The state council of the Service Employees International Union deposited $500,000 into the campaign to defeat Proposition 1A on Monday.
That's the spending constraint/tax extension measure on the May 19 ballot.
The donation by SEIU is the largest to date in the No on 1A campaign, coming on the heels of low six-figure contributions from the California Faculty Association, the California Federation of Teachers and SEIU (again) last week.
So far the union-led No on 1A forces have raised just under $900,000.
Meanwhile, the National Education Association is weighing in on behalf of Proposition 1B, which would require repayment to schools of the current budget cuts.
Of course, passage of 1B is tied to the fate of 1A ...
The long and the short of it: The campaign's getting expensive out there.
In today's paper, The Bee has a story about Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's new fundraising tactic: hosting a pair of private events at his Brentwood home with first lady Maria Shriver, where donors are asked for $100,000-plus to attend.
TWITTER ME THIS: At 3:45 p.m., Schwarzenegger will be doing an "Ask the Governor" online chat today -- and only taking questions submitted via Twitter.
As of Monday evening, Schwarzenegger had 46,850 Twitter followers -- certainly enough to generate a question or two.
(In contrast, little old me has only 26 followers. Of course, I've yet to actually Tweet -- which will change during this weekend's Democratic convention. More information on that to follow.)
Schwarzenegger did some Tweeting on Monday during his Detroit swing.
"Checking out electric hummer display at SAE. It's an H3 that gets 100 MPG! Now that's the type of action I want to see out of detroit," he wrote.
JIMENEZ ON LEAVE: My colleague Jon Ortiz at the State Worker reported Monday that Mike Jimenez, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association president, is taking a 90-day leave of absence, effective May 1, for surgery.
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