The Sacramento Bee reports that the governor is in big trouble with that all important block of
voters who aren't sure who they voted for in the 2003 recall election. "
Raul Vasquez is pretty sure he voted for Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, but says he's never going to again," begins Amy Chance's look at the governor's political standing.
GOP consultant
Kevin Spillane and Democrat
Garry South proceed to go
John Henry on the governor, taking alternate whacks at the governor throughout the piece.
Conventional wisdom seems to hold that a quick budget deal could help the governor. But a weekend's worth of meetings between Gov. Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders failed to yield a state budget. But the Big 5 were scheduled to reconvene at 2 p.m. this afternoon.
If a budget deal comes together this week, the governor's focus will be to
turn his numbers around by salvaging a victory of some kind in November, according to the Press-Telegram. "'If I was the governor, I'd say that
passage of even one measure in the special election was a fantastic victory,' said
Jack Pitney of Claremont McKenna College."
Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations!
The Chronicle looks at the effects of one such measure--the Live Within Our Means--on
education spending and Proposition 98. "'(The provisions) pose enormous threats to public school funding,' says an analysis of Schwarzenegger's budget proposal by School Services of California, a financial consulting firm hired by school districts to steer them toward the most beneficial fiscal practices."
"'Giving any more money to a dysfunctional system would be condemning another group of children to mediocrity,' said
Richard Riordan, who has just stepped down as state education secretary."
Guess he's not going to use his accomplishments as secretary on his resume.
In
Prime Minister Schwarzenegger news, the guv penned an op-ed piece in Britan's Independent newspaper, once again
blasting the Bush administration's foot dragging on global warming. "The debate is over. We know the science. We see the threat posed by changes in our climate," Schwarzenegger wrote. "And we know the time for action is now."
The editorial comes as leaders of the G-8 nations are huddled in Gleneagles, Scotland -- a meeting where climate control is at the top of the agenda.
From our
California Hatfield-McCoys file: The Bakersfield Californian looks into whether
Roy Ashburn's co-sponsorship of the "Lowenthal-Ashburn redistricting plan" is an
attempt to one-up rival Kevin McCarthy. "
Some Republicans were privately aghast that Ashburn was standing by his support of a plan that was harshly criticized as a Democratic power grab by GOP leaders, including Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman."
The Bee
takes a listen to the beat of
Jackie Goldberg's drum. "'
I think you have an obligation to beat your head against the wall,' she said. "That's what democracy is about. You have to be active in political life, otherwise you might as well be in a country that doesn't let you be.'"
And, a response from the part of the state where it's illegal to say something nice about Jackie Goldberg: "'I think there are some people who are so far to the left that they're out of step with the public," said Assemblyman
Jay La Suer, R-La Mesa. '
You have a right to your beliefs - but that doesn't mean your beliefs are right.'"
In
Congressman Mark Wyland news, the LA Times reports Congressman
Duke Cunningham skipped his annual July 4 pancake breakfast as the FBI continues to rummage through files seized at his home, and on his boat.
"'He didn't want to bring any negativity that has been happening to him and his wife, Nancy, to this event,'
Lou Aspell, the breakfast's organizer, told several hundred people at Cottonwood Creek Park in this coastal community of northern San Diego County."
From our
Know When to Walk Away, Know When to Run Files,
Mendocino County Republican Party chairman Kenny Rogers is being held on $250,000 bail and "
suspicion of attempted murder, solicitation of a crime and conspiracy," according to the Associated Press. Rogers was a member of the local water board until he was recalled last year after angry residents with contaminated tap water revolted.
Alan Simon the man who was elected to succeed Rogers, "was shot nine times at his Westport home," and authorities now think Rogers was involved, thus proving that old Mark Twain axiom once again: Whiskey is for drinkin' and water is for fightin'.
Rogers also faces a marijuana cultivation charge, but hey, it's Mendocino County, right?
And what would Independece Day be without the annual spectacle of people
jamming pork product down their throats at alarming rates? For the fifth straight year,
Takeru Kobayashi defended his
competitive hot dog eating crown, downing 49 dogs in 12 minutes.
"The runner-up was
Sonya Thomas of Alexandria, Va. — known as The Black Widow on the competitive-eating circuit — who set an American record by downing 37 hot dogs in the same 12 minutes"
God bless America.