Mob scene

Nov 15, 2005

Germans may love David Hasselhoff, but Chinese love Arnold Schwarzenegger. That's the conclusion of Robert Salladay and Mark Magnier, who write in today's Times "Schwarzenegger arrived here Monday for a trade mission and found a far more enthusiastic audience than he had last week in California during the special election."

But can he sing?

Gary Delsohn reports on the mob scene for the Bee. "[Maria] Shriver, who had a stricken look on her face as the pushing and shoving ensued, said in an interview afterward that she was 'a little bit' startled as brown-uniformed Chinese soldiers and plainclothes California Highway Patrol officers kept her and her husband from getting trampled."

The Times continues "Any move by Schwarzenegger to promote California wine should help not only California imports but the entire market, [Chinese winery sales director [Yang] Hua said. 'The Terminator is very famous in China.... Schwarzenegger has a strong image and most people think of guns ... not wine or music. But at least he's famous, so a lot of people will notice. Also, if people see that he's bringing something and not just killing things, that could be very good.'"

If only he got such good political advice at home.

In China, the governor is finding the audience he's been looking for the last couple of months on the campaign trail. "'The Chinese people are giving change a chance,' Schwarzenegger told about 1,000 Special Olympics athletes and their families, who shifted from foot to foot to ward off the bitter afternoon chill. 'They are giving tolerance a chance. They are giving inclusion a chance. They are giving love a chance,'" reports Kate Folmar for the Mercury News.

On the guv's last day of campaigning before last Tuesday's special election, he used the tagline "give change a chance."

Meanwhile, the court appointee temporarily charged with overseeing changes to California's prison health care system reports that the system "may simply collapse" unless changes are ordered by the court, reports Claire Cooper in the Bee.

"'Had the legislators let us move forward ... we would have saved the taxpayers millions of dollars and accelerated the resolution of this long-standing departmental shortfall,' [Department of Corrections chief Rod Hickman] said."

"But Donald Specter, director of the nonprofit office that represents prison inmates, blamed the state's administrators. He said corrections, finance and personnel officials 'can't seem to let go of some of their business-as-usual processes and treat this as the emergency it is.'"

"Specter threatened to 'use every power we have to force compliance" with Henderson's orders unless the state acts now."

The Chronicle continued its coverage of UC executive compensation, and reports the school system is refusing to release payment information about its top brass.

"The University of California appears to be violating public records laws by refusing to release a written proposal to boost salaries for its top executives, several experts said Monday. The university's Board of Regents has received the report but UC spokesman Paul Schwartz said it won't be released until after the regents' finance committee discusses it behind closed doors Wednesday afternoon."

Among those in line for pay increases are UC President Robert C. Dynes, whose annual pay is now $403,916, and the 10 campus chancellors who earn from $253,600 a year to $358,900. Some of those chancellors, as well as thousands of other top paid employees, have received thousands of dollars in bonuses and other compensation that is generally not publicly reported by UC.

Kevin Yamamura reports in the Bee "The Senate's annual hearing on government waste included a report from state Auditor Elaine Howle, who told lawmakers that her office receives 400 calls per month from state-employed whistle-blowers. She said her office helped uncover $4.2 million in inappropriate state expenditures between July 2002 and June 2005."

"Among other topics, the committee asked Department of General Services officials to explain why they cannot account for 8,848 vehicles in the state fleet."

"DGS Deputy Director Rob Cook said the department under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger first wanted to account for all real estate assets and then sought to locate all 'mobile assets.'"

"He said the vehicle inventory is ongoing, but that problems include a decentralized inventory and aging records. Of the unlocated vehicles, he said that 91 percent were 1990 models or older."

Dan Weintraub writes that Californians are receiving a payoff from direct democracy through lower workers' compensation rates. The compromise plan approved by the Legislature after the governor threatened a ballot measure is already making the mandatory coverage cheaper, writes Weintraub.

"Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi announced Thursday that he was recommending another 15 percent cut in the rates employers pay for workers' compensation insurance, the state-mandated coverage that provides medical care and disability benefits for people injured on the job.

"Garamendi's latest recommendation brings to nearly 50 percent the cumulative rate reductions his office has called for since the Legislature in March 2004 passed a measure to overhaul the program, whose costs were spiraling out of control."

Of course, the insurers have only passed on 26% of the savings recommended by Garamendi.

S-N-double-O-P D-O-double-giz-ee: "Rap star Snoop Dogg will head a youth rally on Saturday outside San Quentin State Prison to protest the Dec. 13 scheduled execution of convicted murderer and former Crips gang co-founder Stanley 'Tookie' Williams."

"Dogg, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, once ran with the infamous Los Angeles-area street gang. He joins a chorus of opposition to the execution of a gang-leader-turned-peace-advocate who has garnered unusual celebrity and several Nobel Prize nominations while on death row."

Department of Corrections: Of course, the mega-bond being considered for all things infrastructure is $50 billion, not the $50 million reported in yesterday's Roundup. Heck, what are a few zeros?

From our Hey, You, Get Off of My Cloud Files, the Rolling Stones are still pissing off the neighbors, even in their 60s. "The mayor's receptionists, members of the Board of Supervisors, their aides and the Entertainment Commission, which issued the sound permit, reported that they fielded scores of calls Monday from constituents still angry at the concert noise. The Police Department was bombarded with citizen gripes during the show at the waterfront stadium."

And in Holland, the punishment for knocking over dominoes is apparently death by firing squad. "A sparrow knocked over 23,000 dominoes in the Netherlands, nearly ruining a world record attempt before the bird was shot to death yesterday, the state news agency reported," hence, setting the world's record for "World's Unluckiest Bird."