The
Schwarzenegger administration admits there are
more "promotional" videos for Schwarzenegger policies, like the lunch breaks video that has come under fire from Democrats. Anyone looking for a little bit of good theater, tune in later today as Sen.
Gloria Romero calls administration officials to the carpet to explain the videos, which were made at taxpayer expense, and are meant to promote the governor's policies.
The
Merc reports: "In all, the Schwarzenegger administration has produced five such videos, according to the state Labor and Workforce Development Agency. Two of them cost about $1,200 to produce, and at least two were sent to California stations. It could not be learned Wednesday night how many stations broadcast the footage."
Schwarzenegger spokeswoman
Margita Thompson says of the videos: They're "just a press release in video form," earning her a Roundup nomination for
Best Spin of the Month. Congratulations, Margita!
While we're giving out awards, a big congrats to the Contra Costa Times for coming up with our
Headline of the Day: "Wal-Mart possibility confuses Hercules." Certainly, they don't mean
this Hercules.
Angelides announces tour dates: Okay, so maybe you couldn't get those U2 tickets, but there's still time to catch
Phil Angelides as he
kicks off his gubernatorial campaign. In a release sent to supporters, Angelides says he will criss-cross the state from March 15-19, hitting San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego, Fresno, Monterey, Eureka, Visalia, East Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Calexico.
The release promises "the beginning of something exciting!" The release failed to mention what that exciting something is.
Kevin Shelley redux? SacBee's Alexa Bluth and the Times' Evan Halper reports on a new state audit which finds a look at "pet projects funded at the behest of various lawmakers found widespread misuse of the money, with investigators concluding that more than $1.1 million never went where it was supposed to go or cannot be accounted for."
Among the projects
most troubling to investigators was the
Western Center for Archeology, an organization in Hemet that is constructing a museum with $30 million in state grants.
"There are major concerns there," [Controller
Steve] Westly said. "There are conflicts of interest, we are talking about big dollars, and it is not all accounted for. That is one where we will be taking follow-up steps," he said.
The Legislature has created a new
select committee on stem cell oversight, to try to keep an eye on the new institute created by voters with the passage of Prop. 71 last year.
Legislators have limited, if any, control over the institute, but that doesn't mean they can't form a committee, right? When asked how the state could ensure the institute was making the best use of the public's money, the answer from the new head of the institute was, in essence,
"trust me.""Sen.
Elaine Alquist, D-San Jose, wondered how the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, the panel that will determine who gets the grants, would keep the Legislature informed before choosing how to spend public money," the Bee reports.
Zach Hall said Legislators may not have any oversight, but they were free "to peruse the agendas for the meetings that the committee opens to the public." Gee, thanks pal. If we're good, do we get a lollipop?
"The success of our venture will critically depend on the confidence of the people of California,"
Hall said at one point. "The decisions made by the institute must be transparent, and we welcome public comment."
Attorneys for the governor
scored a victory in court yesterday when a judge ruled that
CalPIRG cannot join in the case the governor has filed against the FPPC. The governor is seeking to reverse the new FPPC rules on candidate-controlled campaign committees.
Final tally from the mayor's race:
Bob Hertzberg came
about 5,800 votes short of the runoff, but doesn't seem ready to endorse the mayor now. "I wouldn't have run if I felt the city was moving in the right direction," he said.
The
Education Coalition may be united against the Governor on the Capitol front, but relations at several school and community college districts are not friendly. In Tracy,
teachers aren't working more than minimally required,
students are walking out from community colleges in Ventura, and Contra Costa's community colleges
appear close to a strike.Dept. of Corrections: We misread an article and suggested that the
California School Boards Association was opposing Sen. Martha Escutia's
junk food in schools bill. They're on board with the bill this year.
