State Briefs

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance Tuesday night that prohibits any new marijuana clubs from opening within the next 45 days.

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi spearheaded the moratorium and the board voted 9-0 in favor of it. Supervisors Chris Daly and Gerardo Sandoval were absent from Tuesday night's meeting.

The ordinance is not intended to reduce access to medical marijuana, but rather to allow city officials time to draft and adopt laws that regulate the location of the dispensaries, county officials said.

The moratorium was passed on the heels of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's announcement that the city would prohibit medicinal marijuana clubs from operating in facilities that house city-funded substance abuse programs. His declaration was prompted by reports that a medicinal marijuana club opened up in a Mission District supportive-housing facility that shelters formerly homeless people who aim to overcome substance abuse.

McPherson gets nod for secretary of state

The Assembly Rules Committee approved the nomination of former state Sen. Bruce McPherson as secretary of state Wednesday, clearing the way for a possible vote later in the day and immediate swearing-in ceremonies.

McPherson, a Santa Cruz Republican nominated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace former Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, won a 7-1 committee vote following praise for his bipartisan spirit and criticism of some members of his 15-member transition team.

The Senate approved McPherson, 61, for the $131,250-a-year post March 17 with a 34-0 vote.

If confirmed by the Assembly as expected, McPherson will immediately take the office left by his predecessor March 4 under the cloud of several investigations. McPherson is a 12-year lawmaker.

He left office last year because of term limits, would finish Shelley's term, which expires in 2007.

An unexpected rejection by the Assembly would force Schwarzenegger to nominate another candidate.

Mervyn Dymally, D-Compton, cast the lone vote against McPherson's confirmation, saying he was troubled by lack of diversity on the transition team, which includes only one black and one Hispanic. He said he was concerned that McPherson wouldn't be able to represent all voters in the diverse state.

"It just seems to me that this is a matter of sensitivity," Dymally said. "Is this a reflection of what's going to happen in the future, where we'll have tokenism?"

McPherson defended his credentials and said he had appointed a team, not a staff, that could get him the information he needed quickly to take over the office.

"I think if there was a more bipartisan member of this Legislature that served in the last 12 years, I'd like to meet him or her," McPherson said.

Many of the criticized transition team members, McPherson said, were members of the staff of two-term Secretary of State Bill Jones, who served from 1995 to 2003. "They led efforts for reform and modernization that has resulted in more people being registered and more people voting than anytime in the history of California."

But Marcy Winograd, president of Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles, called McPherson's team a "corporate raid" by Schwarzenegger Republicans on the state's top elections office.

Wednesday's vote was delayed by a day because committee chairwoman Cindy Montanez, D-San Fernando, missed her flight to California from Costa Rica when her cab broke down on the way to the airport. The delay led Schwarzenegger to claim that Democrats weren't taking the confirmation seriously.

McPherson again pledged Wednesday to restore public confidence in an office battered by investigations into Shelley's conduct and by allegations it mishandled millions of dollars in federal election funds.

"I will work to see that we have a system that can be trusted, is transparent and that people can appreciate," he said. The 450-employee secretary of state's office presides over 16.5 million voters and 58 county elections departments.

McPherson hasn't said he will run for a full term in 2006, but he is an experienced statewide campaigner and a proven fund-raiser. He lost a 2002 bid for lieutenant governor to Democrat Cruz Bustamante.

A former newspaper editor, McPherson was also among the first lawmakers to introduce bills to put many secretary of state records online, including political contributions and lobbying information. During Senate hearings and a 90-minute hearing March 17 before the Assembly Rules Committee he expressed support for "paper trails" in electronic voting machines that allow voters to double-check their choices. If confirmed, McPherson will preside over efforts to bring touch-screen voting to many more counties.

At least 11 counties used electronic systems in the November 2004 election.

Shelley's tenure in the office included both the trouble-free 2003 recall election and allegations that he mishandled federal funds, created an abusive work environment, bent state hiring rules to reward political supporters and accepted questionable campaign contributions.

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On the Net:

Secretary of state's office: http://www.ss.ca.gov