The Bee's Peter Hecht
checks in on the strategy in the Phil Angelides camp. "The Angelides campaign is counting on voter discontent with President Bush and the Republican-led Congress over the war in Iraq, soaring gas prices, and political scandals to fuel a Democratic gubernatorial win in California."
"Pointing to a Gallup Poll showing Americans favoring Democrats over Republican congressional candidates by 51 percent to 41 percent, Angelides' senior strategist,
Bob Mulholland, claims an anti-GOP 'tsunami' will turn the governor's race into a protest vote against Republican rule."
"'This is about Schwarzenegger and Bush,' Mulholland said. 'For anybody who is angry about Bush, this is get-even time.'"
Actually, that was in 2004, but we'll treat this as the runner-up.
"'The union members are still angry at Arnold Schwarzenegger,' said
Art Pulaski, executive secretary of the California Labor Federation, an umbrella group for 2.1 million union members. He said he expects a strong union turnout and fundraising drive for Angelides."
"But Pulaski said he's
unsure whether unions can match the furious efforts of 2005, when they spent more than $40 million to defeat the governor's special election initiatives."
The Stockton Record's Hank Shaw reports on a program to
expand job opportunities for the mentally disabled. "An unusual coalition of legislators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made sure an extra $42 million to expand these efforts was included in the state's budget.
"Assemblywoman
Barbara Matthews, D-Tracy, was part of a four-person coalition of Assembly members instrumental in securing that cash; she views the victory as one of the signal events in her career, which ends this winter because of term limits. And unlike most legislative fights she has fought, this one was personal.'
Dan Walters writes that, while the crime rate has fallen,
public safety will still be an issue in this year's election. "This is a governor who wants Californians to know that he's as tough on crime as his action movie characters. While crime may not loom as large as a popular concern as it was in years past, he -- much like predecessor
Gray Davis -- is not going to give CCPOA or anyone else the opportunity to portray him as soft."
"And if the courts were to take over the prisons because Schwarzenegger is treating inmates too harshly, it would, to paraphrase another celluloid crimefighter, make his day."
Phil "Angelides, meanwhile, seems paralyzed by crime as a political issue, unwilling to offend either the liberal blocs who want prison reform or CCPOA, which wants even more felons locked up with union members watching them night and day."
The Angelides campaign says the treasurer will be making a "major announcement about his plan to protect California children and families from sexual abuse" in Los Angeles today.
The Merc News's Edwin Garcia follows up on
Abel Maldonado's
efforts to patch things up with the governor, after he
went all Kanye West on Gov. Schwarzenegger.
"'I think Abel has a bright future,' said former Senate Republican leader
Jim Brulte, '
if he recognizes that politics is a team sport and it's not all about him.'"
"Maldonado issued a brief apology Thursday, a day after his comments were published, and the Schwarzenegger campaign quickly accepted it."
But Maldonado's calls to Schwarzenegger to speak to him personally have gone unanswered. 'He's real busy,' Maldonado said Friday."
"Maldonado doesn't know how the criticism will affect his career, and hopes constituents realize he has taken responsibility."
"'I've apologized to the governor publicly,' Maldonado added, 'and it's time to move on.'"
OK then. Moving on...
Looks like there's one unhappy millionaire in Los Angeles. Eli Broad has
expressed his displeasure with Antonio Villaraigosa on the mayor's compromise on the plan to take over the LAUSD. "Broad made it clear that he was unhappy with the bill, saying in a letter to Villaraigosa that "true mayor control of the Los Angeles Unified School District is vital for the future of our city."
Broad, a major supporter of Villaraigosa, is also backing a statewide parcel tax on the November ballot to raise money for schools, and is a big supporter of the charter school movement.
"It is regrettable that you did not want to wage a campaign for true mayoral control, but rather saw fit to negotiate with UTLA and CTA," Broad wrote in a letter dated June 30.
"I regret that I cannot support, in its present form, the bill that was passed by the Senate Education Committee" last month, Broad wrote. "If significant changes are not made, we may be better off having the bill fail."
George Skelton takes a look at
AB 1147, the bill authored by
Mark Leno and
Chuck DeVore, which would
allow the growing of hemp for industrial uses.
"If nothing else, this bill shows it is possible for two legislators of diametrically opposite ideologies to acknowledge some common ground and work together to change public policy."
"Both agree that hemp — advocates call it industrial hemp — is taking off worldwide as a plant used for fiber (in car door panels, for example), food (energy bars, granola, smoothies) and body care (shampoos, soaps)."
"And they think it's illogical that the federal government allows the importation of foreign hemp for American manufacturing into legally sold products, but bans the growing of hemp by American farmers. So they're trying to force the issue."
"Besides intriguing and fun, AB 1147 is sensible. Not allowing farmers to grow marijuana's harmless cousin is akin to reefer madness."
From our
Like Father, Like Son Files: "Millions of dollars worth of extra compensation has been
handed out to California State University campus presidents and other top executives as they leave their posts -- without public disclosure by the chancellor and the university's Board of Trustees," reports the Chron's Jim Doyle.
Good to see that UC isn't getting all of the Chron's attention...
"Of the 44,000 people employed by the CSU system, a review by The Chronicle found that a handful of past and present officials in the university's 29 highest-paid positions benefit in part from policies designed specifically for an inner circle of top administrators."
"In some cases, the chancellor notified the then-chairman of the board through private correspondence. But The Chronicle found no public record of board discussion, review or approval in those cases. Several trustees said they were not aware of, or could not recall, the special pay and perks being doled out.
"'I am just appalled that this is occurring when the reality is that the budget has been cut so many times, and we cannot afford these kinds of perks. I was certainly not aware of it,' said Trustee
Ricardo F. Icaza."
"Chancellor [
Charles] Reed insisted that his administration has been candid with the public and the trustees."
"'We try to be as transparent as possible. We want to be as accountable as possible,' Reed said. 'We're all public-sector employees.'"
Things aren't going so well down at the
Cruz Bustamante Legacy Project. "[F]or the second year in a row, the [UC] Merced campus
has failed to meet its enrollment projections and
could face a problem if the apparent lack of student interest in the campus persists," writes Tanya Schevitz in the Chron.
"The initial goal was to start with 1,000 students the first year, but only 875 enrolled, a number that dropped to 808 by the end of the school year. The admissions office had hoped for 800 new students this fall and extended its application deadline into the summer. So far, just 655 new students have registered."
"'I don't know why anyone would be surprised,' said
Patrick Callan, president of the nonprofit National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, which has offices in San Jose and Washington, D.C. '
It was just the wrong campus in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was pork-barrel politics and institutional arrogance that led us to this. There was a belief at UC that you could just hang a UC shingle out and that would attract students.'"
Yes, it takes more than
just a shingle.
"Next year, the campus will be able to guarantee housing for freshmen, which it expects will go a long way toward attracting more students."
"'We think we might get it right next year,' [Chancellor
Carol] Tomlinson-Keasey said."
Finally, from our
Head for the Rockies Files, the CEO of Coors Brewing company has
lost his drivers license for driving under the influence. "Coors rolled through a stop sign a block from his home in Golden and that an officer stopped him in his driveway."
"In one breath test, he registered a blood alcohol level of 0.073 percent. In a second, 20 minutes later, he registered 0.088. In Colorado a blood alcohol count of 0.05 results in a driving while impaired charge, while a count of 0.08 results in driving under the influence."
