The governor brought out the little red wagons yesterday to
deliver the first of the petitions for "a scaled-down version of an earlier measure he backed making it harder for public school teachers to get tenure."
Schwarzenegger said "If you're a lousy teacher, no one can get rid of you. If you're the worst teacher, no one could get rid of you. So what tenure reform would do is weed out (bad teachers) and reward the good teachers."
"'Where he is leading this state now is into political chaos,'
said Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles."
Isn't that what people said about the last governor?
Meanwhile, supporters of an initiative that would change the way the state draws its political districts are
getting ready to hand in "300,000 signatures" in LA County, according to a release from Californians for Fair Redistricting.
George Skelton
evaluates the governor's newest ads and political situation and concludes "A special election suddenly looks too risky for Schwarzenegger. He should forget it and cut his losses. Save taxpayers the $70 million. Focus on negotiating bipartisan reforms that can go on next year's regular ballot. Transform himself into a governor. ... Schwarzenegger can't turn around unless he changes direction."
Don Perata reportedly told the governor some version of the same thing recently, but the governor is said to have respectively declined.
Meanwhile, conservative commentators at the National Review are
urging the governor to be more like Mitt -- Massachusetts governor
Mitt Romney. "In Massachusetts, GOP Governor Mitt Romney governs a state where
only 13 percent of the voters are Republicans -- which hasn't stopped Romney from achieving political and policy successes. They haven't been strictly on spectacular, big-idea policy initiatives. But
by enacting relatively modest policy successes resulting in real taxpayer savings and better public policy that improves citizens' lives, Romney has generated political capital with Massachusetts voters -- which translates into sustainable voter trust and support."
If Schwarzenegger needs any more pointers, he can just ask
Mike Murphy, who also provides counsel to the Bay State governor.
The SacBee
probes the governor's new ad and challenges his assertion that the Legislature is to blame for the fact that "for every dollar the state takes in, the legislators spend $1.10." The Bee concludes: "But Schwarzenegger himself signed a budget last summer that failed to bring the state's spending and revenues back into balance after years of red ink."
Just when legislators were getting hopeful that there would be new cash to spend, a Sacramento judge ruled that the
state owes the California State Teachers Retirement System $500 million for a skipped payment in 2003. "CalSTRS 'is sensitive to the state's very real budget difficulties,' the fund's chairman,
Carolyn Widener, said in a prepared statement. 'But in the end, our focus must be on California's educators - on what's best for them, not just now, not in the near term, but forever.'"
You mean the governor and the teachers can't just make a deal?
Fed by Governor Schwarzenegger's praise of the Arizona Minutemen project, the
self-appointed Border Patrol is assembling in California. "California's Border Watch will differ from the Minuteman Project in part because of the topography of California. Small groups of citizens will monitor and observe along the coast and in the mountains and deserts in an effort to deter illegal immigrants and smugglers. Only those with concealed weapons permits will be armed. The group is also recruiting pilots to fly private aircraft over the border and medics to help volunteers during the summer heat." "'This is not going to be a picnic,'
Andy Ramirez said. 'This is not about volunteers sitting on beach chairs with a pair of binoculars looking south.'"
Meanwhile, Assemblymember
Ray Haynes and the recall organizers
Rescue California are planning a
ballot measure to create a California Border Police. "'We've got to quit whining about the feds,' Haynes said. 'California suffers a disproportionate share of the costs of illegal immigration, and the other 49 states aren't very interested in helping out.'"
In other words, we can no longer blame the feds since Southern California Republicans chair the House Appropriations, House Rules, and House Ways and Means Committees.
Would you like the undercarriage sealant?: The LA Times reports: "[C]ar dealers and consumer advocates have
agreed to back legislation designed to protect car buyers from hidden charges and defects and allow used car buyers to get a refund within three days of purchase."
Hmm...we wonder if all those signatures for the Car Buyers Bill of Rights Initiative has anything to do with this.
Dealers said this was their best and last offer and they were only agreeing to it because you're a friend of a friend.
And, for our female readers, there are also
runaway grooms. "A man who didn't show up for his wedding returned home Wednesday, after spending the past month walking the along the beach and sleeping in boxes and under bridges, his fiance said. ... Souza, who was wearing the same clothes he wore when he left, then
walked upstairs at the condominium the couple share, and took a shower.Loguercio, 57, said her fiance had lost about 40 pounds from spending recent weeks '
walking up and down the beach from Redondo Beach to Marina del Rey.'"
The reports of him surviving as an initiative signature gatherer are unconfirmed.
