Governor Schwarzenegger has faulted as he
tries to accomplish too much, too fast, writes George Skelton in the Times. "
Pat Brown was a great governor — a historic builder — but even he moved incrementally. He didn't muddy up his water bond with highways or schools."
"Add to California's inherited checks and balances some additional, self-imposed, paralyzing rules — such as the Legislature's two-thirds majority vote requirement for money bills — and even incrementalism becomes difficult."
"But Schwarzenegger hasn't understood this. He has insisted on achieving the biggest and the most — an instant chapter in the history books. He hasn't figured out that what works on Muscle Beach and in Hollywood isn't necessarily the formula for Sacramento."
Rick Orlov writes in the Daily News that
the same overambition may hurt Antonio Villaraigosa.
In his first State of the City address, to be held Tuesday at the Accelerated Learning Academy in downtown Los Angeles, along with the release of his first city budget on Thursday, Villaraigosa will outline his goals and priorities for his second year in office as he continues his
fight over the future of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
All this activity, however, has some
beginning to see chinks in the much-vaunted political response of the mayor who lost control of his efforts last week to advance a trash fee to pay for more police officers and a draft proposal for his LAUSD reforms.
The LAT's Jordan Rau
takes a look at the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor. "This year, three self-styled reformers — state Insurance Commissioner
John Garamendi and state Sens.
Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont) and
Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) — are running in the Democratic primary June 6 on promises of making the job more worthwhile. The winner is expected to face Republican state Sen.
Tom McClintock of Thousand Oaks in the November general
election."
"Garamendi is the best-known of the candidates throughout the state. Some political observers say he would gain if Speier and Figueroa split voters from the Bay Area and those who want to support a female candidate."
"On April 3, Garamendi had surgery to repair a heart valve. His campaign says it poses no threat, and so far his opponents have not raised the topic."
Dan Walters chimes in on L'affaire Burkle. "
Ron Burkle certainly was no media-shy recluse, but until a month ago, he was best known as a very wealthy Southern California supermarket tycoon with a penchant for palling with politicians, including former
President Clinton, former Gov.
Gray Davis and former San Francisco Mayor
Willie Brown."
"Recently, however, Burkle found himself - or placed himself - at the
center of three intense bursts of media attention that interact with each other in odd ways." Walters goes on to point out the trifecta of the former Knight-Ridder papers bid, the Page 6 scandal, and the
Burkle bill.
If you're returning from Spring Break and need to catch up on all things Burkle, visit
BurkleWatch.com. Still waiting for those offers to come rolling in...
"
Senate Bill 1379 would
create the nation's first statewide biomonitoring program to study levels of chemical contamination in blood, urine, fatty tissue or breast milk," reports Jim Sanders in the Bee.
"Critics say SB 1379 would do more harm than good, needlessly scaring Californians by pinpointing contamination without being able to say what levels are dangerous or whether it is causing illness or internal damage."
"'We monitor the pollution in our air, our water and even our fish - it's time to start looking at the pollution in our bodies,' Senate President Pro Tem
Don Perata, D-Oakland, said in a statement about the measure."
Meanwhile, Wyatt Buchanan and Greg Lucas look at
Sheila Kuehl's bill to
incorporate gay and lesbian history into school curricula. "The bill is garnering national attention because California makes up roughly 12 percent of the nation's textbook market, though major publishers said they produce national editions for other states so the law won't force kids elsewhere to learn about Harvey Milk or gay pride."
Sponsored by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica,
the bill is to come before the full state Senate as soon as Monday, when it also will rekindle a long-running debate over whether state officials or California's 1,053 local school boards should choose curricula."
"'This is simply adding the LGBT community to the groups that the state has said must be included in the curriculum,' said
Geoffrey Kors, executive director of Equality California, which backs the bill. 'There's nothing special or different.'"
"'
This is about pushing a blatant sexual agenda -- including sex changes that involve cutting off body parts -- upon impressionable schoolchildren as young as kindergarten,' said
Randy Thomasson, who heads the Campaign for Children and Families."
Does that mean we might be able to get another state holiday out of this? We're all for Harvey Milk's birthday, if it means we get a three-day weekend.
Michael Hitlzik looks at the
efforts underway to allow phone companies into the cable business. "The question raised by a bill in the state Assembly is whether it's necessary to wipe out all local regulation of cable services in order to achieve the nirvana of video competition.
AB 2987, sponsored by Democratic Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nuñez and Assemblyman
Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys), chairman of the Utilities and Commerce Committee, would do just that.
The Register's Martin Wisckol
looks at the spending in the 35th senate district. "We suppose it's hard to criticize extravagant campaign spending when only 236 votes ended up separating
Tom Harman from
Diane Harkey in last week's state Senate special election. A total of $2 million was spent on the campaign, and who's to say that last $10,000 didn't make the difference?"
"'I don't think it's that much money when you consider how wealthy that district is," said
Allan Hoffenblum, a state elections handicapper. 'The bigger story is how few voters turned out. That's ridiculously low turnout for that district.'"
"About 19 percent of all registered voters turned out. Harkey spent $722,000 of her own money (and loaned another $100,000), bringing the total raised for her side to $1.26 million, or $33 per vote. Harman's side raised $21 per vote."
Logan Jenkins looks at the
electoral weirdness that voters in the 50th Congressional District now have to deal with. "Thanks to the governor's thrift, we're looking at either an electoral version of the movie
'Groundhog Day.'"
Speaking of dueling Republicans, Harrison Sheppard
profiles the GOP primary in the 37th Assembly district. "Earlier this year it seemed like first-term Assemblywoman
Audra Strickland, R-Westlake Village, was facing an easy path to re-election."
"She had no challenger in the primary and was a conservative incumbent in a heavily Republican district who would be facing a Democratic candidate in the general election that she had easily defeated two years ago."
"But that changed a few weeks ago when
Bob Larkin, a Ventura County businessman and former county Republican chairman, decided to jump into the race for the
37th district seat."
Sheppard also takes a look at
candidates' ballot designations, and finds they don't always hold up under scrutiny. "One of the candidates in the race for the Assembly District 41 seat lists himself on the ballot as a "national security analyst."
"But he doesn't work for the government or a think tank. He describes his occupation that way for the June primary because he provides unpaid articles and research for anti-illegal immigration groups."
"Another candidate in the same race calls himself an 'author.' But he's published just one story in an anthology. An activist for disability issues, he supports himself primarily through public disability assistance payments."
"Then there's the candidate who calls herself a 'city women's commissioner.' But she makes her living by running a political communications business and resigned from the commission three months ago."
"The situation just a sampling of candidate occupation titles from area races illustrates a long-standing problem voters will face in the June primary: Some candidates are little-known and what's allowed on the ballot to describe a person's occupation can be subject to heavy spin. '
Ballot designations are the height of euphemism,' said Barbara O'Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and the Media at California State University, Sacramento."
Sounds like that's just a euphemism...
