States, feds move to ban caffeinated alcohol drinks
 
Responding to a wave of illnesses and deaths blamed on highly caffeinated malt-alcohol drinks, the federal Food and Drug Administration last week deemed the beverages unsafe and told manufacturers to stop making them or face dire consequences. What that ruling means to states that have already taken their own steps to regulate the drinks remains unclear.
 
The FDA's announcement last Wednesday came in the form of a warning letter to the four primary makers of the drinks: Portland-based Charge Beverages Corp., New Century Brewing Co. of Boston, Chicago-based Phusion Projects and United Brands, based in San Diego. That letter informed the companies their products contain "an unsafe food additive" and could soon be subject to federal action, including seizure off of store shelves. It further gave the makers 15 days to address the matter or provide hard proof the drinks are safe. The Federal Trade Commission sent its own warning letter as well, notifying the companies that they may be breaking federal law by marketing the drinks, while the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau said it was notifying producers, wholesalers and importers that they are prohibited from selling or shipping the beverages in their current state. 
 
The drinks have become wildly popular with younger adults, particularly those on college campuses. That, critics argue, is by design. The companies primarily market the products to the younger crowd, which sees the drinks as an inexpensive way to get a lot of alcohol bang for the buck. The typical caffeinated malt-alcohol drink, sold for about $2.50 per can under names like Four Loko, Four Maxed, Joose and Moonshot, comes in a 24 ounce can and contains as much as 12 percent alcohol content. That is significantly higher than the standard 12 ounce beer, which usually has around 5 percent alcohol. The drinks' potency is such that some users have dubbed them "liquid cocaine" and "blackout in a can." 
 
While some fans of the drinks were unhappy about the FDA's tack, the Seattle University Spectator lauded it, saying that pushing the coffee-booze concoction to college students and similar-aged consumers is in essence, "profiting off college students desire to get drunk cheap." 
 
The intense alcohol is also only part of the problem, says FDA commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg, who notes the average caffeinated malt-alcohol drink also has the equivalent of about four cups of regular coffee. Hamburg says that poses a significant public health threat because it masks the impact of all that alcohol, turning an imbiber into what Hamburg called "a wide awake drunk" who is likely to drink far more than they normally would. 
 
That, the agency said, makes the drinks dangerous. 
 
"FDA does not find support for the claim that the addition of caffeine to these alcoholic beverages is 'generally recognized as safe,' which is the legal standard," said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, the agency's principal deputy commissioner. "To the contrary, there is evidence that the combinations of caffeine and alcohol in these products pose a public health concern." 
 
The ruling, which followed a yearlong study, also came as a growing number of states have taken their own steps to deal with the caffeinated malt-alcohol drinks. During that time, more than two dozen attorneys general had lobbied the agency to take action to get them off store shelves. In recent weeks, Michigan, Utah, Oklahoma, New York, Connecticut and Washington have all either enacted bans on the drinks' sale or reached agreements with manufacturers to voluntarily stop selling them in those states. Massachusetts followed suit on Thursday, the day after the FDA issued its warning and the same day the state ban in Washington went into effect. That same day, alcohol wholesalers in Ohio and Maryland also agreed to stop offering the beverages. 
 
According to State Net, bills to ban or heavily regulate the drinks are also now pending in statehouses in Pennsylvania, New York and Illinois. 
 
Those actions followed a recent spate of illnesses and deaths associated with the drinks. In October, nine University of Central Washington students were hospitalized with acute alcohol poisoning after consuming the beverages at a party. Similar incidents have also played out at other colleges across the country, leading many schools to bar the drinks on campus. The products have also been blamed for deaths in Florida and Texas. 
 
What the federal actions mean for states is up in the air. The FDA action doesn't ban the products outright, though the prohibitions on shipping and marketing virtually ensure the products, at least in their current form, will be off store shelves in short order. 
 
Brian Smith, a spokesperson for the Washington State Liquor Control Board, says a conference call with federal authorities didn't give states much information on how the federal ruling will impact their own policies. 
 
"I was in on the teleconference and I've also looked at all of the materials associated with this," he says. "Nowhere does it say this imposes a ban. The ruling says only that these products are unsafe and that the makers have 15 days to either change those products or to offer proof in writing that they are safe." 
 
So far, it appears drink makers are opting for the former of those options. Prior to the FDA decision, Phusion Projects, maker of the most popular brand of the drinks, Four Loko, said it would be removing caffeine and the natural stimulants guarana and taurine from the beverage. 
 
In a statement, the company decried efforts to regulate the drinks, saying "We are taking this step after trying — unsuccessfully — to navigate a difficult and politically-charged regulatory environment at both the state and federal levels...We have repeatedly contended — and still believe, as do many people throughout the country — that the combination of alcohol and caffeine is safe." 
 
Unfortunately for them, a far-ranging collection of state and federal lawmakers and regulators disagree. 
 
(STATE NET, WASHINGTON POST, SEATTLE TIMES, TIME, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, BUSINESS WEEK, WALL STREET JOURNAL, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, BOSTON GLOBE, CNN.COM, MSNBC.COM, MIAMI HERALD, NEW HAVEN REGISTER, NEW YORK TIMES, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, DETROIT FREE PRESS, BALTIMORE SUN)

More than a dozen governors-elect vow no tax hikes
 
A dozen of the new governors elected this month and two of the incumbents who won re-election have ruled out tax hikes to close their states' budget deficits, according to analysis by Stateline.org. All of the governors are Republicans except New York's Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat. And all took firm anti-tax stands on the campaign trail, most signing the written pledge not to raise taxes proffered by the anti-tax group Americans for Tax Reform. Consequently, many of these states could see budget cuts resembling the multi-billion dollar reductions New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) ordered in his first term in office last year.

MUNICIPAL BOND MARKET FALTERS: Last week, California, facing a projected budget shortfall of $25 billion through June 2012, offered $10 billion in "revenue anticipation" bonds for sale. The state only managed to sell about 60 percent of the notes, or $6.06 billion worth, even after delaying the end of the sale a day, reportedly because of a lawsuit filed against the state over an unrelated issue. A little over a year ago, the state sold 75 percent of a similar offering to retail investors. 
 
"The tax-exempt municipal bond market is a cold, cold world right now for issuers and taxpayers," said Tom Dresslar, a spokesman for the California State Treasurer. 
 
The municipal bond market has been booming for most of the year, but it has grown volatile this month. Investors pulled $115 million out of municipal bond funds a couple of weeks ago, the sharpest selloff in nearly two years. 
 
California's $10 billion bond offering was seen as a test of the market, and the lukewarm response wasn't encouraging. 
 
"California's timing unfortunately couldn't be worse," said Gary Pollack of Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management. "This creates a fear among individual investors and probably could hurt the state in terms of paying a higher borrowing cost than if they'd done a deal at a different time." 
 
In fact, California canceled another $267 million bond sale it was planning "in light of market conditions." Other governments did likewise. According to Thomson Reuters and Ipreo, about $700 million worth of municipal bond sales planned for last week, or roughly 3 percent, were pulled. 
 
Market watchers attribute last week's investor pullback to demand for higher interest rates amid a glut of bonds, as well as the impact of a change in federal policy on 30-year Treasury bonds. Interest rates on long-term municipal debt generally follow rates for long-term U.S. Treasuries, which have risen since the Federal Reserve announced this month that it would focus on buying shorter-term bonds. But concerns have also been mounting over whether municipalities will be able to continue paying their bondholders, after suffering the double whammy of 2008's market losses and the ongoing effects of the recession. It remains to be seen whether the recent events are just a blip or a sign of worse things ahead. 
 
There was at least one bit of encouraging news for governments last week, however. The city of Houston managed to sell about $504 million in Build America Bonds. (WALL STREET JOURNAL) 
 
BARBOUR'S BUDGET MAY BE SIGN OF THINGS TO COME: The state budget proposed by MISSISSIPPI Gov. Haley Barbour (R) last week may be an indication of what is ahead in states where GOP governors were elected this month. The governor's proposal addresses a projected $700 million budget shortfall with no taxes or fees but 8 percent cuts across most state agencies. 
 
The plan is in keeping with what 13 Republican governors-elect — and one Democratic governor-to-be — promised on the campaign trail this year: balancing their state's budget without raising taxes. (See Bird's eye view.) 
 
Among other things, Barbour wants to freeze annual pay increases for teachers, reduce Medicaid reimbursement rates, cut funding for public television, libraries and community college sports, and consolidate the state's three historically black colleges: Alcorn State, Mississippi Valley State and Jackson State. 
 
Barbour said the all-cuts budget is necessary to ensure the state's future fiscal health. 
 
"I do not intend to leave my successor financially in the type of budget shape I was in when I came here," he said. 
 
All of the proposals aren't likely to get through the state's Legislature entirely intact, however. The House of Representatives will still be in Democratic hands. (STATELINE.ORG) 
 
BUDGETS IN BRIEF: State attorneys general and the nation's largest lenders are negotiating on a nationwide fund to compensate borrowers who lost their homes in improper foreclosures, state and industry officials said last week. The fund would benefit both sides, helping banks avoid long, costly court battles and state investigators seek relief for wronged homeowners (WASHINGTON POST). • Eighty-four prison inmates across the state of NEW YORK have illegally received $178,000 in unemployment payments, officials from the Department of Labor and the New York Sheriffs' Association announced last week. An additional 251 prisoner payments are being investigated, and a total of over 280 cases are under criminal investigation, the officials said (TIMES UNION [ALBANY]). • COLORADO's State Parks Board is studying opening up the parks to more oil and gas extraction as part of a five-year plan to cut costs and keep the parks running (DENVER POST). • General Electric Co. has promised the state of MASSACHUSETTS that it will not lay off more than 150 of the remaining 3,000 employees at its aircraft engine plant in Lynn for six years, if the state grants the company $25 million in tax credits. The company has already cut the plant's workforce by 600 jobs (BOSTON GLOBE). • A study conducted by several MAINE state agencies at the direction of the Legislature has found the state spends more money each year on tax breaks, credits and exemptions than it does on programs in the state budget. Tax expenditures cost the state an estimated $6.6 billion this two-year budget period, $1 billion more than state programs (BANGOR DAILY NEWS). • State subsidies for movie and TV production don't generate enough local jobs or revenue to offset their cost, according to a new study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank based in Washington, D.C. The study, which looked at subsidies in 43 states, found that a large portion of the jobs they create, particularly the higher paying ones, are filled by non-residents, while those filled by state residents tend to be part-time and lower paying, such as security, sanitation, hairdressing and catering (HARTFORD COURANT).

ELECTION SEASON'S BIGGEST LOSERS: This year's 58 self-funded candidates for Congress — those who contributed at least $500,000 of their own money to their campaigns — spent a combined $159 million, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Responsive Politics. The National Institute on Money in State Politics said self-funded candidates for governor and other state offices spent even more: $344 million. 
 
Most of the candidates have little to show for all that spending. Thirty of the self-funded congressional candidates didn't even make it to Election Day, having either pulled out of their races or been defeated in the primaries. Of the 28 who did manage to make the Nov. 2 ballot, only 11 won. 
 
No candidate spent more for less than Meg Whitman, the former eBay CEO who poured over $144 million of her personal fortune into her failed bid for California governor, the largest personal expenditure for a political race in U.S. history. Other big-spending Election Day losers include another California Republican, Carly Fiorina, the ex-Hewlett-Packard CEO who came up short in her effort to defeat incumbent U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D), and Connecticut Republican Linda McMahon, the World Wrestling Entertainment co-founder who lost her U.S. Senate race to the state's Democratic Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. 
 
Wealthy Democrats had trouble too. Billionaire real estate investor Jeff Greene lost his Florida Senate primary in August after spending $23.7 million of his own money. And Suzan DelBene, a former Microsoft Corp. executive, lost her U.S. House race in Washington's 8th congressional district after pitching $2.28 million in to her campaign. 
 
This year's election season wasn't the first to see candidates spend big and gain little. Ross Perot kicked in over $63 million of his own cash into his 1992 presidential bid, which bought him roughly 20 percent of the national popular vote but not a single electoral vote and only a third-place finish behind Democrat Bill Clinton and incumbent Republican George H.W. Bush. Republican Mitt Romney contributed more than $44 million of his own money to his 2008 presidential campaign and didn't even manage to win his party's nomination. And Steve Forbes spent over $37 million on his failed 1996 presidential bid and nearly the same amount on a second go at the White House in 2000 with the same result. In fact, the Center for Responsive Politics has reported that of the top 20 self-financed federal candidates over the past two decades, only five have won. 
 
A big problem this year is that Big Business ranked right alongside political incumbents as a target of voter scorn. As Franklin D. Gilliam Jr. dean of the School of Public Affairs at the University of California at Los Angeles put it, "corporate greed, lack of regard for working people, large companies are part of the problem" with America, according to the current media narrative. 
 
The comment of one California voter who didn't support either Whitman or Fiorina appears consistent with that view. 
 
"You can't buy an election, and that's what it seems like they're trying to do," said Jennifer Kaiser, a hospital consultant in Los Angeles. 
 
Some of the losing candidates' former positions didn't help them either. U.S. Sen. Boxer defeated Fiorina in part by running ads featuring former HP employees who lost their jobs during her stewardship. 
 
"She shipped our jobs to China," an ex-worker said in one ad. 
 
Political inexperience also played a role in some races. Whitman, for instance, was running neck and neck in the polls with Democrat Jerry Brown until her former housekeeper claimed the candidate knew she was an illegal immigrant but fired her only after deciding to run for office, costing her the support of many Latinos, women and independents. 
 
"She fired her summarily," said Todd Gitlin, a journalism and sociology professor at Columbia University. "That doesn't play well with people hanging on to jobs by their fingernails." 
 
But having deep pockets didn't seem to hurt some candidates. The $73 million hospital executive Rick Scott (R) poured into his own campaign didn't stop him from winning the governor's race in Florida. The $8 million Ron Johnson (R), a Wisconsin corporate executive and first-time candidate, contributed to his campaign didn't keep him from defeating his opponent, three-term U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold. And Rick Snyder, a Republican former chairman of Gateway, won Michigan's governor's race despite spending nearly $6 million of his own money. 
 
Pollsters and political scientists say the lesson for prospective candidates isn't that money doesn't matter, but that it's just not the only thing that does. And wealthy, would-be candidates might be well-served to consider the counsel of Jennifer Steen, a professor of political science at Arizona State University and the author of a book on self-financed candidates in congressional elections. 
 
"If you raise $100,000 in $100 increments, you have 1,000 votes," she said. "If you write yourself a $100,000 check, you only have one vote." (BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK, BOSTON GLOBE) 
 
POLITICS IN BRIEF: Seventy-one state lawmakers from 26 states are seeking permission to file a brief in opposition to the multi-state legal challenge to the health care reform law. The bipartisan group of legislators, which includes those from 12 of the 20 states with a governor or attorney general who is a plaintiff in the health care reform lawsuit, says it is best suited to counter the claims that the new law, particularly its expansion of Medicaid, infringes on states' rights (HILL). • ARIZONA voters appear to have approved Proposition 203, legalizing marijuana for medical use. After Maricopa County officials finished counting about 11,000 outstanding ballots last Saturday, the measure was passing by a narrow margin of 4,341 votes of the over 1.67 million cast (ARIZONA REPUBLIC [PHOENIX]). • ALABAMA Gov. Bob Riley (R) is planning to call a special session in December to strengthen the state's ethics laws. The governor's decision was spurred by the federal indictment last month of 11 people, including four state senators, in an alleged vote-buying scheme (WALL STREET JOURNAL). • A member of the IOWA commission authorized to nominate replacements for the three state Supreme Court justices ousted on Nov. 2 said the panel isn't scheduled to make its recommendations until January. Consequently, the justice selections will likely be left to Gov.-elect Terry Branstad (R) (QUAD-CITY TIMES). • Democrats picked up another seat in the COLORADO House last week, with Roger Wilson's victory over Rep. Kathleen Curry (I) in District 61, bringing their total number of seats to 32. With ballot counting winding up across the state, control of the 65-member chamber comes down to one remaining undecided race, between Republican Robert Ramirez and Democratic Rep. Debbie Benefield in District 29 (DENVER POST).

SCHWARZENEGGER LAUNCHES INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE GROUP: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) used his third annual Climate Summit last week to officially launch a "sub-national" effort to stop global warming. The event featured more than 100 state and local leaders from around the world, including a quartet of U.S. governors and satellite appearance by British Prime Minister David Cameron. 
 
Schwarzenegger first announced his intention to create the group, "Regions of Climate Action," or the R-20, in 2009 at the Copenhagen climate summit. That meeting ended up being a major disappointment to those seeking to slow the effects of global climate change after representatives from dozens of the assembled nations failed to agree on an international treaty that would have required them to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. But Schwarzenegger was unbowed by that setback, preaching instead that regional leaders should move ahead with their own climate plans regardless of what national leaders do. 
 
"The sub-nationals should do their work...The green revolution is moving forward full speed ahead without the international agreement," Schwarzenegger said.  
 
"We want the national governments to continue on in the negotiations and move forward," he added. "But I think that all great movements start on the grassroots level, so I think that we start on the local level, the state level and move up and put the pressure on national governments to get the job done." 
 
But how much pressure the R-20 can actually exert remains to be seen. After predicting the R-20 would gain hundreds of members, the group has signed on less than 30 U.S. states and international regions, most notably none from China, one of the world's most prolific greenhouse gas emitters. But former Schwarzenegger administration official Terry Tamminen, now charged with heading the group, cautions that it is only getting started.  
 
"We are the beginning of the beginning," he told the summit attendees.  
 
In a press release, Schwarzenegger said in its first year the R-20 would work to "develop and implement low-carbon and climate resilient projects through cooperation among sub-national governments from around the world" and seek to "catalyze partnerships between developed and developing sub-national regions to fast track actions in energy efficiency, renewable energy and clean transportation."  
 
Within five years, he said, the group plans to have at least 20 sub-national governments "enact comprehensive low-carbon policies and implement projects, using successful models from progressive sub-national leaders as a guide." 
 
Those signing onto the R20 include regional leaders from Nigeria, Morocco, Korea, France, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Mexico, Brazil and the Philippines. In addition to Schwarzenegger, governors agreeing to the effort included Ted Kulongoski of Oregon, Jim Doyle of Wisconsin, Jennifer Granholm of Michigan and Christine Gregoire of Washington. All except Schwarzenegger are Democrats, and all but Gregoire will soon be leaving office.  
 
Not surprisingly, Schwarzenegger also used the summit to take a victory lap for the resounding defeat of Proposition 23, a ballot measure that would have killed AB 32, the state's landmark 2006 law requiring California to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. He had campaigned heavily against the measure and its backers, a bevy of Texas-based oil companies he accused of profiting at the expense of the health and well being of Californians. While most observers think the GOP tidal wave that enveloped the rest of the nation on Election Day will preclude other states or the federal government from pursuing similar laws, he said the measure's overwhelming defeat shows that people in both parties will support climate change action even in bad economic times.  
 
"We won by 22 percent," he says. "You don't get that much support just with Democrats." (STATE NET, LOS ANGELES TIMES, TIME) 
 
GOVERNORS IN BRIEF: MASSACHUSETTS Gov. Deval Patrick (D) asked his entire cabinet to resign and reapply for their jobs. Patrick said he wants to re-energize his staff and be sure everyone on his team is committed to his agenda for the new term (BOSTON GLOBE). • WASHINGTON Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) issued Executive Order 10-06, which orders state officials to avoid implementing any "non-critical" regulations on business through 2011. The order does not define what constitutes a critical or non-critical regulation (SEATTLE TIMES). Still in WASHINGTON, Gregoire is also named the new chair for the National Governors Association. She replaces former WEST VIRGINIA Gov. Joe Manchin (D), who was recently elected to the U.S. Senate (SEATTLE TIMES).

BUSINESS: The NEW JERSEY Assembly Military and Veterans' Affairs Committee approves AB 3308, a bill that would require state agencies to set aside 3 percent of their contracts for businesses that are principally located in the Garden State and are owned at least 51 percent by a military veteran. The measure now moves to the full Assembly (ASBURY PARK PRESS).  
 
CRIME & PUNISHMENT: A NEW JERSEY Senate committee approves SB 2181, legislation that would implement a graduated penalty system for violations of the state's hands-free cell phone law. The proposed measure would impose a $200 fine for the first offense, up from $100. A $400 fine would be assessed for a second offense happening within 10 years and a $600 penalty would be charged for subsequent offenses. Chronic offenders would be subject to 90-day license suspension. The bill now goes to the full Senate (STAR-LEDGER [NEWARK]). • The PENNSYLVANIA House concurs with Senate amendments to HB 1926 that allow Keystone State residents to defend themselves with lethal force outside their homes without retreat. Current law allows people to use lethal force in self defense only inside their homes. The bill now goes to Gov. Ed Rendell (D), who has not yet indicated if he will sign it (STATE NET). 
 
EDUCATION: The CALIFORNIA Supreme Court rules that illegal immigrants can qualify for in-state tuition rates at Golden State colleges and universities. The decision came in a case brought forward on behalf of citizens who are paying higher out-of-state tuition rates. The group contends that federal law bars lower tuition being offered to illegal students and denied to some citizens. The case is expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court (LOS ANGELES TIMES). • Eight states sign a letter of intent to implement a new agenda in teacher education that makes "clinical practice" the center of teacher preparation. The states are COLORADO, CALIFORNIA, LOUISIANA, MARYLAND, NEW YORK, OHIO, OREGON and TENNESSEE (DENVER POST). • Education committees in the NEW JERSEY Assembly and Senate each endorse legislation (AB 3466/SB 2392) that would require training for most public school teachers, administrators and other employees on how to spot bullying and mandate all districts form a "school safety team" to review complaints. School districts would be graded by the state on their efforts to combat the problem, school administrators who ignore bullying complaints would be disciplined and kids who bully others would be suspended or expelled. The bill now goes before the full body in both chambers (STAR-LEDGER [NEWARK]). • The PENNSYLVANIA House and Senate override Gov. Rendell's veto of HB 101, a school-code bill that would exempt nonprofits that rent space to charter schools from property taxes. Rendell called the tax breaks unfair (PHILADELPHA INQUIRER).  
 
ENVIRONMENT: A MONTANA court rules that the state Department of Natural Resources must consider "the cumulative or collective impacts" of a state law allowing rural homes to be built without a water permit if that property has its own well. Critics have argued that the growth of multiple, unconnected wells has strained underground aquifers beyond their capacity (BILLINGS GAZETTE).  
 
HEALTH & SCIENCE: The NEW JERSEY Attorney General's office releases new rules governing medical marijuana use that require doctors to make "a reasonable effort" every three months to wean their patients off the drug. Lawmakers have introduced legislation to overturn previous rules for medical marijuana use set out by the administration (STAR-LEDGER [NEWARK]).  
 
SOCIAL POLICY: A federal appeals court rules that a NEW HAMPSHIRE law requiring schools to schedule voluntary recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance does not unconstitutionally force religion upon students. The law requires schools to establish a time during the school day for students to voluntarily recite the Pledge of Allegiance, which includes the words "under God." It does not require students to stand during the pledge or give any reason for not joining the recitation, but it does ask them to be silent and respectful (CONCORD MONITOR). 
 
POTPOURRI: The INDIANA Natural Resources Commission gives preliminary approval to a facility that would provide fenced-in areas where hunters can train their dogs by letting them chase live coyotes. The Commission also imposed a moratorium on future enclosures, pending a 90-day public commentary period. Some lawmakers have said they will introduce legislation to ban the enclosures, similar to a ban that was enacted last year in FLORIDA. A final decision is due next spring (INDIANAPOLIS STAR).

WEIRD SCENES INSIDE THE GOLD MINE: Florida Gov. Charlie Crist may be out of a job soon, but he has something he wants to get done before he goes. As the Miami Herald reports, Crist wants a pardon for the late rock music legend Jim Morrison of the Doors, who was convicted way back in 1970 of exposing himself during a Miami concert. Morrison was sentenced to six months in the hoosegow, but avoided serving the sentence while the case was under appeal. He then really screwed up the state's plans by dying in Paris before that appeal could be completed. Crist says he doubts that Morrison ever actually did drop trou, and that the pardon is "the right thing to do." Crist meets with the state clemency folks on Dec. 9, one day after what would have been the Lizard King's 67th birthday. 
 
HE'S HERE, HE'S THERE, HE'S EVERYWHERE: No, it's not Savoir Faire. But like the cagey cartoon mouse, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie seems to be in all places at one time. On the slim chance you aren't Christie'd out yet, Newark's Star-Ledger reports that the Garden State Republican Committee has opened an online store to sell T-shirts, sweatshirts, bumper stickers and assorted other tchotchkes, all bearing the gov's name and a silhouette of the state. Baseball hats are expected any day now. Dems of course are not thrilled, with state chairman John Wisniewski snarking that the next item for sale will be a Christie action figure that features the governor doing "a smackdown" on a teacher. Party leaders say they are trying to capitalize on the gov's rising national profile to make a few bucks while "extending his brand." His brand? Really? And here we thought he was just a governor.  
 
STILL BATTING ZERO: When it comes to futility, there is no matching the legacy of failure that is the Chicago Cubs. More than a century after winning their last World Series title, the Cubbies are still finding clever ways to fall flat on their faces. Case in point, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, is the team's recent pitch to have the state float $300 million in bonds to pay for renovating dilapidated Wrigley Field. The proposal immediately whiffed with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, who each expressed severe doubt in the plan. Quinn was particularly miffed that team owners approached House Speaker Michael J. Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton with the deal but not him. "Apparently, they don't think I'm as important as some others," Quinn huffed. If this were an actual game, we'd put money on the next pitch being the heater right under someone's chin.  
 
SENSING A THEME HERE: Readers might recall California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently telling Tonight Show host Jay Leno that he votes for whoever his wife, First Lady Maria Shriver, tells him to. The Governator followed that up last week by telling the audience at his Governor's Global Climate Change Summit it was critical to get more women into the green movement because "men are the ones who created global warming" in the first place. The audience laughed, but he continued, saying "women make 80 percent of the family's purchasing decisions" and are "more nurturing" and thus more understanding of the need to care for the planet. Shriver, no doubt used to her husband's perspective, sat stoically in the audience. British Prime Minister David Cameron, however, chimed right in, saying "I just want to know how Arnie holds on to the other 20 percent."