The state Assembly will have an unusual Tuesday floor session today to hear a bill that would move the state's presidential primary up to February.
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called Monday on mayors and law enforcement officials across California to
join with him in forging a counterattack on street gangs blamed for much of the state's violent crime," writes the LAT's Stuart Pfeifer.
"Speaking at a news conference at Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department headquarters in Monterey Park, Schwarzenegger proposed a statewide summit after discussing the gang problem for about 40 minutes with L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca, the sheriffs of Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
"After the meeting, Schwarzenegger said he supported a "coordinated approach" that could include state funding of local efforts to fight street gangs. He said local officials should join forces rather than separately seek state money to fight gang problems.
"'I'm calling for a big meeting. Everyone could get together and come up with ideas. We have to put all this together and not piecemeal it,' Schwarzenegger said."
The LAT's Evan Halper talks about the possibility of an
emerging partnership between New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"Spitzer has stepped into a national spotlight on state governance that until recently was directed almost entirely at Schwarzenegger. Like California's governor, he came into office with a larger-than-life profile, having gained glory as the hard-charging state attorney general who took on Wall Street.
"Before bumping into each other at a White House reception last week during a national governors conference, the two had talked only once, in a brief phone conversation in January.
"'It was after he hurt himself,' Spitzer said in an interview in his Manhattan field office. 'I told him I was ready to take him on the slopes.'
"At the White House event, they chatted about the potential for launching policy initiatives together. A spokesman for Schwarzenegger said they agreed that doing so 'could be good for the country.' They made plans to talk again soon.
"'New York is an extremely important state. California is an extremely important state,' Schwarzenegger said in a recent telephone interview. 'If we can form a partnership from the East to the West, that will rub off on other states.'"
"The prison system's top health care official, caught up in a high-level dispute with the powerful court-appointed corrections medical czar,
resigned Monday at the request, he said, of the Governor's Office," reports Andy Furillo in the Bee.
"Dr.
Peter Farber-Szekrenyi said that California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary
Jim Tilton asked for his resignation, effective immediately, at the behest of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"'I'm a gubernatorial appointee,' Farber-Szekrenyi said. 'It's his prerogative to do whatever he'd like to do.'"
"Farber-Szekrenyi said Tilton told him he was sorry about having to ask for his resignation.
"'Nobody understands why it happened,' Farber-Szekrenyi said. 'But that's the way it goes with gubernatorial appointees. That's the way it goes.'"
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger personally congratulated the massive, chiseled winner of his signature Arnold Classic bodybuilding competition in Ohio on Saturday and stood by as
Victor Martinez was presented with a $130,000 first-place check, a spectacular trophy, a luxury Swiss watch and an 'Arnold Classic' jacket," report Carla Marinucci and Edward Epstein in the Chron.
"Just days before, the name of the 34-year-old 'Dominican Dominator' -- who was caught selling steroids to a New York City undercover police officer in 2004 --
appeared in published reports in New York about a major multistate investigation of steroid use related to the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative.
"Both Martinez and eight-time Mr. Olympia
Ronnie Coleman -- described as a former client of Victor Conte's BALCO lab in Burlingame -- '
were among the many clients in an ongoing multistate investigation that led to the raids on several pharmacies' in Florida recently, though they are not targets of the investigation focusing on major distributors, the New York Daily News reported.
"The governor's press secretary,
Aaron McLear, said Monday after The Chronicle contacted him on the matter that "this is the first (the governor has) heard of" Martinez's links to steroid investigations.
"But McLear stressed that Schwarzenegger has left no question for years that 'clearly steroid use is something he is very strongly opposed to' in a sport that he loves."
Dan Walters writes that
tensions are rising in the Capitol, as evidenced by the comments of both the governor and Fabian Núñez in DC.
"'I have tried for three years now to say let's not do fundraising during the time they negotiate the budget in California,' Schwarzenegger continued, 'because I know what goes on in our building. Everyone is in there, everyone is trying to get influence. And then they do fundraisers at night.
At 5 o'clock, they are in the Capitol, and two hours later, they're doing fundraisers. If you don't link those two together, it's a little bit obvious.'"
"Those words don't quite equal 'girlie men,' the infamous epithet that Schwarzenegger hurled at lawmakers in 2004, but they're his harshest critique of the Legislature in months -- and to Capitol insiders may be payback for Núñez's dismissive remarks about 'post-partisanship.' Taken in that context, fashioning some sort of political reform package -- if, indeed, there is to be one -- may be putting a strain on what had been a public lovefest between the governor and the speaker, and may reflect their much-altered circumstances.
"Last year, Schwarzenegger needed Núñez's cooperation to help him win a new term as governor, but Núñez now needs the governor's help to extend term limits and his legislative career. The boot, it might be said, is on the other foot."
The Merc News's Mike Zapler reports: "State Sen.
Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, has introduced legislation that
would allow couples to use reproductive services when the man has HIV. Before they could try artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization, the semen would first be treated to minimize the chance of transmitting HIV. A medical procedure known as ``sperm washing'' allows semen to be cleansed of HIV or other infections, dramatically reducing if not eliminating the risk of transmission.
"Migden said current law discriminates against HIV-positive men and that her legislation, Senate Bill 443, would 'ensure equal reproductive rights for women,' regardless of their partner's HIV status.
"One HIV-positive man who lives in the Sacramento area said he and his wife have risked trying to conceive on their own, to no avail. Their last hope, he said, is in vitro fertilization, but California law precludes them from trying.
"'She cannot get pregnant without reproductive assistance, but because I have HIV there is no way for them to use my sperm,' said the 44-year-old information technology worker, who declined to give his name because of the stigma surrounding HIV. 'It's unfair.'"
Dan Weintraub writes about
pressure put on Bob Dutton by conservatives to drop his plan for savings accounts for California newborns. Co-author
Darrell "Steinberg said it was "ludicrous" to suggest that a $500 savings account redeemable in 18 years would draw pregnant women to California so that their children would be citizens and qualify for the program. He attributed the opposition to bigotry.
'I'm not mad at him," Steinberg told me. 'It's just sad the amount of hate that's out there. To me, a kid is a kid is a kid.'"
The reaction showed once again that illegal immigration is not just another policy issue that stands alone. It is a thread that runs through people's beliefs on any number of matters, from education to health care to infrastructure.The Chron's Tom Chorneau reports, "Republican presidential hopeful
Rudolph Giuliani is making an aggressive play for conservative backers in California -- courting their endorsements and collecting their campaign checks in a strategy that political observers say could have a big payoff in the nation's most populous state.
"And with strong support from
Floyd Kvamme -- one of President Bush's top high-tech advisers and a founder of the Technology Network advocacy group -- Giuliani will return to Silicon Valley today to star at a fundraising breakfast aimed at introducing him to influential conservatives in the business and high-tech community.
Giuliani appeared Monday with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at a law enforcement conference addressing gang violence. Giuliani fended off questions about recent reports that his relationship with his son has become strained, saying such family issues are best worked out in private."
From our
Where are They Now Files, Variety reports "
HBO will launch political satire series The Gaggle to coincide with the run-up to the 2008 presidential election. The show will cast snarky, young political journalists in a political opinion show with a strong comedic element.
Ana Marie Cox, the former Wonkette blogger and author of political novel Dog Days, appears in the first pilot along with standup comedian Marc Maron and
Republican operative Mike Murphy, who managed campaigns for Arnold Schwarzenegger and 2008 presidential aspirant Mitt Romney.
