"The campaign of Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner on Thursday accused his rival, former eBay chief Meg Whitman, 'of a disastrous record of fiscal mismanagement,'" posts Shane Goldmacher on Capitol Alert.
"It's extraordinarily early for such sharp campaigning,
but with an open seat in 2010 as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger leaves office, the two
wealthy Republicans are already jockeying for position.
"'It's the first rain drop in what's going to be a very, very long storm,' said Dan Schnur, the director of the Jesse Unruh Institute of Politics
at the University of Southern California.
"Both Whitman, a billionaire, and Poizner, who sold
a company for $1 billion in 2000, have already established campaign operations a full
14 months ahead of the June 2010 primary.
Tom Campbell, a former Republican congressman, is also exploring
a run for governor but is uninvolved in this first
intra-party scuffle.
"The accusation arrived in the form of a prepared release
from Team Poizner whacking Whitman's record at eBay, more specifically the $2.6 billion purchase of Skype, an Internet phone service
provider, made under her leadership in 2005."
"Bobby Shriver, whose political pedigree includes being the nephew
of President John F. Kennedy and brother-in-law of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, has decided against running for California attorney
general in 2010," reports Shane Goldmacher in the Bee.
"Shriver, in a prepared statement released Thursday,
said that despite "numerous, exciting conversations about a campaign … 2010 is not the year for me to seek this incredible statewide
office."
"The 54-year-old Democrat and Santa Monica City Council member is
a member of one of the nation's best-known political families: the Kennedy clan.
"The Bee reported last month that Shriver was eyeing
the attorney general's race. His departure from a field he never officially
entered leaves San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and a trio of Assembly Democrats – Ted Lieu, Alberto Torrico and Pedro Nava – in the Democratic field."
The latest Capitol Notes podcast is up, recapping the week that was in Califorina politics.
The Chron's Michael Cabanatuan looks at the prospect of California playing in the
federal stimulus funds for high speed rail.
"[N]ow that the president has anointed high-speed rail a top priority - and affirmed his intent to spend $13 billion to build a collection of fast train systems
- California is sure to face fierce competition for
federal funding.
"The state plans to build a network that would start
with a line at the Transbay Terminal in downtown San
Francisco, travel to San Jose, down the Central Valley,
to Los Angeles and Anaheim. The trip would take 2 1/2 hours aboard trains that travel up to 220 mph. Extensions to Sacramento and San Diego would
be built later.
"California appears to have an advantage in obtaining
federal funding. It has $9.9 billion in funding approved by voters and a designated
route, and it has completed some environmental studies.
Obama specifically mentioned California's project in his speech, and two California High Speed
Rail Authority board members, Rod Diridon and David
Crane, were invited to Washington for Obama's announcement."
"'We're in the forefront of building a high-speed train, and we are way out in front of everybody
else,' said Mehdi Morshed, executive director of the California
High Speed Rail Authority."
"Alarmed that a professional golf organization proposed
excluding competitors who don't speak English, the state Senate acted Thursday to prohibit businesses in California
from discriminating against customers, including refusal
of service, based on the language they use," reports Patrick McGreevy in the Times.
"The proposed law has sparked heated debate throughout
the state as well as some anti-immigrant calls to the office of its author, Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), who has had his own experience with discrimination.
"Yee proposed the law after the Ladies Professional
Golf Assn. last year proposed, and then backed down
from, a policy that would have suspended golfers who
do not speak adequate English. The policy was based
on the premise that language fluency in speeches and
media interviews was critical to the sport's promotion."
"The state Senate approved legislation yesterday that aims to give the
city of San Diego more authority to decide whether
to restore the [Children's Pool beach in La Jolla] for people by chasing away the seals that have taken over the area," writes Michael Gardner in the U-T.
"The 30-4 vote sent the measure to the Assembly, where members
Nathan Fletcher, a Republican, and Democrat Lori Saldaña, both of San Diego, plan to tag-team the campaign to move the bill to the governor's desk. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn't taken a position on the measure, a spokeswoman said.
"The bill would amend the city's original tidelands grant that now designates the
beach as a swimming area for children, opening the
door for the cove to become a marine mammal park.
"San Diegans have been split over the future of the
beach ever since harbor seals began taking up residence
in the mid-1990s, dominating an area that had been a popular and safe
place for children and others to enjoy the ocean."
"With college enrollment rates among the lowest in the
nation, California will face a shortage of 1 million college graduates needed for the state's workforce in 2025, a report released Thursday warned," reports Gale Holland in the Times.
"Unless policy changes are made, only 35% of the state's working-age adults will hold a four-year degree that year, even as a college education
will be required for at least 41% of job-holders, the study by the Public Policy Institute of
California found.
"The state's three public college systems -- the California Community Colleges, California State
University and the University of California -- educate 2.3 million students annually, and an additional 360,000 students attend private colleges and universities.
But the numbers mask a huge gap between the state's youth population and its college-going and graduation rates, the report found."
And finally, from our Do as I Say, Not As I Do Files ,
"A driving instructor who police say was drunk while
giving someone a driving lesson
can stay out of jail but will lose his license for
a year. Daniel
Winsky, 53, of Salem was convicted Thursday of operating under
the
influence while giving a lesson from the passenger
seat of a car. He
was sentenced to 18 months probation but won't be a licensed driver for
one year.
"Police pulled Winsky over shortly after a
convenience store clerk smelled alcohol on his breath,
then saw him
enter the auto school's car."
