And since the new fall season hasn't yet started, we're stuck today with reruns.
The Bee's Judy Lin hits the
Jeff Denham's new backbone story.
"The Atwater Republican senator, who used to be one of the Democrats' go-to guys for votes, vows he will not cave on the budget this year. He says he's determined despite enduring several political punches, the latest of which involves a recall effort in his competitive Central Valley district.
"'
I'm not going to be bullied or intimidated or pressured into voting for anything,' said the almond farmer and business owner. 'I think it's the right thing to do.'
"Denham's tough stance during California's 7-week-old budget conundrum has drawn both the ire of majority Democrats in need of one more GOP defector and praise from minority Republicans demanding more reductions in spending and changes in environmental policy.
"Senate President Pro Tem
Don Perata last week removed Denham as vice chairman of the powerful Governmental Organization Committee. Last month, the teachers union rallied in his district to press for his vote. But one analyst says the Democratic reprisal is only helping Denham solidify his conservative reputation in preparation for a closed-party primary bid for lieutenant governor in 2010."
As if his opponents are magically going to forget those four other budgets Denham voted for...Steve Geissinger reports on
Jerry Brown's role in the budget standoff.
"Brown is arguing that to follow the spirit of ... AB 32, the landmark greenhouse gas emission law passed last year - the effects of global warming should be part of what's required by the California Environmental Quality Act.
"But Republicans consider that an extra burden tacked onto environmental legislation that they already deem onerous and anti-business.
"They also are concerned it will stall voter-approved infrastructure improvements.
"
Still, Republicans don't have enough votes to pass legislation that would do anything about it. Instead, they do have some power over the budget, which requires a two-thirds majority, and thus at least two Republican votes in the Senate to pass."
Speaking of Jerry Brown, Matier and Ross report , "In San Francisco,
even the state's top lawman is not immune to getting his car broken into - even when it's parked next to City Hall.
"Just ask Attorney General Jerry Brown, who had his official state car broken into while it was left briefly in front of the State Building at Civic Center."
We're sure it's just coincidence that
a Dick Ackerman fingerprint was found at the scene..."'I'm going back to Oakland. I've never had my car broken into there,'" Brown said.
Nah, I don't think so...
Meanwhile, Kevin Yamamura analyzes
the governor's silence during the budget standoff.
"
After being swept into office in 2003 on the promise to resolve California's fiscal problems, this year Schwarzenegger has been subdued. He hasn't held budget-related media events outside the Capitol, let alone a public rally, restaurant stop or mall visit. And with the Assembly in recess and the Senate at a stalemate, the governor vacationed out of state last week."Schwarzenegger aides say the governor has worked behind the scenes to negotiate the budget and to promise Republicans he will reduce spending through his line-item veto authority.
"
One major difference between this year's budget rift and the one three years ago is that Schwarzenegger painted Democrats as obstructionists that year, while he considers his own party's senators the problem now. Jaime Regalado, director of the Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles, noted that
Schwarzenegger is in a "weakened" condition because he lacks the same leverage over Republicans that he had over moderate Democrats in 2004."
And as for
post-partisanship, writes George Skelton ... "
Post-partisanship was a Schwarzenegger pipe dream generated by an unusual spurt of bipartisan cooperation between the governor and Democrats for their own political reasons last year.
"Schwarzenegger needed to steer back toward the middle and pad his record for reelection. Democrats wanted to improve the Legislature's image to help sell voters next year on term limit flexibility. But Republicans felt snubbed.
"In the Assembly, Republicans changed leaders and got over it. They and Democrats recently negotiated and passed a $146-billion budget. In the Senate, however, Republicans are still griping and gunning for the governor. They clash with him not only in personality but also in philosophy. GOP leader
Dick Ackerman of Irvine, after surviving a coup attempt,
is under steady pressure from wannabe leaders not to give in to Schwarzenegger -- not to get his arm twisted."
As for now, "The Capitol mood, observes Senate water committee Chairman
Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), 'is
gloom, despair and depression. Otherwise, things are great.'"
"California lawmakers are proposing
a trio of bills they say would update the state's campaign finance laws and better recognize free speech rights, but several open-government groups are fighting the measures, fearing they would allow special interests to overwhelm elections," writes the LAT's Patrick McGreevy.
"
Opponents say the bills would decrease public reporting of charitable contributions given at the behest of politicians and
create a loophole in the regulation of funds spent by political parties, unions and other groups communicating with their members in support of candidates."
Meanwhile, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter is the latest national columnist to write about a proposed
state initiative that could ensure a GOP White House victory. "
Mischief-makers in California (Republicans) and North Carolina (Democrats) are at work on changes that would subvert the system for momentary advantage and—in ways the political world is only beginning to understand—dramatically increase the odds that a Republican will be elected president in 2008.
"Thomas Hiltachk, who specializes in ballot referenda that try to fool people in the titles and fine print, is sponsoring a ballot initiative for the June 3, 2008, California primary (which now falls four months after the state's presidential primary). The Presidential Election Reform Act would award the state's electoral votes based on who wins each congressional district. Had this idea been in effect in 2004, Bush would have won 22 electoral votes from California, about the same number awarded the winners of states like Illinois or Pennsylvania.
"
In practical terms, adopting the initiative would mean that the Democratic candidate would likely have to win both Ohio and Florida in 2008 (instead of one or the other) to be elected."
The U-T's Bill Ainsworth looks at the fallout from
Debra Bowen's decision to ban touch-screen voting machines for the February election.
"Secretary of State Debra Bowen's recent decision to ban most touch-screen voting machines in California
could usher in a new era of skepticism about electronic voting across the country, some election experts say.
"California isn't the first state to severely restrict electronic voting machines, but the extensive tests done by the University of California provide a higher level of scrutiny of machines used throughout the nation. The tests showed the machines could be breached by hackers".
And, as
Karl Rove announces his resignation, AP reports,
Ireland has a new king.
"Jimmy, a feisty white mountain goat, was crowned king of Ireland on Friday at one of the country's oldest fairs.Each year a male goat is caught in the surrounding mountains, paraded through the town to a beat of drums and pipes, and then placed in a 40-feet (12 metre) stand where he reigns as king for three days."
The process doesn't seem any less logical than the process by which Americans choose their president. And the similarities don't end there...
"Jimmy himself will receive regal treatment, being fed regularly and checked by his own personal vet."
