Looks like
the governor opened his mouth again. The Bee's Kevin Yamamura reports...
"No stranger to sensitive ethnic remarks, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger drew criticism Thursday for saying Mexican Americans have acculturation problems "because they are so close to their country here" while collectively praising Asian Americans for 'assimilating into the American way of living.'
Democratic lawmakers supporting gubernatorial challenger Phil Angelides charged that the Republican governor was once again engaging in 'divisive' racial stereotyping in remarks similar to taped comments he made about Cuban and Puerto Rican women that were revealed last month."
Hey, what better way to
get ready for a debate?
Dan Morain checks in on the political cash as we head down the homestretch. "With campaign spending hurtling toward the $400-million mark for the year, one finance record has fallen and Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has
extended his lead in the all-important money race over his Democratic challenger."
Man, Phil can't even get his name into the lead? That's rough.
"Campaign finance reports filed Thursday show Democratic Oakland Mayor
Jerry Brown is swamping state Sen. Chuck Poochigian (R-Fresno) in the attorney general's campaign. In the lieutenant governor's race, state Sen.
Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) has more money than Democrat John Garamendi, the outgoing insurance commissioner."
An appeals court Thursday
upheld the state's ban on gay marriage, reports the Chron's Bob Egelko. "The 2-1 decision
reversed a lower-court ruling in favor of plaintiffs who were among the thousands of gays and lesbians who married at San Francisco City Hall in 2004. It cleared the way for both sides to argue their case before the state Supreme Court, which will have the final say on whether the courts can give same-sex couples the right to marry."
Speaker
Fabian Nunez criticized the CSU Board of Trustees for cancelling a meeting where
fee hikes were supposed to be discussed, reports the Chron's Jim Doyle. "Election-year politics spilled over into budget considerations for the California State University system Thursday, with a top state Democrat insinuating that university trustees may be trying to shield the GOP governor from potential criticism over student fee increases.
In a letter to the CSU Board of Trustees, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez demanded to know why the board recently canceled its Oct. 26 meeting. That meeting was to consider the university's proposed budget for fiscal 2007-2008, as well as a possible student fee increase.
'It would be highly disturbing to discover that the trustees, a number of whom are appointees of the current administration, or CSU executives, allowed election politics to impact the timing of action on the proposed CSU budget,' Núñez said.
He added that '
any increase in student fees is likely to generate concern among parents and students in the weeks prior to the election.'"
Consumer advocate
Harvey Rosenfield dropped a small bomb in the insurance commissioner's race,
endorsing Republican Steve Poizner over Democrat Cruz Bustamante. In a statement yesterday, Rosenfield said, "I believe Steve Poizner is the best candidate for Insurance Commissioner this November for three reasons. First, he has made a commitment to the public to fully and properly enforce Proposition 103. Second, he has promised to stop unfair insurance practices such as canceling or surcharging consumers just because they file a legitimate claim. And third, Mr. Poizner has refused to accept insurance industry campaign contributions and has pledged not to take industry money while commissioner; that means that he will be able to make decisions based on his view of what is best for Californians – not what is best for the insurance industry.”
For what it's worth, Bustamante's campaign pointed out a couple of donations Poizner has taken from the industry, and criticized Rosenfield for doing "no homework" before announcing the endorsement.
Finally, from our
>Fly the Friendly Skies Dept., "
In yet another dramatic incident at Los Angeles International Airport,
two aircraft came so close to colliding on a runway Saturday that one pilot can be heard hyperventilating on air traffic control tapes.
A SkyWest regional jet taking off for San Antonio had accelerated to 115 mph when a Gulfstream business jet strayed in front, forcing the pilot to slam on his brakes. The SkyWest jet, with about 39 people on board, shuddered to a stop less than 100 feet from the Gulfstream.
After the incident, a shaken tower controller can be heard on the radio apologizing to the SkyWest pilot and asking him to immediately leave the runway to make room for a landing aircraft."
