The LAT's election team reports on the governor's last-ditch effort to convince voters to vote Yes tomorrow . "
Battling
anger and indifference on the part of California voters, Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger implored them Sunday not to make the
state "the poster
child for dysfunction" by defeating a host of measures on Tuesday's
ballot that seek to restructure the state's bleak finances.
"The
governor's visits to three African American churches in Los
Angeles
came as proponents and opponents of the ballot measures
marshaled the
last of the millions of dollars they have collected
for the special
election. Schwarzenegger said Sunday he had been told
that about 25% of
voters are expected to show up, a paltry percentage
that underscores
the difficulty of the quest for reliable voters."
The Chron's Carla Marinucci begins the Schwarzenegger political obituary .
"Now, on the eve of a critical election, Schwarzenegger's ratings have tanked again and his ability to sell what he argues are some of the most critical budget measures ever facing California appears questionable.
"Critics say the governor himself is to blame for the ups and downs.
"People see him as a fraud," said Rick Jacobs, founder of the Courage Campaign, a progressive grassroots advocacy group that has fought the governor's ballot measures. "He came into office and he had the ideal political platform. He had a clean slate and he could have done anything he wanted ... (but) he never advanced an agenda."
The cost of presumptive failure, however, is not cheap. "The battle over six budget-related measures on Tuesday's special election ballot has generated more than $31.5 million in campaign spending, split the state's labor community and created strange bedfellows on both sides," AP's Steve Lawrence reports.
"Supporters, aided by the powerful California Teachers Association and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's business allies, have raised more than $27.6 million to back Propositions 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E and 1F."
Meanwhile, Rob Reiner hit the streets with a different political message. "Hollywood director Rob Reiner stars in the only broadcast ad specifically opposing Propositions 1D and 1E," the Bee reports.
"The two items on Tuesday's special election ballot would temporarily shift funds to the state from local children's and mental-health programs, which voters approved in past years.
"Reiner is involved in the campaign because in 1998 he spearheaded Proposition 10, which created the children's programs and the tobacco tax to finance them."
George Skelton casts a pox on everyone's house. "Tuesday's state election has all the rough feel and harsh sounds of a referendum -- a referendum on the performances of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature.
"They're what's called "toxic" in politics -- poison to whatever they touch, especially ballot measures.
"All six ballot measures got dumped on voters because they insisted on it in previous elections. Not one of the propositions could have been enacted by the governor and Legislature themselves. They all would alter old ballot measures -- mostly citizen and special-interest initiatives -- that require voter approval for major amending."
And Dan Walters writes this year's budget promises more of the same.
The budget situation has even driven a wedge between Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his union backers.
"Union
leaders are also feeling betrayed over the mayor's decision last week
to jettison an early retirement plan that labor and
city officials had
been working on for more than a year. Early retirement
would have been
offered to workers within five years of retirement
eligibility.
"The mayor is supposed to be a union-oriented
mayor, but I don't see it," said Roy Stone, president of the
Librarians' Guild, Local 2626, which represents city librarians. "We're
feeling extremely disappointed, extremely betrayed.
It's like being
stabbed in the back."
"The practice of canceling medical coverage after policyholders have become sick or injured has cost insurers millions of dollars in fines and settlements. Now, for the first time, a jury will weigh whether an insurer owes anything to a canceled policyholder," reports the LAT's Lisa Girion.
"The case pits a former Cypress man against the health insurer that dropped him after a disabling car accident. Steve Hailey, a former self-employed machinist, and Blue Shield of California will be directly affected by the outcome, but the case already has influenced how insurers in California handle these rescissions."
And finally, from our Eating the Evidence Files, "Authorities in North Carolina say a store owner and a patron thwarted a teen accused of trying to carry out a robbery by concealing a banana beneath his shirt to resemble a gun. Winston-Salem authorities say 17-year-old John Szwalla entered the Internet cafe Thursday and demanded money, saying he had a gun.
"The owner, Bobby Ray Mabe, said he and a customer jumped Szwalla, holding him until deputies arrived. While they waited, Mabe says the teen ate the banana."