From the Sac Bee:

A special visitor showed up at Joe Buscaino’s celebratory election-night party in San Pedro on Tuesday night. It was Rep. Janice Hahn, the former Los Angeles councilwoman whose 15th District seat Buscaino is hoping to win in a runoff election in January.

“You’re going to go all the way,” Hahn told Buscaino, before posing with him for pictures.

A Los Angeles Police Department officer with no political experience, Buscaino was the top vote-getter in Tuesday’s special election, earning 29.1% of the 16,440 votes cast — a turnout of about 16% of the district’s registered voters, according to city officials. Assemblyman Warren Furutani (D-Gardena) came in second with 22.3%.

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From SF Chronicle:

From San Francisco to Modesto, California voters Tuesday sent a strong message that they want to cut generous public employee pensions, whose soaring costs are devouring funds for cops, libraries and other services.

The results cheered local officials such as San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, who’s seeking a March special election on his own controversial pension reform proposal, as well as advocates for a statewide measure aimed at slashing the costs of public retirement packages.

“It certainly demonstrates solid public support for pension reform,” Reed said Wednesday. “Even in a labor-friendly town like San Francisco, 68 percent said yes.”

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From Sac Bee:

Assembly budget aides expect California to face a deficit of about $5 billion to $8 billion in the next fiscal year, higher than the $3.1 billion projected by Gov. Jerry Brown, according to a memo obtained by The Bee.

The legislative memo doesn’t explain why Assembly officials believe the deficit will be larger than once projected, and the recap from Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Bob Blumenfield, D-Woodland Hills, downplays a first-quarter lag in tax revenue of more than $650 million.

To help balance the budget, lawmakers and Brown optimistically decided the state would receive $4 billion more in revenue in 2011-12. If budget experts determine in mid-December that the state will fall $1 billion or more short of that, the state must pull “trigger” cuts to social services and possibly education.

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From Conservatie Byte:

Sarah Palin told Republican donors Thursday that Occupy Wall Street protesters want the same thing as the “fat cats” they’re upset with — a government bailout.

Palin criticized the protesters as believing they’re entitled to other people’s productivity and money and said they’ve drawn the wrong conclusions. Instead, the former Alaska governor said people should look to the tea party.

“They say ‘Wall Street fat cats got a bailout so now I want one too.’ And the correct answer is no one is entitled to a bailout,” Palin told the crowd of about 1,000 at the Republican Party of Florida dinner. “The American dream, our foundation, is about work ethic and empowerment, not entitlement.”

She compared the protesters and President Barack Obama to the “crony capitalists” they say they oppose.

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From The Hill:

The White House is not expected to comply with a subpoena issued by House Republicans for documents related to the $535 million loan guarantee to the failed solar firm Solyndra.

White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler blasted the GOP on Friday for issuing the subpoena, calling it “unprecedented and unnecessary.” And a senior administration official told The Hill on Monday that the White House faces major logistical hurdles in complying with the request, which calls for all internal communications involving Solyndra.

Rejection of the subpoena request would set up a high-profile clash between the White House and Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s investigative panel, which voted along party lines to issue the subpoena last week.

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