Arnold Schwarzenegger rounded out the Thanksgiving weekend by
sitting down with Tim Russert on Meet the Press.
The Bee's Kevin Yamamura
writes: "Schwarzenegger said he plans to devote next year to making health care more affordable so uninsured Californians, estimated at more than 6 million, can obtain coverage."
"Earlier this month, the governor said the state should 'definitely' be able to cut the uninsured pool in half, a feat that Health Access spokeswoman
Beth Capell estimated could cost $6 billion."
"But the governor went even further Sunday, stating that 'we've got to insure everybody because we have 6.7 million people that are uninsured, and we're working right now on the various different ideas.'"
"Schwarzenegger communications director
Adam Mendelsohn later explained that the governor had established
an objective for next year rather than a pledge."
"'The goal should be extending coverage to as many Californians as possible and also drive down the rising costs of health care,' he said."
The Chron's Tom Chorneau
reports: "Schwarzenegger said Sunday that his plan will not include a tax increase."
"'In the future, what we have to do is pay down our debt, which we have been doing,' he said. 'We've done a tremendous job of bringing down the structural deficit from $16.5 billion, when I took office, to now, $4.5 billion."
"'It will come down further this year, and we are going to eliminate it next year or the year after,' Schwarzenegger said. 'That's what we need to do, never raise taxes, it wouldn't happen.'"
Kate Folmar and Mike Zapler report in the Merc News: "Schwarzenegger has made it clear that he will
again try to overhaul how the state's political map is drawn, removing power from self-interested legislators and giving it to an independent commission."
"Two previous attempts have failed. Voters rejected a ballot initiative to redraw districts in 2005. A more bipartisan attempt fell apart in the state Legislature last year."
"Now, the governor says, he hopes legislators will place the item before voters in 2008. 'I think there is serious effort there,' Schwarzenegger said in Mexico. 'We just have to figure out what makes them comfortable, because no one wants to lose seats.'"
Capitol Weekly takes a look at
the role Maria Shriver played in her husband's reelection campaign. "'This was not a matter of the advisers moving him to the center, it's a matter of building a team of advisers who allow him to do what he wants to do naturally,' says [Communications Director
Adam] Mendelsohn. And Shriver took the lead in building that team."
"That team helped reposition Schwarzenegger away from the Wilson-era policies of the special election on hot-button Republican issues like paycheck protection and a state spending cap. The move back to the center "was his gut reaction to the results of the special election, to learn something form it, and go forward in a positive way," [
Daniel Zingale said. 'He had to make sure his team was on board with that. That was Maria's goal, but that emanated from the governor.'"
"It also
reprised a familiar role for Shriver - helping build a team of advisers around her husband who would understand who he was, and could help him realize his vision of where he wanted to go - whether it be in politics or in Hollywood. A year before Schwarzenegger entered the race for governor, Shriver was reportedly involved in the replacement of her husband's agent. As his confidant and partner, she has always played the role of career adviser, and that has extended into his political life."
"None of us likes to have to take money from close friends and neighbors, and that reluctance apparently
extends to the boys and girls of the California Legislature," writes Steve Weigand in the Bee's The Buzz.
"Instead, according to a recent report by a nonprofit Berkeley-based watchdog group called
MAPLight.org., the doughty solons most often put their hands in the pockets of donors outside their own communities. The MAPLight study found that a hefty 78 percent of legislative campaign contributions came from outside the donee's districts."
"Or at least they did in the 2001-02 and 2003-04 cycles. The latest campaign cycle's numbers are still being crunched. The study also found that 25 legislators got at least 90 percent of their loot from outside their districts; that more than three-fourths of contributions to legislative campaigns were for more than $1,000; and that 10 percent of all contributions came from out of state."
"The out-of-district champ was Assemblywoman
Cindy Montañez, D-San Fernando: Almost 99 percent of her $539,699 collected in 2003-04 was from out of the district. Among the Sacto-area delegation, the champ was Sen.
Mike Machado, D-Linden, with 86 percent of his $1.75 million coming from ZIP codes not familiar to his mail carrier."
The Bee's Aurelio Rojas looks at the
staff shuffle inside the Capitol. "With 36 new members in the Assembly and 12 in the Senate, there's more hand-wringing -- more jobs are at stake this year than at any time in a decade."
"When the new class is sworn in Dec. 4, about 200 jobs will officially turn over in the Senate and twice as many in the Assembly, where eager-to-please staff members like
Rebekah Anderson are networking and sitting for interviews."
"Many staff members have already lined up jobs, but they can't be officially hired until after their new bosses are sworn in."
"'People are beginning to figure out where they're going to go,' said
Greg Schmidt, the Senate's chief executive. 'I have 50 to 75 people who are looking around, and we won't have everyone placed until January.'"
CW's Malcolm Maclachlan takes a look at the
freshman member orientation that took place at the Capitol before the holiday. "As the Capitol echoed with the sounds of construction, the Assembly freshman class sat through an intensive week of orientation last week. The training covered everything from ethics to hiring staff, to setting up living arrangements to
making sure their marriages don't fall apart."
"The last item is quite serious, said
Richard Stapler, press secretary to Assembly Speaker
Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles. Even for those who've already held elected office, the first-thing-in-the-morning to last-thing-in-the-evening commitment of serving in the Assembly can be trying."
"The bipartisan glow that swathed the state Capitol this year
may give way to partisan rancor, as combative conservative
Michael Villines prepares to lead Assembly Republicans in the next legislative session, political observers say," report Steven Harmon and Gary Scott in the San Bernardino Sun.
"Villines, a Clovis Republican who was raised in San Jose, seized power by riding the support of conservative lawmakers, who rejected the more accommodating leadership of former minority leader, San Diego Assemblyman George Plescia. But the move may end up marginalizing the Republican caucus."
"'They've gone for a guy who was in (Gov. Arnold) Schwarzenegger's face in opposing the bond measures, and rendered themselves a little more irrelevant in the process,' said
Tony Quinn, co-editor of California Target Book, a nonpartisan publication that tracks the Legislature. 'That's their problem. The governor will simply deal with the Democrats and when he needs six Republican votes on the budget, he'll pick them off one at a time.'"
"'Throughout the past year, the governor repeatedly side-stepped the Republicans to place $39 billion 'devil's in the details' infrastructure bonds on the ballot,' wrote Assemblyman
Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, in a Nov. 11 letter calling for a change in Assembly leadership."
"'
The governor then used his coattails to expand the state's debt, but not the ranks of Republican legislators,' Huff continued. '
For the past 12 months, Schwarzenegger catered to (Assembly Speaker Fabian) Nunez and (L.A. Mayor Antonio) Villaraigosa while he abandoned Senator (Tom) McClintock and the rest of the Republican ticket.'"
"With a week before swearing-in ceremonies, San Fernando Valley's incoming freshman legislators have
already set aggressive goals to tackle everything from poverty and transportation to education and health care," writes Harrison Shepard in the Daily News.
"The legislators find themselves in pivotal positions, with community activists and business groups expecting them to fight for the Valley's fair share of $43 billion in bonds approved by voters earlier this month."
"'We'd like to see our delegation work together on both sides of the aisle and with the governor,' said
Brendan Huffman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association. 'With the passage of the infrastructure bond package, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work together and make sure the money is distributed where it needs to be.'"
"Valley voters elected six new legislators and re-elected one incumbent Assembly member. Several Valley-region senators who were not up for re-election this year also will return."
"California schools
are in line for a $6 billion windfall over the next five years, and interest groups are already lining up to get their share, promoting ideas like improving high schools, paying teachers more, and helping urban districts with severely declining enrollment," writes Lynda Gledhill in the Chron.
"The money is anticipated because K-12 enrollment is expected to drop while the state's general fund revenues continue to increase. Several factors are contributing to the declining enrollment: Children of Baby Boomers are exiting the 5-to-17 age group, fewer people are moving into the state, and there has been a decline recently in the state's birthrate. "
Feeling down about spending the holidays in war-torn Afghanistan? Well,
maybe a harmonica will help. A Canadian music retailer is shipping 2,600 Delta Blues harmonicas, one for each soldier, as gifts for the troops.
"
Todd Thompson, marketing director for Music Stop, says the idea to help raise soldiers' spirits came to him as he was driving home from work and thinking about the bad news that usually comes out of the war zone."
"Thompson says he doesn't know why, but somewhere in the back of his mind soldiers and harmonicas just seemed to fit."
"'I don't know if it was a movie it came out of or what,' Thompson said."
"'It seems to be the right sort of instrument. They're handy. They're portable. You don't have to plug them in, and everybody can play a tune on them to some degree.'"
Hence making the Canadian forces officially the Most Annoying Army in human history.