Clinton’s Book Praises His California Connections

California was good to Bill Clinton.

The former president has returned the favor in “My Life,” his 957-page memoir, singling out for effusive praise many of the Californians who worked in his administration, as well as a host of the state’s political figures.

Clinton credited Mickey Kantor, the former U.S. trade representative and national chairman of Clinton’s 1992 campaign, with playing a notable role in the early success of his administration on economic issues.

“I liked Mickey a lot and trusted his judgment,” he wrote.

Kantor, who keeps an apartment in L.A., said, “There has always been an emotional and political connection between Bill Clinton and California.”

Other current and past Southern Californians who show up in the book: former Gov. Gray Davis, veteran civil rights leader the Rev. Cecil Murray, investment banker John Emerson, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), supermarket mogul Ron Burkle, former Secretary of State Warren Christopher, and Dee Dee Myers.

Myers was 30 when she became press secretary for Clinton after doing the same duty for former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley. Clinton recalled that he and Myers “played countless games of hearts together,” and he credited her with doing a good job handling numerous controversies.

“Although she was young, she rose to the challenge,” Clinton wrote.

Emerson, chief deputy to James K. Hahn when Hahn was the city attorney of L.A., became Clinton’s point person ensuring his economic development initiatives and other programs succeeded in California.

“He was so unrelenting in doing so that he became known around the White House as the ‘Secretary of California,’ ” Clinton wrote.

Emerson said he bought the book last week and “immediately called my parents.”

Clinton described Waters as “a smart, tough politician,” said Burkle “became one of my best friends” and argued that Christopher performed well, despite misgivings by some about his appointments.

“Some people thought his personality was too restrained for him to be effective, but I knew he could get things done,” Clinton wrote.

Clinton also disclosed that he passed on an opportunity to work for the people of California.

It was 1980, and Clinton had lost a reelection bid for governor of Arkansas. Among the job offers was one from California Gov. Jerry Brown, who was losing his chief of staff, Gray Davis, and offered Clinton the post.

Clinton recalled in the book that Brown told him that “California was a place full of people who had moved there from other states and I’d fit right in....”

Clinton turned down the invitation, and the rest is history.

Party Chiefs Spar on the Internet

The nasty verbal sparring was over box-office receipts, the “Mod Squad” and an Elvis Presley song.

But this wasn’t an exchange between two Hollywood big shots.

It was a debate over politics, with California Democratic Party consultant Bob Mulholland squaring off on the Internet against Karen Hanretty of the California Republican Party.

Hanretty, a former spokeswoman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, fired first, attacking the voting record of Assembly Democrats known as the Mod Squad because of their moderate views.

She pointed out that 15 bucked the California Chamber of Commerce’s position more than 60% of the time last year.

Hanretty cribbed from an Elvis song to make her point.

“For the Mod Squad to gain any type of credibility, they need to have ‘a little less conversation, and a little more action, please,’ ” she quipped.

In a separate e-mail to GOP activists, she derided “Fahrenheit 9/11,” the controversial Bush-bashing film by Michael Moore, calling it “a political work of fiction.”

A few days later, Mulholland, who can’t resist a good fight, responded with a jab at Hanretty’s former boss, the governor.

In his weekly bulletin to Capitol insiders, Mulholland scoffed at California Republicans who are criticizing Moore’s movie, noting it brought in $24 million during its opening weekend.

“[Arnold] Schwarzenegger’s latest movie, ‘Around the World in 80 Days,’ which opened in three times as many theaters as ‘Fahrenheit 9/11,’ brought in only $4.3 million in its first weekend,” Mulholland said.

“In other words, another Schwarzenegger flop.”

Ways Around City Fundraising Ban

Los Angeles’ new ban on fundraising by city commissioners is just four months old, and already the loopholes are starting to appear.

The first test came from a law firm whose partners include Sharon Rubalcava, president of the city’s Board of Information Technologies Commissioners.

The firm of Weston, Benshoof, Rochefort, Rubalcava & MacCuish asked the Ethics Commission if it could use company letterhead to solicit political contributions or send an invitation to a political fundraiser.

No, said LeeAnn Pelham, executive director of the Ethics Commission, because Rubalcava’s name is in the law firm’s name and on the company’s letterhead.

But Pelham had a helpful suggestion.

To solicit contributions, the firm could shorten its name on the invitation. “For example, the firm may wish to refer to itself as ‘Weston, Benshoof et al., LLP’ ” Pelham wrote.

Points Taken

* The “bad bunny bill” has stalled. The legislation by Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman (R-Irvine) would allow cottontail and brush rabbits munching on lawns to be killed -- a request from south Orange County homeowner associations fretting over the defoliation of their pricey landscapes.

Humane groups argued that poisoning the animals could endanger the wildlife that ate them. The bill passed in the Assembly, but there weren’t enough votes to move it out of the Senate Natural Resources and Wildlife Committee last week.

* Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry is up for a Hollywood sequel. Just a few weeks after Kerry was feted by Barbra Streisand, Billy Crystal and other entertainers at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Hollywood crowd is coming out in force tomorrow for another fundraiser, this time at the Music Box Henry Fonda Theater.

The cast of this week’s event includes actors Jack Black, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck, Christina Applegate, David Spade and William H. Macy.

* Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) and Pete Sessions (R-Texas) were recently co-anointed “Zestiest Legislator” after each ate nine jalapeno peppers in three minutes in a contest sponsored by Chili Pepper magazine.

Missing from the competition was last year’s winner, Rep. Joe Baca (D-San Bernardino), who gobbled 47 jalapenos in five minutes.

You Can Quote Me

“I’m sitting here with very aching thighs right now because I was on my knees most of the day yesterday doing handcuffing practices. These 56-year-old bones aren’t quite used to some of those positions.”

-- Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton, telling the City Council last week that he was training in making arrests as part of keeping his state certification as a police officer.

Contributing this week was Jean O. Pasco.