Free Republic

December 2, 2008 ELK GROVE ― The teenage son of former California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, is one of four people arrested in the murder of a San Diego student. Detectives have arrested Ryan Jett, Esteban Nunez, Leshanor Thomas and Rafael Garcia, all 19 years old, at different locations in Sacramento County. Police say the victim, 22- year old Luis Santos was leaving a party on Oct. 4 with four friends when a fight broke out with a second group of four men. The verbal altercation escalated into a physical fight, which led to Santos and two of his friends...

Former Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez has taken a lucrative seat on the board of directors for a workers' compensation insurer after helping broker a 2004 deal that benefited the industry. The Los Angeles Democrat was termed out of the Assembly on Sunday, and on Monday, Zenith National Insurance Corp. appointed him to its board. Company filings say that directors are paid $90,000 per year, with an additional $40,000 paid for every committee on which they serve. Núñez said he did not know if his post was paid. "You have to ask Zenith," he said. Zenith did not return calls for...

Fabian Núñez, the eighth and longest-serving Assembly speaker in the 13 years since the legendary Willie Brown was forced to vacate the position in 1995, is being forced out himself by a legislative term limit law he tried, and failed, to persuade voters to change. None of Núñez's seven predecessors had more than a momentary impact; indeed, a few of them were there scarcely long enough to change the I-love-me plaques in the speaker's ornate office. But Núñez, elected as a first-termer in the hope that he could bring some stability and accomplishment to the Assembly, does have a record...

SACRAMENTO -- Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez, who drew heavy criticism last fall for using campaign funds for world travel and luxury purchases, continued to spend thousands of dollars on airfare and gifts in the last six months, according to financial reports made public Thursday. The reports show the Los Angeles Democrat spent $20,916 on Delta Airlines, $2,701 at Falconhead boot company, $579 for a "meeting" at a wine bar, and $4,074 at Nordstrom, Macy's and Williams-Sonoma stores between July 1 and the end of December. In an Oct. 5 article, The Times reported that Nuñez had spent tens of thousands...

San Diego - -- Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez fidgeted with his BlackBerry as he sat in a leather seat in the back of a black Buick Park Avenue and zoomed south on Interstate 5. He checked voice mail, read e-mail and barked his ideas for fixing California's ailing health care system to his staff in Sacramento. --snip-- He was a novice politician who had just won his first election. He also was a divorcé struggling to reconcile with his ex-wife, who had been his college sweetheart. And he was recovering from personal bankruptcy. Five years later, he is living a...

SACRAMENTO -- A complaint filed with state ethics officials Tuesday accused Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez of using a charity to illegally funnel donations into political activities. The complaint cites more than $270,000 that Nuñez solicited in 2005 and 2006 from corporations, utilities and other interests with a stake in legislation to pay for toy giveaways, scholarships, youth summits and other events that featured Nuñez and were arranged by his staff. The donations were the subject of a Times investigation in November, which showed how a small charity -- Collective Space -- in Nuñez's downtown Los Angeles district wrote checks at...

SACRAMENTO, (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez have submitted ballot language asking voters to fund their health care reform plan. With time running short to qualify the measure for the November 2008 ballot, they acted before the state Senate has given its approval. The Senate's Democratic leader says he is reluctant to pass the health coverage expansion while the state is facing a multibillion dollar budget deficit.

California's population continued to grow modestly in the last fiscal year despite a significant exodus of residents to other states, according to a state report released Wednesday. The annual study by the Department of Finance showed that 89,000 more people moved out of California than moved here from elsewhere in the United States. California's population did grow in fiscal 2007 -- but the growth rested on births and the arrival of more than 200,000 immigrants from other countries. The shift dovetails with the state's weakening economy and is most likely related, said Howard Roth, chief economist for the Department of...

The State Senate must approve the measure next, which isn't a sure thing. Senate President Don Perata, D-Oakland, wants to know first whether the gargantuan health care package would adversely affect the state's budget, which already is projected to be $14 billion in the red for fiscal 2008-09. Sen. Perata, on a Bay Area radio station Tuesday, said "I think [the plan is]DOA. I haven't found anybody yet … that can make any sense of it." He said he will not allow a vote until 2008. The saving grace is that the legislation amounts only to political grandstanding if voters...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez are probably still in the Governor's cigar tent this morning, puffing away on stogies to celebrate the Assembly's 45-31 vote yesterday in favor of their compromise health insurance “reform” bill. It was by far the pair's top goal for 2007. Schwarzenegger desperately wants another fix of national media attention after taking a yearlong victory lap for the state's landmark greenhouse gas emissions law in 2006. Núñez was deeply envious and wants his turn in the spotlight. The result of this desperation has been a farce masquerading as a public debate. No hearings...

in·cred·i·ble –adjective 1. so extraordinary as to seem impossible: incredible speed. 2. not credible; hard to believe; unbelievable: The plot of the book is incredible. —Synonyms: farfetched, astonishing, preposterous. "It's an incredible plan," said Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles). The Speaker’s quote about the just-struck agreement on government healthcare with Governor Schwarzenegger unintentionally speaks volumes. Incredible, farfetched, preposterous, hard to believe – call it what you will, the plan will cost far more than advertised and will drive business out of state, reducing state tax revenue and throwing people out of work. Beginning with a low-balled $14 billion price...

That bill does not contain the taxes or other measures that would provide the $14 billion a year needed to finance the ambitious overhaul and would not take effect unless the ballot measure passed. That puts Democratic lawmakers in the highly unusual position of voting on the plan without being able to assess whether the intricate financing scheme will be adequate. Republicans have vowed to vote against the measure. The moves came as Schwarzenegger promised to call an emergency session of the Legislature for early January to make cuts to the state's budget. The governor's office estimates the projected gap...

WASHINGTON California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, facing criticism over his fundraising practices and international travel, escaped to friendlier terrain Wednesday to accept an award from Governing magazine. The Los Angeles Democrat was named one of nine "Public Officials of the Year" and was accepting the honor at a dinner at Washington, D.C.'s Willard Hotel, just blocks from the White House. Other honorees included Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton, Washington state Gov. Christine Gregoire and Houston Mayor Bill White. The magazine cited Nunez's bipartisanship in working toward passage of last year's package of public works bonds - $37.3 billion for...

Donors had high stakes in legislation; arrangement may have violated federal tax laws SACRAMENTO -- Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez used a small charity as a conduit to funnel almost $300,000 from companies and organizations with business in the Capitol to events that helped him politically. By giving to the charity, the donors whom Nunez solicited earned tax deductions for which they would not have qualified had they given directly to Nunez's campaign accounts. They were also able to donate more than the $7,200 maximum allowed under California's campaign fundraising rules. Those donors include Zenith Insurance Co., AT&T, Verizon Communications Inc.,...

There is a pair of bills on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk that puts him on the spot: They would cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, including a hike in the "car tax" that Schwarzenegger vilified in his first campaign for office. ... The measures as passed were not publicly debated. They received little vetting by policy experts. They were not fully written until the clock had almost run out on lawmakers preparing to adjourn and get out of town last month. And key provisions were shaped by a small group of big campaign contributors. The causes were advanced by...

The leader of the Assembly spends tens of thousands of dollars in campaign funds but refuses to provide details on his trips. He says the trips are 'not only justified but necessary.' SACRAMENTO -- As leader of the California Assembly, Speaker Fabian Nuñez has traveled the world in luxury, paying with campaign funds for visits to some of the finest hotels and restaurants and for purchases at high-end retailers such as Louis Vuitton in Paris. It is not clear how these activities have related to legislative business, as state law requires, because the Los Angeles Democrat refuses to provide details...

Ackerman, meanwhile, has maintained remarkable unity, despite the defection of one senator -- the proof being the growing frustration among Democrats and in the Governor's Office. Although Ackerman had been under fire for being too cozy with Schwarzenegger and Democrats and retained his leadership position by a single vote, his mild-mannered stubbornness has made him a force. Núñez and Perata may say they won't negotiate further, but they have almost no capacity to force Republicans to budge, given their safe districts and their lack of personal stakes in the budget's details. Perata's declaration that he won't take up other legislation...

Senate Democrats enlisted environmentalists Wednesday to chastise Republicans for holding up the state budget, arguing that the GOP is seeking a rollback of a Ronald Reagan-approved environmental law at the behest of business interests. Despite a pledge by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto spending in the Assembly-approved plan, Republicans also are demanding a provision to prevent cities and counties, as well as developers and businesses, from being sued on climate change for the next three years. Republicans cite concerns about Attorney General Jerry Brown's use of the California Environmental Quality Act to stall local development projects. They worry that Brown...

Supporters of a proposed ballot initiative to alter California's legislative term limits announced Monday that they are submitting about 1.1 million voter signatures - 400,000 more than necessary - to qualify for the Feb. 5 ballot. Launched by Gale Kaufman and Matthew Dowd, political strategists for Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, respectively, the initiative campaign needs 694,354 valid voter signatures. Kaufman announced Monday that the initiative petitions are being submitted to elections officials for certification. "Representing the people of California is honorable work," Núñez said in a written statement. "This initiative with its bipartisan coalition of supporters...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton Wednesday named California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez -- one of the state's leading Hispanic politicians -- a national co-chair of her presidential campaign. "I'm going to be relying on him very heavily," Clinton said... ...Nunez is a close friend of popular Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, whose endorsement is being eagerly sought by presidential candidates. It's unclear what, if any, influence Nunez's decision will have on the mayor's thinking. Nunez said he would encourage Clinton to spend as much time as possible in California, which holds its primary on Feb. 5...

The chairman of the California Senate elections committee, conceding voters are resistant to changing the state's term limits law, believes a new court challenge should be mounted to invalidate the 17-year-old law. "Ultimately, I think the best solution is to put it before the (state) Supreme Court and let them look at the issue again," Sen. Ron Calderon said in an interview this week. The Montebello Democrat chairs the Senate Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments Committee and was picked by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata to lead the house's efforts to change the state's term limits and redistricting laws....

Once an amateur boxer, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez is no stranger to a slugfest or a political controversy. Now Núñez is preparing for another bout -- one to extend his legacy, and tenure, as speaker. Núñez is banned by state law from serving another term as head of the Legislature's lower house. But he is pushing to change that. "I'd like to stick around this job another four to six years," he said. "I think it would be great, if the voters give us an opportunity and if my members continue to support my leadership." The Los Angeles Democrat is...

SACRAMENTO - Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez on Friday barred lawmakers from handing out badges bearing the chamber's seal after one legislator awarded policelike "Assembly commissioner" badges to friends, relatives and campaign contributors. Nuñez, D-Los Angeles, said badges with the seal should be carried only by lawmakers themselves "for security and identification purposes. Period. This change in policy will prevent any possible misuse in the future." He acted after the Assembly Rules Committee chairman reported that Entenmann-Rovin, the Los Angeles company that makes the badges, had been selling ones carrying the seal without approval of the Assembly's sergeant at arms. The...

With Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in Mexico on a high-profile trade mission, his chief of staff and a bipartisan delegation of state lawmakers quietly embarked Friday on a 12-day trip to South America to study alternative-energy technologies. Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, and high-ranking members of both the Senate and Assembly were accompanied by representatives of energy companies and others with lobbying interests in Sacramento. The trip will take the delegation to Argentina, Brazil and Chile. That includes a three-day break next weekend at a luxury hotel in Buenos Aires during which no work is...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger chuckled at a comment from Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez last month in Sacramento as he signed Núñez's measure to create a discount prescription drug program. SACRAMENTO – Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez is a key figure in a major gubernatorial campaign. But it might be hard to tell which one. Núñez, co-chairman of Democrat Phil Angelides' struggling campaign, has been spending far more time at public events heaping praise on Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger than with the candidate he has endorsed. In a variety of joint appearances, Núñez has lauded Schwarzenegger's “courage” and “leadership” in signing bills to...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California would become the first state to impose a limit on all greenhouse gas emissions, including those from industrial plants, under a landmark deal reached Wednesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative Democrats. The agreement marks a clear break with the Bush administration and puts California on a path to reducing its emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by an estimated 25 percent by 2020. The bill still needs lawmakers' approval, but that appears likely, given that Democrats control the Legislature. The deal gives Schwarzenegger a key environmental victory as he seeks re-election this fall....

The rancorous national debate over illegal immigration spilled into the California Assembly on Tuesday as Democrats yanked an immigration resolution after a testy, partisan exchange that drew an outburst from Speaker Fabian Nunez. The Los Angeles Democrat emerged from his office to silence Republican critics who were lambasting the nonbinding resolution. "We're pulling the bill. You've got a problem with that?" he asked before uttering an expletive about Republican nitpicking and leaving the chamber, slamming the door that joins the Assembly to his conference room. Democrats wanted a vote on a nonbinding resolution urging Congress to pass immigration reform. It...

SACRAMENTO — California, doing its part to warm the globe, could become what politicians want to call a "cooler" state — depending on the actions of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature over the next two weeks. Or, as scientists put it, California could go from one of the nation's biggest oil addicts to the most "carbon-free" state. They are waging a nationally watched, precedent-setting debate, amid stakeholders who range from environmentalists fighting what they call a global-warming Armageddon to businesses saying the economy could be heavily damaged. The debate centers on Assembly Bill 32 by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez,...

Nunez runs into the 'broadcast tent', past numerous talk stations and right to the 'only' Spanish speaking radio station in the tent. The Speaker sits and speaks with them 'in Spanish', then promptly gets up and walks out of the tent.

BERKELEY - Several thousand UC Berkeley graduates and their families flocked to the university's Hearst Greek Theatre for Wednesday's commencement convocation, only to have their graduation speaker leave campus rather than cross a picket line. California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, declined to speak while 15 to 20 members of the union representing University of California service workers demonstrated outside the theater to protest low wages for UC custodians. "The speaker doesn't cross picket lines," said Nunez spokesman Richard Stapler. UC Chancellor Robert Birgeneau stepped up as the substitute speaker. Leaders of the American Federation of State, County and...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a bipartisan delegation of legislative leaders flew around the state yesterday to promote the $37.3 billion public works bond package approved last week for the November ballot. “When I ran for governor, people always said it would be impossible to bring Democrats and Republicans together,” the Republican governor told an airport news conference in San Diego. “But we've proven again that we can come together.” Schwarzenegger highlighted school construction money that would go to San Diego if the education component of the package is approved in the November election. “For San Diego, this means that for...

SACRAMENTO — Assemblywoman Nicole Parra and her father traveled to Cuba in early December on what has reportedly become an annual event organized by one of California’s most powerful lobbyists and political fundraisers. Parra, D-Hanford, and other participants said the trip was arranged by Darius Anderson, founder of one of Sacramento’s premiere lobbying firms and a top fundraiser for former Gov. Gray Davis. Since travel to communist Cuba is generally prohibited except under a license from the U.S. government, Anderson’s repeated trips there with lawmakers, business people and others raise a number of questions. Why is a lobbyist arranging religious...

Assembly Speaker and one-time Pomona immigrant advocate Fabian Núñez is heading into a defining year in his young political career, saying he is prepared to get things done. But critics say the Los Angeles Democrat is only prepared to be an "obstructionist." In a legislative session that was overshadowed by partisan bickering surrounding November's special election, the perception that Núñez can't or won't negotiate was reinforced by his outspoken criticism of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger after election day. Unlike the speaker's Senate counterpart, state Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, who was more conciliatory, Núñez had said, "It can't be just one of...

LOS ANGELES A consultant to top state Democratic leaders has admitted that he molested two brothers while working at a Y-M-C-A more than 30 years ago. John Robert Stevens was an adviser to former Governor Gray Davis and Assembly speakers Antonio Villaraigosa (vee-yah-ry-GOH'-sah), Herb Wesson and Fabian Nunez. In April, he testified in a deposition for a lawsuit accusing the Y-M-C-A of Metropolitan Los Angeles of failing to protect the boys from Stevens' abuse. He admitted he fondled and masturbated the brothers, who were then 13 and 10, when he was youth director of the Rio Vista Y-M-C-A in South...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A television station apologized to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Friday after discovering that several Democratic activists were in its audience for a voter forum. The forum at KNBC was intended to help voters learn more about Schwarzenegger's slate of initiatives on Tuesday's ballot. But the Republican governor was peppered with questions with a partisan slant during Thursday's broadcast, and at one point a man in the audience tried to shout him down. The audience of about 75 people was selected by a research company, which was directed to assemble a balanced group of voters from the Los...

California's top state legislator says U.S. President George W. Bush "turned his back" on Mexico and failed to give the United States' southern neighbor the respect it deserves. Fabian Nunez, head of the California legislature's lower house, commented in an interview with EFE on Sunday, right before wrapping up an official visit to Mexico that included a meeting with President Vicente Fox. "I don't believe that they've shown this administration (of Fox) the respect it deserves and I don't think that as (Fox's) term draws to a close he's going to be given the respect that he didn't receive earlier,"...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez leaves for a three-day trip to Mexico this week to meet with Mexican President Vicente Fox and other officials, a visit he says is needed to repair frayed relations between California and its largest trading partner. Nunez said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent comments on border security, including his praise of the volunteer Minuteman patrols, offended some Mexican officials. "I didn't realize the attitude in Mexico toward Gov. Schwarzenegger is bad, very bad," Nunez, D-Los Angeles, said during a Tuesday news conference. "When I talk to people from Mexico, high-ranking officials from Mexico, it...

Marriage is between one man and one women. Period. With Massachusetts, San Francisco and now the California Legislature pushing homosexual "marriage" upon us with AB 1967, now is the time to stand up for marriage. Campaign for California Families is holding two Rallies to Protect Marriage. CRA has joined both efforts as a Co-Sponsor. Details are below. Please take time out of your day and participate. Join the Protest to Protect Marriage in Los Angeles Tuesday, May 18, 2004 at 11:00 a.m. (two-hour event) Outside Assemblyman Fabian Nuñez' Office 320 West 4th Street (at Broadway) in downtown Los Angeles Download...

<p>Logan Heights and La Jolla are only a few miles apart, but economically the San Diego County communities are at polar ends of the planet.</p> <p>It's a lesson Fabian Núñez -- who will be sworn in Monday as Assembly speaker only a year after taking office -- learned as a child and that shaped his life and politics.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO - Assembly Speaker-elect Fabian Nunez will push a Southern California Edison-backed bill that would again allow "direct access," a cornerstone of the 1996 deregulation law that let consumers choose their own electricity provider.</p> <p>The bill, which hasn't been introduced yet, would also ensure that utilities could recover the cost of building power plants and contracting for electricity from independent generators, Edison officials and an aide to Nunez said Friday.</p>

Fabian Nunez, the fiery Democratic assemblyman from Los Angeles set to ascend to the powerful speakership position, told a Spanish-language Mexico City newspaper he has "declared war" on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Assemblyman Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles Nunez, 36, a Mexican immigrant and former amateur boxer who has risen quickly from freshman assemblyman in December 2002 to majority whip to the speakership of the 80-member California Assembly, told La Cronica Schwarzenegger was targeting new immigrants with his policies. "I have already personally declared political war on Schwarzenegger," he was quoted as saying, "that is the reason I was elected by my...