Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger dropped in on Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) to discuss the stalled state budget. Shane Goldmacher
reports, " With the deadline nearly upon them, the
governor and top lawmakers
have yet to engage in much of the heavy lifting in
the upcoming budget
negotiations.
“I will be there motivating and inspiring and participating
in every way
possible,” Schwarzenegger said Monday.
"The governor met earlier in the day with the Legislature's
two GOP
leaders. Last Monday, he had private sessions with
Steinberg, Speaker
John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles) and the Republican leaders."
Sen. Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield) who revealed he is gay after a DUI arrest earlier
this year, opens up about his sexual orientation to E.J. Schultz, and how coming out is changing his
politics.
"Roy Ashburn had just spent the night in jail. Now
he was
cowering in the dark, wondering if his political career
was over. Television
camera crews surrounded his Sacramento home that Wednesday
in March,
hoping to lure the Valley Republican state senator
outside to address
rumors he was at a gay bar the night of his arrest
for drunken driving.
He
wanted no part of it. He hid in a back bedroom with
his cat and kept
the lights off. For four days. "My doorbell rang every
half hour for all day long and late into the
night," he said. "And my phone was going crazy."
"Ultimately,
Ashburn decided he no longer could hide his sexual
orientation. That
Sunday "is when I decided I was going to come out,"
he said. It was
"time for the truth." In his first detailed interview
with The Bee
since the incident that forced him out of the closet,
Ashburn said he
now sees that most of his life had been a lie. And
he described how he
is slowly finding a new political identity, renouncing
the many votes he
cast against gay-rights bills."
Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, opened up about his penchant for painting while making a pitch for arts funding, the LAT reports.
"I paint. I draw," said Schwarzenegger, who said he
makes Christmas and Mother's Day cards for his family.
"I would rather
write, but I can't write. I'm a bad writer, I can tell
you. But I paint.
That's how I express myself. I only am able to do
that because when I
grew up in Austria, we had twice a week arts classes."
"Schwarzenegger said his appreciation for art led him
to bodybuilding.
"I took art so serious that I started sculpting my
body and created a
Mr. Universe body. Think about that. I learned about
Michaelangelo and
Leonardo Di Vinci and Rodin, and all those sculptors,
and said 'Why
don't I try to do this with dumbbells and barbells
and sculpt my own
body?' So that's also art." To the governor's Twitter
followers, of course, this is old news.
Last year, Schwarzenegger posted a photo of this mixed-media masterpiece on his
Twitter page."
The California Teachers Association once again took
aim at Steinberg with a mailer to his constituents
urging support for Speaker John Pérez's budget plan.
"The California Teachers Assn. has sent another mailer
to
constituents of Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg
(D-Sacramento), urging Steinberg's constituents to back the budget
blueprint laid out by Speaker John Pérez (D-Los Angeles).
"The mailer is the latest in a growing feud between
the union and
Steinberg. Last month, CTA sent
another mailer to Steinberg's constituents and took out ads on a
pair of billboards in the capital urging Steinberg
to hold the line on
education funding.
"The newest mailer extols Pérez and urges Steinberg's constituents to
put pressure on the senate leader to back the plan.
"Democrats in the state Assembly, led by Speaker John
Pérez, have
developed the 'California Jobs Budget' that saves our
schools and
students from these devastating cuts," the mailer reads.
"You can help
by asking your senator, Darrell Steinberg, to join
parents, educators
and community members in supporting the Assembly's"
plan."
Jim Sanders reports lawmakers are about to head into recess without a budget deal.
"Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and Senate President Pro Tem
Darrell Steinberg said Monday that they plan to let
lawmakers go home
and work in their districts, but be ready to return
on short notice.
"Until we have a budget, I expect members to work – the question is
where," Steinberg said.
"Steinberg, Pérez, Republican legislative
leaders and the 10-member joint budget conference committee are expected
to continue talking during the recess about how to
close the state's
projected $19.1 billion deficit. Other members of the 80-member
Assembly and 40-member Senate apparently will be free to go, although
no
final decision has been announced.
"Steinberg said he understands
why lawmakers not directly involved in budget talks
would want to be
home "talking to their constituents about what's at
stake."
And finally, soem good news for German soccer fans.
Paul the Octopus has predicted a big victory over Argentina in the next round of the World Cup.
"An octopus with possible psychic powers, who has correctly picked the
winner of Germany's four World Cup matches so far,
on Tuesday
tipped Germany to beat Argentina in their World Cup
quarter-final match
on Saturday.
"Paul, a two-year-old octopus born in England now living in a German
aquarium, has a 100-percent winning streak at the World Cup -- and even
accurately predicted Serbia would beat Germany in their
Group D match-up
earlier in the tournament.
"The eight-legged octopus, a denizen of Sea Life in the western
town of
Oberhausen, has turned into a celebrity oracle for
getting all four
picks right so far -- including last Sunday's elimination round match
when Germany beat England."
