The State of the State of the State

Jan 5, 2006

The governor will propose adding toll roads to the state's most congested freeways, report Evan Halper and Dan Morain in the Times. "The toll proposal is only part of a multibillion-dollar public works agenda the governor will unveil during his annual State of the State speech, administration officials said Wednesday. But it would have a direct impact on the quality of life for millions of Californians and challenge their long-standing aversion to toll lanes."

Toll roads will be part of the governor's proposal to request voters to approve $25 billion in bonds over the next five years for state infrastructure needs. "State Senate Leader Don Perata (D-Oakland) said the first of several rounds of borrowing proposals hammered out between lawmakers and the governor could appear before voters in June."

"'Everything goes on the table,' Perata said. 'Toll roads. You name it … things that have been anathema to Democrats in the past; it is a new day.'"

"Meanwhile, Assembly Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, while agreeing that more must be spent on transportation, said lawmakers should also consider reopening talks about building a Central California canal. That would let the state move water past the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and more directly to farmland and cities to the south. Voters rejected a peripheral canal proposal in 1982."

"'I think you have to put it all on the table,' McCarthy said."

Peter Nicholas and Robert Salladay preview the governor's speech for the Times. "What Schwarzenegger has shown is that, entering the campaign season, he wants less acrimony and few reminders of the lost year that was 2005, when early hopes of bipartisan progress were quashed by the polarizing special election. He has a long way to go to recapture the broad public support he enjoyed early in his tenure."

Mark Martin and Lynda Gledhill report "Coupling the bonds with other money from sources such as the state's gas tax or federal funds, Schwarzenegger is expected to unveil a 10-year program that could add up to as much as $100 billion in public works spending."

Capitol Weekly reports the promises of cooperation are made easier by the influx of cash, with general fund revenues expected to be as much as $12 billion higher than last year. "Money can help avoid a lot of political conflicts. While Schwarzenegger was forced to make spending cuts in his first two budgets, this year the state is flush with cash. Fighting over how to divide the spoils is inevitably easier that fighting over potential cuts."

As for other tidbits in the speech, we all know about the minimum wage and the UC and CSU fee hike freeze. And the Merc's Kate Folmar reports there will be at least one flashback from 2005. "The governor will call again for the Legislature to come up with a redistricting plan to address the previous gerrymandered drawing of political boundaries."

Dan Schnur says the speech is a return to basics for the governor and his team. ""Just like the marketers for Coke, they tried 'New Arnold' and people didn't buy it," Republican political consultant Dan Schnur said. "Now it's 'Classic Arnold.' "

Bill Whalen both offer visions and insight about the speech, and a guide to the good, the bad, and the ugly. Whalen, a former Pete Wilson aide, provides his "guide to rating the" speech

And Christiana Dominguez has posted a State of the State bingo game on her Phoblographer blog to make the speech a bit easier to get through.

If all of this peace, love and understanding is just too much to take, Capitol Weekly's Shane Goldmacher takes a look at this year's Democratic gubernatorial primary. In a nutshell: Angelides' strategy is to not acknowledge Steve Westly, and Westly's strategy is to focus on Angelides' perceived unelectability rather than Westly own record. "'Angelides has been shrill and strident and has moved way too far to the left,' says [Westly advisor Garry South. 'And if he is the nominee, the [Republicans] will slice him and dice him like a Veg-O-Matic.' 'He will turn out like a Democratic Dan Lungren.'"

And if that doesn't fill your need for good, old fashioned political acrimony, John Howard takes a trip down memory lane on the 10th anniversary of the last time Republicans controlled the Assembly. Pringle, Paul Horcher, Jim Brulte, Dick Mountjoy and others are quoted in the piece.

CW also takes a look ahead to this spring's Democratic legislative primaries, and says moderate Democrats are hoping to make a difference in the Senate, and could provide a roadblock to bills that are "unnecessarily painful to business," in the words of consultant David Townsend."

"'I think it's safe to say that the Senate is going to become more conservative no matter what,' says Rico Mastrodonato with the League of Conservation Voters. 'It's not going to be quite as progressive friendly as it has been.'"

Meanwhile, Carol Corrigan won easy confirmation from the Commission on Judicial Appointments and was sworn in yesterday to fill the vacancy on the California Supreme Court.

Bob Egelko reports for the Chron "Corrigan, a native of Stockton, got her law degree at UC's Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco in 1975, spent 12 years as a prosecutor and was appointed to the Alameda County Municipal Court by Gov. George Deukmejian in 1987. Gov. Pete Wilson promoted her to the Superior Court in 1991 and to the appeals court in 1994. A year later, she changed her registration from Democrat to Republican."

And finally from our Every Rose Has Its Thorn Files, our UCLA fans among us have pointed out that yes, the Bruins football team now have a longer winning streak than the vanquished USC Trojans.