A Sacramento judge
ordered the secretary of state to remove Proposition 77, the governor's redistricting measure, from the November special election ballot. "Sacramento County Superior Court Judge
Gail Ohanesian ruled that the initiative should not have been placed on the Nov. 8 ballot because the wording circulated on voter petitions had not been approved according to law."
"People's Advocate Chief Executive
Ted Costa, whose office manager inadvertently sent the wrong version of the initiative to a printer, said he assumes all responsibility." But we're guessing some donors find a way to slide
some of the blame toward the Schwarzenegger administration."'It's not a nice mistake,' he said. 'We figure it was a legitimate mistake, an honest mistake, and we figure those differences are very small.... No voter was here saying they were misled by it."
From our
Listen Now and Believe me Later Files,
Steve Maviglio, the spokesman for Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nuņez, said that the removal of Proposition 77 made it even more unlikely that the Legislature would craft a compromise deal with the governor. "'
There are two flat tires on the reform Hummer,' said Maviglio, referring to the governor's fondness for the large sport utility vehicles.
'We are not going to be there to pump them back up.'"But isn't this the perfect time to put a new redistricting measure on the ballot, one with, oh, I don't know ... a term limits extension?
The attorney,
Daniel Kolkey, for the measure's proponents
plans to appeal to his former colleagues on the Third District Court of Appeal.
"It's a round - but it's only one round," said Kolkey.
But there was some good news for the Schwarzenegger administration. The
health secretaries are not going to jail A Sacramento judge that threatened to initiate contempt proceedings against the governor earlier this week
dropped the threat yesterday, finding that the governor was not willfully ignoring a court order in continuing to seek regulations blocking increased nurse staffing ratios.
While the governor may not be facing the pokey, a state grand jury is
expected to hand down an indictment of former
Kevin Shelley fundraiser
Julie Lee within a week, according to the Bee. Lee was indicted by a federal grand jury in May, has pled not guilty, and is due back in court in September.
Advocates for several small health and human services programs are
pushing the governor to restore $8 million vetoed from the state budget. "They are
hoping the Republican governor will agree to work with lawmakers to put back about $8 million total in state funds that he vetoed for prostate-cancer treatment for poor men, inspections of care facilities for children and the elderly, and improvement of the state's foster-care system."
As reported in yesterday's Roundup, Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa is "supplicanting" around Washington, D.C., picking up the goods for the people of the City of Angels. Yesterday's bounty
included a coffee table book about the U.S. Capitol, presented to the mayor by Congressman
David Dreier.
"'Isn't this great?' the mayor cracked. 'I was looking for funding for transportation, and here I got a book.'"
As more evidence that reality shows have
jumped the shark, producers are hoping to run an eight-part series next summer to
find America's next top political consultant. "'We're trying to find
Karl Rove, without all the baggage,'" said series co-creator
Ken Smukler, a former Democratic strategist who now runs a Philadelphia-based political communications firm. He developed the show with his assistant,
Harry Cook.
"Smukler is not ruling out the possibility of some 'Real World'-like romantic shenanigans on the set of 'Red/Blue.' 'I would be surprised if it didn't happen,' he said. 'I come from a campaign world.
Whenever I was managing a campaign and there was a bunch of 20- and 30-year-olds, something seemed to happen.'"
Get your applications ready...
Finally, gentle reader, a sincere, heart-felt apology to both you, our devoted readers, and poor Jeffrey Barker of the Sacramento News & Review. Yesterday, we linked to Mr. Barker's story which posed the Question, Is Phil Angelides California's Howard Dean. And we completely forgot to ask the question of our own: Can Phil Angelides do
this?Somehow, we doubt it.