Capitol Alert

The following is a list of Republican state lawmakers who are either delegates or alternate delegates to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul:

Senate
Dick Ackerman
Jim Battin
Dave Cogdill
Dave Cox

Assembly
Joel Anderson
Paul Cook
Bonnie Garcia
George Plescia
Cameron Smyth
Van Tran
Mike Villines

This year's budget impasse forced 31 Democratic lawmakers to miss out on much of last week's celebration, er, convention in Denver.

And now it looks like the 11 Republican legislators with tickets to the GOP national convention in St. Paul could miss out, too.

Senate leader Don Perata's decree Saturday that the Legislature will meet daily until there's a budget could force Senate Republicans to stick around Sacramento, much as Democrats were forced to do last week.

A daily 4 p.m. session, as Perata has promised, would make it all but impossible for Senate Republicans to enjoy the festivities in St. Paul.

And in the Assembly, Speaker Karen Bass plans to order all members to remain "three hours from the Capitol at all times," according to spokesman Steve Maviglio.

That could preclude them from traveling to the Republican National Convention in Minnesota.

As of Friday, several Assembly Republican lawmakers had still planned to attend the convention, with the intent of returning should a budget vote be scheduled.

"If we're on call, then I'm not (going)" said GOP Assemblyman Joel Anderson. "My number one priority is the budget."

"I am planning on attending the convention unless we have votes," said Republican Assemblyman George Plescia. "We're in a little different situation than the Democrats. Their (convention) happened to be when we were in legislative session, with a lot of bills to deal with."

The two GOP leaders -- Dave Cogdill and Mike Villines -- were already expected to skip the convention to remain in town for budget negotiations.

"I've cancelled my plans," said Villines on Friday.

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata announced Saturday that the Senate will convene every day - including weekends -- until lawmakers pass a state budget, which is now 61 days overdue.

"Under the emergency circumstance, for us to be anywhere but here, on the floor, prepared to take up a bill would be wrongheaded, and we won't do it," Perata said.

The Oakland Democrat put a Democratic-backed budget up for a vote of the full Senate for the first time on Friday. Perata said he was "disappointed" that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had not done more to corral support for the package from lawmakers from his own party.

"He has not been willing to talk to any of my Republican colleagues, apparently," Perata said.

The Friday budget vote failed with no GOP support. At least two Republicans in the Senate must support a spending plan for it to pass with the necessary two-thirds supermajority.

The rare Saturday legislative session brought other new developments in the budget impasse, though little progress.

Legislative Republicans unveiled the broad outline of a budget plan for the first time, one they say would balance the budget without new taxes.

Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association President Jon Coupal quickly issued a statement saying the plan "will force the Legislature to stop their reckless overspending once and for all."

But Schwarzenegger was more critical, calling the plan "not fiscally responsible" in his own statement.

"I applaud the Republicans for proposing a budget and moving the debate forward. That said, their budget is not fiscally responsible because it simply pushes our problems to next year. We were sent to Sacramento to solve problems once and for all - not kick the can down the alley for others to deal with in the future," the governor said.

Perata has promised a floor debate for any Senate GOP proposal, though it could take Republicans a week to finalize a spending plan.

At the close of session, Republican Sen. Jim Battin rose to challenge Perata's decision to hold session daily, asking why Democrats haven't met every day for the last two months.

"That was then, this is now," Perata replied.

Battin then said of any Republican budget plan in the Democratic-controlled Senate: "My expectation is it will fail."

"Then what happens?" questioned the Inland Empire lawmaker.

"Let's not prejudge," retorted Perata, saying Republicans could unveil a spending plan that "might knock our socks off."

Battin chuckled. Kind of.

But daily sessions might not be so funny for the eleven Republican state lawmakers, including Battin, who are delegates or alternates at the Republican National Convention set to begin on Monday in St. Paul.

Read Capitol Alert's story on that here.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen declared Friday that it is now too late to add any more measures to the November ballot, saying "any more changes would seriously jeopardize the integrity of the election."

Bowen, a Democrat, put her foot down after weeks of speculation in the Capitol as to how far lawmakers and governor could push back the elections calendar.

"We are at the point where that is unacceptable," Bowen said of further changes to the ballot. She instructed local elections officials to "move forward with election preparations," according to her office.

As Capitol Alert reported earlier Friday, ballots are set to be mailed to military service members serving abroad on Sept. 5. Elections officials were warning that their voting rights would be put in jeopardy with further ballot delays.

"We want to make sure that the military gets their ballots," said Jill LaVine, the registrar of voters in Sacramento County.

The declaration by Bowen gives cover to the state's 58 county registrars to begin printing those ballots.

"You just don't know how excited I am," said Rebecca Martinez, the registrar in Madera County and president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials. "It gives us the authority to go ahead and move forward without waiting any longer."

Why is the passing deadline important?

Because throughout the two-month budget impasse, lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have said that pairing a spending plan with an overhaul of the budgeting system is key to striking a deal.

"Without budget reform I think that everybody agrees these negotiations look much different," said Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear. "The Legislature needs to get their job done. They are days away from a record for the longest budget impasse of all time, which says a lot for California."

McLear added later that the governor's office is "not conceding" that the deadline has passed. "It is upon us," he said, urging the Legislature to act immediately.

But as the date bore down on the leaders, they've begun openly talking about placing any measures paired with a budget on a 2009 special election ballot.

"With several big cities having mayoral elections next year, it might not be all that expensive," said Assembly Speaker Karen Bass earlier this week.

The state's biggest city, Los Angeles, has a mayoral election in early 2009.

No deal on the budget appears imminent.

Earlier today, Republicans in the state Senate voted down a modified version of Schwarzenegger's latest budget proposal. Despite the support of the GOP governor, the bill failed along party lines, with no Republicans in support. One Democrat, Sen. Lou Correa of Orange County, abstained. As of late afternoon, the roll call vote remained open on the budget, with 24 votes in favor (all Democrats) and 15 opposed (all Republicans).

Here's the full text of Bowen's statement:

"Rumors have swirled about changing timelines for last-minute ballot measures, so I want to reiterate: The statutory deadline for placing legislative measures on the ballot was June 26. In the past, the Legislature and the Governor have chosen to waive laws and place measures on the ballot after the deadline. We are at the point where that is unacceptable. At this late date, 67 days before the election, any more changes would seriously jeopardize the integrity of the election.

"Every day elections officials are forced to delay increases the risk of error and the likelihood that voters will be disenfranchised. I know lawmakers and the Governor care as much as I do about ensuring every ballot is counted accurately in the November 4 election."

The California Correctional Peace Officers Association, which has come under fire this week for donating nearly $600,000 in the waning days of session to Senate leader Don Perata, has given another $250,000 to the campaign to defeat Proposition 11.

Perata, an Oakland Democrat, is one of the unofficial leaders of that campaign, and the prison guards union has said the other donations to Perata were ultimately intended to oppose Proposition 11, a redistricting measure.

"We are 100 percent opposed to Proposition 11," said Lance Corcoran, a CCPOA spokesman.

The latest CCPOA donation, filed on Thursday, is only the second contribution received by the No on 11 campaign, following a $25,000 donation earlier this month from a construction union. The California Democratic Party contributed another $75,000 on Thursday, campaign records show.

The guards union is opening its political wallet at the same time it is seeking a raise for its members at the close of the legislative calendar.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger blasted the CCPOA donation to Perata earlier this week. "Let me just say that this money exchange is terrible for the people of California," the governor said. He is a backer of the redistricting measure the union is opposing.

Lance Corcoran, a CCPOA spokesman, and Paul Hefner, a Perata and No on 11 spokesman, accused the governor of hypocrisy. Schwarzenegger has collected more than $2.4 million from various interests and passed it on to a political committee backing Proposition 11.

"You've got a governor who has raised more special-interest contributions than any politician in California history and is holding five- and six-figure fundraisers across the street from the Capitol, and he's criticizing people who are trying to thwart his political agenda," Hefner told The Bee earlier this week.

Backers of Proposition 11 filed a complaint Thursday with the state's watchdog agency over the $577,000 in donations the correctional officers' union made to Perata.

Though the tally isn't final yet, the state Senate budget vote failed along party lines, with 24 votes in favor and 15 against.

The lone abstention was moderate Democratic Sen. Lou Correa of Orange County.

See sacbee.com for more.

Here's what Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata had to say about the budget he put up on the Senate floor this morning. Republicans have not put up any votes for the package.

"On August 20, the governor presented the media with his August Compromise Budget. He said it was etched in stone.

What we take up this morning is essentially that budget.

The governor wanted:

- Budget reform to limit spending. He gets it.

- A temporary three year sales tax increase. He gets it.

- No borrowing from local government, transportation or schools.. He gets it.

- To securitize the lottery and use the money for debt repayment. He gets it.

- Deeper cuts to schools, child care, children's health, medical providers, programs and services. He gets them.

The only demand we did not give the governor is the tax cut after the temporary tax increase expires.

We were explicit from the outset: we want to fix the fiscal problems of the state. A back-end tax cut only once again postpones fiscal solvency until the next governor is elected.

As Democrats, we are proud we met the most severe challenges and made the compromises needed to achieve an agreement. That after all is our oath of office.

But we are not proud of the cuts we've made in the lives of those who need us most.

Nor the disproportionate sacrifices we've inflicted on selected civil servants who are made to pay for our neglect of duty.

We condemn the governor's targeting the income of thousands of clerks, office and highway workers, childcare teachers and parole agents in order to press his case.

We are angered that bargaining unit employees whose wages and benefits are threatened - that unless the governor's budget is accepted; their livelihood will be jeopardized.

But most of all, we are stunned by the governor's recent threat to shut down state government until and unless we capitulate, not compromise.

That isn't a threat to this house.

The old saw says when elephants spar, those beneath them are trampled.

So I ask: Who is at-risk?

The list is long, characterized by innocence, helplessness and anonymity.

· Special education children.

· Physically disabled adults.

· Elderly residents in long term care facilities.

· Rural hospitals.

· Home to school transportation.

· Food service to state hospitals and prisons.

· Financial aid to hundreds of thousands of UC and CSU students.

· Thousands of small businesses employing tens of thousands of our constituents that supply every community with essentials such as sanitation, cleaning, security and rehabilitation.

In sum, the governor's resolve to bring government to a stop clobbers working families, independent businesses, and life-sustaining services to the most helpless, hopeless and dangerous among us.

This is a game of political roulette we will not play. The gun barrel isn't pointed at our heads nor the governor's.

As the majority, we met our duty to dispose a budget in a super- charged atmosphere of uncertainty and anxiety.

We compromised more than we thought prudent by reducing expenditures by over nine billion.

We affirmed the demand for spending restraints, requiring more savings in the flush years to meet the expenses of the inevitable lean years.

We accepted a controversial temporary sales tax on everyone instead of a more equitable permanent income tax on the wealthy.

We rejected proposals to steal money we told voters was intended for schools, local services and infrastructure.

And, gentlemen, we are done.

We have had it with reaching an agreement with the administration, only to be asked to give more.

We have had it with leaving the table - only to be told later additional changes were needed.

We have had it with the administration telling us Rep Senators demand more concessions to provide the votes, yet you've never said so yourselves.

Therefore, here is the final product of eight months work, haggling, rhetoric and retribution, most done in public, all done without what most would call negotiation.

It's not exactly the August Compromise, but neither is it something Democrats will brag on to Saint Peter at the gates of heaven.

It does, however, brightly light our differences.

· We must stop the addiction of borrowing;

· We want a tax increase to balance cuts.

· We support an austere, yet responsible budget largely caused by the governor's VLF cut without first calculating the effects on massive state debt or an economy slouching towards recession.

It took years of poor planning and poor discipline by many legislatures and governor's to get where we are.

Everyone opted to sustain a lifestyle we couldn't afford with borrowed money, insufficient revenues and mortgaged dreams.

Let's be candid - we all participated in the illusion. We each justify spending for what WE want, while condemning the priorities of others.

How often have we self righteously refused to vote for an appropriation knowing full well that our constituents will nonetheless benefit?

Eight months later, two months late and with little left to offer my friends across the isle it's your turn.

Either vote to approve the compromise the governor tells us has your support, or offer an alternative acceptable to the majority and the governor.

Meet the challenge the governor's put to us in common: comply or face a shutdown of state service.

Please provide the votes to begin together the long, painful journey to fiscal recovery - where no one gets what they want, but at a minimum what they need."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today praised a new Democratic version of the state budget as "very courageous" and urged Republican senators to vote for it.

Schwarzenegger was 500 miles away in San Diego, campaigning against any budget that relies on borrowing money from local governments and transportation funds, as the Senate began debating the new Democratic version. He issued his words of praise in response to a reporter's question.

The new Senate Democratic version is based on Schwarzenegger's own latest proposal to break a near-record-long stalemate, with its centerpiece being a one-cent increase in the state sales tax for three years. Its chief difference is that Schwarzenegger would reduce the sales tax below the current after the three-year period while Democrats would merely end the extra penny without a further decrease.

Schwarzenegger stopped short of saying he would sign the new version.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today lauded John McCain's choice of a presidential running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, as a tough crusader against corruption in her state.

"I like her very much," Schwarzenegger said in response to a question in San Diego during a press conference to goad the Legislature into ending the weeks-long stalemate on the state budget. "She has the strength to push back...I think shes cleaning up the mess up there."

Alluding to his partnership with wife Maria Shriver, Schwarzenegger said, "a man and a woman working together...I think that's terrific."

State elections officials say lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are jeopardizing the success of the November election - and voting rights of troops serving abroad - the longer they wait to put a potential budget measures on the fall ballot.

"The secretary of state continues to remind lawmakers that every day they dawdle they are gambling with the success of the presidential election," said Kate Folmar, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Debra Bowen.

Since early this year, Schwarzenegger has cast a ballot measure overhauling California's budgeting system as the linchpin of budget negotiations. Those talks have now dragged on nearly two months into the fiscal year, as the state faces a $15.2 billion deficit.

Missing the November ballot deadline, Schwarzenegger's office has said, could lead to a "total meltdown" for discussions that have stumbled from the start.

Because lawmakers make the laws, they can waive or rewrite much of the state's elections code. That means there is no clarity as to an absolute deadline for adding a proposition to the fall ballot.

"I'm not sure," said Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, when asked about the deadline. "Ask Bowen."

Bowen's office, which previously gave an Aug. 16 deadline estimate, referred the question back to the Legislature.

"No one in this building seems to know," said Aaron McLear, a Schwarzenegger spokesman, of the deadline. "It is upon us."

Elections officials say the state is running up against real-world deadlines for printing, stuffing and mailing out ballots without disenfranchising Californians serving overseas.

Next Friday, September 5, is the first day election officials expect to mail international ballots to California military men and women.

If lawmakers' ballot negotiations drag on past that date, "We're not serving the military vote," said Jill LaVine, the registrar of voters in Sacramento County. "We want to make sure that the military gets their ballots."

That makes Assemblyman Paul Cook, a Yucca Valley Republican and former Marine colonel, "very worried."

"I think people who are in harm's way serving our country (should) get a chance to exercise one of their most important constitutional duties," said Cook. "I feel very strongly about it."

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, an Irvine Republican who retired as a lieutenant colonel in the Army National Guard, added, "You can't be abrogating voting rights of the men and women who are serving us overseas. That's just a fundamental issue."

Registrars across the state have already prepared their ballots, though they haven't sent them to the printer, said LaVine. They were awaiting Sen. John McCain's announcement - made today - of a vice presidential nominee.

But slipping the VP's name into a prepared slot on the ballot is very different than writing, structuring, and translating a brand new measure, election officials say.

"Building a ballot isn't something that can be done in minutes," said Rebecca Martinez, the registrar in Madera County and president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials. "It's a big deal because you have to be sure that it is perfect."

Martinez was careful not to name a drop-dead date for adding measures to the ballot, though she said, "September is almost out of the question."

Adding a measure at this late date "would pose a tremendous problem for Los Angeles," said Martinez of the state's largest county, where the ballots are translated in multiple languages.

LaVine, the Sacramento registrar, said, "This weekend is what I'd like (at the latest) to be able to feel good about a successful November election."

The state Senate has scheduled a budget vote for this morning, though it is unclear if the spending plan will garner the necessary two-thirds majority for passage.

The governor and legislative leaders, who haven't convened a Big Five meeting in more than a week, are already looking toward "Plan B" - a 2009 special election. That would cost millions of dollars.

"With several big cities having mayoral elections next year, it might not be all that expensive," said Bass earlier this week. Los Angeles has a mayoral election in early 2009.

With next Friday's date for military ballots looming, a special election looks increasingly likely, should lawmakers and the governor want to include government reforms as part of a budget deal.

"The best that I can tell it," said Martinez, "is that each day that they wait they are jeopardizing the success of this election."

With tongue firmly planted in cheek, Assemblyman Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, has some recommendations for the Ladies Professional Golf Association.

The women's golf league has proposed that all players speak English within two years on the tour.

Earlier this week, Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, D-Castro Valley, said she might carry a bill to overturn the decree.

Lieu has a "modest proposal" of his own, per the California Progress Report:

The LPGA should also ban accents and direct players to achieve the "Stepford Wives" look. Remember, it's better to look good and sound good, rather than be good in golf, which is of course a secondary consideration. To help its more disadvantaged players, the LPGA can provide monetary grants for those who don't have blond hair and blue eyes to go through procedures that will change hair color and eye color. A little plastic surgery might be helpful as well. I heartily commend the LPGA for taking professional golfing to the next level, where how you talk and look matters more than how well you play.

To help the LPGA achieve its lofty goals, I intend to ask the LPGA to institute the full complement of reforms identified above by the end of this year. Otherwise, I will bring a bill next legislative session banning LPGA tournaments from occurring in California. After all, we can't have people playing golf if they can't say "fore" or "watch your head" or say things in ads like "I prefer Bud Light." (We'll conveniently ignore the fact that Bud Light will be owned by a foreign Belgian company).

Photo: Cristie Kerr reacts to dropping a birdie putt on the 18th hole during the final round of an LGPA tournment on Sunday, August 24, 2008.

Photo credit: Don Ryan, Associated Press

It has been more than two months since we first asked for your predictions as to when California lawmakers would pass the state budget.

More than half of you have already missed the mark as the state fast approaches the latest budget in California history.

Today is Day 60 of the fiscal year -- and 75 days past the June 15 constitutional deadline for a state budget.

Nearly 300 of you entered our pool -- and most were pessimistic, with less than 12 percent of entrants predicting a spending plan by the end of July.

But lawmakers (and the governor) are proving your pessimism wise with each passing day.

Here's how the 296 entries were distributed, by month:

June
2
July
33
August
179
September
63
October
15
November
1
December
1
January (2009)
2

We passed the median entry -- with half predicting earlier and half predicting later -- last Sunday morning (Aug. 24) after 1 a.m.

If lawmakers don't have a budget by the end of business today, 191 of the 296 guesses will have proven too optimistic.

We still like the reasoning of the entrant we highlighted back in June: "They won't get it done before the Democratic Convention and the Dems will be so mad about that, they'll make sure the Reps have to stay home and keep negotiating all through the Republican convention."

And this one: "October 31 at 10:52 PM. And they'll all be in costume for the occasion."

Fifty-nine days into the fiscal year, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata announced late Thursday that the Senate would vote on a variation of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget proposal Friday, including the temporary three-year sales tax hike but without a permanent cut to follow.

It is unclear if there will be the necessary two-thirds support for the budget.

"We've been working closely with the governor's office, and we're confident he can get us the votes," said Lynda Gledhill, a spokeswoman for Perata, D-Oakland.

But when the governor's office was asked if the administration had been securing support for the plan, Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear, said, "No, we have not."

The plan the Senate will vote on closely mirrors the compromise proposal that Schwarzenegger unveiled earlier this month. Lawmakers and the governor have struggled to balance the budget, which faces a $15.2 billion deficit. The new fiscal year began 59 days ago -- on July 1.

According to an outline provided by the Senate, the spending plan will be paired with "a rainy day fund and midyear cut authority to address future downturns in revenues."

Read the outline of the budget plan.

Depending on how that midyear cutting authority is drafted -- specifically whether the governor has sole authority to make cuts -- it would constitute a major concession for Democrats.

The plan would, according to the outline released by the Senate, "grant the governor the power to reduce spending on state operations by 7 percent ... whenever a budget deficit developed after the enactment of the annual budget."

While Senate Republican leader Dave Cogdill thanked the Democrats for "putting up a budget, he dismissed the proposal calling the 1-cent sales tax hike "one giant step backward by proposing a more damaging sales tax increase."

"In legislation, the devil is in the details," the GOP leader said in a statement late Thursday. "We will be analyzing the plan tonight, but at this point it does not appear to be something Republicans can support."

Schwarzeneggers spokesman McLear said, "We're going to reserve comment until we see the specific language" of the plan.

Democrats control 25 seats in the 40-member Senate and need 27 votes to pass the budget. Republican Sens. Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria and Roy Ashburn of Bakersfield have been eyed by the Democratic leadership as potential supporters of a compromise budget proposal.

But Ashburn has previously justified his potential support of a temporary sales tax hike, with the since-abandoned plan to later lower the tax rate.

"The sales tax would drop below the current rate and that would be a permanent tax cut," Ashburn said earlier this month. The budget vote on Friday will not include the permanent sales tax cut.

Maldonado has said of the budget. "If it's good for my district, I'll vote for it. If it's not good for my district, I won't."

The Senate is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. Friday to consider the budget plan.

• In Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton's column on the problems with California's government system, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger calls Assembly Speaker Karen Bass a "poor girl."

Here's the relevant excerpt:

"Term limits has not worked as far as I'm concerned at all," he said, citing inexperience in budgeting. "Legislators come up to me all the time and say, 'I've only done one budget. . . . I've never done a budget.' "

"The good thing is we do have a lot of smart people in this building. It's all about the political system."

• Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is in Denver, after backing Sen. Hillary Clinton in the primary.

Did anyone else notice his prime seat behind former President Bill Clinton on Tuesday during Hillary's speech?

Watch for Villaraigosa during network shots of the ex-prez:

Still, apparently the mayor feels a bit snubbed that he doesn't have a speaking slot at the convention, according to the Los Angeles Times.

• The California state auditor has released a new audit on the state's oil spill response.

The findings: "The spill office has met many of its oversight responsibilities; however, the California Oil Spill Contingency Plan is outdated and missing required elements."

Read the full audit.

• The PPIC has a new poll out today. The key numbers for fall ballot measures:

Proposition 4 (parental notification for abortion)
Yes: 47 percent
No: 44 percent
Don't Know: 9

Proposition 8 (gay marriage ban)
Yes: 40 percent
No: 54
Don't Know: 6

Proposition 11 (redistricting)
Yes: 39 percent
No: 36
Don't Know: 25

Check out Capitol Alert's PPIC page, including the latest polling data and events with the institute, including a luncheon discussing today's poll.

• Lastly, prison medical receiver J. Clark Kelso has a op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle reminding lawmakers that he's asking for $8 billion in prison construction costs.

"We must turn our prison health-care services around and end the disgraceful and unconstitutional denial of basic health care in California's prisons. We must live by our principles and values of hope and humanity," he writes.

With Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's signing of the high speed rail bond cleanup legislation, Proposition 1 on the November ballot became no more.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen reported Wednesday that the measure will be replaced by Proposition 1A, the amended rail measure.

A Sacramento judge refused Wednesday to change Democratic Assembly candidate Manuel Perez's ballot designation as "educator," rejecting a Republican challenge.

The court cited said that Perez, a former teacher, had shown "a significant investment of time and effort" as a school board member to justify his designation.

Perez's victory was a tactical setback for his Republican rival, former policeman Gary Jeandron, in their duel in the 80th Assembly District, one of the few legislative districts whose partisan bent is up for grabs this year.

The 80th AD, in the state's southeastern corner, was designated for Democratic ownership in the bipartisan gerrymander of districts following the 2000 census. But Republican Bonnie Garcia upset the Democratic candidate in 2002 and held the seat in two more elections. She is being forced out this year by term limits.

Democrats held a 44.6 percent to 35.2 percent registration edge when Garcia was first elected. The Democratic advantage has since increased to 46.4 percent to 35.7 percent. Perez is considered to be the favorite.

Republican Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner is drawing rare and politically valuable kudos from environmentalists for creating a new auto insurance option he says will encourage motorists to drive less.

Poizner, a likely GOP candidate for governor in 2010, calls it "pay-as-you-drive" insurance that will base premiums on actually mileage rather than estimates.

"Any incentive like this to get people to drive fewer miles will help reduce greenhouse gases and vehicle accident," Poizner said in a statement Wednesday. "I am thrilled to pave the way for California drivers to obtain insurance that is more environmentally friendly and more accurately reflects driving habits."

If 30 percent of California motorists participated, the Environmental Defense Fund estimates, California could avoid 55 million tons of CO2 between 2009 and 2020, which is the equivalent of taking 10 million cars off the road.

"'Pay-as-you-drive is a proven, effective method of cutting pollution and saving consumers money, and we applaud Assemblyman Huffman and Commissioner Poizner for their leadership on the issue," said Lauren Navarro, an attorney at Environmental Defense Fund. "Californians need to reduce their time behind the wheel for us to successfully curb greenhouse gases. Through this program, they are rewarded for doing so."

EDF says Poizner's program is based on a bill the organization sponsored, Assembly Bill 2800 by Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael.

The new Department of Insurance regulations allow insurers to offer the option to base premiums on actual mileage, verified by odometer readings, automotive repair records or a mileage-measuring device, but prohibit insurance companies from requiring policyholders to participate or tracking mileage with GPS-based systems.

The Ladies Professional Golf Association has decreed that participants in its golf tournaments must speak English - saying it's needed to advance the public's support of the women's golf tour - and Castro Valley Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi says she may carry a bill to overturn the decree in California.

"This decision sends the wrong message to our young people," Hayashi in response to the LPGA action, announced Tuesday.

"With the success of Tiger Woods, so many children of color have been inspired to take on the sport of golf, believing they had an equal opportunity to play. The LPGA is potentially reversing hard-won progress, especially for women, by showing that talent, passion, and hard work is not enough."

LPGA's deputy commissioner, Libba Galloway, said the policy, which would take effect next year, is a matter of "professional development," adding, "There are more fans, more media and more sponsors. We want to help athletes as best we can succeed off the golf course as well as on it."

There are 121 international players from 26 countries on the LPGA Tour, which includes 38 tournaments this year, some of which are in other countries. But just three of them are in California, including the Longs Drug Challenges Oct. 9-12 at Blackhawk Country Club in Danville, which is just outside Hayashi's district. Others are in Half Moon Bay and Rancho Mirage.

"The LPGA decision is a reminder of the sport's historic issues with race and gender," Hayashi said. "The LPGA specifically met with South Korean players about the policy, as they make up 45 out of 121 international members. Of 30 rookies on the LPGA tour, only eight are from the United States, while the rest are from other countries. For several years, the media has been reporting on tensions about the growing Korean and Asian presence on the tour.

"To our knowledge, no other major professional sports association has such a policy. It is hard to imagine the MLB or NBA carrying out such sanctions against their international players - they know it would be bad for the sport and for us as a country. The LPGA should embrace diversity."

The issue is a hot one in sports media and an aide to Hayashi said Wednesday the "phone is ringing off the hook" with media calls. The Democratic assemblywoman said she'll stage hearings on the issue and may introduce a bill to ban the English requirement.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told The Fresno Bee's editorial board this week he's in it for the long haul:

"He said he would hold his ground until November or even December without a budget, and would even consider 'rolling right into' January with the introduction of his next budget. And you thought that waiting until September to get a budget was revolutionary."

Read the entire item here.

The Republican National Convention added several more California Republicans to its lineup of speakers next Tuesday, including two one GOP state senator.

Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Temecula, was initially named as a podium speaker on day two of the convention in St. Paul. But Jon Fleischman of the FlashReport called the GOP senator to congratulate him -- only to find out it isn't true.

"Well, just a couple of minutes after I got off of the phone with the Senator his office received a call from the RNC -- profusely apologizing that his name was listed as a speaker erroneously! Doh!" Fleischman blogs.

Rosario Marin, the secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency in California, already had a speaking role that day.

Sen. Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria, the California Senate's lone Latino Republican, will address the the crowd Wednesday.

On Monday, freshman Rep. Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield was added to the program. He's set to speak on the same night as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (but only if there's a budget in place, the governor said).

Also speaking Wednesday are two California high tech veterans and McCain advisers: Carly Fiorina, Victory '08 chairman for the Republican National Committee and former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co., and Meg Whitman, the former president and CEO of eBay.

If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger really wants budget reform, water and high-speed rail changes on the November ballot, he should call in a favor to Republican presidential candidate John McCain and ask him to delay picking his vice presidential nominee until October.

The Republican governor told The Fresno Bee on Monday that he thinks it remains possible to place measures on the November ballot because McCain has yet to announce his veep selection and that California ballots cannot be printed without it.

Of course, that doesn't exactly buy Schwarzenegger all that much time. McCain is planning to name his vice-presidential pick on Friday in Ohio, according to Politico.com.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has backed off his threat to veto all legislation until the Legislature passes a budget, writing a letter to the four legislative leaders saying he will sign a bill to amend the high-speed rail bond on the November ballot.

Kevin Yamamura has the full story.

Here is the letter Schwarzenegger sent to the leaders on Monday night backing out of his veto vow:

August 25, 2008

Sincerely,
Arnold Schwarzenegger

This is the 1,000th post on Capitol Alert since we relaunched the site last November, free to the public.

Thanks to all of you for reading all these months, from committee strippings to campaign ads to caption contests to the budget impasse.

As always send us feedback on what you'd like covered, what you love, what you hate and what we're missing.

Former assemblyman and current Los Angeles City Council candidate Paul Koretz said Monday his Web site had been brought down by an "incredibly sophisticated hacker."

Koretz, who served in the Assembly from 2000 to 2006, said a hacker had recoded the site in early August (on the 2nd or 3rd) and disabled access for three weeks, until Monday.

Koretz said his campaign called the LAPD, who referred them to the FBI.

"I had a short conversation with them and hopefully there might be enough of a pattern that they will find (the hackers)," Koretz said.

Though he stopped short of accusing his rivals for the city council seat, Koretz speculated it was "probably some candidate's friend who happened to be tech-conversant."

"Maybe I can destroy his Web site and help my friend," Koretz said, challenging the hacker's potential thoughts. "I can't think of any other reason to do this."

Koretz wondered why target the site seven months before the election, suggesting the hacker "politically, didn't get it."

Koretz said the campaign was going public with the hacker story - and the FBI investigation - to dissuade the computer attacker from striking again.

It was a "whole lot of hassle trying to get it back up," Koretz said of his Web page.

Progress in budget negotiations remains as fleeting as ever, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass told a group of reporters in her Capitol office on Monday.

"There's no huge deal that we're getting ready to pop up in the next few days," Bass said.

As a result, the Los Angeles Democrat is missing her party's national convention in Denver, where she "would love to be."

Instead, she is here in Sacramento negotiating the budget, though not in meetings with her fellow legislative leaders and the governor.

"We have not had a meeting of the Big 4 or the Big 5 in about a week," Bass said.

Bass has been meeting with Assembly GOP leader Mike Villines.

"He is very clear that they (Republicans) will not vote for taxes. And I am very clear that we (Democrats) cannot balance the budget through cuts alone. And so we have to find a way to fill the $15 billion gap," she said, responding to a question about whether they were considering a budget that relied on borrowing.

The governor has said he won't sign a budget balanced with borrowing. And Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata said weeks ago, "I'll have Thanksgiving dinner on the first floor (of the Capitol) with the governor before I'll borrow."

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass with Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines.

Photo credit: Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press, August 2008

This time of the year, both houses of the Legislature pay tribute to their departing members.

The ceremonies are feel-good exercises in bipartisanship, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle usually rising to praise whomever is leaving.

Somtimes you learn odd things (like the fact that Sen. Jim Battin is afraid of clowns). Other times there are strange props (like the Sen. Bob Margett bobblehead).

And then there are the strange stories. So far, this tale of Assemblyman Bill Maze, R-Visalia, tops them all.

Jake Henshaw at the Visalia Times-Delta reports:

And in speeches on the Assembly floor, his colleagues didn't forget some of the memorable stories about the former Tulare County supervisor.

"I don't care how you fix my arm but be sure my trigger finger works," Silva quoted Maze as saying.

The state Senate has moved session, originally scheduled for 11 a.m., to 4 p.m. today.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass' office announced today that the Assembly -- which had scheduled a three-day vacation during the Democratic National Convention from Tuesday through Thursday -- will instead meet on Wednesday and Thursday.

Sen. Carole Migden's Capitol staff members were sent home Thursday afternoon and told not to report to work on Friday, after the San Francisco Democrat was heard berating them from the hallway.

Enedina Hidalgo, the director of personnel for the state Senate, overheard Migden screaming, according to a witness to the event. The source said Hidalgo entered the office while the senator was not present on Thursday, informing the staff of their rights.

Soon after, Hidalgo returned to Migden's office with Tony Beard Jr., the chief sergeant-at-arms of the state Senate. They told the staff to pack up their belongings and escorted them out of the building, the witness said.

A spokeswoman for Migden, Tracy Fairchild, declined comment and referred all questions about the incident to the Senate Rules Committee.

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, an Oakland Democrat and chair of the Rules Committee, declined to comment. Secretary of the Senate Greg Schmidt, the top aide to the Rules Committee, and Hidalgo also declined to comment.

When Sen. Carole Migden was directly asked about Thursday's events, Perata aide Lynda Gledhill sought to intervene, telling Migden she did not have to comment.

"They weren't sent home," Migden said of her staff, before walking away.

Late Thursday afternoon, the phones to the Migden's Capitol office went unanswered and mail had piled up by 4:45 p.m., stuffed under the locked office door.

On Friday, none of Migden's regular aides reported to work in the Capitol. Her office was staffed by temporary workers from the Senate Rules Committee.

Migden, known for her brusque attitude, is a 10-year veteran of the Capitol, having served six years in the Assembly and one term in the Senate.

Earlier this year, she lost a three-way Democratic primary to Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco. She was the first California legislator in a dozen years to lose a primary re-election contest.

"We need responsible representation," Leno said to a Marin audience during the campaign. He campaigned in part on character issues.

Migden suffered a bout of bad publicity during the campaign, especially surrounding an erratic 30-mile drive last May on Interstate 80 in which she careened off the center divider and later rear-ended a car with her state-owned SUV.

She later suggested that medicine she was taking for leukemia may have contributed to the episode.

A no-nonsense lawmaker, Migden admitted during the primary that her curt demeanor sometimes rubbed associates the wrong way. But she was unapologetic. "I make no apologies that sometimes it's a tough arena," she said at the time.

Migden will leave office at the end of November.

(Hat tip to Jon Fleischman, who first reported that the door to Migden's office was locked on Thursday)

At least 48 wealthy Californians have penned a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the legislative leaders volunteering to be taxed at a higher rate to balance the budget.

"Though we have benefited personally from tax cuts and loopholes, we believe there are
choices beyond budget cuts," they write. "We support raising revenues needed to prevent deeper cuts, including closing tax loopholes, restoring tax rates which were cut over the last decade and updating our tax system to reflect our changing economy."

"We extend to you our willingness to have our income taxed at a higher rate," they write.

The signers of the letter -- part of a group that calls itself Californians Sharing in the Solution -- each say they earn more than $160,500.

Read the full letter.

Sacramento Magazine has published its list of the "Power & Influence 100" -- its compilation of the most influential people in the capital region. Not surprisingly, quite a few are from the Capitol community.

Here are Capitol-related excerpts from the full list:

DOUG ELMETS, public relations exec--Probably the most oft-quoted source in the Bee, the point man for Indian tribes, political candidates and developers flies under the radar but knows everyone and has his fingers in a lot of pies. The former Reagan staffer understands better than anyone the concept of information as power and withholds or doles it out accordingly.

BOB WHITE, strategic consultant/public affairs--The former chief of staff for Gov. Pete Wilson worked as one of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's closest advisers during the recall campaign. Potent? You bet. Reputable publications across the state have paid homage to the affable strategist as one of the most powerful people never elected. Scrutinized? It comes with the territory. As the founder of California Strategies, LLC, he's been dinged for currying favor on his clients' behalf without having to play by lobbyists' rules. The host with the most? Of course. This past year, a private fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate John McCain took place at none other than the "White" house. But White, who refuses to divulge his clients' names, doesn't play party favorites. He's also hosted private receptions for former state Assemblyman and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, a Democrat, and Joe and Gavin Maloof. "We run the gamut," White says. "It's all about personal relationships and California first."

The state Senate officially made Sacramento Sen. Darrell Steinberg its next leader today, the first Senate president pro tem from the capital city in 125 years.

"I love this institution," Steinberg told his colleagues. "I believe in this institution as a force for good."

Outgoing Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata made the nomination. Senate GOP leader Dave Cogdill, who along with Steinberg is eligible to serve in the Senate until 2014, seconded the motion.

"I look forward to working with you," Steinberg told Cogdill. "I mean it, let's work together."

He outlined an agenda of improving public education, providing "health access for every Californian" and fixing the "maddening system" of public finance.

He said he believed a lawmaker could "be both partisan and rise above partisanship."

He will officially become pro tem at the end of November.

"Senator Steinberg is a dedicated public servant and a true champion of the people of California," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "He will be a great leader, and I look forward to continuing to work with him on the many issues facing our state including the budget, water infrastructure and health care reform. I thank Senator Perata for his service in this position for the past three years."

The state budget is 52 days overdue and has extended past deadline after deadline.

But starting next week, at least 31 Democratic state lawmakers have a ticket to one of the hottest political events of the year - the convention coronation of Sen. Barack Obama as their party nominee - and none of them particularly wants to miss out on the show.

"I have a flight, and it is not refundable," said Assemblywoman Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, a Hillary Clinton convention delegate.

The stalled state spending plan, however, threatens to wreak havoc on their convention-going plans.

"I'm taking it day by day," said Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, a Los Angeles Democrat and another Clinton delegate.

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata has decreed that Senate Democrats "need to remain in town to do our business and should not attend" the convention. Ten of the 25 members of Perata's Democratic caucus are also scheduled to be in Denver as convention delegates. (Capitol Alert has the full list of all the Democratic lawmaker delegates.)

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, the first African American female speaker in state history, would love to see Obama, the first African American presidential nominee, officially accept his nomination.

But if there's no budget, she said, "I will not be in Denver for seven days, that's for sure." Bass has cancelled all her scheduled Denver events for next week, said spokesman Steve Maviglio.

For many Democratic lawmakers, the Denver gathering would be a first.

"It'll be my first ever national convention," said Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña, D-San Diego.

At least one Democratic delegate, ex-Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, has said he's going to Denver, deal or no budget deal. "I'm not negotiating the budget anymore," he said last week. "So I'm going, one way or another."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has been named a speaker at the GOP convention the first week of September, has said lawmakers should remain in Sacramento to hammer out a budget deal. Schwarzenegger promised to skip the Republican convention if the budget impasse drags past the end of August.

Differing convention-going plans have created tension between the Senate and the Assembly.

The legislative year officially ends Aug. 31, but lawmakers in the lower house have hustled to warp up business by Friday, hoping to leave open the possibility of jetting out of town for next week's convention.

Perata, in contrast, has announced the Senate will convene "every day next week" - despite the convention.

The problem is the two houses work interdependently - with legislation shipped back-and-forth in the waning days of the year. Many Assembly members still have bills awaiting action in the Senate.

"We're trying to work that out," Maviglio said.

There was some thought earlier this month that pressure to attend the convention could help spur a budget deal. But with the little progress in negotiations that hope has largely fizzled.

Lawmakers also face an estimated Aug. 24 deadline to place measures on the November ballot - a deadline which, if missed, the governor's office has said would lead to a "total meltdown" in budget talks.

Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-San Jose, pointed out, "Democrats are going to vote for the budget, so people who want to go to the convention are already aye votes."

Maviglio, the Bass spokesman, added that Democrats "not going to give away the store so they can go to Denver."

Most lawmakers seem to understand that, without a budget, it would be poor public relations to go party-hopping in Denver.

"I'm not going if we don't have a budget," said Alquist, an Obama delegate who added that missing the convention would leave her "most disappointed."

"It is a historic moment in our time, and I wanted to be able to get out there and be part of it," said Caballero, who was to attend the convention with her husband.

"He may go by himself now."

The following is a list of Democratic lawmakers who are either delegates or members of standing committees with tickets to next week's Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Senate (10 members)
Elaine Alquist
Gil Cedillo
Dean Florez
Christine Kehoe
Jenny Oropeza
Alex Padilla
Don Perata
Mark Ridley-Thomas
Gloria Romero
Darrell Steinberg

Assembly (21 members)
Karen Bass
Patty Berg
Anna Caballero
Mike Davis
Hector De La Torre
Kevin de León
Mervyn Dymally
Felipe Fuentes
Jared Huffman
John Laird
Sally Lieber
Ted Lieu
Fiona Ma
Tony Mendoza
Fabian Núñez
Nicole Parra
Curren Price
Mary Salas
Lori Saldaña
Jose Solorio
Sandré Swanson

Tyrone Freeman, the president of one of California's largest and most influential union locals, has stepped down -- at least temporarily -- following reports that the union had paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to companies owned by his own family.

The Los Angeles Times, which first broke the news of the union's largesse, has the story.

"In order to ensure that any investigation of the allegations is fair and free from any question of interference or influence, I am taking a leave of absence effective immediately for the duration of the investigation," said a statement issued by Freeman. "I believe these steps will allow our union to continue to serve the best interests of our membership during this time."

Not that Freeman was going down without a fight. The Times reports:

His departure comes as several union staff members told of being pressured by Freeman's lieutenants to sign a petition in support of him. Some of those who initially refused were transferred to positions far from their homes, according to three staffers who asked not to be identified because they feared reprisals.

"It's essentially a loyalty oath," said one of the workers. He said the atmosphere at the union has been "very tense. . . . There's a lot of intimidation."

Capitol Weekly has published its second annual scorecard ranking the members of the Legislature by their ideological leanings.

Not surprisingly, most members fall on the far extremes of the ideological scale, with 10 Senate Democrats and 16 Assembly Democrats scoring perfect "liberal" 100s. On the Republican side, four senators and seven Assembly members scored perfect "conservative" scores.

Capitol Weekly notes that, "All four legislative leaders, and the one legislative leader-in-waiting, scored perfect 'conservative' or 'liberal' scores. Perhaps that sheds a bit of light why we have such a difficult time coming to a budget resolution every year."

In the middle are the usual suspects in the Assembly: Democrats Nicole Parra, Cathleen Galgiani, Juan Arambula and Charles Calderon and Republicans Shirley Horton and Greg Aghazarian.

In the Senate, Lou Correa is the most moderate Democrat and Abel Maldonado is the most moderate Republican.

Find the full scorecard here.

Sacramento Bee photographer Brian Baer went over to Assemblywoman Nicole Parra's new HQ at the Legislative Office Building and has posted a slideshow on sacbee.com. Check out the Hanford Democrat's new digs.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been named one of the speakers at next month's Republican convention in Minnesota. He says he'll go -- but only if California has a budget deal by then.

Despite Schwarzenegger's executive order, state workers will be paid their regular wages for the month of August. Jim Sanders has that story.

Meanwhile, the GOP governor has rolled out a "compromise" budget proposal. It's not so much a compromise with anyone in particular as it contains so-called "nonstarters" for Democrats and Republicans alike.

That was kind of the whole idea, he said.

"It's time for the dialogue to stop and to create some action," Schwarzenegger said in a afternoon press conference. "Republicans must step out of their ideological corner on the right, and Democrats must step out of their ideological corner on the left."

Also moving from words to action is Brian Leubitz, the blogger-in-chief at Calitics.com.

Leubitz, a Democratic activist, announced on the blog today:

"We have a wide range of obstacles in front of us in the coming years to ensure that we strengthen our Party for the challenges of the next generation," Leubitz writes. "That is why I have decided to run for vice-chair of the California Democratic Party."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will hold a press conference to discuss the budget today at 1 p.m. in the Capitol, his office announced minutes ago.

The event will be webcast on the governor's website.

Not only did Assemblywoman Nicole Parra lose her office over her refusal to join fellow Democrats in a budget vote on Sunday, but the Hanford Democrat has lost what remained of her 2008 legislative package.

Parra's remaining legislation -- two bills and one resolution -- will no longer move forward, at least not with her name. She was informed of the move "as a warning" in advance of her non-vote Sunday, Parra said.

"I'm done for the whole year," said Parra, who first found out about the bill freeze last Thursday.

"One of my bills was moved off (the) consent (calendar) and I didn't know why," Parra recalled. "I was going to present on the floor, when (Assembly floor leader Alberto) Torrico came over and said, 'Your bills are being held.'"

Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, said Parra's bills remain eligible to be considered.

"The fate of those bills is entirely up to her," said Maviglio.

Parra had told Bass in late July that she "simply cannot support a budget" unless it coincides with a "solution to the Central Valley's water supply."

Bass put a freeze on Parra's bills, presumably, in hopes of dissuading her from that stance.

But on Sunday, Parra bucked the party line and was the only Democrat present not to vote for a leadership-backed budget proposal. The spending plan - which is now 51 days overdue - died on a 45-30 vote, with 54 votes needed for passage.

The following morning, Parra was informed that her staff had to pack up and move - not just to a smaller office, but across the street and out of the Capitol entirely.

"Is it worth it? Yes," Parra said at the time.

Parra, a moderate Democrat, has needled Bass and the rest of the caucus since earlier this year, when she began publicly flirting with the possibility of endorsing Republican Danny Gilmore to succeed her in the Assembly. Gilmore is running against Fran Florez, the mother of Parra's arch rival, Democratic Sen. Dean Florez of Shafter.

Assembly allies of Bass, who has declined public comment, supported the speaker's office punishment.

"She went in holding the speaker hostage on voting on this budget," said Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Eureka, on Monday. Berg added that Assembly Democrats have "spent millions of dollars ensuring that Nicole comes back three times in a row to our caucus."

The punishment has quickly gained Parra notoriety in her Central Valley district, with one county supervisor calling her "a rock star" on local talk radio.

None of Parra's three remaining pieces of legislation are major overhauls of public policy.

"I didn't have that big of a package," Parra said. "It is my last year."

One (ACR 114) is a resolution calling for a study of home-to-school transportation in rural districts. The other two cover a nursing scholarship program and the extension of a minor agricultural program.

On Tuesday, Parra removed her name as author of AB 856 (the agriculture bill) and replaced it with fellow Democratic Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani, D-Stockton, in hopes of moving the bill forward.

Parra said fellow Central Valley Democrat, Assemblyman Juan Arambula, D-Fresno, has agreed to reintroduce her other bill, AB 994, in 2009.

Arambula is likely sympathetic - or at least familiar with - Parra's plight as an outcast Democrat.

Back in 2006, Arambula failed to toe the party line on an infrastructure bond package. Then-Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, stripped Arambula's committee chairmanship (it was later returned) and crammed Arambula and his staff into "the doghouse," the Assembly's tiniest office space.

Photo credits: Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press, Aug. 18, 2008 and Autumn Cruz, Sacramento Bee, Aug. 18, 2008

First Lady Maria Shriver made an appearance this week at a Los Angeles event to push influential Sen. Hillary Clinton supporters to finish "grieving" and come together to support Sen. Barack Obama's candidacy.

Tina Daunt, the Los Angeles Times' celebrity reporter, was at the "Women for Obama unity cocktail reception."

Daunt reports:

"I've thought a lot about the word unity," Shriver told the women. "The more I thought about it, I realized that before you can get unity, you need reconciliation. I know how hard it is to come to an evening like this while you had a different story in your head that had a different ending."

"I held grudges from the 1980 campaign for way too long," she said. "It didn't serve me well or advance healing."

Shriver, whose husband, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is an outspoken supporter of Sen. John McCain, also issued a warning about the aptitude of the Republican presidential candidate's campaign team.

"I know many of the people on McCain's campaign," she said. "A lot of them worked on my husband's campaign. I can tell you they're tough and they're organized. You must focus on the repair work. If you don't work to heal the rupture, the fight will be all that's remembered. . . . No one did that in 1980 and we all know what happened: We lost that election."

Shriver more than knows McCain's team. She played a key role in recruiting Steve Schmidt, one of McCain's top strategists, to serve as the campaign manager for Schwarzenegger's reelection in 2006.

Lt. Gov John Garamendi, a man familiar with being a heartbeat away from great political power, has weighed in on who should be named as Sen. Barack Obama's vice presidential pick.

Garamendi -- who readily admits "it's not my choice" -- says his pick would be Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.

Garamendi, a delegate to next week's national convention who is also running for governor in 2010, revealed his "pick" in twin blog postings on Calitics.com and the California Majority Report.

"He is well known and well respected all across the nation. He has gravitas. He is an expert on international relations which is always important in every administration. He has been a national candidate and has the experience of campaigning in multiple states," writes Garamendi.

"There you have my answer to a choice that is not mine to make," he concludes.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has maintained a low profile on the state budget recently, so it was a surprise when he called up KFI-AM's John and Ken on Monday from his Santa Monica office.

He may think twice next time.

The Republican governor took a lashing from the popular conservative Los Angeles duo as they pressed him on his proposal to raise the state sales tax by one cent. The talk-show hosts and the governor talked over one another as their argument grew more heated, and one of the hosts asked if the governor was "still on anesthesia."

(The podcast is here. Click on the 3 p.m. hour for 8/18 under the John and Ken podcasts. The governor appears at the 12-minute mark.)

The governor, who is meeting today with all four legislative leaders in his Sacramento office, said Monday there was "absolutely no agreement" between him and lawmakers. He said the sales tax plan was not important as long as it remained conceptual.

"It is only important when it happens, but it is not important when there's a discussion at the Capitol," Schwarzenegger said. "There's many discussions at the Capitol."

Schwarzenegger tried to defend new taxes as necessary because the state was still paying off debts incurred by predecessor Gov. Gray Davis. But the hosts pressed further and suggested that Schwarzenegger abandoned his original mission of fixing the state's fiscal situation in order to pursue environmental goals.

That seemed to upset the governor, who maintained that his environmental policies had nothing to do with the state budget.

"This is absolutely absurd what you're saying right now," Schwarzenegger said. "....You're living in the Stone Age if you think that the environmental issue has anything to do with the budget or the declining economy worldwide."

"Don't lie to the people," Schwarzenegger added. "That's all I can tell you, don't lie to the people. Don't pull wool over their eyes. It's nonsense Republican right-wing talk."

That prompted the "anesthesia" joke. Schwarzenegger underwent anesthesia Saturday when he had arthroscopic surgery to repair cartilage in his right knee.

The hosts asked if he had regrets, suggesting that the state is no better off than it was under Davis five years ago.

"I made great decisions," Schwarzenegger said. "I have no regrets at all. It's just the regret I have is that not everyone is seeing it exactly as I see it."

After Schwarzenegger tried to defend his global warming policies, the hosts asked him why he still flies his private plane between home and Sacramento, saying that doesn't help the environment.

"I'm not saying it does," Schwarzenegger said. "You won't hear me arguing about it. But, I mean, this is the only way I get around so I can be everywhere at the same time. But I don't apologize for it. I fly my private plane, and that's the end of that."

Schwarzenegger's office said he called the show on his own after he heard Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines on air talking about the budget.

The governor tried to end the conversation on a happy note, telling the hosts that he just wanted to call them to welcome them back on air after a brief vacation. A couple minutes after Schwarzenegger hung up, one of the hosts said, "What the hell was that?"

Secretary of State Debra Bowen suggested Aug. 16 as a deadline for the Legislature to put measures on the November ballot, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger now believes legislators have until Sunday, a date that lawmakers privately have targeted for weeks.

The Aug. 24 deadline is crucial since two key components of a budget compromise -- long-term budget reform and a lottery expansion - require voter approval. Republican legislators and Schwarzenegger say budget reform is necessary before they will sign off on any budget, while the lottery is important if the deal ultimately relies on internal borrowing that will need to be paid back by some source of future new revenue.

Perhaps not coincidentally, Sunday is also the eve of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, which many Democratic lawmakers are expected to attend, including Assembly Speaker Karen Bass.

Schwarzenegger press secretary Aaron McLear last week said budget talks are in danger of a "total meltdown" if lawmakers miss the ballot deadline. He said Tuesday that Capitol conventional wisdom holds that Aug. 24 is the real deadline, though some lawmakers even believe they can go beyond that day, to the chagrin of election officials around the state who are hustling to put together ballot materials for November.

McLear said lawmakers and the governor believe they can work until Sunday to put something on the ballot because it is eight days after Bowen's suggested Aug. 16 deadline, which had a built-in eight-day public viewing period. Lawmakers believe they can waive the eight-day public viewing period. Some aides have privately mentioned that doing so could jeopardize making the November ballot if a disgruntled interest group files a lawsuit charging that the ballot measures did not undergo the proper public viewing procedures.

If lawmakers miss the deadline, McLear said the governor would have to pursue a "Plan B" that may include a special election. But that option gives heartburn to everyone in the Capitol who hopes of seeing a budget before Halloween. A special election requires no deadline, so lawmakers would not have no impetus to act quickly other than public pressure.

UPDATE: Bowen spokeswoman Kate Folmar emphasized that the secretary of state has no authority to set the ballot deadline. Bowen's Aug. 16 date was a recommendation to Schwarzenegger in one potential scenario for the Legislature to place measures on November ballot. The Legislature and governor can change election laws to accommodate their tardiness, but two dates loom large in the next two months: Sept. 5 is the date that military and overseas ballots are mailed, while Oct. 6 is when voting by mail begins.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is shaping the inner circle of his campaign for governor, naming veteran Democratic strategist Garry South as a top adviser.

Newsom, a Democrat who announced he was exploring a run for governor in 2010 last month, is also tapping veterans of the Obama and Clinton presidential campaigns for polling and day-to-day campaign operations. His longtime political adviser, San Francisco-based consultant Eric Jaye, will serve as campaign director.

But the key new addition is South, who served as chief strategist for Gov. Gray Davis' two successful campaigns in 1998 and 2002. In 2006, South was the top political adviser for state Controller Steve Westly's run for governor.

(The hiring of South is no shocker. Earlier this month a blogger caught Newsom and South meeting at a Malibu Starbucks.)

South brings a bare-knuckled approach to politics. His relentless attacks on Democratic primary opponent Phil Angelides in 2006 earned him the moniker "the king of mean" from Angelides.

It was a badge he wore with pride.

South's joining of the Newsom campaign is likely to have a domino effect on the would-be candidacy of Westly, who is a multimillionaire who could use his riches to run again in 2010.

Back in June, South told Capitol Alert that "if you don't have enough money to self-finance you simply can't compete for governor of this state." Newsom is not wealthy enough to self-finance.

Some (including this writer) saw those comments as an indication that South might sign up for a second Westly bid.

Apparently not.

Westly will have been out of political office for four years by 2010. But as a key California fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, Westly may be hoping to parlay that early support into a position in a potential Obama administration.

Newsom's other new hires include Nick Clemons as "day-to-day campaign manager" and Joel Benenson as his chief pollster.

Clemons served as the the state director for Sen. Hillary Clinton's primary campaigns in the key states of New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. Benenson is a top pollster for the Obama campaign.

The race to secure political strategists is always part of the early jockeying of gubernatorial campaigns.

Other consultant intrigue worth watching is which campaign Ace Smith, another Clinton strategist, signs on to advise.

Smith has served as a political strategist to two would-be 2010 Democratic candidates: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Attorney General Jerry Brown.

Photo credit: Steve Yeater, Sacramento Bee, 2002

Budget or no budget, California Assembly members are finding time for floor-debate horseplay.

Participating members launched Monday into a Capitol tradition, called "legislative bingo," in which legislators are given an oddball word or phrase to insert into floor debate.

Last year's words included "Pimp Daddy," "Bullwinkle," "Woody Woodpecker: "Xanadu," "tubular" and "Festivus," a pop culture holiday from a "Seinfeld" episode.

The lighthearted wordplay, apparently organized by staffers, officially began Monday with Assemblyman Lloyd Levine reciting the jumbled, head-scratching answer given by 2007 Miss Teen USA contestant Caitlin Upton when she was asked why many Americans can't locate the U.S. on a world map.

The South Carolina teenager, then 18, drew chuckles nationwide when her response was displayed on You Tube:

"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don't have maps and I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and the Iraq everywhere like such as and I believe that they should...our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S...or should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future..."

After Levine, D-Van Nuys, trumpeted Upton's pageant response, Democratic Assemblyman Mark Desaulnier of Concord reportedly joined in the game-playing Monday by inserting "rump roast" into a floor comment.

Later, Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, D-South Gate, ended the day's shenanigans by squeezing the phrase "it's on, like donkey kong" into a brief speech to colleagues.

Participants have described the wordplay as harmless, bipartisan fun that breaks tension during the final days of the legislative session, when hundreds of bills are being debated and acted upon.

This year's session is scheduled to end Aug. 31. Depending upon budget negotiations, however, business conceivably could conclude this week -- in time for Democrats to attend their national convention Monday.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein issued a statement Tuesday morning saying she broke her ankle while "on a walk" with Rep. Ellen Tauscher last weekend in Lake Tahoe and will skip the Democratic National Convention next week in Denver.

Feinstein, 75, says she's following doctor's orders.

"My doctor has advised me not to travel in the short-term, and so, regretfully, I am unable to attend what will surely be an historic convention in Denver," Feinstein said in a statement.

She broke her left ankle, in case you were wondering.

Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, a Democrat who has already run for statewide office once, is being investigated by the FBI, the San Francisco Chronicle reported today.

Delgadillo ran into troubles last year after he admitted that he had his city-owned SUV repaired after his wife ran into a pole in a parking lot. Taxpayers footed the bill. He also admitted using city workers to babysit his kids and run errands.

The Chronicle reports the investigation "appears to be a wide-ranging probe of Delgadillo." Lance Wiliams, the reporter who broke many of the stories in the Barry Bonds steroids investigation series, is the lead reporter on today's story:

Delgadillo, who is the city's chief legal adviser and who has jurisdiction over the prosecution of all criminal misdemeanors in the city, has resisted allowing the city controller to audit $128 million in payouts from a workers' compensation program supervised by his office, according to news reports.

FBI spokesman Joseph Schadler said he could not confirm an investigation was under way.

The Chronicle also reported:

Another prospective target for investigators, said a source familiar with Delgadillo, was a local consulting business run by his wife, Michelle, a former city council aide. The firm had no business license and paid no state taxes for more than five years, records show. Velasquez, Delgadillo's spokesman, said she corrected the problems after they were brought to her attention.

Delgadillo, a Democrat, lost in the 2006 primary for attorney general to Jerry Brown.

Photo credit: Brian Baer, Sacramento Bee, 2006

In the latest episode of Capitol punishment, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass tossed Assemblywoman Nicole Parra from her office on Monday morning after the Central Valley Democrat failed to vote for the budget on Sunday.

In a twist, Parra hasn't been reassigned to more cramped quarters in the Capitol itself - but booted straight across the street to the Legislative Office Building. She will be the only member of the Legislature whose office is not housed in the Capitol.

"I knew going in Sunday that if I didn't support the budget, something was going to happen," Parra, D-Hanford, said in an interview shortly after receiving the news. The budget, now 49 days late, failed 45-30, with 54 votes needed for passage.

The state Assembly's chief administrative officer informed Parra of the change shortly before noon and gave her staff until late afternoon to clear out of the office, she said.

"Boxes have been delivered," said Parra, who added that she was unhappy she would be unable to pack her "personal stuff" because the Assembly was in session and she was on the floor.

Read the rest of the story on sacbee.com

So Republican Sen. Abel Maldonado won't be running unopposed for reelection after all.

Maldonado represents one of California's few genuine swing districts, but the Democratic Party failed to field a candidate in time for the primary.

A local Democrat named Dennis Morris tried to make the ballot as a write-in. Maldonado countered by himself running as a write-in Democrat. (He claimed that was so his mom, a Democrat, could vote for him.)

The strategy worked as Morris failed to win enough write-in votes in the June 3 primary.

Enter Jim Fitzgerald, a Democrat-turned-independent.

"I think I could do a better job than Abel," Fitzgerald said in an interview. "Being an independent, I can go in the middle and take the best of both sides."

Fitzgerald, a 30-year veteran worker at UPS, began collecting signatures (he needed more than 13,533 valid ones) to qualify against Maldonado as an independent on the November ballot.

Fitzgerald said it became clear that he couldn't collect enough signatures working alone. He went to a local temp agency and hired workers to collect signatures on his behalf.

Roughly $30,000 later, he turned in more than 21,000 signatures, he said.

And, lo and behold, local officials certified him for the ballot late Friday.

As for campaign issues, Fitzgerald pledges that his first bill "will require all new government passenger vehicles purchased by the state to be hybrids or electric cars."

Fitzgerald says he won't be taking campaign contributions over $20 and plans to use his Web site and meetings with local residents to run a "grassroots campaign."

Though Fitzgerald is not expected to mount a serious challenge to Maldonado, he has already at least gotten the attention of the Santa Maria Republican.

In an interview last week, Maldonado said he scheduled a fundraiser this month after it became clear Fitzgerald was likely to make the ballot.

"I wasn't running a fundraiser and then, all of a sudden, I have somebody who is gathering signatures," Maldonado said. "So I decided to hold a fundraiser to raise some resources."

Maldonado had more than $827,000 in the bank at the end of June, according to campaign filings.

California issued yet another "blue ribbon commission" report on Friday. But this one, which addresses the state of California's foster care system is especially worth noting, if only because foster care is a top priority of Assembly Speaker Karen Bass.

The report, commissioned by the Judicial Council of California, was the end of a two-year inquiry into the foster-care system for 80,000 of the state's children.

"California's nearly 80,000 foster children are underserved by overburdened courts and agencies making life-changing decisions for them, and often end up in limbo" is how the Associated Press described the report.

Bass has said reforming the state's foster-care system is one of two accomplishments she hopes to claim as the legacy of her speakership. (The other is an overhaul and modernization of the state's tax system.)

Here is the executive summary of the blue commission report. Find the full report here.

The business of lobbying is as big as ever in California -- where special interests have already poured money than $143 million this year into efforts to schmooze, cajole and influence state lawmakers.

The spending report for the first six months of 2008 marks the second highest such total in state history -- topped only slightly by the $145 million spent in the first six months of 2006.

But that year's total was inflated by a big-dollar lobbying effort -- more than $38 million strong by AT&T and other telecommunications companies -- pushing for access to California's lucrative cable market. The telecommunications companies were successful.

As usual, the top lobbying spenders represent a who's who of influential interests in Sacramento. (Check out the Capitol Alert list of the top 10 lobbying interests and the top 10 lobbying firms.)

Atop the list is the California Hospital Association, which reported spending $3.4 million in lobbying money so far this year. That sum pays for eight in-house lobbyists and contracts with outside three lobbying firms.

The hospitals' spending total was also driven up by a month-long TV ad campaign opposing health care cuts in the budget.

Perennial big spenders -- the California Teachers Association (the state's biggest teachers union) and the Western States Petroleum Association (the oil industry) -- finished second and third, spending $2.7 and $2.64 million, respectively.

Thirteen different groups have already spent at least $1 million in 2008 -- from Blue Cross and AT&T to the League of California Cities and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.

But as startling as the totals are for the biggest spenders, the sheer number of interest groups paying big money to impact the lawmaking process is impressive.

Nearly 250 groups reported spending at least $100,000 to lobby lawmakers in the first six months of the year. And a total of 606 special interests -- ranging from Google to the Cigar Association of America -- spent at least $50,000.

Note: All lobbying spending is reported to the California secretary of state on a quarterly basis.

Of the $143 million that interest groups spent lobbying in the first half of this year, more than $82 million went to California's contract lobbying firms.

As Nicole Winger of the secretary of state's office explains, "Lobbyist employers spend a great deal more than lobbying firms receive because they disclose money spent for in-house lobbyists and other expenditures that are never passed on to lobbying firms."

It is important to note that the rankings below only represent what the firms received in lobbying money. (See the Capitol Alert list of the top 10 biggest lobbying interests.)

For some mega-operations, such as Nielsen Merksamer (which ranks second), lobbying is only one portion of the firm's income: The firm has one of the biggest political law offices in Sacramento.

For others, such as California Strategies (which ranks 13th), lobbying is an even smaller portion of revenue. The firm, which counts seven registered lobbyists, also offers communications and strategic advice from the likes of former Senate GOP leader Jim Brulte and former gubernatorial chief of staff Bob White.

With those caveats, here are the top 10 biggest lobbying firms (in terms of receipts) for the first half of the year:

1. KP Public Affairs
$2.899 million

2. Nielsen, Merksamer, Parrinello, Mueller & Naylor
$2.579 million

3. Aaron Read & Associates
$2.353 million

4. Lang, Hansen, O'Malley and Miller Governmental Relations
$2.192 million

5. Capitol Advocacy
$2.141 million

6. Platinum Advisors
$2.042 million

7. Sloat, Higgins, Jensen & Associates
$2.032 million

8. Townsend Public Affairs
$1.705 million

9. Public Policy Advocates
$1.584 million

10. Governmental Advocates
$1.518 million

About the Top Three:: KP Public Affairs has 19 registered lobbyists and counts big labor (the California Correctional Peace Officers Association), big business (California Restaurant Association) and big government (the city of Los Angeles) as clients. The oil industry -- the Western States Petroleum Association (which is the state's third biggest lobbying interest group) -- is its biggest client.

Nielsen Merksamer pulled in nearly as much in lobbying fees -- but with less than half as many lobbyists (nine). The firm's clients include Pfizer, PG&E, American Airlines, Fannie Mae and eBay.

Aaron Read & Associates (with six registered lobbyists) was the third biggest contract lobbying firm in the first half of the year. Among its clients are AT&T, the California Medical Association and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians.

Source: Filings with the California secretary of state

Here's the list of top 10 biggest spenders on lobbying money in the first six months of 2008, according to filings with the secretary of state. (Read more about the total $143 million spent on lobbying here.)

1. California Hospital Association
$3.405 million

2. California Teachers Association
$2.699 million

3. Western State Petroleum Association
$2.644 million

4. California State Council of Service Employees (SEIU)
$2.555 million

5. Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians
$2.113 million

6. Blue Cross of California
$2.044 million

7. California Chamber of Commerce
$1.467 million

8. Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
$1.426 million

9. Golden State Water Company
$1.189 million

10. AT&T
$1.168 million

Other interests in the $1 million spending club include the California Labor Federation ($1.16 million), the League of California Cities ($1.03 million) and the California Building Industry Association ($1.02 million).

Source: Filings with the California secretary of state

Rep. Laura Richardson is back in the news. Again the news is about her once-foreclosed Sacramento home. And the news is bad for the freshman Long Beach Democratic congresswoman.

The Los Angeles Times reports today that Richardson's home in the nice Curtis Park neighborhood has been declared a "public nuisance."

The move by Sacramento's Code Enforcement Department could cost the congresswoman as much as $5,000 per month if she doesn't bring the house up to snuff.

To recap for those of you new to the Richardson saga, the congressman was first elected to the state Assembly back in 2006, soon after which she bought a house in Sacramento for $535,000.

But Richardson ran for an open congressional seat early in 2007 and fell into default on her Sacramento home. It was foreclosed and sold at auction to James York for $388,000 last May.

But the bank, Washington Mutual, took the unusual step of taking the house back from York after the auction. York sued. Both sides settled, at which point York said, "I'm not supposed to say anything. I think you guys can figure out what happened. I only make business decisions and nothing else."

So now Richardson has the house back -- but it has been declared a "public nuisance." For her part, as Richardson has done throughout most of the scandal, the congresswoman declined comment.

"Neither Congresswoman Richardson nor her attorney have received any information referring to this matter. Any additional information will be provided at a later date," her office said in a statement to the Times.

Along the way, newspapers discovered that Richardson has defaulted on two other properties and drives the most expensive government-provided car in House of Representatives.

She is running for reelection and faces only a write-in opponent.

The Richardson Chronicles:
Richardson gets her house back
Richardson's ride is costliest in House
Rep. Richardson didn't pay her car bills, either
More Laura Richardson news
Richardson foreclosure story grows

Photo credit: Brian Baer, Sacramento Bee, May 10, 2007

Updated at 4:40 p.m.

Cancel those Sunday plans: The Assembly and the Senate have tentatively scheduled floor votes on a budget bill that day.

It does not mean a deal is imminent.

Lawmakers want a floor vote by this weekend to meet a deadline set by Secretary of State Debra Bowen for placing measures on the November ballot. Many see the deadline as a moving target, however, and believe the vote Sunday may be the first in several floor exercises before a final deal is struck.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, said lawmakers plan to vote Sunday on a modified version of the Democratic conference committee plan, which relied on tax increases on the wealthy. Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata also said his house would hold a vote "probably Sunday."

"It will be on a compromise version from the conference committee to where we are now, and reflect a variety of areas where we've compromised," Bass said. "And it is critical that we take action before Monday because the Democrats have taken budget reform very seriously."

Perata, D-Oakland, said Thursday that lawmakers remain divided over whether to use taxes or borrowing to balance the state's $15.2 billion budget shortfall. But he maintained that he is on the same page with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on long-term budget reform, which establishes a stronger reserve fund but does not tie spending to population growth and inflation, as Republican legislators want.

"That's not an issue anymore," Perata said. "We've worked that out. I think it's to his satisfaction. It's to our satisfaction. I don't know how the Republicans feel about that. Most of them wanted a very hard cap."

Schwarzenegger this morning remained in Los Angeles for the Border Governors' Conference, a fact to which lawmakers were quick to allude, suggesting that talks were on hiatus with the governor out of town for the last 24 hours. He is due back in Sacramento this afternoon.

To resolve the dispute, the governor has proposed a temporary 1-cent sales tax increase for three to four years, followed by a sales tax decrease as much as a half-cent below the current 6.25 percent rate. The decrease is considered a sweetener to entice Republican lawmakers to vote for the plan.

But disagreements have cropped up over how that sales tax would be implemented. Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, has characterized the move as a tax cut because he believes it would result in a permanent sales tax decrease in the long term. Democrats are opposed to making the decrease permanent and believe it should be phased out.

Perata said Thursday he isn't focused on a sales tax and wants to pursue the Democratic proposal to tax the rich.

"We're talking about a permanent tax on the high-income earners of this state," Perata said. "The governor's (tax) proposal has changed repeatedly, constantly, and I don't know what the latest proposal is."

Assemblyman Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, vice-chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee, said the governor's budget reform plan would be unacceptable to his Republican colleagues, at least six of which are necessary to pass a budget in the Assembly.

"The proposal of the governor kind of backs into a spending cap by virtue of their details of setting up a reserve," Niello said. "That is not a reliable reserve. Our caucus believes the only way to have a reliable reserve, a real rainy-day fund, is to limit the growth of spending when revenue growth is strong. Our spending cap is population growth plus inflation. That is a hard number."

Niello said Republicans remain opposed to the sales tax plan because they do not trust that the temporary increase will ever phase out. He said lawmakers could simply vote to make it permanent in future years. Some Republicans have said they would rather use internal borrowing to raise funds, paying back that money with an expanded lottery in future years.

"We have been open to (closing) some of the loopholes, some of which can raise significant funds," Niello said. "We would be open to other maneuvers. Without being specific to what those are, we become very flexible if they want to talk about a real spending cap."

UPDATE: Though Perata told reporters he plans to hold a vote this weekend, he has not called a floor vote Sunday, making it uncertain the upper house will actually consider the budget this weekend. The Senate is officially dark Friday and Saturday and on-call for Sunday. At the close of session Thursday afternoon, Perata joked that senators should check with their local weather forecasters about whether they need to return Sunday.

-- Kevin Yamamura and Jim Sanders

The California Department of Finance's latest economic bulletin is a mixed bag of news, reporting "depressed" construction activity and a loss of nonfarm jobs, but ever-so-slightly higher than expected revenues in the state.

Overall, the state collected $18 million above the projected revenues for July. That was driven largely by personal income tax receipts, which were $261 million above forecast.

Other tax streams were down, including sales and use taxes ($81 million below forecast) and corporate taxes ($52 million below forecast).

See the full finance bulletin here.

Calling her the "consummate public servant" and one of the most respected voices in state government, the state Senate bid farewell to Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill in a floor ceremony on Thursday.

Senator after senator rose to heap praises on Hill, who has provided nonpartisan fiscal advice to lawmakers since 1976. She rose to head the Legislative Analyst's Office a decade later.

"If we simply took...your LAO reports and we put them into statute, the state would be a whole lot better off," said Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. "That is the ultimate compliment to you."

Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Temecula, said of replacing Hill: "We have some very big shoes to fill, obviously."

A gracious Hill said it had "been such an honor to serve you, to try to give you advice."

"Thank you all such much for giving me the dream job of legislative analyst," she beamed.

Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, said Hill offered "a fair analysis whether you wanted it or not" - an "insider joke" about Hill's report earlier this year that estimated the cost of a Kuehl-backed single-payer universal health care system.

Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-Santa Clara, said Hill was "trusted on both sides of the aisle." Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, called her a "rock star."

Sen. Gloria Romero of Los Angeles summed it up best.

"When Liz Hill speaks," she said. "We all listen."

With Don Perata announcing an agreement between Senate Democrats and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on the budget, the focus in the Capitol among those leaders has turned to picking off at least two Republicans in the state Senate to pass the spending plan.

While Democrats control 25 seats in the 40-member house, they need 27 votes -- two-thirds of the senators -- to pass the state budget, which is now 44 days late.

"No one would ever use that strategy," said a tongue-in-cheek Sen. Jim Battin. The Palm Desert Republican is termed out this year and is one of the rumored targets. "That's unheard of."

No package has been presented to Senate Republicans, said several GOP senators, so any talk of extracting votes is premature.

But Perata told The Bee's Jim Sanders of the compromise plan, "The question continues to be, are there Republican votes for it?"

Perata suggested Schwarzenegger should corral GOP votes. "A Republican governor should have some sway over Republicans," he said.

In the Senate -- where only two Republican voters are needed -- much of the focus has been on Sen. Abel Maldonado, who broke party ranks to vote for the 2007-08 budget, and Sen. Roy Ashburn, who lost a key vice-chairmanship under the new GOP leadership.

If two Republicans crossed over, every Democrat would need to vote for the spending plan, including moderate Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana.

Schwarzenegger has personally schmoozed Ashburn, appearing on the Bakersfield Republican's radio show last weekend.

"I hear this is the hottest show in the Valley," Schwarzenegger teased Ashburn in a chummy 20-minute chat. "Maybe I can become more popular."

The governor went on to call Ashburn one of the "warriors there by my side."

But the conversation mainly focused on the budget -- and Schwarzenegger's proposal, which is centered on a three-year 1-cent hike in the sales tax, after which the tax would dip below current levels. That hike would be paired with a spending cap and some type of rainy-day fund.

Ashburn sounded amenable on the show to that plan.

"The way you've described, given further detail to your sales tax proposal, it actually sounds like a tax cut," he said.

Both Battin and former Senate GOP leader Dick Ackerman are also grist for the Capitol rumor mill of targeted members. But both senators clearly stated they oppose new taxes, even in the form of the temporary sales tax hike Schwarzenegger has floated.

"That's a tax hike, and it's something I'll never support," Battin said.

"I do not support any tax increases," Ackerman agreed.

Capitol Alert interviewed each of the four GOP senators -- Ackerman, Ashburn, Battin and Maldonado -- and has the latest on their budget thoughts.

Who: Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield

Status: Termed out in 2010

Scouting report: Perhaps the surest sign Roy Ashburn is considering supporting the budget is his recent rhetoric on taxes.

He has said the governor's sales tax plan - a three-year hike followed by a cut in the following years - actually constitutes a tax cut.

"The sales tax would drop below the current rate and that would be a permanent tax cut," Ashburn told Capitol Alert.

The GOP base is already mobilizing to keep Ashburn from voting for any budget with taxes. This morning, the conservative California Republican Assembly sent an "urgent alert" to its members urging them to contact Ashburn.

"I don't feel any pressure from anybody," Ashburn said. "Each of us were elected to do a job."

"This may be the year where very tough choices have to be made," he added.

Last Saturday, Schwarzenegger reached out to Ashburn over the airwaves, appearing on the Bakersfield Republican's weekly radio show for the first time. In a chummy chat, Schwarzenegger touted Ashburn as one of the "warriors there by my side."

Internal Capitol dynamics are also at play. When Senate GOP leader Dave Cogdill took over the caucus, he stripped Ashburn of his post as vice-chair of the Senate Rules Committee, a key leadership spot.

"Can I eat lunch with the Democrats?" Ashburn said half-jokingly as he sidled up next to Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, at the Senate lunch buffet on Wednesday.

One factor going against Ashburn breaking ranks: he isn't termed out until 2010.

Who: Sen. Dick Ackerman, R-Irvine

Status: Termed out in 2008

Scouting report: No senator has a closer relationship to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senate leader Don Perata than Dick Ackerman, who preceded Sen. Dave Cogdill as leader of the Senate GOP.

He was in the room with them throughout the 2007 budget negotiations, the 2006 infrastructure package and other past budgets.

That closeness has spurred talk that Ackerman could be targeted by the governor as a potential vote for this year's budget. After all, he cast the decisive vote back in 2007 -- joining GOP Sen. Abel Maldonado and the entire Democratic caucus -- to end the 50-plus day standoff.

But Ackerman could not be more steadfast against the need for taxes to balance this year's budget.

"I do not support any tax increases," Ackerman told Capitol Alert on Wednesday. "We have to concentrate on cuts and bringing our expenditure level down."

As for the governor's sales tax plan -- which includes a three-year hike by 1 cent followed by a permanent reduction -- Ackerman sounded dismissive.

"Temporary taxes are an oxymoron," he said. "There is no way you can guarantee a temporary tax is going to remain temporary. You just can't."

Who: Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria

Status: Running for reelection this year. Would term out in 2012.

Scouting report: Abel Maldonado is likely to be the first GOP senator the governor and Democrats approach about the budget. Why? Because he's shown a willingness to break ranks with the GOP pack.

In 2007, he joined the Democrats in supporting a state budget - weeks before any other GOP senator cast a vote for the spending plan.

As for this year's budget, Maldonado, like the rest of the GOP, said Wednesday, "I haven't seen anything."

But he is, perhaps, the Republican most open to supporting the new revenues Democrats crave.

"I've always said that everything should be on the table. I'm a businessperson. When you're a businessperson, everything should be on the table," Maldonado said.

But Democrats shouldn't take that to the bank. "It doesn't mean I am going to vote for taxes," he added. He said he is "obviously concerned" with Schwarzenegger's temporary sales tax proposal.

In the end, Maldonado said, "If it's good for my district, I'll vote for it. If it's not good for my district, I won't."

Maldonado represents one of the swing districts in California, but no Democrat has qualified for the ballot this fall, though an independent candidate recently submitted signatures to try to make the ballot.

Who: Sen. Jim Battin, R-Palm Desert.

Status: Termed out in 2008

Scouting report: Sen. Jim Battin is known for his political instincts and knows it never hurts to have Democrats and the governor knocking on your door for a vote.

Not that it sounds like he'll be supporting any budget with a tax hike this year.

"It's something I'll never support," he said. "And I've never suggested to anybody that I would."

Battin said "the pickoff strategy is an unfortunate one," while also calling it premature.

"We have no idea what that deal is," Battin said.

"It's one thing to say something. It's entirely different to see what the deal is. Especially with our colleagues on the Democrat side, a lot of what they say doesn't match what they write," he said.

As for his name continuing to surface in the budget rumor mill, Battin admitted, "Yes, I do know that my name is bouncing around out there."

But Battin said the best indicator of future behavior is past action -- and he has never supported tax increases.

Prison medical care receiver J. Clark Kelso asked a federal court today for $8 billion to improve health care behind bars in California -- a move that could add a whopping $3.1 billion to the state's existing $15.2 billion deficit.

The Bee's Andy Furillo has more.

Today was supposed to mark the start of the 26th annual Border Governors Conference in Los Angeles. But the star and host of the show -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- is going to be at least somewhat stuck in Sacramento, negotiating the overdue budget.

As the Los Angeles Times' Mike Rothfield reports,

...Schwarzenegger has looked forward to treating Mexican and U.S. dignitaries to a one-of-a-kind California experience at a governors summit he is hosting in Los Angeles starting today.

In a promotional video, he said the 26th Annual Border Governors Conference would showcase the state "in true Hollywood style, with lots of action and magic."

The conference -- with its annual focus on the "big picture" of relations between the states -- perfectly suits Schwarzenegger's governing style.

Schwarzenegger tells the Times he'll be taking his private plane back-and-forth between Los Angeles and Sacramento in between negotiating sessions.

Find more information on the conference here.

A grand jury in Alameda County has indicted an Oakland man accused of carjacking Senate leader Don Perata and later firing shots that left a 10-year old boy paralyzed.

The San Francisco Chronicle has the story of the indictment of Jared Adams, 25.

On Dec. 29, carjackers stole Perata's state-issued red 2006 Dodge Charger as he waited at a light at 51st Street and Shattuck Avenue. Police said the carjackers probably didn't recognize Perata and targeted his Charger because of its 22-inch rims. The car was later found abandoned in Richmond.

On Jan. 10, Christopher Rodriguez was practicing the piano at the Harmony Road Music School at the corner of Piedmont and Pleasant Valley avenues when Adams allegedly robbed a gas station across the street and fired shots at an employee calling police, authorities said. The bullet that penetrated the music school's wall ripped through Christopher's spleen, kidney and spine before lodging in his side.

Back in May, police first reported that the Perata incident and the shooting were related.

Perata's Dodge Charger, by the way, was eventually auctioned off on eBay.

Former Assemblyman and state Sen. Barry Keene has been appointed to the California Student Aid Commission, a board that administers federal and state financial aid.

Keene, a Sacramento Democrat, will hold the post until January 2012. It doesn't pay much -- $100 per diem per meeting plus expenses. He was appointed by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, on Monday.

Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, who was hospitalized last week with an infection in her lungs, was released on Saturday night, her office said.

Runner suffers from a lung disease known as limited scleroderma, or CREST syndrome, and is awaiting a double-lung transplant. Her husband, George Runner, serves in the state Senate.

Runner issued a statement upon her release:

"On Saturday night I was released from the hospital and I am recovering at home. Thank you to everyone who offered their kind words of encouragement during the past week. I am especially grateful for the love and support of my family and friends.

"I look forward to getting back to the State Capitol soon and working with my colleagues to pass a much needed state budget."

Read our past coverage for more background on her disease and hospitalization.

Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, has officially entered the ranks of blogging lawmakers.

"If you know me at all, you know that I have my opinions and I'm not afraid to share them," Spitzer writes in his inaugural post. "This site will be the place that you can come to get my full, unfiltered opinion."

The site, he promises, will be about "what is actually going on in Sacramento, the stuff you won't read in the newspapers."

He's already answered at least one question: what's next for the termed-out assemblyman.

"I plan on returning to the Orange County District Attorney's Office to a managerial position starting December 1, 2008," he writes.

Find the full blog here. Hat tip: Jon Fleischman.

A bipartisan group of state senators rebuked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday for laying off 1,645 corrections employees last month and not protecting 66,000 permanent workers from wage cuts, calling the moves "a glaring, hazardous threat to public safety." They threatened to hold hearings Wednesday if the governor does not reverse his moves.

A total of 17 senators signed the following letter, including both Senate leaders, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata and Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill.

August 11, 2008

The Honorable Arnold Schwarzenegger
Governor
State of California
State Capitol, 1st Floor
Sacramento, Ca 95814

Dear Governor:

Your executive order to layoff part time state workers and reduce the pay of others contains a glaring, hazardous threat to public safety - that we want remedied immediately.

You failed to exempt the state's 33 prisons - and the public safety personnel that protect our constituents. Correctional officers and support staff are the ONLY public safety unit omitted. You obviously calculated the danger of applying the order to firefighters, given the many conflagrations this year, and the tragic death of nine firefighters this week in Trinity. But exempting Fish and Game wardens? Medical fraud inspectors?

We, the undersigned each represent communities where correctional facilities are located. We believe your order fails to ensure the safety at these prisons, the officers and staff, the 170,000 inmates incarcerated, and anyone who lives within a 50 mile radius. In sum, you have unnecessarily and unarguably placed law abiding, tax paying citizens in proximate physical danger.

We understand that Matt Cate is personally culling through the many classifications and shift assignments at each corrections facility to see who should be exempted from the order. The fuse is lit and now he's assessing the potential carnage? We find this infuriating! Why wasn't this managed before issuing the order or announcing it publicly? (By the way, WE never were forewarned).

If your executive order is not amended to exempt all corrections personnel, our four house leaders have agreed to hold a public hearing on Wednesday. We would like to avoid that spectacle; however, please recognize we believe you have inadvertently placed our communities at risk and in danger. One violent episode will be a law enforcement convulsion from which we will not soon recover.

Honorable Don Perata
Honorable Dave Cogdill
Honorable Sam Aanestad
Honorable Jim Battin
Honorable Ron Calderon
Honorable Lou Correa
Honorable Dave Cox
Honorable Jeff Denham
Honorable Denise Moreno Ducheny
Honorable Robert Dutton
Honorable Dean Florez
Honorable Mike Machado
Honorable Abel Maldonado
Honorable Carole Migden
Honorable Gloria Negrete McLeod
Honorable George Runner
Honorable Pat Wiggins

cc: Honorable Karen Bass
Honorable Mike Villines

More than 400 of you cast votes to determine the final caption contest winner.

Congratulations to Tom Christian, who will receive a $25 gift card to Starbucks. His entry: "For $15.2 billion dollars I'll show you my other tattoo..."

His caption beat out "I would have done both arms, but we've run out of black ink," 250 to 153.

For his worthy showing, our runner-up, Dave Stefanides of Laguna Hills, will receive a $15 gift card. Stefanides was once chief of staff to former Assemblyman Jim Morrissey. He is currently the director of government affairs for the Orange County Association of Realtors.

We'd also like to recognize the entrant who sent in a Bible verse (Isaiah 44:18, if you must know), as well as Roleeda Statham of the Assembly Republican Caucus, who penned an entire poem.

Without further ado, here's the best of the rest:

They told me this would get me into the Big 5.

You should see what it does when I flex.

Thanks again to everyone for entering.

Photo credit: Randy Pench, Sacramento Bee

Last week, Capitol Alert reported on the new ad campaign by the California Faculty Association targeting Republican candidates running in competitive Assembly races.

The faculty union's "Flunk the Assembly Republicans" campaign in AD 10, 30, 78 and 80 begins today.

The union reports buying $435,000 worth of TV time.

Below is the ad targeting GOP candidate Danny Gilmore, who is running to replace termed-out Assemblywoman Nicole Parra. All four ads are the same, with only the name of the targeted Republican changing:

A front-page investigation in the Los Angeles Times this weekend reported that dues from Tyrone Freeman's chapter of SEIU -- based in Los Angeles and one of the biggest in the country --- "have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to firms owned by the wife and mother-in-law of the labor organization's president."

The story goes on to document big spending "on a Four Seasons Resorts golf tournament, a Beverly Hills cigar club, restaurants such as Morton's steakhouse and a consulting contract with the William Morris Agency, the Hollywood talent shop."

Freeman denied any wrongdoing. "Every expenditure has been in the context of fighting poverty," he told the Times.

Freeman, 38, is one of the leaders of California's labor movement, as president of a 160,000-strong union composed mostly of low-wage workers. He is also close with Andy Stern, the president of the national arm of the Service Employees International Union. He has openly feuded with Sal Rosselli of United Healthcare Workers-West, the president of one of SEIU's other largest locals.

After the Times story broke, Freeman said he had "invited our International Union to review our books at its earliest convenience."

"We are confident that the findings of this review will reinforce the integrity of our organization," he said in a statement.

Joe Matthews of the New America Foundation calls Freeman a "young and talented leader," but says the financial scandal will be "a difficult test of the union movement in LA and nationally."

"Freeman needs to step down and offer a full-throated apology," Matthew concludes.

But why such a dramatic step?

"The rise of the LA unions as a labor force has been aided by the widespread perception that our unions are not old-style, corrupt empires," Matthews writes. "This is supposed to be new labor. The public needs to see transparency and accountability in the response to this."

Freeman hasn't addressed the story yet on his blog, but it's worth keeping an eye on.

The California Young Democrats has announced its positions on measures on the November ballot.

They are:

Proposition 1 (High speed rail)
YES

Proposition 2 (Treatment of farm animals)
YES

Proposition 3 (Children's hospital bond)
No position

Proposition 4 (Parental notification of abortion)
NO

Proposition 5 (Nonviolent offenders)
YES

Proposition 6 (Anti-gang measure)
NO

Proposition 7 (Renewable energy)
NO

Proposition 8 (Gay marriage ban)
"HELL NO"

Proposition 9 (Victim's rights)
NO

Proposition 10 (Alternative energy bond)
No position

Proposition 11 (Redistricting)
NO

Proposition 12 (Veterans' bond)
No position (placed on ballot after endorsement deadline)

Pastor Robert Jones went to the Capitol last Wednesday hoping to make his voice heard.

What he got instead was a swear-word laden rebuke from Democratic Sen. Pat Wiggins, who interrupted Jones' testimony to say, "I think your arguments are bull---."

The exchange left Jones, the senior pastor at Oak Park United Methodist Church, stunned and offended. "It is a slap in the face," he said in an interview.

The outburst occurred as Jones, 46, testified at an informational hearing on how California will cut global warming emissions. Jones, who is African American, said he went to urge lawmakers to consider minority communities when drafting those regulations.

"Our communities are the ones who suffer more than any other communities - the poor and the underrepresented...," Jones said. "It is important to have our perspective."

But after less than two minutes of speaking -- and before he could finish -- Wiggins blurted out, "Excuse me, but I think your arguments are bull----."

A stunned Jones turned to Wiggins and could muster only a "well..." before Sen. Christine Kehoe, a San Diego Democrat and the chair of the hearing, interjected.

"Let me step in here, Pastor Jones, we very much appreciate your presence here today and you're right. The community should be part of the discussion and it is," Kehoe said.

In an interview on Saturday, Jones called Wiggins' comments "extremely disturbing" and said he had not yet been contacted by the senator, or her staff, to apologize.

A plan, he said, was "in the works" to "respond to this affront."

"There's a way to disagree without being disrespectful," Jones said. "As a public servant, particularly a lawmaker, there is a standard of ethics that they should be held to."

Jones added that Sen. Kehoe had called to apologize on Wiggins' behalf.

Wiggins' office issued a statement in response to a request for comment from Capitol Alert in which the Santa Rosa Democrat said she "deeply regrets her comment and looks forward to apologizing to the pastor personally."

The statement added that she had "already attempted to do so through his representative" and would do so again soon.

"She very much believes that the process of drafting regulations, as well as the pursuit of environmental justice issues generally, should be all-inclusive," her office said in the statement. "One of the main reasons for holding a legislative hearing is to seek input and testimony from a broad range of groups and individuals."

The whole episode could have escaped notice in the frenetic final weeks of the legislative calendar. But on Friday, someone posted the Wiggins-Jones exchange on YouTube, the popular video-sharing Web site. As of Sunday evening, the video had been viewed more than 400 times.

Watch the video here.

Watch the exchange between Sen. Pat Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa, and Robert Jones, pastor at Oak Park United Methodist Church, last Wednesday.

Wiggins interrupts Jones at roughly 1 minute and 45 seconds into the clip.

Read Capitol Alert's coverage of the episode here.

"There's a way to disagree without being disrepectful," Jones said. "As a public servant, particularly a lawmaker, there is a standard of ethics that they should be held to."

Wiggins, in a statement, she said "deeply regrets her comment and looks forward to apologizing to the pastor personally."

State Controller John Chiang has issued a report on California's cash figures at the end of July. He said the state still has $10.1 billion in "unused borrowable resources" that it can use to continue to pay its bills until there is a budget.

In July, the controller's office reports, such internal borrowing was tapped for $4.1 billion, to "cover the deficit between $4.8 billion in receipts and $8.9 billion in disbursements."

Meanwhile, the Department of Personnel Administration, which is controlled by the governor's office, sent a letter today to the controller saying there's a way to change payroll to comply with Schwarzenegger's executive order.

Jon Ortiz has posted the letter on The State Worker blog.

Here's Chiang's full July cash flow statement. Or read the summary analysis.

For the first time, a Capitol Alert caption contest has ended in a tie. We need your vote to determine the winner.

More than 100 of you sent in entries, but the grand prize has come down to two captions:

1. "For $15.2 billion dollars I'll show you my other tattoo..."

and

2. "I would have done both arms, but we've run out of black ink."

The Bee Capitol Bureau voted -- but the result was a tie. Now we're looking for your input. And, no, we're not going to tell you who wrote which caption, lest it influence your vote.

Vote for the winner by e-mailing captions@capitolalert.com. Place the winning caption in the subject line of the e-mail.

Votes must be received by 5 p.m. today. We'll announce the winner on Monday; they'll receive the grand prize $25 gift card to Starbucks.

In case you forget, the photo is below:

Photo credit: Randy Pench, Sacramento Bee

How bad is this year's budget standoff? So bad that lawmakers are cancelling the Legislature's annual charity softball game, where Democrats square off against Republicans at Raley Field.

The game, which had been scheduled for Monday evening, would have been the eighth year of bipartisan ball between the rival lawmakers.

Organizers, including Assemblyman Guy Houston, R-San Ramon, are expected to issue a statement later today.

Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, for one, welcomed the news.

"I totally agree (with cancelling)," said the Hanford Democrat. "It's not time to play games and they can reschedule the game another time, but you can't reschedule our work."

As for the charity - donations were to go to the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services - she said lawmakers should commit to helping raise the money the game was expected to bring in.

Negotiations between Republicans and Democrats over this year's budget - which is 39 days late - have stalled. Lawmakers tussled on the Assembly floor on Thursday, with each party blaming the other for the delay. The budget faces a $15.2 billion deficit.

Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines pushed Democrats to put their plan - centered around $9 billion in new taxes - up for a vote, where it would have surely failed for a lack of GOP support.

Democrats called the insistence disingenuous, especially from a caucus that has yet to fully outline its own budget plan.

"If I had gone seven months into the budget process and not made a public proposal ... I might wish to change the subject as well," said Assemblyman John Laird, the Democratic chair of the budget committee. Democrats "can't compromise with nothing."

Normally, Laird and Villines are among the most congenial members of the Legislature.

Villines told the Contra Costa Times he had been "trying to keep a good tone on the floor, but that day is gone."

Photo: Assemblyman John Laird practicing softball in 2007. Photo credit: Brian Baer, Sacramento Bee

The California Faculty Association is hoping to turn this year's protracted budget standoff into political gain -- airing TV and radio ads attacking Republican candidates in four competitive races.

The ads, scheduled to start airing Monday, will attempt to brand the GOP candidates - none of whom are yet in office -- as "failing" the state's schools by linking them to the current Republican leadership, said Lillian Taiz, president of the faculty association.

Taiz said the ads, which are still being completed, will blame Republican lawmakers for blockading the budget -- and try to link GOP nominees to current legislators.

Because of strict party discipline, Taiz said her association sees one GOP lawmaker as roughly the same as any another.

"We can expect these Republican candidates to be just like the ones there now," Taiz said.

GOP strategist Kevin Spillane said the campaign sounded like "a typical stunt interest groups will do to try to look like they are impacting legislators."

"Frankly, there is not a track record to show success on either side" of such campaigns, Spillane said.

The faculty association, a union representing teachers and other employees at California State University, plans to spend an initial $435,000 on the independent expenditure ad buy. They are targeting the GOP nominees in Assembly District 10 (Alan Nakanishi's seat), 30 (Nicole Parra's), 78 (Shirley Horton's) and 80 (Bonnie Garcia's).

A TV and radio campaign more than three months from Election Day is uncommon, particularly in legislative races about which the public generally has little knowledge or interest.

But Taiz said the campaign is timed to capitalize on parents thinking about kids heading back to school. She called it "a very good time to get their attention about what's going on in the budget."

"We need theses families to also think that Republicans are out there blocking a budget compromise," Taiz said.

Spillane countered, "The reality is the voters in those districts wouldn't be very keen about supporting $9 billion in tax increases either."

Tempers flared during today's Assembly floor session, as Republicans demanded the Democratic budget plan be put up for a vote, while majority Democrats accused Republicans of lacking a plan altogether.

Throughout the morning session, minority Republicans repeatedly pressed Democrats to take up the budget, to no avail.

"The public wants to see action on the budget," insisted Assemblyman Rick Keene, R-Chico. "We want to debate it on this floor."

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass said it was the first time in her four years in the lower house that she saw Republicans demanding a budget vote.

Maybe that means there were at least six GOPers "ready to vote for the budget," she snidely snapped at he colleageues across the aisle.

Assembly GOP leader Mike Villines raised his microphone to challenge Democrats to "have the will" to debate their budget.

"We are at impasse," he said.

Often, public proclamations at budget time bear little resemblance to the behind-the-scenes machinations of negotiations. But Villines said progress wasn't to be had, publicly or privately.

Of the Big 5 talks, Villines said, "Nothing is coming of it. Nothing."

On Wednesday, Villines introduced ACA 19, a constitutional amendment to cap state spending and create a rainy day fund.

The governor and GOP lawmakers have said some type of "budget reform" is the key to striking a deal on the overdue spending plan.

But the latest proposal was not well received by Democrats.

"Republicans have taken the people of the State of California hostage, and ACA 19 is their ransom note," is how Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, a Santa Rosa Democrat and incoming chair of the budget committee, described the bill in a prepared statement.

Assemblyman John Laird, the chair of the budget committee, got in the final word before session closed.

"If I had gone seven months into the budget process and not made a public proposal ... I might wish to change the subject as well," Laird said. Democrats "can't compromise with nothing."

It is Day 38 of the standoff.

Maybe, just maybe, this means that the vice presidential prospects for California's own Carly Fiorina are blossoming.

The former Hewlett-Packard CEO, who is a senior adviser to John McCain and chairwoman of the Republican National Committee's Victory '08, is now the newest official target of the Democratic National Committee's "Rapid Reponse Team."

With grand gusto, Democratic officials announced in a conference call today that Fiorina has been added to its "The Next Cheney" Web page. The premise is that whoever McCain picks, his VP selection will be just another extension of the Bush White House and its Darth Vader veep.

The site celebrates Fiorina as the woman who "called the overseas out-sourcing of American jobs 'right-shoring' " and includes a link called "Learn more about why she got thrown out as CEO." She becomes the seventh person and first woman to earn a spot on the Dems' would-be Cheney list.

As California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres and Los Angeles Hilda Solis ripped Fiorina in a conference call as just another clone of Bush-Cheney, DNC research director Mike Gehrke seemed to offer an unintended counterargument. He noted that Fiorina "has never held office and has no foreign policy to speak of."

Given the Dems' assessment of the current administration, shouldn't that be the idea?

The Los Angeles Times' George Skelton snagged an interview with Sen. Dianne Feinstein to talk to her about the rumors that she would consider running for governor.

"The bottom line," she said," is the election is in 2010. And I'll make a decision at the beginning of the year."

Skelton called California's senior senator following a couple weeks of increased political chatter about Feinstein making a run for the statehouse.

A recent poll showed her besting Attorney General Jerry Brown by a wide margin. Then former Speaker Willie Brown declared, "If she does get in, it's over."

From Skelton's column:

She said she'd decide after New Year's 2010. But that might be too late, I interjected, to scare off the competition. "Well," she replied confidently, "I don't know that I have to clear the field. I would expect to have a spirited primary."

And she went on about California's problems: "Think back, there's been no major water infrastructure built since Pat Brown was governor. Everything's drying up. . . . California sort of rests on its laurels. . . . You've got to move people, you've got to move goods. . . . I'd love to be the governor who builds the high-speed rail."

Skelton's take: "She'd be the strongest candidate and probably the strongest governor. Another window of opportunity is opening for Feinstein. It's wide and undoubtedly her last."

The entire column is worth a read.

John Myers, a KQED blogger but radio man at heart, attended Wednesday's press conference with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and asked the governor about his "no-new-taxes" flip-flop.


Myers has posted the audio of the governor's response.


Perhaps as interesting, he has two other clips charting Schwarzenegger's evolution from " I will not raise taxes" to, well, proposing to raise taxes.

Now that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vowed to veto all bills until there is a budget, it is worth noting that there are currently 13 bills on the his desk. But fear not, senators (they are all Senate bills), the Schwarzenegger administration plans to allow lawmakers to "pull back" those bills.

Under California law, any bill not signed or vetoed within 12 days of hitting the governor's desk becomes law. But for any bill arriving on or after Aug. 18, Schwarzenegger has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto.

In effect, that means the governor's big veto declaration today would only have an impact should the budget impasse drag on past the end of September.

That is because lawmakers can simply hold off on sending bills to Schwarzenegger until after Aug. 18 and give the governor until Sept. 30 to sign or veto them.

In any case, here's what on Schwarzenegger's desk:

SB 947 Hollingsworth
California Environmental Quality Act: consultation: transportation facilities.

SB 1166 Cox
Game refuges.

SB 1178 Aanestad
Dentistry: registered sex offenders.

SB 1211 Harman
Alcoholic beverage control: caterer's permits.

SB 1241 Margett
Public safety.

SB 1280 Maldonado
Agriculture: seed: advisory board: registration.

SB 1311 Simitian
California Pollution Control Financing Authority: Capital Access Loan Program.

SB 1461 Negrete McLeod
Real estate licensees.

SB 1495 Kehoe
Taxation.

SB 1531 Correa
Peace officer training: autistic persons.

SB 1534 Battin
Veterans: military decorations.

SB 1675 Cox
Veterans' Revenue Debenture Act of 1970.

SB 1774 Corbett
State Council on Developmental Disabilities.

In addition to threatening to veto all bills until the budget is completed, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said at today's press conference that state lawmakers should forfeit their paychecks -- without any possibility of back pay -- as long as the budget remains unpassed.

"They shouldn't get paid, and they should never make that money back," the governor declared.

Noting that the state has passed an on-time budget only four times in the last two decades, Schwarzenegger said, "We have a budget system that has failed."

In part, he blamed a lack of "consequences" for lawmakers who fail to meet the annual deadline.

If lawmakers didn't get paid, "they would be thinking twice about that," declared Schwarzenegger, a multimillionaire from his acting days who does not collect his $200,000-plus state salary.

Currently, lawmakers not only are eligible for their full salaries during budget standoffs, but also "per diem" payments for travel and living expenses during session.

The budget is 37 days late and out of whack by $15.2 billion.

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata declared negotiations on the spending plan to be at an "impasse" on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Assembly GOP leader Mike Villines has called on the Democratic leadership to put their budget plan -- which contains more than $9 billion in new taxes -- up for a vote, as soon as this Thursday.

"It's time we debate this budget proposal, which is a roadblock to negotiations, so we can get beyond it and craft the responsible, balanced budget Californians deserve," the Clovis Republican said.

Here's the best response yet to the governor's veto threat:

Sen Jeff Denham: "Great! Many of the bills the Legislature passes do California more harm than good."

Barry Broad, a Sacramento lobbyist who represents the powerful Teamsters union, among other labor interests, has decided to expand into a new field: fiction. His first novel, Eve of Destruction, tells a good-old-fashioned spy tale with contemporary flavor.

Broad has an inaugural book reception at the office of California Manufacturers & Technology Association this evening with proceeds going to charity.

A voracious news buff, he became convinced that the United States faced more of a threat from Iran than Iraq, and speculated on how he would fight back.

The nuclear plant meltdown of Chernobyl, he says, helped take down the Soviet Union, and maybe a similar incident would do the trick in Iran. Eve of Destruction tells that tale.

How did you come up with the idea?

If I was the head of the CIA, what I would want to do is stage some incident in Iran which caused a nuclear power leak to occur in a facility that was undisclosed that people knew little about that wouldn't cause the damage even of Chernobyl but would allow the leakage of highly enriched uranium, which they're not supposed to have, into the atmosphere, which would probably freak out people in Iran, certainly freak out the rest of the world, and potentially destabilize the regime.

And then I thought, what if those guys, for their own reasons were in a way trying to do the same thing to us, to send a dirty bomb into the United States to reduce the confidence of Americans. If a dirty bomb exploded someplace, like in a major city in the United States, it wouldn't kill many people, if any. It would just freak people out...It would totally undermine America's sense of security without killing many people. And I thought gee, both countries would essentially be doing the same thing, and I thought 'what a great spy novel!'

Do you see this book as a warning, or intended to be an eye-opener?

It's above all intended to be entertaining, and a good read. I want people to enjoy reading it. But I wanted to make it as close to mirroring the reality as I could with the resources available to me, because I am not in the CIA. But to some extent it is a warning. Personally, I believe that the Iranian regime is serious about acquiring nuclear weapons, and that this particular regime is crazy enough to use them.

A lot of the book details interactions between people. Is that all based on research, such as this is how Turkish women are treated? How did you do that research?

I spent a lot of time going through the Internet and looking at various websites upon websites upon websites, people's recollections, I talked to people to try to get a sense. A lot of what's going on in Iran in its social structure, politically, like how women are treated, is reported. it's not a secret.

In terms of writing about covert organizations, such as the CIA and Mossad (Israeli Intelligence), how did you do that research?

You can learn certain things, and there are certain people you can talk to who know. Some things are very publicly available. For example, I went on the Navy's website to find out what kind of submarines they use to place people for covert operations, because it actually lists it, what kind of submarine does what kind of work. Some things you get 90% of the way there. For example, there's a discussion in there about the Iranians acquiring anti-ship missiles. I got that out of Congressional testimony that the Navy gave...And if I knew all of that, it would be a book of non-fiction, not a book of fiction.

Are you Jewish?

Yes.

What was it like writing about something like the Middle East conflict in which you might have a bias?

Well, everyone has a bias. Let me put it this way: there are good guys and bad guys in this novel, and the bottom line is we're the good guys, and they're the bad guys, in the sense of the current government of Iran. But I was very careful to differentiate between the current government of Iran and Islam. Islam is not an enemy. But some regimes that wear the cloak and call themselves Islamic governments are. They are totalitarian, they are fascist, they are unreconstructed Nazis, they are incredibly vicious toward minorities and there is no putting a gloss over their conduct.

How long did it take you to write this?

From conception to first draft was six months. From first draft to final project was another year. The editing process was very long, very arduous, and very painful. Much more than the first draft writing process was.

What kind of writing experience do you have?

I write for journals, legal publications about labor laws, that sort of stuff. This is the first time I've done fiction. I sort of started this kind of thing 20 years ago, before the Internet. I think the Internet and computers have allowed people with day jobs to write. I couldn't have written this novel if not for the Internet. Very simple things would have taken me days and days to find out that I could find out in seconds, and I'll give you an example. I wanted to figure out what brand of cigarettes Iranians smoke, for a scene when he's smoking cigarettes. I searched for "Iranian Cigarette" and up pops a website of some guy who collects cigarettes from around the world. You can go from country to country looking up their cigarettes, with pictures of their packages. There in Iran in the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction is a cigarette called 1357, the number in the Iranian calendar that corresponds with 1979, the year of the Iranian revolution. Could you make something up that beautiful? Twenty-five years ago, how would I have figured that out? That's one little fact.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has scheduled a 2:45 press conference today to talk about the budget.

State Controller John Chiang, who is battling Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over his executive order to temporarily lower state worker salaries to conserve cash, has issued a statement saying consecutive months of "improved revenues" have left the state with sufficent funds to pay bills through September.

"Two consecutive months of improved revenues and decreased spending have rendered his executive order to be nothing more than a solution to a problem that does not exist in the immediate future," Chiang said.

The governor's office has contended the state's fiscal picture is far worse, however.

Chiang continued: "Although I will release the actual cash flow figures in my monthly report later this week, the preliminary numbers from July show that our cash position has further improved, providing added assurance that the State will have the resources to meet its payment obligations for all of September and into October."

Despite that, Chiang said expensive borrowing -- known as "revenue anticipation warrants" -- will likely still be necessary for California to pay all its bills this year.

The new revenues "will not alleviate the need for California to engage in expensive and risky Wall Street borrowing later this year," Chiang said. "The only way to avoid this borrowing is with a budget that contains sound revenue and expenditure solutions that are free from get-out-of-town gimmicks."

Photo credit: Randy Pench, Sacramento Bee

Featured in a John McCain advertisement lampooning Barack Obama's celebrity, California's newest presidential pundit and campaign hopeful, Paris Hilton, responds.

Senate GOP leader Dave Cogdill quickly responded to Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata's charges that Republicans are to blame for the budget standoff.

Here's Cogdill's statement, in full:

Senator Perata's statement regarding the lack of Republican solutions is patently incorrect. We have been bringing ideas to the table since first learning of the fiscal crisis. Unfortunately, the only proposal Democrats are willing to discuss is one that includes tax increases. They have turned a deaf ear to all solutions to stimulate the economy or make meaningful reforms. This economy will not survive more taxes. It is a non-starter for us."

As for our negotiations being at a 'loggerhead,' we have not had a Big 4 in two-weeks. The majority party controls the agenda. We are here ready to work anytime, for as long as it takes.

We are asking Senator Perata to bring forward his budget for a vote. If he thinks his tax increases are the answer, let's see how the rest of the Senate feels about that solution.

Assemblywoman Mary Salas got herself inked over the summer break. Kinda.

The Chula Vista Democrat slapped on a temporary tat for a biker party she attended with her husband. But she decided to keep the skull as a reminder to her fellow lawmakers "that we have to toughen up, hunker down and pass the budget."

Hey, you never know what will work as lawmakers grapple with the 36-day late spending plan that is $15.2 billion out-of-whack. At least she didn't come back with a beard.

In any case, Bee photograher Randy Pench snapped a picture of Salas and her mean-looking tattoo during Monday's floor session.

For those of you new to Capitol Alert's caption contest, the process is pretty simple:

1. Look at the picture.
2. Pick a caption.
3. E-mail it to us.

When sending in submissions feel free to request anonymity. However, only those willing to have their real names published can win the grand prize: a $25 gift card to Starbucks.

Entries are due by midnight at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday.

Again, send submissions to captions@capitolalert.com.

(For further inspiration, check out the recent contest with Bonnie Garcia and the frog and the winners of that contest.)

In some of his most pessimistic statements to date, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata told reporters Tuesday that talks have stalled between the legislative leaders and there is "no end in sight" for the state's overdue budget.

Perata, whose office sent out a transcript of his statements, made the comments one day after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger floated a temporary sales tax hike to balance the state's books.

Perata welcomed that move, but warned, "Let's be clear, he doesn't have any support in his own party yet for this, and unless he can get Republicans to agree with his point of view, we could be here for an extended period of time."

Democrats control a substantial majority in both the Senate and Assembly, but need Republican support to reach the required two-thirds vote to pass a spending plan.

Many Democrats are hoping to attend the Democratic National Convention in Denver that begins on August 25.

Perata, however, said "don't plan to be there for the convention. I don't see this ending for quite some time."

The Oakland Democrat also categorically dismissed giving the governor mid-year cutting authority. "I don't care if the Democrats or Republicans are in the majority, you can't take us constitutionally out of the process of approving expenditures," he said.

Not unexpectedly, he laid blame for the delayed budget at the feet of GOP lawmakers (who, in turn, are blaming Democrats).

Read a complete transcript of what the pro tem said, courtesy of Perata's office:

"The fact that the governor now has said we cannot balance this budget, we cannot get through the next three or four years, without at least a temporary tax I think is a step in the right direction.

All during the budget hearings, all during the conference committee, they never once proposed any alternative to the budget. So the burden is really now on them. If they want to let the great state of California slide into Arkansas, that's going to be on them. But they have got to come up with proposals, and they have not done it.

Is San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom putting together a team to run for governor?

A Los Angeles blogger caught Newsom and his new wife meeting with Democratic consultant Garry South at a Starbucks in Malibu.

Zuma Dogg even posted a video of the encounter.

The Chronicle's Carla Marinucci first linked to the South-Newsom meeting.

South was the chief strategist for Gov. Gray Davis two winning campaigns in 1998 and 2002, as well as his loss in the 2003 recall. In 2006, South served as chief consultant for then-state Controller Steve Westly's bid for governor.

*South was not Davis' chief strategist during the recall.

Past Democratic gubernatorial consultant news:
Brown eyes ex-Newsom confidant?

Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, has issued an ultimatum of sorts to Speaker Karen Bass, vowing that she "simply cannot support a budget" unless it coincides with a "solution to the Central Valley's water supply."

The Fresno Bee's E.J. Schulz's obtained a copy of Parra's letter.

"It is with a heavy heart, and after serious deliberation, that I write this letter to you," Parra begins the missive, sent on July 29.

"A vote on a budget that adequately reflects our state's priorities is only half honest, unless we are simultaneously addressing the issue of water supply," she writes.

As Schultz reports, that puts Parra out on a limb compared to my of her Democratic colleagues:

It is unusual for a lawmaker to openly put such a condition on his or her budget vote.

Assuming all Assembly Democrats vote yes on the budget, it takes at least six Republican votes to pass the lower house. If Parra sticks to her pledge -- and lawmakers don't approve a water deal before the budget -- Democrats may have to woo an additional Republican vote on the budget, now 36 days late.

The speaker's office, meanwhile, "fully expects" Parra to support a budget, with or without a water deal.

As they hammer out the budget, the governor and legislative leaders are simultaneously trying to craft a water bond package for the fall ballot. But the leadership is running up against an August 16 deadline to place a measure on the ballot (that deadline, however, could likely be pushed back).

The water ultimatum letter sure doesn't help endear Parra, who has publicly flirted with supporting Republican Danny Gilmore to succeed her, to the Democratic leadership.

Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, who suffers from lung disease and is awaiting a double-lung transplant, has been hospitalized with an infection in her weakened lungs, her office said.

The Lancaster Republican checked into the UC Davis Medical Center on Sunday night with an infection in her lungs, but the illness was not expected to keep the upbeat lawmaker down too long.

"I had to seek hospital treatment due to an infection in my lungs that is common in people with limited lung capacity and a compromised immune system," Runner said in a statement. "I am receiving the best necessary treatment to fight this infection and I plan on returning to work within the next week."

Runner, whose husband George Runner serves in the state Senate, revealed in February that she had been diagnosed with limited scleroderma, or CREST syndrome, a potentially fatal disease with no known cure.

As of April, she was one of 171 Californians on a waiting list for a new set of lungs.

Runner, 53, was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease more than 20 years ago, though it didn't impact her everyday life until 2006.

Here's what The Bee's Jim Sanders wrote about that back in April:

The Runners were at their cabin off Highway 50 near Lake Tahoe nearly two years ago when she found herself struggling to walk a quarter-mile - odd, because she loves hiking.

The UCLA center has performed 15 lung transplants for scleroderma patients in the past four years, achieving a 95 percent survival rate in the first year after surgery, he said.

Runner has pledged to serve out the rest of her final term in the Assembly, which ends in December.

"Much still needs to do be done in Sacramento and when I return, I will fight for a budget that protects hardworking families and implements sound economic principles," she said in a statement. "I look forward to getting back to work."

"I would also like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to everyone who has offered their well wishes and prayers during this past year," she added.

A health care coalition fighting proposed budget cuts is airing its latest TV ad featuring doctors and nurses who say, "If the legislators we send to Sacramento do their job, we can keep doing ours."

Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access, a consumer group, reports on his blog that the ad will air in the Central Valley, Central Coast, Inland Empire and Palm Springs.

Wright writes those are "regions that will be hit particularly hard by proposed state health care cuts."

Perhaps as important, those regions have cheaper TV advertising rates than the expensive Bay Area and Los Angeles media markets.

This is the second ad in the campaign by the newly formed California Health Care Partnership. The group, which counts the AARP, California Medical Association, Service Employees International Union, Catholic Healthcare West, Kaiser Permanente and Health Access, among its members, aired its first ad in mid-July.

That TV spot aired in the districts of the Republican legislative leaders.

Watch the new ad below:

Here's the ad's full script:

In Sacramento, cutting funding for doctors and hospitals by 10 percent is just a number on a spreadsheet.

Stop the health care cuts, or we'll all pay the price.

Stem-cell blog banned from stem cell agency news roundup

David Jensen at the California Stem Cell Report writes that his blog has been scrubbed from the official news roundup of the agency he covers, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Jensen covers most of the happenings at the agency.

In July, he wrote about an attack on Sen. Sheila Kuehl by a lobbying group that Robert Klein, the chairman of CIRM, also heads. An Internet post by the group, Americans for Cures, said:

"Either Kuehl is ignorant on the science, or mindlessly buying into Republican and anti-cures messaging from the Catholic Church, or playing dumb in a craven attempt to get Republican votes to back her legacy as defender of the poor."

Klein said he knew nothing of the post, which the group apologized for and later removed. Klein resigned as chair of Americans for Cures soon after.

Sarah's law wouldn't have helped Sarah

Patrick McGreevey reports for the Los Angeles Times:

Backers of a ballot measure that would require parents to be notified before an abortion is performed on a minor acknowledged Friday that the 15-year-old on which "Sarah's Law" is based had a child and was in a common-law marriage before she died of complications from an abortion in 1994.

Sarah's law, AKA Proposition 4, will be on the November ballot.

No on 8 reports $2.2 million day

The campaign to beat Proposition 8, the measure to ban gay marriage, reports a big fundraising day Saturday. That's when Equality California, a leading gay-rights group, says it brought in $2.2 million, including $500,000 from SEIU, $250,000 from the California Teachers' Association and $25,000 from AT&T.

Chiang says computers can't compute pay cut

In a meeting today with The Bee Capitol Bureau, state Controller John Chiang said the state's antiquated computer system would make it impossible to recalculate the pay of the state's 200,000 workers.

Kevin Yamamura has that story.

Over at Fox and Hounds, Chandra Sharma, a political communications consultant, replies that maybe it's time for a Mac.

"I don't ever recall reading about the payroll system causing a 6-9 month delay in processing wage and salary increases for the state's workforce -- maybe the delay only occurs in one direction?" Sharma writes.

Chiang's full testimony

Also today, Chiang testified before the Senate Governmental Organization Committee about the governor's temporary pay cut plan.

Here's his full testimony:

As the State Controller, I have been independently elected by California voters and given the Constitutional authority to draw payments from the State Treasury. I also have the statutory authority to manage the payroll for more than 300,000 State employees.

Thank you.

Attention all lobbyists. Loni Hancock wants to take your money.

The Berkeley assemblywoman, and backer of publicly financed campaigns, appears to have found a way to pay for her pilot project: hiking lobbyist fees.

Hancock's AB 583 began in 2007 as a bill to create publicly financed campaigns in legislative and statewide races. But to advance the bill, she has gutted it to only cover campaigns for secretary of state

The bill has reached the Senate Appropriations Committee, where a hearing is scheduled for this morning, though it still does not contain any funding to pay for the experiment.

That's about to change.

Hancock plans to insert an amendment to hike the fees lobbyists pay from $25 every two years to $350 per year. The new $350 fee is also to apply to lobbying firms and lobbyist employers. The new and higher fees would raise millions every election cycle.

But getting such a plan through the Legislature - especially in the era of term limits, when lobbyists outnumber and are often more experienced than the lawmakers they lobby - could prove a challenge.

In fact, lobbyists obtained a draft of the amendments last week - before the revisions were even in print - and are already mobilizing against the bill.

"It does pay to be a lobbyist occasionally," said Jackson Gualco, who is the head of his own lobbying shop and the president of the Institute of Governmental Advocates, an association of lobbyists.

Gualco is leading the effort to scuttle Hancock's amendments, calling the higher fees a "patently absurd" tax that should require a two-thirds vote.

"Everyone loves to pick on lobbyists," Gualco lamented. He predicted a lobbying show of force at today's Senate Appropriations Committee hearing.

"This affects every lobbyist from agriculture through zoology," Gualco said.

The assemblywoman did not return calls for comment on her bill and the amendments.

The California Clean Money Campaign, an outside group in favor of Hancock's bill, is also trying to rally supporters for today's hearing, sending a message to members saying, that "packing the hearing...will be absolutely critical."

The group is offering to pay for the gas of those to drive from afar to the Capitol.

"This is our last chance for a big hearing showing this year, and 15 senators -- over 1/3 of the Senate, will be there," the campaign wrote. "Everybody who comes should have a chance to line up and say they support the bill - and the longer that line, the better our chances."

Public financing, or "clean money" as supporters call it, works by forcing a candidate to meet certain requirements (signatures, incumbency and small donations) that qualify them or public matching funds during a campaign.

If a wealthy candidate dips into their own purse or an outside group spends heavily in a race, the publicly funded candidate would receive matching funds to compete.

The purpose of such a system, Hancock's bill says, is "to reduce the perception of influence of large contributions on the decisions made by state government" as well as "to remove wealth as a major factor affecting whether an individual chooses to become a candidate," among other things.

Supporters' hope is that a successful experiment in the secretary of state's race would allow the system to expand further.

As for the rest of the financing to support Hancock's AB 583, the bill is also expected to be amended to add a voluntarily tax contribution on the state's tax form (similar to existing "opt in" funds like the CA Sea Otter Fund).

The rumor mill about whether Dianne Feinstein, the popular Democratic senator, will run for governor heats up every now and again.

It began to simmer last week, after the San Francisco Chronicle's Matier and Ross published a private poll showing her beating another would-be Democratic candidate, Attorney General Jerry Brown, 50 to 24 percent.

Brown, who served two terms as governor before term limits were enacted, has been the early frontrunner among the politcal chattering class.

In fact, in that same published poll, Brown was the top choice when Feinstein wasn't included, besting San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell in a potential 2010 Democratic primary.

Back to Feinstein. State Treasurer Bill Lockyer, who is sitting on a $10 million campaign account and could himself run for governor, told Capitol Alert last week that Feinstein "beats everybody."

In his new column in the Chronicle, former S.F. Mayor and ex-Assembly Speaker Willie Brown agreed.

"If she does get in, it's over, at least on the Democratic side. Everybody, and I mean everybody, else steps out," Brown wrote on Sunday.

Willie Brown even goes on to give a bit of political advice to Newsom, whom Brown first appointed to the city's Board of Supervisors.

"As for Gavin Newsom, he would immediately defer to Dianne and hope that she appoints him as her replacement in the Senate," he wrote. "In fact, Gavin should call and offer to be Dianne's campaign chairman if she runs. And he should make that call today, before anyone else beats him to it."

Frank Russo, publisher of the California Progress Report, however, warned against such "conventional wisdom."

"If this logic were followed by would-be candidates, Obama would not have run for President," Russo wrote.

(On a unrelated note, Brown's new column, which is great political reading, hasn't been received well in all quarters. The SF Weekly's Matt Smith reports that some within the Chronicle "are sickened by the new Willie deal," citing the fact that Brown is not a reporter and has close ties to many of his subjects.

Smith continues:

For Chronicle staffers, reading it became a game of Where's Waldo, in which players sought to find the greatest number of violations of the paper's ethical code. Brown made the game easy.

In his debut column's first section, he makes an indirect case for the vice-presidential aspirations of the wife of his personal friend Bill Clinton. The second section touts the keen skills of political operative Steve Schmidt, with whom Brown does lobbying business. Next is an item declaring the end of the line for Jesse Jackson, Brown's former employer and longtime rival for the title of most important black politician in America. Brown weighs in on the supposedly excellent chances of his political progeny Gavin Newsom becoming governor, not long before jetting off to Newsom's Montana wedding. Brown touts the fine food and ambience of a Fillmore restaurant that was launched with a $1.7 million San Francisco Redevelopment Agency loan granted just as he stepped down as the city's legendary "juice" mayor. To finish with a conflict-of-interest bang, Brown brags about a freebie dinner, and gives a shout-out to Carmen Policy, who just helped him lead a successful campaign for a ballot initiative to allow for the construction of a new stadium at Hunters Point.)

The most emotional campaign of the November election will almost assuredly be the fight over banning gay marriage (Proposition 8). The measure to require pregnant teens to notify a parent or guardian before obtaining an abortion (Proposition 4) will likely come in close behind - even if it is on the ballot for the third time in four years.

But Proposition 2, which would be a de facto elimination of cages for egg-laying hens in California, could be a close third.

The measure, sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States, has largely flown under the political radar so far.

But it received some coverage on the op-ed pages of the New York Times this week, where columnist Nicholas Kristof called the initiative "the most important election this November that you've never heard of."

In short, the measure says the cages for veal calves, pigs and egg-laying hens would have to allow those animals to extend their limbs and turn around.

In California, where egg hens are the only of the three being farmed, it has drawn the heated opposition of the egg industry.

The industry says the measure would drive up food prices and make eggs less safe - by forcing the hens in the open where they could be susceptible to disease. Sponsors of the campaign note that many hens are already raised "cage-free", with their eggs sold in supermarkets across the state.

In any case, Kristof's column is some of the first national coverage for the issue. A former farmer, he is a backer of the plan.

So, yes, I eat meat...But I draw the line at animals being raised in cruel conditions. The law punishes teenage boys who tie up and abuse a stray cat. So why allow industrialists to run factory farms that keep pigs almost all their lives in tiny pens that are barely bigger than they are?

Defining what is cruel is, of course, extraordinarily difficult. But penning pigs or veal calves so tightly that they cannot turn around seems to cross that line.

It's not often that you hear a gubernatorial candidate say, "I taught at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology in Rwanda."

Tom Campbell, the former Republican congressman and potential 2010 candidate for governor, recently sat down for an interview with the San Jose Mercury News.

But Campbell said he wouldn't talk about his own political future, but rather his experiences in Africa, where he has spent six summers teaching. (Campbell just recently stepped down as the dean of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley and is a former law professor at Stanford.)

Read the full interview.

As the budget impasse slips into its second month, just how close are the state's leaders to passing the overdue budget?

Here's an update, based on the words of the leaders doing the negotiating:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger shook up the political landscape on Thursday, signing an executive order temporarily slashing state worker pay. He also flashed signs of hope.

"My intention is to get a budget within the next few days and if that is the case then we will never have to use any of those kind of things and everyone will get paid," the governor said.

Schwarzenegger, however, has a history of overly-ambitious optimism.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, who questioned "why he needed to do this action" if leaders were days away from a budget, also expressed hope of a deal - albeit on a longer timeline.

"I know this action doesn't go into effect until the end of the month and I feel confident we will be able to bring resolution by the end of the month," Bass said.

Of course, today is only August 1 and the Legislature has never passed a budget past August.

Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines said the executive order adds further impetus to strike a deal. "We have felt pressure from day one but this does add pressure," the Clovis GOPer admitted.

Republicans, he said, "are committed to reaching a budget agreement as soon as possible so state workers are fully paid for their service to California."

But none of the sides seem prepared to abandon their core principles - be it opposition to tax hikes, opposition to deep cuts or belief in a state spending cap.

Don Perata, the Democratic state Senate leader, just seemed angry with yesterday's news.

"The governor's suggestion that the Legislature did nothing on the budget prior to May 14 shows how little attention he has paid to this process," Perata said in a statement. He promised the Senate would hold a hearing Monday "examining the far-reaching impact of the governor's executive order."

That certainly won't help negotiations.

As for what will actually be in the budget, that, too, remains a guessing game.

The talk persists that lawmakers will craft some type of borrowing package - possibly using the potential "securitized" lottery revenues to show a revenue stream to pay off the loans.

Perata keeps trying to kill those rumors.

"I can't stop people from floating trial balloons in Sacramento, but I can sure shoot this one down before it gets very far," he wrote to supporters this week.

Regarding raiding transportation funds, Perata wrote, "I have a one-word answer: NO!"

There is also talk that Republicans might agree to some new revenues - though not the broad taxes Democrats would prefer.

Villines added fuel to that fire Thursday, when he said he's open to closing tax loopholes: "I don't believe you have to do this budget with tax increases. I do believe you may have to look at some loophole closures."

One "loophole closure" currently bandied around is the Democrats' plan to suspend the "net operating loss" for corporations (which represented $1.1 billion of the new funds in the Democrats' budget proposal.)

But Republicans say they aren't going to agree to much of anything without some type of spending cap for the state. Which, of course, Democrats oppose.

"The Legislature wishes to continue to spend like a rap star even when the hits are over and our "posse" has moved on," is how Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa, R-Oroville, put it.

Legislative GOPers also have pushed for a free-market economic stimulus plan in the negotiations.

In his press conference on Thursday, Schwarzenegger signaled that could be in the works. "And when it comes to stimulating the economy, we hopefully have, as part of our budget, a stimulus package that will stimulate the economy," he said.

On Fox and Hounds, Joel Fox, president of the Small Business Action Committee, made light of all the back-and-forth, relating it to baseball's recently passed trading deadline.

REPUBLICANS: Isn't there any deal we can do?

REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS: Done!

If only.

Several dozen Latino First 5 commissioners are appealing to Latino lawmakers in the Capitol to keep their hands off Proposition 10.

In a letter to Assemblyman Joe Coto, chair of the Latino Legislative Caucus, commissioners made a plea to protect funding for early childhood development. The program is funded by a 50-cents-a-pack cigarette tax passed under Proposition 10 in 1998.

"As Latino Commissioners, we are particularly heartened by the extent to which the state's Latino communities are availing themselves of First 5-funded programs," according to the letter delivered today. "While the state's population of young children is 51 percent Latino, 64 percent of First 5 services support Latino children and families."

"In many cases, these are families who have never before asked for the help they need or felt comfortable turning to publicly funded programs."

Commissioners fear lawmakers are tempted to raid First 5 reserves, estimated at $2.5 billion. Sen. Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks, has advocated retooling First 5 so the money can be used to help cover the state's Medi-Cal and Healthy Families programs, which are facing cuts under the governor's proposed budget.

One of the more complex issues in this year's delayed budget is just how big of a cash crunch the state will face as the stalemate drags on.

One thing all sides seem to agree on is the fact that the longer the standoff continues, the more likely it is that the state will run short on cash-on-hand to pay the bills.

But what does passing a budget have to do with cashflow coming into the state? Well, not much. But a signed budget allows the state to borrow money in the form of a "revenue anticipation note" -- called a RAN in budget lingo.

Those loans are relatively cheap and done every year to smooth out the the ups and downs of tax collections so the state can pay its bills each month.

But without a budget, California can't get a RAN.

Instead California would have to use a "revenue anticipation warrant," or a RAW.

David Crane, the governor's top economic adviser, explains the difference in a post on Fox and Hounds, with a bit of spin:

(I)f we run out of cash, we will be forced to access the Revenue Anticipation Warrant (RAW) market for that cash. To understand the nature of the RAW market, one must first understand its cousin, the Revenue Anticipation Note (RAN) market.

For example, when the state failed to preserve cash during the budget debate of 2003, Controller Steve Westly went to the RAW markets for $11 billion of short-term cash to cover expenditures made in the absence of a budget. To gain the desperately needed cash, the state not only had to pay steep fees and interest rates to Wall Street firms, but also was required to pay an additional $140 million for "credit enhancement" because note purchasers wouldn't buy the debt without a guarantee from someone other than California. Current Controller John Chiang made a good comparison when he recently described a RAW as "the equivalent of a subprime loan."

The governor's office is pressing the issue of passing a budget soon so the state doesn't have to dip into the RAW market, which could cost on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars.

It is the fear of the cost of a RAW loan, in part, that is driving the governor's office to temporarily slash state salaries to conserve cash. Crane explains further:

Because of the current crisis in the credit markets, the RAW markets are even more expensive to access than they were in 2003. That's why every dollar that we don't need to spend today should be reserved in order to avoid the need to finance that dollar later in the expensive and more uncertain RAW market.

And that's one of the justifications for the state worker pay executive order.