Watch your in boxes. Later today, Roundup subscribers will receive electronic ballots to vote in the
First Annual Capitol Weekly/Around the Capitol Awards for Legislators, lobbyists and staff. Voters can cast ballots either by e-mail, or find a paper ballot in the print edition of the Capitol Weekly. Only Roundup subscribers will be eligible to vote electronically. Stay tuned for details...
Shane Goldmacher writes about the
newly-honed Angelides message in the campaign against Gov. Schwarzenegger.
"In recent weeks, the campaign has rolled out a new theme: Arnold Schwarzenegger as a flip-flopping, convictions-free actor versus Angelides, a "governor you can count on."
"Since July 25, the Angelides campaign and the state Democratic Party have sent out 12 missives blasting Schwarzenegger for 'flip-flops,' accusing him of changing his positions on Proposition 187, greenhouse gases, fully funding education, not raising money from special interests, and the Minutemen. On Thursday, the California Democratic Party unveiled a Web page dedicated solely to tracking Schwarzenegger's 'flip-flops and broken promises.'"
Daniel Weintraub thinks that Angelides
might find resonance with his message. "It's becoming increasingly clear that one of the major themes of Phil Angelides' campaign for governor will be an attack on the credibility of the incumbent, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. '
He's not the man you thought he would be,' would be one way to summarize the premise."
"It's a line that could work to some degree with just about everyone, depending on what they expected from the novice politician they elected governor in 2003."
But in the meantime, Arnold keeps cozying up to the Democrats' friends. The deal with the Agua Caliente tribe is just the latest example, reports CW, and
may create some problems for Angelides.
"The deal between the administration and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians is vehemently opposed by labor groups. Now, Angelides must decide between a tested ally that helped deliver him the Democratic gubernatorial nomination and Indian tribes who could help sink his election hopes in the fall."
"Angelides' political dilemma is no accident: Capitol sources say Schwarzenegger's campaign strategist
Steve Schmidt was instrumental in promoting the new dialog between the administration and the tribes that resulted in the latest agreement. Others point to the ouster of
Pat Clarey and the replacement of tribal negotiator
Dan Kolkey with
Andrea Hoch."
"Democratic gubernatorial candidate
Phil Angelides, continuing to try to draw contrasts with Arnold Schwarzenegger in his uphill battle to unseat the governor,
accused Schwarzenegger Wednesday of trying to 'gut' an ambitious plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions in California," reports Mike Zapler in the Merc News.
"'
Despite all the governor's rhetoric, the governor has done nothing to fight global warming,' Angelides, the state treasurer, said at a news conference outside the Capitol."
"The greenhouse gas legislation,
AB 32, has emerged as perhaps the most contentious policy battle in Sacramento this summer. And Schwarzenegger is struggling to find a middle ground."
"'
He's trying to gut this bill so he can claim an election-year victory,' Angelides said."
"'
It's not surprising that Phil Angelides wouldn't consider the needs and interests of the economy,' said
Matt David, a spokesman for the governor's campaign. He called Schwarzenegger 'a national and international leader on emissions reductions.'"
"'This will move jobs and investment outside the state. And it will move greenhouse emissions outside the state,' said
Dorothy Rothrock, vice president of government relations for the California Manufacturers and Technology Association."
With everyone cranky, this sausage must be about cooked.
CW's Shane Goldmacher takes notice of all of the
fundraisers that just happen to be going on during the close of this year's legislative session.
"This month, there are more than 100 fund-raisers scheduled for almost every would-be and current lawmaker in the state, according to invitations obtained by Capitol Weekly.
"'Sometimes there are 15 of these in a day,' complains one veteran lobbyist, who notes that the glut of events is nothing new. 'For the month of August, we don't see our family and, for some, access to a private life is suspended. Under the current system, they have to ask, and we have to contribute.'"
"Democratic state lawmakers are embracing the one solution to spiraling health care costs that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he has ruled out:
eliminating private insurance plans in favor of a single-payer system that allows the state government to buy health services for everyone," reports the Bee's Clea Benson.
"With three weeks left in the legislative session, a single-payer bill,
Senate Bill 840 by Sen.
Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, is heading toward the Assembly floor for a vote."
"The measure establishes a system that, in theory, would be funded by payroll taxes on businesses of 8 percent and individual income taxes of 3 percent. Those taxes would replace the premiums that individuals and businesses now pay to insurance companies."
"At a rally of several hundred unionized school workers on the Capitol steps Wednesday, Assembly Speaker
Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, proclaimed his support."
"'
I think it's good for business, and I think it's good for consumers,' Núñez said after the rally. 'My hope is that we can convince the governor that we think this is the right thing to do.'"
Capitol Weekly's Malcolm Maclachlan
profiles soon-to-be-freshman Assemblyman Jared Huffman, part of CW's Rookie Watch series.
"While no one questions Huffman's high-achiever status, he sometimes has been criticized as being aloof at times, and confrontational at others.
Jack Gibson, who was elected to the Marin Municipal Water Board at the same time as Huffman in 1994, said his colleague has been relentless in pushing ideas that weren't popular with other board members."
Sounds like he'll fit right in...
"Led by Sen.
Dean Florez, Democrats on Wednesday
grilled Schwarzenegger administration officials on their response to the recent heat wave, questioning why a state of emergency wasn't called during a weather crisis that left more than 100 people dead and reaped massive farm damage," writes E.J. Schultz in the Bee.
"'More people died in this recent heat wave than died in the last two (major) earthquakes combined,' Florez, D-Shafter, said at a Senate committee hearing. 'I really believe the governor should have declared a state of emergency.'"
"'Typically, we would not be recommending a state of emergency unless there is something specific that is going to be provided as a result of that action,' said
Paul Jacks, a deputy director at the governor's Office of Emergency Services."
"It's not done for emotional reasons or ceremonial reasons."
"Fresno Mayor
Alan Autry, whose city was among the hardest hit, also came to the governor's defense."
"'The governor did a lot of good things,' the Republican mayor told the committee. 'He was there, he was not asleep at the wheel.'"
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
directed the California Energy Commission on Wednesday to monitor gas prices in the wake of BP's pipeline problems in Alaska," reports Reuters.
Here,
let us help.
"The governor also asked the federal government to make the West Coast a priority for any oil shipments from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve."
"Gasoline prices have been steady in most of the state since Sunday, when the petroleum company announced that it was shutting down about 400,000 barrels per day of production from the Prudhoe Bay oilfield on Alaska's North Slope."
"State corrections officials
should seek advice from local police to find appropriate housing for newly paroled sex offenders, Assemblyman
Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, said Wednesday," reports Sushma Subramanian in the Register.
"'Today, they are just being dropped in our communities. The communication is nonexistent,' said Spitzer, who along with Assemblyman
Rudy Bermudez, D-Norwalk, leads a state sex-offender task force."
"The task force – made up of police, district attorneys, legislators, local officials and victims' representatives – is charged with finding better ways to track the parolees."
