The Political Landscape:

Former GOP presidential hopeful turned Fox News pundit Mike Huckabee has endorsed Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine) in his U.S. Senate bid, it was announced Wednesday.

“Chuck DeVore has a clear pro-life record, with a 100% pro-life, pro-family rating from the Capitol Resource Institute in Sacramento and a 100% rating from the pro-life, conservative California Republican Assembly,” Huckabee said in a written statement announcing the endorsement. “We need people like Chuck DeVore in the U.S. Senate because he’ll work to bring some common sense back to Washington.”

DeVore hopes to unseat Sen. Barbara Boxer in November, but first he must battle former Hewlett-Packard executive Carly Fiorina and former Congressman Tom Campbell in the June Republican primary.

“[Huckabee] and I share core values, not least of which is a rock-solid commitment to pro-life, pro-marriage, and pro-growth policies,” DeVore said in a written statement.

HARMAN’S SEX OFFENDER BILL MOVES FORWARD

A bill co-written by state Sen. Tom Harman (R-Huntington Beach) that would require sex offenders to register their e-mail addresses and other online information with the state is working its way through the California Senate.

Senate Bill 1204 would help create an online database that social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace could use at will to exclude registered sex offenders. The legislation also would allow the state to bar sex offenders from joining social networking websites while on parole.

New York and Illinois have already enacted similar laws.

Harman co-wrote the bill with Sen. George Runner (R-Antelope Valley).

SB 1204 just cleared the Senate Public Safety Committee and will be heard by the Senate Appropriations Committee in the coming weeks.

Sacramento denies Pilot’s request for fair proposal

The Daily Pilot requested from the state a copy of Costa Mesa’s $96-million proposal to buy the Orange County Fairgrounds.

But the state denied the request under the “deliberative process doctrine.”

Rachel Arrezola, the governor’s spokeswoman, said in an e-mail that the doctrine allows the state to keep the proposal private because the negotiation is ongoing.

“The courts have recognized that there is a strong public interest in maintaining the confidentiality of communications regarding the sale or purchase of state property, and disclosure of such information in the midst of negotiations could impair the state’s ability to get the best deal for taxpayers,” she wrote.

City officials have said that taxpayer dollars will not be used to finance the project, but the money would come through a consortium of private parties.

The city hasn’t shared any more details with the public, including who would be involved and how such an agreement would look.

The fairgrounds was put up for sale in October in an effort to shore up funds and plug a hole in the state budget.

In January, a public auction was held with Newport Beach-based Craig Realty Group, an outlet developer, coming away as the top bidder with its $56.5 million offer. But in March, the state rejected all the bids as too low. Now the state is negotiating exclusively with the city to buy the fairgrounds.