Capitol Alert: AM Alert: Judgment Day

Capitol Alert

The latest on California politics and government

November 28, 2012

AM Alert: Judgment Day

VIDEO: Dan Walters says he agrees with Jerry Brown's comments on the UC regents.

SLAMMER TIME: Today's the day a federal judge in Sacramento will set the sentence for the Democratic campaign treasurer who pleaded guilty to stealing at least $7 million from her clients. Prosecutors plan to ask that Kinde Durkee get eight years in federal prison, and Durkee's lawyer said last night that she would accept that punishment. Also today, we're likely to learn how much money Durkee will be responsible for repaying to her former clients - a long list that includes U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

LUNCH WITH A WATCHDOG: Political reform, public trust and civic engagement are the subjects of a lunchtime chat today by Ann Ravel, chair of the Fair Political Practices Commission. Ravel was appointed to head the state's political watchdog agency in March 2011. She's said she wants the agency to focus less on minor infractions and more on systemic abuses of power, and made headlines recently for going after a shadowy out-of-state group that contributed $11 million to the campaign against Gov. Jerry Brown's Proposition 30 and another for the campaign finance measure aimed at unions, Proposition 32. Details about today's talk are here.

CALTRANS: Under the dome today, a Senate committee will examine the effectiveness and independence of peer-review panels that oversee California's major transportation projects. The hearing was called in response to a Bee investigation of a Caltrans bridge-review panel, and over doubts about the adequacy of oversight for the high-speed rail system.

CAKE AND CANDLES: Happy birthday to Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, D-Alameda, who turns 64 today.

About Comments

Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.

What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com

Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)

Here are some rules of the road:

• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.

• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.

• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.

• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and send him a direct message.

• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.

• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.

• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.

• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.

You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.

If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to feedback@sacbee.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.

blog comments powered by Disqus

FOLLOW US | Get more from sacbee.com | Follow us on Twitter | Become a fan on Facebook | Get news in your inbox | View our mobile versions | e-edition: Print edition online | What our bloggers are saying