Steve Lopez POINTS WEST - Nunez middle class? Boy, that's rich
If he crashes and burns in politics, California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez could have a great future as a travel agent.
As my colleague Nancy Vogel laid out in a jaw-dropping exposé Friday, L.A.'s man of the people has not missed a trick while traveling extensively and luxuriously about the world, throwing campaign funds around like confetti.
Italy. France. Spain.
Our very own rascal in paradise has been there, and he's tasted the world's finest offerings.
A $1,795 meal in Paris. An $8,745 hotel bill in Barcelona. A $5,149 meeting at a Bordeaux wine shop.
"There's not too big a difference," Nunez told Vogel, "between how I live and how most middle-class people live."
Hands down, it's the quote of the year.
I'm not sure what middle-class people Nunez is talking about, but I'm worried that he's spending entirely too much time with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Could the speaker be talking about Brentwood's middle-class?
We're talking lifestyles of the rich and famous here, not Applebee's and Ramada. Nunez may even be trying to compete with Schwarzenegger, who's been using an obscure nonprofit group to finance lavish overseas travel involving private jets and exclusive hotels, as detailed recently by my colleague Paul Pringle.
And there's one more thing these two high rollers have in common:
They're both bending rules of ethics, if not snapping them in half.
Schwarzenegger's little nonprofit is well-fed with donations from people who don't have to disclose their identity. So not only is it unclear who's paying for the governor's travels, but the tax write-off for donors, and the use of a charitable organization to fund luxury travel, are arguably a corruption of the tax code.
In the case of Nunez, it's legal to use campaign funds for travel, but only if it's related to the business of government and politics.
I suppose it's possible that a Bordeaux wine shop hosted a symposium on California infrastructure bonds, but when I called Nunez's office for more information I got a stock answer from a spokeswoman:
"The expenditures were properly disclosed and described as required by law."
It's the democracy we've all been waiting for in Sacramento. Gulfstreams, Louis Vuitton office supplies and nose-thumbing responses to inquiring constituents.
