Gut and amend going nowhere

Good morning and happy Hump Day. In anticipation of the mad dash to pass legislation prior to the rapidly-approaching end of session, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon has no intentions of stopping the practice loathed by many rank-and-file legislators called “gut and amend.”

Even as a measure to end the most egregious offenses waits for voters in November, even as the procedure is discouraged by leadership and even as the move is prohibited by the Legislature’s rules, Rendon will continue to allow bills to be gutted and amended, his staff confirmed.   

Gut and amend is a catchall phrase thrown around Sacramento. In general, it means removing all or a substantial part of a bill and replacing it with new provisions that have little or nothing to do with the bill’s original intent, especially after the bill’s shell has passed through a part of the process, like a committee hearing or a vote in one chamber.

Proponents say there are instances when it’s necessary, but detractors say it leads to bad legislation and limits the power of those with an opposing view. The times that irk opponents the most are when a bill is gutted and amended sometimes just hours before a vote.

CalWatchdog has more.  

In other news:

• Embattled UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi resigned on Tuesday, “done in largely by pepper spray and ego,” writes The Sacramento Bee.
• “San Diego Republicans run from Trump,” reports the Voice of San Diego. Of course, not all San Diego Republicans, according to Talking Points Memo.  

• Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, has for a second time amended a bill that would have imposed tough new campaign contribution limits on Board of Equalization members to avoid conflicts of interest, but now simply calls for a study of possible new limits. “Hill introduced Senate Bill 816 after The Times reported that donors were circumventing a $250 contribution limit to board members by funneling the money through political action committees or giving several donations — 45 from employees at one tax firm — of $249 each,” reports the Los Angeles Times.

• “Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva presided over his first council meeting Tuesday night since his arrest last week on charges that included child endangerment and supplying alcohol to minors. The public took to the microphone offering both support and criticism,” writes Capital Public Radio. 

Assembly:

• Several hearings today, including Appropriations. 

Senate:

• Several hearings scheduled.

Gov. Brown:

• No public events announced.

Tips: matt@calwatchdog.com

Follow us: @calwatchdog @mflemingterp

New followers: @capwatchdog

Katehi’s suspension was also spurred by allegations her son and daughter-in-law, who are employees of the university, got large and unwarranted raises. But Napolitano also made plain her disapproval of Katehi’s attempts at damage control, saying her decisions raised “serious and troubling questions.”

Now it has emerged that UC spent $158,000 in its own damage-control effort in a bid to counter the harsh criticism Napolitano and other UC officials faced after State Auditor Elaine Howle released an audit in March that said UC was admitting out-of-state students over more qualified in-state students solely for budget reasons. Howle also said UC officials sharply increased out-of-state enrollment rather than take even basic steps to control spending when state funding plunged because of the sharp decline in state revenue after 2007.

UC planned PR blitz before audit even released

UC officials first learned of Howle’s scathing audit in February. That’s when the UC Office of the President decided to mount a PR campaign that “included a report rebutting the conclusions of the audit; digital ads on websites, Facebook and Twitter; and sponsorships on public radio stations throughout the state,” the Bee reported.

An aide to Napolitano disputed the idea that state funding or tuition dollars were used. Instead, the aide told the Bee that the $158,000 came out of the “endowment cost recovery fund.” The fund was described as using endowment earnings for various purposes, including trying to promote university fundraising.

Some of the $158,000 was used to release a glossy 32-page report soon after the audit was published that depicted UC as reacting resourcefully and intelligently to the state funding crisis. Another major expenditure was for radio ads promoting UC on public radio stations around the California.

UC officials insisted there was a major difference between what Katehi did and what the UC Office of the President had done. They said that UC had followed standard processes and had used consultants for PR campaigns before, and that Napolitano had never objected to Katehi’s use of consultants — only to the evidence that Katehi had made  “material misstatements” about her role in efforts to scrub UC Davis’ online image.

But if these distinctions help UC avoid allegations of hypocrisy, the UC damage-control campaign still rankled some in the Legislature who said UC should take the audit seriously — not pay to try to gloss it over.

“I am in total disbelief once again,” Assemblyman Mike Gipson, D-Carson, told the Bee. “They have taken this elitist attitude that they can do whatever they want to do whenever they want to do it.”

Is the end close for UC Davis’ Katehi?

Good morning!

The end appears to be near for UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi, who last week was placed on a 90-day paid leave pending an investigation into a number of things, including concerns of nepotism.

Katehi supporters have cried that this is one big sexist conspiracy in the media, reports CalWatchdog. But don’t tell that to UC President Janet Napolitano, who ordered Katehi’s leave, or Diana Lambert, one of the two dogged Sacramento Bee reporters on this story. 

In other news:

• Former state legislator and former Orange County GOP Chairman Scott Baugh has not ruled out challenging Dana Rohrabacher, the longtime OC congressman, reports The Orange County Register. Baugh opened a campaign account earlier this year, saying he was getting ready for Rohrabacher’s retirement, which an aide to the congressman said was not coming this cycle. The two appear headed for a showdown. 
• A new poll shows business tycoon Donald Trump leading substantially in California in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, while former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is leading on the Democratic side, reports the Los Angeles Daily News. 
• April personal income tax revenues fell short of expectations by about $1 billion, reports Capital Public Radio. Critics/analysts have said the state is overly dependent on personal income tax. 
• However, Democrats believe that with an overall improved financial situation, this is the year Jerry Brown, the generally frugal governor, will lighten up on spending, reports the Los Angeles Times. 

Assembly:

• Full slate of hearings. Joint hearing to discuss the proposed Firearms/Ammunition Sales ballot initiative. 

Senate:

• Full slate of hearings. Packed Judiciary Committee agenda. 

Gov. Brown:

• At 9:30 a.m., Brown will attend the CHP Memorial Ceremony in West Sacramento. 
• At 8:15 p.m., Brown will speak at the Berggruen Institute Anniversary in Beverly Hills. 

Tips: matt@calwatchdog.com

Follow us: @calwatchdog @mflemingterp

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Last Monday, UC President Janet Napolitano reportedly told Katehi to quit or be fired. She cited evidence of abuse of power as well as a series of controversies about Katehi moonlighting without permission and her pursuing costly damage control efforts related to a campus police officer’s pepper-spraying of peaceful protesters at UC Davis in 2011. 

But in another in a series of unusual decisions, Katehi defied Napolitano, leading to her suspension. The electrical engineer’s strategy appears to be intended to force the university to pursue a formal investigation before it can move to oust her. While that inquiry gears up, Katehi and her allies have launched a public-relations counteroffensive, with her attorney claiming she’s being “scapegoated.”

‘Implicit gender bias’ behind suspension?

Meanwhile, two UC Davis professors claim she is only the latest UC woman executive to be a victim of sexism and double standards.

“Women in leadership positions are often the victims of intense implicit bias and, as a consequence, of the phenomenon of ‘single storyism’ — the reduction of their actions to a simple narrative that appeals to the biases of a broad section of society, in this case implicit gender bias and women being incompetent for their position. Whatever they say or do in response is twisted to fit the ‘single story,’” wrote Linda F. Bisson and Rachael E. Goodhue.

That claim may be tough to sustain, given that Napolitano is behind her ouster, with her name on the Wednesday letter that outlined UC’s concerns:

In the letter, Napolitano said UC would investigate the employment of her daughter-in-law, including raises that boosted her pay by more than $50,000 over two and a half years. She also expressed concern about whether Katehi made “material misstatements” about her role in UC Davis spending $175,000 on an attempt to scrub online search results of negative stories about the school – and Katehi herself – resulting from the 2011 pepper spraying of students.

That’s from a Sacramento Bee round-up of the problems that led to Katehi’s forced exit.

Katehi admirers unhappy about her woes

While the largest UC student group welcomed Katehi’s suspension after calling for her firing on April 15, the Bee noted that not everyone was happy. Many Sacramento business and civil leaders are admirers of what Katehi has done at Davis, 15 miles west of the state capital.