Democrat Lesa McIntosh, a member of the East Bay Municipal Utility District board and a former Richmond councilwoman, has unexpectedly dropped out of the Assembly District 14 race.

“I came to my senses,” McIntosh said. “Why would I run for a seat that I’m hoping won’t be available?”

McIntosh is referring to her support for a ballot measure headed for the February 2008 primary ballot that would alter term limits and allow incumbent Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, run for re-election.

Under the current rules, Hancock will term out of the Assembly and run for the state Senate. If the ballot measure passes, Hancock could serve and additional six years in the Assembly. Hancock has said she will run for her Assembly seat if the voters permit it.

McIntosh, a bankruptcy attorney, says she called a time-out a few weeks ago and began pondering the question of whether or not she wanted to run. It’s always better, she said, to call off the wedding before you are walking down the aisle.

Instead, she intends to work on the campaign to help pass the term limits measure.

But if the voters say no to term limit changes in February McIntosh says she won’t rule out her candidacy.

“If the measure fails, I will decide in February who I will endorse and who knows, I might run for it myself,” she said. “But we’ll see what shakes out in February.”

That leaves just one officially declared candidate in Assembly District 14, Richmond City Councilman Tony Thurmond.

However, several others have said they will consider running including East Bay Regional Parks Director Nancy Skinner, Berkeley city councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Darryl Moore, West Contra Costa Unified School District Trustee Charles Ramsey and Richmond Councilman Jim Rogers.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger just can’t seem to hold a grudge, can he?

Today, he appointed California Professional Firefighters President, Democrat and Walnut Creek resident Lou Paulson to the State Board of Fire Services.

Paulson was a serious thorn in the governor’s side during the 2005 special election, where unions statewide fought Schwarzenegger’s ballot measures with unprecedented ferocity and huge success. And the California Professional Firefighters spent big bucks helping Schwarzenegger’s opponent, Phil Angelides, in the 2006 governor’s race, although with far less success.

What’s next? California Nurses Association chief Rose Ann DeMoro appointed to the state nursing board?

For those who need a reminder, DeMoro’s organization sent uniformed nurses to protest outside the governor’s numerous appearances, a move that significantly diminished Schwarzenegger’s public shine and helped lead to the defeat of his 2005 ballot measures.

The Fire Services board position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no salary.

An Alameda County Superior Court judge on Thursday morning affirmed her earlier decision to allow a civil lawsuit to proceed against Assemblyman Guy Houston, R-San Ramon.

In the nearly three-year-old lawsuit, elderly investors Gerald Stefanski, Samuel and Joann Story, and Carol Tomasa argue that Houston should be held liable for the $340,000 they lost when their investments with Fred Houston, the assemblyman’s father, went sour.

Houston has adamantly denied involvement in his father’s business dealings and has called the case politically motivated. It was filed shortly before his 2004 re-election campaign.

Houston’s attorney, Michael Rupprecht, had asked the judge to dismiss the case, arguing in court documents that the lawsuit lacked merit.

Judge Winifred Smith denied Rupprecht’s motion but she made her ruling based on procedural matters, not on the details of the lawsuit.

That leaves the door open for Rupprecht to seek a continuation of the Sept. 14 trial date, which, if granted, would allow him to file further motions asking the court to toss out the case.

Click here for Tuesday’s full story on the details of the lawsuit.

The House Education and Labor Committee in the past hour passed legislation inspired, in part, by Oakland’s recently approved “Green Jobs Corps,” a program that trains workers in alternative fuels fields such as wind energy.

“The Oakland program brought to our attention that we need to provide incentives that focus on training people in these cutting-edge fields,” said committee chairman and Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, reached after the vote by telephone. “If you look at the money that venture capitalists are putting into these green companies, it’s very clear there will be a wave of opportunity for workers. The question is whether we’ll have the skills to do the jobs.”

The Green Jobs Act of 2007 (HR 2847) provides up to $125 million as a down payment on the formation of a national and state “green collar” job training program administered by the U.S. Department of Labor. Potential fields include the construction of energy efficient building, renewable electric power, energy efficient vehicles and biofuels development.

“California will absolutely be a hot spot for these training programs,” Miller said. “We’ve always been on the cutting edge of technology.”

The Green Jobs Act will become part of a larger energy package comprised of actions from other committees that Democrats will consider on the floor of the House after the July 4 break, Miller said.

GOP presidential hopeful John McCain, a U.S. senator from Arizona, admits he’s been having trouble raising cash but reaching beyond the grave for contributions seems excessive.

A fundraising letter arrived today in the newsroom of the Contra Costa Times addressed to Margaret Lesher, inviting her to join the Patriot’s Circle, a high-level group of campaign insiders. Members who contribute $100 or more will receive a copy of a limited edition commemorative series of three photographs of McCain that depict his service the Navy and the Senate and his family.

Lesher has little use for commemorative pictures or, for that matter, a United States president.

As locals will remember, Lesher died of a tragic drowning in May 1997 in an Arizona lake. She was connected to the Times because she was the wife of the newspaper’s late owner, Dean Lesher.

A McCain campaign spokeman said, “We apologize for the mistake. It was a flawed list and we’re working to remedy the situation immediately.”

This is far from the first time that a campaign has mailed solicitations to deceased folks.

All campaigns from presidential to congressional to state and local races typically rent address lists compiled by outside companies. Mailing lists are notoriously flawed because people move, change their party registrations or die every day. It’s impossible for the campaigns to check every name, especially for national or statewide races.

But this seems like a pretty bad list.

Not only has Lesher been dead 10 years but died in McCain’s own state of Arizona. And she hasn’t used the newspaper as a mailing address since 1995, when the Leshers sold the newspaper to Knight-Ridder.

Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, was among the first of his colleagues to make use a personal avatar on Second Life earlier this year in the debut of a virtual Capitol.

Now, Miller has launched an on-line initiative called “Ask George,” where citizens can ask Miller questions about the Iraq War via a video-sharing site or blog entry posts. (Click here for a link to the YouTube video that explains how it works.)

Miller has also started a Facebook discussion group called “Ask George,” which accepts questions with “Ask George” in the subject line. The congressman’s office worked with SplashCast to develop the first congressional Facebook application, called the “MillerTV” video player, where Facebook members may add their profiles and view all of the latest “Ask George” videos. (Click here for link to the Facebook video application.)

Each week, Miller was answer questions and make comments about what actions Democrats have taken with respect to their opposition to the Iraq War.

The idea, says his office, to talk with people wherever they like to discuss issues on-line rather than require them to visit Miller’s official web site.

“The impasse on Iraq has led to many questions and some confusion about why Democrats, who are now in the majority in the House and the Senate, have not been able to do more about the war,” Miller said in a message from his office today. “I’d like to have a dialogue with yhou about this, to answer your questions and let you know what the next steps are in this critical battle to bring our troops home safely.”

Of course, we all know that Miller himself is not sitting down and figuring this technology out. He has very smart staff who manage his on-line endeavors.

But there’s no question that Miller embraces technology and has been eager to learn new tricks.

UPDATED: A judge has decided to allow a trial to go forward on allegations that Assemblyman Guy Houston, R-San Ramon, helped his father defraud senior citizens out of $340,000 in investments.

Two new polls by the Survey and Policy Research Institute at San Jose State University offer insight into the state of voters’ minds on the presidential primary, term limits, residency for illegal immigrants and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s job performance.

A poll on the presidential primary candidates finds Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani leading in their respective party primary contests.

A second poll shows that a majority of voters favor a measure headed for the February ballot that would alter state legislative term limits. It is more popular among Republicans and Independents than among Democrats.

“The partisan and ideological breakdowns suggest that the ballot language, written by Secretary of State Jerry Brown, emphasizing the overall reduction in years a legislator may serve,” said survey director Melinda Jackson, a political science professor at San Jose State University, “is persuasive to voters who otherwise would be likely to oppose the measure because it also increases the amount of time a legislator may spend in either house.”

The California Term Limits Defense Fund, which opposes the measure through U.S. Term Limits, quickly seized upon the results to say it “confirms both the deception at the heart of the efforts by (Senate President Pro Tem) Don Perata and (Assembly Speaker) Fabian Nunez to fool the voters into weakening term limits and the fundamental flaw of their initiative.”

UPDATE: The proponents of the term limit measure sent out a statement in response to U.S. Term Limits:

“The San Jose State poll is the 4th independent, statewide poll that shows this initiative passing with a clear majority,” said Gale Kaufman, chief strategist for the measure. “This confirms what our own polling indicates and shows a clear and continuous pattern of support for this initiative. With every poll that shows us well ahead, the opposition finds itself grasping at straws to explain to their out-of-state paymasters why the voters of California support our initiative.”

In other issues, a majority of Californians support the formation of a legal path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. They also give Schwarzenegger high marks, with 61 percent of California voters saying they approve of his job performance.

For the full poll data, margin of error and methodology, click on the links above to each poll.

Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, has released a list of $66.4 million in earmark requests he will make in upcoming appropriations bills.

Critics call earmarks by “pork,” and say members have abuse the process in order to win votes back home and appease special interests groups and lobbyists.

But local government officials view the competition for federal dollars as part of the democratic process, largely because those federal dollars originate with local taxpayers who want to see some of their money returned home.

McNerney says he released his list because “I came to Washington committed to being open and accountable to Californians, and to change the way business is done here. For too long, the earmark process has been shrouded in secrecy, allowing lawmakers to fund expensive boondoggle projects that benefit the special interests as opposed to the public interest.”

The House of Representatives passed ethics reforms in January that require earmarks to carry the sponsoring member’s name within appropriations bills, but the rule does not mandate the individual release of the projects’ requesters.

Critics have called for individual disclosure, rightfully noting that it’s all but impossible for average citizens to wade through voluminous appropriations bills in search of names.

But some members fear such a list will raise local expectations when many earmarks fail to make it through the process. In other words, just because a member asks for money doesn’t mean he or she will get it.

Martinez Congressman George Miller’s office says they release earmarks after the projects have been approved by the sub-committee with jurisdiction. They also release at that time the list of projects that were not funded. (Miller’s press release of June 21 listed two projects that have been included by the relevant subcommittee: $650,000 for sewer and storm drain improvements on Mare Island and $100,000 for a interpretive “Rosie, the Riveter” center in Richmond.

The staff of Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo, has a list of her funding requests along with an on-line earmark tutorial on her web site designed to help constituents understand the lengthy, uncertain and bureaucratic process.

It does appear as though the Democrats’ earmark reform, despite critics’ arguments that it doesn’t go far enough, has had an impact. The Interior Department appropriations bill, for example, contains about half the number of earmarks that last year’s under a Republican-led Congress.

After Antioch stopped paying directly for its councilmembers’ phone lines and switched to a flat-rate stipend, Antioch Councilman Arne Simonsen wanted to know why a telephone charge continued to show up on the City Council’s budget.

After a bit of research, Antioch staff figured out that it was a phone line installed in a city building downtown at least eight years ago, possibly for a former Antioch elected official. The building is shared by the city, staff for Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo, and state Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch.

The phone line had escaped detection until it showed up as the only phone line being charged to the city council’s budget.

Thankfully, there’s been no long-distance calls to China, although that might have triggered someone’s attention far earlier.

But phones aren’t free, either. The cost was about $14 a month or $168 a year for roughly eight years. That adds up to $1,344.

On the other hand, let’s not blow it out of proportion: That’s a tiny fraction of the city’s $148.5 million budget this year.