“I can do anything you can do better…”

Remember a few weeks ago when Assembly Democrats marched into the Capitol’s press conference room, all excited about solving the state’s home mortgage meltdown? And they trotted out a guy who actually owned two houses and was still living in one, and a woman who apparently hadn’t read the documents she signed all that closely? And they called for a special legislative session, and promised to introduce a bunch of bills to deal with the crisis?

Yeah, well not to be outdone, the Senate Democrats unveiled their solve-the-crisis legislation today over in the home district of Senate Prez Don Perata, D-Oakland. It’s an urgency bill that among other things requires lenders to give plenty of notice to consumers when the rates on their adjustable mortgages are going to go up, and when they are being foreclosed.

The bill is apparently not part of the mortgage crisis special session, mainly because the governor hasn’t called one. If approved, it would take effect immediately. Getting it approved will probably take a little longer than “immediately.”

The ice cream man cometh

Every once in awhile, when you’re scratching your head trying to understand what motivates legislators to do what they do, it’s helpful to look at legislative bodies outside the Capitol.

Such as the Fresno City Council, which recently agreed to allow ice cream vendors to sell their wares near school campuses – but only at night and on weekends, when the kids aren’t there. The rest of the time, they have to stay at least 1,000 feet away from any campus, or face a minimum $200 fine.

The weekends-and-nights schedule was actually something of a victory for vendors, since the original ordinance prohibited them from ever getting nearer than 1,001 feet to a campus.

Still, it makes one appreciate the difficulties in coming up with sane and sensible laws, either in Sacramento or Fresno, doesn’t it?

I didn’t think so either.

A Christmas miracle?

Michelle Steel, accompanied by “taxpayer elves,” is holding a press conference at San Shi Go in Laguna Beach tomorrow. Steel is a member of the state Board of Equalization. San Shi Go is a sushi restaurant. I have no idea what “taxpayer elves” are.

But according to a press release from Steel’s office, she will be presenting the restaurant owner with an oversized check for $21,000, and a presumably regular-sized check for $10,000 to a local car dealer. The checks are refunds to tax security deposits that some new businesses are required to post with the state during their first three years’ of operation. The money is supposed to be refunded, but the agency apparently forgot in some cases, illegally withholding an estimated total of about a million bucks.

If you’re interested in further information on the “Business Cashback Program,” call the toll-free tax helpline at (866) 910-9558. Ask to speak to a taxpayer elf.

So that’s what they do all day...

Last year a D.C.-based political do-gooder group called the Sunlight Foundation began asking members of Congress to voluntarily post their daily schedules online, so constituents could keep track of just what they were doing to earn their $165,200 a year.

Alas. Only eight of the 535 Congressional types have agreed so far, including our own John Doolittle, R-Roseville. For instance, if you had signed on to Doolittle’s site on, say, Aug. 10, you would have seen that Congo John’s public schedule consisted of meeting with local officials in Truckee and representatives from the California Off-Road Vehicle Assn.

And if that’s not worth $13,767 a month…

Happy Birthday, dear Libs…

Today is the 36th anniversary of the founding of the Libertarian Party, that madcap collection of some 200,000-plus Americans who believe that government is best that minds it’s own damn business.

The party was founded in the Denver living room of a businessman named Dave Nolan on Dec. 11, 1971, apparently when a group of disaffected Republicans, Democrats and independents decided what the nation needed for Christmas was a permanent alternative party.

Since 1972, they are proud to say they have run a presidential candidate in every election and are the third-largest party in the country.

But it’s been an uphill struggle to make inroads with the voters. The biggest vote percentage garnered by a Libertarian presidential hopeful so far has been 1.06 percent, in 1980, and it’s been less than half that in every election since. Maybe party members are so fiercely independent, they don’t even vote for their own…

One person’s reality…

When you’re in a tough primary election race for a San Francisco state Senate seat against the likes of Assemblyman Mark Leno, you can’t ignore any chance at drumming up a little publicity by tackling the state’s most pressing problems.

And so it is that incumbent Democrat Carole Migden, chair of the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee, is holding an oversight hearing Feb. 1 in L.A. about ……… labor practices in “reality television.”

Yep, it turns out the Writers Guild is complaining that writers for reality TV are getting screwed out of overtime pay and other benefits. Wait a minute. Reality TV has writers? It’s scripted? Maybe Leno should schedule a hearing into truth in programming ...

Willie ‘n Phil

Fans of this week’s Old Timers panel, which featured former Gov. Pete Wilson, former Speaker Willie Brown, former Senate prez John Burton and former GOP leader Jim Brulte talking about the Good Ol’ Days, should mark Feb. 19 on their calendars.

That’s when the aforementioned Brown will be at the Crest Theatre for what’s being billed as a conversation with Phil Isenberg, the former Brown staffer and Sacto mayor who was one of the smartest Assembly members I ever covered.

The purpose of the event is to plug Brown’s upcoming book, entitled “Basic Brown: My Life and Our Times” and billed as “an anecdote-filled compendium of advice and candid rules about surviving today’s power politics.” Tickets to the show – and it will be a show - are $25. More info here.

A silver lining?

Those who stay up nights worrying about all the negative impacts of illegal immigration in California may have their burdens lightened by a little-noticed study issued a couple of months ago by the University of Connecticut that noted a possible benefit.

The study examined the possible impacts of illegal immigration on the 2010 Census. Under the 14th Amendment, the census is required to count everyone, except American Indians living on tribal lands, and census takers don’t ask questions about anyone’s legal status.

The result is that illegal immigrants are counted when it comes to determining how federal funds and services are divvied up among the states, including the number of members of Congress each state gets. According to demographer Orlando Rodriguez, counting California’s estimated 2.8 million illegal immigrants means the state will hold on to all of its current 53 seats. Rodriguez concluded that without counting the illegal immigrantss, the state would lose at least two seats.

The study found that in terms of congressional representation. California, Arizona, Florida, New Jersey and Texas benefit from counting illegal immigrants, taking or holding on to seats that would otherwise go to Illinois, Michigan, Montana, Missouri, New York and Ohio.

Of course this all supposes you like having more congressmen and congresswomen representing California.

It just keeps getting better and better…

You may have dithering about whether you should attend what presages to be one of the most entertaining Capitol events of the year tomorrow – and I’m not talking about the tree-lighting ceremony with Leeza Gibbons and Trisha Yearwood and the state’s First Family.

Nope, I’m referring to the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) forum on restoring public confidence in the Legislature. And too bad if you didn’t sign up, but it looks like it’s full.

The star-studded panel already included former Speaker Willie Brown, former Senate prez John Burton and former minority leader Jim Brulte (along with former Gov. Pete Wilson, himself a former legislator.)

And now, according to a press release just in, current Speaker Fabian Núñez has been added to the roster. Interestingly, the announcement comes on the day rank-and-file legislators got a $3,110-a-year pay raise. (Núñez got a $3,577 raise.)

I don’t know about you, but I feel 2.75 percent more confident already…

Geez, we’ll buy the album already…

The guv’s office is out with an update on tomorrow afternoon’s Capitol Christmas tree lighting ceremony at 4:30 and boy is it good news. According to this morning’s press release, it
“will feature a performance by three-time Grammy winner Trisha Yearwood, whose new album, Heaven, Heartache & The Power of Love, ‘delivers everything its title promises and then some’ according to USA Today. Yearwood is one of the highest-selling female artists in Country music history with over 10 million albums sold, nine #1 hits, twenty Top Ten hits and countless awards and accolades accumulated since her debut album in 1991.”

The release quotes the guv as saying “Maria and I wish every Californian a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. As we celebrate this holiday season, I hope we can all find a way to give. It does not have to be much.”
Maybe just a CD of Trisha Yearwood’s new album…