Fresno’s Capitol relations stay strong, thanks to mayor-elect

Published online on Friday, Nov. 28, 2008

With mixed success, Fresno Mayor Alan Autry made a habit of visiting the state Capitol to lobby for his town. It's a tradition Mayor-elect Ashley Swearengin plans to continue. And she's getting a head start.

She was in Sacramento this week for several meetings, including a get-together with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's staff to push for an extension of the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley, an economic task force the governor created in 2005. Swearengin made a name for herself by serving as the partnership's lead executive. She took a leave from the post to run her campaign but is now back working for the group until she is sworn in Jan. 6.

The partnership expires at the end of the year, but Swearengin said she expects the governor to sign an executive order to extend it.

Swearengin also attended the inauguration of Sacramento's new mayor, former pro basketball star Kevin Johnson.

"We have a lot to learn from Sacramento and vice versa," Swearengin said. "I'm very interested in having a good working relationship with the new mayor."

She'll be back in the Capitol on Monday for the start of the new legislative session. The new crop of legislators must immediately deal with the state's massive budget shortfall.

Swearengin's goal?

"Making sure that Fresno is not unequally treated in the budget cuts."

-- E.J. Schultz

From outsider in

As part of Dean Florez's promotion to Majority Leader of the state Senate, he will give up his chairmanship of the Senate's Governmental Organization Committee. The powerful committee takes up bills involving horse racing, casinos, alcoholic beverages, state disaster response and state-controlled lands.

Somewhere, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration officials are smiling. Florez often called the governor's staff before his committee and grilled them hard.

Florez supporters praise his aggressiveness, but his detractors say he loves to grandstand. It will be interesting to see how Florez, the consummate outsider, adapts to the ultimate insider role of Majority Leader.

"I'm certainly not changing for the position," he said in an e-mail. "I'm not tempering my views or outspokenness."

The Majority Leader job makes Florez the top deputy to incoming Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg. One of Florez's main duties will be to run floor proceedings.

-- E.J. Schultz

Tie leads to special vote

If you don't think every vote counts, just ask Ruby V. Garcia and Isela G. Perez, both of Earlimart.

The two finished with 390 votes each in the Nov. 4 election for the Earlimart Elementary School Board.

They were among four candidates vying for two trustee seats. Incumbent Victoria Mendoza won one of the seats with 450 votes. Garcia and Perez are tied for the second.

But there will be no drawing of straws to determine the winner.

School district bylaws require that a special election be held between Garcia and Perez to determine the winner. It's undecided when the special election will be held.

Officials with the Tulare County Elections Division, which certified the election results Wednesday, said the tie was just the second in the county in 30 years.

-- Lewis Griswold and Eddie Jimenez

Look to the right

Some bitter ads are running on Valley television that attack Reps. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, and George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, for their support of a San Joaquin River restoration bill. The ads depict the flushing away of water and suggest the two congressmen are complicit in a deal that will hurt the Valley's water supplies.

Might this be the foreshadowing of a challenge to Radanovich from the right? More than Costa, he's probably the one whose political base is more likely to be undermined by an ad campaign like this. Some Madera County farmers, such as Dennis Prosperi, already have publicly called on Radanovich to resign.

-- Michael Doyle