http://blogs.sacbee.com/insider/ Sacramento Bee Columnist Daniel Weintraub ]]> en-us 2007-11-19T14:11:20-08:00 http://blogs.sacbee.com/insider/archives/2007_11_19.html#009205 Here is Ted Costa's take on the various redistricting reform proposals that are floating around, including his own. I don't think it's worth attracting opposition from both parties in Congress by including them at this point. That will simply doom... dweintraub 2007-11-19T14:11:20-08:00 http://blogs.sacbee.com/insider/archives/2007_11_19.html#009199 Steve Maviglio updates his top 10-rankings of the Democrats with a chance to be the next governor. He puts his boss 7th.... dweintraub 2007-11-19T10:31:33-08:00 http://blogs.sacbee.com/insider/archives/2007_02_12.html#005598 After nearly four years in this space, California Insider now moves over to Capitol Alert, the Bee's subscription-based news and analysis site for anyone interested in what's going on in the Capitol. You can find my blog here. Capitol Alert... dweintraub 2007-02-12T14:52:43-08:00 http://blogs.sacbee.com/insider/archives/2007_02_12.html#005594 The era of small government is apparently over. A Democrat and a Republican have each introduced bills to add a new agency to the governor's circle of advisers. Assemblyman Richard Alarcon, a Democrat from the San Fernando Valley, wants a... dweintraub 2007-02-12T14:17:07-08:00 http://blogs.sacbee.com/insider/archives/2007_02_12.html#005593 Contra Costa Times editor Daniel Borenstein, the paper's former political columnist, is in the middle of a multi-part, first-person series on his battle with cancer. You can read it here.... dweintraub 2007-02-12T14:06:20-08:00 http://blogs.sacbee.com/insider/archives/2007_02_09.html#005549 Someone asked me yesterday if I thought moving up the presidential primary would really benefit Californians in any tangible way. My answer: probably not. Are the candidates going to come here and pander to our interests? First they have to... dweintraub 2007-02-09T07:25:42-08:00 http://blogs.sacbee.com/insider/archives/2007_02_07.html#005533 Three changes today in the governor's inner office, two involving new employees and one with a new title. One of the newcomers is Bob Gore, a veteran of the Deukmejian administration who has since been working with the insurance industry,... dweintraub 2007-02-07T16:06:12-08:00 http://blogs.sacbee.com/insider/archives/2007_02_07.html#005517 Catching up on some old business – the tapes of the governor speaking privately with aides – the sexy parts obviously were his personal barbs directed at legislators, including Republican and Democratic leaders. But after reading transcripts of all four... dweintraub 2007-02-07T08:38:56-08:00 http://blogs.sacbee.com/insider/archives/2007_02_05.html#005491 Blogging will be light Monday and Tuesday as I am traveling on assignment.... dweintraub 2007-02-05T09:32:02-08:00 http://blogs.sacbee.com/insider/archives/2007_02_02.html#005480 Over at Capitol Alert, Shane Goldmacher has an item about Cruz Busamante being out of work and buried in debt.... dweintraub 2007-02-02T14:20:14-08:00 http://blogs.sacbee.com/insider/archives/2007_02_01.html#005474 Here is an interesting story about the movement to ban text messaging and emails to lawmakers while they are in session on the floor.... dweintraub 2007-02-01T15:44:20-08:00 http://blogs.sacbee.com/insider/archives/2007_02_01.html#005461 Today Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez will be rolling out his proposal for redistricting reform. Yesterday, in comments to the California Newspaper Publishers Assn., he noted that no legislative body’s majority party has ever willingly given up the power to draw... dweintraub 2007-02-01T09:43:37-08:00 http://blogs.sacbee.com/insider/archives/2007_02_01.html#005456 In this piece she wrote a few years ago, Virginia Postrel takes the difference between incandescent and flourescent lighting very seriously. An excerpt: If clean air were really the goal, the law would attack pollution directly. It would go after... dweintraub 2007-02-01T06:36:15-08:00 http://blogs.sacbee.com/insider/archives/2007_01_31.html#005442 I had no idea that crime rates in California varied so much by county until I saw this grpahic in a primer on criminal justice issues released today by the LAO. Read the whole thing here. LAO GRAPHIC.... dweintraub 2007-01-31T10:17:50-08:00 http://blogs.sacbee.com/insider/archives/2007_01_31.html#005438 The New York Times today has a cautionary tale for those who want to wean us from fossil fuels: look at what happened with palm oil. An excerpt: Spurred by government subsidies, energy companies became so enthusiastic that they designed... dweintraub 2007-01-31T07:04:34-08:00