Term limits has meant an end to the leisurely ambition trajectory of state politics, and that comes through loud and clear in the press-release machinery of freshman Republican state Sen. Jeff Denham.
The Salinas senator's news releases include one headlined "Another Busy Day for Denham." Every committee he serves on is labeled "key" or "powerful." The latest release from his office begins, "Citizen Jeff Denham reported at 9:45 a.m. today for jury duty.... " It goes on to declare that "the Denham family is steeped in public service," citing the World War II and Korean War military careers of his grandparents and his own Air Force service in the 1991 Gulf War and in Somalia.
Jury service, unlike his military career, is mandatory.
What are the odds Denham will get on a big felony case? Slim, perhaps, as he wrote a bill to allow organ donors to specify that their organs not go to prison inmates. Denham's father died last November awaiting a liver transplant, a month before the death of a prison inmate who had received a heart transplant in a $2-million procedure, a price tag footed by taxpayers.
Better Ideas Department
Citizen legislators have a few ideas, and three constituents of Assemblyman Joe Simitian will get theirs sent to the Legislature.
In the Palo Alto Democrat's second annual "There Oughta Be a Law" contest, one winning notion is from a Palo Alto man who wants California drivers who get traffic tickets in another state to be able to attend traffic school in California. How did he think of it? One guess: He got nailed in New Hampshire.
The second winning entry, from a Cupertino man whose teenage daughter has cerebral palsy, wants certain vehicles carrying wheelchair lifts to be exempt from tickets if the lift blocks the rear license plate, something state law now forbids.
And the third suggestion, from a San Carlos woman, would allow misdemeanor criminal prosecution of parents who knowingly let underage kids drink alcohol at home when that drinking results in a traffic accident.
All three laws suggested last year were signed by the governor -- a track record better than a lot of legislators'.
Which Side Is He On?
Sharper than a serpent's tooth: State Republicans have pulled the plug on a juicy voter-registration contract with a former GOP assemblyman after they found out he'd been double-dipping as a consultant for the Assembly speaker, a Democrat. Mike Briggs of Clovis had been pulling in $8,300 a month to register GOP voters in the Central Valley, at the same time he was earning $8,250 a month as horse-racing and rodeo consultant to Speaker Herb Wesson.
