In a radio interview and a Los Angeles "town hall" meeting yesterday, the governor
changed his tone a bit on Proposition 76, saying that its demise would result in
billions of dollars in additional debt, but not in increased taxes.
"Earlier in the day, on a Los Angeles talk radio show, the governor said the state will add to its $8 billion deficit if the initiatives fail."
"'The sad story is future generations are going to pay for that. Our children are going to pay for the mistakes that our politicians have made now,' he said."
"At the Skirball Cultural Center, where the television program was taped, about half the crowd raised their hands when the moderator, Paul Moyer, asked if they would support tax increases to balance the state's budget."
"But Schwarzenegger firmly rejected that notion, saying
he wouldn't agree to any tax increases, even if voters reject Proposition 76, his budget reform measure."
"'We have to live within our means,' he said."
Schwarzenegger is currently
running an television advertisement entitled "Happy People" that argues that, if Proposition 76 fails, taxes will be increased next year.
Dan Morain writes in the Times that pharmaceutical companies supporting Proposition 78
paid "political leaders and civil rights groups that have endorsed the industry's initiative on the Nov. 8 ballot."
"The measure, Proposition 78, would avert state caps on the price of prescription drugs.
Those embracing it while taking the industry's money include the conservative Traditional Values Coalition, an emergency-room physician in Los Angeles, the California arm of the NAACP and the Mexican American Political Assn."
Morain writes that the industry has given a group that shares office space with
Mervyn Dymally $100,000, and has paid $720,000 to
Alice Huffman's political consulting firm. Huffman is the chair of the California State Council of the NAACP, and the former government relations director for the California Teachers Association.
"Labor overreached [in crafting Proposition 79],' said Huffman, a former organized labor lobbyist. 'My job is not to be in labor's pocket.'"
"'They are clearly going beyond the traditional TV, radio and slate mailers,' said
Robert M. Stern, president of the nonpartisan Center for Governmental Studies, which has joined with the California Healthcare Foundation to analyze the Proposition 78 and 79 efforts. '
The question is, are endorsements up for sale or are the endorsements coming first? ... We won't know the answer.'"
And, we're not supposed to.
From our
When All Else Fails, Attack the Polls files: Steve Geissinger reports for the Oakland Tribune on the
war of words between Republican campaign operatives and Public Policy Institute of California poll director
Mark Baldassare.
"'I can't recall a time that someone sent such a memo to political reporters and posted it on the Internet,' said Mark Baldassare, who has run the poll since 1998.
Baldassare, in an equally unusual move, said he was responding because he found the state Republican Party memo to be 'incomplete and misleading' and wanted to 'set the record straight.'"
The Register's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson provides a rundown of the
web-based cartoons of Election 2005.
Governor Schwarzenegger urged House Republicans to
keep the moratorium on offshore oil drilling, in advance of a House vote next week. "'California reaps tremendous benefits from our ocean and coastal environments,' Schwarzenegger wrote Thursday to
Richard W. Pombo (R-Tracy), chairman of the House Committee on Resources. 'I am unwilling to put this environment at risk for the sake of new energy exploration … and continue to support the permanent protection of these waters.'"
Kimberly Kindy writes in her Capitol Watchdog column in the Register that three separate legislators are
presenting "virtually identical" resolutions to outgoing Orange County Building Industry Association president
Mitchell Bradford.
Apparently, both Assemblymembers
Chuck DeVore and
Rudy Bermudez refused to allow Senator
Joe Dunn to sign on to their resolutions, leading Dunn to order his own. Dunn is running for State Controller next year.
"All this over a wall hanging that costs about $200 to produce, one of about 4,200 that are presented each year by lawmakers before crowds of well-connected people in their communities."
"'
This behavior shows the level of immaturity that contributes to the very reason why the average citizen wants nothing to do with the political process,' said state Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana. 'It's beyond stupidity. Is there never a time that the Orange County delegation can come together on something?'"
"Not this time."
From our
Do It Yourself Files, the Associated Press reports on a man who has filed a lawsuit against Home Depot for the panic attack he had "when he found he was
glued to a toilet seat in a Home Depot restroom."
"Retired electrical engineer Bob Dougherty, 57, said on Thursday he was stuck in the stall with his pants down for about 20 minutes and that two years after the 2003 incident he was suffering from post-traumatic stress, which has triggered diabetes and heart complications."
And finally, from our
I've Always Wanted to Try That Files, a California man was
pulled over for driving in a carpool lane with only a mannequin in the car with him. "The California Highway Patrol gave
Kevin Morgan, 28, of Petaluma, a $351 citation for driving in a high occupancy vehicle or "HOV" lane with a kickboxing dummy propped in the passenger seat."
"The dummy was
wearing a Miami Dolphins windbreaker and a baseball cap but Officer
Will Thompson noticed that the 'passenger' had no legs."
The moral of the story: Only dummies root for the Dolphins.