State senators met for 20 minutes today. On the agenda: Making sure that their daily expense payments continue through the holiday weekend even though the Legislature isn’t in session.

Petaluma City Councilman Gabe Kearney seems to think it will. Kearney, who was the only member of the Petaluma Planning Commission to vote in favor of the project last month, says he believes much of the concern centered around the unknowns about who would be the anchor tenant. The fear of Walmart is now gone.

The marginalization of the GOP in California is especially evident in the Bay Area, where independent voters now outnumber Republicans in five counties, a trend that could shape the outcome of some races under the new top-two primary system.

Primaries are fought on the fringes. Consider a few numbers: Florida, with 19 million residents, is the fourth largest state. Yet there are more Republican voters in two California counties than cast ballots in the Sunshine State on Tuesday.

“Your story really resonated with me,” a resident writes in response to my Sunday column. “I have lost contact with my two sons because my ex-wife decided to get into the pot-growing and distribution business. . .Yes, there is a very ugly side to (Proposition) 215. I’m living it.”

Mitt Romney’s income tax return, showing an effective tax rate of 13.9 percent, doesn’t exactly bolster Republican arguments that taxes are sky high. But it may not boost Democratic bids to raise income tax rates, either.

So did Sonoma County meet its earnings goal its first year after issuing $289 million in pension obligation bonds? It wasn’t even close. According to records recently posted by SCERA, the association achieved a return for 2011 of 1 percent, missing its mark by 6.75 percent.

I agree that it was bad choice by CNN’s John King to start with that question. But the issue is certainly relevant given the candidate’s campaign themes of restoring America’s cultural and moral footing – and his willingness to point out the ethical lapses of other candidates, namely Mitt Romney.

Repeal SMART co-founder John Parnell has conceded that volunteers are not likely to get the number of signatures SMART contends is needed to force a repeal vote. So the group is offering to pay workers $1 per signature.

Work on the SMART rail line officially got under way this morning at W. Third Street and the railroad tracks, just south of Railroad Square in Santa Rosa. Farhad Mansourian, SMART’s general manager, says crews began doing survey work at about 9:30 a.m.