"After allowing his staff to accept tens of thousands of dollars' worth of gifts from business interests, Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is now
worried about the appearance of a conflict of interest and has barred them from taking even a free cup of coffee."
"Schwarzenegger aides over the last year have been given free tickets to Disneyland and San Francisco Giants baseball games; to Rolling Stones concerts and Sacramento Kings basketball games."
"Schwarzenegger's chief of staff,
Susan Kennedy, sent a memo to the governor's aides in August explaining that by taking gifts, even if the law allows it, they could create a public perception that they have been compromised."
"'When in doubt … pay for the item yourself,' Kennedy wrote."
"
But the Spartan ethic comes with loopholes. Kennedy is scheduled to join lawmakers and state officials on a 12-day trip to South America next month that is sponsored by a tax-exempt group financed partly by energy companies and other businesses that lobby in Sacramento."
Totally different. Totally different...
"The visitors plan to stay at a hotel in Buenos Aires that is rated by one travel guide as 'the most exclusive' in the city.
A spokesman for Schwarzenegger said the trip doesn't violate the gift policy because Kennedy will deliver a speech as the governor's representative."
The Bee's Herbert Sample got the assignment to cover the
forum for third party gubernatorial candidates. "Few listen to them. Fewer vote for them. And the media? Well, they don't pay much attention to them at all."
Wait, Herb. Are you talking about Phil Angelides?
"So when the gubernatorial candidates whose names aren't Schwarzenegger or Angelides gathered Monday for a candidate forum put on by the Commonwealth Club of California, it was a big opportunity before a small crowd to score some points, try a little humor and hope someone, somewhere, will take heed."
"'You've got to step out of yourselves,' pleaded
Janice Jordan, the Peace and Freedom Party nominee, hoping that she could persuade the few dozen in the audience and those who catch the forum's broadcast in a few days.
"You have got to vote for what you believe in," she continued. "Not the
lesser of two evils. The lesser of two evils is still evil."
"Jordan and her compatriots --
Peter Camejo of the Green Party,
Edward Noonan of the American Independent Party and
Art Olivier of the Libertarian Party -- didn't predict victory in the Nov. 7 election."
The Merc News's Steven Harmon reports: "Californians
could be on the cusp of electing the state's most conservative lieutenant governor in nearly 30 years -- a candidate who is firmly to the right of most residents on issues such as abortion, the environment and government spending."
...and, if elected, he won't be able to do anything to affect those issues.
"State Sen.
Tom McClintock, arguably the most popular conservative in the state, is running neck and neck in his race with Democrat
John Garamendi, the term-limited state Insurance Commissioner."
"McClintock can be a sleeper,' said
Darry Sragow, a former adviser to Westly, who defeated McClintock by just 22,730 votes despite a 5-to-1 spending advantage. 'Democrats dismiss him as a kooky right-wing guy, but there's clear evidence that he's better known than a lot of Democratic insiders like to think and that people like him.'"
And in a weird way, he has Arnold Schwarzenegger and the recall to thank.
"Voters may overlook McClintock's views on issues such as gun rights and abortion because they connect with him on a gut level, said Assemblyman
Ray Haynes, a Riverside County Republican and one of the more conservative members of the Legislature.
"'
The guns and babies stuff -- they won't forgive that without trust,' Haynes said. 'On those issues, Tom is not in sync with the majority of Californians, but neither were
Ronald Reagan or
George Deukmejian. The issue is, will they forgive you on three or four issues because they like you on one or two issues. The reason he's close in this race is because they're willing to forgive him on some stuff.'"
Or, because they have no idea or otherwise don't care.
The LAT's Rong-Gong Lin writes that
health care continues to stay out of the gubernatorial campaign. "Healthcare would seem to be a big issue in California, where more than 6 million residents are uninsured, urban emergency rooms teeter on the brink of closure and rising costs are pinching the state budget as well as taxpayers."
"One reason is voters themselves, said
Mark Baldassare, survey director of the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. In a recent poll, just 4% of those likely to cast ballots ranked healthcare as their No. 1 concern in the governor's race."
"Most voters have insurance and are 'generally satisfied with the kind of healthcare coverage that they're getting personally,' Baldassare said."
The U-T's Elizabeth Fitzsimons
looks at the robocalls filling up answering machines statewide. "The automated call, or 'robocall,' has become a staple of political campaigns, if not their most annoying play for your attention. They fill up your answering machine, interrupt your dinner. Some calls are programmed to hang up if a live person answers, leaving you to wonder: Wrong number? Stalker?"
“'It's distancing and it's not interactive, and everything we know about communications is it's not satisfying,' said
Barbara O'Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at California State University Sacramento."
The Chron's Matthey Yi writes:
Stephen "Bing, 41, so far
has dropped $49.6 million of his personal funds to help fend off an immense media campaign led by big oil companies to defeat the measure. The opposition has raised $90 million, and Yes on 87 has raised $57 million, but no other single individual or company on either side has contributed more than Bing. Chevron Corp. comes in second at $34 million."
You know you're rich when your pockets are deeper than Chevron's.
"Supporters of Prop. 87 also are enjoying the fruits of some of Bing's other investments: years of donating funds to the Democratic Party and its candidates at both state and federal levels. Popular Democratic figures such as Gore, former President
Bill Clinton and potential 2008 presidential hopeful Sen.
Barack Obama, D-Ill., have led rallies in California in support of the initiative."
"Couple that with Bing's connections in Hollywood, and the Prop. 87 campaign has become a star-studded affair that has included the likes of
Ben Affleck,
Geena Davis,
Salma Hayek,
Robert Redford and
Julia Roberts."
"However, Bing has never been on stage with any of these figures, and those who know him say that's just exactly how he likes to operate."
"Backers of Orange County Democratic state Senate candidate Lou Correa have
launched a last-minute write-in campaign for a Republican in an effort to peel votes from Lynn Daucher, the GOP nominee who is Correa's chief rival for the seat," writes Christian Berthelsen in the Times.
"Backers of write-in candidate
Otto Bade include an independent campaign committee that spent nearly $200,000 to support Correa in the Democratic primary, as well as Correa donors and supporters who signed Bade's candidate petition."
Sounds a touch desperate, n'est pas?
"'What it tells me is they're desperate, that they've got to cheat to win,' said Daucher, an Orange County assemblywoman. 'This is the dirty trick of all dirty tricks.'"
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to ship more than 2,000 inmates to private, out-of-state prisons ran into a roadblock Monday when
two major public employee unions filed a lawsuit to stop the transfers," reports the Bee's Andy Furillo.
"Attorneys for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and the Service Employees International Union Local 1000 said the impending transfers -- scheduled to begin within the next month --
represent an unconstitutional violation of the state's civil service rules. They also said Schwarzenegger overstepped his authority by declaring the emergency that set the move into motion."
"A hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday in Sacramento Superior Court on the unions' request for a temporary restraining order. If they prevail, it would at least temporarily thwart the delivery of the 2,260 prisoners to five private prisons in Indiana, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Arizona."
Finally, "The daughter and son-in-law of Democratic Assemblywoman
Karen Bass were killed over the weekend in a car accident near Los Angeles International Airport, the lawmaker's office said Monday."
"
Emilia and Michael Wright, both 23, were traveling on the San Diego Freeway early Sunday when their sedan struck a concrete bridge support beam and burst into flames, said Bass' spokeswoman, Kellie Todd Griffin."
"The California Highway Patrol was investigating the accident's cause."
