Waxman: No more Roves

“Why should we be using taxpayer dollars to have a person solely in charge of politics in the White House?” Henry Waxman asked hypothetically in an interview regarding legislation he’s trying to pass to prevent another Karl Rove-like adviser from being on the White House payroll.

Tuesday Roll Call: No confidence for Waxman, Big Rx wants peek at private records, recruiter protests, etc.

NATIONAL

Last weekend a group of progressive Democrats issued a symbolic “no endorsement” for congressman Howard Berman and Henry Waxman for not being more aggressive against “the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and efforts to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney” and votes on the Iraq war. Both incumbents are running unopposed in the June 3rd primaries. [Daily News]

STATEWIDE

A new bill introduced by state Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello would allow drug companies to purchase access to medical records so they could remind patients to refill prescriptions. [Long Beach Press-Telegram]

California Attorney General Jerry Brown is going after H&R Block for allegedly duping customers into believing they’re receiving instand refunds instead of what are actually high interest, short term loans. [KNBC]

The State of California is denying $100/day reimbursment to a Buena Park man wrongly convicted of a carjacking and sentenced to ten months in state prison because he had plead guilty in lieu of a potentially stiffer sentence. [LA Times]

LOS ANGELES

Kathryn Nack, who was Mayor of Pasadena from 1987 to 1995, passed away. [Pasadena Star-News]

On Wednesday at 4pm, ANSWER LA is coordinating a protest outside of the Military Recruiting Station at 7080 Hollywood Blvd. [LA Indymedia]

LA Times blogger Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has a Q&A with Barack Obama.

A federal public integrity unit of the U.S. Attorney’s office has been disbanded in Los Angeles, possibly due to their investigation of Rep. Jerry Lewis’ ties to lobbyists. [LA Observed]

Mayor Villaraigosa encouraged the L.A. City Council to approve the increases in the  DWP’s water rates by 6.2% and electricty by 8.5% to make improvements on the crumbling infrastructure. [KNBC]