LAT's Michael Finnegan follows
Phil Angelides on
his tour of coastal California, stumping for Democratic votes. "
"
Under attack by rival Steve Westly for his ties to oil companies, gubernatorial hopeful Phil Angelides dashed up the California coast Monday to plug his environmental record at scenic beaches as the increasingly brutal Democratic contest entered its final two weeks."
"In Santa Monica, Goleta and Santa Cruz,
Angelides also tried to one-up Westly on a looming political fight between environmentalists and the oil industry: a likely November ballot measure that would hit oil drilling companies with a tax to raise $400 million a year to develop alternative fuels. Angelides vowed to fight for the initiative and challenged his rival to do the same. Westly declined to take a stand."
And so, it appears, there is finally an issue in this campaign: who hates Big Oil more than the other guy.
After
reviewing another Angelides ad, the Bee's Kevin Yamamura was
following the Treasurer on his green tour. "'You know, there's an important difference in this campaign,' Angelides said. '
We've got a governor who came into office with seven Hummers. We have the Angelides family with three hybrids. And then we have Steve Westly, who says he's going to buy a hybrid.'"
The LA Times gets around to looking at the
oft-forgotten $600 million library bond, which will appear on next month's ballot. "Proposition 81 — the only bond measure on the ballot next month — has won the broad backing of teachers, businesses, organized labor and the state's major newspapers. (Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who signed Alpert's bill to put the bond on the ballot, has not endorsed the proposition, for reasons his campaign office would not explain.)
With little organized opposition, its champions are cautiously optimistic that they can win the simple majority needed on election day.
Meanwhile, the Register's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson looks at the governor's
network of publicly funding websites touting his accomplishments.
Joe Dunn is going live for the last two weeks with a
statewide ad for his campaign for controller, continuing The Man Who Cracked Enron theme.
From our
Shame, Shame, I Know Your Name Files, Christian Berthelsen makes his return to Sacramento as
lawmakers take umbrage with UC Irvine med school officials. "State senators excoriated top UC Irvine officials Monday for a lack of accountability over the failure of the school's liver transplant program and a decade-long string of other problems. One senator threatened to use the Legislature's budget power to force officials to be more responsible."
You know you're in trouble when you're getting a lecture in responsibility from the state Legislature.
(Director's Note: Cue: "Man in the Mirror")Under sometimes hostile questioning from the Senate Health Committee, university officials, including Chancellor
Michael Drake, sought to provide assurances they were taking problems seriously and trying to root out a culture in which people preferred to hide problems rather than deal with them.
"'This may be one of those rare times when I don't have any confidence that anyone is taking responsibility for this,' said Sen.
Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento), chairwoman of the committee. 'Someone's got to be accountable for this. This is just appalling.'"
Speaking of
finger-wagging at UC officials,
Leland Yee "plans to introduce legislation Friday barring the University of California's governing Board of Regents from meeting behind closed doors when considering the compensation of high-ranking executives," report the Chron's Todd Wallack and Tanya Schevitz.
With a large number of California's hospital officials saying they're unable to meet a 2008 deadline for seismic retrofit, there may be a way out--
recategorizing many of them as not at risk. "The Hospital Building Safety Board is recommending the state use a new high-tech tool to reassess the 1,109 high-risk hospital structures and create a new priority list. Those deemed less at risk would have until 2020 or even 2030 to comply with earthquake standards."
"'The new methodology more accurately states what really is the seismic risk of hospital buildings,' said
Bob Eisenman, a spokesman for Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente. 'Many of the hospitals in the Central Valley areas would be removed from that (high-risk) category.'"
Not everyone is happy though...
"
Hospitals have 'cried wolf more than once on this. They have had plenty of time,' said
Beth Capell, a lobbyist for the Service Employees International Union. 'We have hospitals that have not in any way done construction, engineering, zoning (changes) or arranged financing (for seismic retrofits).'"
From our
Duck and Cover Files,
Dick Cheney was in Stockton yesterday raising money for
Richard Pombo, and "used the fundraiser to
offer a vigorous defense of the administration's domestic surveillance program and the war in Iraq. 'We're going to continue making progress for the American people, and we couldn't ask for a better partner than Congressman Richard Pombo,' Cheney said."
Cheney is in Sandy Eggo today to try to give
Brian Bilbray's campaign a bounce, although Democrat
Francine Busby has got to be delighted to have the Veep in town.
Laura Ernde
writes up the AD12 race between
Fiona Ma and
Janet Reilly for the San Mateo County Times. "Like other close races, this one is likely to come down to who does the best job motivating their supporters to cast ballots in an area where voter turnout is traditionally low, [Target Book author
Allan] Hoffenblum said."
"'San Francisco has horrible turnout. They like to talk about politics, but they don't vote,' Hoffenblum said."
Ah, yes. It looks like we're heading down the home stretch. "An
inquiry into possible voter registration irregularities allegedly engineered by state Assembly candidate
Paul Krekorian's campaign has been referred to prosecutors, county officials said Monday, and Krekorian's opponent in the race for the 43rd Assembly District seat has been quick to cry fraud."
"With just two weeks left before the June 6 primary, candidate
Frank Quintero's attorneys sent a letter to the registrar of voters Monday demanding swift action against Krekorian. 'We have every faith that the D.A.'s public integrity unit will prosecute this to the fullest extent of the law,' said
Phil Giarrizzo, Quintero's campaign consultant."
