"A private meeting of legislative leaders and Gov. Schwarzenegger ended abruptly Tuesday amid
bad blood between Senate
Leader
Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and his GOP counterpart, Sen.
Dennis Hollingsworth
of Murrieta," Capitol Weekly reports.
"The angry exchange at the Big 5 meeting between the two Senate leaders
began when Schwarzenegger asked Hollingsworth what it would take
for Senate Republicans to support nearly three dozen
bills that have already passed the Assembly, but have
remained stalled on the Senate floor since the end
of the legislative session last month. The bills require
Repunblican votes to emerge from the Senate.
"Earlier, Hollingsworth said he would not put up votes
for the bills until Democrats agreed to a list of demands
that were laid out by Russell Lowery, Hollingsworth's chief of staff,
in an e-mail to senior Democratic staff on the morning of Sept.
11, the last day of the legislative session."
Evan Halper looks at one of the bills being held hostage by Senate Republicans.
"A proposal is sitting on the governor's desk that would smack state
hospitals with billions of dollars in new fees -- and hospital
officials are begging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to
sign it into law.
In fact, they thought it up.
"In the latest test of anti-tax
groups' clout in the Capitol, however, fiscal conservatives
are trying
to persuade the governor to block the new levies on
the institutions
that want them.
"At the root of the dispute is a plan by the
hospitals to access $2 billion in federal funds. A new "provider" fee
would make them eligible for the money as subsidies
for Medi-Cal,
California's health insurance program for the poor. The cash would
more
than offset the new fees.
The alternative, hospitals say, is
leaving the federal money on the table -- and California last in the
nation in its reimbursements for doctors and hospitals
through
Medicaid, the national umbrella program under which
Medi-Cal operates."
The LA Times looks at the showdown between the governor and the Legislature.
"Like the cinematic action hero he was, Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger wants
a big finish. With little more than a year left in
office, he is
willing to take hostages to get it.
"So as the clock ticks toward a Sunday deadline for
signing or rejecting
more than 700 bills on his desk, Schwarzenegger has engaged legislative
leaders in a game of chicken, threatening a mass veto
if lawmakers
don't strike a deal to upgrade the state's water system."
Andrew Macintosh has more on the Meg Whitman voting story.
"After publicly
apologizing for what she called her "atrocious" voting record, GOP
gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman is now going on the offensive,
saying she recalls voting "on numerous occasions" in the past.
"While my voting record is nothing to be proud of, I
have voted on
numerous occasions, especially when I lived in San
Francisco during the
1980s," she said in an e-mail to supporters.
"In a letter to The
Bee on Monday that was also distributed broadly to
the media and talk
radio hosts, Whitman communications director Tucker Bounds said: "Meg
clearly remembers voting on multiple occasions, including
the 1984 and
1988 presidential elections."
"The
story reported that Whitman said she was registered
as a Republican
before coming to California, but declined to say where
the public
record might be found. The first registration record
The Bee found was
in 2002.
"While Whitman did not initially challenge The Bee's
findings, this week's letter reflects a change in tactics. Previously,
the campaign had declined to offer information to The
Bee and other
reporters researching her voting and registration record.
Is the UC system looking for a federal bailout?
The CoCo Times' Matt Krupnick reports, "UC Berkeley Chancellor
Robert Birgeneau has proposed that top public research schools become
state-federal "hybrids" that receive basic operating funds from the
U.S. government. The federal government also should match private
funding raised by universities at a 2-1 ratio, Birgeneau and Vice
Chancellor Frank Yeary wrote in opinion pieces published in newspapers
on both coasts.
"The idea has been well received in Washington,
they said in an interview this week, but it is unclear
when and if the
Obama administration would take it on.
"They were enthusiastic,"
said Birgeneau, who said he had spoken with Department
of Education
officials and was told not to expect any movement for
at least the next
two years. "But they told me they had no money."
Lisa Vorderbueggen reports Bill Clinton stopped by to stump for John Garamendi.
"Clinton spent the first part
of the day at the PGA Presidents Cup tournament at
Harding Golf Course
but agreed to a Garamendi whistle-stop and fundraiser on his way to San
Francisco International Airport. He was also in California
to campaign
for Democratic gubernatorial candidate and San Francisco
Mayor Gavin
Newsom."
Timm Herdt weighs in on the marijuana legalization initiative .
Speaking of initatives, worth noting that attorney
Lance Olson has filed a measure that would tweak term limits similar to the way Proposition 93 would have changed the law -- allowing members to serve 12 years in either legislative house.
And finally, from our International Relations file,
"A British government minister asked California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday to shut down a U.S. website that allows men to rate prostitutes, including many working in London.
Harriet Harman, minister for women and equality, told the ruling
Labor Party's annual conference that "Punternet" fuels the demand for prostitution -- a vice she said degrades women and puts themat risk.
"Surely it can't be too difficult for 'The Terminator' to terminate Punternet and that's what I am demanding that he does," she said.
