January 2005 Archives

First things first The day

Timm Herdt

on January 28, 2005 12:04 PM Share:

First things first

The day after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger accused California legislators of being a group of do-nothing politicians because they had not yet taken any action on his 2005 agenda, the Senate met in general session. Among the governor's criticisms the day before had been this comment: "The people of California have sent the legislators to Sacramento to work. Not to just hang. That's what they've been doing the last three weeks: hang."

The Senate's central order of business for the day turned out the be voting on a resolution sponsored by Republican leader Dick Ackerman of Orange County. Ackerman, a UC Berkeley alumnus, wanted to put the Senate on record opposing the system the Bowl Championship Series used to pick the collegiate teams to play in the major football bowl games this year. Like all Cal fans, Ackerman was livid that the Bears were snubbed in favor of Texas for a Rose Bowl invitation and had to settle for playing in the Holiday Bowl instead.

The resolution drew some good-natured debate, but also harsh criticism from Democratic Sen. Jackie Speier, who said the resolution was not only silly but also an example of how the Senate had become "a jock-ocracy."

The debate prompted this tongue-in-cheek response from Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, presiding over the session: "Let the governor realize we're not just hanging out today."

SR7 passed 17-6, with many senators taking a pass on the vote. Many of the no votes were cast by the most serious-minded ideologues on both sides of the aisle: conservatives Tom McClintock and Bill Morrow, and liberals Martha Escutia and Sheila Kuehl.

Isn't that special? In a

Timm Herdt

on January 26, 2005 5:33 PM Share:

Isn't that special?

In a luncheon speech to the Sacramento Press Club today, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke forcefully and often about his favorite political foe: the "special interests" that he asserts control the Legislature and are blocking his agenda for reform. "We all know that this town is run by special interests, but we are going to change all that," he said in declaring he was ready to go to the ballot box to circumvent the Legislature.

Asked at one point to define "special interests," and to differentiate between the interest groups he opposes and the interest groups that support him, he said he is taking on only those "special interests ... running the show."

He compared public employee unions -- generally the groups that are synonomous with "special interests" as he uses the phrase -- to the railroad bosses whose control of the Legislature in the early part of the 20th century led reformist Gov. Hiram Johnson to create the initiative process.

As for the groups that support him, Schwarzenegger said they are not "special interests" by his definition because, "As far as I'm concerned, no one can buy me... I'm taken care of. I cannot be bought."

Democrats believe that if Schwarzenegger follows through on his threat to take his proposed measures to the ballot box and to campaign for them as a populist reformer, they can turn the tables by portraying Schwarzenegger as a tool of the moneyed special interests that have financed his campaigns.

They point to his vetoes last year of a used car buyers' bill of rights, vigorously opposed by the car dealers who have lavished him with campaign contributions; a bill that would have penalized companies that ship jobs offshore, vigorously opposed by the governor's most loyal backers at the Chamber of Commerce; and a bill that would have facilitated importation of low-cost prescription drugs from Canada, vehemently opposed by the governor's supporters in the pharmaceutical industry.

The governor's actions on those bills, said Assembly Majority Leader Dario Frommer "show that the governor's ability to make decisions may be influenced by his contributions... This governor in one year has raised more special interest money than Gray Davis raised in four."

Schwarzenegger seems to be deaf to such criticism. Just after having railed against special interests, the governor prepared to take questions, noting that he would accept questions only from members of the media and not from others in the audience seated in the back of the banquet room. But he did acknowledge those people in the back with this comment:

"Hopefully there are some people here also who can wait outside and later on they have some money for us so we can pay for these campaigns and for the TV spots and all those things. So feel free."

Not that any of those people with checkbooks handy to comply with the governor's request would constitute a special interest.

The Democrats' good cops, bad

Timm Herdt

on January 19, 2005 4:26 PM Share:

The Democrats' good cops, bad cops

In their responses to the "Kindergarten Cop" in the governor's office, Democrats in Sacramento are taking on more traditional cop-like roles. Treasurer Phil Angelides, Attorney General Bill Lockyer and Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell have been on the road assailing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget plan because they say it shorts public education and will hurt schoolchildren.

Schwarzenegger, as is his fashion in dismissing those who disagree with him, labled that trio "The Three Stooges" in an interview this week with the Sacramento Bee editorial board.

Today, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata said he personally is not getting his hackles up over such name-calling. "I was a high school teacher," he said. "I took shots from my students that were really good."

Perata said he has had no problems thus far in dealing with the governor. "He's said fine things to me and treated me nicely." There may come a time, he said, when he, too, will decide to take the tact of the three constitutional officers. "You can always go to the tom-toms if you have to," he said.

For now, Senate Democrats are saying they want to do what Schwarzenegger says he wants to do -- come up with big ideas to fix the state budgeting system without raising taxes. Angelides and O'Connell have said that a fairer budget plan would ask affluent Californians to make sacrifices before asking 6.2 million California schoolchildren to take a hit in their education.

"The one thing we're not doing is asking for more money as a panacea to fix things," Perata said. "That flat out isn't there... As for what constitutionally elected officials should do, well, I'm only speaking for the Senate Democratic Caucus."

The preacher to a one-man

Timm Herdt

on January 13, 2005 11:54 AM Share:

The preacher to a one-man choir

To hear labor groups and many Democrats in Sacramento tell it, you would believe that California Chamber of Commerce President Allan Zaremberg is the most powerful man in town. A former top adviser to Govs. George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson, Zaremberg has long been well connected in Republican political circles. He was savvy enough to also get on the good side of Gray Davis after Davis broke a 16-year string of GOP control of the governor's office in 1998.

But the arrival of Arnold Schwarzenegger has elevated Zaremberg to a whole new level. The Chamber of Commerce made an unprecedented endorsement during the recall campaign and was among Schwarzenegger's earliest and most enthusiastic backers. Last year, with only one or two significant exceptions, if the chamber wanted a bill vetoed, Schwarzenegger obliged.

Zaremberg held a briefing yesterday to discuss the chamber's legislative priorities for 2005. I asked him whether it was true what his critics say -- that he holds undue influence over the governor of California. His response:

"When he came and asked for our endorsement, he gave an impassioned speech about improving the job climate in California. I believe he's carrying out the campaign promises he made � and those things are our agenda. These are the things we believe in.

"I don't find that we exert any more influence than anyone else. It just happens that he shares the same agenda."

Muscling up to take on

Timm Herdt

on January 11, 2005 4:22 PM Share:

Muscling up to take on Arnold

If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was looking for a fight to test his political muscle and the depth of his popularity, there are few opponents who could test it as well as the education community. To be sure, the powerhouse among that community is the California Teachers Association, but there are others. The California Federation of Teachers is another sizable union (which largely represents community college instructors), and on the issue of education funding the teachers' groups are joined by administrators, school board members and the PTA.

If you were constucting a political machine, you couldn't do any better than to to establish operations in every residential neighborhood in the state and enlist 20, 30 or more supporters at each site who mostly are respected professionals who have regular contact with every parent in the neighborhood. If the education community decides to spread the word that Schwarzenegger's budget and ballot proposals are very bad for schools, it has the infrastructure to do it.

This week, CTA President Barbara Kerr said that all options are open to counter Schwarzenegger's budget proposals -- including the possibility of a lawsuit challenging the adequacy of state education funding and an initiative that would strengthen the state Constitution's school-funding guarantee.

Today, CFT President Mary Bergan offered a more direct challenge. Meeting with reporters, Bergan said: "One of the things that got people in trouble last year is that people just assumed he was so wildly popular you couldn't beat him. He is a good p.r. guy...

"I think he can be beat. He picked the wrong target this time. Especially from a man who's taken millions of dollars from groups that most folks would consider special interests. I think that makes him vulnerable."

Tea leaves and committees Assembly

Timm Herdt

on January 7, 2005 4:50 PM Share:

Tea leaves and committees

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez released committee assignments today, following through on a promise to reduce the sizes of nearly every committee. The result is that members who two years ago may have served on as many as seven committees are now serving on no more than four.

The assignments suggest that the Democratic speaker noticed the closeness of Ventura County rookie Assemblyman Pedro Nava's race in November, and handed him some important assignments that should help raise his profile before he runs again in two years.

Nava was named to the Budget, Higher Education, Insurance and Natural Resources committees. Natural Resources and Higher Education should help him in Santa Barbara, home of numerous green activists and a University of California campus. Insurance should help his fund-raising potential with two key contributer groups -- insurance companies and trial lawyers. And, as a member of the Budget Committee, he will chair the subcommittee on transportation -- where the potential exists to extract a few highway perks for the district.

On the other side of the aisle, maverick Republican Assemblyman Keith Richman was shut out of a vice-chairmanship, the top spot for minority party members. His independent-minded colleague in the Bipartisan Caucus, Democrat Joe Canciamilla was similarly denied a chairmanship. Both are senior members, in their third terms. This suggests that both Nunez and Republican leader Kevin McCarthy are sending a clear signal that those who think and act independently will be punished.

Audra Stickland, the freshman Republican from Moorpark, will be the lead GOP member on the Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism and Internet Media Committee. That's a step up from her office assignment, which was handled by the Speaker's Office. She's been assigned a windowless office on the fourth floor, tucked between a large committee room and a stairwell. The office is affectionately known as "the Bat Cave."

Keeping good humor, Strickland remarked this week that at least the office is larger than many.

From educators, gallows humor At

Timm Herdt

on January 6, 2005 12:44 PM Share:

From educators, gallows humor

At a briefing Wednesday to inform education leaders of the bad news to come, Finance Director Tom Campbell informed them that the Schwarzenegger administration would not be able to abide by the funding promises it had made last year.

To the schools, it represented at least $2.2 billion worth of bad and genuinely unexpected news.

To deal with it, some turned to gallows humor. One remarked as they left the room, "He blew up the wrong box � the one with kids in it."

An education lobbyist called me today to report this "headline" for tomorrow's papers: "Kindergarten Cop shoots kids."

When the public fight comes over the proposed budget cuts, the rhetoric is not likely to be so dark. But it is an indication of just how vigorously the education community intends to fight the governor in the months ahead...

You'd think it was the

Timm Herdt

on January 5, 2005 2:37 PM Share:

You'd think it was the Peterson trial

For the second year in a row, the grounds of the state Capitol has been converted to a media circus tent on the occasion of the governor's annual State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature this evening.

The office of Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, which handles logistics because the speech is delivered in the Assembly chambers, sent advisories to the media more than two weeks ago advising that there would be far more demand for press credentials than could be accommodated. An overflow section for reporters to watch the address on television has been set up in the Capitol and the California Broadcasters Association has assembled a huge tent on the south lawn for TV reporters to do stand-up broadcasts and live interviews.

After the speech this evening, expect most legislators and state consitutional officers to make a bee-line for the tent, looking for some rare time in front of the camera.

It is Arnold Schwarzenegger's celebrity that is responsible for all this, of course. Still, there are some signs the novelty of Terminator as Governor has worn just a little more thin for his second State of the State: The number of TV satellite trucks has decreased by about a third from last year.

2005 lasted all of 3

Timm Herdt

on January 4, 2005 1:20 PM Share:

2005 lasted all of 3 days

Today's the 4th, and it marked the unofficial beginning of the 2006 campaign for governor. Democratic Treasurer Phil Angelides held a news conference to kick off a TV advertising campaign that urges viewers to send a message to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: "No more debt, no more deception."

Angelides insisted this was not the start of his gubernatorial campaign. "This has everything to do with the budget," he said. "Discussion of the governor's race is for another day."

While many may look at Angelides' most recent attack on Schwarzenegger as a transparent campaign tactic, you do have to give him credit for being consistent. He has railed against the new governor's borrowing strategy and avoidance of making tough budget decisions almost from the day Schwarzenegger took office. Given the amount of debt the state has run up since then, Angelides is playing a useful role.

It's beginning to appear that Angelides may be the only Democrat willing to step forward to challenge Schwarzenegger next year. The persistent word among Democratic insiders is that Attorney General Bill Lockyer just isn't genuinely interested. Another reason Lockyer may be leaning against a run for governor is that Democratic loyalists haven't forgiven him for boasting that he voted for Schwarzenegger in the recall. Largely because of that comment, at least one early poll of Democrats shows that Angelides would likely beat Lockyer even if it did become a two-person race.

« December 2004 | Main Index | Archives | February 2005 »

95 percent accurate

Over the last 25 presidential elections, Ventura County voters have backed the winner 24 times, or over 95 percent of the time. It is one of only a handful of counties in the nation that has been such a predictable bellwether.

about Timm Herdt

The Ventura County Star's Sacramento Bureau Chief Timm Herdt on state issues and politics from Sacramento to Ventura County. He can be contacted at therdt@vcstar.com

Links

Categories
Tags
Archives

Comments
Recent
On Twitter

Louis Vuitton Outlet USA: Deliver increased pleasures for customers. Drive increased traffic aimed at read more
ルイヴィトン激安: 銇婅壊銇悜鏃ヨ懙銇銇銈勩亱銇櫤鑹层伄銆屻偢銉с兗銉屻儔銉笺儷銆嶃仺浜烘皸銇珮銇勩儖銉ャ偄銉炽偣銈儵銉笺€屻偍銉堛偉銉笺儣銆嶃仺銇祫銇垮悎銈忋仜銆? read more
computer recycling nyc: Hello there, You've done a great job. I will definitely read more
http://www.youtube.com: Excellent post. I am going through many of these issues read more
Isobel Ciminera: I simply want to mention I am all new to read more
deCepneully: guaranteed payday loans hold been a leader in Spanish and read more
deCepneully: We would like to take up. This fashion saves precious read more
deCepneully: borrow this adjustment can be acquired through guaranteed payday loans read more
rapid prototyping china: Just about all milling machines appear in two essential categories read more
gardening tools: Najlepsze meble read more