As Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger struggles to get his message out, he is shaking up his team and
turning to his big gun,
Maria Shriver. The L.A. Times reports: "'
She is concerned about what appears to be some change in public perception of her husband,' said a person familiar with Shriver's thinking. 'She's always been incredibly loyal to him and she has begun to address this — not only in terms of getting consultants to figure out how to convey the message, but also to get a sense of what the administration needs to do to
consider other input so he will have a balanced and fully informed perspective as he goes forward.'"
The Times continues, "A
conservative wing includes chief of staff
Patricia Clarey, legislative secretary
Richard Costigan and
[Rob] Stutzman. All have extensive experience in Sacramento government circles. ... A
liberal faction is headed by cabinet secretary
Terry Tamminen and senior advisor
Bonnie Reiss. Both are comparative newcomers to state government who have strong relationships with Schwarzenegger."
Regardless of internal disputes, the
money keeps rolling in.The Contra Costa Times takes a
deeper look at the governor's budget reform ballot measure and the posturing on both sides. "California has had two spending limits in the last 25 years that quickly become outdated and ineffective, said
Fred Silva, a state government expert with the Public Policy Institute of California....
'They are artificial,' Silva said of spending caps. 'You cannot account for the state of the economy or a particular policy issue two years out.
You just can't do it. That's life.'"
The OC Register reports, however, that
taxing the rich is part of life.
Perhaps setting up another brawl in Senate Rules Committee over bilingual education, the governor
appointed English immersion advocate and superintendent of the Oceanside Unified School District to the State Board of Education. "The former head of the California Association of Bilingual Educators,
[Kenneth] Noonan, in a 2002 article posted on the Web site of the National Association of Elementary School Principals, said he became
convinced of the success of English immersion in the year after bilingual programs were barred by Proposition 227 in 1998," the Bee reports.
Debra Bowen is fast-tracking
her bill to
ban Internet-assisted hunting. The Union-Tribune quotes the proprietor of the Texas web site "'It's amazing how they're quick to ban something they know nothing about,'
[John Lockwood] said in a telephone interview from Texas after the vote. 'It's like people who have arachnophobia. People are afraid of spiders, no matter how good or bad they are, so they kill them.'"
Casinophobia: Several local governments have
teamed up to defeat a proposed casino near Oakland International Airport. The Chron reports: "The five public agencies -- Oakland, San Leandro, the East Bay Regional Park District and both the city and county of Alameda -- signed an agreement that allows them to pool resources and develop a joint legal strategy to fight a proposal by the
Lower Lake Rancheria-Koi Nation on a 35-acre site adjacent to the
Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline Park."
The best Capitol fights are turf wars--UC versus CSU on doctorates, opthomologists versus optometrists, and
plastic surgeons versus oral surgeons. And, the oral surgeons have turned to their big gun--the tv show
"Extreme Makeover."There are rumors that Assembly Sub 4 continued operating the other day
without any members in the room. It's possible that committee members ducked out to get some
on-the-job training for correctional guards. (1 mb PDF)
While we can't substantiate the rumors, we've got the solution for future such predicaments --
identical twins.
In Los Angeles,
James Hahn and
Antonio Villaraigosa are duking it out over who will provide more control over the LA Unified School District. Yesterday, Hahn said that in his second term he would push for three appointments to the school board. Today, Villaraigosa doubles down, and
says the mayor should have "ultimate control and oversight" over the district.
Perhaps seeing this frightening possibility, the governor is
pushing more charter schools.Getting to the point: The finger-in-the-chili lady
was arrested yesterday. The details are expected to emerge in a press conference today.
Finally, for the past two days, we've dipped into our
Where Are They Now files, getting updates on former gubernatorial candidates
Mary Carey (inappropriately touching) and
Scott Winfield Davis (murder suspect). Today's feature didn't run in the recall election, but rather the 2002 gubernatorial. Orange County anti-tax crusader
George Henry "Nick" Jesson pleaded not guilty in federal court yesterday on charges of failing to pay taxes on $3 million in income from 1997 to 1999.