After
signing a bill co-authored by all four legislative leaders that gives the first lady a chance to reform the California state museum, the governor met with the Big 5 to discuss his proposals for sweeping political change this year.
It all began with
a kiss, or so may go the story of how the governor and the Legislature learned to get along. Then again, it should be noted that
Michael Corleone kissed Fredo right before he had him whacked.
Democrats at the meeting walked away convinced the governor would like to avoid a special election this year. "I don't think the governor is spoiling for this kind of a fight," said Senate President Pro Tem
Don Perata, D-Oakland. "I don't think he wants to take any of those things to the ballot if he doesn't have to."
Anyone else out there having a sense of
deja vu?
The LA Times reports the governor actually extended an olive branch this weekend, when he invited Nuņez and Perata to dinner at his Los Angeles home.
Tony Quinn, a veteran GOP political consultant, apparently wasn't content with simply
criticizing the guv's redistricting plan. Now, he's
blasting the governor's entire special election package. "'This is a great case of putting the cart before the horse,' he said. 'These things don't seem to be ready for prime time. They all seem to have sufficient holes in them that you can see a confused public going out and voting no. The Legislature might say, 'You guys go ahead and put that stuff on the ballot - we'll just blow it away.''"
Yes, that's
Republican political consultant.
Meanwhile, the governor's committee that isn't controlled by the governor,
Citizens to Save California, will release its plans for a set of five initiatives to go on the ballot in November at a 9:30 a.m. press conference. The committee has set up
two fundraising accounts, one to deal with initiatives that would change education policy, state pensions and introduce a budget spending cap. They also have a separate bank account just to pay for the redistricting measure.
The account was created so that Republicans could give to the governor's cause without alienating Republicans in Congress, or in the Legislature, who
don't like the idea of redistricting.The SacBee writes that both of those accounts are now the
subject of a new lawsuit, brought by Democratic Party counsel
Lance Olson. The suit, led by a group called TheRestofUs.org, claims Schwarzenegger and the committee are violating the law because the committee is raising unlimited sums.
Both the committee and Schwarzenegger's lawyers have denied the claim. They've argued that the committee, while endorsing Schwarzenegger's plans to overhaul state government with a series of initiatives, is independent and not being controlled by him.
As the governor heads to Century City to raise some more campaign cash,
more than 1,000 protesters are also scheduled to attend, or at least gather outside.
Angelides jumps in We've officially got one Democrat running for Governor, with
Phil Angelides announcing at a California school. Dan Walters
looks at the race dynamics, and concludes "although Angelides' declaration launches the 2006 gubernatorial race, how it will end is anyone's guess."
Attorney General
Bill Lockyer, who was the party darling before a series of stumbles over the last couple of years, looks to be positioning himself as the
Joe Lieberman to Angelides's
Howard Dean. He
told Washington, D.C. reporters "I don't think Democrats ought to be defining themselves as the tax party all of the time, and Phil's a little more inclined to do that."
But Lockyer didn't stop there. The Associated Press quotes the AG, saying he was
disappointed by Schwarzenegger's performance this year and said the governor's tendency to go directly to voters to campaign for issues had "a little bit of the sort of
odor of Austrian politics." Asked to elaborate, Lockyer said, "There's a sort of arrogance of power that bothers me. You know, Arnold's still an Austrian citizen."
The San Francisco Chronicle
takes it from there: "Asked pointedly if he were referring to Nazi-era Austria, the attorney general replied, 'I'm just talking about the culture,' he said, adding that there was a 'long history from the Austria-Hungarian empire on, of sort of a more autocracy... it's a more elite system.'"
"Bill Lockyer is just used to being in empty rooms when he goes out," said Schwarzenegger spokeswoman
Margita Thompson.So, no kiss?
Lockyer, who was in Washington DC yesterday, gathered reporters to react to Angelides' formal announcement. When asked about
his own intentions for 2006, Lockyer reiterated he was running for governor. "It's not a formal announcement, but that's what I'm working on."
Meanwhile, the Legislature is hard at work on the pressing issues facing all Californians like
porn on the highway. Somehow, reporter Michael Cabanatuan managed to slip the porn title "Caught From Behind," past his editors. Nice work, Michael! We won't even ask why that particular title came to mind.
Assemblyman
John Benoit, a former California Highway Patrol commander, introduced legislation that would have made it illegal for anyone to exhibit "sexually explicit material in a motor vehicle . . . knowing that the material is visible to the public."
Unfortunately for Benoit and other opponents of fast-lane frolics, the bill was defeated Tuesday in the Assembly Public Safety Committee.
Oh well, there's always the initiative process.