I thought you might be interested in the attached article from Friday's 
Stockton Record.

Machado calls allegations 'a fantasy'

By Jim Sams

Capitol Bureau Chief

SACRAMENTO -- Assemblyman Michael Machado raced to get legislative approval 
of a controversial water bill Thursday and along the way got snared in a 
bitter feud with Republicans who charge that he insulted two ethnic groups 
during an altercation on the Assembly floor.

Machado used some parliamentary maneuvering on the last day of the 
Legislature's session in an attempt to win approval of a bill that would set 
up a governing board for the CALFED Bay/Delta Program.

Sen. Maurice Johannessen, R-Redding, said Machado sniped a vulgar insult 
while he was on the Assembly floor trying to persuade members to reject the 
CALFED bill.

Johannessen said he told Machado the bill would hurt his chances at beating 
Republican opponent Alan Nakanishi for the 5th Senate District seat. He said 
Machado retorted that Republicans should find a candidate who speaks English, 
which Johannessen took as a reference to the fact that Nakanishi is 
Japanese-American.

Johannessen, a native of Norway who speaks English with an accent, said the 
ethnic slurs didn't stop there. He said Machado at one point told him he 
should go back where he came from.

"That was a bloody insult as far as I'm concerned," Johannessen said. "I 
don't speak that good English, but I got elected to the Senate."

Nakanishi, who heard of Machado's comment indirectly, responded: "I'm sorry 
he said that."

"I was born in Sacramento, and I spent my childhood in an internment camp. 
Maybe that affected my speech," he said. "But it was good enough for the U.S. 
Army and medical school."

Machado said Johannessen's allegations were "a fantasy, a fabrication," but 
refused to give his own account of Wednesday night's events.

"I'm not going to respond to this political rhetoric," Machado said.

A third listener, Michael Umbrello, representing the Cahto Tribe of 
Laytonville -- opposed to Machado's bill -- said he heard Machado yelling to 
Johannessen to go back to where he came from, or something to that effect. 
Umbrello didn't hear the entire conversation and didn't know if anything was 
said about Nakanishi's English.

Machado's CALFED proposal moved forward Thursday despite strong opposition by 
Johannessen and other Republicans. Machado gutted a bill by Sen. Patrick 
Johnston, D-Stockton, and inserted amendments to get around Republican 
senators who refused to give Democrats the two-thirds majority they needed to 
get a rule waiver to allow a hearing on a previous version.

Thursday afternoon, the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee voted to 
approve a bill backed by Gov. Gray Davis that would set up an 11-member panel 
to oversee the consortium of state and federal agencies that are working 
together to restore the Delta and boost state water supplies. That bill 
includes creation of an environmental restoration committee made up of state 
and federal agency heads that will have authority to buy land and water from 
willing sellers.

Late Thursday, Machado was working to move his bill to the Assembly floor, 
through two Senate committees and then to a final vote on the Senate floor 
before the Legislature's scheduled midnight adjournment.

Republicans charge that the environmental panel will oversee a government 
land and water grab. Representatives for Indian tribes and rural water 
districts said during the committee hearing Thursday afternoon that the bill 
will stack the CALFED board with representatives from Southern California who 
are primarily interested in getting more control over the north state's rich 
water supplies.

State Resources Secretary Mary Nichols said the bill is necessary mostly to 
give CALFED the momentum it needs to start building water-supply projects and 
restoring the Delta. She said Congress won't vote on its own governing-board 
proposal until next year, and in the meantime the state needs to hire an 
executive director and set projects in motion.


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