California's political watchdogs are showing their
fangs. The mayor of L.A. gets snared in free sports tickets, and the new chair of the Board of Equalization has some campaign-violation problems.
First up, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's problem,
reported by the LAT's David Zahniser: "Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has agreed
to pay
nearly $42,000 in fines to resolve state and city investigations
into his
practice of accepting tickets to sports events, concerts
and other pricey
entertainment activities without reporting them as
gifts."
"The penalty would be the largest of its kind under
California's ethics law if approved by the state Fair
Political Practices
Commission and the city Ethics Commission."
"In a pact
drafted by officials with both agencies, Villaraigosa
acknowledged
that he had failed to report free tickets to 34 events during his first five
years in office, including Los Angeles Lakers games
and concerts at such venues
as Staples Center, L.A. Live and Universal City's Gibson
Amphitheatre."
"For months, the mayor had insisted that his acceptance
of
tickets to at least 85
events did not violate state law because at the time he was
performing ceremonial duties, such as throwing out
the first pitch at a Los
Angeles Dodgers game."
And now, for Horton, courtesy of the Times' Patrick McGreevy: "The chairman of the state tax board violated campaign
finance rules when he didn't disclose his involvement
in a contentious
Inglewood school board race and faces fines of $13,000, according to state
ethics officials."
"Jerome Horton, who is chairman of the state Board
of
Equalization, has admitted to several violations — including diverting his unused
campaign money to an aborted state Senate run — in an agreement he signed with
the director of the state Fair Political Practices
Commission. The commission
will meet April 11 to ratify the penalties."
"Horton, a former Inglewood city councilman and state
assemblyman, was appointed in 2009 to the state Board of Equalization, which
collects sales taxes, tobacco and gasoline levies,
and other state fees."
State lawmakers may be getting their own brand of scrutiny.
The independent panel that sets their salaries is taking
a look at one of their long-standing perks -- their monthly car allowance, which includes unlimited
gasoline.
"From the Bee's Jim Sanders: "The perk has withstood the recessionary economy and
several rounds of budget-cutting, including $11.2 billion in measures the
Legislature approved and Gov. Jerry Brown signed in
March."
"The cost in relation to California's remaining $15.4
billion budget shortfall is small – less than $1 million a year. Lawmakers say
they've done the calculations, and switching to making
mileage payments for
driving in a large state like California could prove
even more expensive."
"It nonetheless promises to be a hot topic at the April
14
meeting of the independent commission that sets salaries
and benefits for
California's statewide elected officials."
Speaking of hot topics, nothing is hotter in California
than water. And with enormous amounts of water pouring
through the Sacramento River on its way to the Pacifc
Ocean, Capitol pundits George Skelton and Dan Walters take a look.
First, from the LAT's George Skelton: "Let's put it this way: One day last week, the Sacramento River system, including
overflow into bypasses, was producing roughly 180,000 cubic feet of water per second. That's the size equivalent
of 180,000 basketballs rolling by each second. Put another way,
it's around four acre-feet — enough water to supply four families of four for a
year — tumbling past Sacramento each second."
"All this water was rolling through the delta into
San Francisco Bay and under the Golden Gate to the
sea. Why doesn't someone capture the precious bounty for
use when an inevitable drought returns?"
"We could if we had a place to put it and a way to
get it there," says Maury Roos, the state's veteran
chief hydrologist."
And now, from the Bee's Dan Walters: "In a rational world, the extra flows in this and other
high-water seasons would be diverted into what's called
"off-stream storage," either into underground aquifers or
into reservoirs such as San Luis Reservoir on the Pacheco Pass between Los Banos and Hollister."
"However, San Luis, which holds more than 2 million acre-feet, is already full to the brim, and Southern California reservoirs are nearly full."
"State water authorities have long called for more
off-stream storage to capture high flows. For instance,
had the proposed Sites reservoir in western Colusa County been built years ago, as it should have been, it would
be absorbing another 2 million acre-feet of water for use in drought years and to stabilize
flows on the Sacramento River."
"If global warming has the widely predicted effect
of reducing snowfall and increasing rain, off-stream storage will become even more critical. But
Sites, like other aspects of California water policy, has been tied up in political stalemate
for decades. It's not a conflict over water, but rather
one of competing visions of how California should develop as it gains population in the 21st century."
Proescutors may be in hot water, too: A new study details an array of misconduct in dozens
of cases, including intentionally misleading jurors.
From the LAT's Jack Leonard: "California courts last year found that Los Angeles
County prosecutors withheld evidence, intentionally
misled jurors or committed other types of misconduct
in 31 criminal cases, according to an Innocence Project
report released last week."
"The decisions involved convictions dating back as
far as 1984 and were among 102 California cases in which the group found that courts
identified prosecutorial misconduct.
"In 26 of the cases — nine in Los Angeles County — the courts cited the misconduct in decisions to order
a new trial, set aside a sentence or bar evidence,
according to the Northern California Innocence Project,
which is based at the Santa Clara University School
of Law."
And finally from our "What's for Breakfast?" file, we find the tale of New Zealand's new breakfast
beer, which is intended to help you start the day right.
"A
new beer to be launched in New Zealand's largest city
at 7:00am Thursday has
been slammed by alcohol watchdogs concerned about its
promotion as a "breakfast beer."
"The cherry-flavored wheat lager is described as "a
beer the ladies can enjoy too ... if you're having
a champagne breakfast but
don't fancy champagne, have a beer instead," the New
Zealand Herald
reported Sunday."
"The beer, made by Marlborough brewery Moa, contains
5.5
percent alcohol and will be officially launched at
an Auckland cafe this week,
but has already been slammed as "irresponsible."
But it's more fun than prune juice...
