Carla Marinucci looks at the
fallout of the disclosure of Gavin Newsom's affair with his strategist's wife.
"Asked whether San Francisco voters will be forgiving in an election year, [
Dianne] Feinstein, a former mayor of the city, insisted they would, adding, "Look, we all make mistakes.'"
"But even as Feinstein expressed optimism about the outlook for Newsom, a variety of leading Democratic and Republican political consultants -- including several with connections to San Francisco political and business interests -- were considerably darker in their assessment of the mayor's prospects for political advancement. Some of the strategists agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity,
saying they feared repercussions for their business and political relations with the mayor's office if they spoke publicly.
"The strategists said that though Newsom has high approval ratings and so far faces no major competition in his re-election campaign, his admission of an affair with the wife of his close aide and good friend is likely to be lethal to his aspirations for higher office -- even in an age when voters are no longer shocked by sexual political scandal.
"'
This guy is no longer a credible candidate to be governor of California,' said one of the Republican strategists. 'It's an extraordinary good day for (Los Angeles Mayor)
Antonio Villaraigosa and (former state Controller)
Steve Westly,' who are considered potential Democratic candidates for governor."
What about Phil? Or Jerry? Or John? Or Bill?
"The potential impact
could be greatest with men, who tend to forgive such dalliances more easily than women -- but are likely to be harsher in their judgments of Newsom
because he double-crossed his best friend, several of the strategists said.
"'That's the end; even in California, there are some things you can't get away with,' one of the Democratic strategists said. '
He might get re-elected as mayor of San Francisco, but any hope of being elected statewide is done.'"
So, how long before stories about the other potential candidates pop-up? 1...2...
Meanwhile, the LA Times reports
this weird, non-bylined item reacting to the
online rumor mill about Villaraigosa's marriage.
"Los Angeles Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa denied Thursday a recent report on a local blog that said his marriage to
Corina Villaraigosa was "kaput" and that he and his wife had separated.
"The report, which first appeared on lukeford.net, was 'absolutely not true,' Villaraigosa said. 'We are not separated.'
"Although the mayor declined to discuss his marriage in detail, he conceded that there had been strains. He and his wife have been married since 1987 and weathered a lengthy separation after it was revealed that he had had an affair."
"
In a 20-year marriage, there are many ups and downs,' Villaraigosa said during an interview Thursday evening at Getty House, the mayor's official residence in Windsor Square. His wife was not home at the time. He added that 'the strains of a job that I put everything into … can add to that.'"
"Assembly Democrats
proposed broad principles yesterday under which legislators would give up drawing districts that would benefit them and turn that powerful duty over to an 11-member commission," reports the AP's Steve Lawrence.
"But they acknowledged sticky details remain to be worked out with Republicans, the state Senate and California's congressional delegation before bipartisan legislation implementing the historic shift in power could be put on a ballot.
"'The current system is no doubt indefensible,' said Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles. 'That much is clear. Legislators shouldn't be cherry-picking their voters. Changing the system of drawing district boundaries, however, is not easy. Redistricting is complex.'"
Dan Walters
looks at the prospect of redistricting reform. "If there's any chance for real redistricting reform this year, it probably lies in merging it with a softening of term limits that would allow Nunez and Perata, among others, to seek re-election next year, by placing that package on the ballot at the February presidential primary election that's also being pushed through the Legislature."
Capitol Weekly reports that
Nunez has plenty of resources on hand to lead the term limits fight. new data from the Secretary of State's office offers a clue as to how a hypothetical campaign to loosen term limits might be financed. In two separate accounts, Nunez has a combined $7.1 million on hand. Not bad for a politician who is barred from seeking reelection under the current term limits law.
In his Assembly account, the Speaker has $5.47 million, $4 million of which came in a "rebate check" from the state Democratic Party. Because the money was moved through the party, it's impossible to track the original source of those funds. Other donors to the committee were barred by $6,700 contribution limits.
"Nunez also controls the Committee to Protect California's Future. That committee has $1.7 million on hand, the bulk of which has come from the California Teachers Association and State Employees International Union."
The Register's Capitol Watchdog
looks at the lexicon behind the state budget. "'I'm very happy to announce today that in this new budget our new operating deficit has been reduced to zero,' he said. '
You heard me right. We have reduced the operating deficit to zero.'
This was monumental news for a state that for years had been living beyond its means. Most Capitol reporters, including me, dutifully reported the claim.
"But the governor's own numbers show it's not exactly true. As state Finance Director
Mike Genest later revealed in the same news conference, the budget 'spends $1,863,000,000 more than it takes in.'
"Genest labeled the $1.8 billion shortfall 'a gross operating deficit.' The governor, he said, was talking about the 'net operating deficit' -- a figure that excludes one-time-only expenses such as repaying $1.6 billion in money borrowed from bonds.
"I asked the state's nonpartisan budget guru, Legislative Analyst Liz Hill, about the idea of a net operating deficit. "We don't share the definition," she said. "We think that an obligation to repay debt is an obligation" that should be counted toward the deficit.
"In fact, I couldn't find either phrase in eight dictionaries of financial and accounting terms I consulted. In the Lexis-Nexis database, I found 111 references to net operating deficit and six to gross operating deficit. Most were recent articles about the governor's budget.
"'
It's new terminology to me. Politicians are the lexicographers of the 21st century,' said
Paul Peretz, Cal State Fullerton professor of public finance."
"California's new attorney general,
Jerry Brown, said Thursday he
wants to sit down with the chief executives of the top automakers to persuade them to settle up on global warming," writes Peter Hecht in the Bee.
"In a letter made public Thursday, Brown asked the leaders of General Motors, Toyota, Ford, Honda, Chrysler and Nissan to meet with him to settle a state lawsuit seeking millions of dollars in damages from the automakers for the impacts of vehicle emissions on the environment.
"In an interview, Brown said, 'A sovereign state has the right to protect its air and natural resources from dangerous pollutants, and that's exactly what we're doing in this case.'"
The Bee's Tony Bizjak reports on the
DMV's push to move much of its business online. "Agency officials on Thursday launched a publicity campaign encouraging California drivers to avoid crowded field offices by using the DMV's reorganized Web site to register vehicles, renew licenses, buy specialized plates and even pay bills.
"A $200,000 billboard and radio campaign is part of a 3-year-old effort by the department to revamp its operations as a way to reduce public wait lines and deal with its own tighter budget.
"'We're using technology to do business smarter,' DMV Director
George Valverde said Thursday at the south Sacramento field office during an unveiling of the agency's revamped Web site,
www.dmv.ca.gov."
And we close today with a story from Minnesota. No, it's not about Senator Al Franken, it's about
Joshua Hanson,
the Wisconsin guy who fell 16 stories Jan. 20 and lived. "Anderson spent several days with his lifelong pal at Hennepin County Medical Center after Hanson crashed through a hallway window on the 17th floor of the downtown Minneapolis Hyatt Regency hotel and plummeted 16 stories. He likely reached an estimated 69 mph before landing on an overhang."
The good news is, he has now been released from the hospital, and is walking with the aide of a walker. The bad news? He was given a speeding ticket upon his release...
