Free Republic

Assemblywoman Nicole Parra speaks with fellow Democrat Alberto Torrico on Monday after learning that Speaker Karen Bass was ousting her from her Capitol office to a legislative office building across the street because she abstained from Sunday's budget vote, failing to support party leaders. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The only perceptible movement Monday in the Capitol's long-stalled budget debate came on the fifth floor – Democrat Nicole Parra was booted from her office for bucking her party during a vote Sunday night. Assembly Speaker Karen Bass sent Parra packing not to smaller Capitol digs – the usual reprimand for rebellious members –...

What happens when you cross Karen Bass, the L.A. Democrat who leads the Assembly? Nicole Parra, the lone Assembly Democrat to refuse to vote for her party's spending plan, on Sunday shared the answer as her staff packed for a sudden banishment move to a small office across the street from the state Capitol, Nancy Vogel reports. (That's Parra in the photo at right.) Bass ordered Assemblywoman Nicole Parra of Hanford out of her fifth-floor Capitol office and into an office building across the street where legislative staffers work. “They wanted us to have everything packed up by 4 p.m.,”...

In the latest episode of Capitol punishment, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass tossed Assemblywoman Nicole Parra from her office on Monday morning after the Central Valley Democrat failed to vote for the budget on Sunday. In a twist, Parra hasn't been reassigned to more cramped quarters in the Capitol itself - but booted straight across the street to the Legislative Office Building. She will be the only member of the Legislature whose office is not housed in the Capitol. "I knew going in Sunday that if I didn't support the budget, something was going to happen," Parra, D-Hanford, said in an...

SACRAMENTO -- It was one of those "oops!" moments everybody should have seen coming. But not everybody did, at least on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's staff. In one of a series of media events he held last week to polish his law-and-order credentials for his re-election campaign, the Republican governor announced he planned to sponsor a "Crime Victims Bill of Rights." It seemed like a run-of-the-mill event until Democratic Assemblywoman Nicole Parra put out a press release a couple of hours before the governor's Tuesday event in Oakland, announcing she planned to attend and "present" her proposed ballot measure that would...

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...

Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, who has resigned effective March 1, will not appear Tuesday before a legislative committee investigating his handling of millions in federal voting funds. The Joint Legislative Audit Committee opted not to seek Shelley's testimony, but retains the right to request his presence at a future hearing, said Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, a Hanford Democrat who chairs the committee. "We want to build a foundation before we even discuss calling Shelley forward," Parra said. Tuesday's hearing will focus largely on what Shelley's office is doing to correct problems cited in a state audit, which portrayed his agency...

Sacramento -- Legislative leaders agreed Wednesday to hire independent counsels to manage an investigation of embattled Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, who said through a spokesman that he did not plan to resign. Following the model established in the Legislature's investigation of former state Insurance Commissioner Charles Quackenbush, each party's members on the Joint Legislative Audit Committee will retain their own independent counsel. The agreement on ground rules and procedures came after the investigation got off to a rocky start, with many questioning why the committee chairwoman, Nicole Parra, D-Hanford (Kings County), had called Shelley to testify even before an...

Kern's Democrat Assemblywoman Nicole Parra is playing the game "Democrats, May I?" instead of getting tough with scandal-plagued Secretary of State Kevin Shelley. Being polite is one thing. Being just plain partisan is another. Parra, who heads the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, scheduled a Monday hearing on the state auditor's findings that Democrat Shelley mismanaged federal election funds and used some of the money to further his party's political efforts. Parra asked Shelley to testify before her committee, but allowed him to send a representative if he wished. Parra explained that it is the Legislature's custom to seek a voluntary...

SACRAMENTO - Secretary of State Kevin Shelley bent rules, missed deadlines and failed to do proper paperwork as he spent millions of dollars in federal election money, state Auditor Elaine Howle told a legislative committee conducting its first hearing Monday to investigate the embattled state elections official. Howle meticulously told the Joint Legislative Audit Committee that Shelley's management failures, which also included the questionable use of federal money, added up to "disregard for proper controls and poor oversight" of money given California to modernize its voting systems. But a representative of Shelley's office testified under oath that much of the...

SACRAMENTO -- Kern County Assemblywoman Nicole Parra found herself at the center of a storm of controversy Friday over her handling of a hearing on allegations of wrongdoing by Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, a fellow Democrat. Republicans and even one Democrat said it looks like a partisan "whitewash" may be under way. Parra insisted that is not the case. A report by the state auditor last month found that Shelley mismanaged millions of dollars of federal voter education funds. The audit followed news reports of allegations that Shelley had used some of the money for self-promotion and partisan political...

The head of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, who promised that "no stone would be left unturned" in the panel's review of Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's handling of federal election funds, has backed off a request that her fellow Democrat appear in person at the panel's only scheduled hearing. Republicans and at least one Democrat complained that the approach borders on a partisan "whitewash" unless more substantial hearings, including testimony from Shelley, occur. A state auditor's report last month found that Shelley mismanaged millions of dollars in federal Help America Vote Act money and likely used some nonpartisan funds...

Parra cries foul over Web attack By CHRISTINE BEDELL, Californian staff writer e-mail: cbedell@bakersfield.com Posted: Tuesday September 7th, 2004, 11:35 PM Last Updated: Tuesday September 7th, 2004, 11:39 PM Go to nicoleparra.com and you'll get an eyeful -- but not from Nicole Parra. It's a Web site registered to a longtime Parra critic and contains vicious personal and political attacks against the 30th District assemblywoman. Parra is called "Sacramento's fraud queen," a "Parrasite" and "princess." "This Web site is dedicated to one of the most slippery, slimy, worthless (yet ruthless) slimeballs in California politics ... Her Royal Highness, Nicole Parra,"...

SACRAMENTO -- It's been a roller coaster first term for Democratic Assemblywoman Nicole Parra. When the two-year legislative session ended late last month, she had won credit for passage of a bill to make it easier for parents to check for convicted sex offenders in their neighborhoods by putting the Megan's Law database on the Internet. She was also instrumental in boosting state funding to protect military bases from closure. But she also spent most of the time walking on political eggshells to avoid making mistakes that could be exploited by her Republican challenger in what is expected to be...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsed Republican Dean Gardner in his race to unseat Democratic Assemblywoman Nicole Parra Tuesday, a move seen as a serious blow to Parra's re-election drive. It also came as a surprise to some people in both parties, apparently including Gardner. "We weren't sure," he said Tuesday, "that he was going to endorse in any races against an incumbent." An endorsement of a Republican candidate by a GOP governor would normally be routine. However, an aide said earlier this year that the governor had agreed to appear at just a few fund-raisers for Republican legislative candidates. "There has...

<p>SAN JOSE -- This time around, Assembly Member Nicole Parra is leaving nothing to chance.</p> <p>The Hanford Democrat is determined to leave this weekend's state Democratic Party convention with an official party blessing for her re-election bid this coming November against Bakersfield Republican Dean Gardner.</p>

<p>Barring criminal charges or some egregious breach of protocol, incumbents seeking re-election count on the support of their political party.</p> <p>This past weekend, however, there was a shocker: Assembly Member Nicole Parra, a Democrat, failed to earn a "pre-endorsement" from her own party.</p>

SACRAMENTO -- Latino lawmakers like Kern County's Assemblywoman Nicole Parra and Sen. Dean Florez seldom find themselves in a tougher political spot than they are in right now. That's one result of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's demand that the Legislature repeal the new law allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver licenses -- or face the threat of a referendum on the ballot next March. "It's a tough decision for a lot of us," said Florez, D-Shafter. It is especially tough for Parra. She is a Democrat running for re-election in a west-side district with a large Latino population, but with a...

Casey Christie / The Californian Assemblywoman Nicole Parra holds a press conference Tuesday in Bakersfield with her attorney James Harrison, left, after discovering her campaign still owes on back bills. Assemblywoman Nicole Parra revealed Tuesday she's having her 2002 campaign accounts audited after discovering about $13,000 in bills have gone unpaid. If Parra has to shell out that amount of money, she may exceed campaign-finance limits and be fined by the Fair Political Practices Commission. The unpaid expenses include $4,000 in payroll taxes and a $40 fee owed to the California Secretary of State's office, Parra said at a...

SACRAMENTO -- Assemblywoman Nicole Parra's record of refusing to vote yes or no on controversial bills is irking some of her strongest campaign supporters. One of them is the man who managed her campaign last year, the influential political consultant and lobbyist, Richie Ross. Parra bucked Ross and one of his lobbying clients, the United Farm Workers union, by refusing last week to vote for the UFW's top-priority bill. That is a measure to put sales taxes back on farm fuel and equipment and use the money to subsidize health insurance for farmworkers. Ross himself has come under fire for...