Jan 5, 2005

The tent is in place on the Capitol lawn, and that can only mean one thing -- the circus is in town. Make way for the TV trucks, the governor's state of the state address is scheduled to begin at 5:05 p.m. PST.

While tonight's little chat is expected to be a grand media event, the Bee suggests that Schwarzenegger has lost some of his draw as a media attraction. If you, like the press, find your interest in the governor on the wane, and are looking for a way to liven things up tonight during the big speech, try following along with the State of the State Drinking Game.

The Bee leads with the expected State of the State endorsement of Keith Richman's initiative replacing CalPERS's benefit system with a 401k-type defined contribution system.

The CCPOA's Lance Corcoran isn't too happy about the timing of the proposal, saying "They are typical tactics of individuals who are intent on union busting."

Apparently, there are many more initiatives where that one came from.

Will the speech include a redistricting for term limits trade off? Peter Nicholas explores the idea in the LA Times.

In today's column, Walters offers himself as the governor's speech writer and says that anyone that gets in the way of fixing the state's problems should get out of Dodge.

Channeling the governor, Walters writes: "Anyone who doesn't want to participate is invited to resign and stop wasting the public's time and money. I do not consider failure to be an option."

Stay of execution
Reed Hastings will have another week before facing the hangman, as the Senate Rules committee hearing where his Board of Ed confirmation was expected to be challenged by Dems for his actions implementing Prop 227's ban on bilingual education. Despite the delay, it appears Hastings will still face the gallows next week, giving a big victory to Martha Escutia.

Perata goes freestyle
It was clear from Sen. Perata's performance at a Capitol press conference Tuesday that the John Burton era is officially over in the state Senate. Not only did the new Senate leader wear a tie, he also quoted Aristotle and Heraclitus. But in the process of thinking out loud in front of a few dozen reporters, Perata may have made more news than he intended to Tuesday when he hinted that he'd be open to possibly rewriting Proposition 98. Though he confessed that he "never had a conversation with the teachers' organizations" about some of his ideas for education reform, Perata asked the governor to call a special session on education, and suggested some radical changes aimed at keeping more authority and responsibility for education decisions at the local level.

Those changes, Perata said, could include altering the schools' constitutionally mandated funding guarantee.

"That would radically change the nut we have to crack up here," he said.

Though he stopped just short of calling for tinkering with Prop. 98 and Prop. 13 directly, that kind of big thinking is clearly on the pro tem's mind, as he said it may be the only way out of the state's budget woes if the governor refuses to raise taxes.

To the dismay of Bay Area aestheticians, Perata stated that he'd support the "I-5 in the air" look for the eastern span of the Bay Bridge, as long as the state pays the entire cost and that the project be performed by someone other than Caltrans.

Not to be outdone, Treasurer Phil Angelides spent the day unveiling a new cable spot attacking the governor for cuts to education and health care programs in last year's budget. LAT's Halper gives the spot a quick ad watch treatment.

If anyone sees Bill Lockyer while all this is going on, please let us know.

And while we're on the subject of calling people out, let the record show that the GOP's Karen Hanretty spent her Tuesday comparing Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuņez to "a pre-pubescent girl."

No official response from Nuņez yet, but now that Steve Mavigio has officially signed on with the Speaker's office, we're expecting a rebuttal. Welcome back to the Building, Steve.

Most unfortunate quote of the day: "No matter what the governor says on Wednesday night, he cannot mask the fact that he is setting us up for a tsunami of budget cuts to education and health care that will not be good for the state." Angelides, launching a poorly worded preemptive strike against the governor Tuesday.

Most abysmal performance of the night: Three-way tie between the Oklahoma Sooners, Ashlee Simpson at the Orange Bowl halftime show and Amber Frey on Dateline. Will all three of you just go away? Please?

In other news

The governor will head to San Diego next week to help the state come up with a plan to save its military bases in the next round of federal base closures.

The Campaign for College Opportunity released a poll saying the public wants more money spent on UC, CSU and CCC.

The State of the State Drinking Game

Play along at home with your favorite beverage. Since many doctors recommend drinking eight glasses of water per day, grab a big bottle of Calistoga, pull up a chair, and play along. If all you have handy is a bottle of Jack Daniels, that'll work too.

Every time Gov. Schwarzenegger:

says the word "reform": one drink

uses the phrase "partners in the Legislature": one drink

refers to his wife, Maria: one drink

recognizes some hero in the audience: one drink

mentions USC: one drink

mentions the car tax: one drink

says the word "children": one drink

uses any form of the work "Cooperate": one drink

mentions Ronald Reagan: one drink

mentions Hiram Johnson: two drinks

mentions Pat Brown: three drinks

mentions Willie Brown: four drinks

mentions Jerry Brown: five drinks

mentions Steve Westly: one drink

mentions Bill Lockyer: two drinks

mentions Phil Angelides: three drinks

receives a full standing ovation: one drink

receives a standing ovation from GOP members only: two drinks (you must still drink if it's the GOP members and Joe Canciamilla, with or without Keith Richman)

Every time camera pans chamber during applause and Jackie Goldberg isn't clapping: one drink

Every time the camera pans to Cruz Bustamante (and he's awake): one drink

If Bustamante is seen clapping: two drinks

If the camera shows a past speaker of the Assembly, other than Bustamante: two drinks

If the governor uses the word "fantastic": two drinks

If he refers to "the people" (populist references only): two drinks

makes reference to "blowing up boxes": two drinks

uses the phrase "Spending Cap": Two drinks

mentions the Bay Bridge: two drinks

uses a line from a past Schwarzenegger movie: two drinks

uses any other Hollywood reference: three drinks

calls for a special session: two drinks (two drinks for each special session he asks for)

calls for a special election: three drinks

mentions Bob Matsui: simply raise your glass in respect to a great man