California Democrats Kill Plan to Post Elected Officials' Spending Reports Online

L.A.-area Assemblyman Tony Mendoza thinks transparency is overrated.

A plan to post each California state lawmaker's spending habits online -- proposed by Republican Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen, and supported by her fellow Republicans in Legislature -- just died at the hands of Democrats.

L.A. libs love to hate on the GOP. But when it comes to big, irresponsible government charging their cushy office chairs to the state credit card...

... the media's favorite political party is clearly the one with its hand deepest in cookie jar. Why else would they oppose something so inherently good?

Assembly Bill 1730, a clean and noble bill that would have let taxpayers view each state lawmaker's expenditures online (travel, office rent, staff salaries, etc.) and would have helped avoid more expensive Public Records Act lawsuits from the media, was killed in the Committee on Elections and Redistricting on Tuesday.

The bill needed four of seven committee members' support to move on to the Assembly floor. Here's the final, frustrating roll call:

Paul Fong (D-Cupertino): No
Susan Bonilla (D-Concord): No
Isadore Hall (D-Compton): No
Tony Mendoza (D-Norwalk): Absent
Sandré R. Swanson (D-Alameda): Absent
Tim Donnelly (R-Twin Peaks): Yes
Dan Logue, (R-Lake Wildwood): Yes

Notice a trend here?

Donnelly may be a total jerk about allowing undocumented students access to financial aid, but at least he's willing to open himself to audit. We are his employers, after all.

Dear Democrats: Only thing worse than a "No" vote on a bill solely intended to provide some accountability between you and the public is not even showing up to vote at all. Thus purging yourself of having to ever say you voted against it, yet effectively squashing the thing like a pesky mosquito buzzing between you and your first-class flight to the next big Obama fundraiser in Hollywood.

R.I.P. AB 1730. You were the most perfect unborn fetus ever aborted by the Democratic party. Let's reminisce with some highlights:

Each Member of the Legislature shall publish the monthly budget report ... on the Member's Internet Web site.

Each Member of the Legislature who is a chairperson of a legislative committee shall publish a monthly report, using the information included in the report provided to him or her ... that identifies allocations and expenditures for that committee on the Internet Web site for that committee.

No vote shall be taken in either house of the Legislature on a bill until that bill, in its present form, has been made available to the public on an Internet Web site for at least 72 hours, unless the house dispenses with this requirement by a roll call vote entered in the journal, two-thirds of the membership concurring.

Each Member of the Legislature or controlled committee of a Member of the Legislature that receives a legislative deadline contribution [of $100 or more] shall report the legislative deadline contribution to each office with which the Member or committee is required to file its next campaign statement pursuant to Section 84215. The recipient of the legislative deadline contribution shall report his or her full name and street address, the date and amount of the legislative deadline contribution, and whether the contribution was made in the form of a loan. The recipient shall also report the full name of the contributor, his or her street address, his or her occupation, and the name of his or her employer or, if self-employed, the name of the business.

[@simone_electra / swilson@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]