"Legislative leaders
said they have achieved a breakthrough on an infrastructure bond plan,
agreeing to dump surface water storage, urban parks and natural resource protection from a fall ballot package while focusing on levee repair, school construction and transportation," writes Andy Furillo in the Bee.
"'We've done what we needed to do to pare it down,' state Senate President Pro Tem
Don Perata, D-Oakland, said Tuesday at the Bay Area Council's annual 'outlook conference.' The panel discussion also featured Assembly Speaker
Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, former Assembly Republican leader
Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield and Senate Republican leader
Dick Ackerman of Irvine."
"'They want to have something that is (about) half of the $68 billion,' [
Arnold] Schwarzenegger said [after the announcement by the legislative leaders]. '
If they give me half, then of course, I'll be back - I'll be back two years later and we'll propose the other half.'"
"A majority of California voters support the universal preschool measure on the June ballot, but
Proposition 82's lead has fallen over the past two months, according to a Field Poll released Tuesday," reports the Bee's Laura Mecoy.
Political scientists have a phrase for ballot measures with 52% support six weeks before the election: life support.
"
The survey found 52 percent of likely voters support the initiative while 39 percent oppose it and 9 percent are undecided."
"The 13-point advantage is down from the 21-point lead in a February Field Poll."
"The Field Poll also found Sen.
Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., continues to enjoy a 28-point lead over her Republican challenger, former state Sen.
Richard Mountjoy. Among likely general election voters, 59 percent chose Feinstein, while 31 percent picked Mountjoy. The remaining 10 percent were undecided or chose another candidate."
From our
Our Kids [and State Budget] Win Too Files: "Controller
Steve Westly, a Democrat running for governor in the June 6 primary, offered a range of ways to balance the state budget without resorting to 'massive' program cuts or tax hikes in a speech to the Sacramento Press Club on Tuesday."
"But one of his proposals, shifting money from state lottery prizes to schools,
touched off a war of calculators, with rival Democrat
Phil Angelides ridiculing Westly for allegedly botching the math."
"Westly's camp responded in kind, standing by the lottery proposal's figures and firing back that the Angelides campaign should be 'embarrassed and ashamed' for raising the issue."
We're guessing they were neither.
The two camps
continued the war of words in a Chron article by Carla Marinucci and John Wildermuth. "'
I have a better chance of winning the Mr. Universe Title than Mr. Angelides has getting Republicans to vote for all these tax increases,' Westly said. 'It's not real.'"
"While Angelides recognizes the problem, he said it won't stop his plan."
"'
I'm not running for governor to put up the white flag of defeat before I even take office,' he said in an interview Tuesday. 'If I'm elected, the voters will have said they support these ideas.'"
Meanwhile, "Westly political consultant
Garry South said his campaign has learned that a newly formed group of firefighters, police officers, homebuilders and developers - Californians for a Better Government -
is preparing to run an independent expenditure television campaign on Angelides' behalf. The move would allow large donors to give more money than they can donate directly to Angelides' campaign under contribution limits."
"South said he's convinced that Sacramento developer
Angelo K. Tsakopoulos is helping to coordinate the effort, which is being handled by the political consulting firm of Townsend Raimundo Besler & Usher. South said he doubts that the effort is truly independent of the Angelides campaign, given the treasurer's close business and personal ties to Tsakopoulos."
We smell lawsuit. Or at least a vitriolic press release...
"Townsend and representatives of Tsakopoulos did not return calls seeking comment. Angelides spokesman
Brian Brokaw said the campaign was 'not aware' of any such group."
=
Carla Marinucci uncovers a
memo from the governor's campaign team that charts press "attacks" on Gov. Schwarzenegger. "(A note to the War Room editor, who is apparently not a regular reader of the LA Times:
Bob Salladay, your highlighted "attacker" for the day, is an esteemed pencil and pad guy, not an op-ed writer. Puh-leeze!)
Also mentioned in the 'attack' section: FlashReport publisher
Jon Fleischman and GOP News and Views mogul
Steve Frank ... ouch!.
There's also the 'opportunities' section (
Dan Walters, you're in), along with the California articles 'of note.'"
"
President Bush and Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger will meet briefly Friday in Silicon Valley, where the governor hopes to press for more federal funding to shore up California's aging levees and win reimbursement for incarceration of illegal immigrants," reports Kate Folmar with the Merc-News.
"Schwarzenegger is expected to meet the president when he touches down in the Bay Area. The governor will ride with Bush in the presidential motorcade to Cisco Systems in San Jose, where they will appear together."
And, you can bet the Democratic Party will capture every minute on video for use in campaign ads this fall. And we think we just lost a dollar on a friendly wager we made last week.
Proving that
Newton's third law is alive and well in the Legislature, a "state Assembly budget panel
moved Tuesday to strip funding from the state Board of Education and to allow school districts broader discretion in buying textbooks for students," reports Carla Rivera in the Times.
"The action, led by the Assembly's caucus of Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander and African American legislators,
comes a day after a divided board voted to adopt new textbook guidelines for elementary and middle schools that detractors contend are ineffective for students who speak little or no English."
"'We feel this is a way to send a message to the state Board of Education that it needs to pay attention to the needs of English learners in the state,' Assemblywoman
Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) said. 'We have been trying for several months to talk to them in these meetings and in fact thought we were making some progress. But to our dismay, we found that the board was totally going to ignore the needs of these students, despite evidence that the achievement gap is increasing.'"
Meanwhile, a "grass-roots advocacy group
sued the state in Alameda County Superior Court this week, seeking more time for the Legislature to review alternatives to the high school exit exam," writes Hemmy So in the Times.
"If successful, thousands of public high school students in the class of 2006 who have failed the test would receive their diplomas."
"The suit was brought by the nonprofit San Francisco law firm Public Advocates on behalf of the Californians for Justice Education Fund. It alleges that the state Board of Education and Supt. of Public Instruction
Jack O'Connell reviewed exam alternatives too late for lawmakers to consider or implement them."
"Concerned about threats that include a flu pandemic and bioterrorist attacks, Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his support Tuesday for a new state Department of Public Health," reports the LAT's Dan Morain.
"The governor is embracing
legislation by Sen.
Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento) to establish a California office focused on concerns such as outbreaks of disease and food poisoning, and overseeing care of 100,000 people living in nursing homes."
"'The governor is focused on getting ahead of the game and being visionary,'
Margita Thompson, a Schwarzenegger press secretary, said Tuesday."
Los Angeles Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa gave his State of the City address yesterday, and
outlined his plan to take over LA schools. "He proposed a school board with diminished role, gives the authority to hire and fire a superintendent and approve the schools budget to a "council of mayors" on which he will have virtually all the power, and calls for the wearing of school uniforms across Los Angeles. He wants a longer school day and school year, with higher salaries for teachers, and many more charter schools," reports LA Observed's Kevin Roderick.
After its failure to force the Angels to keep their city's name in their marketing materials, Anaheim is
prepared to allow the a new NFL team to call itself whatever it likes, writes Dave McKibben in the Times. "As the NFL edges closer to choosing between the Los Angeles Coliseum and the Anaheim's Platinum Triangle for a stadium site, Anaheim Mayor
Curt Pringle said the city had little leverage to force a team to adopt "Anaheim" in its name."
"In fact, the issue isn't even on the table. ;We won't own the building or run it,' Pringle said. 'So we will have … limited control over the name of the team.'"
Um, what team?
"'You know where you can pick your battles,' said
Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon. "The strength of the NFL is that it has the flexibility to call a team what it wants. The Giants play in New Jersey, the Jets play in New Jersey, but both teams are called 'New York.'"
Which brings us to our latest
Roundup contest: Now is your chance to
suggest possible names for the potential NFL franchise in Anaheim.
Finally, from our
Finished in a Close Second Files, congrats to comedian
Gilbert Godfried who was named
Unsexiest Man in America. "The parrot-voiced, pickle-faced comic is to sexy what Kryptonite is to Superman," The Boston Phoenix wrote.
New York Yankees pitcher
Randy Johnson came in second followed by film critic
Roger Ebert, television psychologist
Dr. Phil McGraw and Fox television co-host
Alan Colmes."
