The Buzz: Tour guide has kids spellbound

You can take Bart Carlson out of the classroom, but you can't take the teacher out of Bart Carlson. After 37 years of inveigling fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders into learning stuff, Carlson now spends part of his days as a volunteer docent at the Capitol.

Among other things, he teaches touring school kids how to spell the governor's last name, using this fanciful mnemonic device:

"SCH" stands for schools, which, he tells the kids, get about half of the state budget every year;

"WAR" was a big element in many of the movies the guv used to make;

"ZEN" is the philosophy of peace the guv embraces;

"EGG" is what he eats for breakfast,

"ER" is the suffix relating to what a person does.

Corny? Maybe. Confusing? Nope, it works. The Buzz saw a fourth-grade class from Strawberry Elementary School in Santa Rosa get it on the second try.

Next up: How to spell "deficit …"

Speaking in tongues

FinemanPR, a San Francisco public relations company whose clients range from the Wine Institute to Harv's Car Wash (really), is out with its 13th annual list of the top PR blunders in the country this year.

At No. 9 is our aforementioned governor, who in June told convention delegates in San Jose that Latino immigrants should "stay away from Spanish-language television, books and newspapers" in order to learn English more quickly. The convention at which the guv was speaking was the annual meeting of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

Teeing it up for the Dems

The invites have gone out for the 11th Annual Speaker's Cup, hosted by the California Dem Party and Assembly Speaker Fabian "Give 'em Vuitton" Núñez. This is the April golf tourney at the fabled golf courses of the Monterey Peninsula.

For 2008, the "Ultimate Package," at $70,000, will get you eight rounds of golf, four hotel rooms for two nights, dinner for eight for two nights, and commemorative gifts. For parsimonious duffers, there's the "Bronze Package," at $25,000. That gets you one round of golf, one hotel room and one meal.

Last year the Dems took in nearly $2 million at this event. But even though the tee times don't start until April 25, they'd like you to get the checks in early. See, there's this Feb. 5 election with this term-limits measure on it to determine just how many more Speaker's Cups that Núñez might be hosting.

And speaking of annoying …

Radio talk show host Eric Hogue hasn't officially decided whether he will run for the 4th District Assembly seat currently held by Ted Gaines, R-Roseville, because Gaines hasn't decided if he will run for the 4th Congressional District seat held by John Doolittle, R-Roseville, and Hogue says he won't take on Gaines, a fellow Republican.

But just in case, Hogue is issuing daily news releases on the "12 Days of Christmas" theme, each offering voters gifts such as "no new taxes" and "traditional marriage" – if he runs and is elected.

We would have settled for five golden rings.

About the writer:

• The Buzz is compiled by The Bee's Capitol Bureau and written by Bee columnist Steve Wiegand. Reach him at (916)321-1076 or swiegand@sacbee.com.