State senator wants school boards to have more power in abuse cases

 

Alarmed by the recent arrests of Los Angeles teachers on suspicion of sex-related crimes, a state lawmaker said Friday that he will introduce legislation to make it easier to remove teachers from the classroom and fire them for misconduct involving students.

State Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) said he is working with officials from the Los Angeles Unified School District to draft legislation that addresses cases in which teachers are involved in sex abuse or violence against students. The bill would apply to districts throughout the state.

"It’s surprising and astonishing that a lot of these disciplinary cases can be appealed from the school board to this little-known committee that includes two teachers," Padilla said. "That doesn’t make sense to me. That’s why we elect school board members, and they are the ones we ought to hold accountable. I want to empower them with the finality of personnel decisions."

His proposal would allow an appeal to an administrative law judge, whose finding would only be advisory to the board in sex abuse and violence cases involving minors.

Padilla said his bill would also make it easier for districts to remove teachers from the classroom when they are suspected of misconduct and to put them on leave without pay, with the idea they could get back pay if the charges are proved to be unfounded.

"There is no sense keeping them on the payroll," Padilla said. The senator said he has been working with board member Nury Martinez and introduced a spot bill, SB 1530, last week with the idea of amending it to address school discipline in the next three weeks.

Marla Eby, a spokeswoman for United Teachers Los Angeles, said the union will weigh in when the bill is introduced and the union can review its language.

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-- Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento

Photo: State Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Los Angeles), left, wants to give school boards more power in cases involving teachers abusing students. Credit: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press

 

Rush Limbaugh loses a Sacramento advertiser

A Sacramento-area mattress company tied to Rush Limbaugh for nearly three decades has stopped advertising with the conservative commentator after his controversial remarks on sex and birth control.

Sleep Train announced late Thursday night that it was yanking its advertisements.

“We don’t condone negative comments directed toward any group. In response, we are currently pulling our ads from Rush with Rush Limbaugh,” the company said on Twitter. 

Limbaugh had called a law student a “slut” and a “prostitute” for supporting access to birth control.

Sleep Train faced a barrage of online criticism for advertising on the show. One Twitter user wrote that, “If you support Rush Limbaugh unfortunately I cannot support you again as a consumer.”

After Sleep Train announced it was pulling its advertisements, another user wrote, “Thank you @theSleepTrain for not supporting misogyny. You're a good egg.”

Sleep Train and Rush Limbaugh have a long history together, with both finding their footing in Sacramento around the same time. Company owner Dale Carlsen recalled in a 2005 interview being talked into having Limbaugh, then a local radio host, being Sleep Train’s spokesman soon after the first store opened in 1985.

"The ad guy said, 'Now he's a little bit controversial, but he needs a bed, would you take care of him? '" Carlsen told the Sacramento Bee. "I needed every sale that I could get at that time, so I said, 'Yeah, bring him in and I'll take care of him.' "

Limbaugh continued to promote Sleep Train for at least the next two decades, according to the Bee.

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-- Chris Megerian

Twitter: @chrismegerian

Photo: Rush Limbaugh in 2008. Credit: Gary He / Associated Press

Fish and Game official faces ethics complaint over hunting trip

A former Democratic Party official has filed an ethics complaint against Republican Daniel Richards, the head of the California Fish and Game Commission, asking for an investigation into whether he accepted a hunting trip valued at more than the state’s $420 gift limit.

The complaint was filed with the state Fair Political Practices Commission by Kathy Bowler, former executive director of the California Democratic Party and an animal rights activist.

Richards, an Upland resident, is facing calls from Democratic legislators to resign after he hunted and killed a mountain lion in Idaho, where it is legal, in January, even as his commission oversees laws banning such hunts in California.

"I think it was an abhorrent thing to do," Bowler said of the killing of the lion. Bowler said that she decided to request an FPPC investigation after reading press reports that Richards had originally traveled to the Flying B Ranch for a bird hunt, but that he was offered a lion hunt at no extra charge by a representative of the ranch.

Richards and the ranch's manager did not return calls Friday, so it is uncertain how much the hunt was discounted. Bird hunting packages are listed on the ranch's website as costing $3,200 to $5,100, while the normal cost for a mountain lion hunt is $6,800.

"Mr. Richards appears to be in violation of the law by accepting this gift," Bowler wrote in the formal complaint she filed with the FPPC. An official with the FPPC declined to comment.

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-- Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento

Photo: A mountain lion in the Santa Monica Mountains. Credit:  Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

 

Legislators lavished with pricey meals, event tickets, trips

Just months after state lawmakers torpedoed proposed limits on gifts they could receive, new reports released Friday show legislators accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of meals, trips and tickets to sports and entertainment events last year.

The reports are required to be filed annually by elected officials and "are an important means for the officials that file them, the media, and the public to help gauge where potential conflicts of interest may exist," according to a statement Friday by the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

Interests lobbying the Legislature provided lawmakers with hunting and fishing trips, rounds of golf, Disneyland passes, tickets to pro basketball and baseball games, ski lift and NASCAR tickets and box seats for a Lady Gaga concert.

They also gave legislators hundreds of tangible items, including iPads, bottles of wine, golf clubs, paintings, a pistol and flowers. Lawmakers also had their tabs picked up for trips to China, Sweden, Azerbaijan, Italy, the Czech Republic, Vietnam and Hawaii.

A sample:

--Sen. Joel Anderson (R-San Diego) received tickets to events from British online gambling website Betfair and the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club worth $420 for each event.

--Sen. Tom Berryhill (R-Modesto) received a hunting trip worth $360 from Black Point Sports Club and a $312 dinner from the prison guards union.

--Sen. Ron Calderon (D-Montebello) received two tickets worth $392 to a Lady Gaga concert from oil company BP America, $1,840 worth of hotel accommodations and receptions from the prison guards union, four rounds of golf costing up to $420 each, $785 worth of golf clubs and an iPad from various interest groups.

--Sen. Kevin DeLeon (D-Los Angeles) accepted tickets to UCLA basketball and USC football games, and $5,100 in travel expenses for a trip to China from the China Academy of Railway Sciences.

--Sen. Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) received $548 worth of wine and lodging from five Italian wineries.

--Sens. Bob Dutton (R-Rancho Cucamonga) and Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield) attended a quail hunt paid for by Tejon Ranch Co. valued at $325 and $275, respectively.

--Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) received $3,080 in travel expenses from the Azerbaijani parliament, as well as $420 in tickets to a Lakers game from Toyota.

--Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) received tickets to Angels and San Francisco Giants baseball games, a Jackson Browne concert, and, from former legislator Rusty Areias, tickets to a San Francisco 49ers football game worth $258.

--Assembly speaker John Perez (D-Los Angeles) received boxes of cigars, bottles of tequila and a Bible from other Assembly members and tickets to boxing matches and football games. Assembly staffers spent $2,100 on a ring and gift cards for the leader.

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-- Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento 

Photo: Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) glances at Governor Jerry Brown during a news conference last year. Credit: Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times

Fish and Game president blasts critics, says he ate mountain lion

The head of the California Fish and Game Commission, under fire for killing a mountain lion during a hunting trip in Idaho, blasted his critics Thursday as “environmental terrorists" and dismissed demands by Democratic state lawmakers for him to resign.

Commission President Daniel W. Richards of Upland, appearing on KFI’s John and Ken Show, focused the brunt of his criticism on the Humane Society of the United States and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who have called for his ouster.

Richards accused the Humane Society of having an agenda to outlaw hunting and fishing nationwide, and also of trying to infiltrate the Department of Fish and Game to in order to influence “the direction of the department without conflict or without debate."

State lawmakers want answers on prison spending

When California’s prison system ran into the red last year, lawmakers forked over an additional $380 million. But now lawmakers say they can’t get answers on where the money went, and prison officials have missed two deadlines to explain the spending.

“The bureaucrats running our prisons habitually break their budgets and refuse to open their books to show us why,” Assembly Budget Chairman Bob Blumenfield (D-San Fernando Valley) said in a statement.  “We’re tired of being stonewalled. This behavior is not just illegal, it’s contemptible considering the other painful budget cuts we’ve made in order to bail them out.”

Jeffrey Callison, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said the extra funds were needed for a simple reason: running the state’s 33 prisons proved more expensive than expected.

He said officials are pulling together details on the spending for lawmakers.

“They are working on the report, and it will get to the Assembly committee as soon as possible,” Callison said.

According to the budget committee, lawmakers needed to send more money to the prison system in four of the last five budget years, for a total of nearly $3 billion.

Gov. Jerry Brown plans to trim spending on state prisons to about $8.7 billion, down from $9 billion in the current budget year.

-- Chris Megerian

Twitter: @chrismegerian

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Photo: San Quentin State Prison  Credit: Eric Risberg / Associated Press

Hurdles mount for Gov. Jerry Brown's budget

It’s been rough going for Gov. Jerry Brown ever since he unveiled his budget proposal in January.

The state’s legislative analyst has repeatedly said the governor’s revenue estimates are billions of dollars too high. The federal government continues to block cuts to California’s healthcare program for poor residents. 

And even though Brown has urged lawmakers to trim welfare and medical spending in March, members of his own party have resisted.

“We hope that the Legislature will take action -- as they did last year -- because we know there’s going to be a shortfall and it’s better to start banking savings now,” said Elizabeth Ashford, a spokeswoman for the governor. “If we don’t, we’re looking at even deeper cuts this summer.”

There's a tug of war over state spending every year, but the setbacks are adding up to a bumpy road to this summer's deadline to pass a budget, which will need to close an estimated $9.2-billion deficit. When calculating the governor's spending plan, the Brown administration assumed lawmakers would make cuts in March, but for the last two months top Democrats said that wouldn’t happen.

On Wednesday, an Assembly subcommittee rejected almost $950 million in Brown's cuts to CalWORKs, the state’s welfare program. Without updated budget numbers, which are due in May, Democrats said there’s no reason to make cuts that may not be necessary if tax revenue improves along with the economy.

“The smartest approach is to wait and see what April tax receipts bring before taking actions that could cause more harm,” said Alicia Trost, a spokeswoman for Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.

Democrats said Brown has provided few details on his plans, and has done little behind-the-scenes lobbying to push them into action.

Brown believes the cuts are necessary "to build momentum and face reality," Ashford said, and he has "communicated that to the Legislature."

In the meantime, lawmakers have held a series of detailed hearings digging into Brown’s proposals. Some of them include sweeping policy changes, such as overhauling the school funding formula, and lawmakers accused Brown of trying to rush the process.

Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) said hammering out a state budget, always a difficult task, is complicated in an election year where lawmakers are trying to hold onto their jobs. He said Democrats don’t want to make unpopular decisions before the June primary.

“You’ll hear lip service,” Huff said. “You won’t hear substance until after the June election.”

It’s not unusual for lawmakers to rework a governor’s initial budget proposal, said Jean Ross, executive director of the California Budget Project, a Sacramento think tank.

“That’s the way democracy should work,” she said, adding, “It’s actually one of the things that California does right.”

-- Chris Megerian

twitter.com/chrismegerian

 

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Photo: Gov. Jerry Brown outlining his budget proposal for reporters in the Capitol in January. Credit: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press

California lawmaker proposes tax on strip clubs

Cheap thrills might get a little more expensive in California.

Assemblyman Das Williams (D-Santa Barbara) wants to impose a $10-per-customer tax on "sexually-oriented businesses." That's legislative speak for strip clubs. (We won't get into how the Legislature defines "nude." You can read AB 2441 for yourself here.)

Under his legislation, the money would create a special fund devoted to the treatment and prevention of sexual assault.

"There is a clear nexus between alcohol consumption and violence against women," Williams told the Sacramento Bee. "This [bill] only affects those that serve alcohol."

The legislation would allow state agencies to use the revenues to study sexual assault in California and award grants to programs that assist victims of sexual assault, exploitation and human trafficking. The tax measure faces an uphill climb, though, because it requires a two-thirds vote for passage. Republicans have vowed not to raise levies.

Williams said the tax would not harm the, um, sexually-oriented industry.

"Men will continue to go to strip bars," he told the Bee. "And you know what? They'll feel better about it because they'll be funding a needed service for women."

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-- Michael J. Mishak in Sacramento

twitter.com/mjmishak

Photo: The Spearmint Rhino strip club on Olympic Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles. Credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

Death penalty opponents move closer to November ballot initiative

Capital punishment opponents announced Thursday they have submitted 800,000 signatures to election authorities to put a measure on the November ballot that would ask voters to replace the death penalty with sentences of life without the possibility of parole.

Efforts to repeal the death penalty have failed repeatedly in California since capital punishment was reinstated in 1978.

But organizers of the SAFE California Act contend that polls show majority support for an initiative that would replace death sentences with an ironclad guarantee that the worst criminals stay in prison for the rest of their lives.

Supporters of the initiative say it will save the state hundreds of millions that would be better spent on schools and public safety.

“Those of us in law enforcement know that the best way to prevent crime is to solve it. Replacing the death penalty with a punishment of life in prison without parole will free up funds for critical tools like DNA testing in the shocking 46% of murder and 56% of reported rape cases that remain unsolved in our state every year,” said Jeanne Woodford, a former warden at San Quentin State Prison who oversaw four executions during her tenure.

Kinde Durkee sued by congresswomen, state senator

Lawsuits were filed Wednesday by three members of congress and a state senator alleging that campaign treasurer Kinde Durkee stole more than $1 million from political accounts and that the bank they used aided and abetted the scheme.

Following the lead of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who had previously sued, new civil complaints were filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court by state Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) and Democratic Reps. Susan A. Davis of San Diego, Linda T. Sanchez of Lakewood and Loretta Sanchez of Garden Grove. An attorney for the four estimated their combined loss was about $1.4 million.

“A fraud on the scale alleged herein could not have occurred, and did not occur, without the knowing involvement of First California Bank,’’ the lawsuit by Correa alleges. “In exchange for fees and profits, First California Bank intentionally ignored dozens of red flags, ignored its duties and obligations under state and federal law, and allowed Durkee to perpetuate the scheme.’’

The lawsuit alleges fraud and breach of contract against Durkee and her husband, John Forgy. Durke has also been charged separately with a criminal count of mail fraud, but no charge has been filed against her husband. Durkee’s company made dozens of transfers between unrelated accounts that should have led bank officials to suspect misconduct and report it, said Wylie A. Aitken, the attorney representing the four politicians.

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--Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento