One week before election day, the governor met privately
with education leaders, leading to stories in every
paper from those in the meeting.
"California could face a $10 billion budget shortfall this year, far worse than
the deficit projected only three weeks ago, officials from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office warned education leaders on Tuesday, according to several schools representatives," writes Matthew Yi for the Chron.
"In a special closed-door meeting between the governor and educators, Schwarzenegger
warned that education funding could be cut by $2 billion to $4 billion to help bridge the looming budget deficit,
Scott Plotkin, executive director of the California
School Boards Association, said after a meeting with
the governor.
"The governor also suggested that he might revive his
proposal for a temporary sales-tax increase, which stalled when Republican lawmakers
refused to support it.
"'I think he was giving us a heads-up on his perspective of things, with the expectation
that we would be sufficiently alarmed so that we would
work with him and the Legislature and that the solutions
won't be just cuts only,' Plotkin said.
"
Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the governor, confirmed that the
meeting with school officials occurred but refused
to comment on what was discussed."
The Merc's Edwin Garcia focuses on the tax hike angle. "The governor talked a
lot about how convinced he is that this budget shortfall
can't be met
with just cuts,'' said Bob Wells, executive director of the Association
of California School Administrators, one of 20 state education and
labor leaders who attended a Tuesday morning meeting
with the governor.
"And he's committed to lining up the votes for a revenue increase."
Good luck with that...
Evan Halper and Nancy Vogel report:
"Analysts say early data indicate that the state budget
-- passed only a month ago -- has fallen about $10 billion into the red. A deficit that size represents
nearly 10% of all general fund spending. The governor and lawmakers
say the rapid swelling of the deficit is related to
the recent plunge of the stock market and the broader
economic troubles gripping the nation.
"The governor has announced that he will call sitting
lawmakers -- whose terms end Nov. 30 -- back to Sacramento next week to deal with the shortfall.
"Political strategists have said the governor stands
a greater chance of pushing through new taxes with
the lame-duck Legislature, which includes several members who
are leaving office this year, than with the group to
be elected Nov. 4."
The Bee's Steve Wiegand writes that it may be difficult to get all those legislators back
to Sacramento from their vacations/junkets.
Hey, they gotta have priorities, right?
The Bee's Ed Fletcher and Robert Lewis report that with high
voter turnout with a large vote-by-mail percentage, it may be a long election night.
"The trend toward voting by mail suits Californians' busy lifestyles, allowing them to work through long,
complicated ballots on their own time. But absentee
voting could result in delayed results, particularly
in tight races, elections experts say.
"Californians may know Tuesday whether they helped elect
the nation's first African American president or first female
vice president. But as county election workers hustle
to rip open and verify absentee ballots turned in at
the last minute, the outcome of hot-button statewide propositions dealing with abortion
and gay marriage, as well as billions of dollars in
bonds for hospitals, green energy and schools, could
be delayed.
"'People want resolution. They don't want to hear that there are a million votes still
to be counted,' said Mark Baldassare, president and chief executive
officer of the Public Policy Institute of California.
"The deadline for counties to report pre-election registration is Friday, but preliminary counts already exceed 17 million – higher than the state's previous best of 16.6 million, Nicole Winger, spokeswoman for the secretary of state, said Tuesday."
The Chron's Erin Allday writes that Gavin Newsom is putting it all on the line to defeat Proposition
8.
"The mayor is hosting a private fundraiser at his Russian
Hill home tonight and has already picked up $125,000 in contributions from those attending the event. This
afternoon, he's holding a forum with employees at Google, and over
the next several days he'll be hitting nearly every major Bay Area radio station
and staging rallies around the city.
"Newsom says he owes it to his constituents in San Francisco
to do everything in his power to fight the initiative.
But political analysts note that the outcome of Tuesday's election could weigh heavily on Newsom's future in politics, and specifically his potential
bid for governor.
"At a No on 8 rally at UC Santa Cruz on Tuesday, Newsom told students
that he recognized that the outcome of the election
could hurt his career - but he wasn't losing sleep over it.
"'The biggest problem in politics today is that we're risk-adverse. We're afraid of tomorrow's headlines,' Newsom said. 'I couldn't care less if the rest of my life I'm only known as the ex-mayor of San Francisco. I will regret nothing about
standing up on this issue. I get to go to sleep at
night having done the right thing.'"
And it looks like Democrats may take a shot at running
up the score in the Assembly. The state Democratic
Party dumped more than $80,000 into Ferial Masry's campaign against Audra Strickland yesterday. Here are the rest of the day's top campaign contributions, as reported by Electiontrack.com
Protectmarriage.com - Yes On 8, A Project Of California Renewal: $2,213,270
Californians For Energy Independence - Yes On Prop 10, A Coalition Of Renewable Energy And Alternative Fuel
Companies: $1,000,000
No On 8, Equality For All: $255,650
Yes
On 11 : $254,000
Friends Of Hannah Beth Jackson 2008: $220,409
Democratic State Central Committee Of California: $217,000
Friends For Abram Wilson: $161,000
Strickland For Senate: $115,850
Friends Of Joan Buchanan: $93,433
Los Angeles County Democratic Party-issues And Advocacy Committee: $90,000
Huber For Assembly: $88,380
Yes
On Prop. 2 - Californians For Humane Farms Sponsored By The Humane
Society Of The Us, Farm Sanctuary & Other Animal Protection Groups,
Family Farmers, Veterinarians, & Public Health Professionals: $85,726
Friends Of Ferial Masry: $84,360
And finally from our Chutzpa Hall of Fame, the Chron's Demian Bulwa reports, "A man on trial for stealing a Porsche drove a stolen Lexus to the Marin
County courthouse to hear the verdict, authorities said Tuesday."
Gotta admire the man's style, right?
Tony Van, a 37-year-old hairstylist from San Francisco, was out on
bail Friday afternoon as jurors weighed his fate in
San Rafael. He had
been charged with possessing a San Anselmo resident's cherry-red, 2008
Porsche Carrera worth $125,000.
"In the courthouse parking lot at the Marin County Civic
Center,
prosecutors said, a parallel drama unfolded when puppies
from a 2005
Lexus SUV apparently grew tired of baking in the sun
and escaped out a
window.
"After county employees scooped up the Yorkshire terrier-Maltese
hybrids, sheriff's deputies ran the license plate and found that the
Lexus had been stolen in San Francisco."
See, buddy? If you would have just treated the dogs
right, none of this would have happened...
