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The California Democratic Party will not endorse Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s re-election bid this year, with delegates at the party’s annual convention giving the majority of votes to her top primary challenger, progressive State Sen. Kevin de Leon. De Leon got 54 percent of the vote, compared to 37 percent for the more moderate Feinstein, according to results released Sunday. But neither Democrat will receive the state party endorsement because they failed to reach the 60 percent threshold. The vote totals were not a surprise, considering the state party’s liberal leaning. And Feinstein leads de Leon by 29 percentage points in...

The California Democratic Party decided not to endorse in the U.S. Senate contest on Saturday, an embarrassing rebuke of veteran Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Feinstein, who has represented California in the Senate for a quarter-century, is facing an insurgent bid by a fellow Democrat, state Senate leader Kevin de León. He earned nearly 500 more votes than the senator, who was first elected in 1992. De León has cultivated relationships with the party’s delegates. He still faces a significant challenge in trying to topple Feinstein, who trounces De León in all public polling and fund-raising. The party also did not endorse...

**SNIP** After all, a Senate seat is a plum job anywhere, but especially for Democrats in California, where it’s been decades since any of them lost a reelection bid for statewide office. Whoever takes Boxer’s place can expect to become the state’s senior senator after 2018, when the then-85-year-old Dianne Feinstein is also widely expected to retire. But ambitious Democrats should beware: Their eagerness, even greed, could do in their party’s hold on Boxer’s spot. It has happened before in California, and very recently. The field of potential Democratic candidates for Boxer’s slot is large, possibly going beyond obvious prospects...

A decade ago, many of California's public pension plans had plenty of money to pay for workers' retirements. All that has changed, according to a far-reaching package of data from the state controller. Taxpayers are now on the hook for billions of dollars more to cover the future retirements of public workers, with the bill widely varying depending on where they live. The City of Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension System, for instance, had more than enough funds in 2003 to cover its estimated future bill for workers' retirement checks. A decade later, it is short $3 billion. The...

Four years ago, I wrote a column about how the state of California had passed a law to make retailers turn over any unused gift cards to the State after a set period. The law did not consider any effects on the retailer; just the fact that California was grubbing for new revenue flows and once greedy politicians see a target they can devise any rationale for why the money or new tax should be placed into their coffers. The column also explored how the State was taking money from unclaimed bank assets as if it were another revenue...

When Democrats control the state Legislature and all statewide offices, sooner or later they will end up fighting each other in court. One need look no further than the approaching showdown between legislative leaders and state Controller John Chiang. The issue was joined in January when Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and Senate President Darrell Steinberg sued their fellow Democrat over Chiang's decision last June to withhold lawmakers' pay after concluding the budget they passed was unbalanced. In a recent court filing, lawmakers argued that Chiang overstepped his authority in an effort to be "politically expedient.

Last Tuesday, the Public Policy Institute of California issued a new poll that found, among other things, just 17 percent of the state's voters like the Legislature's performance. Simultaneously, the Legislature's top leaders provided another reason for Californians to harbor such scorn. Assembly Speaker John Pérez and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg announced that they would spend untold amounts of taxpayers' money on high-priced lawyers to sue state Controller John Chiang over his decision to withhold legislators' paychecks last year after they failed to enact a balanced budget. Chiang was merely enforcing a new provision of the state constitution...

The two-day-a-month unpaid furloughs of state executive branch workers ordered in 2008 by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger legally applied to employees of California's elected constitutional officers, an appellate court in Sacramento ruled Tuesday. Applying the furlough order to the staffs of constitutional officers "does not violate the California Constitution's system of divided executive authority or impermissibly interfere with (the officers') statutory right to control the staffing and management of their respective offices," a three-justice panel of the 3rd District Court of Appeal declared in a 47-page opinion. Schwarzenegger resorted to furloughs as a cost-saving device in the face of an overwhelming...

The chief executives of CalPERS and CalSTRS along with Controller John Chiang and Treasurer Bill Lockyer are asking the Brown administration to overhaul the state's travel meal reimbursement rates to help accommodate for trips to expensive locales. Read more: http://blogs.sacbee.com/the_state_worker/2011/08/california-officials-seek-higher-rates-meal-reimbursements.html#ixzz1U6X38OST

State agencies have handed out millions of dollars in interest-free salary and travel advances to state employees without collecting repayment, according to audits from the state controller’s office. Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order Tuesday halting the practice and is working with state Controller John Chiang to determine how widespread it has been -– and how much money the state is owed from employees who never paid back loans. “This situation reinforces the worst stereotype of ineffective and inefficient government,” Brown said in a statement. “I have ordered state agencies to immediately investigate the backlog of uncollected debts, and...

California has 12% of America’s population. The results of the upcoming election will determine the future not only of the state, but likely the nation as well. The race for governor, between Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown, could not be more meaningful or illustrate a larger study in contrasts. Most people believe that Carly Fiorina’s attempt to unseat far-left Senator Barbara Boxer is the second most important election, but in fact, it’s not. The race for State Controller, the state’s chief financial officer, will be the key to success for Whitman when she becomes our Governor. In 2006, John Chiang...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As the Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger was the technology of the future, feared by humans. As governor, he's being foiled by the technology of the past. For the second time in two years, Schwarzenegger has ordered most state workers' pay cut to the federal minimum wage because lawmakers missed their deadline to fix the state's $19 billion budget deficit. The Legislature's failure to act has left the state without a spending plan as the new fiscal year begins. A state appellate court ruled in Schwarzenegger's favor Friday, but the state controller, who issues state paychecks, says he can't...

"A state appellate court ruled in Schwarzenegger's favor Friday, but the state controller, who issues state paychecks, says he can't comply. One reason given by Controller John Chiang, a Democrat elected in 2006: The state's computer system can't handle the technological challenge of restating paychecks to the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour."

State workers' pay can be cut to the federal minimum wage when lawmakers miss California's annual budget deadline, a Sacramento Superior Court judge has tentatively ruled. Assuming the ruling stands, it's a win for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a fight that started last summer when Controller John Chiang refused to cut paychecks that paid about 200,000 hourly state workers $6.55 per hour, the federal minimum. Exempt or salaried employees would get $455 a week. "(The tentative decision) is encouraging, and it's important so that the state has the ability to control spending in tough economic times," said Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger formally ended months of political fighting Friday by signing a new state budget - but not before taking another shot at constitutional officers. Among $1.3 billion in vetoes, Schwarzenegger sliced budgets of the attorney general, controller, treasurer, secretary of state and Board of Equalization by 10 percent to compensate for savings that would have occurred from furloughing employees. Schwarzenegger chopped even more from the budget of Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, a potential gubernatorial candidate in 2010, slicing his budget by two thirds - from $2.78 million to $1.04 million, saying he did so "to ensure that sufficient...

No, the check's not in the mail.Legislative approval of a 17-month budget today will not spark immediate payment of $3.3 billion owed to taxpayers, contractors and local governments by the state."Just because they passed it doesn't mean there's all-of-a-sudden cash in the treasury," said Hallye Jordan, spokeswoman for state Controller John Chiang. The state finance department is expected to provide cash-flow data within a week that will enable a payment schedule to be set through June 30, Chiang said in a written statement."Once this budget plan provides the needed cash in the treasury, my office will work around the clock...

Controller John Chiang laid out a nightmare scenario today of the state's resorting to IOUs or costly and uncertain emergency loans if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators don't agree on steps to close the state budget deficit very quickly because the state will run out of cash in about two months. "Specifically, my office will be forced to pursue the deferral of potentially billions of dollars in payments and/or the issuance of individual registered warrants, commonly referred to as IOUs," . . . "Without action by the Legislature and the governor, we literally are weeks away from a meltdown of...

Sacramento, CA (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Controller John Chiang (Chung) are headed for a court fight over the administration's attempt to cut the pay of state workers. Lynelle Jolley, a spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger's Department of Personnel Administration, tells The Associated Press that a lawsuit against Chiang will be filed later today. The Republican governor issued an executive order on July 31 directing that the pay of nearly 140,000 non-security, rank-and-file employees be cut to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour. The order would be in effect until lawmakers approve a state budget. About 30,000 management...

TWO relatively young Southern Californians, Democrat John Chiang and Republican Tony Strickland, are vying to succeed Steve Westly as state controller. Chiang, 44, has a bachelor's degree in finance and a law degree. He has served on the State Board of Equalization the past eight years and previously had been a tax law specialist for the IRS and an attorney in the controller's office under Gov. Gray Davis. Strickland is only 36, but already has served six years in the Assembly, where he forged a reputation as a fiscal watchdog. He has a bachelor's degree in political science; counts our...

Click Here To Watch Debate (CBS 5 / The Chronicle) SAN FRANCISCO--The San Francisco Chronicle Editorial board hosted a 60-minute debate between attorney general candidates Jerry Brown and Chuck Poochigian on Thursday afternoon at the CBS 5 studios in San Francisco. This was the first debate between the two candidates, and is the only one currently scheduled. The debate is presented via streaming video here on CBS5.com and is the first of several Chronicle Editorial board candidate debates that will be offered via live and tape streams here on CBS5.com. Other upcoming debates will include: Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2...