From our
"You Know it's a Slow News Day When..." Files, redistricting dominates today's state political stories.
The Times's Nancy Vogel writes that a new report finds that
Proposition 77 would have modest effects on legislative districts, but wouldn't change the balance of power in either legislative house. "Retired judges rather than lawmakers would draw political boundaries under Proposition 77. The new districts probably would create competition in 10 congressional districts, seven Assembly districts and eight state Senate districts, according to research released Monday by Claremont McKenna College's Rose Institute of State and Local Government."
"That would be a major increase in competitiveness, the researchers said. At present, there are no competitive congressional districts in California, three in the Assembly and one in the state Senate."
"Rose Institute researchers acknowledged that even if Republicans were to win all of the hypothetical new competitive seats, they would still not control the Legislature."
According to
LA Observed: "Rep.
Howard Berman could be the big loser under Prop. 77 if new lines turn his East Valley congressional district into a majority Latino enclave, the Rose Institute says. His brother
Michael drew the old lines to avoid just that."
The Bee finds critics of the report. "'The Rose Institute is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican Party,'
Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker
Fabian Núñez, said in a prepared statement."
"'Proposition 77 is a political power play,' added
Paul Hefner, a spokesman for Californians for Fair Representation, which opposes Proposition 77. 'It doesn't surprise me that partisan groups behind it would conjecture to support it.'"
...unlike the partisan groups opposed to it.
Steve Poizner is making a media tour of Sacramento today to stump for the initiative. Look for a trickle of Prop. 77 stories with a Sacramento dateline in the days ahead.
The Chronicle checks in on a legislative hearing on Prop. 77, which was held yesterday in Los Angeles, calling it a battle of "Democrats versus the Republicans." "'This is simply about a political power grab,' said Sen.
Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles. 'One party is trying to get more control, and another party is trying to defend against it.'"
Meanwhile,
the governor was in the O.C. "addressing a friendly crowd of business and civic leaders at the Orange County Forum and appearing on a Little Saigon radio show."
The governor "reserved his most emotional comments" for union bosses, who he blamed "for turning Sacramento into a 'car crash, a demolition derby' when it comes to balancing budgets or passing legislation."
"'The bosses of the public-employee unions have been running the state for years and years and years. Not the politicians,' Schwarzenegger said. '
It's the union bosses that are running California."
So now politicians are the good guys?
The guv also did a quick drop-by on the Tonight Show to sign a motorcycle to be auctioned off to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Rocky VI: Dan Weintraub
profiles Rocky Delgadillo, who is running against Oakland mayor
Jerry Brown in the Democratic primary for attorney general. "The first thing you notice in any conversation with Delgadillo are the contradictions. He is a Democrat who believes in the power of markets and incentives. He is a dreamer who works on bite-sized solutions to huge problems. He is personally modest but not afraid to brag about his achievements."
"'I do believe people are looking for fresh faces and new ideas,' [Delgadillo] says. ''I don't have a fresh face, but I've got lots of new ideas. And I've demonstrated an ability to implement them and make them work.
This is a classic race between our state's past and our future.'"
Fresh is all relative, of course. If Rocky is not fresh, then what, exactly is
Jerry Brown?
Weintraub concludes: "If Delgadillo is a glimpse of his party's future, the Democratic Party could do a lot worse."
It is said that elections are more than just popularity contests, and good thing, too. Otherwise, California would be near the bottom of a list of states when it comes to gubernatorial love. A
new survey shows only two other governors are less popular than Gov. Schwarzenegger. Only
Bob Taft of Ohio and
Frank Murkowski of Alaska have lower approval ratings in their home states. Then again, the "woman who would be president if she wasn't Canadian"
Jennifer Granholm of Michigan also made the bottom of the list. South Dakota Gov.
Mike Rounds tops the list with a 76 percent approval rating.
From our
Sports Desk: With the boys of summer entering the postseason play of October, Anaheim Mayor
Curt Pringle continues his boycott of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. With the Angels expected to go the playoffs, the team's "biggest cheerleader" has refused to attend games since owner
Arte Moreno changed the name from Pringle's Anaheim to the larger media market city to the north.
"'It's a very difficult situation,' Pringle said. 'It's important for the community to support the team, but I'm personally not attending. It's a challenge to be there when you're suing the team.'"
"'I do not want to undercut the success of the Anaheim Angels in our city,' Pringle said. 'We've made sure there are banners up on city light poles supporting the baseball team. It's important that our legal dispute is on a separate plane, and we certainly want our team to be successful."
Meanwhile, Los Angeles is considering a lawsuit against the Dodgers for malpractice and general incompetence.