"Lawmakers turned down another state budget plan Tuesday, then blocked a stopgap measure to fund programs while
the political debate drags on," reports Aurelio Rojas in the Bee.
"As California's state budget impasse enters its record-breaking 72nd day, Republican lawmakers have repeatedly called
on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democrats to approve
emergency funding for some programs for which money
ran out July 1.
"On Tuesday, as the Assembly was rejecting the same
Republican budget plan the Senate defeated the previous
day, Democrats once again turned down the request for
emergency funding.
"The exercise has become routine in the Legislature
as stories of disrupted state health care services
and vendors facing bankruptcy have mounted.
"'We have called for an emergency resolution to fund
those people,' Assembly GOP leader
Mike Villines of Clovis told Democrats during Tuesday's debate.
"'We will vote right on this floor, in the next 30 seconds, if you will bring it.'"
"The Assembly was scheduled to vote on Schwarzenegger's own plan today. That vote was postponed to allow
the governor to meet separately – and privately – with the Democratic and Republican caucuses."
And in the process, the governor boned up on his Republican
colleagues' names.
Republican lawmakers reportedly wore name tags during
their meeting with the governor, because he doesn't know their names.
Hey, it's only been two years, right? How can any governor
be expected to keep up.
The LAT's Michael Rothfeld reads some more of the Der Spiegel interview, and delves into the nam tag issue. .
"In his remarks, from a transcript published in English
of an interview conducted partly in German, Schwarzenegger
also said that delegates to the national conventions
of both parties were "hard-core" and that Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, was "a good-looking woman." He praised the "incredible" candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrat running for president. And he said he doesn't know whether his Los Angeles gardeners are legal
immigrants.
"His statements about California Republicans inflamed
the moderate governor's already strained relationship with the more conservative
GOP lawmakers. Assembly Republicans wore name tags to a meeting with
Schwarzenegger about the state budget impasse Tuesday
afternoon.
"They engaged in some "very direct" discussion, and came out on good terms, said Assembly
minority leader Mike Villines of Clovis.
"'Maybe there was something in translation lost, or maybe
he feels that way about some of the views that we have,' Villines said. 'I consider him a friend. Obviously we see the world
differently in many ways." As for the name tags, he said, 'You've got to have a sense of humor about this. . . . He's in our family, like it or not.'"
Dan Walters challenges a PPIC study that reports that the 2000 redistricting did not result in a remarkably more
partisan Legislature.
"The PPIC study appears to be valid as far as it goes,
but it really doesn't go far enough because it's based solely on floor votes on bills and does not
– and, in fairness, could not – delve into other aspects of the legislative process,
such as what happened in committees.
"It could not, for instance, quantify the influence
that moderate Democrats in the Assembly, led by then-Speaker Robert
Hertzberg and dubbed the "mod squad," wielded. Many business-opposed
bills were short-circuited before reaching the Assembly floor, angering
liberal groups.
"PPIC missed the mark on this one. The Legislature is
clearly more polarized than it was a decade ago. Whether
Proposition 11, which has its own flaws, would moderate the Capitol
is another question to ponder."
Daniel Weintraub wars that the recall effort of the
governor could be disasterous for CCPOA .
"A recall sponsored by the guards union would look like
a self-serving grab for power and money. With only 7 percent of the voters saying they think the prison
budget should be safe from cuts, that's not much of a base on which the officers can build
support. Their gambit looks like a long shot at best,
and at worst, a disaster for the union and its members."
The recall effort isn't the only fight for the head of the union.
Matier and Ross write:
"The two-term president of the California Correctional Peace
Officers Association, Mike Jimenez, is being challenged by six opponents as he seeks re-election at the union's convention in Las Vegas on Sept. 18. At the forefront of their complaints: how the union is using its money and considerable
clout.
"The union has spent more than two years in fruitless
negotiations with the Schwarzenegger administration
trying to win raises for the state's 31,000 prison guards. At the same time, it has given $602,000 to outgoing state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata's campaign to defeat Schwarzenegger's redistricting plan on the Nov. 4 ballot, Proposition 11, which would hand over the job of drawing legislative
boundaries to a commission.
"'What does Jimenez think he's going to get for his $602,000? Certainly not a contract,' reads a recent posting on Time for Change! - a Web site for union dissidents.
"'Perata's power is disappearing fast,' the site notes.
"The anti-Jimenez unionists have also raised questions about
bonuses being paid to union executives and a deal under
which a union VP bought a Sacramento home for $149,000 below asking price. The seller: the guards union itself. It had used the house to
billet union officials while they were in the capital."
"One in 10 high school seniors in the class of 2008 failed to pass California's exit exam by graduation, the lowest rate of passage since the
test became mandatory to earn a diploma three years
ago, according to data released Tuesday by the state
Department of Education," writes the LAT's Seema Mehta.
"The estimated passage rate dipped, state officials
said, because for the first time special education
students were required to take the exam to receive
diplomas, and their test results were included in the
tally. Nearly half of special education students -- those with learning, physical or mental disabilities
such as autism or dyslexia -- did not pass the exam.
"'It's an unmitigated disaster for special education kids,' said Sid Wolinsky, director of litigation for Berkeley-based Disability Rights Advocates, which unsuccessfully
fought for alternative assessments for special needs
teenagers, such as oral exams or work portfolios.
"State Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell defended the mandate.
"'Far from holding students back,' he said, 'the exit exam requirement ensures all students who
earn diplomas will have the basic skills essential
to their success in the workforce.'"
"With a short jump onto a scaffolding platform, four tree-sitters peacefully ended a 649-day standoff with UC Berkeley on Tuesday over the university's plan to cut down a grove of trees to build an athletic
training center," reports Carolyn Jones in the Chron.
"The protesters voluntarily climbed down from an 80-foot redwood next to Memorial Stadium about 1:30 p.m. after four hours of negotiations with UC Police
Chief Victoria Harrison as she hung in a basket suspended from a 200-foot-tall crane.
"After shouting "We love you!" to a crowd of about 500 supporters and onlookers on the ground, the sitters
surrendered to police, who arrested them on misdemeanor
charges of trespassing, violating a court order and
illegal lodging. They were taken to Santa Rita Jail
in Dublin.
"The encampment, which began Dec. 1, 2006, and included at its peak more than a dozen people
living on limbs of oak and redwood trees, was one of
the longest tree-sits ever, falling short of Julia Butterfly Hill's 738-day stay in a coast redwood in Humboldt County a decade
ago.
"'We are extremely relieved this has ended and no one
was hurt,' said Vice Chancellor Nathan Brostrom. 'Today's operation was brilliant in design and operation.'"
The OC Register's Erin Carlyle looks at local support for Proposition 8 , the constitutional ban on gay marriage. "Orange County, where Republicans dominate politics
and tens of
thousands pour into evangelical megachurches each weekend,
has become a
funding powerhouse in the effort to ban gay marriage
in California.
"Orange
County donors have contributed $1.6 million for Proposition 8, a
November ballot initiative that would amend the state
constitution to
define marriage as between a man and a woman, eliminating
the right of
same-sex couples to marry.
"Donations from here to support
Prop. 8 constitute 24 percent of the $6.8 million raised statewide,
according to campaign finance records filed with the
California
Secretary of State through Aug. 28.
We close today with a report from one of the swing
states, where the fate of the free world will be decided
in November. "A man with four previous drunken driving convictions
who was stopped
for weaving in and out of traffic on Interstate 40 was ready with an
excuse for his poor driving: his passenger spilled his beer.
"Not surprisingly, the man was arrested just before
midnight
Saturday, said state police officer Kurtis Ward, who
said he initially
thought the driver was joking.
"He was so matter of fact about it, like it wasn't a big deal," Ward said.
The 31-year-old man was allegedly too drunk to perform field sobriety tests and was arrested on aggravated drunken driving charges,
court records said."
