Capitol Weekly takes a look at Rob Reiner's Prop. 82, and finds the measure would
give the state superintendent control over a new, $2.7 billion budget. The measure would also allow the superintendent to pay for "outreach" programs, which critics call a recipe for disaster.
"'Is there a risk that the superintendent would use these funds for self promotion? You better believe it,' said
Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and a member of the No on 82 campaign committee. 'The question is, is that an appropriate use of taxpayer money?'"
His criticisms of Prop. 82 mirror those who have criticized Reiner for misusing outreach funds from his tobacco tax measure, Prop. 10, to inappropriately promote Prop. 82.
There's a new
Field Poll out today, which sufficiently muddies the waters enough for everyone to spin positive press releases.. "
Nearly half of California voters say they are not inclined to re-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor in 2006, but they are mostly clueless about the two Democratic contenders vying to replace him, according to a Field Poll released Wednesday,"
reports Peter Hecht in the Bee.
"By a 47 percent to 37 percent margin, voters say they are predisposed not to give Schwarzenegger another term in office, according to the poll of 507 likely voters conducted Feb. 12-26."
"Schwarzenegger trails state Controller
Steve Westly 41 percent to 37 percent and is tied with state Treasurer
Phil Angelides at 39 percent when matched against each of the two Democratic contenders."
"Though Westly fares better against Schwarzenegger, he trails Angelides 26 percent to 18 percent among likely Democratic primary voters - with the overwhelming majority, 54 percent, undecided."
With the focus on likely voters, Angelides has dropped 11%, Westly has dropped 8%, and the Roundup's favorite candidate in all elections, "Undecided," has picked up 17%.
Meanwhile, the governor made his reelection official by completing his campaign paperwork in Los Angeles, inspiring this rhetorical gem from his new campaign spokeswoman,
Katie Levinson. "This afternoon the necessary paperwork was filed to make Governor Schwarzenegger's candidacy for reelection official. The paperwork was filed in Los Angeles."
Spicy!
CW's Shane Goldmacher takes a look at how
lobbyists' fortunes rise and fall with the governor's office.
"When
[Gray] Davis was recalled in 2003,
[Darius] Anderson's influence diminished. His shop's lobbying receipts declined by more than $1 million as big name clients like Microsoft, General Motors and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. all left the firm.
"'I am sure Darius took a hit,' said
Garry South, Davis' political consultant, who experienced his own exodus of clients after the recall. 'They sent a letter saying 'due to recent events, we have to terminate your services,'' said South. 'It came one week after the recall.'"
Don't worry, the story has a happy ending. You'll just have to click on the link above to find out for yourself...
Fortunately for us, Dan Morain and Evan Halper do the job of combing through the financial reports of the candidates for governor, and find that
there are three rich guys running. "Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Controller Steve Westly, seeking the Democratic nomination, have the bulk of their publicly known holdings in investment funds, their latest statements of economic interest show.
Each is said to be worth in the hundreds of millions, although the filings give only ranges of wealth."
"Treasurer Phil Angelides, Westly's chief opponent in the Democratic primary, is a millionaire, too, but his holdings — mostly real estate in the Sacramento area — aren't nearly as vast as those of his two rivals."
The Roundup's favorite part of the financial reports is the disclosure of gifts, which shows who's courting whom. "Angels owner
Arturo Moreno gave [Schwarzenegger] a baseball ticket valued at $150.
Sheriff Lee Baca gave him a dozen red roses. Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles) gave him a $60 bottle of wine and a cigar cutter, valued at $165, and Senate President Pro Tem
Don Perata (D-Oakland) gave him a $360 box of cigars."
Perata will not be sending gifts anytime soon to League of Cities chief
Chris McKenzie, though. Instead, he's sending poison pen letters to him in McKenzie's role as chairman of the California Infrastructure Coalition. Luckily for us, Perata sent copies to the press.
"I saw the California Infrastructure Coalition (CIC) ad in today’s Sacramento Bee urging quick action by the legislature and governor to put an infrastructure bond on the June ballot. I am, of course, very appreciative of your interest in infrastructure bonds, but I also admit to
being a little wistful over where we might be today if you had taken out such an ad over a year ago when bonds proposed by Senate Democrats were first on the table."
"At your press conference today you rejected supporting one bond proposal over another as long as something gets done for the June ballot. That is a luxury we in the capitol do not have. While we are glad the governor, after the special election, chose to engage on infrastructure, we also need to make sure we pass a responsible bond proposal that is in the best interest of the people of California."
The speaker, meanwhile, focused his criticisms on the governor. "'I gotta tell you,' Núñez
told reporters on his way into a "Big Five" meeting with Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders, '
a lot of members of my caucus feel the way this is being handled by the governor and his administration is not only sloppy, but that there is no seriousness here.'"
Schwarzenegger responded by saying, "
I know you are, but what am I?"
The governor will be participating in a
different type of gamesmanship this weekend as he attends a cage-fighting exposition in Ohio. Carla Marinucci and Edward Epstein report in the Chron "It's touted in ads as 'pure might battling pure fear,' a marriage of 'raw power and brute force' complete with girls, guts, blood and plenty of grit."
What happens if raw power and brute force file for divorce?
"And while so-called gladiator or ultimate fighting has gained legions of new fans and celebrity supporters nationwide, the planned appearance of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at a major pay-per-view fight in Columbus, Ohio, this weekend could fire up not only sports aficionados but the governor's critics as well."
"That's especially true because Schwarzenegger signed legislation in September paving the way for such fights to be legal in California -- where the first such state-sanctioned card is planned at the HP Pavilion next week in San Jose."
"The sport, also known as cage fighting or mixed martial arts, has been blasted by Sen.
John McCain, R-Ariz., as
'barbaric' cockfighting with humans. New York state banned the practice several years ago after Gov.
George Pataki called it a 'Neanderthal sport.'"
Speaking of McCain, looks like the Arizona Sen. will be making
a pit stop in California to raise some cash for the governor's reelect. Details to follow...
In Los Angeles,
Antonio Villaraigosa is learning what it's like to be in the driver's seat, and seems to be steering himself toward the center for the 2010 governor's race. Villaraigosa said
the city's deficit could reach $271 million even as he pledged to hire more police," reports Duke Helfand in the Times.
"That amount is much higher than previous estimates and could grow significantly as the city negotiates new labor contracts with public safety workers and others."
"Although Villaraigosa's full budget won't be unveiled until next month, the popular mayor's deficit pronouncement signaled the start of
what could be a contentious period in which he faces his first real challenge from organized labor — his traditional power base — while wrestling with economic forces beyond his control.
Indeed, union officials were quick to accuse the mayor of overstating the city's financial woes."
CW's John Howard picks up some of the pieces of
Rod Hickman's resignation, and sees the
influence of the prison guards' union at work. "Hickman, 49, also confronted a political landscape in which the state's much-criticized, five-year collective bargaining agreement with the California Correctional Peace Officers Association--a group that has been unrelenting in its criticism of Hickman--was up for renewal by July 1.
"The existing contract was negotiated with the administration of former Gov. Gray Davis. It included
favorable overtime provisions and a 37 percent pay hike worth hundreds of millions of dollars over the life of the contract--which sparked controversy because of their size and because of the hefty political donations that CCPOA made to Davis' political campaigns.
The Secretary of State's Office announced that it was
looking into complaints about a GOP voter registration drive in which Democrats claim they were re-registered as Republicans. "Secretary of State
Bruce McPherson learned of the questionable registrations Wednesday after The Orange County Register reported that a Democratic group turned over 37 signed complaints to the Registrar of Voters, said
Nghia Nguyen, a spokeswoman."
"'Our fraud investigators are looking into this matter,' she said."
"Not all of the problems can be attributed to the Republicans' drive, said county GOP Chairman
Scott Baugh. Ten of the names on the Democrats' list of 37 were not gathered by the party's paid circulators, he said."
Lloyd Levine went to the zoo yesterday to demand more room for elephants. Levine introduced a
new bill that "would require zoos to supply elephants
at least 5 acres of space ..." according to a release from Levine's office. "The Los Angeles Zoo would be forced to remodel or build a new enclosure to house its 3 elephants (
Billy, Ruby, and Gita) or else move them to another location."
Hey, maybe we can make money for elephant habitats part of the infrastructure bond!