Editor’s note: Michael Ackley’s columns may include satire and parody based on current events, and thus mix fact with fiction. He assumes informed readers will be able to tell which is which.
 Speaker Fabian N??ez, D-Los Angeles |
“Middle Class” gained new meaning this month when Democrat Fabian N??ez, California’s assembly speaker, applied it to his “lifestyle,” which includes spending tens of thousands of dollars on travel, meetings and gifts.
A lovely story by Nancy Vogel of the Los Angeles Times cited N??ez spending including “$47,412 on United, Lufthansa and Air France airlines this year; $8,745 at the exclusive Hotel Arts in Barcelona, Spain; $5,149 for a ‘meeting’ at Cave L’Avant Garde, a wine seller in the Bordeaux region of France; a total of $2,562 for two ‘office expenses’ at (high-fashion fashion emporium) Vuitton, two years apart; and $1,795 for a ‘meeting’ at Le Grand Colbert, a venerable Parisian restaurant.”
“There’s not too big a difference between how I live and how most middle-class people live,” the speaker said.
To this you are allowed to ask, “Really?”
Of course, N??ez, D-Aztlan, could not be expected to sustain such spending on the near-penury of the speaker’s $130,062 annual salary (plus $170 per day, tax free, to help make ends meet when the Assembly is laboring in the state capital, Sacramento). It’s paid by generous contributors to “Friends of Fabian N??ez,” a campaign fund of more than $5 million.
He can spend it as he pleases, within the limits of state law, which requires that such expenditures be related to legislative business.
Ms. Vogel couldn’t get the speaker’s staff to explain how some items related to lawmaking, just the assertion that they were “properly disclosed and described as required by law.”
Hoping for something better than this, we met with Doroteo Arango, N??ez’ Reconquista secretary, and asked how trips to France and Italy helped the speaker do his job.
“He said it best himself, Arango told us. “The speaker said, ‘For me, it’s a question of: Is my perspective on issues broad enough? Do I have enough context when I make decisions? This is a big state to run. You’ve got to know what you’re doing.'”
“How is he going to know how high-speed rail works without going to France and riding their trains?” Arango continued. “How can he understand the competition for California wines unless he goes to France and drinks Bordeaux? How can he advocate universal preschool unless he goes to France and sees the little kiddies at play?
“How can he deal with energy concerns unless he studies conservation programs in Germany and Denmark? How can he grasp the challenges of global warming unless he visits South America?”
“OK,” we said. “What did he learn about high-speed rail, wine and preschool?”
“Man!” exclaimed Arango. “Those trains are really fast, and French wine costs more than California wine, especially with the dollar being so weak against the euro. I can’t say too much about the preschools. Those little frogs don’t speak English.
“Hey, strike that, will you? Some people think that’s a slur. Personally, I like frogs. Some of my best friends are frogs.”
“Well,” we said. “Couldn’t the speaker just use the Internet?”
The secretary smirked. “There’s no substitute for personal contact when you’re looking for context,” he said. “Especially if you run a business the Legislature can help.”
We were confused by this and asked how it was relevant.
“Who do you think contributes to Friends of Fabian N??ez?” queried Arango.
Overall, it has been a bad month for the Reconquista. State Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Aztlan, saw his “California Dream Act” shot down for the second time by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Cedillo’s “dream” is to give college financial aid to illegal aliens by making them eligible for the Cal Grant program and by waiving fees at community colleges.
“The governor has basically said today that immigrants can do the hardest and most dangerous jobs in California, but they are not allowed to dream for a better future,” whined the senator.
What the governor actually said was: “At a time when segments of California public higher education, the University of California and the California State University are raising fees on all students attending college in order to maintain the quality of education provided, it would not be prudent to place additional strain on the General Fund to accord the new benefit of providing state-subsidized financial aid to students without lawful immigration status.”
This in from Hollywood: The film industry has a big carbon footprint, and it feels bad about it, so it’s working to mitigate its impact. This includes the giant step of printing movie scripts on both sides of the page! Well, where feasible.
It’ll be tough on the actors, but we all must make sacrifices.
