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State Senate officials told Sen. Carole Migden's Capitol staff to go home for the week Thursday after the combustible San Francisco Democrat was overheard berating them. Enedina Hidalgo, the director of personnel for the state Senate, was in the hallway when she heard Migden screaming at the staff, according to a witness to the event. The source said Hidalgo later entered the office while the senator was not present on Thursday, informing the staff of their rights. Soon after, Hidalgo returned to Migden's office with Tony Beard Jr., the chief sergeant-at-arms of the state Senate. They told staff members to...

Sen. Carole Migden's Capitol staff was sent home on Thursday afternoon and told not to report to work on Friday, after the San Francisco Democrat was heard berating them from the hallway. Enedina Hidalgo, the director of personnel for the state Senate, overheard Migden screaming, according to a witness to the event. The source said she entered the office while the senator was not present on Thursday, informing the staff of their rights. Soon after, Hidalgo returned to Migden's office with Tony Beard Jr., the chief sergeant-at-arms of the state Senate. They told the staff to pack up their belongings...

San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno used an overwhelming showing in his home city Tuesday to beat former San Rafael Assemblyman Joe Nation and incumbent state Sen. Carole Migden in the Democratic primary for her three-county state Senate seat. With 81 percent of the precincts reporting, Leno had 43 percent of the vote, Nation 29 percent and Migden 28 percent. Leno beat Nation by about 25,000 votes in San Francisco and held Nation's margin of victory in his home base of Marin County to fewer than 3,000 votes. Although Leno still has to face Republican Sashi McEntee of Mill Valley in...

San Rafael, Calif. (AP) -- A state senator with Carole Migden's resume would normally cruise to re-election in the liberal San Francisco Bay area. But a wild ride on Interstate 80, a record fine for campaign finance violations and challenges from well-known members of her own party have made the San Francisco Democrat the most vulnerable incumbent on California's June 3 primary election ballot. "You have all the elements that create probably the most interesting race in the state right here in San Francisco, Marin and Sonoma counties," said Al Pross, a coeditor of the California Target Book, which analyzes...

San Francisco state Sen. Carole Migden is making the rounds, spending her evenings shaking hands, chatting with voters and asking for their support as she fights to hang on to her political career. Such campaigning is routine for many officeholders, but for Migden, never known as a backslapping pol, it shows how seriously she's taking her June 3 Democratic primary showdown with San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno and former San Rafael Assemblyman Joe Nation. In a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans 55 percent to 16 percent, the winner of the Democratic primary will probably be a shoo-in in November's general...

Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, is facing two formidable challengers in the June primary, Assemblyman Mark Leno of San Francisco and former Assemblyman Joe Nation of Marin County. But long after the Democratic nomination for Senate District 3 is settled, the most significant legacy of this hotly contested primary may be what it does to some of the most well-established principles of California's campaign finance laws. If Migden prevails, she could have an extra $647,000 to pour into the homestretch of her race against Leno and Nation. But to do so, Migden and her attorneys will have to blow up...

State Sen. Carole Migden's growing campaign finance problems caught up with her today when delegates to the California Democratic Party's convention overwhelmingly refused to endorse her for re-election. Migden, who's locked in a tough three-way race with San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno and former San Rafael Assemblyman Joe Nation for the San Francisco/Marin County/Sonoma County Senate seat, managed to grab the local endorsement Saturday after a raucous campaign that saw chanting crowds of competing supporters marching through the San Jose convention center. While the convention delegates typically quickly ratify the local endorsements, Leno, who has been running against Migden for...

The warfare between state Sen. Carole Migden and the Fair Political Practices Commission this week is only the latest sign that the watchdog agency is ruffling feathers under Chairman Ross Johnson. Johnson, a former GOP lawmaker, took the job a year ago, vowing to shake up the status quo if necessary to help voters identify politicians abusing the public trust. "We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there, as the old song goes," said Johnson, who in 1988 wrote the first successful ballot measure to impose limits on campaign contributions. The FPPC has slapped...

SACRAMENTO - California's political watchdog agency has filed a $9 million lawsuit against state Senator Carole Migden, accusing the San Francisco Democrat of consistent and deliberate violations of the state's campaign finance laws. The federal lawsuit was filed Tuesday by the Fair Political Practices Commission in Sacramento. It is a response to a lawsuit filed earlier this month by Migden. In that action, Migden challenged the agency's refusal to let her use $647,000 that she raised while she was in the state Assembly. --snip--

State Sen. Carole Migden and her managers have agreed to pay a $350,000 fine for 89 campaign spending and disclosure violations between 2003 and 2007, including illegal personal use of campaign funds. The state's Fair Political Practices Commission on Tuesday released details of the San Francisco Democrat's transgressions, which also included misrepresenting spending, soliciting donations prior to establishing campaign accounts and failing to adequately disclose contributions and expenses. The fine is the FPPC's biggest ever for an individual, topping a $263,000 penalty against former Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante. The action comes as Migden is locked in a tough re-election battle,...

SACRAMENTO -- State Sen. Carole Migden has been fined $350,000 by the California Fair Political Practices Commission, the largest penalty ever levied against a state office candidate, for dozens of violations including failing to disclose seven years' worth of political expenses that she paid with credit cards, the watchdog agency said today. The agency's investigation was prompted in part by a complaint filed last fall by fellow San Francisco Democrat Mark Leno, an Assembly member who is one of two Democrats trying to unseat Migden in the June primary. The agency's initial probe concerned $397,000 in credit card expenses from...

State regulators have slapped state Sen. Carole Migden and her managers with a $350,000 fine for 89 campaign spending and disclosure violations between 2003 and 2007, including illegal personal use of campaign funds. The state's Fair Political Practices Commission on Tuesday released details of the San Francisco Democrat's transgressions, which also included misrepresenting spending, soliciting donations prior to establishing campaign accounts, and failure to adequately disclose contributions and expenses. The fines come as Migden is locked in a tough re-election battle, facing two fellow Democrats in the June 3 primary, Assemblyman Mark Leno of San Francisco and former Assemblyman Joe...

As sharp as partisan political battles can be, nothing surpasses a full-blown shootout between members of the same party for sheer nastiness. Their ideological differences tend to be small and, therefore, their intraparty duels often turn personal. The increasingly shrill level of personal invective being thrown in the multi-candidate tussles for next year's presidential nominations of both parties illustrates the point. But in California, the syndrome is most evident in the overwhelmingly Democratic San Francisco Bay Area, which is renowned for sharp-elbow politics, and in Los Angeles. Bay Area voters may experience two nasty clashes next year as state Sen....

A top Democrat in the state Senate is being investigated for allegedly using credit cards to charge $397,000 in political expenses without disclosing who was initially paid and for what, as required by campaign finance laws. State Sen. Carole Migden (D-San Francisco), chairwoman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, said Friday that she was cooperating with the state Fair Political Practices Commission, which confirmed its investigation of her in a letter obtained by The Times. Investigators are looking at the last seven years of credit card expenses. If found in violation, Migden could face up to $60,000 in administrative fines....

Sacramento -- State Sen. Carole Migden is back on the highway after her wild ride through Solano County four months ago, but she had better keep her eyes on the road, a Department of Motor Vehicles spokesmans said today. The San Francisco Democrat had her license returned to her last week, but another moving violation could put her on the sidewalk again, DMV spokesman Mike Marando said. Migden's license was suspended following her erratic drive on May 18 that ended when she rear-ended another car with her state-issued sport utility vehicle near Fairfield. She pleaded no contest to a reckless...

State Sen. Carole Migden caused a panic among fellow drivers last May when she drove out of control in her state-issued SUV for 30 miles on Interstate 80, according to 911 tapes released late Friday. A series of callers between Berkeley and Fairfield, where Migden's wild ride finally ended after she rear-ended another car, described her as coming perilously close to hitting other vehicles, weaving back and forth across multiple lanes of traffic, and careening repeatedly off the center median barrier. One caller described motorists putting on their vehicles' hazard lights in an apparent attempt to warn others away from...

Senator pleads no contest on reckless driving charge By Jess Sullivan FAIRFIELD - State Sen. Carole Migden pleaded no contest this morning to a misdemeanor reckless driving charge. Migden, who didn't appear in the Solano County courtroom of Commissioner Barbara James, entered the plea through her attorney Ann Moorman. Migden received a punishment of a day in jail which she will be able to do by being booked and released at the jail's receiving area. Migden was also ordered to pay $710 in fines and was placed on two years of informal probation. Earlier this week Migden's lawyers met with...

Senator facing misdemeanor count in wild state vehicle ride. State Sen. Carole Migden will be charged with one misdemeanor count stemming from a wild ride in her state vehicle this spring that ended with a wreck on Highway 12 outside of Fairfield.Migden, D-San Francisco, will be charged Friday, L. Kathryn Coffer, chief deputy district attorney of Solano County, said Wednesday. Coffer would not specify what charge Migden would face.But she said the state senator will not be arrested or booked into jail, and will allowed to appear with her attorneys in court, as is customary in misdemeanor cases. Representatives of...

The California Highway Patrol has recommended State Sen. Carole Migden be charged with one misdemeanor count of reckless driving resulting in bodily injury, an official announced Monday. The Solano County District Attorney's Office now has the CHP investigation and can decide whether to file case, said Sgt. Les Bishop. The investigation concluded that Migden was at fault in two separate collisions May 18, including one in Vallejo. Bishop said Migden was involved in a single-vehicle accident on eastbound Interstate 80 just east of Redwood Parkway. The CHP found she made an unsafe turning movement, Bishop said, when she struck the...

Everyone knows about New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine's decision to speed down a state highway sans seatbelt and the price he paid for flouting the laws he was charged with enforcing. Corzine was at least repentant, acknowledging the error of his ways. Sen. Carole MigdenNow meet California state Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco. Last month, after she was chewed out for colliding with another motorist between her district and Sacramento, she declared: "You can't talk to me like that. I'm a senator." When the news first leaked out, Migden explained she'd been momentarily distracted while reaching for a cell phone....

State worker says her car was totaled and the lawmaker, who's been in recent driving trouble, was uncaring. State Sen. Carole Migden, who rear-ended a car this month after being seen driving erratically on Interstate 80, was involved in another accident in a state vehicle 11 years ago when she ran a stop sign near the Capitol, according to the woman whose car was hit.Teresa Latham, a tax technician at the state Board of Equalization, said she still harbors bitter feelings about the accident that totaled the car she had paid off eight months earlier.She said Migden barely spoke to...

SACRAMENTO - Even before her wild ride last week on Interstate 80 that ended in a collision, state Sen. Carole Migden blazed a jagged political path as a state legislator known for her fiery temper and often impertinent attitude. In one tightly wound package, Migden embodies the best and worst of liberal San Francisco politics. She is an effective lawmaker, without a doubt. But she's also a throwback emblem of political entitlement whose career has been marked with infamous moments, such as the time she pushed an opposing lawmaker's vote button - for her own bill - in the Assembly....

The California Highway Patrol announced Thursday evening that its investigation into crashes involving state Sen. Carole Migden last week has not been completed, and that no determination has been made whether to request that her driving rights be yanked. Earlier in the day, a CHP spokesman had told the Chronicle and other news media outlets that Migden was at fault for two accidents Friday, including one that injured another driver. CHP spokesman Sgt. Wulf Corrington also said that the CHP was going to ask the Department of Motor Vehicles to evaluate whether Migden's driving rights should be suspended. A story...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- State Sen. Carole Migden will be in Sacramento today answering questions about her involvement in a vehicle crash last week that left a mother and child injured. Migden, D-San Francisco, said Wednesday that she does not remember much about Friday's crash in Fairfield. She speculated that prescription medication she takes to fight leukemia may have played a role. Click here to find out more! More than a half a dozen drivers called police to report that Migden's sport utility vehicle was traveling erratically near and in Fairfield at the time of the crash. Migden was planning to...

Witness says Migden cut him off By John Hill - Bee Capitol Bureau Published 5:02 pm PDT Tuesday, May 22, 2007 A witness to a collision last Friday involving state Sen. Carole Migden said he was cut off twice by the legislator's Toyota SUV, once forcing him to veer onto the shoulder, before she rear-ended another car. After the accident on Highway 12 in Solano County, Migden appeared confused, said Adrian Romo of Concord. "She just looked lost...," Romo said. "It looked like she was not all there."

Medical condition may have been factor in accident - SACRAMENTO -- State Sen. Carole Migden, whom the CHP now says may have been involved in as many as three traffic accidents last Friday, today revealed publicly for the first time that she has been battling leukemia for the past decade and that medication she takes may have caused her to become disoriented while driving. "My only explanation is that it is medically related in some way," Migden, 56, said in an interview with The Chronicle. The Democratic lawmaker who represents San Francisco and Marin County said she plans to underdo...

CHP: State Senator Was Driving Erratically Before AccidentSACRAMENTO, Calif. -- State Sen. Carole Migden bounced her state-issued SUV off the concrete median on Interstate 80 and nearly ran other motorists off the freeway before slamming into the back of another vehicle last week, the California Highway Patrol and witnesses said Tuesday. More than half a dozen motorists made emergency calls about Migden's erratic driving before the Friday accident, the CHP said. The rear-end collision in Fairfield, midway between San Francisco and Sacramento, injured a woman and her 3-year-old daughter, who were sent to the emergency room. In a statement released...

State Sen. Carole Migden bounced her state-issued SUV off the concrete median on Interstate 80 and nearly ran other motorists off the freeway before slamming into the back of another vehicle last week, the California Highway Patrol and witnesses said Tuesday. More than half a dozen motorists made emergency calls about Migden's erratic driving before the Friday accident, the CHP said. The rear-end collision in Fairfield, midway between San Francisco and Sacramento, injured a woman and her 3-year-old daughter, who were sent to the emergency room. In a statement released by her office last week, the San Francisco Democrat said...

Posted: Tuesday, 22 May 2007 8:28AM Investigation Into Migden Car Crash Widens SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- The CHP is looking into reports of a second accident involving State Senator Carole Migden on Friday. The lawmaker was driving her SUV to a meeting in Marin County Friday morning when her cell phone rang. As Midgen reached for the phone, she took her eyes off the road and collided with the back of a Honda sedan on Highway 12 near Fairfield. Now the CHP is looking into reports of another accident that happened before the first one, involving the center divider on...

A Vallejo woman reportedly suffered minor injuries Friday when her car was rear-ended by an SUV driven by a state senator talking on a cell phone while driving through Solano County. State Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, was driving her new state-issued 2007 Toyota Highlander Hybrid SUV at 10:40 a.m. on eastbound Highway 12 at Beck Avenue when she rear-ended Ellen Butawan, 31, of Vallejo, California Highway Patrol Officer Marvin Williford said. Butawan's 2005 Honda sedan was slowing behind a 2003 GMC Savana van that had stopped at a red light, Williford said. The impact forced Butawan's car into the...

POSTED: 10:34 pm PDT May 21, 2007 FAIRFIELD -- What initially appeared to be a minor traffic accident involving California State Senator Carole Migden is now part of a broader investigation by the highway patrol. The KTVU Ten O'Clock News has learned that several motorists phoned the CHP, warning them to stop an erratic and dangerous driver just before Migden crashed her car last Friday. A peninsula man, who asked us not to use his name, is one of half a dozen drivers so worried about a woman driving erratically and recklessly Friday morning on Interstate 80, they called 911....

A Vallejo woman reportedly suffered minor injuries Friday when her car was rear-ended by an SUV driven by a state senator talking on a cell phone while driving through Solano County. State Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, was driving her new state-issued 2007 Toyota Highlander Hybrid SUV at 10:40 a.m. on eastbound Highway 12 at Beck Avenue when she rear-ended Ellen Butawan, 31, of Vallejo, California Highway Patrol Officer Marvin Williford said. Butawan's 2005 Honda sedan was slowing behind a 2003 GMC Savana van that had stopped at a red light, Williford said. The impact forced Butawan's car into the...

May 18, 2007 8:52 pm US/Pacific State Sen. Migden In Car Crash; Cell Phone Blamed (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) FAIRFIELD State Sen. Carole Migden rear-ended a car on Highway 12 near Fairfield Friday that left one person with minor injuries, the California Highway Patrol said. Migden, D-San Francisco, was traveling eastbound on the highway at Beck Avenue when she failed to notice traffic stopping for a red light at around 10:40 a.m., according to CHP Officer M.A. Williford. Migden's 2007 Toyota Highlander then collided into the rear of a 2005 Honda sedan. Migden was apparently reaching for her...

State Sen. Carole Migden rear-ended a car on Highway 12 Friday that left one person with minor injuries, the California Highway Patrol said. Migden, D-San Francisco, was reaching for her cell phone and took her eyes off the road just before she hit a 2005 Honda sedan, the senator's office said in a statement. Migden was on her way to a meeting in Marin County. "She was not injured, and later passed a routine breathalyzer test and then she drove her car home," the statement said. The driver of the Honda suffered minor injuries and was taken to a hospital....

An unprecedented political race in the Bay Area pits two prominent gay politicians -- also both Democrats -- against one another for the same state Senate seat in California. The election isn't until next year, but Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, will need all that time if he wants to become known in the state Senate district which is split evenly between San Francisco, Marin, and Sonoma counties. But the real split is with his gay colleague, who he's trying to knock out of office: incumbent State Sen. Carole Migden. Leno will be termed-out in 2008, but Migden will not...

The San Francisco 49ers Thursday announced their strong opposition to legislation introduced in Sacramento by California State Senator Carole Migden. The team’s opposition was joined by California State Senator Elaine Alquist, who represents most of Silicon Valley. Her 13th Senate district covers the cities of San Jose, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Mountain View, and Gilroy. “The 49ers are a Bay Area team and an important regional asset. I strongly oppose this legislation because it hurts our chances of keeping the team in the Bay Area.” The legislation, entitled SB 49, is designed to limit the team’s ability to build a new...

Sacramento -- Responding to the growing trend of couples raising children out of wedlock, a San Francisco lawmaker plans to introduce a bill today that would give young and middle-age heterosexual couples who are not married the right to register as domestic partners. The new bill and the expected reintroduction of legislation that would grant same-sex partners the right to marry are already drawing the ire of social conservatives and may once again put Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the difficult position of taking sides on the politically divisive issue of defining marriage. State Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, said she...

Gov. Schwarzenegger has three days left to decide whether to give a landmark tax victory to gay rights activists -- the right to file as married couples -- but stick them with a tax-filing headache. The bill, which is among a stack of bills that will become law unless vetoed by Saturday, would require California's 75,000 registered domestic partners to file their state tax returns as if they were legally married -- even though they'd still have to submit single returns to Uncle Sam. --snip-- ``This is hugely symbolic,'' said Jean Johnston, a tax attorney with Johnston/Childress in San Francisco....

In a move that could bring a merlot low - and make a chardonnay shudder - a state lawmaker is proposing making zinfandel the official wine of California. State Sen. Carole Migden introduced the bill this week, saying the heady varietal is a "quintessential" California wine dating back to Gold Rush days and versatile enough to stand up to the spicy diversity of California cuisine. "It's about time we give it the recognition it deserves," ... Preliminary figures for the 2005 grape harvest put zinfandel at 10.4 percent of the crop, behind cabernet sauvignon's 12.5 percent. Chardonnay was the harvest...

Sacramento -- State Sen. Carole Migden, who came under criticism earlier this year for pushing the voting button of a fellow lawmaker to help passage of one of her bills, abruptly relinquished her position as chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday. The San Francisco Democrat said she wanted to devote more of her time to help Controller Steve Westly in his bid for governor. But sources in the Senate who insisted on anonymity said Migden, who is known for having an abrasive style, angered many of her colleagues in the past year and that the final straw...

Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, says she is taking a "temporary leave" from her role as chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Midgen says she is taking the leave to have more time to focus on Steve Westly's gubernatorial campaign. She will remain in the Senate, but with a lighter work load. "I'm going to be talking to [the Westly campaign], and I'm sure I'll have some fancy title," she said. "But I intend to spend a great deal of time day-to-day working on this campaign, and I wanted a minimal workload in the Senate during the next six months....

WHY DID Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sign a bill Oct. 7 that requires manufacturers of cosmetics to disclose any ingredients that could cause cancer? This state has so many consumer warnings that people don't even notice them any more, and it's not as if folks don't know there are chemicals in beauty products. Then there's the fact that the bill's author, state Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, tried to pass the measure by pushing a "yes" button at the desk of a Republican Assembly member who opposed the bill. (She later apologized, and her voted was pulled.) The point is: Any...

Nobody was surprised that state Sen. Carole Migden voted in favor of her own cosmetics bill. The problem was that she did it in the wrong legislative house. Toward the end of Wednesday's floor session, Migden, a San Francisco Democrat, pushed the voting button of a GOP assemblyman who was temporarily away from his desk. Her action violated Assembly rules and drew an angry response from Republicans. "That behavior cannot be tolerated," said Assembly Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield. "It's unheard of on this floor, it's against the rules, and it cannot be tolerated." Migden, chairwoman of the powerful...

Bowen punished by her own party South Bay state senator refused to blindly back a spending bill, prompting retaliation by Democrats. SACRAMENTO -- South Bay Sen. Debra Bowen has been dumped from a powerful committee that oversees spending measures, apparently for refusing to commit blindly to bills pushed by Democratic Party leaders. Little is being said officially about the punishment, which could dampen the Redondo Beach Democrat's fund-raising efforts but burnish her independent credentials in a looming campaign for secretary of state. In a twist, Bowen also had to cast a vote on her own fate as well. The rebellion...

<p>SACRAMENTO - San Francisco Democrat Carole Migden has canceled her order for a taxpayer-funded white Cadillac CTS.</p> <p>Migden's decision to instead lease or buy a car at her own expense comes after the Mercury News reported on the $41,000 request.</p>

State Officials Order Expensive New Vehicles Officials Order $47,000 SUV, $41,000 Cadillac POSTED: 4:22 p.m. PST December 12, 2002 UPDATED: 6:03 p.m. PST December 12, 2002 SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- With the state in the middle of a budget crisis of historic proportions, lawmakers are cutting costs, affecting thousands of jobs, salaries and programs. But KCRA 3 has learned that two newly-elected officials are ordering costly cars at taxpayers' expense. Facing thousands of layoffs and a severe budget crisis, state employees are starting to catch wind that two top government officials hope to land in the driver's seat of luxury vehicles...