."
We're still waiting to hear who
Martha Escutia wants for the job.
Like many Capitol insiders who just
like the guy,
Skelton suggests Bruce McPherson for a "safe and bold" choice. Of course, McPherson's main problem is that he'd be an attractive statewide candidate in 2006, which is a serious strike against him among the majority party.
In
On to the Next One news, the Contra Costa Times reports that
Don Perata has
set up a legal defense fund of his own to fight what his spokesman
Jason Kinney says is a witchhunt against the Senate leader, and refute any comparison made between Shelley and Perata that
Karen Hanretty may make in the days and weeks ahead.
According to the report, "The fund committee sent letters to 200 friends and supporters this week asking for donations. The fund 'allows elected officials to focus on doing the people's work without being distracted by the unfortunate and unwarranted attacks that are an occupational hazard of holding public office,' Kinney said. The fund-raising letters say Perata and his family are being subjected to 'an unfair and unwarranted investigation that appears to be politically motivated.'"
JLAC battle continues While the fight over Shelley's future may be over, the fight over the legislative hearings into Shelley's handling of federal voting funds is not. Republicans want the legislative audit committee to continue its investigation into the SOS's office, while Democrats want it all to go away.
In a letter to Nuñez, Sen.
Dave Cox said it was
"imperative" that the JLAC hearings continue. "Mr. Speaker, I urge you to do the right thing and allow JLAC to continue its work. The people of California expect and deserve oversight from this Legislature, and any attempt to shut this process down will only further erode the public's confidence in the Legislature as a whole."
Minutes after Shelley's resignation, Assembly Republican Leader
Kevin McCarthy issued a two-sentence statement that read: "Assembly Republicans acknowledge Mr. Shelley’s time of service in public office. We expect to continue the ongoing JLAC proceedings to determine his involvement with the misappropriation of HAVA funds.”
LA Mayor's Race update: According to a
new LA Times Poll, with a month to go, the race for LA Mayor has two clear leaders: Hahn (21 percent) and Villaraigosa (20 percent), with a chase group of Parks (13 percent) and Hertzberg (12 percent). Alarcon has slipped off the radar with 8 percent and little funding to make up the gap.
Villaraigosa has the highest favorables of any candidate, and Hertzberg is still the biggest unknown, with the biggest campaign war chest. Whether
Bobzilla will be able to buy himself enough name ID to squeeze into the runoff remains to be seen.
The campaign appears to be restoring the friendship of roomies-turned-opponents Hertzberg and Villaraigosa. Joined with Bernard Parks, they're now
singing Kumbaya at Super Bowl parties.Schwarzenegger in the hot seat: The San Jose Mercury News crew got its sit-down with the guv Friday. The
full transcript can be found here.Meanwhile, the
redistricting fight has gotten the attention of the New York Times. And, they report, we are not alone. "Largely uncoordinated campaigns stretching from California to Massachusetts are pushing to end, or at least minimize, a time-honored staple of American politics: lawmakers drawing Congressional and legislative district maps in geographically convoluted ways to ensure the re-election of an incumbent or the dominance of a party."
Craps! Attorney General
Bill Lockyer, providing "non-legal advice" to gaming tribes, said that games using
dice are prohibited in California. Many tribes are offering a hybrid craps game using both dice and cards. "Who cares about their advice if it is not legal?" said attorney
Howard Dickstein, who represents the Pala band of North San Diego County. "We disagree with it, and we're not going to follow their non-legal advice."
Finally from our
"Oh, Now We Get It" files, we're sorry to report that after further review, we were forced to strip Nuñez spokesman
Nick Velasquez of the
"Weird Press Release of the Day" award that we presented to him in this space on Friday.
Velasquez released a statement Thursday that seemed, to us, to be a non sequitur: ""The California Assembly met today at 9:30 a.m., for those in the State Capitol who may not be aware."
What we didn't realize at the time is that is was a response to Schwarzenegger spokeswoman
Margita Thompson who had released a statement earlier in the day taking a swipe at Nuñez." Members of the Legislature are not spokespeople for the Governor, although we'd welcome their support for the Governor's reform agenda if they're back from Orange County yet," Thompson wrote.
Sorry, Nick. Better luck next time.
