The Bee's R.E. Graswich had lunch with
Willie Brown the other day, and the former Assembly speaker and mayor was happy to offer his
analysis of the gubernatorial campaign.
"'
Phil has the world's greatest godfather in Angelo Tsakopoulos,' Willie said. '
And Phil is a smart guy. But he doesn't look good on TV and doesn't sound good on radio. They need to keep him in places like Dinuba and Chico, where they don't have modern communications with the rest of the state and no one can see or hear him.'"
We're sure he means that in a nice way.
"Willie said the Austrian Oak could topple if he reverts to the tough-guy routine. 'He's the best in the business when he gets out around regular people and just sells himself as Arnold,' Willie said. Brown is a Democratic stalwart, but personally likes the Republican governor. Arnold occasionally calls Brown's San Francisco radio show. The day after the primary, the show couldn't get Angelides on the phone.
'His staff said he was not available,' Willie said. 'I don't like that.'"
Well, for what it's worth, Willie doesn't return our calls...
With the state's coffers full and legislators willing to spend it this election year,
businesses are lobbying for tax breaks, writes Evan Halper in the Times.
"Southwest Airlines, Intel, the Motion Picture Assn. of America and many others are busily canvassing the Capitol for state dollars in the form of tax breaks. They are hoping legislative leaders will slip them some money in whatever budget deal is reached behind closed doors before the state's July 1 deadline for putting a new spending plan in place."
"Businesses are asking legislators to give them a break on jet fuel prices, the cost of making movies and even leasing artwork, among other subsidies."
"'There is a little extra money in the budget and everybody wants these goodies,' said
Tony Quinn, co-editor of the California Target Book, a nonpartisan elections guide.
"'It is a terrible way to do public policy,' said
Lenny Goldberg, president of the union-backed California Tax Reform Assn. 'They are trying to do a big runaround. This state's worst tax policies have come out of budget deals.'"
Meanwhile, "[t]he backers of a contentious plan to replace thousands of trees in Pebble Beach with a golf course and scores of hotel rooms
pulled their proposal from consideration by the state Coastal Commission on Tuesday."
"The action came one day before a show-down vote at today's commission hearing and amid lingering criticism over last week's appointments of alternate commissioners by Assembly Speaker
Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles."
"'The trees are saved for a while,' said
Rita Dalessio of Carmel Valley, chairwoman of the Ventana Chapter of the Sierra Club. 'It means we won't hear any chain saws soon.'"
"'
We're just trying to get enough people to understand the facts," [project backer
Peter Ueberroth said. 'We either haven't done a good job of that, or the counternoise has dominated.'"
"Ueberroth said he hoped the proposal would be resubmitted, in its current or amended form. But opponents contended that the company wasted millions of dollars by pushing the proposal only to pull back in the face of defeat."
Dan Walters looks at the scuffle created by
Fabian Nuñez's
attempt to change the commission's make-up leading up to the vote.
"A new bond measure has joined an already crowded November ballot, this one
asking voters to approve spending $5.4 billion on water, parks and coastal protection," reports Michael Gardner in the U-T.
"The Secretary of State's Office announced yesterday that backers had collected enough valid signatures of registered voters to qualify the initiative."
"It will take its place alongside a separate $37 billion package of public works projects promoted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature."
We figure we'll be hearing "Forty-two point four BILLION" a lot this fall.
From our
Prison Guard Negotiating Stunt Files, "contract talks between the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Department of Personnel Administration
got off to a rocky start last week when the union tried to videotape the proceedings,
prompting state negotiators to walk out," writes Andy Furillo in the Bee.
"CCPOA Vice President
Chuck Alexander said Tuesday the union wanted to tape the talks because 'we're tired of being blamed for all the woes' of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in the wake of the about-to-expire 2002 labor agreement. The state's chief negotiator said in a letter to the union that he felt the videotaping was 'unacceptable and not conducive to good-faith negotiations.'"
"No new bargaining sessions have been scheduled. The CCPOA's contract, which covers an estimated 30,000 rank-and-file prison workers, is set to expire July 1."
"Enrollment in city schools will continue to drop by thousands of students next year, Los Angeles education officials said Tuesday, and the decline is expected to
cost the Los Angeles Unified School District tens of millions of dollars in state funding," reports Joel Rubin in the Times.
"Because nearly all the funding a school district receives from state coffers is based on enrollment, the declining totals in traditional Los Angeles schools will cost the district an estimated $114 million. At the same time, the district will save about $40 million in costs because there will be fewer students to serve."
We're guessing we'll hear something about that $74 million loss in the Capitol soon.
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger threw away his campaign script at the county Republican Party's annual Flag Day dinner Tuesday, instead
improvising a 15-minute story of his long love of the American flag," writes the Register's Martin Wisckol.
"'I was given a prepared speech when I left the office today, to talk about the race and all of those things,; said Schwarzenegger, who flew in from Sacramento with Senate GOP Leader
Dick Ackerman, R-Irvine. 'I talked to Dick about it, that maybe I should talk about the American flag a little bit. It is, after all, that you're celebrating Flag Day today, isn't it? ... I'm such a big fan of the American flag.'"
"He talked about his childhood dream of coming to America, of going to a store in his native Austria when he was 15 to shop for American bodybuilding magazines and talking the store owner into selling a him a flag being used as a display prop.
"'
I took that flag home and I framed it and I hung it up on the wall in my bedroom,' he said. His wall was otherwise decorated with photos of male bodybuilders - he joked that his mother called their doctor, concerned that her son didn't have the girls and Austrian flags that were featured on other schoolboys' walls."
Kevin Murray's
SB 1015, better known in some circles as "the Burkle Bill," has been taken off the inactive file. Though the legislation would no longer help the billionaire Burkle, since a court ruled his divorce records must be made public, Murray may be moving the legislation off the Assembly Floor as soon as Thursday.
Finally, from our American Pi Files, 15-year-old
Gaurav Raja of Virginia "succeeded in
setting the North American record for reciting digits of pi.
Gaurav on Monday recited 10,980 digits, breaking the North American and U.S. record of 10,625, which had stood for 27 years. During an after-school session, he recited about two numbers per second for one hour, 14 minutes and 28 seconds.
The achievement ranks him ninth in the world. The world record is 42,195."
We're not sure which record is more meaninglessly impressive -- Raja's or the fine work of
Patrick Bertoletti who holds the
American pie eating record. Earlier this year, Bertoletti ate 10.8 pounds of pie in just 8 minutes.
