Capitol Alert

Time to add another big-name strategist to the list of consultants advising GOP guv-hopeful Meg Whitman's campaign.

The latest addition on the campaign's payroll is Mike Murphy, whose resume includes work as a senior adviser for Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential bid and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2003 recall election win.

Whitman spokeswoman Sarah Pompei wrote in an e-mail that Murphy "will be helping guide the campaign's strategy as a senior advisor."

Word that Murphy was planning to join Team Whitman was first posted over at Calbuzz earlier this morning.

Supporters of the effort to recall Republican Assemblyman Anthony Adams got a bit of a surprise last week when the effort failed because a random sampling of signatures projected they would fall short of the 35,825 they needed to spark a recall election.

Proponents had said their internal attempts to verify the petitions were showing that about 70 percent of the 58,384 signatures they turned in came from registered voters from within the 59th Assembly District. But, according to a random sampling finished last week, that rate was about 20 points lower in San Bernardino County, where the bulk of the signatures were turned in.

San Bernardino County Registrar Kari Verjill released yesterday a breakdown of what issues disqualified the 678 signatures that were deemed invalid out of the 1,339 sample.

• 41.6 percent (282 signees) weren't registered to vote in San Bernardino County.
• 31.6 percent (214 signees) were registered to vote, just not in the 59th Assembly District.
• 22 percent (149 signees) listed an address that wasn't in San Bernardino County.

Other issues included signatures that listed no address or an invalid registration date and signatures that were submitted multiple times (six from the sample fell in that category).

Even with the explanation from the registrar, Committee to Recall Anthony Adams Campaign Manager Tim Whitacre said he isn't giving up.

He said the campaign has the right to examine the petitions and plans to meet with registrar officials in both counties. He said campaign participants will be weighing options and talking to legal counsel about how it challenge the results.

"What did they do with our signatures?" he said, questioning whether county officials were overwhelmed and were not able to properly handle the signatures.

He said the differences between how many signatures were found valid in each county in the random sampling seemed a "statistical anomaly."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his choice for "guv lite," Republican Sen. Abel Maldonado, are scheduled appear together in East Los Angeles this morning.

In case you missed it, Schwarzenegger announced on Jay Leno's late-night show that he's nominating Maldonado to fill the lieutenant governor spot, which opened up when Democrat John Garamendi was elected to Congress earlier this month. Click here to watch the clip.

Schwarzenegger's announcement set off a 90-day countdown for the Legislature to confirm or reject Maldonado for the gig (if they don't act during that window, Maldonado gets the job).

A Maldonado confirmation would be sure to set candidates scrambling to snatch up his Senate seat. Democrats currently hold a registration lead in Maldonado's 15th Senate District, with the most recent tally showing the breakdown as 41 percent Dem, 34.5 percent GOP and 20 percent Decline-To-State. Snagging that seat would position Senate Democrats one spot short of a two-thirds majority leading into the 2010 midterm elections.

But another confirmation consideration for some pols with statewide office aspirations could be whether Maldonado will make a run for a full term at the lieutenant governor post in 2010. Two Republican senators -- Sam Aanestad and Jeff Denham -- and Democratic Sen. Dean Florez have already thrown their hat in the ring for that race.

REPORT: Here's one to read before you hit the stores for Black Friday shopping later this week. CalPIRG releases its annual "Trouble in Toyland" report, which lists dangerous and toxic toys consumers should avoid when shopping for children. The report and more information will be available at this site at 10 a.m.

BIRTHDAY: Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R- Lake Elsinore, turns 49 today.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spilled the beans to late-night host Jay Leno that he's nominating Republican Sen. Abel Maldonado to fill the vacant lieutenant governor seat.

Here's how Schwarzenegger described his pick, according to the show's transcript:

"He's a terrific, loyal man that has worked very hard in public service. But he's also into bipartisanship and postpartisanship, so he can cross the aisle. He makes decisions based on what's best for the people rather than what's best for the party. He has helped us, many times, pass a budget, which was very important. And he comes from an immigrant family. They came from Mexico to the United States, started with a little farm, and now they have, like, 600 acres, hundreds of people working there. So he's a great choice, I think.

The show, taped earlier this afternoon, airs at 10 p.m. tonight on NBC.

Here's the official release from the governor's office. Read the transcript of the aired announcement after the jump.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass announced today the membership of a joint committee tasked with reviewing the state's long-term plan for ensuring public colleges offer affordable, accessible and high quality education.

Bass tapped seven Democrats and three Republicans to serve on the Joint Committee on the Master Plan for Higher Education. Ten senators will also be selected to serve on the committee.

"With the fee increases and harm caused to students and campuses by the recession, we must find ways to protect California's colleges and universities," Bass said in a statement.

Democratic Assemblyman Ira Ruskin, who authored the resolution that created the panel, will co-chair the committee along with a yet-to-be-announced senator.

The committee will hold its first hearing Dec. 7, Ruskin said in a release.

See which members Bass assigned to the committee after the jump.

Here's another round of action for those keeping tabs on the never ending GOP guv-hopeful debate-scheduling scuffle.

Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner seems to have RSVPed 'yes' to a New Majority Orange County Debate... just not for the debate's originally scheduled date.

Poizner Campaign Manager Jim Bognet penned a letter today asking debate organizers to move up the March 15 event to mid-January to coincide with the governor's State of the State address.

"As we have made clear many times, we are willing to debate and, in fact, believe such discussions are critically important. Californians should not have to wait until March, and the week of the State of the State address would be a very appropriate time to discuss how the next Governor will lead our state at the same time our current Governor is giving his report on the challenges our state faces," Bognet wrote, adding that his candidate would be willing to participate in subsequent debates sponsored by the group as well.

For those of you who haven't been following the continuing clash, Poizner and his Republican rival Meg Whitman have been wrangling for several months now over debate dates and RSVPs.

The latest letter comes after the Whitman camp publicly urged Poizner to RSVP to the March 15 debate, which GOP hopeful Tom Campbell has also agreed to attend. That letter was in response to the Poizner campaign's attack that Whitman, who has not joined Campbell and Poizner at several debates so far, backed out of her call for three fall debates.

Whitman spokeswoman Sarah Pompei had this to say in response to Poizner's rescheduling suggestion:

"Despite the fact that two months have passed since Meg Whitman accepted the New Majority's debate invitation for March, Commissioner Poizner continues refusing to the debate with Meg. Maybe the Commissioner is worried he won't be in the race in March, but that's no reason not to commit now to a debate after the list of candidates is finalized," she wrote in an e-mail.

Read the full letter after the jump.

When it comes to complying with California traffic laws, the first couple is having a rough fall.

First there were first lady Maria Shriver's cell phone faux-pas. Then photographers snapped Shriver illegally parking her Escalade in a red zone.

Well, it appears the governor also needs a reminder about the state's traffic laws.

The celebrity gossip hounds over at TMZ have posted several pics of the governor hopping in a Porsche he had left parked in a red zone. As we noted after Shriver's last parking infraction, the California Driver Handbook prohibits "stopping, standing, or parking" alongside a red curb.

Click here to read TMZ's scoop.

Hat tip: KQED's John Myers Photo: TMZ

Rex Babin is the political cartoonist for The Bee. You can see a collection of his work here.

Welcome to week three of the "who's going to get that vacant 'guv lite' gig" guessing game.

As most readers are aware, former Lt. Gov. John Garamendi gave up the job after he snagged a congressional seat in the Nov. 3 CD10 special election.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tapped four new members and reappointed a sitting member to the 11-person State Compensation Insurance Fund Board of Directors today.

Francis Quinlan was reappointed to his current position and another appointee will replace current board member Vincent Mudd, whose term expired earlier this year.The three additional appointments -- Don Garcia, James Richardson and William Zachry -- fill vacant seats that were created by a 2008 bill.

Filling the positions so that the membership includes all nine administration appointees could improve the governor's shot at securing its approval of a partial sale of the quasi-public State Compensation Insurance Fund.

Lawmakers and the governor counted on a $1 billion sale of a piece of the fund as part of the July plan for closing the $24 billion budget gap. But the board's approval of a July resolution opposing the sale and several other roadblocks,have raised questions about whether the sale -- and the $1 billion it was projected to reap -- will come to fruition.

The vote against the sale, which was conducted during a closed session, has been a sticking point between the board and the governor's office. Board members have contended that their stamp of approval is needed to sell part of the fund, while the governor's finance officials say the board doesn't have veto power of the sale.

"The administration continues to believe that it can achieve a higher value for the state by selling a portion of the fund," said Schwarzenegger spokesman Mike Naple. "Specifically with regards to the actions of the board, the governor is confident that they will pursue policies that ensure a stable workers' compensation system for California."