George Skelton checks in with his old favorite interview subject,
Pete Wilson, to assess Gov. Schwarzenegger, now that the current governor's inner-Wilson is shining through.
"What has happened," Wilson says, "is that he and some people close to him, who have not had the experience of working in a partisan political atmosphere, have found that contrary to their hopes and expectations and desires, there is not this atmosphere of warm, wonderful bipartisan cooperation. They've learned that the Capitol is a very partisan place where politics is played as a contact sport.
"He tried to maintain personal relationships, but has learned there are honest ideological differences — and also people who are simply seeking partisan advantage wherever they can find it and are willing to take cheap shots."
But Skelton sums up the State of the Democrats more succinctly than any other columnist to date: "Schwarzenegger is headed in a direction and knows why.
Worse than partisan, Democrats seem confused."Dueling Senators: Today's SacBee has a He Said, She Said with
Jeff Denham calling for a nonpartisan Secretary of State. Meanwhile, would-be Secretary of State
Debra Bowen suggests different reforms are required, including a bill that would "preclude the secretary of state and candidates for the office from accepting campaign contributions from voting equipment manufacturers and vendors whose systems he or she is charged with certifying for use in California."
All indications are that the Legislature is headed for one
bruising confirmation battle, but it's not for the Secretary of State's job.
Andrea Hoch looks as though she may be the next gubernatorial appointee to get Hastings-ed.
Meanwhile, it looks as though the
Democratic primary for lieutenant governor has officially begun. (We know, we know, don't get too excited.)
Jackie Speier begins her unofficial run for lite gov by taking on
John Garamendi's recent
settlement of the Executive Life case. Speier will use her perch as chairwoman of the Senate Banking, Finance and Insurance Committee to hold "informational hearings"explore charges that the insurance commissioner settled for too little. And if Garamendi's name gets dragged through the mud a little bit, so be it.
"The more than 300,000 affected policyholders say they suffered losses of more than $4 billion as a result of the takeover of Los Angeles-based Executive Life in the early 1990s by French bank Credit Lyonnais," the AP reports. "Speier wanted to know 'why insurance consumers were shortchanged as much as $4 billion,' she said in a statement. 'We need to hear the whole story and have a complete audit of the funds funneled in and out of the Executive Life estate,' Speier said."
Speaking of showy legislative hearings, today is the day the
Joint Legislative Audit Committee (remember them?) gets together for a hearing that was originally scheduled to include testimony from
Kevin Shelley. One early version of the agenda had Shelley's No. 2,
Cathy Mitchell, set to testify, but in the official final agenda, sent to reporters last week by the Speaker's office, Mitchell had been pulled from the witness list.
Last week, JLAC's
Elise Flynn sent a memo to legislative staff that read "The Joint Legislative Audit Committee has been notified that Cathy Mitchell, Undersecretary for the Secretary of State, is under doctor's orders and will be unable to attend our Feb. 22nd hearing."
The head of the SOS's elections division,
John Mott-Smith will take the mic today, along with state auditor
Elaine Howle and
Fred Forrer from MGT Consulting.
From the Careful What You Wish For file,
Sherry Bebitch Jeffe provides
a warning to redistricting proponents. " If history is a guide, 'independent' reapportionment wouldn't take the politics out of the process, nor would it spawn a rush of moderate lawmakers. More important, a new state political map would not alter the political dynamics that have created a polarized state government."
Quote of the Day: After
Jim Hahn accused
Antonio Villaraigosa of
sponsoring a payday loan bill in the Assembly to help campaign donors, Villaraigosa campaign manager
Ace Smith reponded: "Being called corrupt by Mayor Hahn is like being called ugly by a bullfrog."
We're still waiting for a response from
the Sunny Assassin.
The governor's bag man: "In the Capitol, [chamber of Commerce President
Alan] Zaremberg acts as ambassador for 14,000 companies. He drives a black BMW, and the last four digits of his cell phone number spell the name of his favorite sport -- G-O-L-F." Ann Marimow has the
full Zaremberg profile.The
Condit family emerged from exile this weekend, talking about dad's innocence, a libel lawsuit against writer
Dominick Dunne, and the
family's new Baskin-Robbins franchise. The connection, of course: Revenge, like ice cream, is best served cold.
Nancy Vogel covers the
rush to the bill introduction deadline, which was extended until 5 p.m. today. Vetoed bills attempting a comeback include driver's licenses, prescription drugs and minimum wage increase.
Also on the list, this item from our I Thought We Took Care of That in the 90s file.
Mervyn Dymally is introducing legislation to
align penalties for crack and powder cocaine, arguing that the heavier sentences for crack cocaine adversely affect blacks.
And, of course, there's
this bill commemorating today as Spay Day. Go out there and do whatever it is you do to celebrate.
