The Roundup

John Myers and I rehash the week's events, such as they were as of yesterday afternoon, on the weekly podcast.

The new foundation-funded California Watch launches its first story today, focusing on waste in the state's Homeland Security office.

"Soon after hijackers obliterated the World Trade Center towers eight years ago, Marin County received more than $100,000 in surveillance equipment to keep its water treatment system safe from a terrorist attack.

"But four years after the funds were awarded, state authorities found more than $67,000 worth of the gear still boxed in its original packaging."

Ah, what better way to mark today's somber anniversary.

The Assembly approved a plan to get a new NFL stadium in LA on the fast-track, free from all those pesky environmental regulations.  The Whittier Daily News's James Wagner reports, "The state Assembly voted 55-17 in favor of Hall's bill late Thursday, leaving it to the Senate to decide today the merits of Majestic and its supporters' case.

For help, Majestic turned to the a powerful labor union and notched the endorsement of firefighters and law enforcement. But if the bill passes both houses and is signed by the governor, it will have scored the biggest assist of all from an unlikely source: unemployment.

Concerned about high jobless rates, state lawmakers seized on the idea that Majestic Realty's 600-acre, 75,000-seat stadium proposal on the eastern side of Los Angeles County will help jumpstart a struggling economy."

Jim Sanders reports on the passing of the anti-rescission bill. Or, as we like to call it, veto bait.

"The measure aims to protect policyholders left holding the bag for medical care because of an inaccuracy in an application filed years ago.

"Assembly Bill 2 split the Legislature largely along party lines, with most Republicans opposed. It targets medical coverage sold to individuals who do not receive employer-paid insurance policies."

But some say the bill is unnecessary. ""This is an overblown solution to a problem that doesn't exist to the degree that the authors would like us to believe," said Assemblyman Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia.

Stay tuned today for water, prisons and renewable energy action. Maybe.

OK, OK, now that all that's out of the way, here's the salacious Mike Duvall gossip of the day. 

Brian Joseph looks at who may have leaked the Duvall tape to the press.

"This is not something you could just stumble upon. Someone would have to tip you off to it," he writes. "

So who did it? We may never know for sure, but the Capitol buzz and some evidence points to  Orange County Assemblyman Jeff Miller and Republican Party insider and OC blogger Jon Fleischman.

"Miller, a Republican out of Corona who also represents part of Orange County, is the lawmaker Duvall is bragging to on the tape. Many in the Capitol speculate that Miller reached over and turned on Duvall’s microphone while they were chatting. And in fact,   Miller’s face is fuzzed out in the KCAL-TV report “to protect our sources.”

Thursday afternoon, Republicans held a caucus to let Miller defend himself, and his staff. The three Republicans on the Ethics Committee -- Martin Garrick, Nathan Fletcher and Bill Emmerson -- were told not to attend. 

Miller himself was on the Ethics Committee until yesterday, Capitol Weekly reports.  "Miller, R-Corona, was taken off the committee 'because he was party to a conversation that is being investigated by the Ethics Committee. It is not appropriate for Mr. Miller to remain on the committee,' said Bass spokeswoman Shannon Murphy."

Dan Walters says Duvall's fall "has enlivened an otherwise dreary final week of the 2009 legislative session."

"The more plausible – and widely accepted – theory is that one of Duvall's fellow Republicans did him in, either due to a grudge or to remove him from contention in a future state Senate contest. It's also possible that the story kicked around the Capitol for a couple of months until someone, for some reason, decided to drop a dime."