By early summer, Meg Whitman's campaign was spending more money per day than Jerry Brown's campaign had spent for the year.
The LAT's Goldmacher and Mishak report, "GOP gubernatorial
nominee Meg Whitman was spending more each day on her
campaign by early summer than her Democratic rival,
Jerry Brown, had
spent all year, according to disclosure statements
filed with the state
Monday.
"The reports, which cover the candidates' expenditures
in the five-week
period ending June 30, show that Whitman spent $19.7 million in that
short span, or $531,378 per day — most of it after the June 8 primary
election. Brown, who had no major opposition in the
primary, has spent
$377,000 since the beginning of the year.
"The Republican, who has spent nearly $100 million since launching her
campaign, poured millions into TV and radio ads to
attack her Democratic
opponent and, after winning the nomination, to moderate
the
conservative image she projected in her primary effort.
Her campaign
also made extensive use of charter airplanes, racking
up tens of
thousands of dollars in bills.
But Brown has received a $6-million boost from one group of unions and wealthy donors.
"The coalition, dubbed California Working Families
2010, spent more than
$3.9 million from May 23 through June 30. The group spent the money on
ads blasting Republican Meg Whitman in three different
television spots.
The group originally mobilized to defend Brown while
Whitman maintains a
visible TV presence this summer.
"A spokesman for the group, Roger Salazar, said it
had raised an
additional $1.9 million in July, which came after the deadline for
the
reports released Monday. That money is not reflected
in the $6.2 million
reported Monday. The July donations included $750,000 from the
California Teachers Assn., $100,000 from Ron Burkle and $50,000 from Los
Angeles businessman and philanthropist Eli Broad."
Among other gifts from lobbying firms, lawmakers took
Lakers
playoff tickets from a developer who pushed legislation facilitating
the construction of an NFL stadium in L.A.
County.
"Months after waiving environmental laws for a proposed
football stadium, some legislators were treated by
the venue's developer
to hard-to-get tickets to Lakers playoff games, according to new
disclosures filed with the state.
"The $1,400 in basketball tickets were among dozens of gifts valued
at
tens of thousands of dollars that lobbying firms reported
giving to
state officials in the last three months. The gifts
included rounds of
golf, Disneyland tickets, expensive meals, movie passes
and liquor.
"The gifts are legal but raise questions about whether
special interests
bestow them in an effort to garner favorable treatment
from lawmakers,
said Derek Cressman, regional director of Common Cause.
He noted that a
proposal to limit such gifts to $10 a month died in the Legislature
earlier this year."
California's high court has upheld a law barring affirmative action.
"The California Supreme Court ruled Monday that Proposition
209, the ballot measure that banned affirmative action
by government,
did not violate the federal Constitution.
"In a 6-1 ruling, the
majority rejected a defense argued by San Francisco
after it was sued
over a program that gave women and minorities an advantage
in obtaining
city contracts.
"The court said the affirmative action program may
continue only if the city shows it was narrowly tailored
to address
intentional discrimination by the city against businesses
owned by women
and minorities and that preferences were necessary
to rectify the
discrimination.
The stage is set for Rep. Maxine Waters' ethics trial over an alleged conflict of interest.
"A congressional panel set the stage Monday for an
ethics trial for Rep.
Maxine Waters, one of Los Angeles' most enduring liberal
politicians,
over her actions involving a bank with ties to her
husband that received
federal bailout funds.
"Without detailing the accusations, the House Ethics
Committee released
an investigative
report that found "substantial reason" to believe that Waters
may
have violated ethics rules. The case centers on a meeting
Waters set up
in September 2008, during the financial crisis, between Treasury
Department officials and representatives of minority-owned banks.
"But discussion at the meeting "centered on a single
bank — OneUnited,"
according to the report by the Office of Congressional
Ethics. Waters'
husband, Sidney Williams, served on the OneUnited board
from 2004 to
2008, and at the time of the September meeting was a stockholder
in the
bank, the report said."
Legislative Democrats will unveil their updated budget plan Tuesday, more than five weeks past the constitutional
deadline to have a budget in place.
"Senate President Pro Tem. Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said
Monday the plan would include deeper cuts while maintaining
the call in
earlier Democratic proposals to suspend about $2 billion corporate tax
breaks. The proposal includes an oil production tax
and also contains a
mixture of high income taxes and lower sales taxes
which Steinberg is
labeling as “tax reform.” Many of those proposals were outlined
in a column by George Skelton last week.
“We recognize as Democrats that cuts are necessary,” Steinberg said
Monday, describing the continuing gulf between Democrats
and Republicans
on the budget. “But the other side, they seem to view cuts as a virtue
in and of themselves. That is the difference between
us. We see cuts as
a necessity, not a virtue. We should be trying to
save as much
education investment as we can.”
Chase Davis reports some state workers made more money during state worker furloughs.
"During furlough weeks between February 2009 and April 2010, state
departments paid at least $1.6 million in overtime to salaried state
workers who are not typically eligible to receive it,
according to data
provided by the state controller's office. At least
14 employees took
home more than $10,000 in overtime payments during that period.
The payments were allowed because during furlough weeks,
federal law
requires the state to temporarily classify most salaried
workers as
hourly employees so their pay can legally be reduced.
Dan Walters says goodbye to Keith Richman -- and yes to changing term limits.
"This too-brief synopsis of Richman's too-brief political career is a
eulogy of sorts because he died Friday after battling
brain cancer just 56 years old.
That he was exceptional may
indicate that term limits didn't work, but in reality
they never had a
chance. Their potentially positive effects were trampled
by the
ideological polarization and overall dumbing-down of the Legislature that occurred after a bipartisan
gerrymander of legislative districts in 2001.
"Two days before
Richman died, it was announced that a measure to modify
term limits,
giving lawmakers a 12-year limit that could be served in either house,
qualified for the 2012 ballot.
"It would, advocates say, give
civic-minded Californians a better chance to serve the state.
