George Skelton
writes up a new poll from the Survey and Policy Research Institute at San Jose State, and finds that "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's style may be getting stale."
"With a margin of error of 3%," Skelton reports "The governor's job performance is approved by 49% of voters, disapproved by 38%. His rating is worse among all adults:
43% approval, 43% disapproval — a steep slide since it was 59%-26% in January. Polls last year had shown Schwarzenegger with stratospheric job ratings in the high 60s."
The poll should be
posted here later today.
Smelling blood in the water, perhaps, the Alliance for a Better California is getting ready to launch
a new television ad, which
can already be seen online. Details about the ad buy were unavailable yesterday, but the ad hammers the Democrats' theme: Nurses, teachers and firefighters are not "special interests." And, if you're driving on I-80 outside of Sacramento, you might see CCPOA's
greeting card for the governor.The Senate Rules Committee yesterday
rejected the confirmation of Katherine Smalley for the
State Teachers Retirement System Board. Unlike three appointees who were withdrawn by the governor after voting against his proposal to eliminate the defined benefit programs, Smalley voted to support the proposal and became the target of labor. "'He established this particular vote as a litmus test for service on the board,' said Senate President
Don Perata (D-Oakland). 'Ms. Smalley's 'no' vote on the motion to oppose the pension privatization measure put her in favor of decreased take-home pay and decreased benefits, and put her at odds with her
duty to protect teachers and the retirement funds on which they depend.'"
Steve Poizner has given up on his attempts to get the FPPC's okay to act as a PUC commissioner despite his significant investments in telecomm interests, and instead
plans to run for Insurance Commissioner next year. Part of Poizner's attractiveness as a candidate: He'll be able to run as a Republican without taking money from the insurance industry.
If you still don't understand the corporate tax amnesty windfall we reported to you on Tuesday, Dan Weintraub
devotes his whole column to it, and warns policymakers against spending it too quickly.
The State Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday in a case that may
decide the fate of the Coastal Commission. "The state Supreme Court appeared reluctant Wednesday to weaken or dismantle the California Coastal Commission, despite developers' claims that the Legislature has exceeded its constitutional powers by appointing a majority of members of the powerful land-use agency," reports the Chron's Bob Egelko.
From our "Hey Buddy, I've Got a Bridge To Sell You" Files, Assemblywoman
Loni Hancock says the Bay Bridge
should be at the top of the Capitol's priority list. "The Legislature and the governor need to drop everything else and focus on the Bay Bridge right now," Hancock said.
The state's large gaming tribes helped kill an effort by Gov. Schwarzenegger to
beef up the state's gambling regulation agency. "I wasn't sold at all," Assembly GO Committee Chairman
Rudy Bermudez, D-Norwalk, said before a 4-0 bipartisan vote. Bermudez asked the commission to return with a revised request. "
In case you missed
Kate Folmar's story like we did yesterday, the
now-annual attempt by
Lois Wolk to curtail
Richie Ross' lobbying activities died in the Assembly Elections Committee. Wolk is not a Ross client, unlike committee chair
Tom Umberg. Paraphrasing a quote from his chief of staff, Umberg just thinks it's a stupid bill.
Antonio Villaraigosa filed his campaign finance report a day early yesterday, perhaps to rub it in that he
has raised $653,000 in the last four weeks.Meanwhile, the LA Times reports Jim Hahn says he
won't release his calendar for "security reasons." We're guessing it's more about
job security than physical security.
From our Self Flagellation Files: Yesterday, we included a small item at the end of this column discussing
Joe Dunn's intention to run for state treasurer. In that item, we included a link that was supposed to point readers to
a story in the Orange County Register. Instead, somehow, we wound up linking to that picture of the governor on vacation that has been making the rounds of Capitol Democrats, and others, via the Internet. Somewhere, you can hear the sound of
Steve Maviglio laughing. But our apologies to the Register's John Gittelsohn, who broke the Dunn story.
Capitol lobbyist, Roundup tipster and budding journalist, Terry McHale points us to an article that ran earlier this week in the Sacramento Bee discussing the
name change of now-Sen. Jackie Speier. Speier was actually born
Karen Lorraine Speier but legally changed her name to pay homage to the former First Lady, Jackie Kennedy. ""I practiced signing my name like her," she says laughing. "And I never thought I was a Karen anyway."
McHale also reports that Speier's opponent in the state Lt. Gov's race, Liz Figueroa "is
changing her name to Lady Bird Kennedy Bush, but she's going to go by her nickname ... Eleanor Roosevelt."