Free Republic

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley has opened an inquiry into the lobbying work of former Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre and whether he violated city laws by failing to disclose those activities, several sources said. Cooley's Public Integrity Division, joined by investigators with the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, also have been seeking information about any lobbying work by former city commissioner Leland Wong, who was sentenced last month to five years in prison. Both Alatorre and Wong have been influential figures in city politics and, in separate cases, have faced lengthy corruption probes. Alatorre pleaded guilty...

SACRAMENTO — The California Fair Political Practices Commission told a judge Tuesday that it's unclear whether Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante's campaign spending strategy violates state law. The commission filed a 12-page letter as part of a lawsuit filed by state Sen. Ross Johnson (R-Irvine), an author of Proposition 34, the voter-approved initiative that regulates political fund-raising and spending. The commission is charged with enforcing that law. Johnson's suit alleges that Bustamante violated campaign contribution limits by accepting single donations as high as $1.5 million into an old account not covered by the new law, and using the money to wage...

The Justice Department is ordering federal prosecutors here and elsewhere to report federal judges who impose lighter sentences than recommended — which a leading Minnesota jurist and other critics say will have a devastating impact on judicial independence. "This will have a chilling and intimidating effect on judges, and this is why I no longer draw criminal cases,'' said Paul Magnuson, a senior federal trial judge in Minnesota who now handles mostly civil cases. "I predict that the number of departures by federal judges from sentencing mandates will fall to virtually zero.'' The July 28 memo from Attorney General John...