The most telling moment of the governor's image war that began yesterday was not when he emerged for his Capitol press conference wearing a shiny, pink tie. It came moments before as a spokeswoman for the governor was giving out logistical information about the post-press conference stagecraft that was to follow.
When a print reporter asked her to repeat the information, the spokeswoman half-joked "don't worry about it. You guys don't matter."
Oh, how true. After a quick chat with the media, the governor slipped out of his suit, and back
onto the campaign trail yesterday, and had his photo op all ready to go. He stepped into a Humvee labeled "Reform 1" and took his gubernatorial caravan full of petition gatherers to the Applebee's restaurant on Truxel Road in Sacramento. The SacBee covers the policy discussion the gov used to woo voters: "'I love your sweater,' he told a woman at one table. 'How's the lunch? What are you drinking? It's on me.'"
CCPOA boss
Mike Jimenez and a few colleagues happened to be dining when the governor made his table-to-table campaign stop. When asked what he'd do if asked by the governor to sign the petition,
he said "I will wad it up and throw it on the table."
SJ Merc's Ann Marimow writes: "It could have been a scene from one of the former action hero's movies -- the 'Reforminator' or 'Kindergarten Governor,' take your pick."
Meanwhile, in Donkeyland...During the mid-to late-1990s, the stock line about the state's Republicans was that they were gathered in a circular firing squad, always setting themselves up for self-destruction. Now, Democrats appear to be assuming the position, as the
California Teachers Association has moved into action,
sending 50,000 pieces of mail to attack ...
Don Perata.
The mailers blast Perata for "siding with Governor Schwarzenegger" in cutting school funds. Apparently, they're not too crazy about Perata's suggestion that it was time to overhaul Prop. 98. The union also took out ads in 18 newspapers and has erected lawn signs. Perata responded by increasing the rhetoric against CTA, "'People don't cower in that situation,' he said. 'They get angry.'"
But Perata and Speaker
Fabian Nuņez did hold a.m. press conferences to
deflect the governor's attack. "We have to put an end to this idea that, 'Well, the Legislature didn't act on my proposals,' " Nuņez said. "Well, what proposals? Half-baked, half-cooked proposals. These proposals aren't ready for prime time. There is no question about it."
Perata called the governor's push for redistricting reform "a freaking waste of time."
The governor's road show heads to Bakersfield and Hayward later today.
Today's Capitol cameras will likely be trained on one
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as he
testifies before a joint legislative committee on environmental issues.
In other news, a new Field Poll shows about 70 percent of Californians
support the right to physician-assisted suicide. The issue will come to a head in the Legislature as a bill by Assemblywoman
Patty Berg moves through the process this year.
Teachers at Santa Rosa Junior College apparently
don't like being called communists. When a local, perhaps the lone, Republican student on campus wanted to protest "left-leaning" views by her instructors, she pasted red stars on their doors.
Instructors on campus immediately freaked out, and called a press conference to protest the action. That's when the student who pasted the stars came forward.
"The accusation of teaching communism in the classroom is laughable," English teacher
Marco Giordano said, noting communism is not illegal and the U.S. Constitution is "indifferent" to both communism and capitalism. Still, he said, the student Republican's actions were "a little creepy" and a "revival of McCarthyist tactics."
Spoken like a true communist.
LA Mayor's Race: LA Times Capitol reporter Dan Morain says the time that
Antonio Villaraigosa and
Bob Hertzberg spent raising money in Sacramento
may be used against them in the closing days of the LA Mayor's race. "Their fundraising also reflects differences in their political views. Villaraigosa, the more liberal of the two, brought in more from trial lawyers and teachers unions, while Hertzberg did better with business and Indian tribes pushing to expand gambling."
The LA Times looks through
the governor's latest statement of economic influence and finds "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger holds millions of dollars worth of real estate and investments, and was given cigars, cufflinks and even a scepter last year by admirers, including Florida Gov.
Jeb Bush and
King Abdullah II of Jordan, according to the governor's financial disclosure statement, released Tuesday.
"Actor
Rob Lowe gave Schwarzenegger a $112.50 silver frame. Motivational speaker
Tony Robbins gave him a $120 box of cigars. Abdullah gave him a ceremonial dagger and a desk pad."
That dagger may come in handy during budget negotiations.
