Skinny

For those of you who hang out in hotel lobbies – we’ve tried, but they keep kicking us out – the just-refurbished lobby of the Hyatt across from the Capitol is worth a look. Not only the lobby – the lounge, the Vines eatery and the second-floor meeting space also got facelifts, among other areas. It’s all very chi-chi, but we can’t look at the Hyatt without recalling the FBI undercover agents there who netted former lawmaker Frank Hill in a corruption sting. Or that the hotel was, in effect, the semi-official residence of former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose well-heeled supporters paid for his lodging on the 14th floor for years – a period that seemed to us longer than the renaissance. Presumably, the parking garage has got to be easier to navigate now with all those black Suburbans gone … A number of California congressional members are retiring, including NorCal’s Wally Herger, who we thought actually had retired years ago. He certainly flies under the radar, and his takeoff began years ago in the Assembly when he seemed to go for months without saying a word. There’s no law that elected officials have to be garrulous to be effective, and by that yardstick Herger has been effective indeed. Anyway, we wish him well….