It's an ever-evolving list, those interests in Sacramento that
Arnold Schwarzenegger deems "special." In addition to the old saws like labor unions and Indian tribes (at least those tribes that refuse to renegotiate their compacts), Schwarzenegger's special list has grown this year under a budget plan that calls for cutbacks in many areas of state government.
Among those that have taken umbrage at their new designation are California nurses, who have taken to the air to challenge the governor. The California Teachers Association has been up for weeks with radio spots taking on the governor, but the
California Nurses Association is the first group to take to the television airwaves.
Like
Phil Angelides before them, CNA's actual media buy was miniscule, airing "across California on a number of other cable networks, including CNN, Fox News, Lifetime, the Food Channel, Oxygen, the Learning Channel and some national markets next week." But they were no doubt hoping on a bump in free media coverage for taking the governor on.
The ad banks on some good, old-fashioned scare tactics, including this caution: "One day you will be in that bed and realize that because of the number of patients one nurse has to take care of you may be calling and there is nobody there.”
You can
view the ad here.Gaming interests didn't cut any corners when it came to spending
$107 million on both sides of Prop 68 and 70. The Union Trib reports "[Agua Caliente strategist
Gene] Raper said if the governor and tribes had been able to reach an agreement, much of the money that was spent on the campaign could have been used to help resolve the state's budget problem." We're sure that's exactly what the tribes would have spent the money on.
Meanwhile,
Bob Hertzberg hits the airwaves in Los Angeles, spending some of that $2 million war chest.
"Hertzberg's 30-second spot opens the television competition on a positive note. It highlights the former state Assembly speaker's major pledges: to break up the
Los Angeles Unified School District, ease traffic by banning rush-hour road work and hire new police officers without raising taxes."
Let's see how long that lasts...
Speaking of internecine political battles, the Union-Trib reports that
Assemblyman Juan Vargas is once again preparing to
challenge Rep. Bob Filner in 2006. Here's the Filner vs. Vargas crib sheet: "The Filner-Vargas feud dates 1992 when the two squared off over a vacant congressional seat that Filner ultimately won. In 1996, as a member of the San Diego City Council, Vargas ran against Filner in the Democratic primary and lost 45 percent to 55 percent. The new 51st District is considered more favorable to Vargas because its boundaries were redrawn – reportedly at Vargas' insistence – to include heavily Latino Imperial County."
Hopefully,
San Diego County can handle that race better than
the mayoral.Meanwhile, the
Education Coalition is spoiling for a good fight, bolstered by a round of stories about the unpopularity of the governor's education proposals, and a drop in his popularity among California Democrats.
Here's
Dan Walters' take: "If they can bloody Schwarzenegger's nose on schools, his opponents believe, they can blunt his drive to gain voter passage of four governmental overhaul measures, two of which are aimed directly at Proposition 98 and the powerful California Teachers Association."
The
California Youth Authority is going
kindler, gentler. Not everyone was happy with the change, "Who wrote this plan, Walt Disney?" said one recently retired guard.
Matier and Ross report on the
return of the Bay Bridge battle to Sacramento Tuesday. calling today's hearing of the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee " the first head-to-head public matchup between the Bay Area's fancy suspension span and the governor's scaled-down freeway on stilts."
While he was out
pitching new quarters yesterday, the governor's campaign team was reporting their mega-dollar
fundraising bonanza. In all, the governor raised
$23 million in 2004.
The
Kevin Shelley Legal Defense Fund, meanwhile? Well,
not so much. "In October, the secretary took out a $500,000 loan on his family home in San Francisco," said Shelley campaign spokesman
Sam Singer. Shelley, he said, is using the money to "help defray the substantial costs" of his legal bills. Singer Associates Inc received $24,900 of that money.
Which brings us to our daily story about the legislative committee set to launch a probe into
mishandling of federal funds by state officials. But this time, it's not what you think. Here's the excerpt from yesterday's press release from
Fabian Nuñez's office.
State Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez (D-Los Angeles) today announced that an Assembly Committee will
review the state's handling of federal homeland security funds after two reports from national groups criticized the Schwarzenegger administration's bioterrorism responsiveness and failure to account for $100 million in federal grants.
Assembly Member
Hector De La Torre (D-South Gate), Chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee's Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, will hold a hearing in February to look into the Administration's handling of federal homeland security funds. De La Torre also sent a letter to the LAO today requesting detailed information on how the $100 million is federal funds were allocated.
Finally, if you received one of those
Arnold and Maria holiday cards over the holidays like we did, you may have participated in a celebrity injustice. The Governor has
filed a lawsuit against the greeting card company that used the mug without his permission.