"Labor and horseracing interests are
teaming up to take California's newest lawmakers to La Costa for a luxury primer on Indian gaming," writes Jake Henshaw in The Desert Sun.
"Unions and racetrack operators for the first time on Thursday will host a joint conference to explain their needs to new legislators, particularly on tribal gambling agreements known as compacts that the two groups opposed earlier this year."
"The conference at the plush La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad comes as five tribes, including the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians of Palm Springs, prepare to return to the Capitol next year for approval of their renegotiated gambling agreements."
"In a furious round of lobbying, hearings and floor sessions in August, the last month of the 2006 legislative session, the tribes ran into opposition from unions and race track operators that helped kill bills to approve the agreements."
Meanwhile, The Skinny reports
there's talk once again of a term limits deal, and
yet another attempt to take out Senate GOP leader Dick Ackerman. "It's baaaack ...The deal that never dies is getting ready to rear it's head again. With the birth of a new session, there is once again talk of a deal that would include a term-limits extension and redistricting reform. And it will all start, we're told, with a plan to move up the presidential primary from June to March."
Capitol Weekly sits down with
Schwarzenegger confidant Bonnie Reiss for her exit interview.
"That night, Schwarzenegger's political advisers from his Proposition 49 campaign, including
George Gorton and
Bob White, were huddled at the house trying to cram for the historic election to come. That's when the actor and his wife called Reiss.
"Maria and Arnold called me that night and they said, 'Listen, a bunch of these guys are over here talking, but there's one thing we need. These people are all experienced and good, but none of them go back with Arnold. We need someone whose brain we trust and we know will have our backs. Can you show up tomorrow at the office, get with the team, start to be involved as a senior adviser in the team? And that began it."
"Though the story is a familiar one, hearing Reiss tell it in her horseshoe office in the Capitol as she prepares to leave her job as a senior adviser to Schwarzenegger highlights
the difference between Schwarzenegger in 2003 and Schwarzenegger today. With no political team in place, and without a history in politics, there were, from the very beginning, two separate camps in Team Schwarzenegger--the personal and the political.
"Trying to fuse those two worlds was not always easy, and took time to figure out. While Reiss says Schwarzenegger has not wavered from his vision of being 'fiscally conservative, socially moderate and environmentally progressive,' she allows that, '
Being able to articulate it maybe is something new' for him."
CW's John Howard takes a look at the move to
create a new department of public health. "At first blush, it looks like just another bureaucratic shuffle. It isn't. In fact, the move to carve out a new state Department of Public Health reflects a shift in California's attitude toward fighting disease and confronting health emergencies--including those prompted by terrorism and fears of epidemics, such as avian flu."
"Two prominent legislators, citing a report in The Bee, renewed their bipartisan call Wednesday for the Joint Legislative Audit Committee to order
a full-fledged audit into California Highway Patrol contracting," reports Andrew McIntosh in the Bee.
"Senate Majority Leader
Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, and Assemblywoman
Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, requested the audit -- their second effort since July -- following revelations that the Highway Patrol had awarded a contract to the daughter of a CHP lieutenant."
"'We are deeply concerned about questionable acts by the leadership within this state agency and its continued waste of taxpayer dollars,' Romero and Garcia said in a joint statement. 'As elected officials representing 37 million Californians, we have a fiduciary responsibility to protect our state and its citizens from abuses of their tax dollars.'"
"On Wednesday, The Bee revealed the CHP had awarded a $101,116 no-bid contract for five license plate scanning systems to Miner Fabricating, owned by the daughter and son-in-law of CHP Lt. Gregory Williams."
Daniel Weintraub looks at what
path the governor might pursue in his health care initiative. "First, it won't be a 'single-payer,' Canadian-style plan run by the government. Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill this year to put California on a path to such a program, calling it "socialized medicine.""
"Second, Schwarzenegger's plan probably won't rely, at least up-front, on a mandate that private employers cover their workers. In 2004, Schwarzenegger helped lead the opposition to SB 2, a bill that would have required employers of 50 or more to insure their workers or else pay a tax to the state, with the money going to finance coverage for those who didn't get insurance on the job. That approach, he said, put too much of a burden on employers and would likely cost some low-wage workers their jobs."
"Finally, Schwarzenegger has said that his plan won't include new taxes."
Well, how do you define
taxes?
"The governor sees his steadfast opposition to raising taxes as a key part of his political persona, something that defines him as a leader. But he also has been known to be flexible with the English language, and we don't know how he distinguishes between a 'tax' and a 'fee.'"
"It's possible that Schwarzenegger will eventually agree to some new revenue, by whatever name, to help subsidize insurance for those who can't afford it now."
CW's Shane Goldmacher
profiles incoming Assemblyman Sandre Swanson. "After more than three decades of working behind-the-scenes on the East Bay's political stage, Sandré Swanson is finally stepping into the spotlight.
"A 30-year staffer to two of Oakland's best-known--and most liberal--politicians, Congresswoman Barbara Lee and former Congressman and Mayor-elect Ron Dellums, Swanson won his own Assembly seat in a landslide election earlier this month.
'I've already had one career and now I am trying to make a contribution to my community,' said Swanson, whose district represents part of Oakland, Alameda and Piedmont."
From our
All Politics is Local Files: "
Michael Dukakis lost his bid for president in 1988, but he can declare victory in his latest campaign —
against parking scofflaws in Westwood," writes the LAT's Hector Berrera.
"The former Massachusetts governor has been at the center of a more than two-year battle against the longtime practice of 'apron parking' in the neighborhood west of UCLA known as North Village. There, parked cars spill out of apartment driveways and straddle sidewalks and streets."
"'It's a disaster,' said Dukakis, who teaches public policy at UCLA and lives part-time in the neighborhood. 'Beyond being illegal, it's dangerous. You get two SUVs with their rear ends sticking out into the street, and you end up with a one-way road. It's time to end it.'"
"Los Angeles city officials are now listening to Dukakis and the other critics of apron parking. As soon as January, parking enforcement officers will begin aggressively ticketing cars that partly block streets and sidewalks."
