State bans alcohol sales from automated checkout counters

Alcohol sales will no longer be allowed at automated checkout counters after Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law Sunday to ban the practice.

As of Jan. 1, 2012, all alcohol sales must be processed by a cashier. The bill’s author, Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) called it a protection against minors obtaining alcohol illegally.

The bill received backing from law enforcement groups and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Opponents said it was a transparent effort by grocery workers’ unions to protect jobs against the automated checkout machines.

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill, saying, "It is unclear what problem this bill seeks to address."

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--Anthony York in Sacramento

New state law will require booster seats for children under 8 years old

Children in cars will be required to ride in a booster seat until they are 8 years old under a new law signed Tuesday by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Current law requires booster seats for children until they reach the age of 6 or weigh at least 60 pounds.

Sen. Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) said that does not go far enough, and Brown agreed. Exceptions will be made for any child 7 years old or younger who is at least 4 feet 9.

Similar legislation was vetoed twice by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The new law will go into effect on Jan. 1.

--Anthony York in Sacramento

Biking with Schwarzenegger – and a sex-scandal joke

Arnold Schwarzenegger, months removed from office and with his popularity bruised by revelations of a love child with his housekeeper, apparently hasn’t lost his sense of humor.

When he was mistaken for Bill Clinton on a recent bike ride through Santa Monica, he replied to the confused passerby: “It’s one of those guys who has had a sex scandal.”

The remark came as the former California governor pedaled through red lights and coasted the wrong way up one-way streets with Michael Lewis, author of the bestseller “The Big Short,” during a mobile interview. The result appears in Lewis’ new Vanity Fair piece, which labels California the epicenter of coming financial and pension troubles.

In the interview, Schwarzenegger also offered a few insights into governorship, including his famed campaign announcement on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.”

“I just thought, This will freak everyone out,” Schwarzenegger said. “It’ll be so funny. I’ll announce that I am running….And two months later I was governor. What the [expletive] is that?”

As governor, Schwarzenegger said, he was stymied by lawmakers frozen in fear of special interests. “People would say to me, ‘Yes, this is the best idea! I would love to vote for it! But if I vote for it some interest group is going to be angry with me, so I won’t do it,’” he told Lewis.

“I couldn’t believe people could actually say that. You have soldiers dying in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they didn’t want to risk their political lives by doing the right thing,” he said.

Overall, though, Schwarzenegger said he enjoyed being California’s chief executive. “You have to realize the thing was so much fun,” he said. “We had a great time!”

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-- Shane Goldmacher in Sacramento

Photo: Arnold Schwarzenegger. Credit: Eamonn McCormack / Getty Images

Schwarzenegger pays former chief of staff for 'campaign consulting'

Arnold Schwarzenegger had one final parting gift for his chief of staff on his way out the door of the governor's office. New campaign filings show Schwarzenegger paid Susan Kennedy $50,000 out of his “Dream Team” ballot measure committee earlier this year.

The payment to Kennedy is filed as an expenditure to a “campaign consultant,” according to records from the secretary of state. The committee worked to fight last year's Proposition 23, an effort to repeal the greenhouse-gas law signed by then-Gov. Schwarzenegger in 2006.

Schwarzenegger often padded payments to top staffers with campaign dollars. The final payment to Kennedy came less than one month after Schwarzenegger left office, and after he had appointed her to a new commission that will oversee the implementation of the federal healthcare law.

Kennedy now works for the law firm Alston & Bird, a powerful force in Washington that counts former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole and former Rep. Billy Tauzin among its lobbyists.

-- Anthony York in Sacramento

Schwarzenegger's popularity hits all-time low

He may not be governor anymore, but Arnold Schwarzenegger's poll numbers continue to slide.

A new Field Poll released Friday found three of four California voters surveyed have a negative image of Schwarzenegger in the wake of revelations he fathered a boy 14 years ago with a former household staff member.

That’s lower than at anytime during his two terms in office.

Perhaps most striking is the poll found the former Republican governor’s 75% unfavorable rating knows no political, geographical or demographic bounds.

Read more about Schwarzenegger's Field Poll numbers.

-- Mike Anton

Photo: Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Ethics agency will not investigate complaint over Schwarzenegger affair

The state’s ethics agency has rejected a  request by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party to investigate whether former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger violated any state laws during an affair with a housekeeper that resulted in his fathering a child.

A complaint that did not allege any specific wrongdoing was filed with the state Fair Political Practices Commission, which enforces the state Political Reform Act regulating campaign finances.

"The Fair Political Practices Commission will not open an investigation into this matter," wrote Executive Director Roman Porter in a letter to party attorneys. "After review of your complaint, the information you provided is insufficient to establish a violation of the act."

County Party Chairman Eric C. Bauman acknowledged that the group has no evidence of any specific wrongdoing, but party representatives had asked the FPPC to look at the issue to determine whether any campaign money was used as part of the affair.

"I’m disappointed but not surprised," Bauman said Monday of Porter's decision. Bauman said he would consult with his attorneys to determine whether anything more can be done but said that without any specific allegations, the party may drop the matter.

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-- Patrick McGreevy

Photo: Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Credit: Robyn Beck / AFP / Getty Images

Jerry Brown reorganization plan leaves plum political appointees in place

Days before his updated budget is set to be released, Gov. Jerry Brown announced a proposal to consolidate pieces of the bureaucracy that he said would save “millions of taxpayer dollars.” But it would do nothing to impact some generous, long-term appointments doled out by his predecessors.

Brown will seek legislation to fold the state’s Department of Personnel Administration and State Personnel Board into a new California Department of Human Resources. The two organizations handle different pieces of the state’s payroll administration.

The State Personnel Board is made up of appointees who serve 10-year terms. Four of the five members of the current board were appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, including his former chief of staff, Patricia Clarey and his former legislative secretary, Richard Costigan. Board members receive a annual salary of $40,669, according to Brown spokesman Evan Westrup –- up to $406,690 over the course of a 10-year term. Brown’s plan would not eliminate the board, Westrup said, because it is protected by the state Constitution.

“This reorganization does not –- cannot –- change that,” says a report from Brown’s office released Tuesday.

Brown’s plan does not call for board salaries to be reduced.

The consolidation would not save the state any money in this budget year, or in the fiscal year that begins July 1. A statement from Brown’s office said the reorganization would take place in July 2012, saving the state up to $5.8 million by eliminating 15% to 20% of the staff at the two agencies. Brown’s office said they thought the staff cuts could be reached through attrition and would not require any layoffs of public employees.

“To the extent feasible given the existing conditions of the state budget, there will be no layoffs, and positions abolished or reduced under this reorganization shall be done through attrition,” the administration said.

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-- Anthony York in Sacramento

Photo: Gov. Jerry Brown signs a budget bill in March. Credit: Ken James / Bloomberg

Schwarzenegger defends Nuñez sentence reduction, slams Whitman

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger justified his eleventh-hour sentence reduction for the son of a fellow Sacramento politician, saying “of course you help a friend” and that he felt good about the decision.

Schwarzenegger came under heavy fire for the move, which took place hours before he left office in January. In May, former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez’s son Esteban accepted a plea deal in the death of Luis Santos, a 22-year-old college student. Schwarzenegger decided to reduce the sentence from 16 years to seven years, which infuriated prosecutors as well as the victim's family, which was not notified beforehand.

“I understand people’s disappointments. I understand the parents’ anger. I would probably feel the same way,” Schwarzenegger told Newsweek in an article published Sunday. “My office definitely made a mistake in not notifying the parents beforehand … and I’m ultimately responsible.

“I feel good about the decision .... I happen to know the kid really well. I don’t apologize about it,” said Schwarzenegger, who noted in his commutation order that Esteban Nuñez, 21, did not deliver the fatal wound that led to Santos’ death. “There’s criticism out there. I think it’s just because of our working relationship and all that. It maybe was kind of saying, ‘That’s why he did it.’ Well, hello! I mean, of course you help a friend.”

Schwarzenegger made the remarks in a wide-ranging interview in London in which he also discussed failed gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman, his wife, Maria Shriver, and his aging physique.

Schwarzenegger deliberately stayed on the sidelines of the race to replace him last year, declining to endorse Whitman, a fellow Republican. But in the interview, the movie star criticized the former EBay chief and billionaire as too conservative and praised the campaign tactics of the Democrat who did succeed him, Jerry Brown.

“She kind of took herself out of the game,” Schwarzenegger said. “What she did was play to the right, and she couldn’t come back for the general election to grab the center .... Brown was very smart to do exactly the opposite of what she did — which was to say, ‘I’m not a rich guy, all I have is my knowledge and experience, and I don’t need to cater to anyone, I will do what is right for California.’ She was not as effective as a communicator, and her ideas were too extreme.”

The former Mr. Universe also pined about the effects of age on his physique.

“I’m not competing, I’m not ripping off my shirt and trying to sell the body,” Schwarzenegger said. “But when I stand in front of the mirror and really look, I wonder: What … happened here? Jesus Christ. What a beating!”

-- Seema Mehta in Los Angeles

California Republicans chide Arnold Schwarzenegger for reducing sentence of Esteban Núñez

California Republicans delivered a final slap to former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at their convention in Sacramento Sunday, formally chiding him for shortening the sentence of the son of former Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, a Los Angeles Democrat.

Luis Santos, a 22-year old college student  was stabbed to death near San Diego State University in 2008. Prosecutors alleged that after Esteban Núñez and three friends were barred from a fraternity party, they started a fight that led to Santos’ death.

Nunez pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and assault in May of 2010 in an agreement with the San Diego County district attorney’s office. As part of the deal, prosecutors agreed to drop murder charges.

Schwarzenegger’s decision earlier this year to reduce Núñez’s sentence from 16 years to seven years infuriated prosecutors as well as the victim's family, which was not notified beforehand. In his commutation order, Schwarzenegger noted that while the 21-year-old Núñez was involved in the fight, he was not responsible for the stabbing wound that led to Santos’ death.

Keith Carlson, the party’s outgoing treasurer, said he wrote the resolution because he wanted to make it clear that the state Republican Party did not condone Schwarzenegger’s move.

The resolution approved Sunday said the action created the appearance that a favor was done for Fabian Núñez. It said the party condemned the commutation of the sentence  and “the manner in which it was done, without concern for the victims and their suffering, and without respect for the message this action will send to potential criminals with connections to those in power.”

Aides to Schwarzenegger could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Santos family has sued Schwarzenegger, alleging that the governor’s failure to notify them about his pending decision violated the state’s Victims Bill of Rights.

-- Maeve Reston in Sacramento

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Schwarzenegger sent apology letter to victim's family after commuting Esteban Nuñez's sentence

 

Company sues over canceled sale of state buildings

A company that was going to buy several California office buildings has sued the government, alleging its contract was breached when Gov. Jerry Brown ordered the sale canceled last month.

California First LP, the winning bidder to purchase 11 buildings during former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's term, filed the suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court, saying state officials failed to perform their obligations.

"The state ... has no right to back out of the deal," said Stuart Liner, an attorney for the firm. 

The state was going to sell the buildings in Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco and Sacramento in a deal worth $2.3 billion, then lease them back. The new administration decided the scheme wasn't worth it.

Eric Lamoureux, acting deputy director of the Department of General Services, said the suit had no merit and called it "frivolous."

-- Patrick McGreevy