While you were barbecuing and shopping, the Democratic duo
spoke at Memorial Day events and
spent the rest of the weekend trying to destroy each other.
"Democratic gubernatorial rivals
Steve Westly and
Phil Angelides each tried to raise new doubts about the other's integrity Monday as they scurried to Memorial Day campaign stops hundreds of miles apart," reports Michael Finnegan in the Times.
"The charges and countercharges over ethics are part of a ferocious effort by each candidate, mainly through TV commercials, to define his rival as untrustworthy. At public events, both continue to promote their largely similar agendas, including higher school spending and broad environmental protections. But TV ads are the main tool for reaching voters statewide, and both candidates have all but stopped running positive commercials about themselves."
"'I didn't want to be here,' said Westly, who earlier this month broke his written pledge not to be the first to attack his rival by name in a TV ad. '
We're hoping we can get to a point where we can get some positive ads back up on the air, down the stretch. We'll see.'"
The Oakland Trib's Josh Richman reports "former Oakland Mayor
Elihu Harris challenged Westly to avoid mudslinging in the campaign's final days, telling him, 'You have a good message, but you've got to find a better way to get it out.' Westly said that Angelides is running '100 percent negative ads' on television right now, while 'we now have 10 to 20 percent of ours positive.'"
Comforting.
"Westly
opened his day at the Memorial Day service at San Francisco National Cemetery in the Presidio, then drove across the bay to meet supporters at a barbecue restaurant in Oakland," reports the Chron's John Wildermuth.
"'The election is about who can best shape the California economy, prepare our economy to be successful in the 21st century and who truly understands what reforms we need to make to enable our children to be successful,' he told about 40 people at Everett & Jones Barbeque near Jack London Square. 'I believe I have the background to do that.'"
"Westly
denied Monday that he had a financial conflict of interest when he worked to rescue the state treasury in 2003 by borrowing money from Goldman Sachs and other banking firms he had personally invested in," writes Peter Hecht in the Bee.
"Responding to a report in The Bee that he had a personal financial connection to four Wall Street banks that earned tens of millions of dollars for providing "credit enhancements" to reduce the state's interest burden, Westly said he didn't sway the process in favor of any company seeking business with the state."
"'I was not involved in negotiations to lure the bidders,' Westly said in an interview on his gubernatorial campaign swing."
The Bee's Clea Benson
looks at the use of nonprofit mailing permits for political mail by groups like the California Club for Growth.
"State Sen.
Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, running for state controller in a tough race against former Assemblyman
Tony Strickland, of Moorpark, is complaining about Strickland's use of nonprofit postal rates."
"Strickland is on leave from a job as president of the California Club for Growth, the nonprofit anti-tax group whose newsletter is the slate mailer. Strickland paid $25,000 to appear on the newsletter's slate."
"Members of Service Employees International Union Local 1000, which represents more than 87,000 of the 173,000 rank-and-file state workers,
are voting through June 10 on whether to authorize leaders to call a strike. Union officers expect approval," reports Joe Mathews in the Times.
Except, a strike by state workers may be illegal.
"Workers contend they would lose ground under the state's current offer of a 3% raise because of the rising cost of living and changes to their healthcare coverage."
"'
It's just shameful that the governor has put members in a place where they are forced to do something that may or may not be legal,' said
Dianne Ledebur, a union steward who works in a Department of Motor Vehicles call center in Van Nuys.
"'All of us are concerned about it. But at what point do you take action?'"
Amidst a cool reception from lawmakers, L.A. Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa travels to Sacramento today to lobby business and labor leaders for support of his plan to take over L.A. Unified, write Duke Helfand and Joel Rubin in the Times.
"Villaraigosa's plan to take over the Los Angeles Unified School District is meeting increasingly stiff resistance from lawmakers wary of allowing the mayor to bypass local voters and who question whether he — or any city official — has the expertise to run a nearly $30-billion educational enterprise."
"'A lot of people up here are former school board members who don't want to see a mayor take over the district,' said Assemblywoman
Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles), who served on the Los Angeles school board and now chairs the lower house's Education Committee. '
The mayor is going to force the issue, and it's not going to be a good thing.'"
The LAT's Mitchell Lansberg
looks at Jack O'Connell's run for reelection, which has been complicated by his wife's battle with a brain tumor.
"If it weren't for his wife's illness, these would be happy days for O'Connell. As he heads into the June 6 election, his opposition consists of three high school teachers and a retired school superintendent who have failed to attract the money or political support needed to mount an effective statewide campaign. The only political insider to consider the race, Assemblyman
Tim Leslie (R-Roseville), backed out after concluding that he couldn't win."
Catherine Saillant
takes a look at the GOP primary in AD37 for the Times. "On the right is the incumbent, Assemblywoman
Audra Strickland, 31, who has used her first term to push such issues as repealing the gas tax, providing tax credits to offset private school tuition and getting rid of much of public education's bureaucracy."
"Her opponent,
Bob Larkin, 70, represents a more moderate wing of Ventura County's Republican Party, which has struggled in recent years to elect candidates."
"The outcome could hint at the mood of GOP voters nationwide, amid multiple scandals unfolding in Washington, D.C., said
Allan Hoffenblum, a Republican political analyst.
"Strickland has recently been the focus of several news stories detailing how she and her husband, Tony, a former assemblyman now running for state controller, have transferred political donations into each other's consulting firms."
Meanwhile, Jean Pasco
looks at the SD34 battle to replace Joe Dunn for the Times.
"'This is the hot race,' said
Adam Probolsky, a Republican pollster in Costa Mesa."
"The high-stakes race has attracted money and attention from party leaders in Sacramento because it is one of only a few truly competitive Senate districts in the state. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 3,300 voters in the district, whose total registration is about 279,000."
The LAT's Tony Perry checks in on the
CD50 battle to replace disgraced congressman Duke Cunningham, which has become a bellweather for national Democratic fortunes in the mid-year elections.
"'This is a biggie,' said
Carl Luna, a political science professor at San Diego's Mesa College. 'Everyone is going to be reading the tea leaves as a predictor of November.'"
Meanwhile, we've been reading the tea leaves to
figure out just how hard this album is going to suck. "
Paris Hilton says her upcoming album will be a mix of reggae, pop and hip-hop, with the first single being a reggae song called 'Stars Are Blind.'"
"Hilton also will remake
Rod Stewart's 'Do You Think I'm Sexy,' she said in an interview in the June issue of Hong Kong magazine Prestige.
"'The whole album has so much different music on it. I like all music. It's not like I only like pop or only rock. I want to have something for everybody,' Hilton was quoted as saying."
