"Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday his movie-star celebrity and his boundless enthusiasm for all things California
make him a great international salesman for the state's products and services," reports Josh Richman in the Oakland Tribune.
"Speaking to the Commonwealth Club of California at the Herbst Theater, the governor said he'll go anywhere to tout California's wares, 'to go out there and tell our story' to buyers in any nation. 'They want our products, they need our environmental know-how ... and our state-of-the-art technology.'"
In other comments during the speech, " Asked about
President Bush's veto of stem cell research legislation, the governor said he's 'a big believer' in this research and wholeheartedly backed Proposition 71 of 2004, which provided state bond money it. 'There are too many people out there who need help.'"
As the Angelides camp once again tried to link Schwarzenegger to Bush in an afternoon press release, the stem cell quote was immediately sent out to reporters by the Schwarzenegger team.
"Schwarzenegger said he 'loved' former Vice President
Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth,' which explains the dangers of global warming: '
He's right, he's absolutely right — we have to do everything we can to protect this Earth.'"
Phil Angelides will be in San Francisco and Los Angeles today, endorsing a measure on the November ballot that would tax oil company profits, and use the money to develop alternative energy sources.
"With gasoline and energy prices and energy use reaching record highs, California State Treasurer and Democratic nominee for Governor Phil Angelides will call for protection from oil company price gouging and express his support for Proposition 87 to move California beyond the oil economy for the future," reads a press release from his campaign.
The treasurer will be joined by Mayor
Gavin Newsom in San Francisco, and Speaker
Fabian Nuñez in Los Angeles.
George Skelton writes that it's
time for Phil Angelides to define himself.
"Typically, the challenger has just emerged from a bruising primary, is all beat up and broke. The incumbent strikes with an arsenal of negative TV ads — roughly $12 million worth in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's case — plus the usual cache of gubernatorial weapons: bill-signing photo ops, grants of public money, patronage appointments, the ability to feign action."
"'Fundamentally, contributors are bettors, and they like to pick winners,' notes Democratic consultant
Darry Sragow, who's not involved in the race."
"Sragow believes Angelides '
is in serious danger of getting marginalized fairly quickly.'"
"'Arnold has a lot of money. He's in an office with a lot of power. He has been moving toward the middle and neutralizing Phil. He has been reaching out to Latinos.'"
Skelton concludes "There's no time like summer to start making that sell — before Schwarzenegger can peddle his own portrait of the challenger."
Speaking of fundraising, CW's John Howard reports on an attorney in hot water for
trying to force doctors to contribute to Phil Angelides. "A Beverly Hills lawyer who represents injured workers before the state has
told doctors that he and his colleagues will not refer clients their way unless they contribute at least $2,500 each to defeat Gov. Schwarzengger. The group representing the attorneys who specialize in workers compensation insurance cases immediately disavowed the lawyer's comments.
Attorney
Lawrence Stern, in a June 26 email, said that "we at CAAA (California Applicants Attorneys Association) have taken a pact not to support any (doctor) who has not contributed at least $2,500 to the elections…" The mail was sent to
Marlena Garland, who markets the services of the doctors, known as agreed medical examiners, or AMEs, in the workers compensation insurance system. Copies of the email also were sent to ranking CAAA members, including former CAAA President
David Schwartz and current President
David Rockwell.
Capitol Weekly's Malcolm Maclachlan reports on
the unmarked DMV office across the street from the state Capitol.
"If you walk in the Legislative Office Building, pass a CHP officer who claims not to know of it's existence, go through an official-looking door, take a couple turns and follow some cryptic signs, you'll find the locked, unmarked door of a Department of Motor Vehicles location that probably won't serve you."
"But the Capitol DMV isn't arousing the kind of attention it used to get back in the day when small-government activist
Ralph Morrell was lambasting it for only serving legislators and staffers. In fact, this hidden little office does serve the public--thousands of times a year, according to Bill Cather, legislative director of the California DMV. You just have to have a problem so exasperating that you end up calling your legislator. "People think it's a perk for legislators and staff," Cather said of the hidden, two-employee office. "Ninety percent of what we do is for
constituents."
On Monday, the governor "will
host a summit on health care affordability, a meeting where
stars of the health- policy universe will toss out ideas for stemming skyrocketing medical costs and covering the nearly 6.5 million Californians who are uninsured," reports the Bee's Clea Benson.
"The event is billed as an effort to bring together disparate groups that have never met: employers, academics, insurance company heads, patient advocates and political leaders."
"But the meeting is drawing fire from critics of a Republican governor whose record includes budget proposals to cap health programs and vetoes of Democratic bills designed to insure children and cut drug costs."
"'
It's about trying to do for health care what he did for infrastructure," said
Adam Mendelsohn, Schwarzenegger's communications director, referring to the package of bonds for construction projects that the governor and the Legislature put on the Nov. 7 ballot. 'Which is coming up with a plan that everyone buys into.'"
CW's Shane Goldmacher takes a look at
all the contingencies legislators make so they can continue to raise money. "This week, Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez, D-Norwalk, became the latest poster child for legislators trying to stay in office.
First, he filed a petition to recount the votes in his razor-thin loss to fellow Assemblyman Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, for state Senate in June. Second, he filed paperwork to run for the Assembly again--in 2012.
That would be six years, two gubernatorial and two presidential elections away. According to the secretary of state's office, no other candidate has filed papers to run for any office in the state in that election cycle.
'It is just to move the money around. It is just a placeholder,' says Bermudez. '
It's a placeholder. It's placeholder. It's placeholder. I don't think there is much of a story there.'"
"Efforts to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park got a boost Wednesday from a long-awaited state study, which finds
the idea is "technically feasible" but possibly much more expensive than previous estimates," reports the Bee's Matt Weiser.
"Demolishing Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and providing another water supply for 2.4 million San Francisco Bay Area residents could cost between $3 billion and $10 billion, the report finds. Even the low end is double what independent studies have estimated."
"'Clearly, we know there's nothing here that says it's infeasible technically,' said
Gary Bardini, project leader of the Hetch Hetchy Restoration Study for the state Department of Water Resources. 'But this project would take a very, very long time. It's a very ambitious project.'"
San Francisco political leaders aren't so crazy about the idea either. "
The bottom line is that Hetch Hetchy is a critical source of water and power for the State of California,' [Senator
Dianne] Feinstein said in a statement. 'The O'Shaughnessy Dam should not be torn down.'"
The governor, however,
hasn't ruled out the idea, writes Michael Gardner in the Union-Tribune. "In San Francisco yesterday, Schwarzenegger sidestepped taking a position."
“'There are many more questions that have to be answered. This will go on for a while because there are a lot of things we don't know,' he said, adding a string of questions of his own: '
Is it something that will be a good idea, is it a bad idea, what will it cost, how important is it for the environment, what do the people think?”
"Supporters believe the governor will enter the fray if re-elected."
"'It's July in an election year,' said
Tom Graff, an attorney with Environmental Defense. 'We're realists.'"
From our
Desperately Trying to Change the Subject Files: "Alarmed by declining numbers of African American students at UCLA and other campuses, University of California regents on Wednesday
decided to study the effect of the state's 10-year-old ban on affirmative action on UC admissions and student enrollment," reports the LAT's Larry Gordon.
"The inquiry, officials emphasized, will not focus on ways to overturn or subvert Proposition 209, the 1996 voter approved-measure that forbids consideration of race and gender in admissions and hiring decisions at the state's public colleges and other institutions."
Apparently, executive compensation or home loans will not be discussed, either.
"But by examining the initiative's effects, UC may be able to figure out legal ways to recruit and admit more black and Latino students, the officials said."
"In other UC business, a regents committee approved a structural shake-up in the university president's office in response to recent controversies over lavish and unauthorized compensation for UC executives. The change will entail the creation of two new executive vice president positions, one a chief financial officer and the other to be head of business operations."
Two more executives is surely going to appease critics in the Legislature.
"'Obviously, we've had some failures as evidenced in the lack of transparency on compliance,' said Regent
Judith L. Hopkinson, who heads the compensation committee. The full board of regents is to review the matter today."
From our
Baldwin Brothers Files: "Actor
Daniel Baldwin was arrested Wednesday after
weaving through traffic at speeds of more than 80 mph and crashing a rented Ford Thunderbird into two parked cars, Los Angeles police said."
"Police said they would ask the city attorney's office to file misdemeanor charges of reckless driving and driving with a suspended license. He was taken to UCLA Medical Center after complaining of injuries to his back and neck."
Doctors at the scene were unable to breathe any life into his career.
