links for 2011-01-05

In between meetings with legislative leaders Wednesday, Gov. Jerry Brown defended his appointment of Bill Honig, the former state schools chief convicted 18 years ago on conflict-of-interest charges, to the State Board of Education.

"He has the knowledge and skill to be quite valuable, and it would be a shame to waste that," the governor said.

Brown said he expected some controversy: "You can't create an omelet without breaking the eggs."
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Bill Honig is a convicted felon for misappropriating state of California monies.

He should have nothing to do with the State Board of Education

Dr. Victor Davis Hanson’s quietly chilling article, “Two Californias,” ought to be read by every American who is concerned about where this country is headed. California is leading the way, but what is happening in California is happening elsewhere — and is a slow poison that is largely being ignored.

Professor Hanson grew up on a farm in California’s predominantly agricultural Central Valley. Now, as he tours that area, many years later, he finds a world as foreign to the world he knew as it is from the rest of California today — and very different from the rest of America, either past or present.

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Read it all

Former DNC chairman and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean said Wednesday that William Daley would be a "huge plus" for the Obama administration if he is tapped to be the president's new chief of staff.

Dean praised Daley as someone "who knows Washington, but he also is not of Washington." At the same time, the former presidential candidate excoriated Obama's senior staff.

At a breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor, Dean refused to single out any administration officials for criticism, but said Obama would be better served by staff that has not spent so much time in Washington.

Noting that many officials are "either out of the White House or going," Dean blasted Obama's current officials who he says have treated the left wing of the Democratic Party with "contempt."

"As they say, don't let the door hit you in the you-know-what on the way out," Dean said.

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A token left challenge to Obama in 2012?

When the Senate gavels into session Wednesday afternoon, at least one of their tenured colleagues won’t be present: California Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

The Democratic Senator, 77, is undergoing knee surgery replacement back home in San Francisco, according to the Sacramento Bee.

Afterwards, Feinstein won’t be able to travel for about three weeks during her recovery, which means she’s scheduled to be back just in time for the Senate to return from its two-week long scheduled recess Jan. 24.

Feinstein has experienced her fair share of first-day festivities during her long 18-year career in the Senate: The Democrat is in the middle of her third full term and is not up for re-election until 2012.
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California Dems are just waiting for DiFi to retire, including Gavin Newsom, Antonio Villaraigosa