As the guv puts the final touches on his big speech, Sen. Don Perata hopes to grab a couple of Wednesday headlines, calling a press conference later this morning to discuss Senate priorities for the upcoming session. (We're guessing affordable prescription drugs gets mentioned more than once.)
In an
interview with the Bee, Perata says "I don't believe that anyone gets out of bed in the morning and thinks about redistricting." Perata, apparently, has not yet met Kevin McCarthy.
The official opening of negotiating season is on Wednesday, with the governor's speech, which
the Chron previews today. It continues on Monday when the governor releases his rough draft of the 2005-06 budget. Weintraub hints that
the battle is going to be an ugly one, reporting that December revenues were on target, but "not strong enough to alter the basic math facing Schwarzenegger."
Here's hoping the gridlock in the Capitol is at least a little lighter than the
traffic on the Grapevine this week.
But judging from the
Perata and Figueroa press conference attacking the Performance Review Monday, that seems unlikely.
Education funding is always at the heart of any budget discussion, and just in time for budget season, a
new study from the Rand Corporation shows California public schools are both underfunded, and underachieving.
Another of the hottest fights continues to be Workers comp reform. The AP reports on
implementation of last year's law which could reduce benefits to disabled workers. Maybe Democrats should have read that bill before they voted for it.
While Democrats and Republicans are taking shots at each other, at least they're not using any .50 caliber guns, which the governor banned last year when he signed a bill authored by Paul Koretz. Not surprisingly,
Second Amendment advocates are outraged. "You know what we call him?" Jerry Sloan, assistant manager of Precision Arms, said in an interview with the New York Times. "Benedict Arnold."
On the
Denny Terrio scale, Mr. Sloan gets a paltry 24 for originality.
Sloan's revolutionary-era jibes notwithstanding, the governor scored one victory this week, when the Morongo Band of Mission Indians agreed to
stop operating video terminals the state said were illegal. The governor's feud with Pechanga continues, and spokesman Vince Sollitto says if no agreement is reached this week, the state will take the tribe to court.
Lost in Translation: The Washington Post
repeats the incorrect translation of a German language interview with the governor, which claimed the governor said the GOP should move to the left.
What's in a name? The new name for the A.L. West division champs, the
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, makes the team sound more like a local Catholic church choir than a baseball team. The Anaheim City Council says the name change violates an agreement between the city and the team, and plans to sue.
Speaking of Los Angeles, the LA Business Journal's Howard Fine takes an early
snapshot of the LA Mayor's race. The preliminary popularity contest shows Hahn, Villaraigosa and Parks in the top tier of candidates, with Alarcon and Hertzberg stuck in low double-digits. But "those following the race stress that despite months of jockeying for funds and endorsements, plus two debates, the election remains up for grabs. And at this point the placement of Hahn, Villaraigosa and Parks could still be more a function of name recognition than anything else."
Kevin Rodrick at
LA Observed adds "The next milestone in the race is the end-of-year fundraising reports that will show which candidates (if any) have the cash to compete on TV with Hahn."
And that could benefit Hertzberg, according to Fine's report.
"[Hertzberg] raised nearly $1 million and is widely expected to report upwards of $2 million when year-end figures are released later this month. In the past, well-financed candidates with low initial name identification have mounted late surges, including Richard Riordan in 1993 and Republican businessman Steve Soboroff in 2001."
In the
People's Republic of San Diego, they're going to the polls again today, and federal observers are keeping watch.
In memorium: Robert Matsui's body will
lie in state at the State Capitol from 3 p.m. Thursday to 3 p.m. Friday, with a public memorial service at Memorial Auditorium at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Finally, apart from the debate on
Dick Ackerman's resolution to abolish the BCS and some squeeze-the-last-blood-out-of-the-orange all-star games, the college football season ends today when USC faces Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. After Cal's pasting, SC fans aren't delighted to be the favorites, but the final point spread has the Trojans by 1. The halftime show features Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson. Set your TiVo, as the game begins at 5 p.m. PST.
Point of Clarification: On the CD 5 special election -- While the Elections Code does pretty much determine the election date will be May, the primary, where the race will be settled in this strongly Democratic district, is held eight weeks prior to the election, which makes places the primary in March. Should be quite a windsprint. Read more on the jockeying for position
here.