In the new issue of Capitol Weekly, which hits the streets this morning, Malcolm Maclachlan takes a look at
UC Regent and Schwarzenegger personal financial advisor Paul Wachter. Also, Shane Goldmacher reports
Fran Florez, the mayor of Shafter and mother of Sen.
Dean Florez, openly
is contemplating a run against Nicole Parra in the 30th Assembly District next year.
The Shafter mayor says she has "
a strong desire and willingness to serve the 30th Assembly District," and is getting encouragement from her son, and others around her, to run.
Look for limited complimentary copies of the paper at a downtown Sacramento cafe or state office building near you, or
click here to get your subscription.Speaking of new releases, the
PPIC has a new poll out, and there's a little bad news for everyone. The poll shows the governor with
a 34 percent approval rating, and
all three of his initiatives running behind. But it also shows the so-called
paycheck protection initiative has a real chance of passing, with 58 percent support.
While teacher tenure has about 49 percent support, "the linchpin of the Schwarzenegger self-styled reform agenda --
Proposition 76, the "Live Within Our Means" state budget cap -- faces overwhelming opposition. The survey showed 61 percent of likely voters oppose the measure while just 28 percent support it and 11 percent are undecided.
Forty-nine percent of likely voters oppose Proposition 77, the governor's plan to give state retired judges rather than the Legislature the power to redraw political district lines.
Thirty-four percent back the idea, and 17 percent are undecided. "Voters have a
far more positive view, however, of an initiative that is not part of the governor's agenda: so-called "paycheck protection,'' which would
require public employee unions to get the consent of members before using their dues for political purposes. The measure,
Proposition 75, has the support of 58 percent of the likely voters surveyed, with 33 percent opposed and 9 percent undecided."
Meanwhile, the Chron's Lynda Gledhill reports Sen.
Don. Perata is
dropping his $7 billion transportation bond idea for this year. "Perata and other legislative leaders emerged from a meeting with Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday agreeing that
transportation funding was their first priority. But they said
nothing could be done about it in the remaining two weeks of the legislative session."
A day after Capitol Weekly first reported that Sen.
Don Perata called for
the immediate resignation of his newest appointee to the Coastal Commission, the commissioner,
Jim Aldinger, is digging in. "I may have omitted something," he said in an interview with the Daily Breeze. "But I don't believe that minor legal infractions, which were dismissed in court, amount to something that embarrasses the Senate."
As unions and advocates prepare to take on the pharmaceutical industry at the ballot this fall, attorney general
Bill Lockyer is
taking them to court for inflating drug prices. What better way to get into fighting shape for a statewide election than take on the drug industry? "As many as three dozen companies will be added to a lawsuit filed in 2003 by Attorney General Bill Lockyer against Abbott Laboratories Inc. and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, said
Teresa Schilling, a spokeswoman for Lockyer."
The good news for
Gloria Romero was that her bill to
give mayoral control over the LA school board passed a Senate committee yesterday. The bad news--that's the last hearing this bill is going to get for a while. " With PTA officials and teachers unions also against the measure and
questions about its legality unresolved, state Senate Education Committee Chairman
Jack Scott (D-Altadena) persuaded the bill's author, Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) to try to forge more support and work out the bill's kinks," the LA Times reports.
After being
threatened by a labor dispute, the Legislative softball game went on as scheduled yesterday, raising more than $40,000 for a baseball field for disabled children in South Sacramento. Capitol Weekly's Malcolm Maclachlan reports, "the Republican team won 19-6 in a game that was competitive well into the first pitch. Seven runs came of walks, despite Democratic calls to '
swing the bat!' and '
end the filibuster!'" The Dems squad apparently couldn't master the "Bell Curve" pitching style called for in the rules, which required that
each pitch travel higher than a medical marijuana supporter."And, in the ongoing effort to make the Roundup more TV-friendly, here's our
Animal Story of the Day. This one is about
our current favorite animal, the reptile on the loose in Los Angeles's Lake Machado that some are now calling "Reggie," but we prefer to call "Carlito." Carlito is still on the loose, but the effort to find him has turned up some interesting stuff, according to LA Observed. "That elusive alligator is
still loose in Machado Lake, but two men suspected of releasing the gator in Harbor Regional Park two months ago were arrested today. Turns out that the gator was called Reggie by
his past owners, one of whom is a former LAPD cop. At the San Pedro home of one of them, police found
three alligators, piranha, one rattlesnake, desert tortoise eggs, a scorpion and six marijuana plants.
Now
that's a party.
