Napolitano will inherit agitation as new President of the University of California

By Sharon Bernstein

LOS Angeles, July 13 (Reuters) - in the hiring of Janet Napolitano to run the University of extension California, State officials have exploits of connoisseurs and fundraising of the head of national security policies for restoring a system built up by years of budget cuts and agitation.

Napolitano, a Governor of two-term Arizona plucked by President Barack Obama in 2009 to be Homeland Security Secretary, said on Friday that he would leave that post to run the system 10-University campus, pending approval by the Board of Regents expected next week.

Chosen from more than 300 candidates in part because of their political ability, 55-year-old Democrat will take the rudder as the University is struggling to recover from the economic crises that have eaten away at the State budget and for almost two decades.

Cuts of almost $1 billion in the past five years have led to increases in tuition and shortage of class and has strained relations with the Faculty and staff through the imposition of days of rest and hiring freezes.

"Your job is to restore the glory of the system," said Jack Stripling, who covers the leadership of the University for the Chronicle of higher education.

So Napolitano will have to convince politicians that control the State budget that a University of high quality is an asset worth paying for - at the time showing the faculty, staff and students 234.000 that she is on their side.

"The thinking is, you bring in someone with statesmanship to resolve what is essentially a political problem," said Stripling.

To make your choice of a new President, the University leaders chosen someone with experience in the management of a large, highly political organization, said the UC Dianne Klein spokeswoman. The budget of the University, including its hospitals and medical centers, is more than $24 billion.

"It is a dynamic position, and she is someone who has experience in the management of large complex organizations," said Klein.

BUDGET

Neapolitan tenure will begin as the campus - along with the State - recovered from the prolonged economic recession. But while the legislature and gov. Jerry Brown have restored some funds, budgets remain tight.

As a result, Napolitano will have to find creative ways to raise funds and cut spending, while preserving the quality of the teaching and research so that the system is known.

"Secretary Napolitano has the strength of character and the mind of a stranger who will serve well the Faculty and students," said Brown in a statement. "It will be exciting to work with her."

But Robert Powell, Professor of chemical engineering at UC Davis Academic Senate who heads system-wide, said Napolitano also will have to spend time knowing College by meeting with students and professors and campus tour.

"She has to go to the campus - meet with faculty, meet with staff, search and see how these places are and how students live here," said Powell.

A lawyer by training, Napolitano is an unusual choice because he has not worked in academia. His predecessor, Mark Yudof, is also a lawyer but was Rector of the University of Texas and President of the University of Minnesota before taking the reins in the most populous United States State.

Napolitano was born in New York City and grew up in Pittsburgh and Albuquerque. He had been appointed a Prosecutor of Arizona of the United States Bill Clinton and later elected attorney general of the State and the Governor.

As head of Homeland Security, she drew the ire of some Republicans, who painted an overly optimistic image of border security, he said.

Napolitano will be the 20th President of the University of California and the first woman. He acknowledged that it was not a typical candidate and said that he would meet with teachers, students, politicians and others to learn about the system.

"If preparing to govern a State or direct an organism so critical and complex as national security, I have found the best way to start is simply to listen,", said Napolitano. (Additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Edited by Cynthia Johnston and Sandra Maler)

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Inmates Released Early In California Under Prop 36 Have Low Recidivism Rate, Report Says

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

In less than 10 months, California has let 1,000 inmates out of prison early.

Opponents said the releases would lead to an increase in crime, but a new report by the Stanford Three Strikes Project, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund shows that the released inmates' recidivism rate has been comparatively low.

The report says the 1,000 prisoners released early so far have a recidivism rate of 2 percent -- as opposed to the usual 16 percent for all California inmates. They were released because California voters in November passed Prop 36, revising the state's three-strikes law, which mandates a life sentence for anyone convicted of a third felony.

Prop 36 changed the law so that the third felony has to be serious or violent -- not something more minor like writing a bad check or stealing a slice of pizza. The measure also allows inmates whose third strike is a non-serious, nonviolent offense to petition for early release. The inmates released since November filed such a petition.

"California voters overwhelmingly thought this is a population of people who deserve a second chance. And this validates that," Emily Galvin, a Stanford researcher who helped draft the report, told The Huffington Post. "For every one Prop 36er who has committed a new crime, there are over 100 who have gotten jobs, gone back to school and become participating members of society again."

The Prop 36ers' low recidivism rate is especially notable because they have received much less in reentry assistance. While inmates released on probation or parole typically get about $6,000 in house and job assistance, Prop 36ers get about $200 to help them reenter society, the report says.

A judge must determine that each Prop 36er who is released is not a risk to public safety. For that reason and because many Prop 36ers are older, "we were expecting some [recidivism] difference between Prop 36ers and regular releases, but this difference is striking," Galvin said.

The report also says that California already has saved $10 to $13 million as a result of Prop 36.

But it found that there are about 2,000 three-strikes prisoners sentenced to life and eligible for early release still awaiting action on their petitions. The report calls on Gov. Jerry Brown to expedite these cases and ensure that public defenders have adequate resources to litigate them.

"We are a state with a budget crisis. Any opportunity to save funds without jeopardizing safety, we need to take advantage of," Galvin said.

After a 2011 Supreme Court ruling found that California's overcrowded prisons violate inmates' constitutional rights, a federal court ordered the state to cut its prison population by 9,600 inmates by the end of 2013. On Monday, Brown and the four leaders of California's Legislature offered to spend more money on rehabilitation efforts if a panel of federal judges extended the end-of-the-year deadline.

But Brown and other legislators have said they do not want releasing prisoners early to be part their effort to reduce prison population.

"We are not going to release a single additional prisoner," said Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles).

The panel of judges has not yet responded to the proposal.

Galvin emphasized that the state should consider all petitions in a timely manner. "A day in prison is not the same as a day outside. Every day that they're waiting for their day in court is a day they could get killed; it’s a day something horrible could happen," Galvin said. "Several elderly Prop 36ers have died of disease waiting for their day in court."

According to the report, of the 36ers whose early-release petitions have been heard, only 2 percent have been deemed a public-safety risk and thus denied early release.

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California Pension Pickup: Taxpayers Footing Massive Bill For Obscure Government Employee Perk

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

To understand the hidden costs of one of California's sweetest public employee perks, feast your eyes on Exhibit A: Alameda County's top-paid public official, Susan Muranishi.

Not only did the county administrator rack up $462,000 in gross pay last year, and not only did taxpayers contribute an additional $118,000 to her retirement plan, they also picked up the bill for something Muranishi was supposed to pay: the $43,000 "employee" contribution to her pension.

It's called the "pension pickup" -- and like a rich uncle picking up the tab at a big family dinner, Bay Area taxpayers footed the bill for more than $221 million last year for the employee share of 63,000 public workers' pension contributions. The practice undermines retirement rules that were designed to force employees to share the burden for their pensions.

Muranishi was the Bay Area's biggest beneficiary of the little-known, lucrative benefit that most taxpayers don't know exists. But at least 28 other Bay Area public employees received pickups of more than $20,000 last year.

"Wow, that's real money," said Ralph Kanz, an Alameda County activist and former chairman of Oakland's Public Ethics Commission. "The system has gotten twisted up from what it was meant to be."

A new analysis of the Bay Area News Group's latest collection of government compensation data revealed that at least 117 public agencies from as far south as Gilroy to as far north as Cloverdale picked up a portion of their employees' retirement contributions in 2012 -- a growing concern as governments scramble to find ways to control runaway pension costs.

'Out of whack'

This often hush-hush benefit negotiated during rosier economic times can put thousands of extra dollars in public employees' paychecks by relieving them of costly payroll deductions. But the practice can get so expensive for local governments that last year state lawmakers banned agencies that belong to the giant California Public Employees Retirement System from offering pickups to anyone hired after Jan. 1, 2013. Reforms led by Gov. Jerry Brown are designed to get workers to pay a higher share of their retirement costs. The state retirement system for teachers has never allowed the practice.

That hasn't stopped agencies such as BART, the Association of Bay Area Governments and towns such as Portola Valley, Scotts Valley and Hollister from lavishing more than 99 percent of their employees with pension pickups of 100 percent. Last year, BART spent $17 million covering what employees were supposed to be contributing to their pensions.

"It's gotten out of whack," said BART's general manager, Grace Crunican, who is pushing in labor negotiations to halt all pickups, even though taxpayers last year picked up $17,500 of her pension costs. "It's called the 'employee share' for a reason."

The 3,373 BART workers who received pickups last year were among 63,713 government employees in the region who had at least part of their pension share paid on their behalf in 2012, according to the compensation data. That's in addition to what state law already requires governments to pay for each employee as a standard benefit.

The figures are revealed in this newspaper's annual survey of Bay Area public agencies and governments, compiled through the state's Public Records Act as part of an ongoing effort to show taxpayers how their money is spent. The newspaper collected salary and benefit costs for 279,017 public employees at 330 local agencies, accounting for more than $17.6 billion in government spending on personnel costs in 2012. Readers can search the database at www.mercurynews.com/salaries/bay-area.

A negotiated perk

California's pension systems require all public employees to pay roughly 8 to 10 percent of their gross pay toward their pensions through payroll deductions. Law enforcement officers pay more because they are able to collect full pensions as early as age 50 and receive more generous benefits than other workers.

However, nothing stops unions and managers from negotiating to get the "employee share" of their pension costs picked up as an extra sweetener -- and many do.

"People may think the employees are paying 8 percent. Well, it turns out (some) are not," said Joe Nation, a public policy professor at Stanford University who studies California pensions. "They are paying a smaller amount."

Data show that nearly 6,000 police officers, sheriff's deputies and firefighters received pickups across the region last year, worth an average of about $5,200.

Still, the data show, some local governments are starting to eliminate the costly perk when contracts are renegotiated. Cash-strapped Oakland cut it last year, slashing $3.5 million from its personnel costs. Pinole, in Contra Costa County, made a similar move.

Pickups began "as a tumbleweed," said retired labor lawyer Chris Burdick of Marin County, who has written a legal textbook on California pension laws. Unionized employees realized nothing stopped governments from paying an employee's share of pension benefits and began negotiating for it, he said.

"As it began to tumble down the road, it got bigger and bigger," he said. "Everyone knows what everyone else is getting, and they want to get it, too. There's only one good reason to be a public employee, and that's to get the pension."

The number of government workers across the state who receive a pickup remains unknown. CalPERS doesn't track it, said Brad Pacheco, the pension agency's spokesman.

In exclusive company

Santa Clara County dwarfs the rest of the Bay Area in paying the "employee" share of its workers' pension contributions -- kicking in nearly $72 million last year -- but that comes with a twist: The employees reimbursed the county $57.5 million of that money. It's called a "reverse pension pickup," a trick that effectively bumps up the size of employees' future pensions without costing the county more in salary.

In Alameda County, less than 25 percent of county employees received the pickup benefit last year, data show. Muranishi's payment was more than five times higher than any other employee's. In fact, the $43,000 pension contribution topped the gross salaries of 1,861 Alameda County government employees last year, including janitors, clerks and secretaries. Muranishi didn't respond to requests for comment.

She was one of 29 people who received a pickup of more than $20,000 last year, data show. That list also included San Rafael City Manager Nancy Mackle, Gilroy police Chief Denise Turner and Hayward fire Chief Garrett Contreras.

Turner is just one of 16 people in Gilroy's government who received a pickup last year, a number that included six members of the City Council, who had 100 percent of their pensions paid for.

Mayor Don Gage, a former Santa Clara County supervisor who took office this year and declined city benefits because he is already drawing a government pension, said he was unaware of the perk in city government. "I don't pay too much attention to that," he said.

Gilroy was one of 68 cities in the region that offered a pickup to at least some employees last year. Of those, 17 paid it to all employees in the pension system. Those included Cupertino, Pleasanton and Oakley, which recently ended four years of employee furloughs.

Small agencies

Data show that pickups are more common at small agencies that receive little scrutiny.

Water agencies, sewer providers, irrigation and mosquito abatement districts, even public cemeteries and the Santa-Rosa based California Authority of Racing Fairs, which regulates betting on horse races at county fairs, offered the benefit last year, often at higher rates than at other kinds of agencies.

Of 34 special districts that paid a pickup for all their workers in the pension system, a third of them paid 100 percent of the employees portion, data show.

The West County Wastewater District in Richmond, which serves about 36,000 sewer customers and has a yearly budget of $20 million, even gave pickups last year of $1,276.29 each to three part-time elected directors, covering two-thirds of their pension costs.

The district's president, Alfred Granzella, 87, said the district began paying toward a pension, complete with a pickup of his share, when he was first elected 28 years ago, and he has never questioned it. "They provided it at the time and it carried on. I am entitled to it."

All of the district's 56 employees in the pension system receive a pickup ranging from 25 to 100 percent of their shares of pension costs.

All of those promised perks during fatter times now are coming back to haunt governments, which are struggling to cover millions of dollars in obligations for their employees' retirements. As some Bay Area officials are finding, few of the beneficiaries are willing to turn back the clock and pick up the tab themselves.

"Once you are in the club," Nation said, "boy, are you set."

Contact investigative reporter Thomas Peele at tpeele@bayareanewsgroup.com. Follow him at Twitter.com/thomas_peele. ___

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California Refinery fire: Chevron agrees to pay $2 million in fines and restitution

RICHMOND, Calif. - Chevron Corp. on Monday agreed to pay $2 million in fines and restitution and pleaded no contest to six counts in a fire last summer at its refinery in the area of San Francisco Bay City of Richmond that sent thousands of residents of the hospitals, many complaining of respiratory problems.

San Ramon-based oil giant entered the plea to charges brought by the Attorney General of California and the coast against, District Prosecutor's Office including failing to correct the deficiencies in equipment and failing that require the use of certain equipment to protect employees from potential damage.

Chevron and the Government investigations determined that a pipeline corrosion caused a leak that caused the 06 August 2012, fire, sending a cloud of black smoke over nearby residential areas. Investigations found that Chevron has been able to replace tube at the time of the 1970s despite numerous warnings from its own inspectors.

"This criminal case achieves our objectives blaming Chevron for its conduct, protect the public and ensure a work environment more secure at the refinery", against Costa attorney Mark Peterson said in a statement.

In January, the company said in a report to the health authorities of the County that had already paid about $10 million in connection with almost 24,000 residents claims and compensation to hospitals and the local government in Richmond and Contra Costa County agencies.

Company officials said more than $10 million went to hospitals for checkups and treatment immediately after the incident.

Chevron also still faces nearly $1 million in summonses issued by Cal-OSHA, State, Department of industrial relations Director Christine Baker said in a statement. Chevron has appealed that fine.

As part of the agreement on Monday, Chevron will inspect all pipes subject to the type of corrosion that caused the tube at the Richmond refinery to failure and update its training program for emergency response, according to prosecutors.

Chevron spokeswoman Melissa Ritchie confirmed the agreement with prosecutors and said that the company is committed to improving the safety at the refinery.

Ritchie said that Chevron is carrying out a thorough inspection of its refinery and also implement a multi-million dollar expansion of its system of air monitoring to include several sites in the surrounding communities.

A metallurgical report showed a 40-year-old pipe that failed, causing the leak, was initially weakened by the sulphur content of heavy crude oil pumped through it. After a hydrocarbons small leak sent in the air, a small fire was switched off. But a larger tube wound launches a large more flammable, leading to a larger fire gas cloud.

A video released by the United States Chemical Safety Board in April showed how Chevron decision not to close the production once detected small leak pipe led to a series of bad decisions that worsened the leak. In one scene, a fireman's company hit the pipe with a Pike pole while trying to help colleagues to locate the leak.

A cloud of steam eventually engulfed 19 employees before on the fire. Workers escaped with serious injuries.

The sum of $2 million, Chevron has agreed to pay includes $1.28 million in fines, $575,000 in reimbursements to the Security Division of the State, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the Attorney general of the nation. Chevron will also contribute $145,000 for a public-private partnership focused on people in training for work in the fields of construction and energy renewable.

Chevron still faces a lawsuit from the city of Richmond. The city filed the lawsuit on Friday, claiming the leak in the pipe which led to the fire was the result of "years of neglect, lax oversight and corporate indifference to the safety inspection required and repairs".

Chevron has said that demand lacks merit.

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Ron Calderon's investigation: FBI Raids offices of the Senator of the State of California Latino Legislative Caucus

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - the FBI searched offices of a Senator from the State of California and Latino caucus of the legislature on Tuesday, but they would not reveal the reason for the investigation.

Laura Eimiller, spokeswoman for the Office of the FBI in Los Angeles, said that orders are served about 15 agents from six to eight left the Capitol more than six hours later to take at least one half a dozen boxes and what appeared to be a hard disk of the computer.

She would not reveal the fate of the search warrants, but Senate leader Sergeant Tony Beard told The Associated Press was Senator Ron Calderon, a Democrat from the city of Los Angeles County Montebello.

"It is a RAID federal served in the Office of Senator Calderon." It is a sealed search warrant. "I don't know what is referred to, said Beard."

He said that Calderon was not present during the search.

Calderon did not return a message left on his cell phone. His spokesman, Rocky Rushing, said that he could not leave comments and calls to Los Angeles attorney Mark Geragos.

"I have a feeling that are on a witch hunt", Geragos said in a telephone interview. "My client refused to read his script, and this is what resulted...My client has done absolutely nothing wrong ".

He said that he did not know that the FBI is investigating whether others are also objectives of the research.

He argued that the Department of Justice is aimed at your customer, a Democrat, as "a bait and switch" to silence the clamor of the Republicans in Congress over the recent revelations, including that the Department obtained records of phone of emails private a correspondent for Fox News and editors and reporters for the AP.

Beard told reporters who gathered outside Office of Calderon the Tuesday night that the Office of the Latino legislative caucus, which is across the street from the Capitol in the Legislative Office building, also were conducted. A spokeswoman for the base, Lizette Mata, did not return phone and e-mail messages.

William Portanova Sacramento defense attorney entered and walked out of the Capitol Office during the search. He told the AP he was retained to represent the interests of the Senate as a whole legislator, not any individual.

"They are 100% cooperative with any investigation," Portanova said on Tuesday night.

Orders that served as the legislators who are part of the 23-member Latino caucus held an event with reporters on Capitol Hill to discuss the legislative priorities of the group.

The RAID on Tuesday on Capitol Hill recalled called "Shrimpscam" research in 1985, when federal agents were concealed and presented as representatives of a fake shrimp processing company. Five legislators were in jail for taking bribes in the FBI sting operation.

Eimiller said that current research is headed by federal authorities in Southern California, where Calderon is based, but search orders were published in the United States, Sacramento District Court and are under seal.

He said that the search was conducted to investigate "allegations of crimes."

"This is an ongoing investigation," he said. "Searches are performed normally in the early stages of an investigation, so it would be premature to say that the charges will be filed."

In 2009, political surveillance of the State, the fair political practices Commission, agency closed an investigation into committees of three of Calderón without sanctions Assembly campaign.

The Commission opened an investigation after receiving allegations that Calderon had used money from the campaign for personal purposes while seeks re-election to the Assembly in 2003 and 2004, according to records of the Agency. A letter to Calderon, said that the Agency found nothing in his face to show expenditures were made for "nothing more than a political, legislative or governmental purpose."

Calderon ended his legal defense in 2009 Fund.

The legislator is part of a powerful political dynasty of Southern California. His two brothers served in the State legislature and his nephew, Ian Calderón, was elected to the Assembly last year.

It is known as a moderate Democrat, this business hotel. After his election to the Assembly in 2002, was a member of the moderate Caucus Assembly.

Calderon played a key role last year in brokering an agreement that led to new state laws governing foreclosures that transcended the establishment of mortgage national with five of the nation's largest banks.

Originally, they resisted the proposals by the General Attorney Kamala Harris who thought that it would do great damage to the lending industry. He then cast a key vote in a Committee of unusual Conference which led to the Act becoming law of commitment.

It has also promoted reform regulatory and deductions of Hollywood, between the legislative initiatives which reflect their commercial interests. Among other laws this year, Calderon is conducting a draft law that would require officials of education to create lesson plans on violence in American culture as a way of responding to mass shootings.

Calderon also drew mention last year in an Associated Press story about lawmakers who sought improvements to their always state vehicles shortly before buying them for personal use.

He ordered special "2 wheel type vogue covers stations" for $80 for his 2006 Cadillac, among other maintenance that will cost taxpayers more than $500. Rush, spokesman for Calderon, said at the time that spending was necessary or scheduled maintenance.

___

Associated with writers Juliet Williams and Laura Olson press and photographer for AP Rich Pedroncelli contributed to this report.