State Sen.
Abel Maldonado finally got his photo op with Gov. Schwarzenegger yesterday, the one he was clamoring for but never got during his primary election defeat against
Tony Strickland.
But now, as the lone GOP Senate vote for the budget,
Schwarzenegger hit the Central Valley and Central Coast, to praise and punish accordingly. The LAT's Evan Halper reports, "In a rare move, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger went on the offensive Monday against a group of legislators from his own party, making clear that there could be political costs if they continue to block passage of the state budget.
"
The governor's visits were a shift in strategy: Until this week, he mostly had sought to appease GOP senators at the negotiating table amid accusations that he was too willing to cut deals with Democrats on the budget and other legislative business.
"But on Monday, with the budget standoff threatening to sink his plans to bring healthcare to all Californians and overhaul the state's water infrastructure, Schwarzenegger took his private jet to the district of state Sen. Dave Cogdill of Fresno, a leader of the holdouts, and toured a health clinic that may have to close as a result of the impasse.
"Earlier in the day, Schwarzenegger traveled to Santa Maria, hometown of Sen. Abel Maldonado, whom he called "an extraordinary leader," praising the senator for breaking with the GOP caucus to cast a vote for the budget.
The only kind words Schwarzenegger had for Senate Republicans on Monday were those lauding Maldonado. The other Republicans he scolded."
We;re still waiting for him to call the Republicans girly men...
The Bee's Judy Lin reports, "Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested Monday that
he could support eliminating the two-thirds voting requirement for passing future state budgets.
"
Everyone now has come to the conclusion -- all the leaders -- that we must work, as soon as the budget is over, work on a system that allows us to have a budget on time," the governor said. "If that means we should go and shoot for, as some suggested, a simple majority to pass the budget rather than a two-thirds vote, maybe that's the solution."
But this just in! Nobody cares..."Seven weeks into the new fiscal year and California still doesn't have a budget. But
is anyone paying close attention?" asks Edwin Garcia.
"Not a whole lot of voters, according to a Field Poll released this morning that found
just one in eight - or 12 percent - are paying "a lot of attention."
"In addition, 37 percent claimed to be paying "some attention" and about a third were paying "a little" attention to the highly partisan budget stalemate, the biggest political story in the Capitol this summer, and the topic of endless news conferences by Democratic and Republican legislators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger."
Capitol Weekly's Malcolm Maclachlan reports on
possible new talks between the Schwarzenegger administration and tribes looking for new casinos."Assemblyman
Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, said the administration of Arnold Schwarzenegger has entered negotiations with the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria to build an urban casino. The tribe has land in Rohnert Park inside Huffman's district.
"
When asked whether such talks were underway, the Governor's press secretary, Aaron McClear said: "We don't comment on pending negotiations. But we always negotiate in good faith with any tribe that has federally-eligible land."
"It is this last term, "federally eligible land," that Huffman said has him worried. Working with Stations Casinos, a Las Vegas-based management company, the tribe bought two parcels of land in recent years, one near Sears Point and another near 101 in Rohnert Park. Station Casinos owns the Rohnert Park land via a holding company called SC Sonoma Management LLC. While the coastal Miwok and Southern Pomo groups that make up the membership of the Graton Rancheria are native to the area, neither site fits the traditional definition of tribal lands."
The Chron's Carolyn Jones reports on
the resignation of UC President Robert Dynes.
"
A former chancellor at UC San Diego and a physics professor, Dynes oversaw dramatic changes within the university system. Drastic budget cuts, uncertainty over UC management of two national nuclear weapons laboratories, scandals over executive compensation, the opening of a 10th campus and skyrocketing student fees are among the challenges Dynes grappled with.
"After nearly losing the federal contracts to run the Los Alamos and Livermore weapons labs due to safety incidents, theft by employees and mishandling of classified data, UC won competitions to retain control of them.
"The compensation scandal also is resolved, Dynes said. The Board of Regents changed the way executives and top officials are paid after the Bureau of State Audits slammed UC management last year for circumventing public disclosure rules. High-level employees were paid millions of dollars in perks and bonuses at a time when student fees were rising steeply and the state was slashing the university's budget."
Mike Zapler
profiles Jon Fleischman, and looks at how he's changed this year's budget debate. So, what's his secret? Xbox.
"Dressed in khaki shorts and sandals during a recent meeting with a reporter -- for whom he cut short a game of Tiger Woods video golf on his Xbox -- Fleischman described himself as an "ideologue at heart." He was raised, however, by a nonideological Jewish family in West Los Angeles: his parents were registered Democrats (his father, a long-retired businessman, has since switched parties)."
We at the Roundup are Playstation men ourselves.
"Fleischman recounted one story that seemed to capture his essence: '
When People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals staged a hunger strike to protest drug testing on animals, We set up a sundae booth across the way.'"
Again, we would have gone cheeseburger, but that's just a style thing...
The Chron's Chip Johnson looks at "
Ron Dellums rocky transition from Congress" to mayor of Oakland.
"
In his first eight months, Dellums' new role has compelled him to drop the hammer on union workers to end a garbage lockout and call in more police in an attempt to restore law and order after a crime wave claimed nine lives in the last two weeks."The mayor made the decisions reluctantly, said City Hall sources. That's not surprising, given that he made a career standing between America's disenfranchised citizens and colleagues who preferred law-enforcement solutions.
As a congressman, he was a friend of the working man, and certainly not the kind of elected official who would threaten to replace them to end a labor dispute."
The Bee's Gilbert Chan reports on
changing policy at CalPERS, "A landmark strategy that barred investments in politically troubled emerging market countries was scrapped Monday by trustees of the California Public Employees' Retirement System.
"The move comes as the $245 billion pension fund increasingly looks to boost investments in public and private markets worldwide, especially in fast-growing countries such as China. The changing landscape could include the opening of foreign real estate investment offices.
And with all the free time we have this week, what with this pseudo-recess and all, we finally took the time to listen to those
Carole Migden 911 tapes.
There are 15 minutes worth of calls in all, which paint a pretty scary portrait of Migden's drive, and callers consistently refer to her as "drunk," "out of control" and "loaded." The final caller even refers to her as a "really pale old lady." You can listen to the tapes
here.
