Links:
* Tax receipts beat expectations for May. However, given how bad the April receipts were, it will take years of this pace to catch up.
* The Feds have dropped the investigation into former Congressman John Doolittle. Doolittle is “thrilled.” Sure he is, he let Kevin Ring, his former staffer, take the hit, and he escaped with some legal bills and heartburn.
* Carly’s comments on Boxer’s hair have made the national news including the New York Times.
* Brian FitzGerald is still holding on to a small lead over Mike Villines. Brian FitzGerald you ask? Well, he was the benificiary of a lot of anger against Mike Villines in his run for Insurance Commissioner. If FitzGerald holds on, he’ll have to start rolling up that nameID rapidly. Perhaps starting with GOP chair Ron Nehring.
* CalPERS is still mulling over asking for $700 million.
It does seem like the national press is engaged in pledging a sorority. It’s national news that Fiorina made a catty remark? And those people get paid for writing that?
Yes, April receipts were worse than expected–because tax returns for 2009 were lower than the very low expectations California had for Personal Income Tax. However tax receipts are exceeding projections for 2010–especially a very strong sales tax growth. So even with the bad April numbers, the Department of Finance projected better revenues for next year than the January estimate and the LAO was even more optimistic for 2010-11. It isn’t the end of the recession or the State’s fiscal problems, but it much brighter than the way you framed it in your bullet.
Would be thrilled to see Villines lose. He’s little more than a PR hack who is more interested in sticking it to the Dems than working on solving problems in a cooperative manner.
Either way, Jones will be our next Insurance Commish.