Arnold Schwarzenegger, promoting his new memoir in the grand Hollywood style, went on national television to publicly discuss his fathering of a child by his family's housekeeper -- a scandal that rocked the country two years ago.
From the LAT's Anthony York: "Although he never discussed the matter with the boy's mother, who kept the child's paternity secret while continuing to work in the home of Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, he began secretly sending the woman extra money to help care for his son."
"Those details, revealed during an interview with CBS News' Lesley Stahl on "60 Minutes" on Sunday, were the former governor's first public comments on the affair that grabbed headlines and destroyed his marriage last year. They came a day before the release of Schwarzenegger's new memoir, which is expected to delve into details of his relationship with Mildred Baena and their son, Joseph."
"Schwarzenegger's decision to handle the paternity issue without telling those closest to him about it is characteristic of the former bodybuilding champion, movie star and politician, who said a certain amount of denial and secrecy has been a key to his success."
Speaking of the memoir, Schwarzenegger says GOP strategist Karl Rove told Schwarzenegger in 2003 that the bodybuilder didn't have a chance to win any recall election and that Gray Davis would never be recalled anyway.
From the Chronicle's Matier and Ross: "Schwarzenegger writes it was Rep. Bill Thomas, the Republican congressman from Bakersfield, who first urged him to run. So, while in Washington, Arnold dropped by the White House to see Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's top strategist."
"Playing dumb, Schwarzenegger asked, "You are the master behind getting Bush elected. What is your take on the whole (recall) thing?" "It will never happen," Rove said. "Plus, if there were to be one, I don't think anyone can unseat Gray Davis."
"Anyway, Rove said he was already looking ahead to the next election cycle, at which point he stood up and led Schwarzenegger downstairs, "where, almost like they had choreographed it, Condoleezza Rice came walking toward us from down the hall."
Schwarzenegger's ability to keep secrets from those closest to him, even his wife, figured signficantly in his success, he says.
From the AP's Juliet Williams: "Arnold Schwarzenegger says his lifelong penchant for secrecy and ability to put his emotions "on deep freeze" led him to keep many secrets from his wife Maria Shriver, eventually causing the dissolution of their marriage when he was forced to admit he fathered a child with the family's housekeeper years earlier."
"Throughout their strained 25-year marriage, Schwarzenegger says he did not want to tell Shriver about crucial life decisions such as major heart surgery and running for California governor because he feared she would overreact and tell her well-connected family and friends."
"In his new autobiography, "Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story," and in an interview airing Sunday on "60 Minutes," the former California governor acknowledges that his inability to be honest with people has hurt those closest to him."
Thousands of young California immigrants will be allowed to get driver's licenses, under legislation signed over the weekend by Gov. Brown.
From Matt O'Brien and Troy Wolverton in the Contra Costa Times: "California's DMV originally said it would grant the licenses, since it already accepts federal work permits as a valid form of documentation, but later said the state would need to clarify its rules. The law signed by Brown on Sunday does just that."
"California voters oppose giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants on a 56 percent to 40 percent margin, but it is an important issue to Latino voters, 60 percent of whom support the licenses, according to a Field Poll released Friday. The poll did not specifically ask about Cedillo's bill, which affects a more limited population of youths who came to the country as children."
"The same poll found 67 percent of California voters support a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants if they meet certain requirements."
There is general agreement that the shift of state resources to the counties has eased state prison crowding, but the jury is still out on whether the realignment is having a positive impact.
From Marisa Lagos in the Chronicle: "But there is a broad difference of opinion about whether the plan, which handed California's 58 counties responsibility for the incarceration and oversight of thousands of criminals, has made communities safer or reduced the number of criminals who re-offend, and there is no statewide data on those outcomes."
"California implemented realignment on Oct. 1, 2011, largely to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court order demanding that the state reduce the population of inmates in its overcrowded prisons. Today, the state has about 133,000 prison inmates, 27,000 fewer than it did a year ago..."
"But the diversity of the counties makes it nearly impossible to draw any conclusions about the plan's statewide impacts. Under realignment, some county jails are filled to capacity and releasing inmates early due to overcrowding, while others handled the influx without issue."
