Fabian's Fabulous Lifestyle

It's not easy living like Fabian Nunez. The high-priced travel, the deluxe accommodations, the five-star dining. It takes copious campaign contributions. And it also apparently takes a wife who's paid a six-figure salary from a key special-interest group. As The Sacramento Bee reports:

Shortly after Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez became a point man in the fight to expand health care for the uninsured, his wife accepted a lucrative job with close ties to hospitals that have a massive financial stake in such reform.

Maria Robles was hired as president of the nonprofit Californians for Patient Care in January, one month after Núñez introduced a bill declaring his intent to provide "affordable, quality health care coverage" to all Californians....

The group is not legally required to report its donors, and Robles declined to do so voluntarily. But by all accounts, the Sacramento nonprofit agency has close ties to the California Hospital Association.

C. Duane Dauner, president of the association ... said he doesn't know precisely what percentage of Californians for Patient Care's funding has come from his group.

"But we've given a substantial amount of it," said Dauner, whose association represents 450 hospitals and health systems.

The California Nurses Association, in a bulletin for members, characterized Californians for Patient Care two years ago as a "hospital industry front group."

Of course the California Hospital Association would be funneling money to Robles even if she weren't the speaker's wife, right? No conflict of interest here.

Now get out of the way. Mr. Man of the People has some shopping to do at Louis Vuitton in Paris ...