The Passion of the Chezz: The San Diego Union-Tribune provides a pretty entertaining overview of Gov. Schwarzenegger's newfound passion to crush the California Integrated Waste Management Board into the dirt. Known primarily as a parking place for termed-out legislators who enjoy some pull with party bosses, -- or, the U-D notes, to straight-up cronies -- the Waste Management Board pays its members six figures for meeting a couple of days a month. With the budget in the dumps, Schwarzenegger apparently figures it's a good time to get huffy and pull the plug.

One former member, our own Assm. Wesley P. ("The Chezz") Chesbro, who spent two terms on the CIWMB, offers a timid defense: “The frustration is there is so little focus on what the waste board has achieved and all of the attention is on the appointees." Meanwhile, the omnipotent California Coastal Commission only gives its board members $100 per diems for meetings