Gov.-elect Jerry Brown -- now there's a title with a familiar feel -- has a penchant for surprises, and he's already come
up with one: He may not have a chief of staff. The LA Times' Evan Halper and Michael J. Mishak have
the story.
"Brown said Wednesday that he wanted to "review the
very nature" of the chief of staff role in the governor's
office."
"Let's get off this chief of staff stuff," he told
reporters. "Chief of staff kind of conjures up Eisenhower's
Cabinet. I want to rethink the structure. I want to
flatten the administration. I'm going to look through
ways of organizing state government to make it leaner, to make it more responsive
and to make it more coherent."
On election night, friends old and new rallied around the newly elected
Brown, reports the Bee's Dan Morain.
"The whole gang showed up at the Fox Theater in downtown
Oakland. Hustler magazine owner Larry Flynt, an old
friend of the new governor, was there. So was Gray
Davis, an old chief of staff."
"California's most influential labor leaders and lobbyists
were getting a little face time with the past and newest
governor.
It was vintage Jerry Brown and all about the future.
It was part reunion from a time before laptops and
cell phones, part anticipation of Jerry Brown 2.0, and very much about the business of state government.
"
For those of you who suffered through the crash of
the secretary of state's computers on election night,
you'll be happy to know the meltdown was the "Oprah
effect."
From the LAT's Patrick McGreevy: "So what does a website crashing have to do with television
talk show host Oprah Winfrey?
"It’s what happens to a website when Oprah mentions it.
There are so many hits immediately that the website
crashes," Bowen said."
"Oprah didn’t urge her viewers to go to Bowen’s website, but the secretary of state said there was
record user traffic, no doubt caused by heavy interest
in races including the gubernatorial contest between
Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman and Proposition 19. Bowen said Wednesday that her office will conduct a
review to determine what went wrong. "We’ll certainly do a post-mortem," Bowen said, calling the incident "unfortunate."
Capitol Weekly's Malcolm Maclachlan reports that the state's political watchdog is cracking down on
slate mailers, those pesky, confusing, irritating pieces that clog
your mailbox before election day.
"First of all, they are going to require that if a
mailer contains the name of a political party, it must
clearly state if it actually has an affiliation with
that party. Several “voting guides for Republicans” slates went out this cycle that recommended Democratic
candidates or positions on propositions that were different
from the official California Republican Party recommendations.
Another mailer appeared to come from the Green Party,
but recommended Democrats and numerous proposition
stances that were different from the party."
“One of the recommendations the task force is likely
to bring forward is that any mailer that uses the name
of a political party has to make it very clear if they
are not affiliated with that party,” Schnur said."
Local voters across the state approved changes in their public pension systems, except
in San Francisco, reports Ed Mendel of CalPensions.
"The reformer victories came amid national concern
that the growing cost of taxpayer-guaranteed public employee retirement benefits is eating
up government budgets, threatening funding for other
programs."
Public employee unions opposed the measures, often
supported by business groups. Officials who voted to
put the measures on the ballot, or led the campaigns,
risked the wrath of powerful unions in their own future
election campaigns."
One surprise on the ballot was Proposition 21, which would have provided money to save the state
parks through an $18 vehicle fee. Capitol Weekly's Jennifer Chaussee reports.
"The results came as a surprise to political observers
familiar with campaign contribution filings on the
Secretary of State’s website. They show Proposition 21 raking in $5.9 million in support.
That was an impressive sum compared to the opposition
- they managed a measly $74,000 in contributions."
And finally, from our "Java Gigante" file, comes the tale of the world's largest cup of
coffee and some creative ways of enjoying your morning
brew.
"The new King of the Cafe is an 8-foot-by-8-foot monstrosity that only King Kong could lift. It
holds 2,010 gallons of coffee, the equivalent of 32,160 cups.
The big brew was made by GourmetGiftBaskets.com and
on display last month at the Mandalay Bay Resort and
Casino in Las Vegas."
"By the way, you don't have to get your caffeine fix
orally. You can also get a burst of energy by shoving
it up your you-know-where. No really... You'll never take a coffee break
the same way again."
At least not at Starbucks...
