I had this in the quick hits, but new info prompts me to make it an actual post.  Here is what we know thus far.

Sen. Migden was driving in Fairfield, on her way to Marin when..

when she became disoriented and didn’t realize cars ahead of her had stopped at a signal. Williford said Migden’s vehicle hit the stopped cars.

Migden was unhurt, but the person she hit complained of pain and was taken to the hospital.  Then there is this…

Migden, a Democrat from San Francisco, was taken to the CHP office in Fairfield. She was later seen driving away from the office in her damaged vehicle.

Unusual for the CHP to take her in to their office.  I wonder what if any charges she will be facing, or if she will just get a big huge ticket.

[UPDATE] Here is an off the wall theory.  Maybe the CHP officer on the scene was the one she called a bad name last year.

All joking aside.  I hope everyone is ok and not seriously hurt.

[UPDATE II]Ok mystery solved.  She grabbed her cell phone when it rang, took her eyes off the road and hit the cars.  CHP took her in for a breathalyser, which she passed.

That was Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez today at an event in downtown Los Angeles, in front of a Chevron station (that was selling gas for a low low $3.49, I think the advance man could’ve found stations 30-40 cents higher without too much trouble), as he announced with Assemblymen Mike Davis, Mike Feuer and Mike Eng a series of bills to combat rising gas prices and the artificial depression of refinery supply.  The bills will seek to oversee refinery maintenance, expand regulatory authority, and deal with the “hot fuel” issue.  The Speaker said that “During the electricity crisis a few years ago, California adopted similar measures to keep energy companies from using these convenient (refinery) shutdowns to amp up their profits, and today we’re going to make sure oil companies can’t use Enron-like tactics on California consumers.”

This is an object lesson in why now was the exact wrong time for the CDP to accept $50,000 from the prime progenitor of those Enron-style tactics.  And it actually came up in the press conference.  A full report on the flip, with audio to come.

Nunez referenced a Wall Street Journal article (behind the wall, sadly) that detailed how refineries are cashing in on high gas prices by artificially lowering their supply through various methods, particularly shutdowns.  The three bills work out this way:

1) new oversight committee: Nunez and Eng’s bill would create the California Petroleum Refinery Standards Committee, made up of the Attorney General, the State Controller and a couple political appointees, which would develop standards for maintenance and operations at California refineries, would look into shutdowns and would increase mandatory reporting from oil companies regarding them, would take audits and inspections, and would ensure compliance.  Penalties for not complying to these standards, would be “very stiff” and would be considered felonies, not misdemeanors.

2) “Hot fuels”: temperature varies in fuel, and it impacts the weight of gasoline, which since it’s sold by the gallon impacts the price.  The suspicion is that oil companies are manipulating temperature variations to give the consumer less for its money.  Assemblyman Mike Davis’ bill would seek a comprehensive study, cost-benefit analysis, and recommendations on what the national standard for gasoline temperature should be.  Right now it’s 60 degrees; the concern is that the number should be higher.

3) Petroleum Industry Information Reporting Act: oil companies are not releasing enough data to determine properly the efficacy of inventory levels and profit margins.  Assemblyman Mike Feuer’s bill would mandate monthly financial reports on oil supply, demand, and price issues.  It would also allow that information to be shared with the Attorney General and the Board of Equalization.

These appear to be decent bills that correctly address the issue of artificial refinery supply.  However, in the question-and-answer session that followed, there was an example of why it is not smart to play both sides of this fence.

The fact that the backdrop of the press conference was a Chevron statement is telling; after all, they own 25% of the refineries in the state, and they are getting rich off the high gas prices being made by their actions at those refineries.  The VERY FIRST QUESTION offered to Speaker Nunez was about his trip to South America paid for in part by Chevron.  Nunez replied that the trip was “insignificant,” that the trip was taken to learn more about alternative fuels in South America, that he stands for issues that are important to Democrats, and that he resented any attempt to question his ethics.  And right after the presser was over, during a sort of press gaggle, he told the radio reporter who asked that question that is was either a “cheap shot” or a “chicken shit” question (I wasn’t quite close enough to fully make it out).  The reporter replied that the information was out there and she was just giving the Speaker a chance to respond.

Clearly that’s a fair question.  And clearly it’s fair to ask whether, at a time where the Speaker of the Assembly is accusing Chevron of market manipulation and of engaging in “Enron-like tactics,” it’s the best time for the CDP to be taking a $50,000 contribution from that same corporation.  Now more than ever, the message should be united, and the perception here is quite confusing, and more hurtful than the money is helpful.  I appreciate these efforts to stop market manipulation, but I do not appreciate giving the opposition another arrow in their quiver through the appearance of impropriety of this donation.  I renew and strengthen my call for the Party to return the money and work in more innovative ways to fundraise and grow the party.

(Gallegly has wavered between retiring and not retiring since at least 2006. This is a rapidly purpling area, and we would have a decent shot at an open seat. – promoted by dday)

I just received this email from the campaign of Brett Wagner suggesting that Elton Gallegly may step down by the end of the year, kicking off a special election.

Dear Friend, 

Our congressional district has waited a long time for our 22-year incumbent, Republican archconservative Elton Gallegly, to retire.  And now that my contacts on Capitol Hill are telling me that Mr. Gallegly appears to be preparing to step down early — perhaps later this year, triggering a special election — it’s “incumbent” upon us to build a winning campaign as quickly as possible.

(after all, the best time for a congressional seat to change parties is when it “opens up”)

Should the election to replace Mr. Gallegly be scheduled for later this year — as many expect — it will also have the potential for nationwide impact, helping to set the stage for which party will win the majority in Congress in 2008.

I don’t know what to make of this as I was sure Rick Renzi (AZ-01) was going to step down any minute. Perhaps someone out there has heard something as well?

The Mod Squad’s actions will not be tolerated.  That is the message Perata sent with the removal of Sens. Calderon and Correa from the Appropriations Committee.  This is in response to their vote against Cedillo’s bill on the homeless and hospitals.

Darrell Steinberg and Joe Simitian get their slots, following a Senate Rules meeting that Perata orchestrated.  With these two new Senators in place, Sen. Cedillo will bring up the bill again next week and it is expected to proceed.

This is not the first time that Correa and Calderon have gotten into hot water with Perata.  They came under fire for attending the fundraiser for the “Mod Squad” earlier this year.  See Cap Weekly for more. (h/t to Salladay)

This is pretty hilarious.  Ken Calvert got an earmark inserted last year that would put a transit center within walking distance of seven properties that he owned.  This would obviously boost the value of those properties.  But the House Ethics Committee said he did nothing wrong because:

“any benefit to Calvert would be shared by other similarly situated landowners.”

So because other people would get as rich as him, it’s not unethical for him to write his own laws that get him rich.

Brilliant.

OK, so let’s just say that I’m a property-rich lawmaker who wants to push the boundaries and play the earmark game for all its worth. What would it take for me to get into trouble? Just how self-serving of a project would actually garner the House ethics committee’s disapproval?

“You’d have to be remodeling your kitchen,” Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense told me.

Meanwhile, in the continuing Calvert/Red State saga… over…

They’re still going after him, and they think they’ve found proof that he lied to the GOP caucus by saying that he was not being investigated.  The Hill has an update.  Unfortunately, the Steering Committee isn’t taking their phone calls:

According to House staffers, Boehner’s staff is out putting pressure on Steering Committee members to not say how they voted on Calvert.

Two different people tell me the deck is so stacked in Boehner’s favor that even if a majority of the Steering Committee voted against Calvert, he could still get on Appropriations. But, that would look terrible to have a majority vote against Calvert and him still getting on Appropriations.

So, Boehner is pressuring the Steering Committee to totally ignore us.

Pretty funny that these guys are solely focusing on Calvert when even his replacement is under investigation for corruption.  If corruption was a disqualifying event for Republicans, we’d have a 9/10 majority in the House.

Two things: 1) Are you in SF? Have you purchased your yKos ‘raiser tix? The event is on June 1 in SoMa.  I’ll be there…it’ll be kickin!

2) Are you interested in the ProgressiveCA Blogfeed I’ve got going on down in the lower left? Would you like that on your site? Would you like to be in it? Either way, shoot me an email.

3) When is “November Rain” going to be the late night music. Seriously, that was THE power ballad of um, i dunno 1992?

Hannah-Beth Jackson brought up one of my favorite ways to needle Arnold Schwarzenegger, and that is to talk about his overblown self-appointed title of “Collectionator”.  He said he was going to go to Washington and use his relationship with the president and the then Republican Congress to bring back some of the $50 billion in tax dollars that Californians send to DC, but rarely receive back.  Arnold has been an abject failure in that regard.

That title really should go to Barbara Boxer.  Chron:

Sen. Barbara Boxer of California is giving her constituents a textbook example of the power a single senior senator can wield, using her new post chairing the Environment and Public Works Committee to add generously to the amount of money the state stands to get for water and flood control projects.

In all, California accounts for about $1.4 billion of the estimated $13.9 billion in projects authorized under the Water Resources Development Act passed 91-4 Wednesday by the Senate. At about 10 percent of the total, California ranks second only to flood- and hurricane-ravaged Louisiana, which accounts for 25 percent of the total.

Can I just say…wooohooo.  And it is about damn time, especially for those of us living in the Central Valley.

For California — a state whose leaders complain regularly about sending far more to Washington in federal tax dollars than the state gets back — the experience in the water legislation represents a positive reversal of fortune.

By the time the bill, the first such water program legislation to get this far in Congress in seven years, was wrapped up in Boxer’s committee, hundreds of millions of dollars for specific California projects had been added. What’s more, many other projects in the state were added to the bill without specific funding totals, making them eligible for future appropriations. And the bill called for federal studies of several other potential water projects.

“We have a lot of important projects in here because we have so many needs,” said Boxer, who has served on the committee in the minority and the majority since coming to the Senate in 1993. She became chairwoman after Democrats took control of Congress in November.

Way to go BB!  Now, I hope you can steer this through the Senate floor, get it through the House and somehow convince the President to sign it.  DiFi should be able to give you an assist with her chairmanship of the Senate appropriations subcommittee on the interior and the environment.

P.S. Why the heck did the Chron feel like they needed to rehash the dumb as bricks non-controversy over the $25 million for the Port of San Francisco.  They really should have included the response from the Port if they were going to talk about it at all.  Just because there are two sides, that does not mean you need to give them equal time.