Dan Weintraub writes that the voters still want change, although
they aren't so sure on the specifics. "And the question will be this: Do the voters of California want the kind of fundamental change in their government that Schwarzenegger is seeking to enact? They clearly wanted change two years ago, when they took the extraordinary step of tossing out a governor midterm and replacing him with a Hollywood movie star and businessman who had no prior experience in government. And they seem to still yearn for change today, if polls showing widespread dissatisfaction with the status quo are accurate.
But just what kind of change they want remains a mystery."
"Schwarzenegger's declining approval ratings have forced his campaign team to make the special election less a referendum on him and more a discussion of the policies he is advocating."
"Still, this election cannot help but be
a test of the voters' will to follow through on the recall.
Two years ago, they selected Schwarzenegger more with their hearts than their heads. On Nov. 8, they'll get the opportunity to say whether they like what they endorsed now that they have had a chance to see Schwarzenegger's vision translated into practical policy."
Somehow, we don't think that losses on November 8 would be attributed to the will of the voters, but rather the labor unions that will spend millions against the governor's measures.
Meanwhile, former Director of Finance
Tom Campbell has challenged California Teachers Association president
Barbara Kerr to a debate over the merits of Proposition 76, the budget reform measure. "I am available any time, any place," Campbell said in a statement released by the Schwarzenegger campaign. Reports that Kerr has countered by challenging Campbell to arm wrestle were unconfirmed.
Controller and Democratic gubernatorial candidate
Steve Westly played Show Me the Money yesterday, giving reporters
access to his tax returns yesterday, reports Laura Kurtzman in the Mercury News. "A brief review of the returns shows a meteoric rise in income after he joined eBay in 1997 as a vice president. Westly went from making just under $140,000 a year in 1996 as vice president of WhoWhere?, an early Internet directory, to making $40 million three years later."
"Westly and his wife, Anita, earned at least $193 million from selling eBay stock, according to the Palo Alto office of his accounting firm, Frank, Rimerman & Co."
Treasurer and Democratic gubernatorial candidate
Phil "Angelides has never released his returns, although his campaign spokesman,
Dan Newman, said he would do so this year. Newman did not say how many years would be made public."
"
Rob Stutzman, [Governor
Arnold] Schwarzenegger's campaign spokesman, said the governor, who made two years' worth of tax records public during the 2003 recall election, would release his 2003 and 2004 tax returns 'at some point later in the year.'"
From our
Political Gadfly Files Warren Beatty is keeping his name in the news,
keynoting the California Nurses Association convention in Oakland on Thursday. With the speech, Beatty continues to
treat liberal Democrats like the ugly girl at the high school dance. He gets a kick out of flirting, but we all know he's never going to actually go to the dance.
Back in the land of
real candidates for governor Speaker
Fabian Nuņez adds his name to the growing list of Democratic leaders who are backing Angelides for governor.
Nuņez will endorse Angelides at a Sacramento school today.
Former speaker and SF Mayor
Willie Brown has
unexpectedly quit the CalPERS board. The departure caught leaders at the nation's largest public pension fund off guard, leaving them with no explanation for the unexpected decision. Brown's replacement, Kings County Supervisor and farmer
Tony Oliveira, was quickly sworn in Monday morning.
"'Nothing the mayor has ever done surprises anyone. You always took everything he did as being something that was just his style,' CalPERS board President
Rob Feckner said Monday."
Brown lost a bid for the board chairmanship in 2003 to
Sean Harrigan of the United Food and Commercial Workers.
Attorney general candidate
Charles Poochigian is backing a
ballot measure to increase penalties for identity thieves. "The
California Identity Theft and Personal Information Protection Act will qualify for the November 2006 ballot if Poochigian --
who plans to appear in the same election as a candidate for attorney general - collects enough signatures by a February deadline."
"The current penalty for stealing personal information is a misdemeanor, with a maximum one-year prison sentence and $1,000 fine. Poochigian's initiative would increase the penalties depending on the number of victims."
Didn't
Cruz Bustamante get into a lot of trouble for backing a ballot measure while he was on the same ballot?
Speaking of the ballot box, Los Angeles County is
figuring out how to spend $267 million over the next three years raised from
Darrell Steinberg's tax on upper income to pay for mental health. "Proposition 63, approved by voters last November, places a 1% surcharge on all taxable income exceeding $1 million and is expected to raise up to $800 million a year to pay for mental health services for the poor statewide."
"The money is earmarked to fill the gap in services for the mentally ill that began when the state shut down institutions decades ago. Los Angeles County expects to receive about $89 million for each of the next three fiscal years."
And, there's finally some good news for
Duke Cunningham. "Rep. Randy 'Duke' Cunningham
may use campaign money to pay his legal fees in a federal bribery investigation, Federal Election Commission staff said Monday."
"FEC staff reached the conclusion in a draft advisory opinion that the commission will vote on Thursday. Cunningham, R-Rancho Santa Fe, had requested the commission's advice on whether such use of money in his campaign re-election account was permissible."
"The money may be used for legal fees, the draft opinion says, 'because the investigation concerns allegations that are directly related to Rep. Cunningham's campaign activities or his duties as a federal officeholder.'"
"Cunningham had more than $650,000 in his main campaign account as of June 30, the end of the most recent reporting period. His campaign has given donors the option of having their checks sent to the National Republican Congressional Committee instead of being used for his legal defense."
And finally, your Roundup writers were
passed over yet again for the MacArthur Foundation "genius grants," which were announced yesterday. Five of the winners of the $500,000 grant were from the Bay Area.
