"With California's jam-packed prisons nearly out of room for more felons, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday
proclaimed a state of emergency, an unusual move that
could allow the transfer of inmates as soon as next month to other states without their consent," reports the Times' Jennifer Warren.
"The governor said he was taking the extraordinary step because teeming conditions have created a health risk and "extreme peril" for officers and inmates at 29 of the state's 33 prisons."
From our
Much Ado About Nothing Files, looks like the
Dems will be campaigning with the governor after all. Thank goodness, we were starting to worry. John Wildermuth has more.
Perata and Schwarzenegger each spoke at a $50,000-a-head breakfast fundraiser at the Palo Alto Hills Country Club, then strolled out to the patio by the golf course to ask reporters what all the fuss was about.
"There's been some noise recently, last day or so, that Republicans and Democrats, specifically the governor and the legislative leadership, are not going to be campaigning for these bonds, as we had said, in a bipartisan way,'' Perata said. "It is not true. Unequivocally not true."
Especially with Perata surrogates in charge of the campaign.
Capitol Weekly's Malcolm Maclachlan tells
the story of the "Angel of Death", the gubernatorial staffer who goes door to door after hours at the end of the bill-signing session slipping veto messages under legislators' doors.
"This year, there was much Capitol speculation about the identity of Schwarzenegger's Angel of Death.
Casey Elliott, a staffer in Gray Davis' legislative unit who now works for Assemblyman
Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana, held the role for long enough that people started to keep an eye out for him every September, he said. The drops usually took place in the evening because that's when he had time, he added, and it had nothing to do with the screaming and crying that sometimes took place when there was someone there to receive the veto message.
"To the Governor's credit, this time of year people are pulling out at 5 p.m.," Elliott said. "It's kind of the only way to do it, because you don't want to have a phone conversation."
Nanette Madsen held the informal title for Schwarzenegger during the 2004 signing season. Madsen has since gone to work at the Department of Consumer Affairs.
The Governor's office has gone to a Reaper "by committee" system, said spokesman Darrel Ng said.
John Howard gives the
run-down of the governor's new health care team."As Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger looks toward a second term, he has vowed to make access to health care a top priority. Schwarzenegger intends
to unveil a major health-care plan in January, if re-elected. In preparation, Schwarzenegger has hired a top-level staff to actually write the proposal that includes ranking health-care experts from former Gov.
Gray Davis' administration.
Richard Figueroa, a veteran health-care consultant and go-to person for
health issues on Davis' executive staff, is joining Schwarzenegger's team, according to Capitol and private sources with direct knowledge of Figueroa's new position. They confirmed that Schwarzenegger intends to release his proposal in his 2007 State of the State address."
Shane Goldmacher reports on
the role of the church in the fight for Proposition 85. " Traditionally, Sundays are a quiet day on the political calendar, but for proponents of Proposition 85, the day of the Lord is often the busiest of the week.
Backers of the November parental-notification initiative are mobilizing California's vast network of Catholic and protestant churches to get-out-the-vote among pro-life Christian voters. Less than a year after voters narrowly rejected a near-identical measure, proponents are praying that an influx of religious voters will help tip the electoral scales in their favor."
CW looks at the
increasingly diverse economic interests of California Indian tribes. "There are about 20 of us in hard hats, walking through the construction site on 15th and L streets. Amid the scaffolding and the jackhammers, we all file into a large, open-freight elevator, and ride up to the 15th floor, rising above the Capitol and taking in the sweeping views of downtown Sacramento. Some on the elevator are a bit apprehensive about heights--and about the open elevator. "
You'd never get an Apache up this high," someone blurts out.
Most of the people in the elevators are tribal members, here to check out their latest venture: a new Marriot hotel and condominium project that will be a centerpiece of the new downtown Sacramento.
The hotel and condo project is being financed by three Indian tribes--two from California and one from Wisconsin--and is just the latest example of the role tribal governments are playing in the redevelopment in and around Sacramento."
Meanwhile, the LAUSD continues to
hurry up and find a new chief before a new law goes into effect that would give the mayor a role in the selection process. The mayor has been frozen out of the effort thus far, and he's not pleased, reports the Times' Joel Rubin and Howard Blume. Villaraigosa has said it would be appropriate for the mayor "to 'have a role' in light of legislation signed into law last month that will give him substantial authority over Los Angeles schools. The law is scheduled to take effect in January."
Finally, in more bad news for
Mark Foley,(allegedly) -- looks like
that Dutch political career comeback is no longer an option. "A political party formed by Dutch pedophiles is unlikely to gather sufficient support to run in general elections next month.
The Brotherly Love, Freedom and Diversity party (PNVD) probably will not succeed in gathering the 570 signatures from supporters needed by October 10 to run in the national elections, the party's secretary Norbert de Jonge told Reuters.
The party was launched in May and its campaign for a cut in the age of consent from 16 to 12, and the legalization of child pornography and sex with animals has provoked widespread outrage within and outside the Netherlands."
