Finally, after months of infighting within the State Capitol, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger finally ”terminated” it all by signing on Friday the much-argued state budget; however, the governor also did some slicing of his own.

In addition to what the signed budget has in place, Schwarzenegger sliced the budgets of the attorney general, state controller, state treasurer, secretary of state and the Board of Equalization by 10% to compensate for savings that would have occurred by laying off state employees.  Not lost in the irony is the fact that is that the governor reduced Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi’s budget from $2.78 million to $1.04 million, stating he did so to,

“ensure that sufficient resources are reserved for key programs within state government. In these tough times, we cannot continue to fund the Office of the Lieutenant Governor at the level provided in recent years.”

Maybe so, but you can assume that there was some political payback in that cost-cutting measure as Garamendi – a Democrat – is a potential candidate for the governorship in 2010.  Interestingly enough, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner did not suffer such a fate despite his criticism of the budget.  But then again, Poizner, like the governor, is a Republican and also a potential candidate for the governor’s job.

To view the state of California’s recently approved budget in its entirety, click here.

As was expected, congressional hearings began for the Obama appointees, as reported by The Washington Times; first up was the Attorney General appointee Eric Holder.  And like a pit bull, Congress grilled Holder, especially about the Marc Rich pardon; according to Holder, he only had a “passing familiarity” with the Rich case.  Correspondence relevant to the case which was secured by Congress from other witnesses indicated that about 15 months before the pardon, Holder met privately with Rich’s attorney and received a presentation of sorts which Rich’s defense thought were flaws in the federal government’s case.

Holder – who at that time was the #2 man in the Justice Department under President Bill Clinton – proceeded to contact the federal prosecutors handling Rich’s case in New York and tried to arrange a meeting; the meeting never took place, due to the fact that Rich never turned himself in and had been a fugitive for about 16 years.  But here is where it gets interesting.

Rep. Dan Burton, Republican from Indiana, who oversaw the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee when it investigated the Rich pardon back in 2001, said that Holder had more than the “passing familiarity” of the case; he further added,

“I know human beings are fallible and they make mistakes, but making statements that are not accurate while under oath before a congressional committee goes beyond the pale. Sure as the dickens, he was not straight with our committee.”

Meanwhile, back at the confirmation hearing, Holder said that there was certainly some things, in retrospect, that he wished he had done differently.  To view the whole, ugly proceeding, click here.  I don’t care what anyone says, the confirmation of Eric Holder to the Attorney General post is not a slam-dunk, not by a long-shot.

As one would expect when there’s pending Cabinet confirmation hearings in the works, the President of the United States – or in this case President-elect – wants the hearings to be as painless as possible.  This certainly would be the case with President-elect Barack Obama as he has three nominations that are not without controversy; the names in question are: Commerce Secretary nominee Bill Richardson, Homeland Security nominee Janet Napolitano and last but certainly not least, Attorney General nominee Eric Holder.  Let’s see what is so controversial about these three, shall we?

• Janet Napolitano.  She’s spent all of her political career in the State of Arizona yet she has Washington connections, indirectly.  While as a private attorney in Phoenix, she was part of the legal team which represented Anita Hill during her lawsuit against Clarence Thomas, current Supreme Court Judge.  At that time, some Republicans suggested that Napolitano may have coached a witness for Hill into changing some testimony; ironically, Napolitano refused to answer questions on grounds that it would violate the attorney-client privilege.  Despite all of that, Thomas was confirmed.  She was also the U.S. attorney appointed by President Bill Clinton for the State of Arizona when the Justice Department declined to prosecute John McCain’s wife, Cindy for stealing prescription drugs from her medical charity; however, she took no part in that case due to waiting for her Senate confirmation, on which McCain was to vote.
• Bill Richardson.  Two incidents will make his confirmation difficult, the first being when he offered Monica Lewinsky a job at the United Nations in what Federal prosecutors describe as an attempt to buy her silence on behalf of President Clinton.  The second incident involves accusations that he faced from both Democrats and Republicans for failing to properly protect nuclear secrets after he left his United Nations post to become Energy Secretary.  What really takes the cake is that after the delaying of Richardson’s appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee in 2000 for inquiries into security lapses at Los Alamos National Labs, Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia told Richardson to not expect support for any future office that he sought.  Should Byrd be part of these upcoming hearings, expect Byrd to bring that up.  Byrd may be old as dirt, but his memory’s all there.
• Eric Holder.  One would think that he’d have the smoothest path to confirmation, but not so fast.  Holder has to answer questions about his role in the Marc Rich pardon.  To recap, Rich was the fugitive billionaire who was given a pardon by President Clinton on his final day of office, despite the fact that Rich had been pinned with tax evasion charges.  Also bear in mind that Rich’s wife, Denise Rich, was a big contributor to Clinton’s campaign.

To say that the confirmation hearings will be smooth sailing I think would be inaccurate; with all these skeletons in these three nominees’ closets, there is no guarantee that any of them will get nominated at all.  My best guess is that Napolitano gets confirmed easily, Holder gets nominated – but by the skin of his teeth – but Richardson is not confirmed.

Picture: Fox News

There were two candidates for the Republican race for the Attorney General post in Virginia, now there are 3; according to the Washington Post, David Foster, an attorney with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Fulbright and Jaworski, announced on Wednesday that he is entering his hat in the ring for the Republican nomination for the post next year.

Foster will face off against Senator Ken Cucinelli (R-Fairfax) and John Brownlee, a former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia; the nomination itself will take place at the state party convention in either late May or early June.  Foster cut his teeth in GOP politics in 1996 when he chaired Senator John Warner’s campaign; in 2000, he was elected to the Arlington school board.  He was reelected to the board in 2003.

Foster appears to be what I would call “a true conservative” in that he opposes abortion rights, gay marriage and supports gun rights and the death penalty; he also stressed on Wednesday that he also fought to end racial preferences in admissions to Arlington magnet schools and worked to limit the school system’s debt.  Should Foster be elected, he pledges to crack down on Internet fraud and revamp the office in order to be more aggressive in investigating misuse of tax dollars; he also pledges to take a more aggressive approach in investigating voter fraud, as well.

Even though former President Bill Clinton’s Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder is currently in the vetting process, a source has told Fox News that Holder is very close to becoming President-elect Barack Obama’s next Attorney General; as with all Cabinet posts, Holder will have to be confirmed by the US Senate.  To give you an idea how close Holder is to obtaining the position, feelers are being put out as to whether Holder could pass muster within the Senate.

On Tuesday, Obama offered the job to Holder; however, Holder – as expected – is offering no comment.  One thing may get in the way of holder’s confirmation – the Marc Rich episode.  To recap, Marc Rich was the fugitive billionaire who was pardoned by Clinton in his final day in office; not coincidentally, Rich’s wife was a big contributor to Clinton.  Not surprisingly, Holder was asked as to whether Rich should have been pardoned – did I mention that Rich was on the run after being pinned with tax charges? – Holder said he was “leaning towards favorable” on the pardon.  Holder later said that it was a snap decision and had he taken more time on the case…well I think you get the gist of this.  Just another way of saying that he dropped the ball.  Should he get nominated – I hope that isn’t the case – he would be the first black Attorney General.