Capitol Alert

U.S. Rep. Lois Capps of Santa Barbara has joined the ranks of superdelegates supporting Sen. Barack Obama in the contested Democratic presidential primary.

The L.A. Times' Top of the Ticket has the details.

That leaves 10 undeclared California Democratic members of Congress in the race including, most notably, Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Don't blame small-town legislators for taking junkets.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday it's good for lawmakers "from those little towns" to go out in the world and see worldly things like "an airport," "a highway that maybe has 10 lanes" or even "a highway on top of a highway."

The Republican governor, speaking at a conference with billionaire Michael Milken on infrastructure, said he has benefited by riding high-speed trains in France and China, which gave him more inspiration to support such projects in California. His comments on small-town legislators drew laughs and applause from the big-city audience at the Beverly Hilton.

“And that’s why I always encourage the legislators in Sacramento, because some of them come from those little towns," Schwarzenegger said. "You know what I’m saying? They come from those little towns, and they don’t have that vision yet of an airport or of a highway that maybe has 10 lanes. Or of putting a highway on top of a highway. They look at you and say, ‘Well we don’t have that in my town, what are you talking about?’ So they are kind of shocked when you say certain things."

State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, said he's actually seen an airport or two in his day. He's also been on 10-lane highways and freeways on top of other freeways, even though his Central Valley hometown has only about 14,000 residents.

"Does the governor think that I just normally fly up on 'crop dusters' to Sacramento field by field?" Florez said.

"The governor doesn't live like most people and points to rural legislators as down on the rung of trying to understand what modern society is," Florez added. "It's just insulting. I don't think most Californians live like he does."

Schwarzenegger defended state legislators who take trips financed by donors. He didn't mention that his own trade missions are financed by corporations who give to a nonprofit set up to pay for his travel.

"So I like them to travel around, and I think I’m always against when the media beats up on them for traveling around because someone else is paying for the trips and all of those things," Schwarzenegger said. "I mean, so what. I mean, if they would take the money from the taxpayers, then (the media) would be complaining about them using tax dollars to travel around the world and live in luxury."

"I think it’s great when they go to Russia and they go to China and they go to Africa," he added. "They go to the Middle East and they go to Canada and they go to all different places around the world to get education and to learn what those places do. Because we don’t have to redesign the wheel all the time. We can go and copy other people."

The Schwarzenegger administration is responding to a labor-commissioned study suggesting that higher education funding cuts will hurt the state economy.

"The governor is just as frustrated as students and teachers," said spokesman Aaron McLear. "He doesn't want to make these cuts, which is exactly why we need budget reform so we don't put them through this rollercoaster of inconsistent funding year after year."

McLear said higher education funding has increased 28.7 percent, from $10.83 billion to $13.94 billion, since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger came into office.

McLear also said while higher education is receiving a 10 percent cut like everyone else, programs are still projected to receive more than last fiscal year.

See the original story here.

A school district in Texas took out a billboard in San Diego. A Nevada school district purchased ads in Los Angeles-area newspapers.

Both are trying to lure pink slip-holding California teachers awaiting the fate of education funding in next year's state budget.

The Houston Chronicle has reported that leaders in Houston, Aldine and Fort Worth districts are looking to fill bilingual, math and science positions. See the story here.

The Associated Press found teachers, sick of the budget anxiety, have decided to head east. See the story here.

California Log Cabin Republicans, the gay GOP group, has released its endorsements in competitive Republican primaries for June legislative races.

The endorsement list, which we've posted below, has touched off a debate on GOP blogs about whether such an endorsement helps or hurts.

"It has hard-core right-wingers scratching their heads," writes Scott Schmidt, a gay Republican activist, better known online as Boi from Troi.

The endorsement list includes everyone from Sen. Abel Maldonado to Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines.

On a Riverside County blog, Mike Spence, the president of the conservative California Republican Assembly, posted the endorsement of former Assemblyman Russ Bogh, a state Senate candidate.

"In politics some endorsements make you try to figure out what is going on. The Log Cabin Club just endorsed Russ Bogh for State Senate. Some of the endorsements make sense. Those who are gay and want to allow homosexual marriage in the state. I get that," wrote Spence. "What did Russ Bogh do to get the endorsement against John Benoit? I wish they would print a standard so we know the process. What bill did Russ vote for? Did he promise something?"

Another of the endorsees, Neil Blais, is locked in a tough Republican primary in Orange County.

The popular OC Blog posted the endorsement, which has already triggered 38 comments, many of which tried to distance Blais from the group.

"OUCH! Neil really didn't need this," wrote one anonymous commentator.

James Vaughn, the director of California Log Cabin, weighed in, writing, "We didn't endorse Blais for his stands on gay issues."

Quoting from an e-mail he sent to Blais, Vaughn wrote, "Our endorsement had to do with your GOP agenda, not your gay agenda (whatever that is…)"

Vaughn continued: "So not to worry homophobes everywhere. Blais isn't pro gay enough for us or anyone. We're looking at GOP issues. Now if the rest of you would kindly take your fat government intrusion into people's lives noses out of our bedroom we might start winning elections again."

The full list of Log Cabin candidates (including those race in which the group remained neutral) can be found here. The list of endorsed candidates is posted below:

First lady Maria Shriver appears on Rachael Ray's popular talk and cooking show today.

The episode is already posted online.

What I learned from watching:

Maria "digs" headbands.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is the tough parent when it comes to telling the kids to clean their room and do the laundry. Maria's all about eye contact and manners (though she dipped her finger into the ice cream bin later in the segment).

The Schwarzenegger-Shriver kids aren't involved in student government politics. "I'm actually really OK with that because I was raised to believe that if you weren't president, gosh what's wrong with you? You're not achieving," Shriver said, laughing.

The family has launched an ice cream brand, calling Lovin' Scoopful. The ice cream is "churned," which apparently means low fat. Twenty-five percent of the profits will go to the Special Olympics, which Shriver's mom founded.

"Get this. This is huge. You can eat ice cream and do your service," beamed Ray into the camera.

Arnold's favorite ice cream of the brand is Caramel Chocolate Heaven, it appeared.

Maria loves chocolate sprinkles.

The California Faculty Association released a report today suggesting that higher education cuts will hurt the state's economy.

Universities and community colleges educate a majority of the state's graduates in critical economic fields, such as business and engineering, according to the report commissioned by the union that represents faculty and professors at the California State University. These graduates provide the skilled workforce needed to replace retiring Baby Boomers, the report said.

Labor activists are trying to prevent Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal for 10 percent cuts to universities and community colleges. The governor has proposed a $386 million cut to the CSU system next fiscal year.

"Research has demonstrated that investments in publicly supported higher education pay dividends in terms of increased economic activity, reduced government service costs, and increased tax payments from more highly educated workers," the report stated.

"As the state looks ahead, demographic and economic trends clearly argue for increasing, rather than decreasing, the available supply of college educated workers."

The report cites a 2005 economic impact study showing that for every $1 of expenditure by CSU generates $1.83 for local economies.

Sal Rosselli, the president of the California chapter of SEIU targeted in a lawsuit by the union’s national leadership, said Tuesday the suit is a “political hoax to smear us.”

Rosselli, who is the president of United Healthcare Workers-West, a 140,000-member SEIU affiliate, has feuded openly with Andy Stern, SEIU national president.

“The lawsuit and the PR circus around it are a hoax perpetrated on you, the press, and our members in order to smear us and shut down the Stern team’s political opposition,” Rosselli said in an interview Tuesday.

He said the suit is part of a pattern of “constant threat and retaliation” from Stern for UHW-West seeking changes to how SEIU national operates to become – in Rosselli’s terms – “more democratic.”

Among the reforms Rosselli is seeking is to allow local workers elect bargaining units instead of having those members appointed by Stern. There are too many “examples of him cutting sweetheart deals with employers,” Rosselli said.

The SEIU lawsuit alleges that Rosselli’s union inappropriately diverted members' dues into an outside fund.

Read more about the lawsuit (and other Rosselli-Stern confrontations) in the previous Capitol Alert post.

Rosselli said the fund in question, the United Healthcare Workers and Patients Education Fund, was created in 2007 during the California health care debate in expectation of a November 2008 ballot measure.

“We wanted to be able to raise the huge dollars necessary,” Rosselli said.

Stern raised questions about the fund last month and, in response, Rosselli’s union passed a resolution on April 24 to “initiate the process of winding down” the account.

In a letter to Stern sent on Monday, Rosselli wrote, “The time has come to abandon this ‘alleged concern.’”

Instead, Stern filed suit against Rosselli today.

“UHW-W has scrambled at the last minute to do damage control,” said SEIU spokesman Andrew McDonald. ”While it is good that UHW-W now understands the serious problems with their actions, it is very troubling they were willing to perpetuate unlawful actions until those actions were exposed.”

Rosselli called the suit “frivolous.” “The remedy they are seeking from the lawsuit was decided last week,” he said.

With the ongoing feud between Rosselli and Stern, rumors have swirled that Stern could put Rosselli's union in "trusteeship," stripping control of the union from Rosselli.

In the lawsuit, SEIU calls that fear "unfounded," but suggests the “real purpose” for creating the education fund “to establish a well-financed entity with access to a ready source of funds beyond the reach of SEIU's auditing, oversight, and trusteeship powers.”

Rosselli said the accusation was simply “not true.”

Asked if this latest dust-up with the national leadership was causing him or his union to consider leaving SEIU, Rosselli insisted that was not the case.

“Our executive board unanimously believes SEIU is our union,” he said. “We are trying to change it. We are not going anywhere.”

In June, SEIU has scheduled national convention in Puerto Rico where many these grievances are expected to be aired.

The budget deficit could actually be much higher than Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested last week, his aides said today.

Schwarzenegger "misspoke" when he framed the 2008-09 budget deficit as a $10 billion problem, according to his communications director, Matt David. Instead, the governor intended to say the 2008-09 budget deficit could be $10 billion higher than the original estimate, for a total of $17.4 billion, David said.

The governor then said Monday in Garden Grove the budget is "altogether $20 billion out of whack." That figure that includes a $2.8 billion "rainy day fund" contribution on top of the $17.4 billion deficit. The governor previously did not include a "rainy day" estimate in his deficit calculations, which is not constitutionally required, and it was unclear why he began doing so this week.

The Republican governor is scheduled to release his revised budget proposal May 14, which should render all of the pre-estimates moot.

Some suspect the governor may be shooting high with his estimates to gain leverage in negotiations over revenue increases or a long-term budget reform plan. If more people believe the budget problem is severe, the governor has a better case to make.

During his weekly press briefing, Schwarzenegger press secretary Aaron McLear on Tuesday portrayed the budget problem as a $20.2 billion hole, which would be exactly 20 percent of a $101 billion spending plan. Schwarzenegger proposed roughly 10 percent cuts in January.

"It could be as bad as $10 billion worse," McLear said. "That's why we need to start working on this now. Because every day that goes by that we don't work on this budget, it gets worse."

The $10 billion deficit addition, McLear said, is an "internal estimate."

As always, it's subject to change.

Senate Republicans stood with business representatives Tuesday in demanding a series of business and environmental regulation changes as part of budget talks.

"At a time when Californians are paying more at the gas pump and the grocery store, the last move the Legislature should make is to raise taxes," said new Senate Republican leader Dave Cogdill.

Cogdill said he wanted to make GOP requests public after criticism last summer that Republicans did not fully reveal their budget demands.

Senate Democratic leader Don Perata said he welcomed Republican suggestions.

“We are in such dire trouble fiscally, I am glad for anybody who wants to get into the game," Perata said. "We have not yet come to grips with how difficult this year will be. Everything must be on the table.”

Senate Republicans proposed:

-Allow employers to offer flexible work schedules by removing requirement that they pay workers overtime after an eight-hour day.

-Extend deadlines for diesel engine retrofits. At present, heavy-duty equipment has to be turned over twice within 8 years.

-Allow individuals and employers to purchase health insurance through any licensed provider.

-Require state agencies to assess the economic impact of regulations on small businesses.

-Eliminate red tape and redundancies in the building permitting process.

-Allow businesses to come into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act before regulators levy fines.

-Delay the implementation of greenhouse gas regulations by one year.

Dorothy Rothrock of the California Manufacturers and Technology Association said the governor has the ability to delay by one year the adoption of greenhouse gas limits, currently scheduled for January 2011. The move, she said, would allow the state to reduce carbon emissions in a "cost-effective and technologically feasible" manner.

Environmental regulation was a sticking point in last year's budget negotiations. During a 52-day standoff, Republicans won amendments protecting infrastructure bonds from being entangled in greenhouse gas emissions lawsuits.

Republicans are expected to unveil more demands in coming weeks.

The nasty internal battle between the national leadership of SEIU and Sal Rosselli, president of one of SEIU's largest California affiliates, is heading to federal court, as the national union filed suit against Rosselli's United Healthcare Workers West on Tuesday.

The national union is accusing ten leading officers of UHW-West, including Rosselli, of diverting members' dues into an outside fund under their control and out of the reach of SEIU's national leaders.

"The highest ranking UHW-W officers used millions of dollars in members’ dues money to run a shadow operation off the books and they intentionally deceived their own members and the federal government about how the money would be used," said SEIU spokesperson Andrew McDonald in a statement.

Rosselli, who is president of a 140,000-member chapter, called the lawsuit a "PR circus."

"That’s what is an inappropriate use of member’s dues dollars," he said.

Rosselli has sparred for months with Andy Stern, president of SEIU International and one of the nation's top labor leaders.

In December, Rosselli was forced out as president of the SEIU state council, the umbrella organization for all California SEIU affiliates, which total 600,000 members. Rosselli accused Stern of engineering his ouster, writing in a letter, “Your actions concerning the State Council have created a major distraction from maintaining the unified focus needed to achieve our objectives.”

More recently, SEIU national has ordered all its local chapters to stop paying dues to state and local labor federations to protest the California Nurses Association. Rosselli has refused to follow that edict.

The repeated confrontations between Stern and Rosselli have led to rumors that Stern would put Rosselli's union in "trusteeship," which would suspend the local leaders' access to members' dues.

In the lawsuit, SEIU calls that fear "unfounded."

"The defendants' real purpose for creating and transferring UHW-W assets to the so-called "education" fund operated by this small band of individuals was to establish a well-financed entity with access to a ready source of funds beyond the reach of SEIU's auditing, oversight, and trusteeship powers," reads the lawsuit.

The suit goes on to outline the significance of a trusteeship. "Any displaced local union officers wishing to challenge the trusteeship will, by definition, lack access to the union's funds and be required to finance their challenge with their own personal funds."

Read the full lawsuit here.

Sen. Tom McClintock has released his second radio ad of his congressional campaign -- one in which he goes on the offensive against Rep. Doug Ose, who he says "votes like a liberal Democrat."

You can listen to the ad on McClintock's "Best Man" ad on his Web site.

See the full transcript below:

Senate Democratic leaders sent a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday calling on the governor to release a complete prison plan within 30 days.

The letter comes almost exactly a year after the Legislature passed and the governor signed AB 900, which authorized billions of dollars in spending to expand the state's prisons.

"AB 900 was your central argument to avoid a possible court mandated early release of prisoners," said the letter, signed by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata and four other senators. "Yet, one year since its passage, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has not constructed any beds!"

"We need your leadership," the senators added later.

"We respectfully request that within the next 30 days you tell us how CDCR (the corrections department) plans to manage the several proposals to reduce inmate population," they wrote.

The full letter is below:

Anyone who guessed $20 billion in the Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger budget pool wins. At least for today.

Schwarzenegger has given a wide range of estimates in April, describing the budget gap this fiscal year and next as totaling anywhere from $16 billion to $20 billion.

The Republican governor on Monday told a group of business leaders in Orange County that the budget deficit in both fiscal years is "altogether $20 billion out of whack."

Department of Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer said the governor may have added a $2.8 billion reserve to his previous $17 billion deficit figure. Palmer said he cannot verify exactly what the budget deficit is until the governor's revised budget is released May 14.

Making matters more complicated, the governor sometimes breaks out the figures in current-year and next-year estimates. He estimated last week that the 2008-09 budget would be "probably more than $10 billion," at least $1 billion higher than previous estimates. The governor also said the current-year problem that he and legislators resolved earlier this year with more borrowing and other fixes totaled $7 billion.

Many news reports, including those in The Bee, describe the budget estimate for the next fiscal year, not the combined figure Schwarzenegger used Monday.

The governor has relied on the deficit estimates to stress the need for a long-term budget change. In that respect, the bigger the numbers the governor uses, the more dire the need seems.

Here's a look back at the governor's April bouncing budget numbers:

Tuesday, April 15: At a town-hall style event with Salinas business leaders, Schwarzenegger says, "But I can guarantee you, we're talking here about $17.5, $18 billion of deficit." Total: $17.5 billion to $18 billion

Wednesday, April 16: One day later, Schwarzenegger tells the Bay Area Council, "We have a $16 to $17 billion deficit, so it's going to be a very tough year to balance the budget." Total: $16 billion to $17 billion

Thursday, April 24: At a DNA conference organized by district attorneys, Schwarzenegger says the 2008-09 budget deficit will be "probably more than $10 billion" while the current year deficit is $7 billion. Total: more than $17 billion

Monday, April 28: Speaking in Garden Grove, Schwarzenegger says the budget is "altogether $20 billion out of whack." Total: $20 billion

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata’s mortgage crisis legislation, a prior version of which failed on the Senate floor earlier this year, will get another chance when the Senate meets at 2 p.m. this afternoon.

The first version of the bill included an urgency clause and required a two-thirds vote, needing the support of two Republican senators. It fell one vote shy, with only Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, voting in favor.

The new version, SB 1137, has been amended to the satisfaction of many in the lending industry, though the Senate GOP caucus remains officially opposed.

The bill remains urgency legislation, so it still requires GOP support.

The mortgage bill has been raised as an issue in the recall campaign of Sen. Jeff Denham, whose district includes the hard hit counties of Merced, San Joaquin and Stanislaus.

"Callously ignoring the mortgage crisis in his district to cater to powerful banking lobbyists, Jeff Denham single-handedly killed urgency legislation that would have helped thousands of homeowners in danger of foreclosure," alleged the recall campaign after Denham did not vote for the original Perata bill in January.

Denham is considered a possible deciding vote today.

The bill was eligible to be heard last week, but put off until today, a possible sign Senate Democrats have secured support for passage.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who three years ago vowed to save a pristine lagoon in Northern California by trying to locate Indian casinos in Barstow, is again promoting gambling development in the name of protecting nature.

This time the potential beneficiaries are the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians and the Wiyot Tribe. Under new compacts signed by the governor, they are being promised revenues from a casino resort destined for a prime freeway location near Highway 99 in Madera County.

Schwarzenegger announced today he has signed gambling compacts allowing construction of a 280,000 square foot gambling facility for 2,000 slot machines - and an option to add 2,000 more. The catch is that the governor is requiring the 600-member Wiyot Tribe to give up its right to build a casino on tribal lands near the ecologically sensitive Humboldt Bay and Eel River Estuary.

The governor said the agreement would also keep the 1,700-member North Fork Rancheria from putting a gambling facility in remote Sierra foothills near the Sierra National Forest.

"These compacts are a model for protecting the environment and balancing the needs of the tribes and local communities," Schwarzenegger said in a statement today.

The casino project, which would share revenues between the two tribes, would pay the state a 13.5 percent to 22 percent of slot machine and card game revenues. The plan reflects Schwarzenegger's pledge to look to increase state revenues through a continued expansion of tribal gambling.

But the Madera County casino plan - allowing an off-reservation casino development - comes after Schwarzenegger failed to win approval in the Legislature to allow two other tribes to build side by side casinos in the Mojave desert city of Barstow.

The Barstow plan was intended to settle a lawsuit against the state and keep a north coast tribe - the Big Lagoon Rancheria - from building a casino near state parks and an ecologically sensitive lagoon.

The North Fork and Wiyot tribes still must win federal approval to take land into trust for the proposed casino. In signing the compacts, Schwarzenegger agreed not to submit them to the Legislature until the U.S. Secretary of Interior approves the land transfer.

• Typically softspoken in his criticism, Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Penn Valley, ripped into Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a community meeting last week, reports the Redding Searchlight.
"The fact is this governor, who came in on the mantra ... of tearing up the credit cards, has not exercised his ability to keep the budget in order," Aanestad said."People are still in the mind-set that this (economic downturn) is going to last only a few months longer," he said. "I know that's the governor's game plan. ... If he can stick it out for two more years, then Jerry Brown can deal with it when he becomes governor."

And more:

"He's much more interested in the governor's future than in Californians'," the senator said Thursday night. "He's got two more years. He can slide through and become a senator."

(Hat tip: Joe Mathews)

• There is a new Field Poll on health care out today.

The top-line results: Californians are concerned about health care, with 73 percent saying they are concerned that the state failed to enact health care reform in 2007.

Fifty-seven percent of respondents said they are concerned about not having, or losing, health care coverage.

Find the full poll here.

• Dan Walters, in Sunday's column, answers the question, "So, Mr. Smarty Pants Columnist, since you're always complaining about politicians failing to close the state's chronic budget deficit, how would you do it?"

Read his whole plan here.

"Mostly, we should accept the reality that there's no free lunch and if we want something from government, we must pay for it," Walters writes.

• Two high-tech executives, Carly Fiorina, formerly of HP, and Meg Whitman, formerly of eBay, have been bandied around as would-be candidates for governor in 2010.

So Jon Fleischman, the conservative publisher of the FlashReport and a VP in the state GOP, writes today that he wants to know where they stand on the issues he cares about.

"Word is that both Fiorina and Whitman have been 'talking' to political advisors - great. But the longer they go where they are formulating potential political plans in the shadows, the harder it will be to convince GOP activists like myself about the sincerity of their convictions," writes Fleischman, who has pounded a steady drumbeat of criticism whenever Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has strayed from the GOP party line.

After backing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's re-election in 2006, Hollywood moguls Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg each gave the governor $25,000 this month, according to newly released campaign finance reports.

Schwarzenegger in 2006 touted Katzenberg and Spielberg, both Democrats, as a prominent sign of his bipartisan support in his race against Phil Angelides.

The Republican governor is collecting millions of dollars to help finance a ballot initiative to change the way California draws its district boundaries. Checks are rolling in for Schwarzenegger, who continues to set new fundraising records for a California governor.

Alex Spanos, the Stockton-based developer, gave Schwarzenegger $100,000. The governor also received $100,000 from SE Corporation, a development firm that Schwarzenegger praised at a February dinner in Riverside for an environmentally friendly project. Pacific Gas and Electric gave $50,000.

The governor also received a $25,000 check from Paul Singer, a New York City hedge-fund manager famous last year for financing a failed effort to divide California's Electoral College votes by congressional district. Democrats saw that proposal as a GOP attempt to steal votes in a reliably Democratic state and Schwarzenegger expressed reservations about it.

Former Sacramento-area 3rd Congressional District Rep. Doug Ose had lined up local endorsements deep into John Doolittle's 4th District before Sen. Tom McClintock announced he was running to the rescue of beleagured local conservatives looking for a new champion.

McClintock's entry into the race was instant nirvana to the hard right of the Placer GOP establishment. The Placer County Republican Central Committee wasted little time in voting 19-5 to endorse McClintock.

"The McClintock campaign gives every Republican a reason to get excited and vote," local party chairman Tom Hudson gushed in a March 6 statement.

But Friday, a problem developed. It seems that the California Republican Party, which includes all 58 county central committees, is not at all excited about a local GOP committee endorsing one Republican over another in a primary.

Though the state party issued no formal order Friday, state GOP committee members meeting in Sacramento said the Placer Central Committee needs to pull back and drop its McClintock endorsement.

State party spokesman Hector Barajas said the Placer party endorsement violates specific state party rules. "The bylaws were clear, the county party could not endorse in a primary election. Such endorsements are void," Barajas said.

California Republican Party chairman Ron Nehring was due to deliver the news to Hudson, who couldn't be reached for comment, later Friday.

Hudson has argued that the Placer committee has the right to endorse under both party rules -- and constitutional protections of freedom of speech. The Placer GOP chairman continues to appear in radio spots carving up Ose on behalf of the McClintock campaign.

McClintock spokesman Stan Devereux, who said McClintock has also been endorsed by the Modoc County Central Committee, said the Hudson ads will continue. But Ose spokesman Doug Elmets, who said the Ose campaign may pursue the matter further with the state party.

For its part, the state party seems to want all sides in the dispute over local endorsements to stand down.

"It just starts opening up this Pandora's box that divides the counties," Barajas said.

Apparently, you can bite the hand that feeds you and still get fed.

A week ago, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger portrayed the Bush administration as obstructionists in reducing global warming.

He also had his air quality chief rip Bush's Department of Transportation on Wednesday for allegedly pulling a fast one on California. Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols accused the Bush administration of burying a rule to block the state from regulating its own vehicle greenhouse gas emissions deep in another proposal, referring to it as "a wolf in sheep's clothing" and "insidious."

Schwarzenegger didn't show up because he was busy in budget meetings though Nichols' words were as good as his own, aides said.

But this morning, Schwarzenegger stood with none other than U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters to accept $213 million in federal funds for more toll lanes and transit to relieve freeway congestion in Los Angeles. In the press conference, Schwarzenegger said nothing about the fact that Peters was responsible for the "insidious" rule that Nichols said included giveaways to automakers.

The governor offered praise for the federal government and the Department of Transportation in particular.

Was there a sudden reconciliation?

No, says Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear. The governor sees DOT's position on global warming as unrelated to its awarding of grant money to Los Angeles.

"He is able on one hand to oppose the federal government for something he disagrees on but work with them on something they agree on," McLear said. "That's how he operates. He takes each issue separately, weighs the merits and acts in the best interests of California."

McLear said governor spoke privately to Peters before their press conference today about the greenhouse gas issue, but details of that discussion were unavailable.

The Schwarzenegger administration and Senate Democrats are on a collision course over appointments to the state's parole board, with the Senate already blocking one appointee this year and threatening more.

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, has made clear to the administration that the Senate, concerned about the state's low rate of parole and the percentage of hearings that are postponed, will no longer confirm parole commissioners with law enforcement backgrounds.

Perata bottled up the confirmation of Darcel Woods, a Schwarzenegger appointee to the board, in the Senate Rules Committee earlier this year. Woods, a Democrat, was a former parole agent and deputy sheriff. She can remain on the board up to one year without confirmation.

But despite the signals from Perata, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made two more appointments to the parole board on Thursday – both with law enforcement credentials.

“The governor always appoints the most qualified persons for the job,” said Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Lisa Page.

Schwarzenegger appointed Troy Arbaugh, the former sheriff in Nevada County, and Henry Aguilar, a former Los Angeles police officer and deputy sheriff. Both are Republicans.

Perata responded by issuing a statement, reiterating that the Senate would only confirm nominees “who demonstrate a commitment to following the regulations governing parole.”

“It makes no sense to open the doors with reckless abandon for 28,000 inmates regardless of their risk level as the governor’s budget proposes but not consider pardoning an individual who has grown old in prison and poses little public safety risk,” Perata said.

The 17-member Board of Parole Hearings determines when the state’s most serious offenders have been rehabilitated and can be released from prison.

Perata and Schwarzenegger have been at odds over the composition of the board for several years. In 2006, the Senate rejected the nomination of Terry Farmer, a Democrat and former Humboldt County district attorney. The Senate was also poised to reject Schwarzenegger’s pick for chairwoman of the board, Susan Fisher, but the governor withdrew her nomination.

In 2007, Fisher’s replacement, James Davis, a former police chief in El Cajon, faced his own confirmation fight. He was ultimately approved by the Senate

"While I respect the governor and his choices, we have, over the past year or so, indicated we would like to see a diversity of candidates," said Sen. Gill Cedillo, a Los Angeles Democrat and member of the Rules Committee said after Davis vote. "It just can't be people whose jobs are to keep people in jail."

Page, the Schwarzenegger spokeswoman, said of the latest nominees that their “more than 70 years combined experience protecting public safety make them the best candidates to serve.”

The Senate has up to one year to confirm or reject the appointments of Arbaugh and Aguilar.

California may be in deep tapioca on its budget, but it’s not alone – and may not even be the most fiscally troubled state, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The organization has calculated that slowing revenues have generated $11.7 billion in shortfalls for the current fiscal year among the states and projected deficits totaling $26-plus billion for the 2008-09 fiscal year.

California may account for roughly half of the states’ fiscal woes, but it’s just one of 34 states placed in the “concerned” category by the study. Four states – Arizona, Delaware, New York and Washington – are in the “pessimistic” category about next year’s revenues. At the other end of the scale, 10 states are “stable” and three – Alaska, North Dakota and Wyoming – are “optimistic” about revenues because of projected energy and/or agricultural income.

“The current health of state budgets is very uneven,” said William Pound, executive director of the legislative organization.

A fuller version of the survey is available here.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night, where, among other things, he talked about the possibilities of becoming Sen. Arnold Schwarzenegger

(The answer, as he has said before, is that he doesn't plan to run for U.S. Senate.)

The AP has a roundup of the appearance, which you can watch for yourself here. Schwarzenegger appears in Chapter 3 of the April 24 show.

A state audit has confirmed that chronic staffing shortages at the state veterans home in Yountville is contributing to limited nursing care for veterans.

The Veterans Home of California at Yountville, a campus that houses more than 1,000 veterans and spouses north of Napa, suffers from a nursing shortage driven by low salaries and the high cost of living in the community. Veterans complained to lawmakers last year when they began to notice nurse shortages and more staff members working overtime.

The audit recommended capping overtime and developing a comprehensive recruitment and retention plan. The report found that many health care professionals were transferring to other state hospitals because of salary increases driven by federal court decisions at the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

"We must - absolutely and unequivocally - bring the pay of Yountville's nurses to parity with nurses working in our correction facilities. No one can argue that inmates deserve better, more consistent or more extensive care than our veterans," said Sen. Pat Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa.

The audit also found weak oversight of medical equipment maintenance contracts and recommended requiring proof of maintenance work.

A. Alan Post, who served as the Legislature's top budget advisor for 27 years while becoming a world-reknowned landscape artist, has donated six of his paintings to the Public Policy Institute of California for display in PPIC's new Sacramento offices.

Post -- along with his wife, Helen, also a noted artist, and their family -- attended a reception Wednesday afternoon in which PPC's conference room was named in his honor. The 93-year-old Post delivered a lengthy memoir on how he happened to work for the first legislative budget analyst just before World War II broke out and then rejoined the office after serving in the military and became the analyst in 1949.

Elizabeth Hill, who is the fourth person to hold the job and announced recently that she's retiring herself, was among those who praised Post during the ceremonies.

Post served on PPIC's board when the research organization was founded in 1994. The paintings he donated were painted between 1939 and 1945 and are all California landscapes.

How heated is the race for mayor of San Diego between incumbent Mayor Jerry Sanders and wealthy challenger Steve Francis? Well, the San Diego Union-Tribune has the account of the post-debate handshake that wasn't.

Instead of reaching out for the classic post debate grab-and-grin, Sanders, who has been the target of much of Francis' spending, said, "F--- you, Steve."

"I am really tired of people thinking we should be buddies," Sanders told the Union-Tribune. "People expect us to just shake hands and be buddies. I'm not going to do that. That's the height of hypocrisy."

Upping the ante in their ongoing recall battle, Sen. Jeff Denham's campaign announced filing two criminal complaints against Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata on Thursday.

Denham is the target of a Perata-backed recall on the June 3 ballot.

The first complaint targets the letter Perata, D-Oakland, sent to several Democratic senators demanding their chiefs of staff contact a Perata aide about political campaigning. "This is not an optional activity," read the Perata letter.

The second complaint targets Perata's political consultant contacting a state Senate staff member to translate a political transcript.

Both complaints were sent to the Sacramento County District Attorney and the California Attorney General.

"This is the latest abuse of office - and power - by Don Perata," said Denham's campaign manager John Franklin, who filed the complaints, in a written statement.

Perata helped qualify the recall of Denham for the June 3 ballot, giving hundreds of thousands of dollars through a ballot committee he has close ties to.

A spokesman for Perata could not immediately be reached for comment. But Jason Kinney, a Perata spokesman, told The Bee on Sunday that "any insinuation" Perata violated state law "is wrong and, frankly, sounds like the last desperate plea of a political dead man."

Regarding the request of a state employee to translate a political document, Kinney said, "This was a one-time, inadvertent mistake by a well-intentioned campaign staffer who thought she was contacting someone in their capacity as a part-time volunteer."

That is not the way the Denham campaign sees it. "There is clearly a systematic effort by Don Perata and his political operation to coerce state legislative employees into campaign work on the recall effort against Jeff Denham," said Franklin.

The two complaints are reprinted below, in their entirety:

Allan Zaremberg, president and CEO of the California Chamber of Commerce, offered a cautious response to an article authored by his organization’s think tank suggesting that temporary tax increases may be part of a global state budget solution.

“The magnitude of the budget situation will dictate the solution,” Zaremberg said in an e-mail statement late Tuesday. “Until the May revise, we won’t know the extent of the crisis we face.”

Loren Kaye, president of the California Foundation for Commerce and Education, suggested that while California has a spending problem, the state couldn’t solve the deficit problem without “devastating important education, public safety and safety net programs.”

Responding to the governor’s shifting rhetoric on taxes, Kaye said a budget solution involving taxes should be temporary and must be accompanied by budget reform.

“Mr. Kaye’s column was about the unintended consequences of tax increases,” Zaremberg said. “His prescriptions for policy and program reforms would ensure that the state would avoid serious cuts or tax increases in the future.”

Meanwhile, Republicans continue to resist any talk of taxes.

“I continue to disagree that taxes should be a solution for us because even with reform, it isn’t fair to look to the taxpayers,” said Assemblyman Roger Niello, vice chair of the budget committee. “The primary reason we’re considering this is because the economy is weak and raising taxes in a declining economy is the worst thing government can do.”

A drive led by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and watchdog groups has collected enough voter signatures to qualify a redistricting measure for the ballot but is gathering more to offset any disqualified during the verification process, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Kathay Feng, director of California Common Cause and an organizer of the initiative campaign, said more than 750,000 voter signatures have been collected thus far, exceeding the 694,354 signatures needed to qualify the measure for the Nov. 4 ballot.

The campaign faces a May 15 deadline for submitting signatures to county elections offices.

“We’re pretty much on track,” Feng said. “We’re planning on filing in the first week of May. We’re in the process of gathering that final bump to cover any signatures that turn out to be duds.”

The proposal would strip the Legislature of authority to draw its own political districts and give the job to an 14-member citizens commission of registered voters.

Attorney Barry Fadem, representing backers, said when the initiative was unveiled in February that it was crafted with input from California Common Cause, AARP and the League of Women Voters of California, among others.

Steve Maviglio, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, said he doubts the drive is going as smoothly as backers claim.

Schwarzenegger’s recent pumping of an additional $700,000 into the campaign and reports that the initiative drive’s price per signature has risen from $2 to $2.25 clearly are red flags, according to Maviglio.

Even if the measure does qualify for the ballot, its prospects are bleak in a state where voters consistently have rejected changes to the redistricting process, Maviglio said.

“People are more concerned about their jobs, the price of gas and the war in Iraq than they are about legislative maps,” Maviglio said.

Feng countered that Núñez’s office is putting out a “variety of rumors” to hurt the drive.

“(Núñez) is busy generating rumors because I think they’re trying to deflect from the fact that they don’t have any plan of their own,” Feng said.

Former Gov. Pete Wilson announced his opposition today to Proposition 98, one of two competing eminent-domain initiatives on the June 3 ballot.



"Proposition 98 poses serious risk that it can be used to obstruct for years the development of critically and urgently needed water resources to California," he said in a written statement. "That is simply an unacceptable risk."

To celebrate Earth Day, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared Tuesday at the Irvine Ranch Land Reserve in Orange County, 40,000 acres of which the state has designated as California's first state Natural Landmark.

As with his stop Monday at a dedication ceremony for the Saban Free Clinic in Los Angeles, the Irvine Ranch ceremony involved a major Schwarzenegger donor. In Tuesday's case it was Donald Bren, the billionaire Orange County developer who donated the land that state lawmakers and the governor named a Natural Landmark.

Bren's Irvine Company in 2004 gave $160,000 to Schwarzenegger's ballot initiatives committee and in 2005 gave $250,000 to a group backing Schwarzenegger's special election initiatives, state records show. His company also gave more than $200,000 to the California Republican Party in 2006 when the state party financed commercials supporting Schwarzenegger's re-election.

"On behalf of the state of California, our heartfelt thanks go to Donald Bren for his leadership in setting aside so much of The Irvine Ranch for habitat protection, as well as his commitment to ensure it is accessible for people to discover and enjoy," Schwarzenegger said in a release distributed by the Irvine Company.

In his own release, the governor said, "The first ever California natural landmark is wonderful news. Only in California can you see a 40,000-acre natural landmark right in the middle of one of the nation’s most vibrant and economically important urban areas.”

Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said Tuesday the governor chose to kick off Earth Day at Irvine Ranch because it was a historic occasion celebrating the first-ever state Natural Landmark.

"The governor always leads by what is in the best interests of California," McLear said. "To suggest otherwise is absurd."

The governor also scheduled a stop Tuesday at a Frito-Lay North America plant in Modesto that Schwarzenegger's office said is installing the largest solar thermal system in the country. Schwarzenegger is expected to flip a switch that turns on solar panels, McLear said.

Frito-Lay's parent company, PepsiCo, did give Schwarzenegger's ballot-issues committee $20,000 in 2004. But the company also has been a heavy contributor to former Gov. Gray Davis and state lawmakers in the past.

As for later this week, Schwarzenegger will visit another friend on Thursday: Jay Leno. The governor announced his intention to run for governor in 2003 on Leno's show, and he will visit Leno on Thursday as part of NBC's environmental week.

Sen. Abel Maldonado was the first lawmaker to cheer today's discussions at the Citizens Compensation Commission, where the commission considered cutting legislative salaries.

"It is about time that the Citizens Compensation Commission decreased our salaries," said Maldonado in a statement.

"Last year, in the midst of a fiscal crisis, the commission gave legislators an almost three percent pay increase. To me, that action was simply unconscionable," Maldonado added.

He has introduced Senate Constitutional Amendment 23, which would ban pay hikes as long as the state budget had a deficit.

Maldonado, it should be noted, is independently wealthy, reporting multiple business interests and properties worth more than $1 million on his latest statement of economic interest.

Barely a month after longtime Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill announced her retirement, one of her top deputies announced this week that he was following the "budget nun" out the door.

Hadley Johnson, one of two deputy analysts in the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office, is leaving after 32 years. He arrived at the LAO the same year as Hill, she said.

"When you’ve had a professional colleague who has such excellence and high integrity, clearly he will be missed in the office," said Hill, who announced her own retirement in March.

The issues in Johnson's charge include criminal justice, health, resources, transportation and social services.

Dan Carson, a 13-year LAO veteran who currently is the director of criminal justice issues, will replace Johnson as deputy analyst.

Hill's second deputy analyst, Mac Taylor, is not expected to be leaving, said Carson.

"We hope he’s staying," he joked. "This is quite enough turnover for our liking."

Today is Earth Day and the Los Angeles Times has a fun story about the race to be green between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has a plan to slash his city's planet-warming greenhouse gases to 35% below the 1990 level by 2030, and make L.A. the "cleanest and greenest city in the country."

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has a blueprint to cut his city's greenhouse gases to 20% below the 1990 level by 2012, creating "the greenest large city in the United States of America."

As the story asks, "Mirror, mirror on the wall: Who is the greenest of them all?"

Proponents of a measure to insert a ban on gay marriage into the California constitution announced this week that they have gathered more than 1.1 million signatures to place the measure on the November ballot.

The AP has the story.

The measure needs 694,354 valid signatures to qualify.

Loren Kaye has an intriguing op-ed in today's Bee. Kaye is the president of the California Foundation for Commerce and Education, which is the think tank backed by the California Chamber of Commerce.

The CalChamber has long been an opponent of higher taxes, sounding the same themes as legislative Republicans that California has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.

But in today's op-ed, Kaye makes an amended argument, writing that, "It is simply implausible that we can solve in a single year a deficit problem unaddressed for years without devastating important education, public safety and safety net programs."

That is not to say that Kaye, or the CalChamber, is coming out full-throatedly to back new taxes.

Kaye continues:

Any budget solution – but especially one purchased with new taxes – must unshackle elected officials to set priorities: repeal automatic inflation adjustments, cap guaranteed benefit programs, reopen union contracts that automatically boost wages (including in school districts) and at long last control future public employee health care and retirement obligations.

Any tax increase should be legislated as a stop-gap measure that would be temporary. Taxpayers should be made whole during the upside of an economic cycle if they have been tapped for help during the downturn.

That position -- advocating new, if temporary, taxes in return for budget reforms -- is where many are speculating the governor is headed, especially with his shifting rhetoric about taxes, loopholes and fees.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has reported contributing another $700,000 to help qualify a redistricting measure for the November ballot, bringing his total giving to the measure to $1.26 million.

Schwarzenegger is the largest donor to the campaign so far, which has amassed $2.14 million, largely tapping the Republican governor's own donor network.

The measure, sponsored by California Common Cause, would eliminate state lawmakers' power to draw legislative and Board of Equalization districts. A 14-member “citizens” panel, composed of five Democrats, five Republicans and four declined-to-state members would be charged with drawing those seats.

The power to draw congressional seats would remain in the hands of the Legislature.

The other largest reported donations come from Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix and a Schwarzenegger appointee to the Board of Education, who gave more than $140,000 and The New Majority ($212,000), an Orange County-based GOP moderate group that has backed the governor. The governor has announced that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has donated $250,000 to the cause, though the donation has yet to be reported in campaign filings.

The measure is still gathering signatures and facings troubles doing so, according to Joe Mathews on his Blockbuster Democracy blog, who reports the price per signature is rising from $2 to $2.25.

"The price increase suggests that the redistricting initiative is still seriously short of signatures, and time is running short to get the measure qualified for the November ballot," Mathews reports.

Supporters must gather 694,354 valid signatures (which means more than 1 million total signatures) in the coming weeks to qualify for the Nov. 4 ballot.

Last week, a group of civil-rights organizations, including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, came out against the measure, citing fears that the citizens’ commission might not “protect the interests of minority voters.”

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, is also among the initiative’s opponents. His spokesman, Steve Maviglio, has railed against the measure on his blog, The California Majority Report, as a Republican power grab.

Schwarzenegger has backed a redistricting measure before, in 2005 during his special election. The measure, Proposition 77, went down to defeat.

During his Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2006 march to reelection, one of the enduring story lines of the campaign was the number of Democrats crossing party lines to back the Republican governor.

Among the prominent Democrats who backed Schwarzenegger were a trio of Hollywood players: Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and media mogul Haim Saban.

They all donated money to the governor and, late in the campaign, Saban hosted a fundraiser for Schwarzenegger.

"I backed Arnold because of his bipartisan positions and his working with both sides of the aisle," Saban said in an e-mail to The Bee in October 2006.

Today, Schwarzenegger is attending the renaming ceremony of the Los Angeles Free Clinic, which provides free medical care to L.A. residents. Saban and his wife, Cheryl Saban, donated $10 million to the clinic, which is being renamed the Saban Free Clinic.

The event is at 10:45 a.m.

James Richardson, a former Sacramento Bee political reporter who became an Episcopal minister and chaplain of the state Senate, is leaving Sacramento for a church in Charlottesville, VA.

"It is with great delight, and a few butterflies in the stomach, that I tell you that I have accepted the call to be the Rector of St. Paul's Memorial Church in Charlottesville, VA, Richardson said in an email to friends Sunday after his appointment was announced at St. Paul's.

Richardson said his new position will begin in August and he will be joined later by his wife, Bee staff writer Lori Korleski Richardson.

If the Leno-Migden-Nation contest is the Democratic contest closest to a brawl, then the John Benoit-Russ Bogh face-off in the Inland Empire is its Republican counterpart.

Little separates the two candidates ideologically, so the race has turned personal –- and nasty.

So many barbs have been tossed back and forth it's hard to keep track -- from anonymous blog postings to anonymous Web sites to recent attack ads against Benoit aired by a political nonprofit.

And that's just the start.

Bogh, who termed out of the Assembly in 2006, has accused Benoit, still in the Assembly, of misusing state resources by hosting district events that Bogh calls nothing more than campaign stops. Benoit says he is just acting as a good representative.

Benoit, meanwhile, accuses Bogh of skirting campaign finance laws, raising and spending money in a county supervisor account while simultaneously running for Assembly.

They are seeking to replace termed-out Sen. Jim Battin, who has endorsed Bogh in the race. The two have divided legislative endorsements, with many members opting to remain neutral in the heated contest, including Senate Republican leader Dave Cogdill and former leader Dick Ackerman.

Both candidates have the resources to compete in the final sprint of the campaign, with Bogh controlling $412,000 after accounting for debts, to Benoit’s $337,000.

As Battin wrote when he endorsed Bogh, "For the record -- I hate Republican primaries. Primaries always leave scars behind. Friends support different candidates and get mad at each other. Names are called. Attacks are made. Relationships are forever ruined. Regretfully, this one looks to be no different."

Campaign Web sites:

Assemblyman John Benoit

Former Assemblyman Russ Bogh

District profile: SD 37

Current member: Sen. Jim Battin
Total registered voters: 440,797
Republican: 44.28 percent
Democratic: 35.14 percent
Declined-to-state: 16.36 percent

Registered Republicans, by county:
Riverside: 185,366

California Voter Foundation

Now that you've paid your taxes, watch it being counted.

State Controller John Chiang has set up a daily personal income tax tracker to measure the state's fiscal health. Click here.

Personal income taxes made up over half of general fund revenues in fiscal year 2006-07. And one quarter of it arrives in April.

"By providing a daily update of the amount of personal income tax revenues the state receives, we all have a better grasp on the resources we have to fund the state's health, education and public safety needs," Chiang said in a statement.

Republican financier Henry Nicholas, who has donated nearly $6 million to two law-and-order ballot measures in 2008, has checked into rehab at the Betty Ford Center, according to a statement provided by his lawyer.

Nicholas, who ranked 258th on Forbes' annual list of the world's richest billionaires with an estimated net worth of $2.7 billion, “has been drinking too heavily” following the death of his father, according to the statement from his personal attorney, Bill Hake.

“The death of a beloved parent can be devastating to anyone,” said Hake. “For Nick it triggered a period of intense self-reflection and recognition that he has been drinking too heavily.”

The Orange County Register first reported Nicholas' admission to rehab.

Nicholas has bankrolled the signature-gathering drives of two measures this year. He gave $4.84 million to "Marsy's Law," which is a crime-victims' rights initiative named after his sister, and had been listed as the attendee of a Wednesday campaign launch outside the state Capitol.

Nicholas also donated $1 million to the anti-gang measure pushed by Assemblywoman Sharon Runner and her husband, Sen. George Runner. He is the largest donor to that campaign.

A co-founder of Broadcom Corp., Nicholas is facing other problems besides his drinking, including allegations of drug and prostitute-use at his Newport Beach home. He is also fighting his ex-wife in a custody battle.

“For more than 18 months Nick has undergone voluntary and random drug testing to dispel those false allegations,” Hake said in the statement. “During that period he had 200 blood and urine tests and none tested positive for drugs. However, a recent blood workup showed a liver panel well out of the normal range.”

Now he is entering the month-long rehabilitation clinic, his lawyer said.

Nicholas is also under investigation for the backdating of stock options during his tenure as CEO of Broadcom.

Senate District 33: Assemblywoman Mimi Walters vs. Anaheim City Councilman Harry Sidhu

Assemblywoman Mimi Walters has lined up the endorsements of 13 of the 15 sitting GOP state senators, including Sen. Dick Ackerman, the former leader and the man she hopes to replace.

But Walters, R-Laguna Niguel, hasn’t sewn up her Senate bid, as Anaheim City Councilman Harry Sidhu is mounting a challenge, raising more than $600,000 for the primary (plus another $100,000 in a personal loan).

With Republicans holding a 23-point registration advantage in the district, the winner of the primary is expected to win the general election.

Like most Republican primaries in Orange County, the key issues in the race are already becoming taxes and illegal immigration, with both candidates tacking to the right.

The race, says Orange County GOP political observer Matt Cunningham, remains Walters' to lose.

"She's been endorsed by a lot of other legislators," said Cunningham, who is the online editor of Red County. That is important, he said, as voters "make up their mind between two people they don’t know."

Sidhu is currently paying for a truck to drive around the Orange County district with a billboard touting his candidacy. More campaigning is likely in store. As of late March, Sidhu still had $600,000 cash on hand, including his $100,000 loan.

Walters reported $712,000, including her own $100,000 loan.

Campaign Web sites:

Assemblywoman Mimi Walters

Councilman Harry Sidhu, city of Anaheim

District profile: SD 33

Current member: Sen. Dick Ackerman
Total registered voters: 520,360
Republican: 50.06 percent
Democratic: 27.32 percent
Declined-to-state: 18.76 percent

Registered Republicans, by county:
Orange: 260,485

California Voter Foundation

E.J. Schultz reports on the woman who began breast feeding while testifying at a Senate hearing this week.

"It might have been a Capitol first," Schultz reports.

No joke: The subject of the hearing was raw milk.

This wasn’t supposed to be a two-way contest. In fact, up to the day of the filing deadline, former Assemblyman Jerome Horton, D-Inglewood, had been expected to enter the race.

But he never filed the paperwork, leaving Dymally, the veteran legislator, past member of Congress and lieutenant governor, running against Wright, a moderate pro-business Democrat.

Two other Democrats, Kevin Biggers, a former Hesperia City Council member, and Donald Dear, the former mayor of Gardena, are running, as well. Neither has reported raising any funds, according to the latest campaign filings.

All four are scheduled to debate this Saturday at a meeting of the Westchester Democratic Club.

The gerrymandered 25th district contorts around South Los Angeles taking in Inglewood, Compton, Gardena, Rancho Palos Verdes and more.

Dymally has the advantage of incumbency – he’s a sitting member of the Assembly – while Wright has been out of office since 2002, when he termed out of the Assembly.

They are seeking the seat of termed-out Sen. Ed Vincent, a reliable Democratic caucus vote who been absent much of the last legislative session.

Wright has sought to make the election about electing a new generation of leadership (Dymally turns 82 in May). But with only $67,000 in the bank as of the latest filings, he may have a hard time getting his message out. Dymally had a $194,000 campaign treasury.

Dymally has the backing of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, which is particularly of note because the Senate seat overlaps with the Los Angeles County supervisor race the federation has made its top get-out-the-vote priority.

Wright, who briefly served as an aide in Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata’s Los Angeles office, touts the backing of Perata, Vincent, Sen. Darrell Steinberg and neighboring Sen. Alan Lowenthal, among others, on his Web site.

Campaign Web sites:

Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally (no Web site)

Former Assemblyman Rod Wright

Kevin Biggers,former Hesperia City Council member,

Don Dear, former Mayor of Gardena (no website)

District profile: SD 25

Current member: Sen. Ed Vincent
Total registered voters: 463,330
Democratic: 59.23 percent
Republican: 20.16 percent
Declined-to-state: 19.53 percent

Registered Democrats, by county:
Los Angeles: 201,623

California Voter Foundation

Rep. John Doolittle has tapped a new chief of staff, Dan Blankenburg, who has worked for the last three years on Doolittle's staff.

Blankenburg replaces Ron Rogers, named Tuesday as newly elected state Senate Republican leader Dave Cogdill's staff director.

Doolittle is retiring at the end of this term amid a federal investigation. State Sen. Tom McClintock and former Rep. Doug Ose are running in a competitive GOP primary to replace him. The winner of that race will likely face 2006 Democratic candidate Charlie Brown.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has taken a keen interest in how California draws its political boundaries, already chipping in a quarter-million-dollar donation to finance a redistricting measure for the Nov. 4 ballot.

Now Bloomberg plans to host a Thursday night fundraiser for the governor's "California Dream Team" political committee after the two leaders discuss political philosophies in a public New York City forum the same day.

It should be a prosperous night for the governor's committee - cosmetics billionaire Ron Perelman is hosting a separate fundraiser for Schwarzenegger the same evening, according to Julie Soderlund, the governor's campaign spokeswoman.

The governor's "Dream Team" committee has already given $550,000 toward the redistricting initiative.

Besides his New York City stop Thursday, Schwarzenegger is scheduled to attend at a Yale University conference with other U.S. governors to discuss climate change and possibly sign a joint declaration.

Perhaps nothing encapsulates Sen. Dick Ackerman’s nearly four-year reign as Senate Republican leader as well as his own understated response to naming his “biggest accomplishment.”

The chief of the 15-member Senate Republican Caucus since May 2004, Ackerman has served as point man for the GOP minority in negotiations with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and leading Democrats through a special election, two election cycles and four contentious budgets in the biggest state in the union.

So what was his biggest accomplishment as leader?

“Trying to stop as much bad business legislation as we could,” a relaxed Ackerman said this week in an interview.

Over the weekend, Ackerman moved out of his choice office on the third floor in the historic side of the Capitol, swapping spaces with his successor, Sen. Dave Cogdill. In December, he will term out of the Legislature 14 years after he arrived.

Cogdill now replaces Ackerman in the so-called Big 5, though Ackerman will still be around for advice. “The Big 5 is just five – you don’t take any add-ons,” Ackerman said.

He describes the job of minority leader as “basically playing defense” against a strong Democratic majority in the Senate, where Democrats occupy 25 of the 40 seats.

“When you’re in the minority…you can’t always accomplish a lot of things that you want,” Ackerman said.

To be fair, Ackerman went on to name other accomplishments, citing the 2006 infrastructure package approved by voters, Proposition 1A, which limited state raids on local government funds, the 2007 budget standoff pointing to the “potential problems of this year’s budget” and last year’s prison bonds package. The Republicans also neither lost nor gained seats in the Senate during his tenure.

“We definitely pointed out the potential problems of this year’s budget last year,” Ackerman said.

But during the 52-day standoff, Democrats accused Ackerman of waffling leadership and “moving the goalposts” in negotiations.

"(We) agreed to a budget deal," Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez said last summer. "And from the time that I left the Big 5 meeting to the time I walked outside five minutes later, (and) Dick Ackerman walked outside, something happened. And maybe he had a metaphysical reaction that the rest of us somehow ... we are unable to communicate at that level."

Ackerman says that is nonsense. “Our goals were pretty clear from the beginning,” he insists.

Even-keeled with a mild temperament in a Capitol full of hot-headed personalities, Ackerman is “a total gentleman” and “old-school,” according to his counterpart, Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines.

"I mean that in the complimentary sense, where his word is his bond. He gets along with everybody. He’s able to forge compromise and he still stands up firm,” Villines said.

The job of minority leader, by any count, is a difficult one. Former Sen. Jim Brulte, who preceded Ackerman as GOP leader, described it this way:

“In the Capitol there are three ways you can lead. One is through force of personality. The second is the ability to reward and punish. The third is a combination of both,” Brulte said. “When you are the speaker or pro tem you can use any one of those three. When you are the minority leader, you can only use the first.”

Before coming to Sacramento, Ackerman, 65, spent a dozen years on the Fullerton City Council. In 1994, he won election to the state Assembly and ascended to the state Senate in 2000, where he served as vice-chair of the Budget Committee before becoming leader in a unanimous vote in 2004.

That GOP solidarity, however, did not last, as the 15-man caucus (there are no women GOP senators) split into two rival factions, one headed by Ackerman, the other by Sen. Jim Battin, who twice unsuccessfully challenged Ackerman for his job.

The Battin-led cohort wanted Ackerman to take a more aggressive stand against the majority Democrats and Schwarzenegger, particularly since the 2006 infrastructure negotiations.

But Ackerman says “management style is a lot different in the Senate” and that he took positions approved of by the majority of Republican senators.

“We basically try to get a consensus by a majority of our guys. That’s what I had done all along,” Ackerman said. “Some people thought that that wasn’t right or whatever. But obviously when the vote came the majority of people said, ‘Yeah, he’s right, he did just exactly what we told him to.’”

Ackerman is said to have survived Battin's second challenge by a single vote. Both Battin and Ackerman are due to leave office this year, leaving Cogdill with what he hopes is a clean slate to lead.

“A lot of those folks that have had issues over the years, as a result of the failure of Prop. 93, are termed out,” Cogdill said in an interview after his selection as leader.

Ackerman hasn’t decided what’s next, though he plans to stay “involved in the (political) process” while returning to Orange County. He said he’s considering practicing law or getting into political consulting.

Reflecting on his four years as leader, Ackerman uses the plainest of adjectives. “I thought," he said, "it was a good run.”

Brian Baer/Sacramento Bee file, 2007

It's always fun when two competing legislative candidates host competing fundraisers in Sacramento.

Today, Stuart Waldman, ex-chief of staff to Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, has a lunch fundraiser at Texas Mexican.

In the evening, one of his opponents, Bob Blumenfield, an aide to Rep. Howard Berman, has an event at Chops.

Waldman and Blumenfield are two of the leading Democrats running to replace Levine. A third Democratic candidate, assistant state controller Laurette Healey, is also running, with the backing of much of the LGBT caucus.

She was last in town raising money from the Third House at the end of March.

Last Friday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told attendees of the Log Cabin national convention that he would oppose a ballot measure that would etch an amendment in California's constitution banning same sex marriage.

"I will always be there to fight against that because it should never happen," Schwarzenegger said to the San Diego audience.

Log Cabin convention-goers lauded Schwarzenegger with an impromptu standing ovation. But the comments generated fury on the right (and the need for GOP vice-chair and conservative blogger Jon Fleischman to take an aspirin).

Watch the video below, where national Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon asks Schwarzenegger about the measure:

Hat tip to Josh Richman at the Oakland Tribune for the video.

A Democratic woman lawmaker will likely replace termed-out Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata – it’s just not clear which one.

The contest features two long-time political figures in East Bay politics: Loni Hancock and Wilma Chan. Perata, for his part, hasn’t played an overt role in picking his successor, endorsing both candidates.

The winner of the Democratic primary in the liberal district, which includes Oakland, Berkeley and beyond, is a virtual shoo-in in November.

Hancock’s campaign got a boost in late March at the state Democratic Party convention when she secured the official party endorsement. Hancock, a former mayor of Berkeley, has been entrenched in Berkeley politics for decades alongside her husband former Assemblyman and current Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. She chairs the Natural Resources Committee in the Assembly.

Chan served three terms in the Assembly, where she chaired the Health Committee and served as Assembly Majority Leader, before leaving office in 2006. Before that, she was twice elected to a seat on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.

Both candidates have plenty of campaign funds in the bank to wage a full-throated campaign through June 3. As of the latest filing period, Hancock had $405,000 in the bank and Chan had $506,000.

Whoever wins, one thing’s for sure: the district will be losing clout in Sacramento as neither Chan nor Hancock will wield power as Perata has.

District profile: SD 9

Current member: Sen. Don Perata
Total registered voters: 435,161
Democratic: 59.52 percent
Republican: 13.2 percent
Declined-to-state: 21.74 percent

Registered Democrats, by county:
Alameda: 238,427
Contra Costa: 20,579

Campaign Web sites:
Assemblywoman Loni Hancock
Former Assemblywoman Wilma Chan

Assemblywoman Loni Hancock

Former Assemblywoman Wilma Chan

California Voter Foundation

The state Finance Department's latest cash report reveals just how much guesswork goes into the budget.

The state is down $1.2 billion in revenues so far this year, most of it due to the corporate tax. The Schwarzenegger administration had assumed that many companies elected to forgo early tax payments in December, and anticipated the money to be recovered in March.

Too bad wishes don't always come true.

According to the Finance Department’s April cash report, "March’s cash now indicates that the weakness in December was not due to companies conserving cash or tax management reasons but rather to weakness in underlying profits."

Besides a weak business climate, the housing slump continues to cost the state jobs. Although the state added 25,800 non-farm jobs in February, much of the gain was attributed to the end of the writer’s strike. Financial, construction and manufacturing sectors lost a combined 9,600 jobs.

A who's who group of California Republicans will announce on Wednesday the formation of a new political organization whose mission will be to recruit and elect GOP candidates to statewide office in California.

The group will be chaired by Larry Dodge, the wealthy Republican donor who has been unhappy with the organization of the California Republican Party accusing the party of lacking "professional management."

Former California GOP Chairman Duf Sundheim will serve as executive director of the group, which is calling itself California Republicans Aligned for Tomorrow (CRAFT).

Paul Folino, a Orange County Republican financier with close ties to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a leader of The New Majority, another GOP group, will serve as vice-chairman.

Among those set to announce the group's formation on a Wednesday conference call include both GOP legislative leaders, Assemblyman Mike Villines and Sen. Dave Cogdill, Party chairman Ron Nehring, former Gov. Pete Wilson, Rep. David Dreier, the chair of the California Republican congressional delegation, freshman Rep. Kevin McCarthy and Assemblywoman Sharon Runner.

UPDATE: Chris Bertelli of Randle Communications calls to report that Adam Mendelsohn, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's former communications director, will be on the call representing the governor.

The group promises its "new, professional and visionary approach will help the California Republican Party to ensure GOP victories in 2010 and beyond." The official state Republican Party has had trouble financially in recent years.

The party has struggled to recruit top tier GOP candidates for statewide office and U.S. Senate. In 2006, only Schwarzenegger and Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, who spent millions of his own fortune in the campaign, won statewide.

The Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, former state Sen. Dick Mountjoy, raised barely any funds and mounted only a nominal campaign against U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who easily won reelection.

The new group notes that since 1994, Republicans have won only four of 24 possible statewide elections in California.

Assembly Speaker-elect Karen Bass escapes the Capitol tonight, heading to Los Angeles where she will play host to a fundraiser at the Lakers-Kings game at Staples Center.

The game starts at 7:30 p.m. and the invite asks for early RSVPs because "due to capacity of the Luxury suite, tickets are limited."

Tickets cost $2,000.

The Los Angeles Lakers have secured a spot in the playoffs and currently the top seed in the competitive Western Conference.

Not so much for the Sacramento Kings, who've missed the playoffs.

Photo credit: Brian Baer, The Sacramento Bee, Feb. 28, 2008

Members of the San Diego City Council voted to increase their salaries by 24 percent on Monday, while scrapping a car allowance for themselves.

Salaries will rise from $75,386 a year to $93,485.

Maria Shriver, the first lady of California, has authored a slim new book titled "Just Who Will You Be?" in which she discusses her own transition from successful journalist to being known as the wife of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"My career was gone and with it went the person I'd been for twenty-five years," she writes of life following Schwarzenegger election in the 2003 recall.

The book is billed as "meaning of life" and self-help type-read, clocking in at 112 pages.

From the book's official description:

Just Who Will You Be? reminds us that the answer to many of life's question lie within -- and that we're all works in progress. That means it's never too late to become the person you want to be.

Now the question for you is this: Just who will you be?

The book is currently selling on Amazon for $10.17.

Assemblyman Dave Jones can breathe a sigh of relief. He didn't win a seat as an Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

Jones' name was still on the ballot Sunday as an Obama delegate contender in the 5th Congressional District, but he withdrew because he said he wanted volunteers to win instead. Thirty people voted for him despite his insistence that Democrats choose someone else.

"It's probably the first time I've asked for people to vote against me," he said Sunday at the Cordova Senior Center.

More than 23,000 Democrats turned out Sunday to pick delegates to send to the national convention in Denver, a record turnout, according to party spokesman Bob Mulholland. A handful of Obama winners turned out to be people whom the party had briefly eliminated from contention last week before having a change of heart, as we reported this morning.

The state party spent Monday confirming the results, which it posted online this afternoon:

Obama results

Clinton results

If you’ve only heard of one legislative primary in June, this is probably it.

Carole Migden is the only sitting state senator facing a serious challenge and Migden’s road to reelection has been bumpy, to say the least.

First, San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno announced he would challenge her. Then, she went on a reckless driving trip in the Bay Area that resulted in multiple 911 calls and finally a rear-ending accident. She announced that she has battled leukemia and that her medication may have been to blame.

Migden was then fined a record amount ($350,000) for campaign violations by the Fair Political Practices Commission and she lost out on the endorsement of the Democratic Party at the recent state convention.

Migden, however, recently won in court the right to spent nearly $641,000 in leftover campaign money, injecting both hope and much-needed funds into her campaign.

Joining Leno in challenging Migden is former Assemblyman Joe Nation of San Rafael, who represented the northern half of the Senate district, which includes half of San Francisco, as well as Marin and portions of Sonoma County. In the Assembly, Nation was a member of the so-called Mod Squad, the business-friendly group of Democrats, though he often sided with the environmental community.

The Senate campaign cuts in many different directions. Migden is the only woman in the race and she has emphasized that on the campaign trail. Both Leno and Migden are liberal, openly gay San Francisco Democrats. Could two San Francisco Democrats battling it out open the door for Marin’s Joe Nation?

Leno has already begun an on-air television campaign, with his most recent ad featuring Mayor Gavin Newsom saying Leno was the best candidate for “change.” Leno had $93,000 in the bank, accounting for debts, as of the latest campaign filings, but had already spent nearly $250,000 in 2008.

Migden had nearly $1 million (including the $641,000 she won the right to spend in court), though she owes the $350,000 FPPC fine.

Nation had $172,000 in the bank.

As with most legislative races, interest groups could fund a late independent expenditure campaign that could tilt the balance of the contest.

District profile: SD 3

Current member: Sen. Carole Migden
Total registered voters: 463,234
Democratic: 54.41percent
Republican: 16.03 percent
Declined-to-state: 24.03 percent

Registered Democrats, by county:
Marin: 76,163
San Francisco: 134,071
Sonoma: 41,797

Campaign Web sites:
Sen. Carole Migden
Assemblyman Mark Leno
Former Assemblyman Joe Nation

Carole Migden

Mark Leno

Joe Nation

California Voter Foundation

West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon is "running" for the Assembly, but the term has nothing to do with his vehicle getting booted Monday for his failure to pay parking tickets.

He solved that problem quickly.

Cabaldon said that shortly after his vehicle was disabled in downtown Sacramento by a city employee, he had the boot removed Monday morning by paying more than $500 in parking tickets that had accumulated over several months.

The longtime local politician said he had been so busy that he simply hadn't found time to pay the debt previously. He said he did not think it would affect his candidacy.

Cabaldon, D-West Sacramento, is seeking the 8th District Assembly seat being vacated this year by Lois Wolk, D-Davis, who is termed out.

Darrel Ng, a former communications aide to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson, is back in Sacramento, now working in the communications shop of Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.

The last we heard from Ng, he had founded the official (and light-hearted) Boycott Chuck Norris Web site, citing Norris' support for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the GOP primary.

"He has endorsed a presidential candidate and supports ideas that are far out of the mainstream," Ng wrote on the site. "I want you to join me in boycotting all of the products that Chuck Norris endorses and some of the national companies that run advertisements on the show in which he starred and (is) currently rerunning on the USA cable network, Walker, Texas Ranger."

Once Huckabee dropped out in March, Ng acknowledged there wasn't much of an "actual boycott effort," though he seemed to enjoy the effort.

"I don’t anticipate updating this blog further, but will leave it up for a while. Now, I’m off to get some KFC…" concluded his final post.

Poizner is much-talked about as a potential Republican candidate for governor in 2010 and Ng is a veteran of statewide Republican campaigns. Ng's official title in Poizner's office is press secretary and "associate insurance commissioner for communications."

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will deliver his third annual State of the City address this evening at the downtown Parker Center.

Two of the city's papers give him advice for the speech.

The editorial board of the Los Angeles Times says the speech, "presents him with opportunity and obligation. He must make clear that he has a firm grip on two pressing matters that he has accepted as bases for evaluating his administration: the budget and gang violence."

The Times wants more than words. The paper wants "benchmarks" for success. "As he begins the final year of his first term, Villaraigosa must demonstrate that he can deliver," the paper writes.

The ed board of the Los Angeles Downtown News wants to be inspired.

"We hope the mayor will rivet us with words or reveal a plan that exhibits true vision and ideas beyond just policing. We hope he will come up with something that captivates like his "Dream With Me" inauguration speech that inspired so much enthusiasm for what is possible in Los Angeles," the paper writes.

What will California's Inland Empire look like in 2015? That is the subject of a new study by the Public Policy Institute of California, which predicts a majority Latino population and still plenty of commuting to work.

Find the PPIC report in its entirety here.

In the last 18 years, the Inland Empire, which includes San Bernardino and Riverside counties, has grown in population by 50 percent, making it bigger (population-wise) than the state of Oregon.

That growth is expected to continue, according to the report, with the counties drawing in new resident from Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange counties.

See a summary of the report here.

One in a series on contested state Senate races on the primary election ballot.

This race is one of the most-watched in Democratic circles as two leading Democrats are facing off to represent this district, which covers some of the wealthiest enclaves in the greater Los Angeles area, including Malibu and Santa Monica.

Sen. Sheila Kuehl, who is termed out this year, currently represents the district and has endorsed Pavley.

Levine, a Van Nuys Democrat who chairs the powerful Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee, has spent much of the last legislative session raising his public profile, carrying bills ranging from banning light bulbs to requiring the spaying and neutering of dogs and cats.

At least geographically, Levine faces an uphill battle. His Assembly district represents only 9 percent of likely voters in the race, compared to 49 percent for Pavley's former seat, according to a 2007 survey by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner.

That survey was paid for by EdVoice, a Sacramento-based education advocacy group funded by the contributions of wealthy activists. EdVoice has already opened an independent expenditure account to back Pavley, putting in an initial $100,000.

Levine has the backing of area-Rep. Howard Berman, whose district director Levine endorsed for Assembly over his own ex-chief of staff. The 800,000-strong Los Angeles Federation of Labor is backing Levine in the contest, as is the California Teachers Association.

Pavley, D-Santa Monica, is the favored daughter of the environmental community, as the lead author of two landmarks bills in her six years in the Assembly. (She left office in 2006.) Pavley authored the automobile tailpipe emissions bill, which the state continues to fight over with the federal government, and was the lead author of AB 32, the greenhouse gas limits legislation, before Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez added his name as co-author.

The campaign is getting more heated as the two sparred over legislative "batting averages" – as in, who got more bills signed – in a recent Los Angeles Daily News story. In that story, Levine tried to tag Pavley as a one-issue candidate, saying, "Really she has not much else to talk about other than the environment."

Despite leaving office in 2006, Pavley has continued to show fundraising strength, opening up a $300,000 lead over Levine with $680,000 in the bank as of the latest filing period in late March. Levine had $347,000 after accounting for debts, still plenty to wage a campaign.

District profile: SD 23

Current member: Sen. Sheila Kuehl
Total registered voters: 463,330
Democratic: 50.31 percent
Republican: 25.01 percent
Declined-to-state: 20.48 percent

Registered Democrats, by county:
Los Angeles: 197,653
Ventura: 35,429

Campaign Web sites:
Assemblyman Lloyd Levine
Former Assemblywoman Fran Pavley

Lloyd Levine

Fran Pavley

California Voter Foundation

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez called on Roger Snoble, the head of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, to resign after the latest allocation of transportation bond dollars left Los Angeles "shortchange(d)."

So much for allocating those dollars without politics.

Nuñez sent sharply worded letter to the board of directors of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority, saying Snoble engaged is "what seems to be no more and no less than a dereliction of duty."

The Los Angeles Times has more details here.

The full letter, sent Thursday, is reprinted below:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has twice vetoed gay-rights legislation but otherwise largely sided with gay-rights groups, will speak at the national convention of the Log Cabin Republicans, the gay GOP group, this afternoon.

Schwarzenegger announced the stop on Thursday evening.

The governor has address Log Cabin Republicans before -- in 2006, during his march toward reelection, when he told the group he was "proud to stand side by side with Log Cabin in their work to offer basic fairness for gay and lesbian citizens."

Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic reports that Schwarzenegger, whose campaign team, not his state government team announced the event, is attending on behalf of the John McCain presidential campaign.

Schwarzenegger is set to speak at 1:30 p.m. in San Diego.

Roger Simon, chief political columnist for Politico.com, has posted a story with the "four things you need to know about John McCain and California."

Simon outlines the Republican presidential nominee's shot in electoral rich California.

His take: It all comes down to abortion and driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.

"Obama favors giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. McCain opposes it, and this could give McCain the state," writes Simon.

He continues:

Giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants is unpopular in California. Schwarzenegger successfully exploited opposition to such driver's licenses in both of his elections, and McCain would have a shot at winning California by exploiting it also.

Yes, it would be ironic for McCain, a moderate on immigration, to take a hard line on this issue, but politics often make people do ironic things.

One in a series on contested state Senate races on the primary election ballot.

Judging by his campaign fundraising, former Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy should lose in the June 3 primary Republican primary.

In the first period of 2008, Mountjoy raised only $14,700, leaving him with an anemic $5,900 for the final two-plus month homestretch of the campaign.

But fundraising reports don’t always predict election winners.

Mountjoy, who served three terms in the Assembly ending in 2006, is running largely on the strength of last name. He followed his father into the Assembly and is looking to do the same in the Senate. In parts of the 29th district, which includes portions of Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside Counties, there has been a Mounjoy on the ballot in every election cycle since 1978.

Assemblyman Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, is hoping to break that cycle and outraised Mountjoy 10-1 in the first period of 2008 and had $380,000 in the bank, after debts.

Both candidates are running to the right. Huff’s first two issues on his Web site are “opposing higher taxes” and “opposing illegal immigration.” Mountjoy, known for his confrontational ways with Democrats on the Assembly floor, garnered the backing of the conservative California Republican Assembly, though Huff plans to challenge the vote at the group’s convention in late April.

The winner of the GOP primary in the 29th district, currently represented by Sen. Bob Margett, will ease through the November election, as Republicans enjoy a 50,000-voter registration advantage in the district.

District profile: SD 29

Current member: Sen. Bob Margett
Total registered voters: 440,797
Republican: 44.19 percent
Democratic: 32.37 percent
Declined-to-state: 19.74 percent

Registered Republicans, by county:
Los Angeles: 99,961
Orange: 36,393
San Bernardino: 27,705

Campaign Web sites:
Assemblyman Bob Huff
Former Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy

Bob Huff

Dennis Mountjoy

California Voter Foundation

There were plenty of losers in this week's Obama delegate lottery, as we pointed out Thursday, more than 800 in all. Among those Obama booted from running as his delegates this weekend were the president of the California Young Democrats, a blogger for Calitics and the University of California, Davis campus coordinator for Obama.

The Obama camp remains mum on what criteria they used. From the lists at the California Democratic Party web site, it appears that they wanted to restrict many districts to 20 contenders, a significant slashing considering some Bay Area districts had 70 or more Obama supporters signed up to run this Sunday.

Not everyone missed the cut, obviously. The three-person slate of Obama volunteers who have run the Sacramento for Obama operation since last year -- Kim Mack, Nate Osburn and Serena Kirk -- remain on the list. The Obama folks also kept Tim Malone, a Davis activist who told us he thought he'd never see the day when an African American would emerge as a major-party presidential nominee.

There remains a healthy share of Capitol insiders on the Clinton and Obama lists. Teamsters lobbyist Barry Broad is still running to become an Obama delegate, as is correctional officers' lobbyist Paula Treat. Broad has given $1,000 to Obama and $500 to Clinton, according to the Federal Election Committee. Treat gave $2,300 to Obama.

Adam Keigwin, an aide to Sen. Leland Yee, and Gavin Payne, chief deputy to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, are also in the running for Obama. Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, remains on the Obama list.

Steve Maviglio, the well-known spokesman for Speaker Fabian Núñez and former Gov. Gray Davis, is in contention for a Clinton seat. He's running on a ticket with Karen Skelton, a former Clinton White House aide, and the two have a web site. (Maviglio, once a three-term New Hampshire legislator, is also sending mailers and using robo-calls to gather support.)

And then there are those with strong party relationships. Literally. Marina Torres, the sister of California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres, remains on the Obama list in the 1st Congressional District that extends from West Sacramento to the Oregon border.

Incidentally, the Obama campaign slashed that district from about 50 delegate hopefuls down to 20, cutting out people such as Ryan Loney, a second-year student at UC Davis who served as the school's Obama campus coordinator.

Loney, 20, said he went to Philadelphia to volunteer for Obama and registered students on campus on a daily basis leading up to the Feb. 5 primary. He's also planning a May trip to Oregon to help Obama.

Foreseeing that too many delegate contenders could be a problem for the Obama campaign to handle, Loney and UCD students backing Obama self-restricted their entries and appointed Loney as their lone male representative to compete Sunday. In fact, Loney also got the endorsement of the Humboldt State students for Obama, who opted not to send someone.

Loney said he won a pre-caucus vote held in Davis last weekend, taking 42 of 60 votes in what was supposed to be a precursor to this weekend's actual caucuses to winnow the field.

"I mean, I'm not going to stop supporting Sen. Obama or give up on the campaign," Loney said. "I just think it's a really dumb decision and a poor reflection since he's trying to run a new type of campaign. It's not supposed to be the old style of politics or back-room decisions. And I think somebody made a really bad decision. It's a really poor reflection on what Sen. Obama stands for."

STATS: Based on estimates provided Wednesday by state party spokesman Bob Mulholland and the Clinton campaign, the statistical breakdown on the delegate applications were as follows: The party received 2,850 applications, and 250 people removed their names, while 200 filed duplicates or invalid forms. Out of the 2,400 remaining, about 1,000 applied for 134 Clinton delegate seats and 1,400 applied for 107 Obama seats. The Clinton campaign says it removed 36 out of 1,000, which means Obama removed 864 out of 1,400.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators have barely begun to address California's deficit-ridden state budget, but the New York Legislature adopted a $122 billion budget Wednesday – and that gives Steve Maviglio, top spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, an opportunity to complain.

"New York Republicans support a balanced approach to the budget," Maviglio observed in an e-mail to Capitol reporters. "Why can't California Republicans?"

The New York budget, passed 10 days after the beginning of that state's fiscal year, includes $1.5 billion in new revenues from closing tax loopholes and raising taxes and fees on cigarettes and a flock of expenditures including museum admissions and manicures.

The cigarette tax boost was $1.25 per pack and will make cigarettes in New York City the most expensive smokes in America, the New York Times observed. The budget was worked out largely by the Republican head of the state Senate and the Democratic speaker of the state Assembly. It raises overall spending by 4.9 percent, with the bulk of the increase going to schools and colleges.

Interestingly, it includes $700 million that legislators can dole out to public works projects in their districts. The New York Times account of the budget is available here.

In Sen. Jeff Denham's first TV ad since the effort to recall him qualified for the ballot, former Secretary of State Bill Jones makes the case that the recall is "just plain wrong."

Jones, with the state Capitol in the background, speaks directly to voters saying the recall "was launched against Sen. Jeff Denham for one reason only," citing last summer's budget vote.

Here's the full script of the ad, with the video posted below:

The recall was launched against Sen. Jeff Denham for one reason only.

I agree. Vote No on the Recall.

Former Assemblyman and current Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco came to Sacramento on Wednesday to announce a series of death-penalty measures and threaten to put them on the ballot if the Legislature doesn't act.

The announcement led to some talk that Pacheco, who has flirted with running for state attorney general before, was trying to lay the groundwork for another run.

But he told The Bee's Andy Furillo he's not planning to run for AG in 2010.

Attorney General Jerry Brown, elected to his first term in 2006, has made noise about running for governor in 2010, meaning there might not be an incumbent occupying the seat.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has endorsed the California redistricting initiative aimed at the Nov. 4 ballot and donated $250,000 to the cause, announced Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, another leading proponent of the measure.

The redistricting measure would strip lawmakers of the ability to draw legislative and Board of Equalization districts, empowering a "citizens commission" instead.

Schwarzenegger endorsed the measure in December and has been raising money for it, including giving $550,000 from his own campaign funds.

The Bloomberg donation has not appeared in contribution reports filed with the California Secretary of State yet.

Schwarzenegger and Bloomberg, a former Democrat turned Republican turned independent, know each other well, especially after appearing on the cover of Time magazine last year under the headline, "The New Action Heroes."

That would be the cover where the governor wore his oversized skull belt buckle.

"Mayor Bloomberg is a national leader in supporting centrist leadership and is committed to bringing about reforms that will make government more responsive to the people. He and I see eye to eye on many things and I look forward to our continued partnership as we work together on this important measure," Schwarzenegger said in a written statement.

Here's the complete list of donation levels for this week's 2008 Pro Tem Cup, a fundraiser for the California Democratic Party sponsored by Senate leader Don Perata:

$50,000
Two-day "platinum" package
Golf for four on Thursday and Friday
Evening with Senator Perata
Two night's accommodations
Awards BBQ
Commemorative gifts

$40,000
Two-day "gold" package
Golf for two on Thursday and Friday
Evening with Senator Perata
Two night's accommodations
Awards BBQ
Commemorative gifts

$35,000
One day "platinum" package
Golf for four on Friday
One night accommodation
Awards BBQ
Commemorative gifts

$25,000
One day "gold" package
Golf for two on Friday
One night accommodation
Awards BBQ
Commemorative gifts

$20,000
Premium single package
Golf for one on Thursday and Friday
Evening with Senator Perata
Two night's accommodation
Awards BBQ
Commemorative gifts

$10,000
Single golfer package
Golf for one on Friday
One night accommodation
Awards BBQ
Commemorative gifts

As we reported in this morning's AM Alert, the Pro Tem Cup is taking place at the Four Seasons Resort Aviara in North San Diego.

In an extended interview following last summer's revelations that she had an affair with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Mirthala Salinas tells Los Angeles Magazine that the tryst was a "learning experience" and that she apologized for hurting people.

"It was never my intention," Salinas said.

The interview appeared on magazine's Web site today.

Salinas outlines the timeline of her relationship with the mayor for the magazine and talks about her time spent with other, current Sacramento politicos, such as Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez:

By 2001, she had become a reporter and weekend anchor at Channel 52. Two years later, she began dang Assemblyman Fabian Núñez, who would soon become speaker. Núñez, she says, “had been divorced for eight or ten years.” Their relationship posed no ethical conflict with her work, she says, because she was not a political reporter, never interviewed him, and did no stories about issues in which he was involved. She says she told her supervisors about the relationship. “It was never a big deal.”

She says that she and Núñez were serious. “I mean, we met families. But I think the timing…he was in Sacramento, I was here. He was busy, I was working weekends. It was just hard.” After six or eight months, she says, they broke up. Núñez eventually remarried his former wife. Before the breakup, however, Salinas became a friend of his good friend Villaraigosa.

As for Sen. Alex Padilla, with whom Salinas was romantically linked, she said there was never anything there.

Alex Padilla? Where, Salinas wondered, had that name come from? She says—and a Padilla aide confirms—that she and Padilla had never done anything more than attend a couple of public events as friends. Indeed, almost comically old-fashioned, Salinas says she has been in love fewer than a half dozen times in her adult life.

Salinas said her friends encouraged her to take a shot with Villaraigosa. "I felt special," Salinas said. "OK, putting the whole world aside, the media scrutiny, the people hurt, I felt special. It was a beautiful feeling."

She also spoke about announcing on air that the mayor's marriage was ending.

“It felt like something in my stomach, like a ball in my stomach, like a hole in my stomach…something here.” She touches her abdomen. “I put myself like it wasn’t me, like it was another person doing what I was doing. I pretended I wasn’t reading it. At that moment, it was like it wasn’t me sitting at the news desk, doing the newscast.… It was something I wish I would not have done.”

Salinas also takes a none-too-subtle dig at Riverside, where she was to be transferred by Telemundo, the Spanish-language TV network where she worked, after news of the affair broke.

"It was a matter of dignity," she said. “They wanted me to go to Riverside. I wasn’t going to Riverside.”

She now hosts a Spanish-language talk-radio show...in Los Angeles.

Read the whole piece here.

An initiative to prevent farm animals from being confined in spaces so small that they can't lie down, stand up or turn around has qualified for the November ballot.

The Humane Society of the United States funded the signature-gathering effort for the measure, donating more than $1.4 million to the campaign.

"Many animals on industrial farms are confined in small cages or crates, and suffer tremendously," the Humane Society argues on its Web site.

The animal-rights group is sponsoring ballot measures this year in at least three other states: Alaska, North Dakota and Massachusetts.

The California measure is expected to garner opposition from agricultural interests, which have already raised more than $600,000 to defeat the measure and hired the Woodward & McDowell campaign office to run the Californians for Sound Animal Agriculture effort.

The single largest donor against the measure so far is United Egg Producers, which gave $175,000 to beat the measure last month.

When the Humane Society announced turning in the signatures for the measure in late February, the opposition campaign released a statement warning the measure "would trigger unintended consequences which are likely to include increased farm costs, decreased in-state production and higher egg prices for California families."

The attorney general's office title and summary for the measure is below:

Treatment of Farm Animals. Statute.
Requires that an enclosure or tether confining specified farm animals allow the animals for the majority of every day to fully extend their limbs or wings, lie down, stand up, and turn around. Specified animals include calves raised for veal, egg-laying hens, and pregnant pigs. Exceptions made for transportation, rodeos, fairs, 4-H programs, lawful slaughter, research and veterinary purposes. Provides misdemeanor penalties, including a fine not to exceed $1,000 and/or imprisonment in jail for up to 180 days. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Probably minor local and state enforcement and prosecution costs, partly offset by increased fine revenue. (Initiative 07-0041.)

You can read the three-page initiative here.

The measure is the second to qualify for the November ballot. The first, a bond to begin funding high-speed rail in California, has twice been delayed from the ballot by lawmakers.

Joe Mathews, the Los Angeles Times reporter turned New America Foundation fellow, has a different take on the $4 million money squabble between labor leaders and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez.

He says the speaker needs the money.

Mathews, on his Blockbuster Democracy blog, writes that a stockpile of campaign funds is critical for the modern California politician to govern.

"Politicians without a store of cash soon find it difficult to govern, because it's hard for them to credibly go to the ballot without a big, scary pile of greenbacks. It would be wrong if Nunez used the money for his own political career, as labor leaders say they fear. But he needs the money -- and ought to use it -- not for politics, but to govern," Mathews writes.

He goes on to say labor wants the money out of the speaker's hands in large part because of policy disagreements, namely on health care and Indian gaming.

"(I)t is no sin -- in fact, it is good politics AND good governance -- to keep a lot of cash on hand if you intend to make policy in California's blockbuster democracy," he concludes.

• Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, comes out against legislation to prevent the state's pension funds from investing in certain private equity funds to try to prevent human rights violations.

Schwarzenegger writes:

In 2006, we divested from Sudan because of its role in the ongoing genocide in Darfur. The next year, we banned investment in Iran because of that country's pursuit of nuclear weapons and its contributions to instability in the Middle East. I was proud to sign legislation making these moves, preventing California's pension funds from investing in companies with active businesses in two of the world's most offensive regimes.

Yes, California is concerned about human rights violations. However, this measure, AB 1967, is an ineffective way to demonstrate California's concern.

The bill, authored by Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, was pulled before its hearing today in the Assembly.

• The SF Chronicle's Matier and Ross report the sister of Art Torres, the chair of the California Democratic Party, is trying to become a delegate for Sen. Barack Obama at the national convention.

Her slogan: Marina Torres - the Calistoga Mama for Obama.

• Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, writes an op-ed in the Los Angeles Daily News saying the Los Angeles Unified School District, not Sacramento, is to blame for the shortage of education funds in L.A.

"The budget troubles plaguing the LAUSD should come as no surprise to district officials, especially since decisions they made last year led to the troubles this year," Runner writes.

• Over at Red County Placer, there's a bit of a scuffle between fellow members of the blogpen.

Red County contributor Jeff Flint, a Republican political consultant, has authored a post wondering if fellow contributor Aaron Park has falsely signed a petition helping his favored candidate, Sen. Tom McClintock, get on the ballot as a candidate for Congress.

Flint writes, "Since taking up the cause of Tom McClintock, Aaron has been relentless in attacking Doug Ose and defending McClintock from any attack. His dedication and bull-headedness in these pursuits has been single-minded."

"So wouldn't it be ironic if, in his zeal to support Tom McClintock, Aaron Park contributed to McClintock's downfall?"

If you think the Denham recall campaign has already gotten personal, don't forget that Sen. Jeff Denham and former Assemblyman Simon Salinas have already squared off once before in a $2.5 million campaign full of opposition research.

Hank Shaw at the Stockton Record has found an old campaign commercial from the 2000 Assembly showdown between the two.

It's a hard-hitting TV spot blasting Salinas for everything from his voting record to drunken driving. The Denham campaign certainly has enough campaign funds to pay TV ads before June.

The ad was posted on YouTube JC-Evans, Inc., a GOP political consulting firm. But since Shaw's post, the ad appears to have been taken down.

Below is the ad:

The California Labor Federation threw its weight behind Sen. Carole Migden in her three-way primary re-election fight and tapped dozens of other candidates -- mostly Democrats -- with official endorsements today.

Endorsements in competitive LA-area seats mirrored the Los Angeles Fed's choices announced several weeks ago and reported here.

The state organization picked Migden over Assemblyman Mark Leno and former Assemblyman Joe Nation in the San Francisco-Marin seat Migden is trying to hang on to. And the group picked Yolo County Supervisor Mariko Yamada over West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon in the 8th Assembly District race.

The Fed endorsed Republican Jim Ledford and Democrat Linda Jones in the 36th Assembly District.

More than 400 union delegates convened in LA to make the picks for legislative and congressional races.

See the full list here

Congress

1 Mike Thompson (D)
2 No Endorsement
3 Bill Durston (D)
4 Charlie Brown (D)
5 Doris Matsui (D)
6 Lynn Woolsey (D)
7 George Miller (D)
8 Nancy Pelosi (D)
9 Barbara Lee (D)
10 Ellen Tauscher (D)
11 Jerry McNerney (D)
12 Jackie Speier (D)
13 Pete Stark (D)
14 Anna Eshoo (D)
15 Mike Honda (D)
16 Zoe Lofgren (D)
17 Sam Farr (D)
18 Dennis Cardoza (D)
19 No Endorsement
20 Jim Costa (D)
21 Larry Johnson (D)
22 No Endorsement
23 Lois Capps (D)
24 DUAL: Mary Pallant (D) / Jill Martinez (D)
25 No Endorsement
26 DUAL: Cynthia Rodriguez Matthews (D) / Russ Warner (D)
27 Brad Sherman (D)
28 Howard Berman (D)
29 Adam Schiff (D)
30 Henry Waxman (D)
31 Xavier Becerra (D)
32 Hilda Solis (D)
33 Dianne Watson (D)
34 Lucille Roybal-Allard (D)
35 Maxine Waters (D)
36 No Endorsement
37 Laura Richardson (D)
38 Grace Napolitano (D)
39 Linda Sanchez (D)
40 Christina Avalos (D)
41 Pat Meagher (D)
42 Ed Chau (D)
43 Joe Baca (D)
44 Bill Hedrick (D)
45 Julie Bornstein (D)
46 Debbie Cook (D)
47 Loretta Sanchez (D)
48 Steven Young (D)
49 Robert Hamilton (D)
50 Nick Leibham (D)
51 Bob Filner (D)
52 Mike Lumpkin (D)
53 No Endorsement

California State Senate

1 No Endorsement (D)
3 Carole Migden (D)
5 Lois Wolk (D)
7 Mark DeSaulnier (D)
9 DUAL: Wilma Chan (D) / Loni Hancock (D)
11 Joe Simitian (D)
13 Elaine Alquist (D)
15 No Endorsement
17 No Endorsement
19 Hannah Beth Jackson (D)
21 Carol Liu (D)
23 Lloyd Levine (D)
25 Mervyn Dymally (D)
27 Alan Lowenthal (D)
29 No Endorsement
31 No Endorsement
33 No Endorsement
35 No Endorsement
37 Arthur Bravo Guerrero (D)
39 Christine Kehoe (D)

California State Assembly

1 Wesley Chesbro (D)
2 Paul Singh (D)
3 Mickey Harrington (D)
4 No Endorsement
5 Dan Leahy (D)
6 Jared Huffman (D)
7 Noreen Evans (D)
8 Mariko Yamada (D)
9 Dave Jones (D)
10 Alyson Huber (D)
11 Tom Torlakson (D)
12 Fiona Ma (D)
13 Tom Ammiano (D)
14 TRIPLE: Nancy Skinner (D) / Tony Thurmond (D) / Kriss Worthington (D)
15 Joan Buchanan (D)
16 Sandre R. Swanson (D)
17 Cathleen Galgiani (D)
18 Mary Hayashi (D)
19 Neutral (D)
20 Alberto Torrico (D)
21 Ira Ruskin (D)
22 DUAL: Dominic Caserta (D) / Paul Fong (D)
23 Joe Coto (D)
24 Jim Beall (D)
25 Taylor White (D)
26 John Eisenhut (D)
27 Bill Monning (D)
28 Anna Caballero (D)
29 No Endorsement
30 Fran Florez (D)
31 Juan Arambula (D)
32 No Endorsement
33 Robert Cuthbert (D)
34 Desmond Farrelly (D)
35 Pedro Nava (D)
36 Linda Jones (D) / Jim Ledford (R)
37 Ferial Masry (D)
38 Carole Lutness (D)
39 Felipe Fuentes (D)
40 Bob Blumenfield (D)
41 Julia Brownley (D)
42 Michael Feuer (D)
43 Paul Krekorian (D)
44 Anthony Portantino (D)
45 Kevin DeLeon (D)
46 John A. Perez (D)
47 Karen Bass (D)
48 Mike Davis (D)
49 Mike Eng (D)
50 Hector De La Torre (D)
51 Curren Price (D)
52 Isadore Hall (D)
53 Ted Lieu (D)
54 DUAL: Bonnie Lowenthal (D) / Tonia Reyes-Uranga (D)
55 Warren Furutani (D)
56 Tony Mendoza (D)
57 Ed Hernandez (D)
58 Charles Calderon (D)
59 Don Williamson (D)
60 No Endorsement
61 Norma Torres (D)
62 Wilmer Amina Carter (D)
63 Jonathan Abraham (D)
64 No Endorsement
65 Carl Wood (D)
66 Grey Frandsen (D)
67 Steve Blount (D)
68 No Endorsement
69 Jose Solorio (D)
70 No Endorsement
71 No Endorsement
72 John MacMurray (D)
73 No Endorsement
74 No Endorsement
75 No Endorsement
76 Lori Saldana (D)
77 No Endorsement
78 Marty Block (D)
79 No Endorsement
80 DUAL: Greg Pettis (D) / Manuel Perez (D)

Ballot Propositions

98 Vote NO
99 Vote YES

The California Labor Federation unanimously approved a resolution Monday urging Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez to return $4 million from the state Democratic Party that should go toward helping other Democratic candidates, Capitol Weekly is reporting.

UPDATED: Steve Maviglio of the speaker’s offices says the resolution doesn’t specifically call on the speaker to return the funds. He said the resolution only urges the speaker to put the money toward electing Democratic candidates.

(This post’s headline has been updated to reflect Maviglio’s comment.)

Capitol Weekly has updated their story as well and has more :

The executive council of the California Labor Federation, meeting privately at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, unanimously approved the resolution Monday night urging Nunez to return the money “for the purpose for which it was originally intended,” according to three ranking officials familiar with the action.

"The speaker has been the largest fundraiser of the Democratic Party in recent memory. He fully funded all the legislative races. We had 48 Democrats in '04 and '06, and he raised money in the '05 special election," he said. "He has sided with labor on all those issues. We don't question how labor runs its operations. It's unfortunate they don't offer the same consideration to the speaker."
But spending reports from the Secretary of State's office show Nunez has only spent about $1.4 million out of his campaign account since 2005. In those four years, only $153,000 has been spent on candidate contributions, the records indicate. The largest benefactor was Kevin Shelly's legal defense fund, which received $15,000 from Nunez in 2005, before the $4 million from the party was received.

Two factions of the overwhelmingly Democratic motion picture industry - management and labor - fought it out before the state Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, and the writers' and actors' unions won.

The committee, by a 3-1 vote, approved a bill by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, that's aimed at outlawing self-dealing in sales of movies and television shows among media conglomerates.

The unions contend that sweetheart deals lower the book value of the cinematic products and therefore cut into the residual payments to actors and writers. It was an issue in the recently settled Hollywood writers' strike and the final contract protected the writers' interests in so-called "new media," but left movies and TV shows untouched.

Dan Glickman, head of the Motion Picture Association of America, complained that Kuehl's bill reopened issues that had already been settled by collective bargaining but the senator - a former actress - said it was needed to curb the monopolistic power of media conglomerates.

The measure, Senate Bill 1765, requires properties to be sold at "fair market value," although the definition is somewhat vague and Kuehl promised to tighten up the language as the bill continues its path through the Legislature.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger likes his kids to think he's a bit kooky - and more for his parenting skills than for making a male-pregnancy film like "Junior."

"The kids should always be a little bit thrown off," Schwarzenegger said. "They say, 'My father's a little odd.' My kids always say, 'We don't know what he's up to. He's a strange guy. You know, we're worried about him.' That's the way I like it. I want them to love me, but I want them to be worried about me, and then we keep things much more under control."

Schwarzenegger, a father of four, explained how parents should constantly monitor their kids "by being little investigators." Among his tips: Search through their school bags, look at the numbers stored on their phones, check out where they hang out and whom they hang out with.

"Find out who they are spending the night with (at sleepovers) ... how many kids are over there," he said. "Sometimes make a midnight stop, as unpleasant as it is for everyone. But I think it's very important to do things like that."

Schwarzenegger, taking a break from talking about the budget in Modesto to opine on parenting, said drug use "happens in most schools, even though parents sometimes will want to look the other way."

"I think that our kids have not gotten involved in drugs, in alcohol, in dope, smoking grass or any of those kinds of things, because we talk to them," Schwarzenegger said.

(Schwarzenegger could have told his kids about his own experience in that area. In outtakes of the DVD version of "Pumping Iron," Schwarzenegger is captured smoking a marijuana joint. He later told AP, "The bottom line is that's what it was in the '70s, that's what I did. I have never touched it since.")

Unsolicited parenting advice isn't unusual for Schwarzenegger. A couple years ago, the governor famously warned in a public forum that he'd take away the car keys from his oldest daughter, Katherine, if he ever saw her chatting on her cell phone while driving.

Political consultant Robin Swanson has left her boss to launch her own firm, Swanson Communications.

Swanson says "it was time" after working 6-1/2 years in Gale Kaufman's shop, Kaufman Campaign Consultants, where she was named a "rising star" by Campaigns and Elections magazine. Prior to that, she worked on Capitol Hill for six years.

Swanson will continue to be the spokeswoman for the Education Coalition as the group fights proposed budget cuts. In 2006, she served as spokeswoman for the No on Proposition 89 and Yes on 1D campaigns.

She worked for the union-led, anti-Schwarzenegger Alliance for a Better California in 2005, and as spokeswoman for Assemblywoman Nicole Parra's contested reelection bid in 2004.

Swanson promises her campaigns will be more inspired than her new firm's name.

With San Francisco set as the only North American stop for the Olympic torch relay this Wednesday, protesters of China's policies toward Tibet are using the activist city as a venue to voice their grievances.

In San Francisco today, protesters will host a Tibetan Freedom Torch Ceremony, which will include a press conference, a march and a rally.

The event comes a day after protesters hung "Free Tibet" protest banners on the Golden Gate Bridge.

In the evening there will be a candlelight vigil by protesters, with actor Richard Gere, a longtime Buddhist activist, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu set to attend.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein weighed in on the growing Olympics controversy again on Monday, introducing a bipartisan resolution (there are 13 co-sponsors) condemning violence in Tibet.

“I urge the leadership in China to begin the process of open substantive dialogue with the Dalai Lama on meaningful Tibetan religious and cultural autonomy within the People’s Republic of China,” Feinstein said in a statement.

The torch is set to travel through San Francisco on April 9.

The stops in London and Paris earlier this week, though ended with dozens of arrests, and included the torch being extinguised and placed on a bus in Paris.

Turns out the French do like Americans … er, American rock music.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger surprised the new French ambassador to the United States with a personalized iPod filled with music by the Beach Boys, Green Day, Guns and Roses, Metallica, Grateful Dead, Van Halen, Journey, Steve Miller Band, among others.

Ambassador Pierre Vimont spoke privately with the governor in his Capitol office today about the possibility of high-speed rail in California. The state has a $10 billion bond on the November ballot that would jumpstart construction on a line between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Vimont is expected to sign a cooperation agreement later today with California High-Speed Rail Authority Chairman Quentin Kopp.

Joe Shell, who served in the state Assembly for 10 years before running for governor in 1962 - and being defeated for the Republican nomination by Richard Nixon - died at his Bakersfield home Monday. He was 89.

Shell, a World War II combat pilot and independent oilman, was elected to the Assembly in 1952 from a Los Angeles County district and was GOP floor leader when he ran for governor. He later resumed the oil business in Kern County and saw his wife, Mary, become mayor of Bakersfield and later a Kern County supervisor.

Shell was instrumental in persuading an old friend, George Deukmejian, to run for governor in 1982 and was later appointed to the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board by Deukmejian. He resigned in 1991, saying the board had too few duties to justify having five full-time members. He occasionally lobbied for independent oil producers.

Paul Hefner, spokesman for Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, is taking issue with a line in the radio ad Sen. Jeff Denham is running to defend himself from a recall attempt.

The ad, released Friday, says: "When a public official is guilty of malfeasance or criminal conduct in office, the California Constitution provides for the right to recall."

While it's true that public officials can be recalled for malfeasance or criminal conduct, the ad seeks to leave the impression that those are the only grounds allowed. In fact, the California Constitution is deliberately vague on the question.

The applicable section says: "Recall of a state officer is initiated by delivering
to the Secretary of State a petition alleging reason for recall. Sufficiency of reason is not reviewable."

In defending the ad, Denham political consultant Kevin Spillane argued that "political scientists and legal officials" have reached a wide consensus that the use of recall should be rare.

"This is actually an abuse of the recall process, used in rare cases," he said. "Just because you don't like an election result, it doesn't mean that you get to have a do-over."

Attorney General Jerry Brown turns 70 today. And, if his speech to Democrats at the state convention at the end of March is any indication, he may be plotting a return to the governorship.

"I don't do too much these days except sue people,” Brown told the crowd. “But someday maybe I'll get around to doing more than that, and hopefully you'll help."

In an interview later that day with The Bee's Peter Hecht, Brown said of running for governor, "I'm not ruling it out. I'm fully engaged in my work as attorney general. I've got my hands full. ... But that doesn't mean I can't reflect on the future in the late hours after work."

Though Brown served two terms as governor, winning election in 1974 and 1978, that came before the state's term limits, so he's eligible for another go-round.

He’ll be 72 in 2010.

Attorney General Jerry Brown speaking at the state Democratic convention at the end of March. Photo Credit: Brian Baer, Sacramento Bee, March 29

• Sen. Tom Torlakson makes the case for getting rid of the two-thirds vote requirement to pass budgets and raise taxes.

"The failure to resolve the ongoing state budget stalemate has grown into nothing less than a serious constitutional crisis," he writes.

Nowhere does he write, "make it so the votes of legislative Republicans are irrelevant."

• Today is the first day of the qualification period for write-in candidates for the June legislative primaries.

Download the necessary information from the Secretary of State's Office here to run.

• An anonymous campaign Web site attacking Democratic Assembly candidate Greg Pettis has been taken down, the Desert Sun reports.

All the 80th Assembly District campaigns - in both parties - have so far denied any knowledge about the Web site.

The Secretary of State has no record of a campaign filing for the site. But someone knows: (the owner of the Web site) recently took out a $300 ad with Capitol Weekly.

• Roy Rivenburg, a freelancer, authors a series of humor-filled suggestions for balancing California's out-of whack budget in the Los Angeles Times. The piece's headline says it all, "And Arnold could open for Hannah Montana."

Among the ideas:

The Indian Gaming Transportation Improvement Act of 2008: Under this measure, Caltrans would close all freeway exits and roads leading to Indian casinos -- unless the tribes pay a small highway maintenance fee of, say, $2 billion a year.

The Shawshank Redemption (a.k.a. the DreamWorks Nightmare): In recognition of entertainment mogul David Geffen's pioneering efforts to block public access to the beach near his Malibu mansion, California announces plans to build a state prison on the shoreline abutting his property. Alternative sites would be considered only if Geffen paid a $1-billion processing fee. For an additional billion, the California Coastal Commission would officially change the name of the Pacific Ocean to the Geffen Sea.

The chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority will sign an international cooperation agreement to share rail technology today with the French ambassador to the United States.

Chairman Quentin Kopp will open the San Francisco French-American Chamber of Commerce's gala by signing the agreement with Ambassador Pierre Vimont.

According to the chamber, California and France share a commitment on sustainable development. "As a major sustainable transportation concept, high-speed rail is a great opportunity for cooperation, and for many years, France has shown interest to the California project," the chamber writes on its Web site.

France enjoys a 1,150-mile network that boasts 100 million passengers a year.

California has a $10 billion bond on the November ballot to begin constructing its own high-speed rail system.

Starting Monday, all bills that have a general fund cost of $50,000 or more will automatically go to the Senate suspense file, which never bodes well for lawmakers looking to keep their bills alive.

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata sent out a message Friday notifying members of the change in light of the current budget crisis.

Normally, the Senate Appropriations Committee places bills on suspense if they cost more than $150,000. The sudden rule change will mean that most bills will end up in the suspense file.

Exceptions will be made, however, for bills paid for through special funds. On the Appropriations Committee agenda is a bill by Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Readlands.

Emmerson's Assembly Bill 450 would restore $1.5 million in funding for the Board of Chiropractic Examiners even though the board was criticized in a recent audit for violating open meeting laws and failing to chase down wayward practitioners.

Emmerson’s bill would pull money from license fees rather than the general fund.

Former Assemblyman Simon Salinas told Capitol Alert on Friday that he will put his name on the ballot as the Democratic alternative in the recall campaign of Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Atwater.

The move sets up a rematch between Salinas, a three-term assemblyman who left office in 2006, and Denham, who lost to Salinas in a $2.5 million Assembly campaign in 2000.

"It's crunch time and I've decided I am going to put my name in the ring," Salinas said in the interview.

With 60 days until the recall, which the governor combined with the June 3 legislative primaries, the campaign is already in full swing, with the recall effort airing TV attack ads on Denham this week and Denham countering with a radio commercial.

The state Democratic Party deposited $360,000 in funds this week to support the recall, while Denham transferred more than $150,000 from his old campaign account to fight the recall.

Democratic leaders had hoped Salinas would challenge Denham in 2006, but he opted instead to run for the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, a race he won. Denham cruised to reelection with nearly 60 percent of the vote.

Salinas said he has been eyeing the recall since the signature-gathering stage in late 2007, but "wanted to see what the reaction would be of the voters."

His old Assembly seat, Salinas said, covered roughly one-third of the sprawling Senate District 12, which stretches from Merced to within miles of the Monterey coast.

Earlier Friday, another would-be Democratic candidate, Assemblywoman Anna Caballero of Salinas, announced she would not run, saying she was "fully committed" to her current legislative work in the Assembly.

"I'm honored that so many people I respect would want me to represent them in the Senate," Caballero said in a prepared statement, adding that moving over to the Senate "doesn't make sense to me."

Earlier this week, another third rumored Democratic candidate, Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse, also dropped out of the hunt.

The recall campaign has already turned bitterly partisan. The first anti-Denham TV ad accuses Denham of "sleepwalking" in the Senate, while Denham spokesman Kevin Spillane has accused Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, who has backed the recall, of being a "petulant power grabber."

Salinas said his effort would be separate from that of the Democrats running to recall. "The recall is going to have their campaign, and I am going to have mine," he said, though he wouldn't mind some financial support from Sacramento.

"If I'm the only (Democrat), hopefully they can provide support," Salinas said.

Sen. Jeff Denham is on the air himself now in his effort to survive a recall attempt, calling the campaign against him a "vindictive" move by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata.

Here's the script of the ad, which the Denham campaign titled "Just Plain Wrong":

"When a public official is guilty of malfeasance or criminal conduct in office, the California Constitution provides for the right to recall.

But no such accusations have been made against Senator Jeff Denham.

His only crime? Refusing to vote for a budget he said was billions out of balance - and he was right.

And that's why Senate Leader Don Perata's vindictive recall campaign against Senator Denham has been so widely condemned by throughout the district by elected Democrats and Republicans alike.

The Monterey County Herald called it an "Abuse of the ballot box."

The Madera Tribune calls it a "sham."

"Petty politics" adds the Hollister Freelance.

"Unjustified" says the Fresno Bee.

And the Merced Sun-Star says this recall is "Just plain wrong."

To add your name to the growing list of citizens opposed to the recall, visit www.JoinWithJeff.com."

Listen to the ad here.

California Democratic Party Chair Art Torres proudly reports Stanislaus County has joined the ranks of Democratic-plurality counties in the state.

See the latest voter registration data here, which shows 86,702 registered Republicans and 87,709 registered Democrats.

Torres issued a statement:

“When Stanislaus County voters went to the polls in November 2006, the Republicans outnumbered the Democrats by more than 4,000 voters, a two-point registration advantage. Thanks to the hard work of local party activists in Stanislaus County and a Democratic Presidential primary that energized and inspired many new Democrats, the Republican advantage was narrowed earlier this year. Now, as of the end of March, Democrats maintain a registration lead of more than 1,000 voters and we’re not turning back."

Also of note: Sen. Jeff Denham's district includes portions of Stanislaus County.

California Rep. Devin Nunes, fresh from a congressional trip to South Africa where he was joined by a "pretty liberal group of folks," voted with Democrats to support a $50 billion AIDS relief package.

Michael Doyle of the McClatchy Washington Bureau has the story.

"It's one thing to hear about a problem," Nunes said Thursday. "It's another thing to see it for yourself. This was horrendous.”

Conservatives like to say that a conservative is a liberal who's been mugged by reality, but on the trip it was the conservative Nunes who was mugged by the reality of life in South Africa.

Want to eat spaghetti with a potential congresswoman? Former Sen. Jackie Speier is giving supporters at chance at to do just that this Sunday with an Italian-style dinner at the Machinist's Hall in Burlingame.

Children eat free and the price for adults starts at the suggested donation level of $10.

Speier is expected to finish first in the race to replace the late Rep. Tom Lantos next Tuesday.

She's also got a pancake breakfast in San Francisco on Sunday, if pasta's not your thing.

If the new ads are to be believed, Sen. Jeff Denham is a narcoleptic, massage-loving gambler who's hurting schools and taking secret pay raises on the job.

Proponents of the recall effort against him, funded by a combination of money from the state Democratic Party and a campaign committee linked to Senate leader Don Perata, have begun airing two attack ads against him.

Denham political consultant Kevin Spillane said the ads reflect a personal vendetta by Perata over Denham's budget vote last year.

"Perata doesn't like the fact that he couldn't bully Denham into voting the way he Perata wanted," Spillane said. "Perata takes it personally, and he's willing to abuse the recall process because of his own personal agenda."

As for the issues brought up in the ad, Spillane said, "they're throwing anything they can make up against the wall and seeing if they can get it to stick. The bottom line is all of their charges are misleading and baseless."

Spillane said spending by Denham criticized in the ad was for "legitimate political and fundraising expenses." A trip to Sedona, for example, was for a political meeting with Republican presidential candidate and Sen. John McCain.

The ads also make reference to a Capitol Alert post on Denham's pay-raise history.

The television spot is below. We at Capitol Alert particularly like the massage sequence.

Here's the script for the radio ad:

"The MGM grand? Sedona?

I thought we sent Jeff Denham to Sacramento.

MAN: Wait a minute. The MGM is in Vegas.

WOMAN: Well, Denham has been racking up the frequent flier miles.

MAN: To Vegas and Sedona?

WOMAN: uh hm -- to the number one "Destination Spa."[4][4]

MAN: Sounds like a free vacation.

WOMAN: More like a recipe for jetlag. When Denham finally makes it to Sacramento, he's practically sleepwalking.

MAN: What do you mean?

WOMAN: He held up the budget, hurting our schools. And remember how he said he wouldn't take pay raises?

MAN: Oh, you don't mean --

WOMAN: You guessed it. Denham secretly raised his pay - three times - when he thought no one was looking.[5][5] The Fresno Bee called it "not quite honest."[6][6]

MAN: Well that's an understatement.

WOMAN: And that's why I'm voting yes on the recall. After all, don't we deserve better?"

The California State Auditor released its semi-annual report on abuses by state workers, which includes a $592 meal for employees at the Chancellor’s Office of the California State University, 727 hours on unaccounted leave costing $18,000 at the Department of Justice and a drunk employee at the Employment Development Department.

The list, which can be found in full here, is relatively tame, though it does include one big-ticket item costing $2.4 million.

The auditor explains:

The Department of Justice (Justice) created inefficiency when it entered into a series of side letters negotiated directly with a bargaining unit. These side letters were not submitted to the Department of Personnel Administration, nor were they ratified by the Legislature. As a result, Justice absorbed the salaries and benefits of four employees who were released from work full-time over a 12-year span to participate in union-related activities at a cost of $2.4 million. However, Justice is unlikely to recover these costs because the bargaining unit relied on the side letters.

As for the drunken EDD employee, the auditor reports, he “drank alcoholic beverages during work hours and his drinking impeded his ability to safely perform his duties. Further, his supervisors had been aware of the situation for years.”

Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse, a Democrat, has announced that he will not run in the recall election of Sen. Jeff Denham.

"Although there is so much that can and should be done in state government, my responsibility is to the people who elected me," he said a statement given to the Merced Sun-Star.

Former Democratic Assemblyman Simon Salinas has also expressed interest in the seat.

Meanwhile, Hank Shaw of the Stockton Record blogs about the Denham campaign's event today criticizing how signatures were gathered to qualify the recall:

What is highly amusing is that the Denham folks are asking local law enforcement to investigate the matter. Why is this amusing? Because the man who would be responsible for such an investigation would be none other than ... Larry Morse, the Merced County District Attorney. Yes, the same Larry Morse who would have clearly been Denham's most formidible opponent in the recall, had he chosen to pull the trigger.

Denham's frustration with the Democratic leadership who funded the recall, a campaign committee tied to Senate leader Don Perata and the Democratic Party that provided the necessary funds, is increasingly spilling into the Capitol.

On Tuesday, Denham challenged the Senate leadership on the floor to bring Darcel Woods, a Board of Parole Hearings appointee held in Rules Committee, to the floor for a vote.

But he lost in a procedural maneuver, outvoted by majority Democrats.

"The leadership of this house is engaging in blatant discrimination against Commissioner Darcel Woods. Yes, discrimination of a horrible nature is going on in this situation," Denham said.

Then at today's Senate Education Committee hearing, Republicans tried to block legislation by Sen. Gil Cedillo by citing a rule that does not allow members to reintroduce substantially the same bill twice in a legislative session.

Denham and Cedillo began a back and forth about the Rules Committee before Sen. Jack Scott, the panel's chair, intervened.

Ultimately, the Republicans were overruled by Scott, as Denham accused the Democrats of "an abuse of power."

Redistricting is an inherently political process, as the adage goes.

So Brian Olson, a computer programmer whose Web site says he works for Google, designed a computer program to automatically draw district boundaries based on the principle that allows people to "have the lowest average distance to the center of their district."

There are obviously problems with this methodology, starting with the fact that it wouldn't pass in court because it does not take into account requirements in the Voting Rights Act.

As the Rose Report, the blog of the Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College, notes, "Geographic areas such as mountains or lakes are not included (what if a district is bisected by a large mountain range with a small portion living on the other side of the mountain, they would be split from the rest of the district.) City and County borders are also not included. A valiant attempt, but still a lot of holes."

Check out the congressional maps below, posted by Olson. The left shows districts as currently drawn. The right is his computer model.

Even Olson seems to admit the solution isn't perfect, but he's posted the open-source computer code, here so ""someone interested should definitely be able to take this and start tinkering with alternate solving algorithms in pretty short order."

If you want to see just how polarized the debate in California is over taxes, look no further than today's column by Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers' Association, in the Orange County Register.

In fact, look no further than the headline, which reads, "No tax loopholes merit closing."

Coupal lays out the conservative argument that "even if some tax credits actually deserve the label of "loophole," government simply does not need more money."

It's an argument that resonates with much of the Republican caucus in Sacramento and portends ill for any attempt by Democrats or GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to extract concessions.

Schwarzenegger has steadfastly said he doesn't want to raise taxes, but he's shifted the definition of tax-raising to not include tax-loophole closing.

As the governor said in early March, "Well, you know everyone has their own position. I have mine. I think we should not get caught up on what is something called, and what is the definition of something because that doesn’t bring anyone any health care." It doesn’t bring anyone any education. It doesn’t hire teachers. It doesn’t expand our education programs or anything."

He continued, "What we need to do is fix problems and just put everything on the table and not debate what the definition of something is. But just say, everyone has to participate and everyone has to contribute in order to get this done."

But, as Coupal writes, "those of us who represent taxpayers must remember our starting point. Specifically, that government is too big, too wasteful and too corrupt to be entrusted with any more money."

As part of the effort to trim the Legislature's budget, the Assembly announced in an e-mail to lower house offices that each would have a maximum $350 monthly travel budget for staff.

That includes "district mileage reimbursements, per diem, airfare, tolls, parking" and other travel costs. The Assembly has also offered a "golden handshake" deal to senior employees as a means to cut costs, though some have questioned its efficacy.

The Senate has not announced its cost-cutting measures.

The Assembly memo is reprinted below:

The Assembly Rules Committee established a staff travel expense limitation of $350 per month for each Member’s office. All staff travel is included within this limitation, including district mileage reimbursements, per diem, airfare, tolls, parking, etc.

Please remember that travel claims must be submitted for reimbursement within 90 days after the date of travel.

Somewhat fittingly, the local 5th Congressional District caucus to pick Sen. Hillary Clinton delegates will be held at the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria, named after Sacramento developer Angelo K. Tsakopoulos, a longtime Clinton donor.

The California Democratic Party has announced sites for most of the 106 caucuses that will take place April 13 to select local-level delegates for the national convention. The Bee reported Sunday on the record level of applicants trying to punch their ticket to Denver.

All Democrats can participate in their local congressional district contests starting at 2 p.m. Each of the state's 53 congressional districts will host a Clinton caucus and a Sen. Barack Obama caucus. The Clinton caucuses can be found here, and the Obama caucuses here.

The website warns that locations are subject to change.

Not only will the Clinton caucus in Sacramento take place at the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria, but it will be overseen by Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis, the daughter of Angelo K. Tsakopoulos and a major Clinton donor and fundraiser. Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis is running to be an at-large pledged delegate, one of 44 that Clinton will get to choose in May.

Each campaign gets to choose its own "conveners" to run the caucuses in the 53 congressional districts.

In Sacramento's 5th Congressional District, Obama delegate aspirants are scheduled to caucus at the Rancho Cordova Senior Center, 3480 Routier Road, Sacramento, CA 95827.

The 1st Congressional District is scheduled to have two Clinton caucus locations because of its unusually large geography. The district spans from the North Coast border with Oregon down to the Tower Bridge in West Sacramento. The caucus sites are in Eureka and Napa, and organizers at each site will contact one another after the votes are tallied to determine who goes to Denver from that district, said party spokesman Bob Mulholland.

San Francisco Sen. Carole Migden won a preliminary injunction in federal court today for the right to use $647,000 in campaign funds.

Aurelio Rojas has the full story.

Art Torres has been a fixture at the helm of the California Democratic Party since 1996, when he stepped in as party chairman after Bill Press went off to paid punditry at CNN. Now Torres, who was elected to four-year terms in 1997, 2001 and 2005 is playing out his final year after presiding over the Democrats recent convention in San Jose.

"Art has made it clear for the last three or four years that this is his last term," said party consultant and veteran activist Bob Mulholland.

Torre's replacement will be elected in 2009 at the April 24-26 state convention in Sacramento. And the political jockeying is already under way to replace him.

Eric Bauman, leader of the Los Angeles County Dems, the former Southern California office manager for Gov. Gray Davis and currently L.A. boss for Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, announced in an e-mail before the convention that he covets the party chairman's job.

Other wannabes are said to be Francine Busby, the former Cardiff school board member who ran strongly but lost in a overwhelming Republican district in a bid to replace imprisoned Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Also rumored to be in the bidding is Alexandra "Alex" Gallardo-Rooker, the party's first vice chair and an executive board member for the Communications Workers of America.

Outgoing Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez has told friends he doesn't want the party chair gig, but speculation persists he may change his mind. Others to watch for are former state Assembly Democratic leader Dario Frommer of Glendale and perhaps termed-out Senate leader Don Perata.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today set a special recall election for June 3 in Sen. Jeff Denham's 12th Senate District.

Denham, a Central Valley Republican, ticked off Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata when he helped prolong a 52-day budget standoff. The state Democratic Party and a committee tied to Perata spent nearly $300,000 to gather more than 61,000 signatures to qualify the recall.

Voters will be asked if they want to recall Denham and to pick a replacement should the recall succeed. The June 3 recall coincides with the regularly scheduled state primary election.