As the state moves into its longest-ever budget standoff, both Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown say they can end the budget gridlock in Sacramento.
The LAT reports, "After appearing before a group of
women voters in Anaheim, Republican Meg Whitman
ridiculed lawmakers for failing to come up with a
spending plan more
than two months past the start of the fiscal year,
saying that if she
were elected, she would veto any legislation not related
to government
spending, job creation, education and public safety.
Earlier this week,
she said California has "one of the most dysfunctional
state governments
in the country."
"It's irresponsible," she told reporters after her
appearance. "This is a
crisis, and we simply can't run the state this way....
Soon, we're
going to have to give IOUs to vendors. We must start
this process much
earlier."
"This week, Brown released a plan that includes many
ideas put forth by
Republicans in the past, including vetoing legislation
that lacks a
means to pay for associated costs and proposing a constitutional
amendment that would require future ballot initiatives
to identify
funding sources."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was back in Sacramento Thursday, meeting with legislative leaders. And for a brief moment, it looked like we might be on the verge of a budget deal.
Jack Dolan was there. "For about 10 minutes on Thursday night it looked like a deal to pass California’s long overdue state budget was imminent. Democratic leaders emerged from three-hour meeting with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to deliver the most upbeat news of this budget season. They expected a deal "tomorrow or by the weekend at the latest," said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento).
"No Republican lawmakers followed, as would be expected if big news were about to break. And Schwarzenegger, who has just returned to Sacramento after a weeklong trade mission in Asia – and was expected to talk with reporters about that, and the gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno last week -- cancelled a promised press briefing. Instead, his spokesman, Aaron McLear stepped into the hallway outside the governor’s office to say a budget, “is not significantly closer. I think they made some progress, but there are no major breakthroughs.”
Sen. Rod Wright was indicted on charges of voter fraud and perjury stemming from allegations he does not live in his state senate district.
"A Los Angeles County grand jury on Thursday unsealed
an eight-count felony indictment against state Sen. Roderick
Wright
(D- Inglewood), accusing him of filing a false declaration of
candidacy, voter fraud and perjury beginning in 2007, when he changed
his voter registration to run for the Legislature.
"Wright listed as his residence a home in the district
he wanted to
represent, but county authorities allege that he did
not live there as
required by state law."
Sen. Alex Padilla returned a $35,000 contribution from Pacific Gas & Electric. Padilla, chaiman of the Senate Utilities Committee, will lead hearings into the natural gas pipe explosion in San Bruno.
"The money arrived Sept. 10. On the same day, Padilla, who as chairman of the Senate Energy and Utilities Committee oversees PG & E’s industry, announced that he would call a hearing to investigate the explosion.
"After The Times inquired about the contribution and Capitol Weekly published an item about it Thursday, Padilla’s campaign spokeswoman Yvette Martinez issued a statement saying the Los Angeles-area lawmaker was refunding the contribution."
Independent groups, most of them labor unions, continue to pour big money into Jerry Brown's campaign, even after Brown himself is on the air with campaign commercials.
"Now that Brown is on the air with commercials of his
own, some of
Brown's labor allies have faded to the background.
Others are running
their own commercials, like the California Teachers'
Assn.’s attack on
Whitman's school spending plans that was the subject
of a political and
legal struggle between the union and the Whitman campaign
this week.
"One
thing is clear: The labor money on Brown's behalf is not going away.
Since Sept. 1, seven labor groups have spent more than $737,000 on
Brown's behalf. That's according to contribution reports
from the
secretary of state's office. (This does not include the millions spent
on on issue ads like the one the teachers association
paid for.)
"And
there's more to come. Los Angeles powerbroker George
Pla has formed a
committee called Campaign for Civic Participation aimed
at boosting
Brown's candidacy. The committee has not reported receiving
any money
yet, and Pla did not return calls and e-mail seeking comment about what
his group plans to do to help Brown get elected to
a third term."
Republican Carly Fiorina went on the attack Thursday, accusing Barbara Boxer of waging class warfare.
"Signaling a combative round in the California U.S. Senate contest, Republican Carly Fiorina on Thursday defended her new attack ad on "millionaire" Barbara Boxer, charging that the Democrat has consistently tried to "play class warfare" on the issues.
Fiorina's online spot, "Failure," characterizes Boxer as a wealthy career politician. "Since she went to Washington, her taxpayer-funded salary has more than doubled," the ad says. "She has become a millionaire. And members of her family profit off her special-interest-backed political committees."
And finally, from our Man Bites Cop files, AP reports, "A top municipal official in Lisbon's Oeiras suburb sank his teeth into a traffic police officer during a discussion over a fine, apparently enraged by the familiar form used by the officer to address him.
Police said on Monday Esequiel Lino, an aide to the mayor of Oeiras, had come to the police station to protest his daughter's car being towed away by police.
"He started verbally abusing the officers, kicking the desk and was warned several times, but it didn't stop him. He went on and ended up biting one of the officers in the arm, and had to be detained," a police spokeswoman said.