The Skinny

Back in July, Capitol Weekly reported on a rash of strange foot and leg
injuries that hit the Senate. Senators Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks, Nell Soto,
D-Pomona, and Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, all suffered broken bones this
year in run-ins with a ledge, a bed frame and a runaway car, respectively.
At the time, we called this injury bug “a bipartisan trend we’re all hoping
we’ve seen the last of.” Alas, we haven’t. This time, Senator Elaine
Alquist, D-Santa Clara, suffered “extensive injuries to both legs” while
touring the engine room of a maglev train in France, according to her chief
of staff, Sailaja Cherukuri. The incident happened on September 23. Alquist
was on a Senate trip in France, which included a tour of a TGV maglev train.
Upon entering the engine room, Alquist walked past an exposed exhaust fan
that caught her dress. She sustained “pretty severe lacerations, burns and
bruises” on both legs, but no broken bones, Cherukuri said. Alquist managed
to avoid a hospital stay and is back in California, resting and working with
a physical therapist. Luckily for Alquist, she doesn’t have to deal with the
physical demands of an election this year; she’s expected back for the
beginning of session in January. We wish her a speedy recovery. … If the
senator is looking for a little reading while she recovers, she can check
out a pair of new political books. Schwarzenegger political guru Matthew
Dowd is coming to Applebee’s in Sacramento to celebrate the release of his
new book, Applebee’s America: How Successful Political Business and
Religious Leaders Connect with the New American Community. (Obviously by
going to glorified fast food joints.) For California and legal history
buffs, there’s the new book by L.A. Times scribe Jim Newton. Newton will be
in town on October 23 to promote his new book, Justice for All: Earl Warren
and the Nation He Made.