California: Mike Machado

Assemblywoman Lois Wolk (D-Davis) is paying more for her television commercials so that she can avoid a requirement that campaign commercials must feature the face of the candidate who pays for them, according to the campaign of her opponent, Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian.

Normally, campaign commercials are charged at a lesser rate than other types of commercials, a difference Aghazarian's campaign said can be 20 to 50 percent less, depending on the TV station.

But to qualify for the lesser rate, a candidate's face must appear in the commercial at some point.

Lois Wolk's campaign for state Senate launched an ad last week that takes direct aim at opponent Greg Aghazarian's collection of per diem money as an assemblyman.

The 30-second ad tells how Assemblyman Aghazarian (R-Stockton) has collected daily per diem payments of $170 that are designed to pay for lodging expenses for state legislators who live far from Sacramento.

Aghazarian, the ad points out, lives 46 miles from Sacramento.

"As an assemblyman, Greg Aghazarian took $180,000 he didn't deserve," the announcer in the ad concludes.

Capitol Weekly has released its second annual ranking of ideology among state legislators, based on their votes on bills that have come up over the past year.

Seven Assembly members, all Republicans, got a score of zero on a scale of zero to 100 on how liberal their voting record appeared to be. Four Republican state Senators also received that score.