It's GOP convention time, boys and girls, with
Rudy Giuliani speaking tomorrow, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger lined up to kick things off tonight. The Bee's Kevin Yamamura reports, "
Republican leaders expect a warm, though hardly exuberant, reception for the governor tonight. Attendees at this weekend's three-day California Republican Party convention skew conservative, and their favorite son, Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, already has charged that the governor broke his pledge never to raise taxes. (Schwarzenegger calls them "fees" instead.)
"McClintock said he will not attend Schwarzenegger's address because he is so dismayed by the governor's positions."
"'Many Republicans supported him in 2006 based on the simple, unequivocal campaign promise he made not to raise taxes,' McClintock said. '
He broke that promise and proposed the second-largest tax increase in state history. I will never trust another word he says."
The Bee's Judy Lin reports, "The Senate Rules Committee on Thursday
approved a former police chief as chairman of the state's parole board after he took responsibility for mistakes in denying two inmates parole when they should have received a rehearing.
"During a two-hour, sometimes-contentious meeting, Democrats agitating for more diversity on the board questioned
James Davis about his strict record of denying parole to inmates. The state's 17-member Board of Parole Hearings is charged with deciding if and when serious criminals have been rehabilitated and should therefore be released."
The fallout from the governor's tapes continues. LAT's Anna Gorman reports, "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's
off-the-cuff comments in recently released audio recordings about illegal immigration and the unwillingness of Mexicans to assimilate into American society have drawn
angry responses this week from Latino community and political leaders.
"'I made an effort,' the Austrian-born Schwarzenegger told aides last April in conversations that touched on assimilation. "But the Mexicans don't make that effort."
"The governor also used an expletive to disparage the 1986 federal law that granted asylum to more than 2 million illegal immigrants.
"'His comments were highly offensive and outrageous,' said Assembly Assistant Majority Leader
Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles). 'It's just mind-blowing that he continues to put his foot in his mouth.'"
Mindblowing? Clearly Mr. De Leon is a freshman...
CW's Malcolm Maclachlan reports that Assemblyman
Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, appears ready to take his battle against illegal immigration to another level. Sources say he is going to put forward an Assembly Concurrent Resolution today asking attorney general
Jerry Brown to sue to federal government for
$10 billion for the cost of housing illegal immigrants in the state's prisons. Last session Blakeslee authored AB 1686, which would have require law enforcement agencies within the state to ?fully comply? with the US Immigration and Naturalization Service. The bill was designed to allow the corrections system to identify illegal immigrants, but it died in committee last year."
The Merc's Mike Zapler reports on
Spankin' Sally Lieber's
new notoriety. "Lieber, a former wallpaper hanger who sparked a fierce nationwide debate the past month over child rearing, has spent a big chunk of her time in Sacramento on legislation to help mobile-home residents, welfare recipients, death-row inmates, low-wage workers, the disabled -- and now defenseless babies.
Many of her proposals have ended up in the trash bin, casualties of a political universe centered a good distance to Lieber's right. But that doesn't appear to deter her. It's the fight for her liberal ideals that Lieber relishes most.
"Take the lowest income with the least voice and that's it," Lieber said in an interview in her Capitol office. "
That's where the real fun and juiciness of being up here is."
"From that vantage point, it's not surprising that Lieber has taken up the cause of protecting babies, say those who know the 45-year-old former Mountain View City Council member. She's also proposed legislation this year to require girls to be immunized for a virus that causes cervical cancer and to eliminate the statute of limitations in rape and child-molestation cases.
"But no one could have predicted the firestorm over her idea to outlaw spanking children up to age 4.
Lieber became an instant media sensation -- or villain, depending on the program. She fielded more than 60 interview requests, many on national TV, and
her proposal was even the subject of a ``Saturday Night Live'' parody. Lieber received more exposure in a few weeks than in her decadelong political career."
And that, my friends, is the point, right?
The Bee's Gilbert Chan reports one of the nation's largest pension funds is
preparing to divest itself from any investments in Sudan. "The nation's second-largest public pension fund took another step Thursday toward shedding investments in companies doing business in strife-torn Sudan.
"Saying that potential Sudan divestment wouldn't violate their legal obligation to 800,000 educators across the state,
trustees of the California State Teachers' Retirement System cleared the way for investment officials to start mapping out a strategy that could lead to the ban on future investment in international companies doing business in Sudan.
"CalSTRS officials will determine whether there are suitable investments to replace ousted companies in the $157.8 billion fund's massive portfolio. The move will help CalSTRS comply with the state's landmark Sudan divestment law passed last summer."
LAT's Robert Salladay reports on the
Anna Nicole Smith-Arnold Schwarzenegger connection, such as it was.
"When she was trying to break into the movies, Anna Nicole Smith gave an interview to S.F. Chronicle fashion editor Trish Donnally, who knew her as the Guess jeans supermodel. A 25-year-old Anna Nicole, who died [Thursday], said about her first wide-eyed experiences in Hollywood:
"'And I've always wanted to see Arnold Schwarzenegger, and I'm sitting there getting my nail fixed one day and he walks by the window with a big old cigar in his mouth. I started shaking, I was almost crying. And the nail ladies are saying, 'What's wrong?' When I told them they were hysterical laughing at me.
'He was eating at a restaurant right behind this place, and I couldn't get anyone to get his autograph, so I finally told a shoe salesman, 'I'll buy a pair of shoes if you'll get his autograph.' " The salesman did.
Smith would later show up at Planet Hollywood openings that Schwarzenegger, an investor, also attended."
Oddly, after all that, the governor's office did not release a statement about her passing...
Finally,
what do lesbian Heifers and Paul Horcher have in common? They're both part of some of the most memorable moments in the Capitol. We at The Roundup
are asking you, gentle readers, to send us your picks for most memorable moments in a floor session or committee hearing -- memorable speeches, moments, anything in the Mountjoy repertoire.
Send your nominations to
tips@capitolbasement.com
