Testimony may have been aimed at Schultz

The right wing blogosphere, in the persons of Charlie Sykes and Ragnar Mentaire, are bemused about why Scott Jensen holding shakedown meetings with lobbyists, just before the state budget was up, rates any news coverage.

The top line story was overkill.

I think it's a case of the reporter picking out the part of the testimony that he thought was news, but was not necessarily why the prosecutors elicited it.

Seems to me what they may have been trying to get on the record is that Sherry Schultz, the taxpayer-paid worker who spent all of her time raising Republican money, was the one who followed up and collected. They're trying to convict her, too. This from the JS story:

[Lobbyist Pat] Essie said his 1998 and 2000 meetings with Jensen were followed up by calls from Assembly GOP staff member Sherry Schultz, who is on trial with Jensen. She is charged with one felony count of misconduct for on-the-job campaigning.

Essie said Schultz would ask whether he had contacted the groups discussed with Jensen, whether they were going to donate and if the checks already had been mailed or when those checks might be mailed.

Schultz would "give me instructions as to what to do with the checks," Essie said.