The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • A3

V1N39VIAI yiovna eo9i.eo-e-ivNid-33a3vs -e- Saturday, March 1 5, 2003 The Sacramento Bee A3 Capitol California iMinifiri GOP's Briggs on Wesson's payroll Boxer's wearing a GOP target State Democrats are ready to rally around her as she seeks another Senate term. Ex-assemblyman earns $8,250 per month as horse racing consultant. Hike Briggs The former Fresno-area lawmaker provided a key Republican vote for last year's budget, which was two months overdue. By Lesli A. Maxwell BEE CAPITOL BUREAU A former Republican assemblyman who delivered key state budget votes for Democrats the last two years has surfaced as a paid horse racing consultant to the Assembly's top Democrat.

Fresno's Mike Briggs has been collecting an public paycheck since Dec. 1 from the Legislature as a horse racing consultant to Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson, D-Culver City, according to a contract obtained by The Bee. But leaders in horse racing and agriculture circles say they did not know Briggs, who surrendered his seat last year to make an unsuccessful run for Congress, had been hired as a consultant on issues related to their industries. On Thursday, a spokeswoman for Wesson said Briggs was advising the Democratic leader on agricultural issues. But according to Briggs' contract, the former lawmaker's job is to advise Wesson on "matters relating to the horse racing and rodeo industries." Briggs did not return repeated phone calls from The Bee.

His 11 -page contract contains no specifications on what his duties include. The contract is scheduled to expire at the end of the GOP, pageA6 By Alexa H. Bluth BEE CAPITOL BUREAU After two tough previous campaigns and with Republicans unabashedly declaring her a prime target, U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer had her doubts about running a third time.

Taking stock after the Sept. 1 1 2001, terrorist attacks made up her mind. She had been in the federal Capitol on the day that a group of heroic passengers probably prevented hijacked United Flight 93 from targeting the building. She was swallowing Cipro antibiotics to fend off anthrax attacks. And she was receiving a storm of phone calls from Americans asking how to help.

"So I'm saying, 'Barbara, this is not the time to walk she said Friday during an interview at the state Democratic Party's annual convention in Sacramento. "This is a time that I want to be part of I think we have enormous challenges facing us." Boxer won her job more than a decade ago during the so-called "Year of the Woman," and Democrats gathering for the convention want to make sure she doesn't lose it if next year becomes the Year of the Republican. California Republicans hoping to shrug off a Democratic statewide sweep in November and catch a national wave favoring GOP candidates have declared Boxer among their top targets next year, and potential challengers are starting to line up. Boxer, meanwhile, has begun to campaign in earnest: She raised $2.5 million in 2002 and plans roughly 150 fund-raisers this year. At the Democratic convention, a prominently featured Boxer is making it clear she's a candidate.

She is mingling with activists and conducting a string of media interviews. She will speak today about what she calls an attack on California values by the Republican-led Congress and the White House. "We're going to have to defend Barbara Boxer," said California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres. "The Republicans are gearing up to try to defeat her, and we want to make sure we get all of our activists on board." Boxer has attracted average-to-mediocre approval marks since she took office, and Republicans who believe she brings liabilities to a campaign have strived to paint her as vulnerable. She has spent her Senate career in the shadow of California's powerful Sen.

Dianne Feinstein and is considered more left-leaning than most Californians. BOXER, pageA4 Sacramento BeeDick Schmidt Conservative talk show host Eric Hogue takes to the air during morning drive time on Sacramento's KTKZ (T 380 All). State Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Simi Valley, joins the show weekly to campaign against government waste. We can't abandon the airways to right-wing nuts." Garry South adviser to Democrats in Effort afoot to steer talk radio to left Anti-war party is back on ballot By Ed Fletcher BEE CAPITOL BUREAU The Peace and Freedom Party was born out of opposition to the war in Vietnam.

Now, four years after it was taken off the state ballot due to lack of support, the party may owe its rebirth to opposition to a possible war with Iraq and voter apathy. Of California's 15.1 million registered voters, 79,462 listed Peace and Freedom as their political party as of Feb. 10, narrowly requalifying it as an official party, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley announced Friday. The democratic socialist party, composed of 0.52 percent of the state's registered voters, was disqualified in 1999 when registration fell 13,000 voters below the minimum to be an official party and have candidates listed on state ballots. The anti-war sentiment, Gov.

Gray Davis' unpopularity and the economy helped boost the party's membership in recent months, said C.T. Weber, who coordinated the Peace and Freedom registration drive. Record low voter participation in the November election also helped. Political parties can qualify when the number of voters they register is at least 1 percent of the number of votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial election. Because barely 50 percent of voters went to the polls in November, the threshold was lowered by PARTY, page A6 Bernie Ward, one of the country's relatively few liberal talk show hosts, listens to a caller on his late-night show, which airs on San Francisco's KGO (81 0 All).

stop fund raising, they'd pay him to appear, the hosts said, to the amusement of the Simon staffers and thousands of listeners. While Simon and other Republicans for years have had easy access to GOP base voters through talk radio shows, Democrats have never developed such a semi-seamless connection with liberal voters. Frustrated with the conservative tilt dominating talk radio, a group of wealthy liberals is working to create a radio network with a left-of-center focus. And the man who helped re-elect Davis by a narrow 5 percent margin after one debate said he thinks it's so important he's willing to lend his voice to the effort. TALK, pageA4 By Ed Fletcher BEE CAPITOL BUREAU As the California gubernatorial race neared the home stretch last fall, the Bill Simon campaign had been calling Gov.

Gray Davis a "debate dodger" for weeks on end without drawing much interest in the theme. But while the Republican candidate met one afternoon with a newspaper editorial board, several of his staff members waited outside in the campaign van, gleefully listening to the radio. The hosts of the Los Angeles-based "John and Ken Show" were on the air, goading Davis to debate Simon on their show. Since the Democratic governor couldn't Sensenbrenner should cut the politics, get with Amber program spokesman Howard Gantman. That's what Ed Smart, the girl's devoted father, would like to know as he publicly denounced Sensenbrenner for "fumbling around" and "hurt mously approved legislation in January to spend $25 million on a national Amber network.

This could have sailed through the House, too. But no. In the same horseplay as last year, MARJIE lundstrom across the goal line very soon. Memo to Sensenbrenner: Drop the sports chatter; this isn't a game. And have your people talk to California Gov.

Gray Davis' people. You might learn something. Last year, Davis faced a similar political nightmare when he also was accused of dragging his feet on adopting an Amber alert system for the state. The circumstances couldn't have been worse. In July, 5-year-old Samantha Runnion was snatched outside her Orange County town house and murdered, a tragedy some felt might have been averted had the Democratic governor been more in tune with efforts by a Republican lawmaker to establish an Amber plan.

But here's the big difference. Davis did move. What happened to Samantha became a catalyst for change, not a roadblock, and the state forged ahead to build one of the country's most innovative and successful systems. Instead of making protracted excuses, or protecting the status quo, state officials vowed that next time we'd be ready. And we have been.

Since adopting an Amber plan seven months ago, the state has issued 23 alerts that led to the discovery and safe return of 27 children. The only child who remains missing is 14-year-old Lindsey Ryan of Michigan, whose sighting with a convicted murderer in Grass Valley triggered an alert March 6. Besides pioneering the use of freeway signs, California took another step last week by announcing plans to use the state's 20,000 lottery outlets to also broadcast alerts. "Elizabeth Smart reminds our country that kids do come home," said Thompson. "That's why we have to get the news out." It's why Chairman Sensenbrenner needs to get over himself, say he's sorry, and get this thing done.

The Bee's Marjie Lundstrom can be reached at (916) 321-1055 or mlundstromsacbee.com. It's a good day to be Elizabeth Smart and her family or even just a parent, celebrating the safe return of the kidnapped Utah teen. It's not such a hot time to be Rep. James Sensenbrenner, a self-righteous politician from Wisconsin who unbelievably is facing off on national television against the girl's devoted family. With bad grace and horrible timing, Sensenbrenner persisted this week in playing hardball politics at the expense of America's children.

As Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Sensenbrenner is so hellbent on pushing his own political agenda he is likely to hold up approval of a nationwide Amber alert system. The system, already in use in California and 38 other states, enlists the public's help in finding kidnapped kids by issuing alerts on radio, TV and highway message boards. This should be a no-brainer, given that the Senate at the urging of Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas unani Sensenbrenner took this simple, straightforward plan and concocted his own version for the House, larding it up with so many controversial extra provisions that many believe it can't possibly clear the Senate. "He's playing politics with our kids' lives.

That's the bottom line," said Jenni Thompson of the Polly Klaas Foundation. "This is a political game for him, and he needs to let go." Feinstein also urged the House this week to free the bill. "Why hold the Amber alert bill hostage for a broader legislative agenda?" asked Feinstein ing children." While 15-year-old Elizabeth's discovery was not directly tied to Utah's child alert system, known as Rachael alert, the case was solved in part by crucial telephone tips. The point is, we're not standing by anymore when kids disappear. We get it.

Americans want a cohesive Amber alert system, and we want it now. If ever there was time for a politician to wave the white flag and do the right thing, you'd think this is it. Instead, there's Sensenbrenner on national TV, lecturing Ed Smart on how he should "work with us rather than attack us, and we'll get that ball OUTPUT: 031403 22:41 USER: JWILUAMS BEEBR0AD MASTER 06-26-02.