This can't be a good sign. Though it appears the speaker and the governor may be close on a bond deal, now Senate Democrats have some objections. In an email to reporters late Thursday, Senate leader
Don Perata outlined "
a number of problems which I believe warrant careful consideration by the Senate Democratic Caucus."
The Keystone Cops ain't got nothing on these negotiations.
The governor tried to sweeten the bond deal yesterday,
proposing a compromise water storage plan, reports Andy Furillo in the Bee.
"Democrats are supporting a dam restoration project in Riverside County that could add up to 425,000 acre-feet to the state water system, while Republicans are pushing for massive new storage locations in Colusa County and along the Madera-Fresno county line that could top a million acre-feet each."
"According to legislators, the governor's $500 million would pay for actual construction or assorted environmental and engineering studies and would leverage other possible funding sources to create what would amount to projects costing in excess of $1 billion each. The Legislature would need to approve the spending on a two-thirds vote, and if it could not decide on one of the three sites by 2018, the money would go toward a groundwater storage plan."
"'The three of them would go into a competitive bid for that money, and one or all three would get some of the money to proceed with everything they need,' said state Sen.
Sam Aanestad, R-Grass Valley, providing details Monday on the governor's water plan."
Perata objected to the water plan as too far off to completion, as well as provisions that "would reduce the amount of urban park land, ease environmental restrictions, add funding for Highway 99 improvements at the expense of other Northern California road projects, and change the distribution of transit funding in the Los Angeles area."
In all, "The proposal would put a
$40.2 billion bond measure on the ballot this year and another $9.1 billion in school construction bonds on the ballot in 2008, said
Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for Nunez."
But barring some kind of crack in the universe, this bond deal is starting to feel dead.
Cue 60 Minutes theme...Rob Reiner came out swinging yesterday, accusing his critics of attacking him because they didn't have good arguments against his preschool measure, Prop. 82. Laura Mecoy has the interview in the Bee. "'They will do whatever it takes to knock this thing out,' he said in an interview with The Bee. 'So they will attack me because they know they can't talk about the initiative.'"
"Opponents responded that they have discussed the shortcomings of Proposition 82, including their argument that raising taxes on the wealthy to pay for preschool for all 4-year-olds could harm the state economy."
"'We are not the ones who have called for any investigations,' said
Joel Fox, the opposition campaign's co-chairman. 'That has come from the legislators or the press.'"
Is it us, or are these debates sounding more and more like preschool?
Carla Rivera gives the
background treatment on Reiner's measure in the Times. Expect more tomorrow after Reiner speaks to the Sacramento Press Club this afternoon.
The flame wars have begun in earnest in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. The latest installment comes from the Angelides Campaign, which finally takes its claws out.
"Phil Angelides has been endorsed by more than 70 prominent environmental leaders across California as well as Vote the Coast, a statewide grassroots group dedicated to protecting the coast (have you noticed, by the way, that
Steve Westly lists his own staff on his endorsement list?)."
Why no, we hadn't. But thanks for
pointing that out...
The Angelides folks just wanted to set the record straight on the latest Westly attack.
"Regarding that Lake Tahoe case: the homeowners (including Phil Angelides, who owned a small portion of a single unit) were
the victims of the owner of the condo complex. As soon as Angelides and his partners learned about the owner's actions, they filed suit against him in federal court.
Saying that Angelides and his partners were responsible is as inaccurate as saying that Steve Westly was responsible for shortchanging the California State Teachers' Retirement Fund. In 2003, after all, Steve Westly was sued by the California State Teachers' Retirement System to collect $500 million owed to the pension fund by the state. But in that case, like the Tahoe case, Westly was only sued by default - not because he had any responsibility for the state's actions - so we wouldn't even bother to raise the issue."
That's good, because The Roundup wouldn't bother to print such baseless attacks...
The race to succeed
Elton Gallegly in the 24th congressional district continued to get stranger yesterday, with
one of the two Democrats dropping out.
"
Mary Pallant, 45, an Oak Park businesswoman, said Monday that she decided not to file candidacy papers because "her family was getting too traumatized with each lie and attack."
"Pallant said her primary opponent, the Rev.
Jill Martinez of Oxnard, had portrayed her as a carpetbagger who owed money to former campaign staff members. Pallant denies the allegations."
"'My basic premise was not attacking another Democrat, but they were not abiding by that,' Pallant said."
Meanwhile, Jon Fleischman blogged yesterday on
Michael Tenenbaum, the
lucky Republican who got into the race before Gallegly's announcement.
As if the Capitol didn't have enough to worry about, the French are
up in arms over Sacramento's aversion to foie gras.
"
Arnold Schwarzenegger is against foie gras but he hasn't prevented the death penalty?' asked
Marc Roose, who runs the foie gras promotion office in southwest France, the epicenter of production."
"Roose said efforts to ban foie gras mask a broader agenda by animal-rights advocates to eliminate meat consumption. As for the politicians, he suggested that the legislation on foie gras was grandstanding."
"'These people don't understand that there are cultural differences, gastronomical differences between the countries,' he said. 'It would be sad to live in a world where everyone ate the same thing.'"
And finally,
Isaac Hayes, the voice of Chef in the Comedy Central cartoon South Park, says he's
leaving the show because of its attacks on religion.
"Hayes, who has played the ladies' man/school cook in the animated Comedy Central satire since 1997, said in a statement Monday that he feels a line has been crossed. 'There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins,' the 63-year-old soul singer and outspoken Scientologist said.
"South Park co-creator
Matt Stone responded sharply in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, saying, 'This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology ... He has no problem - and he's cashed plenty of checks - with our show making fun of Christians.'"
