Links:

*  Anthony York looks at the story of Mary Anne Ostrom, who once wrote about ethics issues surrounding Meg Whitman at Goldman Sachs.  Her job today? Director of Media Affairs for Whitman’s campaign.

*  The San Francisco Board of Supervisors joined City Attorney Dennis Herrera in calling for a sweeping divestment from Arizona after their harsh, and probably unconstitutional, immigration law was signed into law.

*  A new report to the LAUSD Board says that there should be more incentive pay, as well as easing the process to remove teachers. Some of the reforms require legislation at the state level, while others could be implemented locally.  As the report is delivered this week, we’ll likely see a response from teachers on this soon.

*  Capistrano USD reached a tentative deal with teachers. Check out Ellinorianne’s diaries on the subject of CUSD corruption for more info.

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*  Chuck DeVore has an awesome billboard that you can help fund.  It’s even got We the People in it, so it must be good, right? Right?

*  What’s the old Rovian saying, attack your opponents strengths? Well, perhaps eMeg got the memo backward or something. She’s now attacking Brown on her own weaknesses by going after some tangential connections to Goldman Sachs. For a former board member of Goldman Sachs, that seems rich.

*  More from the great new site, California Watch. They have a review of top poltical spenders for the first quarter. Tops on the list, by a lot? None other than PG&E. Their $25M+ is well more than 8 times any other corporate lobby effort.

*  Polling shows a lead for the Yes positionin the Santa Clara bond measure that would bring the “San Francisco” 49ers to Santa Clara. It’s at 52-36 right now.

*  The state may expand a system that rates preschools that began in LA’s South Bay.

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*  Sen. Feinstein has endorsed Don Perata for Oakland Mayor.

*  The furlough lawsuits will not be consolidated into one proceeding. There are several issues, and not are all the same, so the Supreme Court decided that they will remain as they are.

*  Three year college programs? UC is considering it, but there are a lot of pros and cons for students and for the university.

*  Listen up, fellow nerds, a new Capitol Notes podcast is up.

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*  Capitol Weekly releases #1-50 in their top 100 power players in Sacramento. I’m not sure that’s a list that everybody craves to ma

*  Jerry Brown says he’ll post ten years worth of tax returns on his website. The clock is ticking on Poizner and Whitman.

*  Governor Schwarzenegger says that he won’t do a “crazy” fire sale, saying that he won’t sell if it doesn’t make sense financially.  We’ll see how much he limits the sales.

*  The commission that reviews legislative salaries will take a look at another pay cut.

Links:

*  CalBuzz is outraged they weren’t included in the Republican debate panel. For those who are interested, it will be aired live on the CalChannel and the Comcast hometown network, and then replayed many times.  Timing hasn’t yet been nailed down.

*  Tom Campbell is attacking Barbara Boxer because she asked to be treated the same as male senators. Meanwhile, Campbell should be looking out for the demon sheep and Carly Fiorina, who is now trying to spin her record at HP. Good luck with that.

*  The Chronicle profiles former Facebook chief privacy officer and AG candidate Chris Kelly and looks at the question of whether his background at Facebook will help or hurt him.

*  Rumors are floating around that Poizner is gaining rapidly in the GOP primary. Steve Harmon asks what happens if the lead is now surmountable, will the press change the way they are looking at the race?

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*  Hey, it’s April 20! I’ll just leave it there, and note the TaxCannabis campaign to raise $42,000 for the November initiative to legalize marijuana.

*  Orange County passed some “groundbreaking” pension reform measures for county employees. In theory, it would have reduced the pension, but allowed employees to participate in a 401k-type program. One problem: the IRS says the employees would have to pay taxes on the 401K part.  And that pretty much makes the choice for employees to stay in the pension program a ridiculously easy one.

*  Some members of the Citizens Compensation Comission haven’t filed their fianancial disclosure information. Oh, the irony!

*  Tom Campbell is facing some harsh criticism from the right, including some recent TV ads, such as the one here.

*  Josh Richman fact checks a Carly Fiorina press call. Suffice it to say that there was much checking to do.

*  Who is the Adam Smith Foundation? Well, that’s a good question. And why this Missouri group is giving $498,000 to repeal AB 32 is another.

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*  President Obama rallies Democrats in LA today to work hard to re-elect Senator Barbara Boxer. There were rumors flying that Obama would be at the CDP convention, but obviously that didn’t happen.

*  Jerry Brown launches an online petition calling on Meg Whitman to debate himself and Steve Poizner. We’ll see if it entices eMeg to change her mind and give the public a chance to assess the candidates together. If debates were good enough for Abe Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, surely they’re good enough for Meg Whitman.

*  Capistrano Unified teachers issue their demands to avert a strike, as the teachers lead the fight against a right-wing school board determined to use CUSD as a proving ground for right-wing ideologies. More from Ellinorianne here at Calitics.

*  The fight over the CA-36 endorsement isn’t over yet, as Marcy Winograd questions the accuracy of the vote count at yesterday’s CDP convention floor session.

Today was a long day for me (Brian), so my apologies for the lack of links. There wsn’t a lot of news today, rather, it was dominated by the caucuses, political schmoooooooozing, and lots of campaigning for the Insurance comish and LG.

This evening, I attended several parties, Gavin Newsom went all out at the Grammy museum, and, in general, the game has been stepped up in the party arena.

Tomorrow, the voting begins in earnest, I’ll let you know any and all major endorsements.

Links:

*  FPPC Chair Ross Johnson is stepping down at the end of April.

* Apparently Justice Carlos Moreno is on the “short list” for the Supreme Court. He’s a little older than you’d like, he’s 61, but he really is a very solid jurist.  Obama could do a lot worse.

*  Roy Ashburn was sentenced to two days in jail for his DUI arrest that eventually caused him to come out as a gay, well, a gay Roy Ashburn.

*  Interestingly, LA City Council members are not very wealthy. Also what is Tony Cardenas’ wife’s business? It’s described as “Dog Psych Center” consulting services.

* Tom Del Beccarro, the Vice-Chair of the CA Republicans, swears that he’s not a birther and his quote was totally out of context. How much you wanna bet that the original reporter has tape. Seriously, why are people so dumb as to go with the “out of context” defense? This isn’t 1955 anymore, digital audio is everywhere people.