What he's not
Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo formally announced his candidacy for attorney general on the steps of the Capitol this morning, and he pointedly spent much time talking about who he is not.
"I am not a former governor, I am not the son of a governor, I've never run for president," said Delgadillo, who instead stressed his working-class upbringing on the hard streets of East Los Angeles. "Life in my neighborhood was a struggle... Some of my friends didn't make it."
The contrast was clear: Delgadillo, 45, is the new California. Jerry Brown, 70, is the old California.
The conventional wisdom has been that Brown would be the closest thing to a shoo-in for the Democratic nomination for attorney general next June. But Delgadillo has a lot going for him: a Los Angeles base, rugged good looks, Latino heritage, and rock-solid credentials as a prosecutor and head of a large public law office.
Don't count him out.
Posted by Timm Herdt at 2:23 PM | Comments (0)
Who's that tiger?
Sometimes, there's very little one can add. So, let me just say that anyone with an interest in Ventura County politics will find amusing the Web site tonythestrickland.com.
Let's just say that it shows that California conservatives have standards for purity of lineage that not even the Daughters of the American Revolution can match.
Posted by Timm Herdt at 1:24 PM | Comments (2)
Missing a historic event?
Three summers ago I had a one-on-one interview with Gray Davis in the governor's office to talk exclusively about the coming opening of the California State University, Channel Islands campus. He said nothing remarkable during the time we sat at his desk -- the predictable utterings of a politician about the importance of access to higher education, how much the campus would mean to the local economy, all the usual stuff.
But as we walked to the door, after I had turned off the tape recorder and put away the notebook, Davis relaxed and engaged in some refreshing introspection. He mused that all the things that a governor sweats over from day to day -- budget decisions, bill negotiations and the like -- are in reality of small and temporary consequence. There will always be another budget the next year. Opening a university, he mused -- that's something that will last forever, a historic event that will help shape hundreds of thousands of lives through the years. He seemed genuinely humbled -- a quality that generally seems in short supply in the office he occupied -- as he prepared to give the keynote speech at the CSUCI opening. He even went out of his way to note that most of the credit for the university's creation should go to his predecessor, Pete Wilson.
At least Davis got it.
The Modesto Bee reports today that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has informed officials of the University of California at Merced campus that he will be unable to attend its official opening on Labor Day. The reason given: The governor has an extraordinarily busy schedule of public events in the weeks ahead.
It might be noted that among them are 17 campaign fund-raisers packed into the period between Aug. 17 and Sept. 23. They include a barbeque in New Jersey on Saturday and a private box at which he is hosting contributors at the Rolling Stones concert in Boston's Fenway Park on Sunday.
Davis and former Gov. George Deukmejian will be among the dignitaries who will be attending the opening of the Merced campus -- just the 10th in the University of California system.
To be sure, Schwarzenegger might be gunshy these days about appearing at such public events, at which protestors would be almost certain to follow. If they were to spoil the UC Merced opening, shame on them. But the fact is that long after the Great Ballot War of 2005 has ended, long after all these policy fights that seem so important to the governor and his staff now, long after Schwarzenegger has been either booted out or termed out of office, that university campus will be standing. Twenty years from now, as he looks back on his governorship, Schwarzenegger will wish he would have been there.
His advisers ought to reconsider.
Posted by Timm Herdt at 11:45 AM | Comments (2)
A Hollywood makeover?
This summer has seen the emergence of a kinder, gentler Arnold Schwarzenegger. The governor has noticeably toned down his rhetoric and begun focusing almost exclusively on issues other than his hard-edged "year of reform" initiatives headed for the fall ballot.
You've heard the criticism that Schwarzenegger has "attacked" teachers? Compare that with the statement the governor's office issued today in response to improved test scores among California students:
"I want to thank the many excellent California teachers who went the extra mile to help their students meet and overcome the challenges they faced in taking these exams. Their professionalism and commitment to their students is reflected in these improved scores. We must do everything we can to reward these hard-working, dedicated teachers and give them the tools they need to be successful."
Schwarzenegger has also tried to maximize the good will engendered by new regulations adopted by the administration in response the the heat-related deaths this summer of farmworkers and others who labor in the sun. His last public event before leaving on vacation at an undisclosed, out-of-state location was a trip to a Central Valley ranch to visit with farmworkers. Photos and videos were prominently displayed on his official Web site all the time he was gone.
With any hope of a negotiated settlement to the coming ballot-box battle with Democrats now dead, his political foes seem to be daring him to go back on the partisan warpath. In declaring negotiations hopeless this morning, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata said public opinion against the governor "has really hardened below the Mendoza Line." That's a baseball reference that indicates the point at which a major league player must keep his batting average to avoid being shipped to the minors.
Posted by Timm Herdt at 5:19 PM | Comments (1)
Will state Democrats self-destruct?
The best political news Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has had all year may be that two tough-minded, well-funded Democrats are squaring off to fight over the party's nomination for governor in 2006. If their campaign turns nasty, and Schwarzenegger in fact decides to run for re-election, the incumbent with the falling poll numbers could catch a break by getting to run against an opponent who has already been pummeled in his own party primary.
Campaign finance reports show that Treasurer Phil Angelides already has about $19 million in his campaign account. Controller Steve Westly, with his vast personal wealth, has already committed $15 million of his own money to his campaign. There will be no lack of resources to stage a humdinger of a primary.
Angelides seems to be the early favorite, having locked up several of the most influential party endorsements including that of U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, and having positioned himself as an early and persistent foil of Schwarzenegger. In addition, because the open primary initiative failed last fall, the 2006 Democratic primary will be a closed affair. Conventional wisdom holds that Democratic Party primary voters tend to be decidedly more liberal than the electorate as a whole -- another factor that favors Angelides.
Given all that, a logical strategy for Westly might be to come out of the box attacking Angelides in an attempt to even the playing field.
Westly has hired Garry South, the mastermind behind former Gov. Gray Davis' relentlessly negative campaign against Republican Bill Simon in 2002, as his senior campaign adviser.
I asked South yesterday if he felt Westly needed to go negative early against Angelides. His response: Democratic primary voters aren't as liberal as conventional wisdom holds. He noted that San Diego has the second-highest number or registered Democrats among California counties and Orange County has the third highest total. Westly can win, he suggested, merely by appealing to moderates.
Still...
South recalled that in 1994 Angelides ran a tough — some say merciless and unfair — primary campaign against former Senate President Pro Tem David Roberti, savagely attacking Roberti's stance against abortion rights. If the treasurer tries to use that tactic against Westly, South said, the Westly campaign will be ready.
"He ought to take a long, hard look," said South, who was named the national political consultant of the year in 1998 for directing Davis' landslide victory. "People have accused me of being a lot of things, but nobody's ever accused me of being afraid to fight back."
Translation? Yes, the Democratic primary could be the best thing to happen to Schwarzenegger's political fortunes since the recall.
Posted by Timm Herdt at 9:15 AM | Comments (0)
Over the last 22 presidential elections, Ventura County voters have backed the winner 21 times, or 95 percent of the time. It is one of only a handful of counties in the nation that has been such a predictable bellwether.
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 
