Posts Tagged: corruption

Podcast

Jim Wunderman: From Bay Area Council to California Forever

CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Our guest today is Jim Wunderman, who has been at or near the center of Bay Area Politics for four decades, starting with his time working in the office of then-San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein. Feinstein taught Wunderman to think of the larger San Francisco region as one interconnected entity, an approach that ultimately made him a perfect fit as the head of the Bay Area Council. Last month he announced that he will be leaving the organization to head up public affairs for California Forever, the ambitious project to create en entirely new European-style city on what is now cow pasture just outside of Rio Vista.

Podcast

A chat with Adam Silver, Chair of the California FPPC

FPPC Chair Adam Silver

CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Adam Silver was appointed Chair of the Fair Political Practices Commission in March 2024. The FPPC was created in 1974 when California voters approved Proposition 9, The Political Reform Act, in the wake of the Watergate scandal. Five decades later, the FFPC is plenty busy. Silver joined us to talk about the Commission’s work, the challenges posed by Cryptocurrencies and his path to the Chairmanship.

Podcast

Wild week

Detail of "Wild Weekend" by The Rockin' Rebels

CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Heading into recess, hosts Rich Ehisen and Tim Foster look back on a historic week chock full of political news: the Trump indictment, the governor’s oil price-gouging bill SBx1-2, the Campaign for Democracy, emissions standards and OH SO MANY candidates for the Worst Week in California Politics.

News

Karen Bass brings star power to crowded L.A. mayoral race

Rep. Karen Bass at a Culver City political rally in September. (Photo: Max Elram, via Shutterstock)

Former California Assembly Speaker and current U.S. Rep. Karen Bass wasn’t the first person to get into the L.A. mayoral race, nor the last. But with approximately seven months still to go before the June 7 primary, her candidacy has put a charge into the crowded competition to lead the nation’s second largest city.  

News

Xavier Becerra: The Golden State Warrior?

State Attorney General Xavier Becerra speaks to the Sacramento Press Club. (Photo: Michael Warren Mott)

State Attorney General Xavier Becerra is leading California’s increasingly tense challenge to the policies of Donald Trump’s administration. It’s a role that gives him high visibility — and headaches. Becerra, in office just five months, is backed by the person who appointed him attorney general: Gov. Jerry Brown. That support is likely to translate into financial resources, too.

News

Where are they now? Joseph Montoya

Screen capture off Youtube of former state Sen. Joseph Montoya during the aftermath of a federal corruption investigation.(Image source: KCRA, Sacramento)

In recent legislative history, 2014 was an unusually rough year for the state Senate. Sen. Rod Wright was on trial for voter fraud and perjury, and Senators Ron Calderon and Leland Yee had been indicted by federal authorities on corruption charges. But don’t forget 1988.

Opinion

Wanted: An early warning system for local governments

Pedestrians crossing Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. (Photo: Sean Pavone, Shutterstock)

OPINION: Back in 2012, then Treasurer Bill Lockyer called for an early warning system that would give state officials time to proactively address local government fiscal emergencies before they wound up in bankruptcy court. We are now five years closer to the next recession and its attendant set of local government financial crises, but the state has made little progress toward implementing Lockyer’s proposed system.

News

2016 ballot a fight over everything

Voters in Los Angeles casting their ballots on election day. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)

Bottled water, immigration, condoms, hospital fees, plastic bags, statehood, alimony – those are just a smattering of the issues on, or trying to get on, California’s 2016 statewide ballot. There are 36 proposed initiatives that are either awaiting review in the Attorney General’s Office or are being shopped around California’s 58 counties for signatures.

News

A deep dive into Senate culture

The California Senate, Sacramento. (Photo: Trekandshoot, via Shutterstock)

When the California state Senate reaches the end of its 2013-14 legislative session later this month, it will mark the end of a highly tumultuous period in the institution’s more than 150-year history. Allegations of bribery, corruption, international arms trafficking, racketeering, perjury, illegal drug use and nepotism among senators and Senate staff have marred the institution’s public image for more than a year.

News

Fed grand jury indicts Leland Yee

Suspended state Sen. Leland Yee, caught in a years-long FBI undercover investigation into a Chinatown-linked criminal network, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on corruption charges, wire fraud and conspiracy to smuggle guns. Yee, 65, is one of 29 people named in the indictment handed down Thursday and unveiled Friday. Yee, arrested March 26 in a pre-dawn raid, is free on $500,000 bond.

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