Looks like the campaign for governor is finally getting
started.
Rumors abound that Jerry Brown could declare his gubernatorial
candidacy as soon as today. But some Democrats are tired of waiting.
The LA Times reports, "Democrats who want Jerry Brown
to be California's next governor
aren't waiting for Brown to declare his candidacy.
An independent
expenditure committee formed by Brown backers launched
its first radio
ad Tuesday attacking Republican Meg Whitman.
"The group, which calls itself Level the Playing Field
2010, is
expected to receive funding from labor groups and other
Brown allies
worried about Whitman's vast personal wealth. They
are seeking to paint
Whitman as an elite corporate billionaire who refuses
to talk to
voters.
"
Whitman spokeswoman Sarah Pompei said the ad's claims
that Whitman
was avoiding voters were silly, given that Brown had
not even declared
his candidacy for governor. "For a year now, Meg has
been on the
campaign trail talking about her agenda to create jobs,
cut spending
and fix education, and Jerry Brown has been nowhere.
While Meg has been
attending county fairs, touring businesses and holding
rallies, Jerry
Brown has been trying to laugh off having a real conversation
with
voters."
It was unclear exactly who was funding the new radio
spot. Campaign
finance filings at the secretary of State's office
show Level the
Playing Field has yet to show they have raised any
money."
You can listen to the new radio ad here.
Meanwhile, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is back from
Vancouver and
ready to reappoint Abel Maldonado as lieutenant governor.Meanwhile,
Republican Kevin Jeffries says now is the time to do away with the lite gov's office altogether.
Jim Miller reports, "Introduced last month, a constitutional amendment by Jeffries would abolish the lieutenant governor's
job and hand its limited duties to the secretary of
state's office.
"Jeffries' proposal is at least the second by an Inland
lawmaker that attempts to fundamentally reshape the
post.
"In 2003, then-state Sen. Jim Brulte introduced SCA 4.
It would have eliminated the lieutenant governor's
role as acting
governor when the governor is out of state. The lieutenant
governor
would only become governor if there was an impeachment
or the governor
was temporarily disabled. The proposal stalled in the
Assembly."
And former Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Weintraub is
back with the launch of his California Health Report.
You can check it out here.
Carla Marinucci compares and contrasts Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina.
"In a deeply personal address, the Senate candidate,
speaking
without notes, told crowds of 13-year-olds, "I've been scared, too,"
relating to her days as an unemployable college graduate
and temp
secretary whose father once reprimanded her as someone
who might "never
amount to anything." She said education was the key
to choose a future
"for yourself," then took questions from reporters.
By contrast, Whitman, a far more sheltered candidate
who has spent
$39 million of her own money on her campaign, has been
seen and heard
mostly on TV and radio advertisements. As she prepared
for a rare
public event in the Bay Area today - an address to the Commonwealth
Club in Lafayette - Whitman had no public schedule on Friday. Her
campaign released a letter urging her competitor, state
Insurance
Commissioner Steve Poizner, to withdraw from the race."
As Los Angeles goes, so goes California? Dan Walters
says the budget woes in that city could be instructive for Sacramento
lawmakers.
Mayor Antonio "Villaraigosa, who cut his political
teeth as a labor organizer, is
sounding like a conservative, budget-cutting Republican as he presses
the council to slash city payrolls and other spending.
"Los Angeles' inability, thus far, to perform the fiscal
surgery that the
situation demands indicates that were the two-thirds vote requirement
on the state budget to be repealed, as it should be,
the Legislature's
Democrats would find themselves stuck with solving
the state budget
deficit by themselves, unable to blame Republicans
for their dilemma."
And finally, the capitol community suffered another
loss over the weekend with the passing of Charmette Bonpua.
Bonpua, who served as chief of staff to former Speaker
Herb Wesson, and
stayed on with Wesson when he was elected to the Los
Angeles City
Council, suffered brain aneurysms while in Las Vegas,
her friends tell
the Roundup. She was taken off life support Sunday.
Thoughts and prayers go out to her family and all those
who knew and worked with her.
