The governor
tapped Adam Mendelsohn as his new Communications Director. "Mendelsohn will be coming back to California from Washington D.C., where he served as a vice president for the Washington-based public relations firm DCI Group. He also served as communications director for Texas Comptroller
Carole Keeton Strayhorn, who is currently running for Texas governor."
"His California political resume includes stints with moderate Republicans
Steve Kuykendall,
Matt Fong and
Bruce McPherson. He also worked
Lamar Alexander's bid for president in 2000."
[
Rob] "Stutzman's new duties at Schwarzenegger's reelection campaign have not yet been spelled out, and the campaign's top official, the chairman, has not yet been named."
Peter Nicholas
reports in the Times "Mendelsohn's appointment came with the
recommendation of First Lady Maria Shriver, who consulted friends and contacts in the media about the communications director position, according to members of the Schwarzenegger administration who spoke on condition of anonymity because the appointment had not been formally announced."
Dan Walters continues his series on the governor's missteps since winning election, and today writes "his
standing with female voters has been shaky from the onset of his 2-year-long political career, and his feuds with two big unions with mostly female membership contributed mightily to the rejection of his "year of reform" ballot measures in November."
"By defining the two largely female unions as 'special interests' whose influence in the Capitol needed to be controlled, Schwarzenegger gave his enemies ammunition to portray him as
a bully who wanted to dominate the women who teach children and tend the ill. That hurt him badly with voters of both genders who saw teachers and nurses as vital public servants."
The governor is using an
alternative strategy to implement his solar plan by going through the Public Utilities Commission rather than the Legislature, writes Dan Weintraub in the Bee. "Schwarzenegger and the environmental groups that support his solar initiative have been thwarted for two years by Democrats in the Legislature who refuse to pass the governor's measure unless it satisfies their allies in organized labor."
"The commission last week unveiled its version of the initiative, a $3.2 billion program to install 3,000 megawatts of solar power over the next 11 years. The solar panels, supporters say, would eliminate the need to install two dozen small, gas-fired plants known as 'peakers' to serve California's electricity needs at times of high usage, mainly hot summer afternoons."
Weintraub says "The jury is still out on solar technology and the wisdom of subsidizing its deployment. But if the initiative succeeds, Schwarzenegger will deserve all the credit,
while the Democrats in the Legislature who agreed with his vision but couldn't bring themselves to support his legislation will look foolish."
The Chron's Tanya Schevitz and Todd Wallack report that the University of California has
agreed to audit some of its compensation packages. "UC said the audit will be conducted by the university's regular accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and will be completed by March. It will look at whether UC followed its own policies in approving compensation and separation agreements for 32 top management positions over the past decade. The auditor will report to the UC Board of Regents."
"'We are committed to public access, awareness and understanding of all of the regents' decision-making processes,' said
Gerald Parsky, the Board of Regents chairman. 'We also recognize some public concern about the deliberations the regents go through with respect to executive compensation.'"
"In addition to the audit, UC announced plans Monday to create a special regents committee that will review senior managers' salaries.
UC officials say their top employees are underpaid, but have refused to release the report they cite to support that assertion."
Meanwhile, from our
Must Be Nice Files Wallack and Shevitz report that UC Davis is paying former Vice Chancellor
Celeste Rose $205,000 per year to do nothing. "As part of a secret legal settlement negotiated to avoid a potentially embarrassing lawsuit, UC Davis promised to
keep Rose on the payroll as the 'senior adviser to the chancellor' for two years at an annual salary of $205,000, plus all the benefits of a senior manager, including health care, severance pay and a growing pension."
"Yet her new job has no formal job description or regular duties. She gave up her office on campus. And UC
promised not to fire her, no matter how little she does. If Rose quits, she is still entitled to receive the remainder of her two years' salary under the agreement."
"Rose's attorney,
Melinda Guzman, said Rose received the settlement after threatening to sue the university for racial and gender discrimination. Rose is African American."
The Bee's Andy Furillo reports that
Joe Canciamilla and
Keith Richman are sponsoring a bill to create a "citizen's assembly" to
recommend an overhaul of the state's electoral system. "A draft of the bill doesn't mention what kind of changes might be proposed. But Canciamilla and Richman said in interviews that they strongly favor such changes as proportional representation, independent redistricting, term-limit modification and campaign finance reform."
Ladies and gentlemen, the betting window is now open...
"The two members' proposed re-engagement of the electorate would start with the creation of a citizens assembly in California. If it gets off the ground, the group would begin investigating California's government and political structure in January 2007, hold public hearings up and down the state, and come up with recommendations by the end of the year that would be presented to the Legislature. Any proposed constitutional changes would then be placed on the November 2008 ballot."
Meanwhile, back in the real world, the new
federal budget cuts could cost California billions of federal dollars. "The five-year budget bill, which passed the House early Monday and awaited action in the Senate, cuts $4.8 billion from the Medicaid health care program for the poor and disabled, $6.4 billion from the Medicare health program for the elderly, and about $13 billion from student loans, among other measures. Each of these cuts will translate into hits to California, which gets about 11 percent of spending by federal agencies, though state officials were still tallying the specific numbers on Monday."
"This budget reconciliation package hurts working Californians,' said Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles. 'Despite the clear calls to reject these cuts,
congressional leadership did not hear our pleas."
From our
You Can't Fire Me, I Quit Files the governor has
severed ties to his hometown, reports Laura Kurtzman in the Merc News. "Stung by criticism in his hometown over the execution of
Stanley 'Tookie' Williams, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday told officials in Graz, Austria, to take his name off the sports stadium and stop using his name to promote the city."
"The Graz city council had planned next month to rename the Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium in protest over Williams' execution Dec. 13. Capital punishment is not accepted in Austria and throughout Europe."
"The governor also said he would return the 'ring of honor' he received from the city six years ago, now that there has been a proposal to rescind the honor."
"'It was a beautiful day in 1999 when I received the ring at City Hall and I assumed at the time that it was a token of sincere friendship between my hometown and me,' the governor wrote. '
Since, however, the official Graz appears no longer to accept me as one of their own, this ring has lost its meaning and value to me. It is already in the mail.'"