* The Chamber of Commerce endorsed Meg Whitman. Not surprising really, other than it was done on the Friday before Labor Day, and that they don't normally officially endorse. But, they're letting their freak flag fly this year, not without controversy of course, as Jack Scott, the chancellor of the Community College System and Mark Yudof, the president of UC quit the chamber.
* More strangeness in the Bell story: the former city administrator had his email subpoenaed as he was conducting city business on his personal account and personal on his city account.
* After spending nearly $9 million attacking Meg Whitman, California Working Families, a labor-backed IE, will be gearing down as Jerry Brown prepares to gear up.
* Illegal immigration is on the down swing. No big shock when you consider the economy in the United States right now.
* How do we set the rates for insurance? Well, under the federal legislation, we weren't supposed to be authorizing rates state by state. A recent law (SB1163) would allow insurance companies to require a "acuarily sound" rate.
* Carly Fiorina brought something of a do whatever it takes to make a buck philosophy to HP that seems to have persisted there. They got fined $55 million for defrauding the federal goverment, but hey, they picked up a $800 million deal. Cost of doing business, right?
* Looks like sunshine wins over CSU's secrecy. They had to release Sarah Palin's contract. The CSU-Stanislaus foundation paid her $75,000, plus expenses. Her demands included first-class airfare (or a Lear jet), prescreened questions, and "bendable straws."
* The Congressional campaign of Mike Berryhill isn't doing too well. The challenger for Dennis Cardoza also got slammed by a former staffer.
* The Center for American Progress has a piece about the Koch family and Prop 23. The family has been very involved in the Tea Party movement...because apparently the superwealthy family can't afford another penny! Oh, and the family has tried this move before...see the John Birch Society.
* CalBuzz: I'm mad as hell and not going to take it anymore is a good start, but that won't carry Whitman and Fiorina alone.
* You like to wash your windows while filling up? Well, sorry about that, as a large group of gas stations are going to have to remove the latches as people were sprayed with gasoline.
* The Governor wants to put a rainy-day fund on the ballot as part of the budget deal. Only trouble (?!) is that we are nearing the deadline to get a measure on the ballot. Of course, there is always the fact that we don't have enough money for today, let alone tomorrow.
* Good News/Bad News for Jerry Brown. He got an email from President Obama telling OFA folks to go to his website and sign up. Bad news: the website crashed. The site is back live now; it appears to only have been down for a few minutes.
* The CA Republican party has had problems raising cash. That didn't stop them from paying some pretty nifty salaries to the muckety-mucks though who, umm, also happen to work for legislators. Seems sketchy.
* Speaking of the CRP, they enied the CA Republican Assemblythe fringe conservative group, access to their facilities at the state convention going on San Diego this weekend. Apparently the CRP noticed that backing Prop 187's anti-Latino measures isn't the way to go these days.
* Happy Birthday to Capitol Weekly. The new version preceded us by a few days back in 2005. It is kind of scary to look back at some of those old diary posts I (Brian) wrote back in the day.
* Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman have been squabbling over pay and pensions for a while. You'd think that, given her incessant television and private plane appearances, that she might want to cut back on that line of attack.
* Workers Comp insurance premiums went up sharply, mostly because Schwarzenegger has refused to let any increases for inflation.
* Robert is heading out of town for a well-deserved vacation, but he'll be back on Calitics' 5th anniversary of September 1. Let's hope California hasn't fully melted down by then.
We're waiting for results on the Laird race, but in the mean time, Links:
* For two candidates running for statewide office, you would think Steve Cooley and Carly Fiorina would take a stand on Proposition 23, but no. The effort to repeal AB 32's historic greenhouse gas pollution regulations apparently don't rise to the level of importance to take a stand.
* Speaking of Steve Cooley, California Watch exposed some punitive measures against his deputy DA's union. A recent lawsuit alleges that he punitively transfered deputy DAs who dared to organize, and even harassed an external media outfit working with the union. (Note: Brian does some work for Kamala Harris.)
* Republican SoS candidate Damon Dunn got a profile on the Sean Hannity show. And according to the Hannity folks, he was endorsed by Willie Brown. Except, Willie himself called that idea "crazy."
"Hell no..are you crazy?'' he said. "I do training of folks with my Institute, and I have absolutely talked to him. But I would never be for Damon Dunn against Debra Bowen, who is one of my chief operatives. One of the things I recommended to Damon Dunn is that he not run against Debra Bowen.''(SacBee)
* UC-Berkeley got into trouble for its genetic testing for incoming students. It was supposed to be an educational experience to talk about personalized medicine.
* San Bernardino County is going to face some voting rights act troubles unless they work to improve the number of minorities that are eligible to vote that actually register.
