The California Democratic Party has given $2.2 million to Jerry Brown's gubernatorial campaign.
Capitol Weekly reports, "The donation by far is the largest
single contribution
given to Brown, a Democrat and former chairman of the
state party. Brown, the state attorney general and
former governor, faces no serious opposition in the
June 8 Democratic primary.
"Brown’s contributions during the
past few days included $5,000 from Hollywood executive Ariel Emanuel,
the brother
of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel; $25,900 from the California
State Employees Association, $12,900 from long-time supporter Lucie
Gikovich, $14,900 from Comcast and $1,500 from political strategist
Doug Watts.
Cathleen Decker writes it's not
just the television commercials that are negative in the Republican
gubernatorial primary.
"Television dominates every California political campaign,
and this one
is certainly no exception, with two wealthy Republican
candidates for
governor gobbling up television time at a record pace.
But there is a
parallel campaign going on as well, one being waged
mailbox by mailbox
and phone by phone.
"By the millions of pieces, candidates stuff mailboxes
trying both to
correct impressions left by television ads and to denigrate
their
opponents. Usually, mailers employ harsher denunciations
than television
ads, on the theory that negative visuals can boomerang
against the
author if voters tire of the mudslinging. With millions
of telephone
calls, candidates use the same tough tactics to entreat
voters to their
side.
"This year, with the television wars so nasty, there
is no discernible
difference in tone between the more visible campaign
and the
under-the-radar one. It's almost all nasty, almost all the time."
Steve Lopez conducts his own poll of independent voters
and finds the governor's race is still
up for grabs.
"Like the others, Hayes hasn't ruled out Jerry Brown,
but the
Democrat has no primary opposition and so he's been
hibernating. (One voter)
said he's surprised by friends who are gung-ho fans of a man with
nothing to say thus far.
"Whitman's success in business isn't necessarily a
plus for these independents, given the fact that ethics
in the business
world are every bit as unsavory as ethics in politics.
As for Poizner,
Song considered him an attractive moderate until "he
completely morphed
into a very intolerant right-wing conservative" in a desperate move to
close the gap on Whitman.
George Skelton says legislative leaders should arm-wrestle to decide the state's budget crisis.
Barring that, "There are other health and human service
"savings" proposed by
Schwarzenegger that should be rejected outright. They
include limiting
doctors' visits to 10 a year (tell that to a cancer patient),
eliminating funding for narcotics treatment and wiping
out the state's
welfare program.
"But co-pays in an era of rising medical costs and
budget bleeding seem fair.
Malcolm Maclachlan reports not every opponent of AB
32 likes the way the
political fight is shaping up.
"Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Chico, said
he disagreed with a decision by the Howard
Jarvis Taxpayers Association to file several Public
Records Act (PRA) requests with the administration and to notify the
Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) about a disputed email sent
out by a member of Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s state staff.
"He was critical of the Jarvis group’s
actions against the administration, which he described
as “a diversion.”
“I did not know about it and I never
would have supported
it,” Logue said. “I don’t play that way. I campaign on the issues.”
Who says
Democrats and Republicans can't agree on anything?
They are opposed
to June's Proposition 14, which would change the state's primary
voting system -- which probably explains why most voters are in favor
of it in current polls.
Jack Dolan reports, "Proposition 14, which appears on the June 8 ballot, would put all
candidates for statewide, congressional and legislative
offices on the
same primary ballot and allow voters to choose from
the full list. The
top two vote-getters for each office — regardless of party — would face
each other in a runoff.
"A poll released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Public
Policy Institute of
California showed 60% of respondents in favor of the measure, 27%
opposed and 13% undecided.
"Backers, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, say
the system would free
candidates from the need to court the radical wings
of their parties to
win nomination to the November ballot. That, in turn,
would lead to the
election of more moderate lawmakers and more cooperation
on tough
issues like fixing California's $19.1-billion budget deficit."
And finally, from our Laws and Sausages Files, "Police said a cleaning man was taken to a hospital
after being sucked
into a machine at a sausage-making company in Danvers. The accident
happened Thursday night as the man was cleaning the
vacuum-type machine
that is used to season the meat at DiLigui Sausage
Co. Police said the man's head and shoulders
became stuck in the machine after it somehow activated
while being
cleaned.
"Lt. Carole Germano told The Salem News that the man — whose name was
not released — was freed from the machine and showed no obvious sign
of
trauma, but was taken to a hospital as a precaution."
