Perata: Padilla not a chair

Whether or not Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Van Nuys was actually gunning for Senate president pro tem Don Perata's job, the speculation that he was apparently didn't endear the Valley's freshman senator to the boss.

Perata, D-Oakland, today announced his appointments for committee chairs for the upcoming legislative session. Padilla was shut out.

Could it be due strictly to a shortage of slots? Judge for yourself: Perata had 22 committee chairs and four subcommittee chairs to allocate. There are 25 Democrats in the Senate.

Rather than awarding Padilla one of those plum assignments, Perata granted two slots to Republicans and gave multiple chairmanships to four veteran Democrats.

To be fair, it's worth noting that it is not unusual for the Democratic pro tem to appoint Republicans to chairmanships. Those same two committees _ Veterans Affairs and Agriculture _ were also helmed by Republicans this past session.

It's also worth noting that Padilla wasn't alone among Democrats in being denied a leadership post. There were four others who also did not get chairs. (In fact, four out of the five denied chairmanships were all legislators from L.A.)

And Padilla was appointed a member of the powerful Rules Committee, where Perata is chairman.

Click hehttp://dist09.casen.govoffice.com/index.asp?Type=B_PR&SEC={42B6205A-0002-4B2A-8F1D-300E16EEBB0E}&DE={3C31B5C6-5DCF-48AB-A2AA-5A118165F672}re to see Perata's release announcing all the committee chairs.