Calhoun stumps for City Hall gardens

Four months after leaving office after two terms, former Fresno City Council Member Brian Calhoun returned to the council chambers this week to plant a seed.

Calhoun’s pitch: Convert what he called the twin “grassy knolls” in front of City Hall into gardens — one for fresh produce, like the one First Lady Michelle Obama created at the White House, and the other for drought-resistant plants.

“The city of Fresno would be a garden role model to our local community,” Calhoun said during a three-minute presentation complete with Photoshopped slides of City Hall fronted by carefully tended rows of plants.

At the end, Council President Cynthia Sterling told Calhoun she would arrange to talk with him further about the idea.

Of course, being of puckish wit, Calhoun wasn’t about to miss a chance during his talk for a wisecrack at the expense of Fresno’s other major assemblage of elected leaders, the county Board of Supervisors.

“In fact, I would even volunteer the supervisors to weed it,” he said. “Just kidding, just kidding.”

– Russell Clemings

Villines’ smooth move

With the pressure mounting, Mike Villines orchestrated the smoothest possible transition this week as he resigned as Assembly Republican leader. He not only bought himself an extra few weeks — his resignation is effective June 1 — but he got an ally named as his successor.

The new leader, Sam Blakeslee of San Luis Obispo, served as “floor manager” under Villines, basically meaning he was the caucus voice during Assembly proceedings.

Blakeslee touted himself as a “fiscal hawk” who does not support tax hikes. But he has a reputation as a moderate on other issues, including the environment. When his name first surfaced, conservative bloggers worried that he wasn’t conservative enough, although that rhetoric toned down.

The California Republican Assembly, a conservative activist group, gave Blakeslee an 87% rating on its 2008 legislative scorecard. Villines earned a 94%. In 2007, Blakeslee earned a 55% score, compared with Villines’ 84%.

Those scores mean little in today’s environment, in which Blakeslee will have to cater to his conservative colleagues or risk the same fate as Villines, who was criticized for supporting new taxes.

– E.J. Schultz

Villines’ next move?

Speaking of Villines, word’s out that he’s eyeing a run for state insurance commissioner.

Villines speculated on a statewide run this week when he announced his resignation as leader as of June 1.

Then he expressed interest in the insurance job at an “Eggs & Issues” breakfast Friday in Fresno hosted by the Fresno Area Chamber of Commerce, his office confirmed.

Villines did not return a call for comment.

Spokeswoman Jennifer Gibbons said that he has not settled on anything yet: “Mike’s official position right now is that he’s not ruling anything out.”

First-term Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, a Republican, is planning a run for governor in 2010.

No insurance commissioner candidates have filed papers to run in the GOP primary. Three Democrats have filed: former Assembly Member Parry Berg, D-Eureka, and current Assembly members Hector De La Torre, D-South Gate, and Dave Jones, D-Sacramento.

If Villines runs, his obvious weakness in a GOP primary is his vote for new taxes as part of the budget deal, which led to his departure as leader.

His upside is that he’s well-liked by business leaders and Sacramento insiders, which could boost fundraising.

– E.J. Schultz

Eide back in politics

For years, Clovis resident Kathy Eide has moved between the worlds of politics and the private sector. Now, it’s back to politics.

Eide is Fresno Democratic congressman Jim Costa’s new district director.

She previously has been a Clovis planning commissioner, and worked for Democrats Bruce Bronzan when he was in the Assembly and Richard Lehman when he was in Congress.

Her best-known political stint was with another Democrat: Cruz Bustamante. She was with Bustamante when he first announced his Assembly candidacy in 1992 and stayed with him in various posts after he went on to become lieutenant governor.

But Eide also worked in private-sector jobs — for instance, as director of external affairs at Saint Agnes Medical Center and in a public relations post at the ASTONE advertising agency.

Costa has been through a string of district directors — which entails managing his local Fresno office — since he was first elected to Congress in 2004.

– John Ellis