If you can't take the heat ... It may be Spring Break, but the
throngs are turning out to see the governor -- and protest. In what was likely the largest protest outside an event since he became governor,
Arnold Schwarzenegger faced 2,000 protestors outside the Hyatt Regency Irvine.
The energy of opposition, however, may be enough to provoke the governor to run for reelection. In the most significant sign yet, the real estate community is abuzz about a
reported purchase of a mansion 18 miles from the Capitol by the first family.
The governor heads to Fresno today for another "Kitchen Cabinet" townhall meeting, complete with an audience of "real people" handpicked by the local Chamber of Commerce. Democratic consultants
Roger Salazar and
Andrew Acosta aren't buying it. " Last week, the Governor met with his “kitchen cabinet” in Long Beach where the Chamber-selected “average” citizens asked him about such urgent issue items as reapportionment and merit pay. That’s funny, the most pressing issues in LA County, according to the most recent PPIC survey are
crime and gangs, education funding and transportation. In Fresno, the most pressing issues are
air pollution, jobs, growth and gangs. How much you want to bet the questions out of Fresno will mirror the Governor’s initiative agenda?"
Acosta and Salazar's statements come in what looks to be a
new, regular e-mail to reporters called "The California Democratic Majority," sponsored by the state Democratic Party. Does that make the duo the Gen. X equivalent of
Bob Mulholland? Looks like our Republican friend
Karen Hanretty has a new set of dancing partners.
The
Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) dropped its prescription drugs ballot initiative yesterday, but
that doesn't mean that PhRMA will drop its measures crafted in response, according to the Union Tribune.
Dario Frommer cautions the group to drop the measures and work through the legislative process, "If this goes to the ballot, PhRMA . . . will lose. Voters understand that (the pharmaceutical industry) is flexing its political muscle to block real reform." The
Alliance for a Better California is backing another prescription drug initiative, which mirrors legislation introduced by Frommer, and is backed by other health care advocates.
Meanwhile,
Deborah Ortiz is catching heat for working with the governor and pharmaceutical industry on a solution. "Sen. Ortiz's about-face on prescription drug reform has a lot of consumer groups scratching their heads," FTCR's
Jerry Flanagan told the Union-Tribune.
Assembly Democrats are not ready to sign off on Ortiz's bill, according to Frommer.
Yesterday was a good day for
Antonio Villaraigosa,
picking up the endorsements of the
L.A. Democratic Party, Sen.
Richard Alarcon and Rep.
Brad Sherman. The LA Times reports " The party's endorsement in the officially nonpartisan race amounted to
an extraordinary vote of no confidence in a Democratic incumbent who runs the nation's second-largest city."
Speaking of Latinos who have run the Assembly, the Los Angeles Times opines that
Fabian Nuñez's paycheck from big labor doesn't pass the laugh test. "He's being paid $35,000 a year, personally, not as a campaign contribution, by a nonprofit arm of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, which is led by Nuñez's old pal,
Miguel Contreras ...
it doesn't pass the laugh test that Nuñez is merely consulting on effective methods of voter registration.
The Times calls the contract "something that is clearly wrong, even if it is technically legal."
Speaking of something that is clearly wrong even if it's technically legal, Matier and Ross emerge with the
most disturbing item of the day, buried deep in their column. "It looked like love at first sight when crooner
Michael Bolton laid eyes on Court TV anchor
Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom, the estranged wife of San Francisco Mayor
Gavin Newsom. The meeting took place at Elaine's at the party for
Catherine Crier's book about the
Scott Peterson case, "A Deadly Game.''
Tongues wagged as the duo spent the entire evening close-talking and stayed long after the party ended, our spies report.''
So wrong in so many ways.
