A city insider who asked not to be named tells us the new lieutenant governor approached him at a charity fundraiser the other day with a request for help to start raising money for a renewed gubernatorial bid.
Newsom's inability to compete with the much-better-financed Jerry Brown was one of the reasons he withdrew from last year's Democratic race and ran instead for lieutenant governor.
Newsom has opened a re-election campaign committee for 2014 - but there's nothing to stop him from transferring any money he might raise to an exploratory gubernatorial run.
No one from Camp Newsom wanted to comment for the record, but we're told the lieutenant governor will support Brown for as long as he intends to be governor.
Slip-slap: That $3 million that the state Public Utilities Commission is thinking about fining Pacific Gas and Electric Co. over the utility's inability to vouch for the safety of its gas lines might sound like a lot.
Then you compare it with the more than $45 million that the company spent last year on its state and federal lobbying and political efforts - and it doesn't seem like so much.
Chances are it wouldn't cause too much pain for PG&E Corp. CEO Peter Darbee if it came straight out of his pocket. After all, Darbee's pay package in 2009 was worth $10 million.
And it really looks small compared with PG&E's $1.1 billion in revenue last year.
"Calling it a slap on the wrist would be an overstatement," Mindy Spatt of the consumer watchdog group The Utility Reform Network said of the proposed $3 million fine.
The biggest chunk of PG&E influence-peddling money last year - $42.5 million - went into the company's ill-fated effort to pass Proposition 16, a constitutional amendment aimed at making it more difficult for cities to buy and sell green power.
The remaining $2.5 million went for lobbying state and federal lawmakers and regulators - like the Public Utilities Commission, which may vote on the proposed $3 million fine as early as April 11.
"This is about equal to giving someone who makes over $100,000 a parking ticket," said Assemblyman and PG&E critic Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo.
PG&E, which has signed off on the proposed fine, is promising it can do a better job than it has lately.
"We take the issue very seriously, and we are committed to enhancing the safety of our system," said spokesman Brian Hertzog.
Hot job: If, as expected, Oakland City Attorney John Russo signs on as Alameda's new city manager, he must really want a new job - because the island town is every bit as wacky as Oakland.
First up: SunCal Cos., which spent $17 million in a lost bid to develop the old Alameda Naval Air Station, has three lawsuits pending against the city.
Then there's the matter of the previous interim city manager, Ann Marie Gallant. She has filed a legal claim saying she was wrongfully terminated in retaliation for blowing the whistle on City Councilwoman Lena Tam, whom she accused of leaking sensitive documents to SunCal. The D.A. decided not to file charges.
And on top of that, former Alameda City Attorney Teresa Highsmith has filed a legal claim against the city for having fired her as well. City Council members said Highsmith took a moonlighting job as city attorney in Barstow without alerting them - although she says she did.
And city officials are still bracing for a legal claim from former Fire Chief David Kapler, who resigned after being photographed tanking up his BMW at the city pump.
On deck: Josh Pulliam has a bit of advice for Giants fans headed to Thursday's opener in Los Angeles - if you're bent on taunting the boys in blue, watch your backs.
Pulliam, who recently signed on as a consultant to Board of Supervisors President David Chiu's mayoral campaign, touched off one of the biggest bench-clearing brawls in baseball history.
It happened back in 2000 in Chicago when something possessed him to reach into the Dodgers bullpen late in the game and pluck the cap off backup catcher Chad Kreuter.
"The next thing I know the guy was lifting me up by the neck and strangling me," Pulliam recalled.
Fans jumped in to rescue him - touching off a fist-throwing, beer-tossing melee that ended with 16 Dodgers players being suspended.
"It was a stupid prank that just completely got out of hand," said Pulliam, though he insisted the stupidity wasn't fueled by alcohol.
The Dodgers, by the way, won that game.
EXTRA! Catch our blog at www.sfgate.com/matierandross.
This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
You may be interested in the following articles: Automatic piston domestic water pump Final year Mechanical Engineering BE BTECh ME MTECH
No comments:
Post a Comment