Senate Leader Taps 'Dearest Friend' For $128K Job

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A committee led by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg has appointed one of his closest friends to a $128,000-a-year job on a board that has long been criticized as a plum position for termed-out lawmakers.

Sacramento attorney John Adkisson was sworn in Tuesday to the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, which meets once a month. Steinberg, a Sacramento Democrat, will be termed out later this year.

Adkisson has been paid $300,000 since 2009 as special counsel to the Senate and Legislative Counsel, and as director of the Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes.

Steinberg told The Sacramento Bee in 2009 that his old law school classmate was "one of my dearest friends."

A spokesman for the Senate leader says Adkisson is highly qualified because of his background in labor law.