CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
January 21, 2010 | By Patrick McGreevy
At least 26 state legislators are being fined for failing to disclose that they accepted gifts from lobbying groups. The fines are the first penalties revealed as part of a month-old investigation by the state's political watchdog agency into suspicions that 38 state lawmakers -- including Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) -- and 15 staff members failed to make the required disclosures. FOR THE RECORD: Ethics probe: The headline on an article in Thursday's Section A on at least 26 California lawmakers being investigated by the state's political watchdog, the Fair Political Practices Commission, said they were fined for taking gifts.
ENTERTAINMENT
January 19, 2010 | By Matea Gold
Some of the most dramatic television images beamed from Haiti's quake-ravaged communities have shown harried doctors frantically tending the wounded with rudimentary tools. "To say it's primitive is an understatement," CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton said Saturday on "The Early Show." "This is analogous to Civil War medicine." Ashton would know. As she spoke, the network aired footage of her in scrubs and a face mask, assisting in the nighttime surgery of a 15-year-old girl in shock from a hasty amputation.
BUSINESS
January 6, 2010 | By Marc Lifsher
California's political watchdog agency announced it has found "probable cause" to accuse a two-term board member at the California Public Employees' Retirement System of violating the state's Political Reform Act. Priya Mathur, the chairwoman of CalPERS' health benefits committee and vice-chairwoman of the investment committee, allegedly failed to file a statement of economic interests for 2007, the California Fair Political Practices Commission said...
BUSINESS
December 30, 2009 | By Marc Lifsher
The California Public Employees' Retirement System board, responding to allegations of past conflicts of interest, has adopted a new ethics policy to govern contacts with outside sales intermediaries and investment fund managers. The policy, unveiled Tuesday, requires the 13 board members to refer all communications on existing or potential investments to CalPERS' professional staff. Members also are counseled not to advocate on behalf of any particular investment outside of a board meeting.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
December 19, 2009 | By Tony Barboza
The top development official for the city of Long Beach has been demoted after coming under scrutiny for going on junkets with a lobbyist with business before his office, officials announced Friday afternoon. Director of Development Services Craig Beck has been reassigned as a manager of the Oil and Gas Department's Business Operations Bureau. He will start the new post Monday, earning a salary of $140,000 a year -- a 20% pay cut -- said Debbie Mills, the city's acting human resources director.
NATIONAL
December 6, 2009 | By Paul Richter
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on Saturday defended recommending his girlfriend and former staffer to become a U.S. attorney, arguing that she was a "highly qualified prosecutor" who would have served his home state well. One of the most influential figures in the ongoing healthcare overhaul effort, Baucus acknowledged that he has had a romantic relationship with Melodee Hanes since the summer of 2008. In a statement, the senator said that he and Hanes, who live together on Capitol Hill, were both separated from their spouses at the time.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
December 4, 2009 | By Patrick McGreevy
The state's political ethics agency has launched an investigation into whether state Sen. Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood) violated campaign law when he formed a legal defense fund without reporting the legal issue for which he was raising money, an agency official said Thursday. Elected officials may use legal defense funds to raise unlimited funds for expenses including representation by attorneys, but are required to disclose the purpose for which the money is being raised, said Roman Porter, executive director of the Fair Political Practices Commission.
BUSINESS
November 20, 2009 | By Marc Lifsher
Board members at California's huge state pension fund offered support Thursday for a plan to register as lobbyists the controversial middlemen hired by private investment funds to help get lucrative business from public pension plans. Reacting to continuing questions about possible influence peddling by these representatives for outside investment managers, several members said they backed the idea proposed by the board president of the California Public Employees' Retirement System, known as CalPERS.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
October 28, 2009 | By Evan Halper
Former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez broke no state laws when he spent tens of thousands of dollars in campaign funds on luxury travel around the world, gifts at high-end boutiques and meals at exclusive restaurants, the state's ethics watchdog has ruled. The Fair Political Practices Commission also has cleared the Los Angeles Democrat of any illegal activity in funneling nearly $300,000 from companies and organizations with business in the Capitol to a charity that spent it on events that helped him politically.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
September 29, 2009 | By Patrick McGreevy
A former deputy director for the California Department of Managed Health Care has agreed to pay a $3,000 administrative fine after admitting a conflict of interest violation, the state's ethics watchdog agency said Monday. Kevin Donohue, who still works for the agency in another capacity, admitted he held stock in UnitedHealth Group Inc. when he helped review the 2005 merger of the firm with PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., according to a stipulated settlement with the state Fair Political Practices Commission.