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Consumer Watchdog

Foot in mouth disease

Here’s what the Capitol Alert reported outgoing Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez said at his last press conference yesterday.

“So I like good wine, OK,” he told reporters. “I don’t mind staying
in a five-star hotel. I bet when you all travel, that’s where you stay.” 

He was smiling.


…“If I could do it all over again, I’d do it all over again – and I’d do it the same way,” 

Smile or no, one can only conclude that, termed out in a few months’ time and ceding his speakership next week, Núñez just doesn’t care what the public thinks anymore. Why else would he use the same breath to promote a ballot initiative with his version of political reform? If he can’t understand why it’s a problem to use contributors’ cash for his favorite wines and five-star hotels, it’s impossible to believe he’s serious about reform.

Initiative as bargaining chip is a more likely explanation.

Carmen Balber

Consumer Watchdog executive director Carmen Balber has been with the organization for nearly two decades. She spent four years directing the group’s Washington, D.C. office where she advocated for key health insurance market reforms that were ultimately enacted into law as part of the Affordable Care Act.

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