The governor is in Washington, D.C. for the National Governors Association meeting, and
is taking his post-partisanship message nationally, writes John Wildermuth in the Chron. "The governor will take that message to a national audience today during a schedeled speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
"'I'm going to talk about how important it is to work together, which doesn't mean that you have to sell out your principles,' Schwarzenegger said Sunday on CBS' 'Face the Nation.' '
It just means that you ultimately want to serve the people rather than your party, because I think the elected officials are public servants and not party servants.'"
"It's a sentiment that appeals to the burgeoning number of voters who don't want to be identified with the Republican or Democratic parties and to the many people unwilling to be tied to their party's candidates or policies.
"'I believe in thinking independently and parties aren't like that,' said
John Messner of Sacramento, a Democrat who backed Schwarzenegger in November's election. 'It's better to think about what's best for the state than about what are the Republican or the Democratic ideas.'"
On a Sunday talkshow yesterday, the governor
called for a timeline for troop pullout from Iraq, writes Peter Nicholas in the Times.
"Schwarzenegger, speaking on CBS's 'Face the Nation,' said Americans won't support an open-ended commitment to the war - a point, he said, that needs to be made to the Iraqis.
"'We should let the Iraqis know that we are here,' until a specified time, the governor said, 'and then we're going to draw back.
We're going to draw our troops out of Iraq.'
"'I think a timeline is absolutely important because I think that the people in America don't want to see another Korean war, another Vietnam war, where it's an open-ended thing. There should be a timeline,' Schwarzenegger said."
The Bee's Aurelio Rojas
catches up with Pete Schabarum, the former Assemblyman and father of California's legislative term limits, who is ready for another fight. "They're being disingenuous when they say this will be a reduction," Schabarum said during a recent interview in his Eldorado Country Club home near Palm Springs. 'This is about allowing the guys who run the place to hang on longer.'
"Schabarum took umbrage when Perata, D-Oakland, recently called him '
a cracker of the first order' during a speech to the Legislature's Latino Caucus.
"The Senate president told the group the reason term limits were adopted in 1990 was because Schabarum and his supporters wanted to end the long reign of Democratic Speaker
Willie Brown, the first African American to run the Assembly.
"'I don't know what he was talking about,' Schabarum said. 'The fact that Willie was there was certainly a factor, but by no means was he the only guy.
The Legislature just didn't perform -- and it doesn't perform today.'"
Dan Walters thinks, if combined with redistricting reform, extending term limits
could increase the Legislature's effectiveness. "Merely stretching out term limits could rekindle the arrogance and disassociation that marked the Capitol in the 1980s. But changing term limits and reforming redistricting could improve the Capitol's effectiveness, at least at the margin."
However, with the new Democratic majority in Congress,
redistricting reform has gotten a lot more complicated. The LAT's Nancy Vogel writes: "The new dynamic in Washington, with Californian Nancy Pelosi as House speaker, threatens to thwart an effort by state political leaders to overhaul the way voting districts are drawn.
"Fresh from their victories in the November election, Democrats in Congress don't want to risk their fragile majority. Many Republicans don't want their relatively safe seats threatened either.
"Their opposition promises to crimp an effort by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, state Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuņez (D-Los Angeles) and others to change how California draws political boundaries every 10 years to accommodate population shifts."
The Bee's Jim Sanders talks to Sacramento-area lawmakers
about their plans if term limits are extended. "'If the voters will have me, and want me to continue serving in this way, it's certainly something that I'd give a lot of consideration to,' said Assemblyman
Dave Jones, D-Sacramento.
"'(I would) figure out what's best for Sam Aanestad and his family, and what's best for the district,' said Sen.
Sam Aanestad, R-Grass Valley."
When did Sen. Aanestad get
Bob Dole disease?
"'Certainly, if people were actually to vote for it, then I would continue to run," said Assemblyman
Guy Houston, R-San Ramon, who wants the initiative paired with a separate measure to change how legislative districts are drawn.
"Sen.
Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks, said any decision would be so many years from now that 'I don't have the faintest idea.'
"None of 12 Sacramento-area incumbents vowed to leave on their current term-out date if voters approve the measure. Nine want to keep their options open, while two said the issue is moot because they plan to switch from the Assembly to the Senate. Assemblywoman
Lois Wolk, D-Davis, declined to comment."
And from our
Wrench in the Negotiations File: Matier and Ross report, "A big hurdle has popped up in the path of the 49ers' plans to move down to Santa Clara -- a portion of
the land where the team hopes to build its $800 million stadium turns out to be owned by the city of San Francisco."
Oops.
And if you've got some spare time today, why not waste it reading
this piece from the Sunday LA Times.
"When a vampire expert allegedly seduced a tipsy UC Irvine student four years ago, he inadvertently set off a chain of events that now jeopardizes the school's control of a dead philosopher's prized archives.
"The story came to light after UCI announced last week that it would drop a lawsuit against the widow and sons of philosopher
Jacques Derrida, the acclaimed founder of deconstruction, an influential but bewildering theory that questions the concept of absolute truth."
