Here’s what the Capitol Alert reported outgoing Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez said at his last press conference yesterday.

“So I like good wine, OK,” he told reporters. “I don’t mind staying
in a five-star hotel. I bet when you all travel, that’s where you stay.” 

He was smiling.

…“If I could do it all over again, I’d do it all over again – and I’d do it the same way,” 

Smile or no, one can only conclude that, termed out in a few months’ time and ceding his speakership next week, Núñez just doesn’t care what the public thinks anymore. Why else would he use the same breath to promote a ballot initiative with his version of political reform? If he can’t understand why it’s a problem to use contributors’ cash for his favorite wines and five-star hotels, it’s impossible to believe he’s serious about reform.

Initiative as bargaining chip is a more likely explanation.