The Times looks at the actions the governor took on legislation this year. "
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger completed action over the weekend on 1,172 bills sent to him by the Legislature this year. He B>signed 910 measures into law and vetoed 262."
And you thought you had a busy weekend.
"He OKd laws that will affect millions of Californians and thousands of businesses, including measures to curb industrial greenhouse gas emissions, raise the minimum wage, catalyze competition between telephone and cable TV companies, increase penalties for sex offenders, offer poor Californians cheaper prescription drugs, and ban drivers from using hand-held cellphones."
The governor rejected bills that would have allowed illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses, required children to ride in car booster safety seats until age 8 and imposed fees on shippers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Now that the bill-signing season is officially over, we can focus on the election. (Phil, that's your cue...)
Actually, with all that signing out of the way, the guv is
getting ready to focus on the bond package, reports the Chron's Greg Lucas. "After nearly a month of squeezing positive publicity from signing bills, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger now begins a whistle-stop tour of the state -- with Democratic leaders of the Legislature in tow -- urging voters to approve a $37 billion package of public works bonds."
So, obviously, photo op season is
not over.
Meanwhile, Phil is still trying to solidify his base, reports Carla Marinucci. "Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides -- confronted with assessments that Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has outpaced him in outreach to black voters --
visited African American churches in Oakland on Sunday.
Angelides told parishioners that the governor is linked to a Bush administration that is 'lavishing more on those that have the most. We can't allow what we believe in to be crushed by this ideology from the right,' Angelides said at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, where the Rev.
Harold Mayberry gave him a strong endorsement."
The Merc's Gary Richards
takes a look at the transportation bond. "California has not tried such a massive upgrade for its aging roads, transit lines and other improvements since Brown pushed through a $3 billion highway spending spree in the early 1960s -- equivalent to $12 billion today."
From our
Nice Guys Finish Last FilesGeorge Skelton
sits down with GOP Attorney General candidate Chuck Poochigian. "The Fresno Republican, who grew up on a San Joaquin Valley raisin and fruit farm, seems miscast these days as a relentless attack-dog politician.
That's because
he's a genuinely nice guy — courtly, congenial and considerate.
He's in many ways the opposite of his November campaign rival, Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, the Democratic front-runner for attorney general."
He's also way behind in the polls.
"Poochigian does have
a glaring voting record that is in lock step with GOP conservatives. And while that may be in the mainstream of Republican legislators, it's far to the right of the California electorate on most issues. One relevant exception is anti-crime, where his tough-sentencing positions generally jibe with the public's."
Herbert Sample checks in from the "Bee's San Francisco Bureau" to
chime in on the AG's race. "But amid the charges and countercharges five weeks before Election Day, political analysts say the contest's fundamental equation has changed little: In a down-ballot race that has yet to attract widespread attention, the familiar Brown enjoys big advantages over the little-known Poochigian."
Meanwhile, Marc Lifsher looks at
the race for insurance commissioner. "The two candidates vying in a low-decibel race to be elected California's top insurance regulator couldn't have more different qualifications for the job.
One has worked for government all his adult life. The other has spent all but two years in the private sector. But each claims his experience gives him the talents and tools to protect consumers and bolster the state's business climate. They are Democratic Lt. Gov.
Cruz Bustamante, and Silicon Valley businessman
Steve Poizner, a Republican. And, along with a handful of minor-party candidates, they are running to succeed
John Garamendi as state insurance commissioner. Garamendi is running for lieutenant governor.
The Times' Maura Dolan and Henry Weinstein report on the trial
challenging the state's method of execution/. "Thousands of pages of depositions and four days of testimony last week in a federal courtroom here provided the most intimate portrait yet of a state's lethal injection methods.
Witnesses depicted executions by lethal injection — long considered a more humane alternative to the gas chamber or the electric chair — as almost haphazard events, and medical
experts on both sides could not rule out the possibility that one or more inmates had been conscious and experienced an excruciating sensation of drowning or strangulation before death."
If the well runs dry, why not advertise? That seems to be the motto of the FBI in their
hunt for political corruption in Oakland, according to Matier and Ross. "just to make sure it doesn't miss anything, the FBI -- in a move we've never seen before -- took out a full-page, color ad in the weekly East Bay Express, announcing its "Government Corruption Hotline'' at (800) 376-5991 to report "bribery, extortion, embezzlement and fraud involving local, state or federal government officials."
From what we hear, the phone has been ringing."