The day after

Oct 1, 2008

Capitol Weekly reports on the release of the list of donors to the governor's California State Protocol Foundation.

"Since the protocol foundation was established in 2004, government watchdogs have blasted the foundation for not revealing its donor list. But some of the group’s donors were revealed after the foundation ponied up money for the governor and his staff to travel to the recent Border Governors Conference in Los Angeles.

"'I’m really excited that this information is out there. But the information reveals what we always thought was the case,' said Consumer Watchdog’s Camern Balber. 'Before it was secret, and we were worried that companies were paying to influence the administration. Now it’s public, and we can see that companies are paying to influence the administration.'

"That suggestion was dismissed by Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear, who said "the governor has always supported transparency laws, and welcomes these new reporting requirements." McLear said donors give to the governor "because they believe in his vision for the state," and know they cannot buy the governor's vote through political contributions.

"The foundation reported a $50,000 contribution from the University of Phoenix, and $25,000 each from the California Conference of Carpenters, the Capstone Turbine Corporation, the California State Council of Laborers and Western Union. Additional $10,000 donations were received from AOL, Anheuser Busch and the Alliance of Auto Manufacturers."

 

...speaking of Anheuser Busch, the governor signed the Budweiser schwag bill yesteday.

 

"The contributions were all made on August 12, in the midst of the budget standoff, and as the Legislature was considering hundreds of bills to send to the governor. Many of those donors had major legislation pending at the time of their donations."

 

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a landmark bill Tuesday to discourage sprawl in future decades, completing a deal among environmentalists, homebuilders and local governments on the final day of bill signing," reports Kevin Yamamura in the Bee.

"Senate Bill 375, by Democratic Sen. Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento, will push California communities to consider climate change impacts of development in regional planning, with an emphasis on reducing car travel.

"Environmentalists and other proponents feared the bill was in trouble as Schwarzenegger officials raised transportation and business concerns last week. But the Republican governor ultimately embraced SB 375 as a "first in the nation" effort to link land-use planning and greenhouse-gas reductions.

"'This legislation constitutes the most sweeping revision of land-use policies since Gov. Ronald Reagan signed the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA),' Schwarzenegger wrote in a statement."

 

"However, a multibillion-dollar proposal to curb air pollution near the state's ports was rejected by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who concluded that the related cargo fees would harm an already suffering economy," write Patrick McGreevy and Margot Roosevelt in the Times.

"The port fee legislation the governor vetoed was the top priority of some environmental groups. It would have imposed a fee on cargo containers to pay for programs to reduce air pollution and traffic congestion.

"'Given the current economic downturn,' Schwarzenegger said, 'it is vitally important that the state does not worsen the situation by mandating added costs on business that do not provide any public benefit.'

"'The governor killing this year's most important piece of environmental legislation doesn't help anyone,' said Martin Schlageter, a spokesman for the Coalition for Clean Air. 'It's disgusting.'

"The measure, SB 974 by Sen. Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), would have allowed the collection of $60 for each 40-foot container that moved through the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach or Oakland, which handle more than 40% of the nation's goods."

 

"Also Tuesday, the governor signed a bill authorizing the state to spend $842 million of previously approved bond funds for water storage, levee improvement and conservation projects.

 

"The signing of SB1XX by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, comes after Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill last year, arguing that the state needed a comprehensive plan to overhaul its water infrastructure. The governor has proposed a $9.3 billion water bond that could go to voters next year."

 

That was about the only Perata bill that got signed yesterday. A measure to end doctors ability to bill patients directly for bills not covered by HMOs, a bill to extend regulation of private post-secondary schools, and a plan to create a new greenhouse gas institute were all rejected by Schwarzenegger yesterday. 

 

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have required health plans to seek an okay from a third-party before revoking a customer’s health insurance," reports Capitol Weekly.

"The bill, AB 1945 by Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, D-South Gate, was sponsored by the California Medical Association. It had received substantial bipartisan support in the Assembly, but passed with just one Republican vote in the Senate.

"De La Torre was clearly angry at the veto.

"'Having the governor not engage in any discussions or negotiations for months, and then just veto the bill is astonishing,' he said. 'The issue was good enough to use as an applause line in his State of the State Address in January, but not to sign a good piece of legislation that would protect insured people in the individual market.'

"But the veto was hailed by health plans, which vigorously opposed the measure."

 

"Hospitals and other health facilities will face harsh new penalties if their employees snoop in the medical records of patients, under legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger after privacy was breached on celebrities' files -- including his wife's -- at UCLA Medical Center," write Jordan Rau and Patrick McGreevy in the Times.

"Schwarzenegger approved two bills creating a state office to police patient privacy and to allow the state to issue fines as high as $250,000 for multiple violations.

"The governor rejected most other major healthcare legislation aimed at protecting average Californians who face significant medical bills or inadequate insurance. In his veto messages, Schwarzenegger vented at the Legislature for rejecting his $14.9-billion plan to overhaul the state's healthcare system in January and castigated lawmakers' incremental proposals as inferior."

 

The OC Register's Brian Josehph reports, "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation today that requires restaurant chains to post calorie counts on their menus and menus boards. Senate Bill 1420, by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Pacoima, applies to chains with 20 or more locations statewide and is the first in the nation of its kind.

 

Matier and Ross write:  "Opponents of same-sex marriage didn't have to look far to find footage of a boisterous San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom declaring - in his best Howard Dean voice - that gay marriage is here to stay, 'like it or not.'

"They took it right off the city's official Web site.

"'It stood out like a diamond on a donkey's behind,' said Frank Schubert, co-chairman of the campaign to pass Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment on the Nov. 4 ballot to ban same-sex marriages.

"Now Newsom is the star of a new 30-second spot by the Yes on 8 Protect Marriage Committee. It shows the mayor at a May 15 rally at City Hall trumpeting the state Supreme Court's decision to allow same-sex marriages.

"Not exactly the kind of introduction to state voters that gubernatorial wannabe Newsom was looking for. But then his chief political strategist, Eric Jaye, said opponents' use of the mayoral sound bite was predictable.

"'They can't debate this on the merits, so they try a misdirection - 'Vote against San Francisco liberals, vote against the judges,' ' Jaye said."

 

Dan Walters looks at the impact on the state's cash flow needs of Wall Street's financial meltdown.  "Had the budget passed even a week or two earlier, state officials say, they would have had little difficulty finding buyers of so-called "revenue anticipation notes," which the state uses almost every year to provide liquidity while awaiting the big surges of income, sales and corporate taxes later in the fiscal year.

"But now that there is a budget, the financial industry is in virtual lockdown mode, awaiting congressional approval – if there is congressional approval – of the bailout scheme.

"The major Wall Street banking houses that would ordinarily snap up California paper are in turmoil, and state officials worry that they wouldn't make loans of the size California needs until the situation stabilizes.

"Time is the state's financial enemy. With a budget is in place, the state is cranking up check-writing machines to catch up on payments to local governments, schools, health care providers and others, which means the state's cash reserves are melting away quickly.

"No one knows for certain when the state's treasury will be depleted, but it will be sometime around the end of October, which means the state's three financial authorities – the Department of Finance, state Treasurer Bill Lockyer and Controller John Chiang – must decide very soon how much to seek and solicit proposals from lenders." 

 

"The state Department of General Services is shopping for $10 million worth of new law enforcement vehicles, offering a boost to beleaguered automobile retailers," reports Andrew McIntosh in the Bee.

"Officials at General Services, the state's procurement arm, invited auto dealerships statewide – and the vehicle manufacturers they work with – to submit bids for police cruisers and SUVs earlier last month.

"The deadline to submit prices and technical information is Thursday. Vehicles will be bought sometime between this fall and 2010, said DGS spokesman Eric Lamoureux.

"'We're looking to leverage the total volume of vehicles that all the agencies purchase and drive the price down through one large contract, instead of each agency buying what they need on their own,' Lamoureux said. 'There's a need for state law enforcement agencies to replace vehicles that have been damaged in service but also to replace vehicles that have served beyond their normal life.'"

 

"A high-ranking state correctional officer who two weeks ago called for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recall was arrested Monday night south of Lodi on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol," reports the Lodi News's Layla Bohm.

"Lance Christy Corcoran, 44, was booked into the San Joaquin County Jail on suspicion of two counts of DUI and later released from custody, standard procedure in such arrests."

 

And finally, from our Election Stunts Gone Wrong Files, Reuters reports, "A publicity stunt by an underdog in the race to be governor of Bangkok went badly wrong when her campaign manager drowned as they bathed in a canal to highlight the plight of residents who have no access to clean water.

 

"Candidate Leena Jangjanya said 32-year-old Thirasak Sitanont drowned on Thursday as she and other staff were showing journalists the rashes they got from washing in the filthy water.

 

"A few minutes later he disappeared and we had to call the police to come and find him," said Leena, who had fallen into another canal in front of the TV cameras on Wednesday as she was trying to show her support for riverboat commuters.

 

Makes you wonder what might have gone wrong with that Frank Jordan in the shower stunt a few years back...