Phil Angelides

The downside, if one can call it that, of being out in front on a reform issue is that occasionally you get asked to put your principles in action. So it is with Phil Angelides, who as California's Democratic state treasurer from 1999 to 2007 pressed for disclosure and transparency for investments by CalPERS, the state pension fund. He also threatened to stop giving state business to Wall Street firms that didn't meet conflict-of-interest standards.

Former California State Treasurer Phil Angelides has joined forces with ex-basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson and a Beverly Hills investment firm to buy and improve more than $2 billion worth of urban apartment complexes across the country. Angelides said Monday that he was chairman of the newly created Canyon-Johnson Urban Communities Fund, which will focus on acquiring and upgrading apartments in inner-city neighborhoods to create more "workforce" housing.

State investigators on Friday publicly absolved former Democratic candidate Phil Angelides' campaign of wrongdoing in lifting private conversations stored on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's website, nearly five months after they had authoritative word that no crime had occurred. In a 38-page report to Schwarzenegger's chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, the California Highway Patrol said that security on the governor's website was lax.

Canyon Capital Realty Advisors, a Los Angeles-based provider of financing for property development, said Thursday that it had formed a $250-million venture with former state Treasurer Phil Angelides and another partner to buy land for homes. The River Canyon venture plans to acquire lots from home builders and lenders looking to sell holdings because of the U.S. housing slump, said Bobby Turner, managing partner of Canyon.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's drive to recapture his image as a political centrist will make it harder for the two Democrats vying for his job to cast him as a conservative Republican out of step with middle-of-the-road Californians. In a State of the State speech Thursday that framed his campaign for reelection, Schwarzenegger minimized opportunities for the Democrats -- state Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly -- to draw sharp contrasts with him.

Settled in the back of a black sedan, state Treasurer Phil Angelides jumped at the chance to take a call from Lou Paulson, president of the California Professional Firefighters union. Paulson told Angelides that the firefighters, a nemesis of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, would back him for governor. Angelides said he was so thrilled -- "honored beyond belief" -- that he had goose bumps. "I'd love to be able to announce this publicly with you," he said. "Can we do something tomorrow morning?"

State Controller Steve Westly plans to launch the first television advertising of the Democratic primary for governor today, tapping his dot-com fortune in an effort to gain an early edge over rival Phil Angelides, the state treasurer. Westly's ad, a biographical spot that plays up his Silicon Valley resume, will air in several small cities around the state over the next several weeks, starting with Chico and Redding in the northern Central Valley, advisors said.

The California Teachers Assn. on Saturday endorsed state Treasurer Phil Angelides in the Democratic primary for governor, offering a big boost to his campaign against rival Steve Westly, the state controller. The union is expected to spend millions of dollars this year in an effort to unseat Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and some of that money now could be put behind Angelides' bid for the Democratic nomination.

Laying out an environmental agenda he hopes to pursue as governor, state Treasurer Phil Angelides on Thursday proposed cutting California's oil consumption by 25% over 10 years with a plan that would require all new vehicles sold in the state to be able to run on a mix of gasoline and alternative fuels. To accommodate the new vehicles, the Democrat would require oil companies to convert filling-station pumps to sell blends of gasoline and bio-fuels, such as corn-based ethanol.

With little else to dispute, the two Democrats vying to replace Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are tussling over the most basic of voter questions: Whom can you trust? At campaign stops around the state, each of the Democrats -- state Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly -- has been touting himself for weeks as the one who holds truest to his convictions.