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Money and Politics

State employees pile up vacation time, exceeding caps and costing millions

February 27, 2010, 7:59pm | Chase Davis
California Watch
Amid a crippling fiscal crisis, managers throughout California’s government have routinely allowed their employees to amass unused vacation time, enabling hundreds of workers to end their public-service careers with payouts topping $100,000, a California Watch investigation has found.
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How we estimated vacation, leave overages
Article
Money and Politics
California wine train

Federal stimulus program pours $54 million into Wine Train project

An Alaska company swung a deal for one of California’s largest stimulus grants — $54 million for work connected to the famed Napa Valley Wine...
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Article
Money and Politics | Environment
Santa Susana Field Laboratory, image by NASA

Stimulus funds aiding companies fined for pollution, accused of fraud

Large corporations working in California have reaped tens of millions of dollars in new federal stimulus funds, despite previous pollution...
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Article
Money and Politics
California Watch

Politicians rely on county parties to funnel contributions, avoid campaign limits

Is it possible that politicians and their supporters have laundered donations to subvert campaign finance laws?
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California WatchBlog

Money and Politics

In the early going, Brown and Whitman square off

March 18, 2010, 12:07am
Jerry Brown, Meg Whitman, governor's race
The election for governor is nine months off – the primary isn’t until June 8. But Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman went after one another yesterday with the vigor often reserved for a campaign’s home stretch. At issue were attack ads,...
Money and Politics

FPPC ponders regulation of online politics

March 18, 2010, 12:06am
California Watch
Clarifying the line between free speech and political advertising on the Internet is proving to be a thorny issue for the California Fair Political Practices Commission, which held the first of two planned hearings on the subject yesterday...
Money and Politics

Whitman's policy book: the abridged version

March 17, 2010, 12:05am
Meg Whitman, policy goals
Following a civil debate with fellow GOP gubernatorial Steve Poizner on Monday, Republican front-runner Meg Whitman yesterday dropped an expanded manifesto outlining the key policy goals she will no doubt be pressing as her campaign moves...

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