"State Controller
Steve Westly launched two television ads Tuesday evening portraying Democratic rival
Phil Angelides as a greedy Sacramento developer, striking at his foe's personal background for the first time in the gubernatorial primary."
"The ads feature a bulldozer image and compare Sacramento's flood vulnerability to New Orleans while blaming Angelides for multiple environmental problems in the Capitol region."
Meanwhile, Angelides spoke at the Sacramento Press Club. "'Like the CTA, I believe we can do better,' Angelides said at the Press Club. 'I'm not satisfied that we're 43rd out of 50 states in educational spending per child. I'm not satisfied that we're 40th out of 50 states in the number of young people who go directly from high school to college.'"
"In his campaign, Angelides frequently has used a 2006 ranking by Education Week showing California is 43rd out of 50 states and the District of Columbia in per-pupil spending.
The report uses data from 2003, during former Gov. Gray Davis' administration."
"Department of Finance spokesman
H.D. Palmer criticized Angelides' use of the 2003 numbers in his attack on Schwarzenegger, saying he believes the governor has improved spending enough to boost the state's ranking."
"'
The education numbers that the treasurer is using are three years past their expiration date,' Palmer said. '
If he treats groceries the way he treats these numbers, I'd hate to see what's inside his refrigerator.'"
Meanwhile, the Merc News's Edwin Garcia writes "Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides on Tuesday
insisted that he would not raise taxes on middle-class Californians, an attempt to deflate one of his opponent's harshest charges against him.
"'My position today, my position tomorrow, my position as governor, is no tax increases on middle-class families,' Angelides, the state treasurer, said in response to a question at the Sacramento Press Club's monthly luncheon. '
I'm only going to ask people making a half-million dollars or more a year, big corporations, to chip in.'"
The wealthy, however,
aren't so crazy about those targeted taxes on the rich for education. "Proposition 82, the Preschool for All Act, seemed likely to get a lot of Silicon Valley support. Education and workforce development are key issues for the tech community, and early donors to the campaign included Netflix CEO
Reed Hastings, venture capitalist
John Doerr and education philanthropist
Laurene Powell Jobs."
"But with less than two weeks before the June 6 election, Silicon Valley's vast venture capital community has made scores of donations -- many in $25,000 or $50,000 increments -- to defeat the initiative."
"Among the largest: $500,000 from
Bill Bowes of U.S. Venture Partners in Menlo Park; $350,000 from investor
John Pasquesi of Palo Alto; and $96,000 from
Tim Draper, who spent millions on a school voucher initiative that was defeated in 2000."
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
praised the contributions of immigrants but kept his thoughts on putting the National Guard on the border to himself on Tuesday, two days before Mexican President Vicente Fox was scheduled to visit the state in a show of support for the Mexican community," write Herbert Sample and Judy Lin in the Bee.
"At a naturalization ceremony at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco, Schwarzenegger told 1,148 restless new citizens and their families that they and other immigrants help improve their communities. The governor had kept the crowd waiting 35 minutes."
"'
When you hear this day so much about the cost of immigrants in this country, let's not forget of all the great things that immigrants contribute,' Schwarzenegger said to applause during his eight-minute address."
The LAT's John Balzar looks at the
challenge to Democrat Jane Harman in a safe Dem seat in Los Angeles. "Democratic Party voters who live along this strip of the coast will settle things June 6, choosing between veteran congressional powerhouse Rep.
Jane Harman of Venice and upstart English teacher
Marcy Winograd, who moved into a Marina del Rey apartment from her home in Pacific Palisades to be a resident of the district for the election."
Boiled down to the basics, the fight is over whether Democrats in Washington are fighting hard enough against President Bush.
"'Leadership is not about pointing fingers,' says Harman, a lawyer by profession — and once a nonresident who moved to the district to run, 'it's about solving problems.'"
"'Let's put it this way,' says Winograd, who has taught middle and high school and has been a curriculum coach and, before that, a radio news reporter, 'it's time to build an opposition party.'"
The LAT's Christian Berthelson
looks at the Republican primary for the 67th Assembly District. "'This is the classic scenario for a moderate to win an Orange County coastal district such as this,' he said. 'With [
Mike] McGill and [
Jim] Silva trying to run as 'the official conservative candidate,'' [
Dianne] Harman could win with a plurality, [
Allan Hoffenblum] said."
Back in Sacramento, Capitol Weekly's Shane Goldmacher writes about
today's Senate Rules Committee hearing, where the committee
will decide the fate of Schwarzenegger pal David Crane.
"Crane, a Democrat, was first appointed to the CalSTRS board by gov. Schwarzenegger in July, and three times has had his confirmation hearing postponed. Members can serve on the board for up to one year without Senate confirmation. Today, Crane's fate is in the hands of Senate Democrats, as they over whether or not to confirm a board member who openly advocates a shift to a defined contribution pension system."
Good news for owl eaters! The spotted owl, the bird that was synonymous with environmental fights in the 1990s, will
not be placed on the endangered species list, reports the Union-Trib's Mike Lee. " Giving formal protection to the bird could have significantly slowed logging operations and fire-prevention work in many of the state's mountain ranges."
We close today with
an item from K-9 magazine, the British dog magazine that is so popular with Roundup readers. "The Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger recently visited the wine making district of Napa Valley, where upon shopping for some local produce to take home,
found himself buying a bottle of beef flavoured beer, for dogs."
How or why they know that, we have no idea, but once again, the entire California press corps was scooped by K-9 Magazine.