Government affairs to remember

It was the annual Government Affairs Day hosted by the California Newspaper Publishers Assn. that brought me to our fair state capitol this week.

Most of the talk seemed to center on redistricting and term limits.

While addressing the group on redistricting, Kevin McCarthy, the Republican Assembly leader from Bakersfield, noted that in the 2004 general election, there were 153 state Senate, Assembly and statewide races in which the office remained under the control of the same party. One hundred fifty-three races and no changes!

“Even at the height of communism in Russia, you had more turnover than we had here in California,” McCarthy said.

It’s obvious that this is a contentious issue that needs to be dealt with.

McCarthy appears to me to be a player who could have a tremendous upside for the Republican Party in the future. He recently introduced legislation to place redistricting in the hands of an independent commission.

As for the term-limit issue, Republican Assemblyman Van Tran of Costa Mesa seems to be the latest casualty. Tran has decided to forsake his Assembly seat early in his first term to seek longer-term job security in a state Senate seat. Time will tell if the move is right.

The Assembly-to-Senate movement has become popular. The higher turnover in the Assembly seems to be interfering with the process of moving legislation through the Legislature. The popular voices seem to be calling for term limits in the neighborhood of 12 years in either or both of the state houses.

Don’t be surprised to see a package deal, with redistricting reform coupled with longer term limits.

I had a chance to sit down with Assemblyman Tom Harman of Huntington Beach, who also gave me a nickel tour of the capitol. The Republican Harman, of course, is a candidate for the state Senate seat that opened recently when John Campbell departed for Washington, D.C.

Harman, who has 11 years of experience in politics, first serving with the City Council of Huntington Beach and then moving on to the Assembly, believes his strong name recognition will serve him well in his upcoming race against lesser-known Dana Point City Councilwoman Diane Harkey. Harman is termed out in his Assembly seat.

Harman and I discussed several of the local hot-button issues, including immigration problems facing all of California, and he’s keeping a close eye on what’s going on in Costa Mesa.

Look for Harman to jump in and run an aggressive campaign.

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Maybe the highlight of my short stay in Sacramento was on my exit from the hotel elevator. Cellphone cameras flashed and a crowd of 200-plus, held back by a tape barrier and security, burst into applause as my elevator doors opened.

My first thought was that they treat newspaper publishers differently here in the state capitol than they do in Southern California. As I looked to my left, however, I noticed that Phil Jackson and the entire Laker team had just entered the hotel lobby and were heading toward my recently vacated elevator.

My assumption was that the applause was for them. Oh well.

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Speaking of hotels, I visited the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Spa prior to leaving Newport Beach. It’s amazing what a $70-million face-lift can do.

The project completely renovated the 532 hotel rooms, added 12 new suites to bring the total to 20, and completely changed the lobby entrance.