[NOTE: Some sort of bug plagued the site this afternoon...apologies. --JM]

A few more quick hits as the rain clouds again roll in to downtown Sacramento...

* Picking Up (Part) Of The Tab: Legislation to pay off costs associated with Governor Schwarzenegger's 2005 special election moved forward this morning. SB 306 (Ackerman) pegs the money spent by state elections officials at almost $9.1 million. The bill successfully passed out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee. But the larger tab for the special election, which was paid by individual counties to conduct the election, remains unpaid. It's believed the total cost to the counties was somewhere around $45 million. And while the governor's budget proposal calls for paying off that debt, there's no guarantee that will be agreed to... especially considering that counties were never reimbursed the approximately $44 million they spent on the 2003 recall election.

* Watchdog Funding Defeated: Meantime, a bill to restore full funding to the state's campaign watchdog agency, the Fair Political Practices Commission, was defeated in the Senate Elections Committee. SB 1120 (Ortiz) would have raised funding for the FPPC-- an agency whose total budget is about the same as it was 15 years ago, but whose caseload has increased while staff positions have been cut. Last fall, the FPPC had to close the books on political violation cases that may have been winnable, due to lack of funding.

* We Jail 'Em, Now Pay Up: California and 13 other states today called on Congress to provide more money to cover the costs of prisoners who are illegal immigrants. In 1990, the feds created a program to reimburse states, the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP). But full SCAAP funding has often been one of the casualties of the federal budget process. It's estimated that California spends some $750 million a year on these prisoners, while receiving only $121 million in reimbursements in 2005. Today's letter, signed by Schwarzenegger and 13 other governors, asks for $850 million in the 2007 fiscal year for the SCAAP program. "It is imperative," said Schwarzenegger in a news release, "that states receive financial assistance for the continued costs associated with the federal government's failure to secure the border."

* No More Nice Guys: It certainly seems the primary campaign between the top two Democrats for governor is getting, well, testy. For weeks, the campaigns of Phil Angelides and Steve Westly have fired off e-mails to political reporters slamming each other on everything from their environmental records to the past business dealings of each man. Today, Angelides and Westly squared off in a debate at the Univision studios in Sacramento that will be broadcast this weekend. But before the debate, Angelides held a rally where he jabbed at his opponent by name... something not surprising to the political watchers that have been gabbing about polls showing the race either tightening or now leaning toward Westly.

And at Angelides' campaign event today, it was obvious that he hopes to use Westly's partnership with the incumbent on 2004's deficit bonds as a way to link Westly with a whole host of Schwarzenegger's policy choices.

"When this Governor went after kids' health care and people with disabilities," said Angelides, "I didn't offer to be his sidekick. I said, get me into this race."