She said it with what sounded like a sigh of resignation: Laura Chick is finally getting a BlackBerry.

Maybe that's one way of explaining how much things are changing for the former Los Angeles city controller, who's ending her first week in Sacramento as the state's new 'inspector general for federal stimulus funds'. Or something like that.

Maybe job #1 should be fixing that clunky title.
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A lot has already been written about today's Field Poll and the sense that a big thumping could be in the making for all but the most marshmallowy of the May 19 budget ballot measures.

That may be. But let's dig into the numbers for a couple of ponderables, including even a few that hint all might not be decided.
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[UPDATE 2:33pm - Apparently the governor was watching what happened, as described below. He's just announced three new members of the commission, thus filling all the vacancies. Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear says the governor supports the 10% lawmaker pay cut that failed to be enacted this morning, and says the guv was surprised that one of the standing commissioners voted against it. What do you think the odds are that these three new folks support the pay cut? --JM]

The intersection of populist anger, ballot measure directives, and unexpected legal intricacies could be found this morning at the scheduled meeting of the obscure commission that sets the salaries of elected officials.

When it was all over, those salaries remained just as they are... even as the state's finances keep crumbling down around them.
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It's not a big story, but an interesting one: the annual report from state auditors of government workers who have done wrong.

And this year doesn't disappoint: improper travel expenses, inappropriate email, unnecessary consultants, and more.
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Four of the six measures on next month's statewide ballot seek to pull money, from various sources, to help plug the state's immediate and near-term budget hole.

One of them, if voters approve, would widen that hole by more than $9 billion dollars.

That measure is Proposition 1B, a complicated one-time solution to a fight over how much state government is legally obligated to pay for K-12 education and community colleges. And it is the focus of our ongoing coverage of special election measures on this morning's edition of The California Report.

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That's green, as in... cash.

On this week's Capital Notes Podcast, a look at the dustup this week over staff salaries in the Assembly, and money raised and spent in the special election campaign.

Capitol Weekly's Anthony York and I also check in on a brewing three-way battle for a northern California congressional seat, the race for governor, and the Democrats annual confab this weekend.

The first report on federal stimulus dollars in California and around the nation is out, and poses two key questions: do local officials have the resources and training to follow all the rules, and can anyone really peg the full impact of all this money?
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Proving once again that in politics, perception often trumps all else, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass has canceled pay raises for staffers in the lower house.
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The opening TV ad from the omnibus campaign to pass all six budget ballot measures is out, and it's clear that the campaign is appealing to the popular sentiment that only voters can rein in those pesky politicians.

The ad from the campaign led by Governor Schwarzenegger uses the common sense of an average Joe to make its case for Propositions 1A-1F. The message: these are a way for "us voters to clean things up."
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FYI, Governor Schwarzenegger's doing a question and answer session online this afternoon, with questions via Twitter. So why not cover the session on Twitter, too? See that coverage here.