Free Republic

For more than a year, Assembly Speaker John Pérez dated a Hollywood funeral director who faces fraud allegations in one of the biggest financial scandals to rock the U.S. funeral industry. During their relationship, Pérez, a Los Angeles Democrat, mixed political business with his personal life in ways that showed poor judgment, ethics experts say. A Pérez spokesman said the lawmaker conducted himself appropriately during a casual dating relationship. Tyler Cassity, proprietor of a boutique cemetery called Hollywood Forever as well as a Mill Valley cemetery, and defendant in a $600 million fraud lawsuit in his native Missouri, accompanied Pérez...

SACRAMENTO -- One severely broken part of California's state government is the tax code. It's antiquated and unreliable. Government financing is too heavily dependent on the rich, who have good and bad years, causing roller-coaster tax trauma in the Capitol. And there isn't enough help from the creaky old sales tax. The volatility of the tax system keeps getting worse, making it increasingly difficult for policymakers to plan ahead. New Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) has taken up the cause and is bent on creating an independent blue-ribbon commission to overhaul the tax code. "The economic crisis is national,...

SACRAMENTO – As Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez reflected on his unlikely rise from a San Diego barrio to one of the state's most powerful offices, he recalled poignant, painful moments of a generation ago. “I remember making friends with a kid in La Jolla – my father was a gardener there; my mother was a maid – and going over to the kid's home near the Sea Lodge. “We were playing, and right as we were going to go inside and play with his toys, his mom came out and said to me: 'You have to wait outside. You can't...

Incoming state Assembly Speaker Karen Bass on Tuesday said one way to solve California's continual budget mess is to revamp the state's tax code, possibly raising income taxes on the wealthy, levying sales taxes on services and closing tax loopholes. In an interview with The Associated Press, the Los Angeles Democrat said she wants a bipartisan panel to examine the code and recommend ways to change it. "The state of California is in a crisis," Bass said. "I want to set up a commission outside of the Legislature that will look at more long-term solutions and evaluate whether the tax...

California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez is leading a delegation of lawmakers to Mexico, a week before he gives up his leadership post. The Los Angeles Democrat was invited by Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Nunez described the four-day trip as a working visit to strengthen ties with California's most important trading partner. He is scheduled to meet with Calderon, business leaders and Mexico's top education and health officials. Last year, Nunez was criticized for spending about $70,000 from his campaign account to pay for luxury goods and meals at high-end restaurants while traveling abroad. He told reporters during a news conference...

LOS ANGELES - State Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez shares a luxury downtown penthouse with a prominent fundraiser who has collected nearly $600,000 in fees and expenses from Nunez's political committees and the state Democratic Party since 2005. State law places no restrictions on legislators living with friends or fundraisers, but some government watchdog groups say such arrangements can raise potential conflicts because of the proximity of political power and contributors' money. Nunez, a Los Angeles Democrat and one of the state's most powerful dealmakers, pays $1,000 of the $4,325 rent to live part-time in the loft-style penthouse in his district,...

Sacramento -- The gushing introduction of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at a recent reception made some in the audience uneasy as the speaker ratcheted up the praise. "In the last couple of months, we've proven that California can come together and set our ideological differences aside to move forward, and I'm proud to say that our governor has California back on track," he said. "California is once again, my friends, on the move thanks largely to this man, the governor of our great state and a good friend of mine, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger." The tribute that day in May didn't come...

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez on Tuesday called for a legislative audit of California State University after revelations that the nation's largest public university system had secretly paid millions of dollars to outgoing campus presidents and top executives. "I'm deeply troubled by allegations that former high-level CSU officials have been given dubious positions after their tenures, collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars to do no discernible work while students have seen their tuition rise almost 30 percent in the past three years," Nunez, D-Los Angeles, said in a statement. An investigation by the San Francisco Chronicle showed that at least seven...

Associated Press The personal injury law firm where New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver practices is pitching its services to people injured at state parks. A section of the Weitz & Luxenberg firm's Web site devoted to "on premises'' injury lawsuits tells potential clients they could sue the state for injuries suffered while boating, hiking, swimming or engaged in other activities at state parks. "If you have been injured while visiting a New York state park, you may be eligible to file a lawsuit and get compensation for your pain and suffering,'' the firm says on the site. As...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Treasurer Phil Angelides, one of two Democratic candidates for governor next year, received the backing Tuesday of the leader of the state Assembly. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, said Angelides has consistently opposed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's spending priorities and will be the strongest Democratic candidate to take on Schwarzenegger next year. "Phil Angelides stood up to Gov. Schwarzenegger's attacks against students and teachers from the beginning," said Nunez at a news conference held at a Sacramento school. Angelides and Controller Steve Westly are both running in the Democratic primary that will be held in June 2006....

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is seldom upstaged, but it could happen Thursday when one of his chief legislative rivals flies south of the border to hold private meetings with Mexican President Vicente Fox. Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez said he plans to make the trip -- and miss one of the few legislative sessions remaining this year -- in an attempt to repair relations with California's largest trading partner. Schwarzenegger has been sharply criticized by Mexican media and politicians for supporting private border patrols to curb illegal immigration. ``The tension between the governor and the Mexican government began to boil after his...

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez threatened Tuesday to hold up budget talks unless Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration reworks rules to carry out last year's workers' compensation legislation. "Democrats would have never signed onto a deal that puts injured workers in harm's way," Núñez told more than 500 workers and labor union advocates during a rally on the east lawn of the Capitol. Marking the one-year anniversary of the enactment of the workers' compensation law, SB 899, Núñez joined a parade of Democratic lawmakers, union leaders and workers accusing Schwarzenegger of breaking a pledge to protect benefits and medical treatment for those...

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez launched a broadside attack at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday, saying the GOP governor is acting increasingly partisan and will see his popularity fade if he keeps it up. "He was elected to put an end to the bipartisan bickering," Núñez, D-Los Angeles, said. "He cannot continue to bash the Legislature unjustly and at the same time want to work with us to solve problems in the state." "I think it comes at his own peril," Núñez said. "The Democrats that give him high numbers now, approval ratings, when they see that he's really more of...

<p>A first-term lawmaker who grew up poor in Tijuana and San Diego was elected to the most powerful post in the California Assembly on Thursday.</p> <p>By a voice vote, lawmakers picked Assemblyman Fabian Nunez of Los Angeles as the house's 66th speaker. He will succeed the current speaker, fellow Democrat Herb Wesson of Culver City, on Feb. 9.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO (AP) - When Nations Capital Group handed out campaign donations earlier this year, the outpatient surgery center operator gave its biggest contribution to a committee whose motherhood-and-apple-pie name belied its powerful connection to Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson.</p> <p>The company's $30,000 donation to Californians United came as Nations Capital fought the workers' compensation reform bill recently approved by the Legislature.</p>