Gov. Jerry Brown faulted for taking down transparency website

Gov. Jerry Brown’s decision to take down a "transparency" website helped earn California a D-minus grade on public reporting of spending from a group advocating for open government.

The grade is included in an annual look at the 50 states by the California Public Interest Research Group, and follows Brown’s decision last year to eliminate a website, created by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, that compiled information on state contracts, audits and expenses in one place.

California trailed behind Texas, Kentucky, Indiana, Louisiana, West Virginia and Arizona, which received higher marks for the most comprehensive transparency websites, according to Pedro Morillas, the group’s legislative director.

 “As home to the tech industry, it’s disappointing and embarrassing that California is not only lagging behind, but actively moving in the wrong direction when it comes to keeping pace with current online transparency standards," Morillas said.

Californians can still get the information previously posted on the transparency website by going to other Web pages operated by the state, said Evan Westrup, a spokesman for the governor.

"The website eliminated more than four months ago was poorly maintained, underutilized and had not been regularly updated by the previous administration," Westrup said. He noted that Sunshine Review, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to government transparency, gave California an A grade in its annual report this week, praising the state for posting budgets, contracts and audits on its websites.

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--Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento

Photo: Gov. Jerry Brown ordered the elimination last year of a transparency website, which contributed to the poor grade given the state this week by an open-government group. Photographer: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

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

Schwarzenegger to unveil statue, push after-school programs in Ohio

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to wade back into politics this week, but in typical Schwarzenegger fashion, a scheduled appearance in Ohio on Friday will be part policy, part self-promotion.

The former governor is to be in his de facto second home state with Republican Gov. John Kasich to announce the expansion of after-school programs there.

Schwarzenegger is also scheduled to attend the unveiling of a bronze statue of himself as he kicks off the 24th Arnold Sports Festival. According to a release from Schwarzenegger's office, the event is to include competitions in "bodybuilding and other sports such as archery, gymnastics, ballroom dancing, and martial arts."

The issue of after-school care is one in which Schwarzenegger has shown interest over the years. In 2002, he championed Proposition 49, which earmarked a portion of existing revenues for after-school programs in California. That campaign laid the groundwork for his gubernatorial run in 2003, when he replaced Gray Davis in a historic recall election.

While he was governor in 2004, Schwarzenegger went to Ohio to campaign for then-President George W. Bush’s reelection, a move that stirred up political controversy in Democratic California. Bush narrowly won the state, which helped give him an electoral college victory over the Democratic nominee, John Kerry.

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-- Anthony York in Sacramento

Photo: Arnold Schwarzenegger inspects a statue of himself that is now on display in his hometown of Gras, Austria. Credit: Getty Images

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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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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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