The Skinny

Hey, Arnold wasn’t the only Republican celebrating on election night. Milling around the Beverly Hilton ballroom with George Plescia was Morgan Crinklaw, the newly-betrothed press secretary for the Assembly Republican caucus. Crinklaw postponed his honeymoon with his new bride, Thuy Pham, for a few days to lend his moral, and communications, support to the GOP cause. … Also set for fall nuptials, Andrea Jones, daughter of former Secretary of State Bill Jones. Jones will marry Michael Rivera, whom she met on the Tom Campbell 2000 U.S. Senate Race (see Tom, it wasn’t for nothing after all). The guest list is allegedly a long one, though somehow we were left off. … There were also many Capitol staffers and other satellites who were involved in local political races Tuesday. In West Sacramento, education lobbyist Sandra Vargas coasted to victory in her race for the West Sacramento School Board, receiving 34 percent of the vote in a five-candidate field. Another lobbyist, Lisa Kaplan, was re-elected to the school board in Natomas, while Capitol staffer Willie Armstrong came up just short in his effort to get on the board. Meanwhile, GOP political consultant Matt Rexroad won his race for Yolo County supervisor. … Be on the lookout for committee assignments. Word on the street is that Tom Torlakson will take the gavel at Senate Approps, while freshman Darrell Steinberg will take over Natural Resources. Sheila Kuehl will be able to push for single-payer health care as chair of Senate Health, and Jenny Oropeza is an early pick to move over to Rev and Tax while Mike Machado takes over Senate Insurance and Christine Kehoe heads the Energy and Utilities Committee.