The Sacramento Bee, Calif., Political Buzz Column: Local Pols Like Home-Grown Cash
By Steve Wiegand, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
Nov. 12–You may or may not be relieved to know that the trio of folks who represent the Sac Metro Area in Congress raise most of their campaign money right here in California. At least they do according to the D.C.-based Center for Responsive Politics (www.opensecrets.org). The CRP has put together a nifty database chock-full of info on congressional members and their financial habits.
Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, collected 86 percent of his contributions through Sept. 30 from Californians. Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Gold River, collected 87 percent from home folks, while Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacto, gathered 93 percent of hers from locals.
Doolittle’s biggest giver was the United Parcel Service PAC ($6,000). Lungren’s was Hefner, Stark & Marois, a Sacto law firm ($5,800). Matsui’s was the National Air Traffic Controllers Association ($7,000).
The site also reckons that Matsui is the 26th- wealthiest member of the House, mostly from real estate deals. Lungren is rated at 231st among the 435. And Doolittle is way down, at 336.
No wonder his wife needed that fundraising job.
Caltrans chief troubled by roadkill dumping
Alert readers may recall an item two weeks ago relating how Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, was irritated that Caltrans workers were dumping roadkill carcasses at various sites in his district.
Well, it turns out that Caltrans kingpin Will Kempton is also “troubled and disappointed by these activities.” In a letter to Huffman, Kempton said he’s reminded employees that the department’s policy is to take dead animals to authorized disposal sites. Moreover, he said, five unauthorized roadkill cemeteries in Huffman’s district have been cleaned up, and any impacts they may have had on water supplies has been, or is being, checked out.
“Integrity is one of the department’s four core values,” Kempton told workers in a stern memo.
He didn’t list the other three.
This and that …
–Demo legislators who figure to help pay for health care reforms through a $2 boost in cigarette taxes might want to take a cue from what happened in Oregon last week. Voters there trounced a measure to levy an 85-cents-a-pack tax to finance health care for uninsured kids. Tobacco companies spent $12 million — about $24 a vote — to defeat it, which is even more, per capita, than they spent in California last year to defeat a similar tax proposal.
–One of the clever things the Schwarzenegger administration is doing to aid victims of the SoCal fires is establish a one-step debris removal plan, instead of the traditional approach of picking up junk, putting it near the road and then having it picked up again. They’re following a model they used at the Angora fire near Lake Tahoe last summer, which apparently saved a bunch of time and money.
–On the other hand, does the assistant director of public affairs for the Department of Water Resources really need a “special assistant,” like the one appointed by the guv last week at a salary of $70,000? And couldn’t he make do with just an “ordinary assistant” for, say, $35,000?
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