As doubts continue about a special election, the governor says
at least three initiatives will be ready for the ballot by the end of the week. "'We have tomorrow all the signatures that are necessary on the tenure reform,' Schwarzenegger told reporters after trolling through a Fresno restaurant for more names in his final petition push. 'Then by the end of this week we will have the rest of the signatures for redistricting and also for our budget reform. So we are doing extremely well.'"
The Bee reports that as the governor glad-handed Fresno bar-goers for votes, "Schwarzenegger announced a date that appears to be shaping up as his deadline for legislative action -
June 10.
"'We are on our way to call a special election,' he said. 'All we are waiting for is our signatures. By that time, hopefully, the
legislators will come in and negotiate and come up with a proposal and work with us to create true reform. If not, we will definitely go to a special election. There is no doubt in my mind.'"
Well, that makes one of us.
John Fund reports that
paycheck protection is the hammer the governor will use to drive Democrats to the negotiating table. "However shaky some of the planks in the governor's original reform agenda now look, GOP legislators say there is a Plan B. Should final talks with Democratic leaders on reform fail, they point out that a
"doomsday measure" aimed at the heart of the Democratic Party's financial base is headed for a spot on any November special election ballot.
"The initiative, sponsored by antitax activist
Lew Uhler, would
require public-sector labor unions to obtain written permission from each of their members before using any portion of his dues for political activity. Mr. Uhler believes his "paycheck protection" measure would be popular in a low-turnout special election. "Can you imagine the outcry if corporations were to require their employees to contribute to a political action committee and only the corporate leaders could decide how to spend it?'"
Or, as Gale Kaufman would ask, if corporations donated money without consulting their shareholders?
Fund points out "the idea was put before California voters once before, by former governor
Pete Wilson. But it appeared on a 1998 primary ballot which drew a disproportionately large number of Democratic voters to the polls. It still won 47% of the vote after a $30 million campaign to defeat it."
George Skelton says
the governor may have made a mistake by switching the topic from budget spending to illegal immigration. Though he reasons "the issue of illegal immigration could be a sinking governor's lifeline ... Schwarzenegger
needs to freshen his act by performing better as governor. That means ending deficit spending, even if it requires a tax hike. It means more cajoling and coercing of lawmakers."
In
Antonio Vanilla-raigosa News, the Times surmises that
the LA Mayor's race has seen a role reversal, with the incumbent running as outsider, and the front-running challenger trying to run out the clock. "'Villaraigosa's strategy is:
Sit on the lead. Don't make any waves. Don't lose any votes and go out and get as many broad-based endorsements as possible,' said Republican strategist
Allan Hoffenblum, who is not affiliated with either side in this race between two Democrats. Hoffenblum said Villaraigosa is running a "vanilla" campaign and added: 'They've been very successful.'"
"The tactics represent somewhat of a switch of playbooks from the first round of the mayoral election, in which Villaraigosa finished first on March 8 and Hahn came in second, hair-raisingly close to elimination," the Times reports.
Dan Walters peers at the mayor's race and wonders how it may affect
Phil Angelides and
Steve Westly. Walters poses the question: "
Are boring politicians losing their grip on California's politics?" Charting a history of bland leaders, from Deukmejian through Davis, Walters calls LA Mayor
Jim Hahn "another yawn-inducer whose chief political attribute was that he seemed to be the safest choice when he ran for mayor of Los Angeles four years ago, but who has found himself facing questions about the efficacy and ethics of his regime."
"If Hahn joins Davis and [San Diego Mayor
Dick] Murphy in retirement, the era of boredom in California politics may be over - something that the two Democratic candidates for governor, both of them charisma-challenged men, might ponder."
For a more definitive answer to this question, check back after the 2006 attorney general's race...
If Walters's hypothesis is correct, it may be
good news for one San Diego mayoral hopeful."Councilman
Michael Zucchet has waited 20 months for
his trial on federal corruption charges. In two months he may become San Diego's 34th mayor." Zucchet is the city's deputy mayor, "positioning him to be Dick Murphy's interim replacement when the mayor leaves office July 15."
"Zucchet and Councilman
Ralph Inzunza are accused of taking money from
Las Vegas strip-club owner Michael Galardi in exchange for
trying to ease restrictions on touching dancers at go-go bars," the AP reports.
Of course, if Walters's question is answered in the affirmative, there's still hopes for other states. Like Alabama, for instance, where former basketball star
Charles Barkley insists he's
"dead serious about wanting to run for governor of his home state.
Says Barkley: "They assume that the governor is supposed to be some old white guy. Why can't I be it? We've got a governor in California who was a body builder. We've got another governor in Minnesota who was a wrestler."
One year after San Francisco Mayor
Gavin Newsom's controversial Care not Cash initiative, the Chronicle reports on the
mixed results from the program's first year. "Nearly
800 street people have been moved into supportive housing and
general assistance rolls for the homeless have been slashed by 73 percent -- developments that represent San Francisco's most significant transformation in years in the landscape of homelessness. Yet, there are shortcomings. The newly housed often keep panhandling, finding it tough to live on their slashed welfare checks of $59 a month, down from the former $410 maximum -- and many have had to wait in shelters for as long as six months to get their housing."
Finally, in
You Get What You Pay For News, a quick apology to you, gentle reader, for our failure to appear in your e-mail box on Friday. Despite rumors of our demise, we just got
a little case of cold feet...
