California Lawmakers' Budget Records Offer Incomplete Spending Picture
SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Budget records released this month by the Assembly should have provided a detailed look at the spending by California lawmakers.
Instead, the documents offer an incomplete and at times contradictory picture because they do not show spending in the current year or for committees and caucuses, where much of lawmakers' office money is funneled.
For example, they show some rank-and-file Republican lawmakers— in the minority party—with more lavish budgets than the Assembly speaker or the Democratic heads of powerful committees.
One of those is Republican Assemblyman Brian Nestande of Palm Desert. The documents show he is the fifth-highest spender in the Legislature last year, putting him above the Assembly's leader and minority leader.
Nestande said the records give a grossly unfair picture of lawmakers' true spending.
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