A couple of news items came out over the weekend. Neither is earthshaking and unless you immerse yourself in politics, they may very well have slipped by unnoticed. However, I think both items are quite positive and in the best of all worlds, give some hope for the future.

ITEM #1 – Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has so far declined to endorse Phil Angelides, the Democratic candidate for Governor. While it is quite probable that Mayor Villaraigosa will eventually lend his support to the Democratic gubernatorial candidate and highly unlikely that he would consider supporting Governor Schwarzenegger in his reelection bid, his current neutrality speaks volumes.

The Mayor is working closely with the Governor on his proposed takeover of the LAUSD, a position different than that of Mr. Angelides, who is closely aligned with the California Teachers Association, who, not surprisingly, do not support the proposed change.

The bottom line is that the Democratic mayor of our states largest city is working closely with our Republican Governor in an effort to try and achieve something to the benefit of their shared constituents. This smacks of constituents first and politics second.

ITEM #2 – Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez is raising money (this part is not the surprise) for his Committee to Protect California’s Future, a group focused on helping to pass ballot initiatives in November.

Included in these initiatives is the bipartisan (dare I say non-partisan) $47 billion dollar, five-measure infrastructure package.

Taken together, these are perhaps the early seeds of our elected officials beginning to work together. Partisanship is not always bad and certainly some future votes will fall right down party lines. However, if at least every once in while, we can have this kind of cooperation, it will be a significant step toward making our state great again. Kudos to all!