It would seem that the more that a microscope is applied to the dealings of Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, the more it shows a pattern — that absolute power does corrupt absolutely. One can probably figure that at some point Nunez was, well, like the rest of us. You know, work hard and don’t take anything for granted? But at some point, or maybe slowly over time, the big gavel of being the Assembly Speaker has gone to the man’s head.
CHARITY-GATE
Just after weeks of articles and investigative reports into the lavish and expensive expenditures 
from Nunez’ campaign coffers that appear to be supporting a lifestyle otherwise unattainable for a 
public servant, now the Los Angeles Times has revealed a startling and disturbing pattern — Nunez appears to be putting a tremendous amount of pressure to force businesses to give money, and lots of it, to his favorite charities. Nunez’ insistance that no laws have been broken misses the point, which is that, frankly, elected officials who are making decisions on legislation that impact businesses should not be asking those very same business to make donations to charity.
POSTERCHILD FOR "NO ON 93"
We’ve seen in the latest independent polls that voter support for Proposition 93, has plummeted 10 points, and this is before any active campaign is waged against it. 93 is what we call "Fabian’s Christmas Gift to Himself" — a ballot measure the he wrote and qualified for the ballot using more money gauged from California businesses that, if passed in February, would extend his reign by six more years. It’s getting harder and harder to find anyone who doesn’t get a paycheck from Nunez who thinks this ballot measure is a good idea.
**There is more – click the link**
November 2nd, 2007 at 12:00 am
Gee, John, glad you could take a few minutes off from helping your indicted ex-boss Sheriff Corona to pen that post.
Would you like a few pictures of the Van Tran Turkey Giveaway? Or any one of the more than 34 Republican legislators who have made “behest” requests?
Politicians are community leaders. Charities ask community leaders to help them raise money. Nearly all elected officials — both Republican and Democratic — have worked with charities in the same way the Speaker has, and there’s nothing wrong about it.
November 2nd, 2007 at 12:00 am
I realize all of this is getting caught up in the sniping on Prop 93, but there is an issue at almost every level of government involved that virtually no voters are aware of.
For many years, prominent charities have asked political leaders to help them raise money. This often happens at levels such as your local city council and definitely continues all the way up to the Governor’s chair and maybe even the Presidency. It is now almost a part of an elected officials job.
The problem is that this creates an extra level of pressure on elected officials. For example, if your local city council turns down a development project, they can also wind up losing a donor to the local boys club or some such thing.
That doesn’t have much to do with the Nunez story, but it seems like a bigger part of the picture than anything Nunez might have done and although we hope every politician can follow Jesse Unruh’s dictum about voting against the special interests, the whole issue is even bigger than it appears to the general public.
November 3rd, 2007 at 12:00 am
Steve, if you ask nicely, maybe he’ll offer the same services after your boss gets indicted.
And maybe the two can share the same cell.