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Wilson Sonsini's Larry Sonsini Asked to Probe US Ambassador John Roos, Mark Parnes

The purveyors of revisionist political history are back at work this week, inspired by the death of Enron Corp. founder -- and convicted felon -- Kenneth Lay to revive the myth that were it not for Enron and Lay, California wouldn't have experienced its 2001 energy crisis. ... --snip-- Attorney General Bill Lockyer had the good manners to remain silent about Lay's death from heart disease three months before he was to be sentenced for lying to mask the failing company's condition. It was Lockyer who in 2001 told an interviewer that "I would love to personally escort Lay to...

Welcome to the live thread for the California Primary Election. Polls are open until 8pm tonight. If you are a registered voter, it is your duty to vote and defend your rights and civil liberties, protect your pocketbook, and vote the bums out where applicable. Feel free to discuss issues key to your local area that others may be interested in. Post your polling place experiences if you like. And post numbers as they come in later tonight.

Controller race draws a crowd They’re all competing for the key job described by one as ‘the CFO for the sixth-largest economy in the world’ By Bob Cuddy The four candidates running for state controller. What a controller does (PDF) Ask the average Californian what the state controller does, and you’ll likely hear, "What’s that?" says state Sen. Joe Dunn, who wants the job. But Dunn and his opponents know better. "You’re the CFO for the sixth-largest economy in the world," says John Chiang, also a candidate for state controller on the June 6 ballot. Chiang and Dunn are opposing...

Rekindling a political power struggle between unions and business interests, proposed legislation would require corporations to ask shareholders whether they approve of contributions made to California candidates or ballot measures. The legislation--backed by the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO--orders corporations to provide shareholders with a list of contributions made in California. Shareholders could then reject individual contributions and receive back their pro rata share. (snip) The chamber and other business interests backed Proposition 75 in November, which would have prevented public employee unions from making campaign contributions without approval of their members. In retribution, the California Teachers Association, Service Employees International...

Up to 2 million people of Mexican ancestry were relocated to Mexico during the 1930s, even though as many as 1.2 million were born in the United States. In California, some 400,000 Latino United States citizens or legal residents were forced to leave. Now California, for its part, wants to say it is sorry. On Sunday, Senate Bill 670 - the so-called "Apology Act for the 1930s Mexican Repatriation Program" - becomes official. It acknowledges the suffering of tens of thousands of Latino families unjustly forced out of the Golden State that was their home. "The state of California apologizes...

SACRAMENTO - Responding to a dark, little-known chapter in American history, the Assembly voted Tuesday to establish a state fund that could be used to pay reparations to survivors of a massive deportation of Latinos in the 1930s. By a 41-23 vote, lawmakers approved a bill by Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Garden Grove, that also would create a 16-member commission to make recommendations to the governor and Legislature on how to redress the deportations. It would take subsequent legislation to appropriate money for the fund, however. The bill is a response to a policy that was started by the Hoover administration,...

As gasoline prices topped $3 a gallon, Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana, proposed a state constitutional amendment to allow regulatory control of pump prices. "Price caps aren't a solution to a dysfunctional market," said Dunn, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who plans to hold hearings later this fall on California's fuel costs. "However, they are a damage- control measure until solutions are developed." His bill, SCA18, would give the state Public Utilities Commission authority to regulate gasoline prices. Hawaii, which has the nation's highest fuel prices, began capping wholesale gasoline prices Thursday. On Friday, Attorney General Bill Lockyer, a...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Criticizing oil industry profits, a California lawmaker has introduced legislation to give a state agency broad authority to regulate the cost of fuel. California and Hawaii, which was the first state to introduce price caps for gasoline, have the highest per-gallon costs for gas in the nation. Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Garden Grove, introduced a constitutional amendment this week that would allow the state Public Utilities Commission to require mandatory fuel reserves, set profit margins for oil and gas companies, and order the construction of new pipelines. His measure also would forbid agreements between companies that reduce...

What do plots to blow up National Guard armories and synagogues, 9/11, well-intentioned liberals, the War on Terror, and residue from the Vietnam era have in common? They all are playing out in California in three seemingly unconnected stories. The first story is about three men arrested for plotting to attack California National Guard facilities, the Israeli Consulate and synagogues. The men, one a Pakistani national and the other two, American converts to Islam, were found with weapons and “jihadist” material. The second story involves a liberal Democratic California state senator who has been making headlines with his allegations that...

An idea to pay a nearby community to build Mission Viejo's share of low-income homes fails. A short-lived idea in Mission Viejo to pay a neighboring community to provide its share of low-cost housing has renewed debate on whether the master-planned city is doing enough to create such housing. SNIP Last year, city officials angered housing advocates by twice rejecting plans for an apartment complex that would have fulfilled the city's low-cost housing obligation. The housing debate in upscale Mission Viejo has been rekindled by an idea quietly raised two months ago by Planning Commissioner Brad Morton, who suggested the...

Senate Bill 357 Could Ban Handgun Ammunition in California Californians Take Action NowIndustry Members Take Action NowThe California legislature is considering a bill that would require serial numbers on all handgun ammunition, including rimfire ammunition, beginning in January of 2009. This bill, introduced by Senator Joseph Dunn and strongly supported by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, is strongly opposed by SAAMI. The bill, if enacted, amounts to a de facto ammunition ban in California. Serialized ammunition would affect what is now a sophisticated, highly efficient bullet-manufacturing process that could lead to the bankruptcy of the ammunition industry in America....

SACRAMENTO – U.S. military authorities on Wednesday began investigating whether a California National Guard unit was established to spy on U.S. citizens, as about 30 demonstrators outside guard headquarters confronted officials backed by armed soldiers. The federal probe of the nation's largest National Guard force involves the U.S. Army's inspector general, the federal National Guard Bureau's inspector general and the National Guard Bureau's legal division. The unit has raised concern among peace activists that the Guard is resorting to the same type of civilian monitoring that characterized Vietnam War-era protests. "These are your mothers, grandmothers and neighbors," said George Main,...

SACRAMENTO - Despite a request from a state senator that it preserve all documents related to a controversial intelligence unit, the California National Guard erased the computer hard drive of a retiring colonel who oversaw the fledgling project. Computer technicians at the Guard erased the officer's hard drive on June 27, said Col. Cherie Takami, the Guard's acting chief of staff. That same day, state Sen. Joe Dunn asked top military officials not to destroy any evidence concerning the special intelligence unit. On Tuesday, the National Guard rebuffed Dunn's requests for answers and immediate access to the computer, saying they...

MATHER, Calif. - A California congresswoman and a state senator said Tuesday they plan separate hearings into whether a California National Guard unit was established as a spy agency. Guard spokesmen denied that was the unit's intent but declined to make the unit's commander available for an interview to fully explain its function. State Sen. Joseph Dunn, D-Garden Grove, whose budget subcommittee oversees funding for the California National Guard, ordered the Guard to turn over all documents about the unit, formally called the Information Synchronization, Knowledge Management and Intelligence Fusion program. That would include any information collected about citizens. That...

SACRAMENTO – A novel proposal to etch identifying serial numbers on handgun ammunition sold in California narrowly passed the Senate yesterday, although supporters conceded the legislation remains a work in progress. The measure, Senate Bill 357, passed on a bare-majority, 21-14 vote that split along party lines, with Democrats in support. The vote sent the bill to the Assembly, which has long been the decisive battleground for gun-control initiatives. A related measure, to require manufacturers to equip some semiautomatic handguns with components that would place an identifying code on spent cartridges, passed the Assembly 41-38 and was sent to the...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Dueling proposals to identify handgun bullets to help police solve shootings were approved by state lawmakers Thursday, despite concerns the requirements are impractical or would harm law-abiding citizens. Ammunition manufacturers would be required to laser-cut each bullet with a serial number under the Senate bill, while the Assembly version requires guns to stamp identification numbers on bullet casings each time they are fired. "With a simple magnifying glass (police) can read that identifying number ... and determine who purchased that ammunition," said Sen. Joseph Dunn, D-Garden Grove, who is carrying the Senate version. "This is a tremendous...

SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers Thursday voted to require weapons manufacturers to ensure that all bullets and cartridges are branded with distinctive serial numbers. Contained in two measures that are intended to help law enforcement solve cases, the proposal would be unique among states if approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The gun industry said the proposals were impractical and would force weapons makers to either write off the huge California market or adopt practices that would greatly increase the cost of their wares. (snip) On the weapons measures, though a number of law enforcement officials backed...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The state Senate voted Thursday to formally apologize for the deportation of Mexican-Americans citizens between 1929 and 1944 as part of a program that was designed to create jobs during the Depression. About 2 million Hispanics, including 400,000 Californians, were sent to Mexico during that period. It was devised by the Hoover administration to get rid of illegal immigrants and open up jobs, but most of the people deported were American citizens or legal immigrants, said Sen. Joe Dunn, the author of the bill. Dunn, D-Santa Ana, learned of the little-known chapter in American history from a...

STOCKTON - Could a number help police solve crimes and deter criminals? Several weeks ago, Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Garden Grove, unveiled a bill proposing the serialization of all ammunition sold in California starting in July 2007. The legislation, supported by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer and Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, is being hailed by supporters as a cost-effective way to prevent crimes and help law enforcement do its job. Opponents say the bill is rife with problems and will only increase costs to consumers and ammunition manufacturers. The proposal would require vendors to sell ammunition with an identification number zapped...