Capitol Alert

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made a last-minute stop Friday in San Diego for what a participant called a "candid and frank" discussion with the education lobby about the difficult choices ahead for California schools.

During the hastily arranged meeting in a hotel suite, Schwarzenegger gave no indication what his plans are for school funding as he prepares his January budget plan, said California School Boards Association Executive Director Scott Plotkin.

The state is currently projected to fall $10 billion short for the 2008-09 fiscal year.

Schwarzenegger suggested that the current budget environment will force the administration to scale back on what was expected to be the "year of education" in 2008.

Instead of tackling the achievement gap in one year, changes will have to be made over several years.

"He's not going to make 2008 a year of education reform," Plotkin said. "It's going to be a multi-year effort on a whole range of things, whether it's revenues or expenses or closing the achievement gap."

Plotkin said the hourlong meeting with Schwarzenegger and his education cabinet member, David Long, was held in his suite at the San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina, where CSBA was holding its annual conference at the nearby convention center.

Other education representatives in attendance included the Association of California School Administrators, California Association of School Business Officials, California County Superintendents Educational Services Association, and Parent Teachers Association.

"It was just his attempt to reach out to us," Plotkin said. "We didn't agree to anything because we're miles ahead of that."

Plotkin said the governor broached the idea of recalculating Proposition 98 in the current budget but did not announce a decision. The Legislative Analyst's Office has indicated the Legislature can take action to lower K-14 funding by $400 million because revenues are expected to fall $2 billion below projection.

The education lobby pointed out to Schwarzenegger that school boards lack the authority to raise local property taxes to meet their needs.

Plotkin said the governor is going through a "heartfelt review of what it takes to find the middle ground" between educating California's schoolchildren and tempering government spending.

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton continues to dominate her Democratic rivals in California polling, showing a nearly 40 point lead in the latest survey by Datamar Inc., an El Cajon-based polling group.

The former first lady pulled in 54 percent support in the survey, compared to 16 percent for her top rival Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards finshed third with 8.9 percent. No other candidate finished above 5 percent.

The automatic-dialing poll was conducted the last week of November, with a margin of error of 3.4 percent.

On Thursday, Datamar released a poll showing former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani leading the pack of Republican candidates in California.

Find a copy of the Democratic primary poll here.

• Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner stopped by the San Diego Union-Tribune editorial board, where he spoke about disclosing the source of U.S. Term Limits' $1.5 million donation.

U-T blogger Chris Reed has the details.

"I would rather all 501(c)4s disclose" the source of their money, he said. Poizner said he has "no idea" who gave the $1.5 million to U.S. Term Limits.

• Maybe the state shouldn't lease the lottery, it should sell bonds bet against future revenues. John Myers of KQED has posted the letter sent by Treasurer Bill Lockyer's office to Sen. Dean Florez.

• Could there be a leadership change at SEIU? Possibly as soon as today, the Los Angeles Times' Jordan Rau reports. It stems from the fight over the shape of health care reform.

While enthusiastic about the goal of securing coverage for the 5 million Californians who now are uninsured, Sal Rosselli -- the president of an Oakland-based SEIU local as well as the state council -- has insisted that any deal fully protect middle-class residents from having to pay premiums they may not be able to afford or forcing them to buy bare-bones policies.

That has been the view of Andy Stern, the president of the international union, who has personally expressed to the governor's office his frustration with the stance of California SEIU leaders, according to people familiar with the discussions.

• Evangelical Christians give Hillary Clinton a standing ovation. It happened in California.

• Another candidate has dropped out of the race for Assembly District 2, currently held by Assemblyman Doug La Malfa. First, it was past Rep. John Doolittle staffer Jason Larrabee. Now it's Sam Wakim.

Earlier this year, Wakim resigned his seat on a regional water board after the Bee made inquires about his Internet postings.

Former Sen. Jim Nielsen, a Republican, remains in the race and has racked up the endorsements of most of the Assembly GOP caucus.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez is heading to Iowa to make an appearance on behalf of his favored presidential contender, Sen. Hillary Clinton.

The speaker will represent Clinton on Saturday at "The Iowa Brown & Black Forum" in Des Moines, which bills itself as "the nation’s only presidential forum in which all candidates have the opportunity to answer essential concerns of African-Americans and Latinos."

Griselda's Texas-Mexican restaurant, which closed in August 2006 amid an eminent-domain fight between her landlord and the city of Sacramento, will reopen on Monday.

Located on 8th Street between L and K, the Mexican food joint is owned by the same folks who operate the basement cafeteria in the Capitol.

"We spent some time cleaning it up and giving it a new fresh look," said owner Griselda Barajas Keolanui.

There will be a grand reopening for Monday lunch, complete with a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Assemblyman Dave Jones, Barajas Keolanui said.

It looks like California's junior senator, Sen. Barbara Boxer, is blocking the federal court nomination of former Rep. James Rogan because of his leading role in the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton.

The Associated Press has more:

"U.S. Rep. Rogan was one of the most enthusiastic backers of impeachment - he thought President Clinton had committed high crimes and misdemeanors. The Senate certainly disagreed with that conclusion, as did Sen. Boxer," said Boxer's spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz.

He declined comment. "Out of respect for the Senate and its process, I just don't have any comment on this," he said.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, won't bring up court nominees unless they have the support of their home-state senators, and neither Boxer nor Sen. Dianne Feinstein has backed Rogan's nomination.

The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians has donated another $5.3 million to the campaign urging passage of Propositions 94 through 97, the Indian gambling referendums on the February ballot.

The tribe has been the leading donor to the campaign, which has already raised $23 million, giving more than $10 million of that total.

The Assembly Republican caucus has launched a Web site dedicated to the specter of the early release of prisoners by a federal three-judge panel.

"How many dangerous criminals will be on the loose in your neighborhood?" the site asks. (The answer, they say, is 40,000.)

The GOP caucus even has a video (see it below). My favorite line: “That’s why Assembly Republicans passed a bipartisan measure.”

Capitol Weekly's Anthony York ranks the top 10 (plus one) candidates to be the next speaker, in order of likelihood they get the Assembly's top job:

1. Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles
2. Hector De La Torre, D-South Gate
3. Alberto Torrico, D-Fremont
4. Charles Calderon, D-Whittier
5. Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles (if Prop. 93 passes)
6. Joe Coto, D-San Jose
7. Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco
8. Kevin De Leon, D-Los Angeles
9. Ed Hernandez, D-Baldwin Park; Anthony Portantino, D-Pasadena; Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles

Find out his reasoning here.

Updated...On Thursday morning, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez canceled the floor sessions he had scheduled for Dec. 5 and 6 to vote on a health care overhaul. The sessions were planned to occur at the same time the Assembly and Senate Republican caucuses were scheduled to retreat in San Diego.

On Tuesday, Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for Núñez, told Capitol Alert, “The dates are driven by the secretary of state’s deadline for putting a measure on the November 2008 ballot...We don’t have much of a choice. Deadlines are deadlines.”

Assembly GOP leader Mike Villines had asked the speaker to shift the schedule. "I don’t see any obvious reason that we need to keep a floor session (scheduled then),” Villines said.

For now, members and staff are being told to be available to return to the Capitol within 24 hours as session is scheduled at the "call of the speaker."

Update: Maviglio said the Assembly delayed a vote to continue negotiating a compromise. "We’re still negotiating on health care and we needed additional time to draft language and shop it around," he said. "We realize we are pushing the envelope (to still qualify for the ballot). But we’d rather get it done right than fast."

The Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force meets in Sacramento today and tomorrow.

Here's a link to the draft document, produced by staff, outlining the commission's recommendations for the future of the Delta. Something very close to this 43-page report is expected to be officially adopted by the end of day Friday.

Late Wednesday, the California Correctional Officers Association created a new, happily named campaign account, "California Correctional Officers Association Truth in American Governmental Fund," and added a bit more than $1 million.

The group immediately transferred $500,000 to the new No on 93 campaign account funded by Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.

The guards union had originally backed the term limits campaign, which will appear as Proposition 93 on the Feb. 5 ballot, but switched positions last week.

Andy Furillo reported the details on the switch earlier this month.

As we wrote about in today's AM Alert, proponents of adjusting term limits are trying to put a face on the No on 93 campaign.

Today, they called on Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner to reveal who provided the $1.5 million that U.S. Term Limits, a Virginia-based group, donated to the campaign.

Jim Sanders has some details.

Now the Yes on 93 team have launched a Web site for to try to tie the 'no' campaign to Poizner, Howard Rich, a New York developer and past president of U.S. Term Limits and a second former leader of the group. It's called "Follow the fraud." Find it here.

The Democratic National Committee canceled a presidential debate in Los Angeles today, citing a potential strike by CBS news writers.

"Due to the uncertainty created by the ongoing labor dispute between CBS and the Writers Guild of America, the DNC has canceled the December 10th debate in Los Angeles. There are no plans to re-schedule," said DNC Communications Director Karen Finney in a written statement.

Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign announced the endorsements of 19 county supervisors on Wednesday.

The list:

· Michela Alioto-Pier (San Francisco County)
· Salud Carbajal (Santa Barbara County)
· Roger Dickinson (Sacramento County)
· Jane Dolan (Butte County)
· Sean Elsbernd (San Francisco County)
· John Gioia (Contra Costa County)
· Mike Kerns (Sonoma County)
· Barbara Kondylis (Solano County)
· Mike McGowan (Yolo County )
· Victor Mow (San Joaquin County)
· Henry Perea (Fresno County)
· Max Rodriguez (Madera County)
· Susan Rose (Santa Barbara County)
· Simon Salinas (Monterey County)
· Gerardo Sandoval (San Francisco County)
· Gail Steele (Alameda County)
· Helen Thomson (Yolo County)
· Charles Willard (Tehama County)
· Janet Wolf (Santa Barbara County)

With the special election less than two weeks away, the Democratic primary showdown between Warren Furutani and Mike Gipson for state Assembly is heating up.

And in yet another legislative battle, late independent expenditures threaten to top the spending of the candidates' own campaigns for the Los Angeles-area seat.

A labor-backed independent expenditure (IE) account, funded largely by the State Council of Service Employees, has spent more than $300,000 in mailers, polling and voter contact to support Furutani.

A largely corporate-backed IE has come to the aid of Gipson, who works as a union organizer for the United Teachers Los Angeles, spending almost $60,000 in the past week.

The candidates themselves have raised about $500,000 between them, with Furutani leading Gipson with more than $350,000 raised.

While donations to the candidates are capped, money streaming into independent expenditure campaigns, which by law can’t coordinate with the candidates, is limitless.

So far all the reported independent spending has been positive in nature.

But the campaign is hardly mud free. A Gipson mailer accuses Furutani of using a “chauffeur” when he served on the Los Angeles Unified school board in the early 1990s.

And there have been calls in the district, according to a Long Beach Press-Telegram report, insinuating a “direct link” between Gipson, a Carson City Council member, and imprisoned former Mayor Daryl Sweeney.

“That’s one of the more outrageous examples of abuse of the phone system,” said Richie Ross, an adviser to the Gipson campaign. The Furutani campaign has said it did not pay for the call and no group has claimed ownership.

“It’s going to be some low-level low life,” added Ross. “I don’t think it’s going to be a main line group.”

The Furutani campaign, for its part, is attacking Gipson for the links of the independent expenditure campaign supporting him to the tobacco industry. The independent committee has received $40,000 from Philip Morris and $25,000 from U.S. Tobacco. (The IE funds are from the same committee, which received a $1 million donation from Intuit and spent $1 million opposing state Controller John Chiang’s election in 2006.)

“Once again, big tobacco is trying to buy a state legislative seat in California,” said Parke Skelton, a Furutani consultant, in a statement.

Furutani, a consultant to Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and a Los Angeles Community College board member, also has the backing of the influential Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

Labor’s support will be critical in the race, Skelton said in an interview, because polls show the race to be a toss up, with the two Democratic candidates within percentage points of each other.

With a December special election and nothing else on the ballot, turnout is expected to be abysmal.

“By that count the candidate that is turning out the bodies should win. I have confident that should be us,” Skelton said.

Of course, a big IE push could change of the course of the race.

Former Assemblywoman Laura Richardson, D-Long Beach, whose seat the Democrats hope to fill, won election to Congress earlier this year in a race defined by large independent spending.

Richardson was backed by hundreds of thousands of dollars in spending by the Los Angeles labor federation, while her opponent received a six-figure boost from the Morongo Band of Mission Indians.

Skelton said the way campaigns work now, he expects “a ton of crap (to get) dumped in the last few days.”

Ross said he was confident that “generally voters sort their way through this stuff.”

“IEs are here to stay,” he said. “That comes with the First Amendment, and it is what it is.”

The winner of the Democratic primary, set for Dec. 11, in the heavily Democratic district is expected to coast through the Feb. 5 runoff election.

Los Angeles politicians, it seems, love the Los Angeles Coliseum.

First it was Sen. Mark Ridley Thomas, who sent a letter to the Los Angeles Dodgers suggesting that the team commemorate 50 years in L.A. by playing a game in their original digs at the L.A. Coliseum.

On Monday, the Dodgers and World Series Champion Boston Red Sox announced a Coliseum exhibition game on March 28. (The stadium, by the way, is in Ridley-Thomas' district.)

Then today the Los Angeles Times reported that the University of Southern California's football team is in talks with the Rose Bowl, located in nearby Pasadena, to leave the Coliseum.

While the talks may just be a negotiating tactic, the mayor opposes the move.

From the LAT:

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is "absolutely committed to keeping the Trojans in South Los Angeles," according to Matt Szabo, a mayoral press secretary.

"USC football is one of the most important economic engines in South L.A. and the mayor has no interest in seeing those jobs desert the city for Pasadena," Szabo said.

It would also be a serious home-field advantage lost for the USC Trojans, who have lost only one game at the Coliseum in the last six years.

(Below is a photo of Stanford quarterback Tavita Pritchard after Stanford upset Southern California 24-23 in USC's only home loss since the 2001 season on Oct. 6, 2007)

Photo credit: AP Photo/ Matt Sayles

There may not be a lot for voters to decide on the June 2008 ballot. But Californians who head to the polls for the legislative primaries will likely have to unravel two complex initiatives that take aim at eminent domain, the power of government to seize private property.

Backers of the second of two competing eminent-domain measures announced today they are submitting more than 1.1 million signatures to qualify for the June 2008 ballot.

Supporters of today's measure, led by the League of California Cities, launched the initiative drive to head off another eminent domain initiative, for which signatures were submitted a week ago . That measure is backed by the California Farm Bureau and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

The League, and other proponents of today's measure, are calling the Jarvis and Farm Bureau initiative a "scheme" with a hidden agenda because of a provision tucked into the measure that would restrict rent control in California.

The supporters argue that government could use rent control to force owners to give up their land.

Last week, Bee columnist Dan Walters wrote about how the competing plans will cloud the debate on an already complicated topic.

In 2006, a third different eminent-domain measure entirely went before the voters. Proposition 90 lost with 47.6 percent of the vote.

All three measures came in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 Kelo v. the City of New London decision, which greatly expanded the government's eminent-domain powers.

There's one less candidate in the most crowded Assembly race of 2008. That would be the seat to replace termed-out Assemblyman Guy Houston, where no less than 13 candidates have filed preliminary paperwork with the secretary of state to seek the seat.

It's the only Republican-held partisan office in the Bay Area and a top target for Democrats next year.

The Contra Costa Times reports Joe Rubay, a Republican and political novice, is withdrawing from the race. That leaves four GOP candidates: Abram Wilson, Robert Rao, Scott Kamena and Judy Lloyd.

The Lincoln Club of Orange County announced late Tuesday that the Republican club would donate $100,000 to help qualify the Electoral College measure for the ballot.

The measure, which is aiming for the June 2008 ballot, would split California's electoral votes by congressional seat. That means the losing presidential candidate in the state would still win some 20 electoral votes -- the equivalent of Ohio -- a potentially critically swing that Democrats decry as a GOP power grab. Backers have said it would make candidates campaign here in the general election.

"In a winner-take-all process, there are upwards of 5 to 6 million, not a few thousand, voters not counted. There are counties in this state which have more voters and electoral votes than many states,” said Richard K. Wagner, president of the Lincoln Club, in a written statement. “The whole purpose of the Electoral College was to keep large states from dominating presidential elections. The fact that the Constitution allows for states to determine how their electoral votes are allocated is a built-in check and balance.”

The backers of the initiative, which was abandoned by its original sponsors and picked up by a group led by Republican strategist David Gilliard, are racing the clock to gather signatures, with a goal of turning in 700,000 by the end of this week.

Gilliard could not immediately be reached for comment on how close the group is to turning in signatures, though he was quoted by News10 on Monday saying his coalition had a "50-50" chance of qualifying the measure for the June ballot.

See the initial list of donors here and the most recent contributors here. Before the Lincoln Club announcement, Rep. Darrell Issa, who has given approximately $100,000, was the largest donor to the measure.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced yet another job for Leeza Gibbons, the long-time TV personality, who he recently appointed to the state's stem-cell oversight committee.

But this time the gig should be a bit more similar to her TV work experience.

Gibbons will be the MC for the official Capitol Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on Dec. 4.

For those keeping track at home, that makes Leeza a "Dancing with the Stars" contestant, a stem-cell oversight watchdog and Christmas celebration MC for Arnold Schwarzenegger all in the same year.

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Matt Sayles, May 2007

When Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez postponed a floor session on health care until early December, he rescheduled the vote for the day the Assembly Republican caucus is slated to be in San Diego for its annual policy retreat.

But despite the GOP lawmakers’ plans to be hundreds of miles away, Nunez’s office says the speaker won’t reschedule the vote.

“The dates are driven by the secretary of state’s deadline for putting a measure on the November 2008 ballot,” said Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for Núñez. “We don’t have much of a choice. Deadlines are deadlines.”

Assembly GOP leader Mike Villines says he has spoken with Núñez, who told Villines he would “try to accommodate” but didn’t promise to push back session from Dec. 5, when both the Senate and Assembly GOP caucus will be in San Diego.

“I don’t see any obvious reason that we need to keep a floor session (scheduled then),” Villines told Capitol Alert.

If the speaker holds a health care vote while Republicans are huddled in San Diego, Villines said they will return to the Capitol en masse, almost assuredly to oppose the health plan.

“We will be on the floor and we will be there to do the people’s business,” he said.

The would-be floor session is predicated on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Núñez, and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata coming to an agreement on health care. The governor’s plan has gone nowhere in the Legislature, while the Democrats’ plan was vetoed by the governor.

Democrats recently introduced a second proposal – which adopted some elements of the governor’s plan – but have added new elements as well, most notably a $2 per pack tax on cigarettes.

If and when a health deal is struck, it would have to pass through the Legislature, while a campaign organizes to gather signatures to qualify the funding portion – the hospital tax, employer mandate and, potentially, tobacco tax – for the ballot.

Between submitting a measure, receiving a title and summary and gathering signatures, proponents must start the qualification process nearly a year in advance.

The latest initiative attempt to legalize marijuana in California has received a title and summary from the Attorney General's Office.

MARIJUANA. REPEAL OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL PENALTIES. RELEASE FROM JAIL. STATUTE. Decriminalizes possession, cultivation, transportation, distribution, and use of marijuana or hemp. Provides persons convicted or serving time for non-violent offenses involving marijuana be immediately released from prison, jail, parole, or probation, and be eligible to have their convictions erased. Provides no permit, license, or tax be required for noncommercial cultivation, transportation, distribution, or consumption of marijuana. Allows doctors to prescribe or recommend marijuana to patients, regardless of age. Prohibits testing for marijuana for employment or insurance purposes. Bars state from aiding enforcement of certain federal marijuana laws. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Savings in the several tens of millions of dollars annually to state and local governments, which would no longer incur the costs of incarcerating and supervising certain marijuana offenders. A potential increase of a few million dollars annually in the cost of the state’s Drug Medi-Cal substance abuse treatment program.

Here's guessing that having "release from jail" in the title doesn't help the measure.

The secretary of state's site has a useful page listing all the initiatives and what step they are at in the qualifying process. There are currently 39 measures eligible for signatures (though only a handful are actively gathering signatures), another 24 still at the AG's office, seven on the Feb. 5 ballot, one on the November 2008 ballot and one pending a signature count.

With the passing of Monterey County Supervisor Jerry Smith, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is granted power to name a successor.

The Salinas Californian speculates about the replacements.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the top legislative leaders from both parties met for more than hour today in a last-ditch effort to get a $10 billion water bond deal done in time for the Feb. 5 ballot.

"The governor would like to see it on the February ballot,” Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, said after the meeting in the Capitol. “My position is: Let’s get it done and then the Secretary of State (Debra Bowen) probably will make the decision on what ballot it’s going to go on.”

Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the governor, said Schwarzenegger also brought up the projected $10 billion budget shortfall and the need for both parties to work together to address the issue.

Health care was not discussed. The Republican governor and Democratic lawmakers are trying to reach a deal on a $14-billion universal health care plan that would include a November 2008 ballot measure to provide funding.

Assemblyman Lloyd Levine and KCRA-TV journalist Edie Lambert are getting hitched.

The Van Nuys Democrat popped the question Thursday to his longtime lady friend during a flight from Sacramento to Seattle, where the couple spent Thanksgiving visiting relatives from both families.

"They're engaged and they're incredibly happy," said Alex Traverso, Levine's spokesman.

No date for the wedding was announced.

Levine could not immediately be reached for comment. Traverso said the three-term lawmaker was willing to confirm his engagement but was reluctant to broadcast it personally.

Thanksgiving carries a special significance for the couple -- and apparently always will.

Exactly two years ago, Levine and Lambert met in a chance encounter, hundreds of miles from home, inside a Seattle airport during a Thanksgiving Day visit to relatives.

Upon meeting, they began talking casually, one passenger to another, and each apologized because neither recognized the other, Levine recalled in an interview last spring.

"We've been dating ever since," Levine, 38, said at the time. "She's absolutely wonderful."

Because of incorrect information provided by Traverso, earlier versions of this post said the proposal came on Friday on the return flight from Seattle.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell are lending their names to the ballot arguments in favor of the Indian gambling compacts on the Feb. 5 ballot.

The Republican governor and Democratic statewide education official are opposed to the referendums on the ballot -- Propositions 94, 95, 96 and 97 -- arguing that money from gambling will help the state's chronic budget problem. They are urging a "yes" vote to ratify the deals.

"The last thing we need is to cancel these new agreements and put our state billions of dollars further in the hole," they say, in the ballot argument, which is co-signed by the legislative director of the California Fire Chiefs Association.

The four legislative leaders will meet with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today to talk about water. No deal has been struck.

• In debt, the California Republican Party is cutting its county executive director program. The AP has an e-mail from party vice chair Jon Fleischman:

"I don't know how to sugarcoat this," Fleischman wrote in the e-mail. The party "is going through a very fiscally challenging period."

All of which makes Steve Maviglio at the California Majority Report very happy. "Democrats can smirk every time they hear the Republican legislative leadership talk about 'uncontrolled spending,' 'living within our means,' and 'running government like a business,'" Maviglio writes.

• Rep. Gary Miller's daughter Elizabeth, 33, passed away over the weekend. The death follows the abduction of Miller's three grandchildren last week by their mother, the ex-wife of Miller's son.

• Eric Bauman, chair of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, wonders aloud if he has been drinking the party Kool-Aid.

• New crime statistics show California's Mission Viejo is the safest city in the nation. And Oakland is the fourth most dangerous. But the Washington Post reports, that some call the dangerous-city ratings themselves a crime.

• The Bee's Kevin Yamamura reports today on the uphill climb for a health care plan in California. Meanwhile, Health Access' Anthony Wright points to a national roundup of the progress of health care around the country, produced by Kaiser. Fifteen states are included.

• Finally, Mirthala Salinas and Antonio Villaraigosa are no more, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Remember that environmental ad featuring Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and two other state executives, Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah and Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana?

Well, Sylvia Wright, a public information officer at UC Davis, passes along the news that Schwarzenegger's standup, in which he intones, "now it’s their turn," urging Congress to act on global warming, was filmed at the redwood grove of the UC Davis Arboretum.

Read about and watch the ad, which aired in a $3 million national buy, here.

Sen. Darrell Steinberg has emerged as the biggest financial backer –- among lawmakers –- of the term-limits measure on the February ballot.

Steinberg, a Sacramento Democrat, contributed $150,000 Monday to support Proposition 93, which would allow lawmakers to serve 12 years in a single house, rather than six years in the Assembly and eight in the Senate. The measure would also extend the stay of sitting senators, including Steinberg, allowing them to run for a third four-year term.

The next largest donors to the term-limits measure, among lawmakers, are Assemblymembers Ted Lieu and Karen Bass, Democrats who gave $50,000 each.

Here's some other recent campaign cash activity:

• The push to place a measure on next June's ballot that would change how California counts its electoral votes has received an infusion of more than $300,000, including another $41,000 from GOP Rep. Darrell Issa. That brings the total he's donated to just above $100,000. Other newly reported donors include Elliott Broidy ($35,000), Wayne Hughes ($50,000), Howard Leach ($45,000), Dean Forman ($25,000), Richard L. Sharp ($50,000), Thomas Larkin ($25,000) and Mark Stern ($45,000).

• Labor is weighing in with an independent expenditure campaign supporting Warren Furutani, who is running for Assembly against fellow Democrat Mike Gipson. So far an independent committee backed by the State Council of Service Employees has spent $54,866.08 supporting Furutani.

• Sen. Carole Migden has injected $40,300 of her own money into her reelection campaign this week.

• The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) gave $500,000 to support Proposition 93, the term-limits measure.

• Opponents of the eminent-domain measure that submitted 1 million signatures for the ballot on Tuesday, filled their own campaign coffers this week, taking in $630,000 -- $300,000 from the State Council of SEIU, $200,000 from the California State Association of Counties and $130,000 from the League of California Cities.

The Georgia Supreme Court has tossed out a law similar to California's Jessica's Law, approved by voters in 2006, which restricts where sex offenders can live after leaving prison.

The Georgia law is more restrictive than the California law in types of places where offenders are barred.

From the AP:

The law had been targeted by civil rights groups who argued it would render vast residential areas off-limits to Georgia's roughly 11,000 registered sex offenders and could backfire by encouraging offenders to stop reporting their whereabouts to authorities.

Georgia's law, which took effect last year, prohibited them from living, working or loitering within 1,000 feet of just about anywhere children gather - schools, churches, parks, gyms, swimming pools or one of the state's 150,000 school bus stops.

The AP story notes, "Twenty-two states have distance restrictions varying from 500 feet to 2,000 feet, according to researchers. But most impose the offender-free zones only around schools, and several apply only to child molesters, not all sex offenders."

The California law imposes a 2,000-foot barrier near schools or parks.

Actor Dennis Quaid's twin children were reportedly given 1,000 times the normal concentration of heparin, a blood thinner, in a California hospital.

From the LAT:

The California Department of Public Health said Tuesday it was investigating an incident involving newborn twins at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, reportedly an accidental medication overdose involving the children of actor Dennis Quaid.

Dr. Michael L. Langberg, Cedars-Sinai's chief medical officer, confirmed in a statement late Tuesday that "as a result of a preventable error," three patients had their intravenous catheters flushed Sunday with a concentration of heparin 1,000 times higher than the normal protocol. Staff members used vials containing a concentration of 10,000 units per milliliter instead of similar vials containing a concentration of 10 units per milliliter.

Photo Credit: Chris Pizzello/AP, April, 2006

The Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College has launched a new blog, The Rose Report, that covers California politics.

We've added The Rose Report to our list of the top blogs covering the California political scene. There are a couple of other new entries to that list, though the blogs themselves aren't necessarily new.

One addition is Red County Placer, which covers Placer County Republican politics -- think Rep. John Doolittle -- and is headed by GOP consultant Jeff Flint and California Republican Assembly activist Aaron Park.

Another is CaliforniaCityNews.org, in which League of Cities consultant Mike Madrid writes about local government happenings and the intersection with state politics.

"Openly gay Vallejo City Councilman Gary Cloutier won the mayor's race by four votes, elections officials said this afternoon, just hours after the councilman apologized for his weekend arrest for public intoxication after drinking too much at a bar in Palm Springs."

The story is in the Chronicle.

Police believe the grandchildren of Rep. Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar, have been abducted by their mother, who is divorced from Miller's son. The AP has the story here.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez is postponing the first full floor meeting of the health and water special sessions as Democrats and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger continue working toward a compromise.

The session, which had tentatively been set for 1 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 26 will be postponed until the first week of December.

The Assembly is scheduling two floor sessions, one for Dec. 5 and one on Dec. 6 to address special session legislation.

Updated: The Senate also postponed its floor session scheduled tentatively for 2 p.m. Monday to consider water legislation. Talks continue, but there is no agreement on a water bond.

The proposed initiative to lift California's ban on new nuclear power plants has been withdrawn by its proponents, chief among them Assemblyman Chuck DeVore.

DeVore, an Irvine Republican, introduced legislation, AB 719, to do the same thing, but the bill died in its first committee.

Environmentalists cheered the demise of the measure.

Bill Magavern, legislative representative for Sierra Club California, said in a written statement, "California has much cheaper, safer and quicker solutions to our electricity needs. We should be moving forward with 21st century clean energy technologies instead of pouring more money down the nuclear rat hole."

The campaign against the four Indian gambling referendums on the Feb. 5 ballot announced the endorsement of Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell.

It's all about the money.

Here's O'Connell's written statement: "As California faces chronic budget deficits and a mounting fiscal crisis, it is crucial that we have funds available to maintain and protect vital services for children, including education, health care, social services and public safety. The compacts are a win-win for California’s taxpayers and school kids, providing much-needed revenue year after year to fund top-quality government and educational services."

Jack Fenton, the former Democratic assemblyman from Montebello, passed away on Nov. 6. He was 91.

He served in the 1960s and 70s and became Assembly Majority leader in 1972.

The Los Angeles Times has an obit.

Backers of tightening restrictions on government's use of eminent domain are submitting 1 million signatures today to qualify their initiative for the June 2008 ballot.

The measure also limits local jurisdictions' ability to impose rent control -- a provision that has drawn criticism from Democrats.

The measure needs about 700,000 valid signatures to qualify.

Looks like Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't the only California politician to have a bobblehead.

The Southwest Voter Registration Education Project has Mr. Mayor's approval to use his likeness to create the ever-nodding Antonio Villaraigosa.

It's selling for $30 (including shipping and handling).

The perfect gift for everyone in your family. Or maybe not.

Ed Soria, who joined the Assembly Republican Caucus in March after more than a decade working as a photographer at PACSAT, died suddenly Saturday. He was 40.

Soria died of a heart attack while running the Davis Turkey Trot, a 5K race, with his family, according to Morgan Crinklaw of Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines' office.

Soria leaves behind his wife, Deanna, and son, Andrew, said Crinklaw.

Services will be held at 11:30 a.m. Friday at Chapel of the Hills in Auburn.

Those who wish to contribute to the Ed Soria Memorial Fund may do so in three ways:

1. Wells Fargo customers may log into their account and transfer directly into the memorial fund account (Account # 8327072297).

2. Customers with other banks may use their online bill pay program to make a payment to "The Ed Soria Memorial Fund c/o Deanna Soria" at Wells Fargo, Account # 8327072297.

3. Others may write a check payable to "The Ed Soria Memorial Fund c/o Deanna Soria" and mail it to 3283 Sunset Terrace, Auburn, CA 95602.

• Secretary of State Debra Bowen is suing a voting-machine manufacturer for selling uncertified machinery.

• Democratic strategist Steve Maviglio handicaps the 2010 Democratic primary for governor, the newest in an ongoing series. His boss, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez is moving up the list, despite his recent campaign spending flap.

• Bill Cavala says the press has bungled coverage of the term-limits initiative.

• Speaking of term limits, the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles has released a 61-page report on the impact of term limits in California.

Among the pluses: More open seats, more minority lawmakers, more women in leadership positions and less potential for corruption.

Among the minuses: Less experience and "short time horizons and the pressures to learn on the job have reduced the oversight of agencies and the executive branch. The already inefficient committee system is less able to conduct legislative oversight under term limits."

• The California State Association of Counties has new officers for 2008, including new president San Mateo County Supervisor Rich Gordon, and 1st VP Imperial County Supervisor Gary Wyatt and 2nd VP Mendocino County Supervisor Michael Delbar.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has landed on yet another national news magazine cover. This time it's U.S. News and World Report, which touts Schwarzenegger as one of "America's Best Leaders."

Read the glowing Q&A here.

In it, Schwarzenegger takes a pretty definitive stand on leaving Iraq. "I know it's easier said than done, but we've got to get out of that war," he said.

The only other elected official among the magazine's picks was a fellow Californian: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The California Supreme Court is the only court that can hear appeals in death penalty cases. But the justices of that court unanimously voted to transfer capital appeals from the Supreme Court to the Court of Appeals.

It sounds like an issue of workload. From the court:

During the past two decades the growing number of defendants sentenced to death in California has contributed to delay in the disposition of capital appeals by the California Supreme Court because of limitations in the resources needed to handle these matters. This delay and ensuing backlog impairs several interests. The interests of litigants — both the prosecution and defendants — can be frustrated when, in the event of reversal on appeal and remand for retrial long after the original trial, memories fade and witnesses become unavailable. The public’s interest in finality and enforcement of the law is impaired by a prolonged appeal process.

The backlog “threatens to overwhelm the Supreme Court’s docket, impairing its ability to grant review to provide necessary guidance concerning other important issues arising in civil and criminal law,” according to the comments section of the draft legislation.

The Supreme Court would remain the final arbiter in death penalty cases, but the bulk of work would appear to shift to the Court of Appeals. Chief Justice Ronald George is seeking a Legislative Constitutional Amendment, passed by the Legislature and placed before the voters on the November 2008 ballot.

The California Republican Party announced this morning that it named Bill Christiansen its permanent chief operating officer after he served in a temporary capacity since the resignation of his controversy-plagued predecessor.

Christiansen led the party's 2006 election efforts and previously served as executive director of the Arizona Republican Party and the Republican Party of Orange County. The state party's announcement also notes he was a UCLA college representative for Reagan/Bush '84.

Christiansen stepped into the COO post in June after the resignation of Michael Kamburowski, an Australian immigrant suing the United States government for $5 million.

Kamburowski was ordered to be deported to Australia in 2001 and was jailed three years later. That prompted him to file a $5 million suit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for wrongful arrest.

That doesn't appear to be a problem for Christiansen. The state party, in its release, notes that "Christiansen is a native Californian from San Diego."

Opponents on the campaign trail, Attorney General Jerry Brown and Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo teamed up Monday for a lawsuit against toy makers and sellers for putting to market toys with "unlawful quantities of lead."

The targets of the suit are some of the biggest names in toys including Mattel, Fisher-Price, Michaels Stores, Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, Target, Sears, KB Toys, Costco Wholesale and Kmart.

Delgadillo unsuccessfully ran against Brown in the Democratic primary for attorney general in 2006.

See the suit here.

As the Democratic Party said in advance, the attempt to censure Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein didn’t go anywhere at this weekend’s executive board meeting.

But Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres gave a speech telling activists he spoke to Feinstein about the “problems” with her votes.

“It is not deserving of a censure. It is not deserving of a censure,” he said.

Watch the video:

Also: The party voted to endorse Proposition 93, the term limits measure on the Feb. 5, 2008 ballot and remain neutral on the four Indian gambling referendums as well as Proposition 92, the community college measure.

With the vacancy rate tipping at 39 percent, federal receiver Robert Sillen has ordered up another pay raise for doctors working in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Starting in December, the average, non-board certified prison doctor will be paid $223,344 a year. That is up from the $186,120 the physicians were making as of March, the result of a court-ordered pay raise that Sillen obtained in October 2006. Before Sillen got them that raise, the doctors were making $168,360.

But it has not been enough to bring more doctors into the system, especially in prisons in hard-to-fill locations in the Southern California desert.

"We have learned over the past several months that the enhanced salaries offered to physicians were not adequate to recruit enough of the high-caliber professionals needed to provide access to quality medical care for California's 173,000 inmate patients," Sillen said in a prepared statement Friday.

The corrections agency is budgeted for 370 doctors, but only 226 of the positions are filled, according to the receiver's office.

Since taking over as the prison system's medical care receiver last year, Sillen has created a new "time-limited" board-certified physician salary scale. Doctors in that category can now earn $248,170.

Top pay for chief physicians and surgeons was hiked to $256,856 under the new raise. Chief medical officers at prisons can get $265,845. Regional medical directors are now in line for salaries up to $275,150 while the system's statewide medical director is eligible for up to $284,780.

Sillen spokeswoman Rachael Kagan said the receiver did not need a court order for the raises. The order he obtained last year, Kagan said, authorized doctor pay increases up to $300,000.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, who has endorsed Hillary Clinton's presidential bid, is calling out Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for not attending a global warming candidate forum scheduled in Los Angeles this weekend.

"I urge you not to skip this forum and instead share your views on this important issue," Núñez wrote to Obama, in a letter sent on Thursday.

The event, which is being sponsored by Grist.org, an environmental Web site, is billed as the first ever presidential forum dedicated to climate change. New Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols is among those asking the candidates questions.

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich have agreed to attend. All the major candidates were invited.

"I am writing to urge you to change your mind and attend the forum on global warming...," the letter begins. "I believe that this issue is of the greatest concern to the people of the state of California and the United States of America and the world."

See the full letter here.

(Of note: This morning, the speaker's rep, Steve Maviglio, also called out Obama for not attending on the California Majority Report blog)

The San Francisco slugfest for state Senate may be about to get a bit more crowded. Former Assemblyman Joe Nation, a Marin Democrat, is considering jumping into the race and plans to commission a poll “to see what the path to victory looks like.”

“It is not a decision to run but to at least conduct a poll, look at the numbers, and see what the path to victory looks like,” Nation told Capitol Alert.

The three-term member of the Assembly, who was termed out of office in 2006, said he currently juggles three jobs, but “there is a piece of me that doesn’t feel full and that’s the public policy piece.”

The June 2008 contest was already expected to be one of the most heated in the state, with Assemblyman Mark Leno challenging incumbent Sen. Carole Migden. Both are openly gay, liberal Democrats and capable fundraisers. A third candidate, San Francisco Police Commission member Joe Alioto Veronese, the son of long-time city politico Angela Alioto and grandson of former Mayor Joseph Alioto, also is in the race.

The third Senate district, which Migden has represented since 2004, is comprised of eastern San Francisco, Marin County and a chunk of Sonoma, with voters split almost evenly between San Francisco (237,000 registered voters, according to the latest data from the Secretary of State’s Office) and Sonoma and Marin (225,000 registered voters).

In the heavily Democratic district, winning the primary is tantamount to victory.

David Latterman, president of Fall Line Analytics, a San Francisco-based polling company, said Nation’s potential entrance into the race “hurts Carole” Migden. That’s because while both Migden and Leno are well known in San Francisco, a Nation candidacy could take Marin votes away from Migden, which Leno has never represented, he said.

“It’s all about Marin for (Nation),” Latterman said. “The dude’s got no chance in the liberal or gay community in San Francisco.”

This would be the second political campaign for Nation since he termed out of the Assembly. In 2006, he unsuccessfully challenged liberal Marin Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey in the Democratic primary, finishing with 33 percent of the vote.

A call to Migden’s campaign about Nation’s potential candidacy was not returned.

Rufus Jeffris, a Leno campaign aide, said Nation is welcome to join the race.

“Joe needs to make his own decision about what he wants to do and what’s best for him,” Jeffris said. “Mark believes anyone is free to enter the race and the more the merrier. We are running our campaign showing that Mark is the best chance for change going forward.”

Nation said his next step will be opening a campaign account and raise enough funds to pay for the initial poll, actions he expects to take in the “next few weeks.”

The Consumer Alliance for a Strong Economy, a conservative group, has put together a pair of radio ads slamming the health care overhaul talks in the Capitol.

In one ad, they call the governor's plan a "fairy tale." In the other they blame "Sacramento politicians" for a health care auction in which everything from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Capitol is sold off.

Chris Wysocki, a spokesman for the group, which doesn't disclose its donors, said the initial ad buy is in Sacramento for about $70,000 - not much in the political advertising world.

Wysocki said the group had plans for "rolling it out statewide...probably closer to the week after Thanksgiving."

Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, who has been trying to negotiate a health compromise with the governor, pans the ads as "low-quality and ineffective" on his blog.

"But they may very well be the first of many to hit the airwaves in what may shape up to be a year-long slug fest to pass historic universal health care coverage in California," he writes.

The group produced a TV spot -- though it aired only sparingly -- in January criticizing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's health plan for including a tax hike.

"If his plan looks like a tax and sounds like a tax, it must be a tax," said the narrator as a duck walked on the screen.

Listen to the new radio ads here.

After a three-year hiatus, 2008 could bring a return to the ferret debate in Sacramento. Supporters of legalizing the would-be pet have drafted a white paper arguing for legalization and plan on contacting every member of the Legislature seeking an author for ferret freedom next year.

“The bottom line is this: It is time for the State of California (to) implement a commitment to common sense and legally recognize the domestic ferret as a domestic animal,” Pat Wright, founder of Ferrets Anonymous wrote in the position paper.

California is one of only two states with a ban on ferrets as domestic pets (the other is Hawaii), as the Department of Fish and Game has said ferrets could be a potential hazard to other species in the state.

Friends of ferrets have sponsored legalization legislation before, dating back to 1993. The most recent bill was in 2005, when then-Assemblyman Paul Koretz, a Los Angeles-area Democrat, pushed for AB 647. The bill stalled on the suspense file of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

In 2004, ferret legalization legislation actually cleared every legislative hurdle and landed on the governor’s desk for the first time.

Ferret fans had high hopes. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, after all, had co-starred alongside a ferret in the 1990 film “Kindergarten Cop.”

But it wasn’t to be.

“I love ferrets. I costarred with a ferret in Kindergarten Cop,” Schwarzenegger wrote in his veto message. “However, this bill is far too bureaucratic and it legalizes ferrets prior to conducting an environmental impact report.”

The ferret movement has a new friend in Leatherface, a California actor known for his role on MTV's "Viva La Bam." At the end of October, Leatherface posted a segment on his Internet TV show “Off the hook” about ferret legalization. It’s been viewed almost 12,000 times on YouTube (see the video at the bottom of the post).

Ferret advocates commissioned a poll earlier this year to consider going to the ballot, but the results showed only 38 percent of Californians in favor of legalization.

So ferret freedom fighters are set to return to the Capitol
“This will be a very transparent, grassroots effort and I am hoping to generate a whole lot of enthusiasm,” Wright wrote in Ferrets Anonymous’ most recent newsletter.

See the white paper here. And watch the Leatherface video here.

Continuing to build his public profile, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner filed an initiative today to toughen penalties on vehicle owners who don't maintain auto insurance.

The measure would allow police and highway patrol officers to remove a vehicle's license plates and, after a seven day period, impound the car if insurance is not purchased.

Read the initiative here.

It's never too early for a politician to begin eying higher office. And it's never too early to start playing coy about answering questions either.

There's Steve Westly, the Democrat who lost to Phil Angelides in the 2006 primary. Westly, who spent more than $35 million of his own money in his last bid, is staying politically active in the presidential campaign of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. He's a top bundler for Team Barack, rounding up more than $200,000 in contributions.

On Wednesday, he hosted Obama is a fundraiser at his home. Before that, he attended Obama's event at Google, where the Chronicle asked him about his own political ambitions. "We're looking very carefully at the governor’s race,'' he said.

Lt. Gov. John Garamendi is also tiptoeing around a bid for governor.

In a recent appearance in Altadena, he was asked about whether he'd run for CEO of the state in 2010.

"We'll have an announcement about that in January," Garamendi said, according to a report from a pair of Democratic activists, Sharon Kyle and Dick Price.

Then there's AG Jerry Brown, who told The Bee in late August, "The thought has certainly crossed my mind, but I haven't really come to any conclusion."

And don't forget Republican would-be candidate Steve Poizner, the state's insurance commissioner, who recently made a splash by chipping in $1.5 million of his personal fortune to defeat the term limits measure on the presidential primary ballot.

He said the money didn't have anything to do with ambition for higher office. "I won't let that speculation stop me from doing the right thing," he said

Photo Credits: Lt. Gov. Garamendi, April 2007 by The Sacramento Bee/Brian Baer, former state Controller Steve Westly, June 2006, by The Sacramento Bee/ Renee C. Byer

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, along with two other governors, is appearing in a new national ad campaign urging Congress to act to combat global warming.

The 30-second ad, produced by Environmental Defense, also features Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah, a Republican, and Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana, a Democrat, and is set to air nationwide.

The bipartisan trio of governors intone that it’s time for Washington to act to combat climate change.

“Now it’s their turn,” Schwarzenegger says at the end of the ad.

The New York Times has the details:

The advertising campaign is underwritten by Environmental Defense, an advocacy group that is pressing for quick action on a climate change proposal sponsored by Senators Joseph I. Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, and John W. Warner, Republican of Virginia.

Environmental Defense is spending $3 million to broadcast the advertisement, which will appear in 17 markets in 11 states over the next few weeks, said the group’s president, Fred Krupp. The ad will also appear during the Sunday morning talk shows on Nov. 25.

See the ad:

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata announced today that he is opposing Proposition 92, the community college measure on the Feb. 5 ballot.

"Prop. 92 will make California's bad budget problems worse. It increases costs by some $300 million, while concurrently reducing state revenues by $70 million - with no way to make up the difference," Perata said in a statement.

Updated at 5:53 p.m.

The community college measure on the Feb. 5 ballot is shaping up to be a battle royale between California's biggest teachers' unions.

On one side is the California Federation of Teachers, the state's second largest teachers' union. It has been the biggest financial backer of the campaign for Proposition 92, which would lower community college fees and set aside a percentage of the state budget for the two-year schools.

On the other is the California Teachers Association, the largest teachers' group in the state, which so far has been the sole funder of the opposition campaign - to the tune of nearly $300,000.

"We're used to being on the same side of issues," lamented Marty Hittelman, president of the federation of teachers backing the measure.

"I can't say that it never happened, but I don't remember any measure where it has," said Sandra Jackson, communications director for the teachers association opposing it.

Proposition 92 would lower community college fees to $15 per unit, from the current $20. More controversially for the CTA, the measure would tinker with the funding formula in Proposition 98, the 1988 ballot measure that locked in K-12 education's portion of the state General Fund at roughly 40 percent. It is considered sacrosanct by the education community, particularly the teachers association.

Opponents fear that by locking in community college funding, money could be siphoned away from the K-12 schools, where most CTA teachers work.

David Sanchez, president of the CTA, co-signed the lead ballot argument against the measure. "Nowhere in the measure does it identify a way to pay for all the new spending....They could cut education funding, including K-12 schools," he wrote.

After the Democratic-led Assembly Health Committee passed the Democratic health plan and killed the GOP alternative Wednesday, both Assembly leaders sent out responses.

Can you match the headlines to the offices?

DEMOCRATS KILL REPUBLICAN REFORM MEASURE, PASS COSTLY GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SCHEME

and

Speaker Núñez’s and Senator Perata’s Groundbreaking Health Care Proposal Clears Assembly Health Committee

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reached into his Hollywood past Wednesday to fill a seat on California’s panel overseeing stem-cell research, appointing long-time TV personality Leeza Gibbons.

Gibbons, 50, most recently was in the public eye as a contestant on “Dancing With the Stars.” She was the third star to be eliminated on the popular reality program this spring. Before that, she spent two decades as a TV reporter and host, from a stint on "Entertainment Tonight" in the 1980s to her own daytime show, "Leeza," in the 1990s to hosting "EXTRA" beginning in 2000.

She even appeared in one movie with Schwarzenegger – 1993’s “Last Action Hero” – in which she made a cameo as herself.

Gibbons will now join the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, which is charged with overseeing California’s stem-cell institute, created in 2004 when voters approved $3 billion in stem cell bonds.

Each seat on the 29-member oversight panel is assigned to represent a particular advocacy group or organization.

“The ICOC members are public officials, appointed on the basis of their experience earned in California's leading public universities, non-profit academic and research institutions, patient advocacy groups and the biotechnology industry,” the organization’s Web site says.

Gibbons will be filling the post of Alzheimer’s advocate, which was vacated earlier this year following the death of Dr. Leon Thal, who was the chair of Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

In 2002, Gibbons, whose mother and grandmother suffered from Alzheimer’s, co-founded the Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation and Leeza’s Place, organizations formed “in response to the growing needs of both those who suffer from memory disorders and their caregivers,” according to the foundation’s Web site.

The governor, through a spokeswoman, welcomed his fellow former Hollywood celebrity to her new job.

"Gov. Schwarzenegger has spoken a lot about the promise stem cell research has for cures and therapies for diseases like Alzheimer's disease, and Leeza's personal experience as a caregiver and advocate makes her uniquely qualified for this position," said Gena Grebitus, a Schwarzenegger spokeswoman.

For the agency that regulates California's political practices, honesty may not always be the best policy, according to attorneys who represent state legislators and other elected officials.

Put simply, silence may be fairer, the group argues.

Ross Johnson, named chairman of the state's Fair Political Practices Commission in February, is ruffling feathers by allowing aides to confirm to reporters the existence of formal complaints alleging campaign, fundraising or other improprieties.

Deborah Caplan, representing the California Political Attorneys Association, appeared before the FPPC on Wednesday to request public discussion of any changes to the agency's former press policy.

No action was taken Wednesday.

Caplan, in a letter to the FPPC last week, noted that the agency's previous written policy was "not to discuss details of ongoing investigations -- or even to confirm that an investigation is being conducted."

The previous policy recognized that "frivolous or even false accusations are sometimes made by opposing groups or individuals in the heat of a political contest," she noted.

Adopted in 1999, the old press policy said the FPPC could not confirm the existence of a formal complaint unless the person who filed the document disclosed that fact publicly.

Caplan's letter questioned the FPPC about numerous other complaint matters, ranging from what notification is given to the accused to what standards are used to determine whether an investigation will be launched.

Johnson, in his written response, said the commission will consider changes to its complaint process in February.

But one of his major goals, Johnson said, has been to increase public awareness of FPPC enforcement.

"If a person has filed an enforcement complaint with the commission and release of the information will not jeopardize a possible investigation, the public has a right to know we have received the complaint and are reviewing it," he wrote.

Johnson said the FPPC did not take a formal vote when it instituted a press policy in 1999 or when revisions were made last February, before he was named to the commission.

Former Gov. Gray Davis, appearing today at the Sacramento Press Club, couldn't resist an attempt at humor -- particularly aimed at his antagonists in the press.

"We had to come up with the Top 10 reasons why we came back to Sacramento. After we got through four reasons, the writers went out on strike," Davis said. "So we have the top four reasons why we came back to Sacramento.

"Reason No. 4: (Former Davis press aide) Steve Maviglio promised me that after this speech I'd get to hold the Bible as he's sworn in as the chairman of the Natural Foods Co-Op in Sacramento. ...

"Reason No. 3: Maviglio told me if I did well here today he'd give me a break on tofu.

"Reason No. 2: I ran into Jerry Brown at a Veterans' Day event on Monday, and I think he's looking for a new chief of staff.

"Reason No. 1: It just makes sense to talk to the Sacramento press corps while they still have some journalists in Sacramento."

One of the jaw-dropping facts in the California Department of Finance bulletin issued earlier today is that "the median price of existing single-family homes sold in September dropped nearly 10 percent from August – the steepest one-month decline on record."

The median price in September was $530,830 – down from $589,000 a month earlier, according to the bulletin. (The chart on the left, courtesy of the Department of Finance, shows median home prices for the year, by month.)

A second piece of bad news for California's housing market -- which is dragging down state revenues -- came today from data from RealtyTrac of Irvine.

It showed a surge in foreclosures nationally, with California being particularly hard hit. Half of the top 10 cities, in terms of rate of foreclosure, are in the Golden State.

They are Stockton (1), Riverside/San Bernardino (3), Sacramento (6), Bakersfield (9) and Oakland (10).

The other California cities making the Top 100 are Fresno (13), San Diego (16), Los Angeles/Long Beach (26), Orange (31), Ventura (42), San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara (43) and San Francisco (87).

Read more about the foreclosures at the Wall Street Journal.

With the state facing a $10 billion budget hole, all four legislative caucuses and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have issued statements.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger:

"Since the day that this year's budget was signed, we have made it abundantly clear that next year's budget will be a difficult one. Today's developments underscore that fact and they also underscore the need to begin serious discussions on budget reform. I hope that the Legislature will join with me to make this a priority.

"Knowing the challenges that we face, throughout the fall, my administration has been examining a variety of options to close next year's budget gap. I have not made any final decisions yet, but it's clear that the decisions that will be involved will be tough. I have a constitutional requirement to submit a balanced budget to the Legislature in January and I will fulfill that responsibility."

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez:

"This will be a challenge, no doubt, but it's one we have to work out together: Democrats and Republicans, Assembly and Senate, Legislature and Governor. It's not the time for drawing any lines in the sand that ultimately undercut our ability to provide the services Californians want in the effective manner they deserve. I'm committed to meeting the challenge, and I am hopeful everyone involved will rise to the occasion."

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata:

"Since last May, I have talked about California's flawed and unbalanced fiscal structure. Today's LAO report is another sobering reminder that quick fixes will not provide a long-term solution to the state's budget woes.

"An honest dialogue about closing the budget gap must include exploring all options."

Assemblyman Roger Niello, Republican vice-chair of the Budget Committee:

"Today's forecast by the legislative analyst of an $8 billion structural deficit should serve as a wake-up call to those who want to continue to grow government. There is no more urgent priority than reducing spending and taking responsible action now to reduce the deficit.

"We cannot continue to put off the tough decisions required to get our fiscal house in order without facing serious consequences for our state. While tax revenues to the state have softened, the problem continues to be overspending. We must get our spending in line with revenues. Assembly Republicans will continue to stand firm in demanding lawmakers act responsibly and resist costly new government programs, while rejecting the call to raise taxes."

Senate Republican leader Dick Ackerman:

"The Legislative Analyst provided a grim forecast of a nearly $10 billion budget problem despite the fact that state revenues are expected to grow by 4.6 percent.

"While State revenues are expected to increase, it is up to the Legislature and the Governor to act responsibly and ensure that we control our spending so that it is in alignment with our growth."

Liberal online activists have been in a tizzy for weeks over recent votes by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein to confirm a controversial judge and President Bush’s nominee for attorney general, Michael Mukasey.

“Dianne Feinstein has failed us,” wrote Rick Jacobs, founder of the Courage Campaign, in an e-mail to members of the liberal online network. “Failed progressives. Failed Democrats. Failed Californians. Failed Americans.”

The Courage Campaign has launched an effort to have the California Democratic Party censure its own senior senator at an executive board meeting this weekend, citing her votes for Mukasey and Leslie Southwick, a recent judicial nominee.

The issue has certainly gained traction in the lefty blogosphere – they are circulating a petition online and a story about the effort on the HuffingtonPost.com has garnered 1,000 comments – but it appears dead on arrival at Democratic Party headquarters.

“This party supports our Democratic senator and will continue to do so,” said party communications director Roger Salazar. “Period.”

That’s just what David Dayen, a liberal blogger at Calitics.com, predicted, though he still views the venture as worthwhile.

“Knowing what I know about the e-board, this is not likely to pass…,” Dayen wrote. “But it's a symbol of exactly how upset the grassroots is with Feinstein, and how they are grasping for something to express their disapproval.”

Scott Gerber, a Feinstein aide, defended the senator, saying she “has been an independent voice for California.”

“What people may not know is she was a strong leader in the fight against (now Supreme Court Justice Samuel) Alito and (Chief Justice John) Roberts,” Gerber said, noting she opposed “more than a dozen” circuit court nominees from the Bush administration.

As for Jacobs, the censure campaign continues.

“We all have to assure that the progressive base turns out for elections in California. This message of accountability rings with them. The more that the base feels that it is engaged and has control over its own message, the more likely it is to be energized,” he said.

The anti-Feinstein campaign certainly has helped Jacobs mobilize his network.

The censure Feinstein e-mail to supporters, Jacobs said, “had the highest response rate of any e-mail we’ve ever sent.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein talking to Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., on Capitol Hill in Washington after voting to support Attorney General-designate Michael Mukasey on Nov. 6.

Credit: AP Photos/ Susan Walsh

If at first you don't succeed, try to maneuver around Nicole Parra.

That seems to be the motto of Sen. Dean Florez, who the AP reports this morning is planning to steer his package of bills to regulate the lettuce and spinach industry away from the Assembly Agriculture Committee, which Parra chairs.

The two Central Valley Democrats represent overlapping districts, but have a fierce rivalry.

Florez's package of legislation, which he authored in response to the 2006 E. coli outbreak, came to a screeching halt in Parra's committee in late June.

As Florez presented one of his bills, which seemed destined for defeat, he accused the Parra-chaired committee of waiting "for something bad to happen."

Parra interrupted: "Senator, I'm going to warn you, this is not the message this committee is sending."

"I know you're going to go out to the press and probably say that if someone else dies, it's on our back. Well, don't blame the members of this committee, senator," Parra continued. "Blame me if you have an issue, but that is not the message that we want to get out of this committee."

Capitol Alert has the audio of the heated exchange, so listen in.

So in January Florez plans to ask the Assembly leadership to ship the bills out of the Ag panel and to the health panel, the AP reports, where they could find a friendlier audience.

Ultimately, the bills would have to return to the Agriculture Committee, but hopefully "with a little more momentum," Florez said.

Read here for background on the feud.

Tax revenues for the current fiscal year continue to sag, as California is $1.1 billion below projected revenues only four months into the fiscal year, according to the latest figures released by the Department of Finance.

The state had projected to bring in $29.2 billion so far.

In October, the most recent month for which data is available, the state collected $324 million less in taxes than forecast.

For the month, revenues were down in every category, with the biggest hits coming from lower-than-expected income taxes and sales taxes, both $159 million below forecast for the month. Corporate taxes, as well as insurance, estate, alcoholic beverage, and tobacco taxes, were off marginally.

The Department writes, "The ongoing housing slowdown continues to hamper the California economy."

That's all adding up to a $10 billion projected deficit in the next fiscal year, according to a new Legislative Analyst's Office report released today.

See the full finance bulletin here.

Legislative Democrats and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are eager to declare victory should they reach agreement on a health care plan to cover 6.7 million uninsured Californians, but Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines warned Tuesday that any celebration would be premature.

That's because he believes a June 2008 ballot referendum looms as a serious threat to overturn whatever deal they reach this fall.

Villines, R-Clovis, said that a Democrat-backed health care compromise could galvanize business groups and other opponents who would pay to put a referendum on the June ballot to reverse whatever legislation Schwarzenegger signs. Opponents of the current proposal include tobacco companies and business groups, both of which have financially opposed health care ballot measures in the past.

Last year, the tobacco industry spent $65 million to kill an initiative that would have raised the cigarette tax to $2.60 per pack to fund health causes.

The governor and Democrats hope to move a proposal through the Legislature with support from majority Democrats, but that strategy means that they cannot include funding for the plan, which would require additional support from Republicans. To pay for the $14 billion proposal, Schwarzenegger and lawmakers would ask voters to pass a ballot initiative in Nov. 2008.

Villines said he opposes the health care plan under negotiation because he believes it is too expensive and that its funding sources will fall short of paying for the entire proposal. He also said the burden will then fall on employers, and he fears the plan does nothing to prevent medical costs from spiraling out of control.

"I think you'll see a lot of people come into play on this and say this isn't the way to go," Villines said.

Deborah Gonzalez, chief consultant to the GOP caucus Villines heads, said tobacco companies, pharmaceutical firms and other businesses were potential backers of a referendum.

John Kabateck, NFIB/California executive director, said he was not aware of a specific referendum plan in play, but noted that all options remain open. He said his group, which represents small businesses, is concerned about any proposal that mandates employer health contributions.

California Chamber of Commerce President Allan Zaremberg believes it is "premature" to discuss a response to the health care proposal without knowing the details of what will be in the final plan, said Denise Davis, a Chamber spokeswoman.

Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said, "It's hard to respond to a concept when we're not aware of any group who has said it would do this. But that said, health care reform will help businesses in California."

Steven Maviglio, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, had a different take.

"We'll take a 'white hats' versus 'black hats' fight with Mr. Villines and his big tobacco allies any day of the week," Maviglio said.

This post has been updated to reflect that Gonzalez, not Villines, said tobacco companies, pharmaceutical firms and other businesses were potential backers of a referendum.

Lt. Gov. John Garamendi proposed Tuesday that California State University cap its fees at current levels, with future increases limited to the rate of inflation.

Garamendi, who unveiled his resolution at a meeting of the CSU Board of Trustees in Long Beach, said he plans to make a similar proposal at Wednesday's meeting of the University of California Regents.

"We have seen a dramatic shift in our state's priorities over the past decade, reducing state funding for higher education and balancing the state's budget on the backs of our students," Garamendi said in a written statement.

"Sadly, this path takes our state in the wrong direction -- creeping down the road to privatization by shifting the cost of higher education from the public at large to students and their families. It's time to say enough is enough."

In the past five years, CSU fees have risen from $1,428 to $2,772 for undergraduate students -- and more than doubled for graduate students, Garamendi said. UC undergraduate fees also have jumped sharply since 2001 -- from $3,429 in 2001 to $6,636 this year. Total costs for room, board, books, tuition and fees now average $23,000 per year for a UC student, he said.

Garamendi, as lieutenant governor, is an ex-officio member of the UC and CSU governing boards.

Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines said he suspects Garamendi's proposal to cap fees is more political grandstanding than substance.

"It's probably more policy by press release than making a real difference," Villines said, smiling. "He's running for governor."

Villines, R-Clovis, said he does not support tying legislators' hands in solving a potential multibillion-dollar budget shortfall. But he does not favor substantial CSU or UC rate hikes either, he said.

"If we come back into a budget this year that's disastrous for everybody, the pain has to be spread across the board," Villines said. "We should have that flexibility. But our goal is not to hurt education and not to raise those fees."

Check out a video tour of the new eighth floor office of KP Public Affairs at 1201 K Street:

Marc Burgat has joined the California Chamber of Commerce as the business group's new vice president of government relations.

Formerly a lobbyist with the California Cable and Telecommunications Association, Burgat will join the Chamber after Thanksgiving on Nov. 26.

Burgat replaces Dominic DiMare, who left the Chamber at the end of the legislative session to become a partner in the newly named lobbying and communications firm DiMare, Van Vleck & Brown.

"Marc Burgat has tremendous experience, knowledge and energy," said Chamber president Allan Zaremberg in a statement. "He will be a powerful advocate for improving California’s business climate and an effective voice in educating policy makers and the public on the important contributions employers make to our state."

It’s been more than a year since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won re-election in a landslide victory over Democrat Phil Angelides – but the governor’s campaign remains in debt.

He ended 2006 with $159,000 in cash and $2.57 million in accrued debt. So far in 2007, he has raised more than $2.4 million – in no more than $22,300 increments – but new spending has left him still short of paying off all the bills.

So tonight Schwarzenegger will attend a re-election account fundraiser at the Sacramento Sheraton. The event originally had been scheduled during the fires in Southern California, but the campaign changed the date for obvious reasons.

A sampling of Schwarzenegger’s recent donors includes the Grand Havana Room in Beverly Hills ($8,300 on Oct. 17), a place for those who “appreciate the pleasures of the world's finest cigars,” according to the locale’s Web site.

Then there’s Forever 21 Inc. ($10,000 on Oct. 16), the cheap-chic clothier, the co-CEOs of the California Pizza Kitchen ($10,000 apiece also on Oct. 16) and Chris Prentiss, co-founder of Passages, the celebrity rehab center in Malibu ($10,000 on Oct. 5).

Rep. Jerry McNerney, the freshman Democrat from Pleasanton and one of the top House targets for Republicans in 2008, is being targeted today in a full-page in The Sacramento Bee.

The ad, one of seven aimed at perceived vulnerable congressional Democrats, is being paid for by Freedom's Watch, a new 501(c)(4) promoting conservative causes.

The ad urges McNerney and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to "stop playing politics" and "fund the troops," featuring a photo and quote from an Iraq war veteran.

Besides the Bee, ads are running in the Arizona Republic, The Palm Beach Post, Evansville Courier & Press, Topeka Capital-Journal, The Columbus Dispatch, and The (Scranton) Times-Tribune.

"Freedom's Watch believes that the members in these districts need to be held accountable for their upcoming vote on funding our troops," said Matt David, the group's communications director.

And, yes, that's the same Matt David that worked on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reelection campaign.

Check out the ad here.

After meeting in Tahoe for the weekend, the California Young Democrats have taken stances on the three measures on the Feb. 5, 2008 ballot.

Proposition 91 (Transportation funding) -- Neutral

Proposition 92 (Community colleges) -- Support

Proposition 93 (Term limits) -- Support

George goes for Fred. Sharon prefers Rudy.

There's a split in the Runner family over presidential preferences, as Assemblywoman Sharon Runner is backing GOP frontrunner Rudy Giuliani, while husband Sen. George Runner is backing former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson.

Watch the GOP duo from Lancaster talk out their differences in this video from Capitol Television News Service.

Read as George Skelton of the L.A. Times handicaps the field of would-be 2010 Democratic candidates for governor in 90 words:

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa suffers from personal scandal. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom easily won reelection last week, but is the McClintock of the left. Lt. Gov. John Garamendi's fundraising ability never has matched his political ambitions. Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell not only is bland, but a one-issue candidate. Treasurer Bill Lockyer isn't sure himself whether he's burned out. Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, the consensus front-runner, is the epitome of a career politician. Will voters really want to bring him back for a third term as governor?

It looks like Fresno is the butt of another joke -- this one courtesy of a Toyota advertising campaign for their signature hybrid car, the Prius.

In the commercial, which aims to depict an ideal future, the narrator intones, "Gas stations will become nothing more than low budget tourist stops, like ghost towns – or Fresno."

That jab didn't sit well with politicos representing the Central Valley city.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein wrote a letter to the automaker expressing "profound disappointment with the current Toyota Prius advertising campaign which gratuitously insults the city of Fresno."

The Fresno Bee has more responses, including from Council Member Henry T. Perea: "I will forgive Toyota if they locate a Prius factory here."

As for regular Fresnans, they seem to, well, agree with Toyota. According to online poll accompanying the story, only 21 percent said they were boycotting the Prius. That's less than the 27 percent who said "Fresno deserves to be a punchline and a remarkable 46 percent said, "Tourists stop here?" (results as of 10:45 a.m.)

Watch the commercial that started it all below.

Toyota has since pulled the ad, which was airing in the southeastern United States.

What does it take for folks to sign a ballot petition?

Free food.

The Los Angeles Downtown News, in a long and detailed story, documents how signature gatherers are giving away food to the poorest of the poor in Los Angeles' Skid Row to get people to sign ballot petitions.

It was about 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 16, when Fred Crawford walked to the back of a short line at Sixth and San Julian streets on Skid Row. The queue, a dozen or so people on a trash-strewn sidewalk, crept forward, and when Crawford reached the front a clipboard was pushed in front of him. The 40-ish man, who currently lives on the street, signed his name and scribbled an address. When he finished, one of the men behind the table handed him a bag of Ruffles potato chips. Crawford opened it on the spot and lifted the bag to his mouth.

Many mornings, lines begin forming after dawn, say area service providers and residents. In return for signing petitions and filling out voter registration cards, homeless people and those in nearby shelters are given Ramen noodles, popcorn, Snickers bars, sodas and other items that might qualify as "payment."

The paper tracked the petition cards to JSM Inc., a signature-gathering firm used for many of the state's ballot measures.

The story is making the rounds in Democratic circles. Randy Bayne, a union blogger, reports that California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres mentioned the story in a speech this weekend to Democratic activists.

Aaron Park, a conservative activist in Placer County and a member of the California Republican Assembly, wraps up the happenings at the group's weekend convention.

Here's his list of winners and losers.

The conservative California Republican Assembly has a presidential favorite, and it's former Massassachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

On a second ballot vote Sunday at their Sacramento state convention, some 240 CRA delegates voted by a two-thirds margin to endorse Romney over former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson.

On the first ballot, candidates San Diego County Rep. Duncan Hunter and Texas congressman Ron Paul failed to meet the 10 percent support threshhold to reach the second ballot, said CRA president Mike Spence.

But Spence said that was far better than former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who mustered a grand total of six votes.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s health care package has finally been introduced in the Legislature – though it still doesn’t have an author.

On Thursday, the Assembly Rules Committee assigned the Democratic leadership’s new health plan for a hearing next week.

At the same time, the committee referred a second bill, AB 1X 2, to the health committee. The other legislation was simultaneously amended to include the governor’s health proposal, which had yet to make an appearance in print in the Legislature.

But the bill's two previous co-authors – Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata – had their names stricken from the bill.

Thus the bill is in the Legislature -- minus an author.

From there, it gets a bit tricky, as the Assembly requires an elected member, usually the author of a bill, to sign off on any amendments.

But since there is no author, who amended the governor's plan into the legislation?

Núñez, according to the Assembly clerk's office.

Though Schwarzenegger rolled out his health plan in January, he has been unable to find a single lawmaker to sponsor his bill. Democrats have lined up behind the party leadership's plans, and Republicans have ruled out supporting the GOP governor's plan because it includes a tax hike.

Sabrina Lockhart, a spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger, confirmed that the legislative language is the governor's. The bill is scheduled, according to its offical legislative status, to be heard in the Assembly Health Committee next Wednesday, though Lockhart said no decision had been made yet to bring the bill up.

Read the phantom-authored bill here.

The entries have flooded in, the votes have been tallied and the winner is this gem from Sacramento lobbyist J. Kevin Pedrotti:

"So, this is what an $8 billion deficit feels like."

For his effort, Pedrotti has won a $20 Starbucks gift card. His was hardly the only budget-related entry, though we liked it better than "Even though I campaigned against it, I just love these whale-sized budgets!"

In the end, there were a lot of Teddy Kennedy jokes (the Democratic senator from Massachusetts and Arnold's uncle-in law) and a few too many references to blowholes.

Here's the best of the rest:

"Gov. Finally Closes Water Deal"

Schwarzenegger: "OK ... one photo. That'll be $10,000."

Schwarzenegger: "Zoe here ist da deal, Shamu. I get you released into da Sacramento Delta, and you eat all da smelt you vant."

Schwarzenegger: "Finally, a legislator who agrees with me."

Schwarzenegger: "I love you Shamu, but I'm not endorsing Ron Paul."

Schwarzenegger: "You don't have a carbon footprint, Shamu, because you don't have any feet."

Shamu "Yes, it’s me Teddy. Try single-payer."

Schwarzenegger: "A Louis Vuitton bag would have been good enough, Fabian."

Schwarzenegger: "Yes Shamu, I understand that your home has been flooded. It's a serious problem in Northern California too and is one of my top priorities."

Schwarzenegger: “If you did more reps with slightly less weight, you could get better definition out of that muscle bulk. Trust me, I know what it’s like to be big without definition.”

Schwarzenegger: "Cruz you look fantastic.....glad to see you're back.

Schwarzenegger: "It is a nice to hug a someone with more meat than Maria."

Schwarzenegger: “Shamu? You got named already, too? That Garamendi guy gets everywhere.”

Photo credit: Duncan McIntosh, Office of Governor Schwarzenegger

The governor’s office just released a set of statements about “how fixing California's broken health care system is key to keeping California's economy strong and to solving California's chronic budget problems.”

With news out that the Schwarzenegger administration is ordering departments to prep for cutting 10 percent of their budget, some folks are questioning if now is the time for a health care overhaul.

"Inevitably, as a policy solution, these things meet up," Fred Silva, an adviser to the nonpartisan fiscal policy group California Forward, and a former state Senate legislative budget director, told The Bee’s Aurelio Rojas in a story this morning.

Schwarzenegger strongly disagreed.

"We cannot fix the budget without fixing health care. Of course, we need structural reform of our state budget. And I am not suggesting that if we fix health care our budget problems disappear. But we also don't need to get bogged down every year in a debate about cutting poor kids and their families from state health programs," Schwarzenegger said in the released statement.

The administration notes that of the $14 billion in funding, most wouldn't be coming from the General Fund.

That said, it wouldn't be going to the General Fund either.

The administration also touts potential federal matching funds, to the tune of $4 billion.

"This money currently sits on the table in Washington, D.C. unused. My plan generates enough new revenue for health care that the federal government has already promised us the money," Schwarzenegger said.

The Democratic leadership and Schwarzenegger continue to negotiate. On Thursday, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata issued a joint statement saying they were "pleased that the governor is engaging and moving in the right direction. It is time to settle our remaining differences and get the job done.”

The Democratic plan is tentatively set for a Assembly Health Committee hearing next Wednesday.

For Assemblyman Pedro Nava, it was good to be the chair of the Assembly Transportation Committee this week.

That post allows him a seat, albeit as a non-voting member, on the California Transportation Commission.

The powerful but obscure commission is charged with prioritizing which state transportation projects get funded first. It's a particularly important job after state voters approved nearly $20 billion in transportation bonds in 2006 via Proposition 1B.

Nava, a Santa Barbara Democrat, really wanted funding for Highway 101 improvements near – you guessed it – Santa Barbara.

Nava's office reports that the Schwarzenegger administration had requested delaying that, and $240 million worth of other projects, "pending assessment of the state's looming fiscal crisis for transportation."

But the CTC voted the project through anyway. The 101 improvement came with a $53 million price tag, 43 percent of the total funds allocated on Thursday.

Nava issued a laudatory statement about transportation bond money being "expedited and used for worthwhile projects."

Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines hasn't endorsed yet in the presidential primary. Not that you probably noticed. But, as one of the state's top Republicans, he plans to endorse before the Feb. 5 primary.

E.J. Schultz of the Fresno Bee listens as Villines talks out his thought process.

The new health care proposal from Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata is now in print and online.

Read it yourself, with its official name: The California Health Care Reform and Cost Control Act.

(It's also known as AB X1 1, as in the first Assembly bill of the first extraordinary session.)

The California Transportation Commission completed its latest meeting on Thursday and announced funding for $122 million worth of improvements across the state's transportation system.

See the full list of approved projects here.

That's the promise of the new Willie L. Brown, Jr. Leadership Center at San Francisco State, which is being announced today.

Brown, the former speaker of the Assembly and mayor of San Francisco, has been trying to get the academic center off the ground for some time.

"No one's doing a damn thing for local government," he told The Chronicle.

From the Chron:

Students will gain practical skills in government work at the local level, such as how to mediate a garbage strike, close deals on development projects, build public support for public works projects, close a budget deficit and deal with reporters.

And how to remain speaker even when your party is tossed from the majority.

On Wednesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger watched Sea World’s famous killer whale show. And there is a picture of Shamu and Schwarzenegger just waiting for your caption.

For those of you new to this drill, here’s how it works:

1. Look at the picture.
2. Pick a caption.
3. E-mail it in.

Easy enough.

While at Sea World, Schwarzenegger took one question from the press. Would it be about his order to prepare to cut 10 percent of the state budget’s blubber? Or about the whale of a health care debate raging in Sacramento?

No, it was, “What did you think of Shamu?”

Schwarzenegger’s response, “Well, a very muscular character. All of a sudden I felt very puny. So it was a nice hug; I needed one, so that was really nice.”

If that’s not enough to get your creative juices flowing, we’re sorry.

When you send in your captions to sgoldmacher@sacbee.com, feel free to request anonymity.

Of course, only those willing to use their real names will be eligible for our grand prize of a $20 Starbucks gift card.

See the results of a past contest featuring Sen. Hillary Clinton here.

Photo credit: Duncan McIntosh, Office of Governor Schwarzenegger

With Rep. Darrell Issa opening his wallet and his network of donors to the Electoral College measure and Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner dropping $1.5 million of his own money to defeat Proposition 93, it seems like wealthy Republicans willing to fund ballot drives are a dime a dozen.

Not so much for the Capitol Resource Institute, the conservative Christian group that is trying to launch a referendum on recently passed anti-discrimination legislation for gay and lesbian students.

“The Save Our Kids campaign is running out of money,” Karen England, executive director of the group, pleaded to supporters in an e-mail late Wednesday. “We cannot print or mail any more petitions without financial support.”

England filed the referendum after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB 777, authored by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica. The legislation puts into law that there cannot be discrimination in schools based upon sexual orientation.

But England and proponents of the referendum see a secret agenda in the bill because teachers won’t be allowed to “promote a discriminatory bias," meaning, according to England, no talking about heterosexual couples.

That’s criticism Kuehl, the governor and supporters of the bill have dismissed.

“This is the worst bill any governor has signed,” England says.

But she and the Capitol Resource Institute are running out of both time – and money – to qualify the referendum.

Of all the different types of ballot measures in California, referendums are the hardest to place before voters. Opponents of a law new have only 90 days to collect 433,971 valid signatures – a costly venture.

And, as England put it in the plea to supporters, “The campaign is in dire need of money.” So far they’ve mailed out 50,000 petitions to “concerned citizens throughout California,” paid for with preliminary donations.

They say they’ve ordered more petitions on the hopes that donors come through.

Jim Carroll, managing director at Equality California, a gay-rights advocacy group, said he remained concerned about the referendum.

“It just takes one major donor to make a large contribution to reignite a campaign, so we have to maintain our vigilance,” he said. “It sounds like a fundraising tactic.”

California’s public stem-cell agency is looking to hire an outside PR firm to help promote the agency -- with a six-figure price tag.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the official name for the state’s stem-cell panel, has put out a request for proposal, jargon for a contract job, paying as much as $300,000 per year.

“CIRM is requesting a proposal from Public Information/Communications firms experienced in state, national and global education and advocacy of scientific and medical research, public funding and related topics,” the request reads.

See the so-called RFP for yourself here.

(Hat tip: California Stem Cell Report.)

The leader of a California group opposed to gay marriage is so upset about former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani getting endorsed by Pat Robertson that he's assailing the conservative religious leader as a sellout - and is going after Rudy for wearing a dress.

In a press release called "America's Pro-Family Leaders Selling Out Pro-Family Values," Randy Thomasson of the Campaign for Children and Families declares that "Pat Robertson is leading pro-family voters astray by abandoning moral standards for government."

Charging that Robertson is "casting a blind eye to Rudy Giuliani's big-time advocacy of the transsexual, bisexual, and homosexual agenda," Thomasson offers his proof: Links to videos of a cross-dressing Giuliani, including one gender-bending spoof where Donald Trump buries his face in the mayor's, uh, cleavage.

To check out Thomasson's video archive and decide this matter for yourself:

Photo credit: William Foster, Office of Governor Schwarzenegger.

Sen. Bob Dutton may have called on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare a fiscal state of emergency today, but that didn't stop the Rancho Cucamonga Republican from appearing alongside the governor in fire-ravaged Lake Arrowhead (Dutton's district).

"One thing I’ve seen time and time again is that during a crisis true leaders emerge. There are no easy solutions here. $10 billion dollars is real money that is going to impact the lives of real people. Waiting isn’t going to make it any easier. We must act now," Dutton wrote this morning.

Hours later, with Schwarznegger at his side, Dutton said, "Thank you, Governor, for taking the time to visit us here in Lake Arrowhead and our mountain communities."

He appears on the left, behind Schwarzenegger, and Lake Arrowhead Communities Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Lewis Murray appears on the right.

Will Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger intervene in the ongoing Hollywood writers strike?

Nope, his administration tells Politico.com.

“The entertainment business is a very, very important industry to the state, but other options exist,” said Schwarzenegger’s press rep.

The responses came pouring in from advocates and stakeholders after and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata introduced their latest health care plan.

The statements have been edited for brevity. And if we are missing any responses, please feel free to forward them along and we will update the list.

Updated at 1:45 p.m. We've added the responses of a few more groups, including the AARP.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez:

"I think this is a bill that all Californians can be proud of because it provides universal health care; it has the right affordability provisions in it; and it once again sets a gold standard for California."

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata:

"This proposal shows significant movement while maintaining the values of AB 8 in terms of affordability and fiscal responsibility."

Kim Belshé , secretary of the Health and Human Services Agency:

"This new proposal helps to move the ball forward and is a step in the right direction. We are evaluating the details of the plan and there are still important differences that need to be negotiated, such as ensuring we protect small employers and California jobs."

Allan Zaremberg, president of the California Chamber of Commerce:

"Just like AB 8, this proposal creates an employer mandate that violates the federal ERISA law. Just like AB 8, it appears to impose a substantial payroll tax on small businesses in violation of Proposition 13, which requires a two-thirds vote of the legislature to pass tax increases. And, just like AB 8, this proposal creates the first step to government run health care.

"Additionally, what the Speaker and Pro Tempore outlined today will establish a growing entitlement program to be funded by a declining revenue stream - tobacco taxes, which, by the way, the voters rejected during the last election!

"Creating a new underfunded health care entitlement program will deepen an already gaping hole in the state's budget."

Former Sen. Chuck Poochigian, the Fresno Republican who was beaten by Jerry Brown in his 2006 bid for attorney general, has found himself a new job. The long-time lawmaker has joined the Fresno law firm of Dowling, Aaron & Keeler, so reports the Fresno Bee's John Ellis.

Poochigian's wife, Debbie, is running for Fresno County Supervisor -- and challenging an incumbent, no less.

Photo credit: Brian Baer, Sacramento Bee, 2006.

You might not know it, but if you were walking outside the Capitol last week, you might have spotted the world's largest dog.

What you probably didn't see from afar was the world's smallest dog.

Follow the link for pictures of the pair.

Sen. Bob Dutton, one of the Republican holdouts during this summer's 50-plus day budget impasse, says California's fiscal state -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered departments to prepare for a 10 percent cut -- means Schwarzenegger should declare a fiscal state of emergency.

Dutton makes his case in an op-ed on the FlashReport:

In 2004 the voters of California passed Propositions 57 and 58 to give us the tools and dollars needed to deal with the fiscal crisis then and now.

The Legislature may not act on any other legislation until they deal with the fiscal crisis.

The Governor's Office, in an e-mailed response, didn't directly answer Dutton's request to declare a fiscal emergency.

"The governor recognizes that the state will face a revenue shortfall as he prepares his 08-09 budget, which further makes the case for budget reform in California," press secretary Aaron McLear wrote. "That is why he is asking, as he always does, his administration to prepare for whatever scenario we may face in January when he presents his budget."

There’s a story in today’s Bee about the latest donations to the proposed initiative to divide California’s electoral votes by congressional district.

Here’s the full list of donors, reported to the secretary of state so far:

California Republican Party: $80,001
Rep. Darrell Issa $50,000 from personal funds $9,700 in campaign money
Jerrold Perenchio $50,000
Floyd Kvamme $50,000
Lewis Uhler $49,000
Robert Day $45,000
Duane Roberts $50,000
Glen Holden $25,000
Paula Meehan $20,000
AMG Management Company$15,000
Aribo Corporation $15,000
1480 Building Corp. $15,000
Edward Allred $20,000
Elliott Broidy$10,000
William Davis$10,000
Gary Wilson $10,000
Board of Equalization member Bill Leonard $5,000
Richard Thieriot $5,000
Lewis Eisenberg $5,000

Total Raised $538,701

Nathan Fletcher, the leading (and only so far) Republican candidate to replace former Assemblyman George Plescia, hit up the Sacramento fundraising circuit today at Frank Fats, the classic Chinese food Capitol watering hole.

So what do we know about Fletcher?

Well, if you were reading the Washington Post last week, you learned he and his wife are trying to have a baby. The Post, in a long and engaging story, looked at folks in the political community planning pregnancies around the election cycle.

Fletcher’s wife, Mindy Tucker Fletcher, was among the profiled:

"My job was to plan and to see around corners and to know what was coming and plan everything out so meticulously," says Mindy Tucker Fletcher, 37, a former spokeswoman for the 2000 Bush campaign and later deputy campaign manager for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2006 reelection campaign.

"I wish I'd known earlier," Fletcher says. "I would have worked it into my life plan."

As for Fletcher’s fundraising and Assembly candidacy, he is the only GOP candidate to declare in the heavily Republican district, and had more than $300,000 cash on hand at the end of June. That number should rise after today’s fundraiser, which featured Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines as the featured guest.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez has named the members of the Assembly Health Committee, which will hear the legislation he unveiled today. The committee looks much the same as the regular session health panel. The only changes: Assemblymen Mark DeSaulnier and Mike Eng, both Democrats, have been added and Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, a Berkeley Democrat, has been removed.

Here's the full lineup:

Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally, Chair (D-Los Angeles)
Assemblyman Alan Nakanishi, Vice Chair (R-Lodi)
Assemblyman Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles)
Assemblywoman Patty Berg (D-Eureka)
Assemblyman Hector De La Torre (D-South Gate)
Assemblyman Kevin De León (D-Los Angeles)
Assemblyman Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord)
Assemblyman Bill Emmerson (R-Redlands)
Assemblyman Mike Eng (D-Monterey Park)
Assemblyman Ted Gaines (R-Roseville)
Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi (D-Castro Valley)
Assemblyman Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina)
Assemblyman Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar)
Assemblyman Dave Jones (D-Sacramento)
Assemblywoman Sally Lieber (D-Mountain View)
Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco)
Assemblywoman Mary Salas (D-Chula Vista)
Assemblywoman Audra Strickland (R-Moorpark)

So much for the year of education reform.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has promised that next year will be focused on education and reforming California's public schools system.

But Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, responding to a post-press conference question about next year's budget, tossed cold water on the idea:

"The governor said next year will be the year of education reform. Hmmm, I don't think so anymore."

If there was one takeaway point from this morning's Democratic press conference on health care, it's that Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez is awfully excited about his health care plan.

"Today is truly a momentous day," he began.

He called it a "tipping point," a "breakthrough," and a "fair compromise." He said it creates "a whole new dynamic."

"It's affordable. It's doable," he stated.

"The tumblers are now falling into place," he beamed.

"The leaves are turning and so is the health care debate," he proclaimed.

And on it continued.

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata was a bit more subdued. "It's not simple. It's not yet done. We are doing the best that we can with what we have...our options are very limited" for funding sources, he said. "So what you see today, I think, is the best product that we were able to come up with to date that could perhaps, get a signature."

"We're kinda guessing with the governor," Perata added. That's not to say Perata doesn't like the plan - at one point he called it "a damned good bill."

A key fact came out about 20 minutes into the availability, when Núñez noted, "We have not negotiated this proposal with the governor."

So what's next for the health care plan? Núñez said he expected the bill to be introduced on Thursday and given a hearing in the Assembly Health Committee next Wednesday, followed by a pre-Thanksgiving vote by the full house.

From there, the bill would move to the Senate, where a timeline hasn't been set.

Millionaire state insurance commissioner Steve Poizner will announce today that he will help finance a campaign against a ballot measure to alter legislative term limits.

Poizner, who signed ballot arguments against the measure, will announce his personal and financial involvement at an 11 a.m. press conference at the Senator Hotel near the Capitol.

Poizner, a moderate Republican, also will help bankroll the No on Proposition 93 effort, sources said. His contributions will help create an initial pool of several million dollars to fight the measure, which until now has been funded largely by a political action committee of U.S. Term Limits.

The opponents of the term limits ballot measure, meanwhile, this morning reported receiving $1.5 million in donations from U.S. Term Limits.

The national group, which has bankrolled term limits stiffening campaigns across the country and has close ties to New York developer Howard Rich, gave the money Monday as a pair of $750,000 donations. The contributions were reported to the secretary of state’s office on Tuesday morning.

Kevin Spillane, spokesman for the No on Proposition 93 effort, confirmed the donations, but declined further comment, saying they would be discussed at the morning press event with Poizner.

Poizner, who spent more than $14 million of his own money in his own insurance commissioner race, has been a rumored donor to the campaign -- with speculation peaking today as Poizner is set to appear with the No on 93 campaign.

This morning, Richard Stapler, a spokesman for the Yes on 93 campaign, released a list of recommended questions for Poizner, including, "Is this an effort to buy the California Republican Party nomination for Governor in 2010?"

Poizner is California's only statewide elected Republican besides Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and is on the GOP short list of would-be governor candidates.

Proposition 93 would reduce the number of years that a lawmaker could serve in the Legislature from 14 to 12, but allow all to be served in one house. It also would provide at least one extra term for current incumbents. State law currently allows only six years of service in the Assembly and eight in the Senate.

Before entering politics, Poizner was a multimillionaire entrepreneur who founded a successful Silicon Valley company, SnapTracker Inc., which developed a global positioning feature that enables emergency personnel to locate cellular telephone users. He sold the firm to Qualcomm Inc. for $1 billion.

Poizner largely bankrolled his own unsuccessful 2004 campaign for a Bay Area Assembly seat, donating more than $6 million; and invested heavily in an unsuccessful effort in 2005 to alter the way California draws legislative, congressional and Board of Equalization districts.

With writers striking in Hollywood, politics is about to get a whole lot less fun. The first victims of the strike, which began just after midnight on Monday, are the late-night comedy shows.

That means no Jay Leno, David Letterman and Conan O’Brian poking fun at our favorite Cal-ee-forn-e-ya governor.

And no Jon Stewart, who recently lobbed verbal grenades at both Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lt. Gov. John Garamendi in the same segment.

There’s also the abrupt exit from television – and the political stage – for Stephen Colbert, the host of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report. Colbert announced his presidential candidacy a couple weeks back and even polled in double digits.

Colbert's announcement of the end of his campaign came with a statement Monday, “I am going off the air until I can talk about this without weeping.”

That, and the fact that the funny folks writing his scripts are on strike.

The president of a prison drug treatment program said he will fight a corrections department audit that says his firm owes the state more than half a million dollars.

"We're going to go to court," said Rod Mullen of the Amity Foundation.

Porterville-based Amity was named in the corrections audit as owing $547,207 in assorted payments stemming from its production of training videos for in-prison drug treatment providers. Amity runs programs in five California prisons.

According to the corrections agency's Administrative Review Committee, Amity owes the money for unallowable operating costs, indirect costs and service fees, unallowable subcontractor costs and other questionable costs, fringe benefits and salaries.

Mullen said that all the costs were spelled out in the contract Amity signed with the state.

"All this stuff was in our bid and in our contract, which was approved by them," Mullen said.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger removed the word “acting” from the title of Bismark Obando, who has served as the governor’s director of external affairs since July.

Obando has been in Schwarzenegger shop since 2004, when he worked as a legislative analyst for the Office of Planning and Research. He joined the governor’s reelection campaign in 2006, where he was a deputy coalitions director, before moving back to the administration this year.

Obando, a 30-year old Democrat, will earn $93,060 in the job.

It's no secret that Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata has a history of packing heat. But is he any good?

"I'll never be a Green Beret, but I can put six in a torso at 15 feet," wrote the Oakland Democrat in a 2006 license renewal letter reminiscent of a Sam Spade soliloquy.

See Perata's letter for yourself here.

Perata may have let the license expire, but he says he's still got aim. "I've been taking my frustrations out" at the range," the senator said Monday.

For years, Perata has held a license to carry a concealed weapon issued by the Alameda County Sheriff. In a 1999 application letter, Perata stated that his public policy efforts fighting assault weapons have angered individuals "who have made overt threats on my life and the well-being of my family."

According to the senator's latest renewal letter dated Dec. 27, 2006, Perata returned to carrying a .38 Colt revolver because "it is the least conspicuous." The letter was obtained from the Sheriff's Department under a Public Records Act request.

Perata had been planning to let his license expire but had a change of heart after launching an anti-gang initiative in his Oakland district.

"I hadn't intended to renew, but my latest activities in the 'hoods have caused me to rethink my position," the senator wrote to outgoing Sheriff Charles Plummer. Gregory Ahern is now Alameda's sheriff.

Generally, concealed weapon licenses are rare. Applicants must show they are of good moral character and need protection. They also must pass a firearms proficiency test.

Perata wrote that he has kept up his firing skills at a friend's 10-acre spread in Grass Valley.

Two days after Perata wrote his letter, Plummer reissued his license for two years on condition that he pass a range test. Perata said he never took that test, allowing the license to lapse.

"If something happens again, I'll rethink it," Perata said.

Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona pleaded not guilty in a corruption case that entangles Carona, his wife and his alleged mistress -- all of whom appeared in court today in Santa Ana.

The next hearing is set for Dec. 18. The AP has the story.

California corrections officials are demanding that a private drug program contractor return $547,207 in payments.

The bill resulted from a corrections department audit into the Porterville-based Amity Foundation's production of training videos.

Amity, which operates five in-prison drug programs in the state, is being asked to pay back the money for unallowable operating costs, indirect costs and service fees, unallowable subcontractor costs and other questionable costs, fringe benefits and salaries, according to the corrections agency's Administrative Review Committee.

Initially, the state sought a return of more than $1 million. But Amity had already returned more than $440,000 in video equipment that was a subject of the audit.

Richard Krupp, the head of audits and compliance for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said that $97,500 of what the state wants back was for a subcontract Amity president Rod Mullen gave to his wife.

Mullen could not be reached for comment.

"The department is getting the contract problem under control and making sure the state is reimbursed for any money we feel is being spent inappropriately," Krupp said.

The Legislature works on deadlines - and now the state's lawmakers have a drop-dead date for placing any new measures on the Feb. 5, 2008 ballot.

In a letter to the legislative leadership and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Secretary of State Debra Bowen said Friday that if lawmakers pass the funding, roughly $2 million, and waive certain laws to create a supplemental ballot, they have until midnight tonight (Nov. 5) to place a measure on the February ballot.

Of course, this being the Legislature, that's not the real deadline.

Lawmakers can push passing a February measure as far back as midnight Nov. 17, which is a Saturday. Such a maneuver would require lawmakers to truncate the public display period for ballot labels and titles (which has been done before) from the mandated 20 days to eight days.

All of this is purely speculative, as the hopes for a water bond deal have all but disappeared after the Senate voted down both the governor's and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata's water packages.

We've posted Bowen's letter here.

For the past 10 months, we’ve toiled behind a subscription firewall.

Well, so much for that.

Capitol Alert is now free – and we’re excited about bringing you the latest up-to-the-minute news in Capitol politicking and policymaking.

For our past subscribers, those who signed up for free trials and the handful of scofflaws who bootlegged access in the months past, much of the content remains the same, just slightly retooled.

For those who are new to Capitol Alert, the site features a breaking news blog – hint, hint, you’re reading it right now – that will be updated throughout the day by me and the rest of The Bee Capitol Bureau.

Each of the paper’s three political columnists – Dan Weintraub, Dan Walters and Steve Wiegand – have blogs that appear exclusively on Capitol Alert.

That’s just the beginning.

Each day Capitol Alert brings you video from the Capitol Television News Service, which transmits political footage to television stations across the state. Read the morning rundown to see if your boss will be on TV that night – or to get a better idea of how to get them there.

The California Clips section of the site scans the leading papers and blogs for California political news, updating hourly 24/7. There’s also a calendar of the day’s events. And access to Congressional Quarterly’s California Political Almanac.

If polling is your thing, Capitol Alert has exclusive access to the statistical tabulations used to compile the Field Poll. So if you want to see, say, how exactly Barack Obama squares up against Hillary Clinton in San Diego, this is the section for you.

Again, welcome to Capitol Alert. If you have an event you want on the calendar, e-mail us at calendar@capitolalert.com. Got a hot story? Shoot it to tips@capitolalert.com. And if you need technical help, get it at support@capitolalert.com.

Thanks for reading. Our first post is below...

When Sandre Swanson joined the Assembly this year, the Oakland Democrat probably didn’t envision that he would be the only lawmaker to have every bill in his legislative package vetoed by the governor.

But that’s exactly what happened.

That’s one of the many notable facts Capitol Alert unearthed in a numerical analysis of the 2007 legislative session.

Among the others: Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata had the most bills vetoed, potential pro tem contender Sen. Alex Padilla passed more legislation than any other legislative rookie and only one lawmaker who served all year didn’t pass a single bill. (More on all that later.)

“You don’t always have to judge your legislative success by the numbers. Sometimes your job is to expand debate,” said Swanson, pointing to a pilot condoms-in-prisons program that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger created in response to a Swanson bill he vetoed.

“I wasn’t disappointed at all that my personal bills, that the governor vetoed all of them,” he continued. “I represent one of the most progressive districts in the state…that certainly gives me the freedom to not compromise in the types of proposals that I put forward.”

Swanson wasn’t the only lawmaker to end the year with a goose egg. Sen. Tom McClintock, the conservative Thousand Oaks Republican, was the only California lawmaker who didn’t pass a single bill in 2007. (Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, a Democrat who took office halfway through the legislative year, also didn’t pass any legislation.)

“Years ago, I used to introduce all those piddling little bills. Then, one year an opponent said, ‘Look at all those piddling bills he is spending his time on.’ I had to agree,” McClintock said.

Most bills passed
17 � Sen. Carole Migden
17 � Assemblyman John Laird
16 � Sen. Denise Ducheny
15 � Sen. Ellen Corbett
14 � Assemblywoman Karen Bass
14 � Sen. Alex Padilla
14 � Sen. Tom Torlakson
14 � Sen. Pat Wiggins

Most bills signed
16 � Sen. Denise Ducheny
15 � Assemblyman John Laird
12 � Sen. Carole Migden
12 � Sen. Ellen Corbett
11 � Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee
11 � Sen. Sam Aanestad
11 � Assemblyman Bill Emmerson

Most bills signed for a rookie lawmaker: bills signed (bills passed)
9 (14) � Sen. Alex Padilla
8 (12) � Assemblyman Curren Price
8 (9) � Assemblyman Ed Hernandez
8 (10) � Assemblyman Paul Krekorian
7 (12) � Assemblyman Mike Eng
7 (8) � Assemblyman Fiona Ma

Top GOP rookies: bills signed (bills passed)
5 (5) � Assemblyman Jim Silva
5 (5) � Assemblyman Mike Duvall

Most bills vetoed
8 � Sen. Don Perata
7 � Sen. Gloria Romero
7 � Assemblyman Sandre Swanson
6 � Assemblywoman Julia Brownley
6 � Assemblyman Mark Leno

Most bills vetoed for a Republican lawmaker
2 � Sen. Roy Ashburn
2 � Assemblywoman Audra Strickland
Note: The other 45 GOP lawmakers combined for a mere 10 vetoes.

Lowest percent of bills signed
0 percent � Assemblyman Sandre Swanson
33 percent � Sen. Roy Ashburn
33 percent � Assemblyman Mike Davis
38.4 percent � Sen. Don Perata
40 percent � Assemblywoman Julia Brownley
40 percent � Sen. Jenny Oropeza

Average number of bills passed by Republican lawmakers
4.87

Average number of bills signed by Republican lawmakers
4.57

Average number of bills passed by Democratic lawmakers
8.83

Average number of bills signed by Democratic lawmakers
6.12

Our methodology: We tallied up the results of every bill that reached Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger�s desk in 2007 and was tagged with a member of the Legislature as the principal author. Bills that were chiefly authored by a committee (of which there were 90, including three vetoes) were not included, nor were co-authors.

If you want to know just how much money Rep. Darrell Issa is giving to the initiative to split California's electoral votes by congressional district, you're going to have to wait until next week.

Although the campaign filings had been expected today, the proponents of the ballot measure say they have until Tuesday to report the donations - and they won't be doing so until that deadline.

Ok, so smackdown may be a little bit of an exaggeration. But Art Torres, chair of the California Democratic Party, and Dave Gilliard, a Republican consultant who is managing the effort to qualify an initiative to split the state's electoral votes, got into a bit of a spat at Thursday's Capitol press conference.

What exactly was the problem? Gilliard talked to reporters right after Torres held his press conference to question signature-gathering tactics used by Gilliard's petitioning firm, Arno Political Consultants. Gilliard told reporters that Democrats have used Arno in the past, suggesting Torres was disingenuous to call out Arno's firm. Torres, after a party staffer told him the California Democratic Party has never used Arno, immediately marched over to Gilliard and told him he was wrong.

The Capitol Television News Service captured the moment. The video is on the flip.

The UK's Daily Telegraph has compiled a list of the 100 most influential liberals and conservatives in the United States.

Not surprisingly, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger makes the cut.

But California Republican governor doesn't top the list as a conservative - but as a liberal.

From the Telegraph:

Leaving him off the conservative list was a difficult decision but Schwarzenegger's defiance of Republican orthodoxy and move towards California liberalism leaves him better placed to influence the liberal sphere. Even unstinting Schwarzenegger support of a Rudy Giuliani general election campaign in California would be unlikely to deliver the state to Republicans. His marriage to Maria Shriver took him into the Kennedy clan.

As an Austrian-born immigrant, the former body builder and action movie star is barred from the presidency, though he has not ruled out a run for the US Senate in 2010 if Barbara Boxer retires. Schwarzenegger's actions to combat global warming have prompted an alliance with Tony Blair and are likely lead to his working more closely with Al Gore. For any Democrat entering the Oval Office, one of the first calls will be to Schwarzenegger.

Of note: Schwarzenegger ranked 8th - that would be 77 spots ahead of his uncle-in-law and long-time Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.

All of which got Brandon Powers at the FlashReport to gloat, "I don't even think any further commentary is necessary when those across the pond are saying this."

For the record, the Telegraph reports the list was compiled by its Washington correspondents.

Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner spent more than $12 million of his own money to win his post in 2006. And now, Anthony York at Capitol Weekly is reporting the only statewide elected Republican not named Schwarzenegger is considering bankrolling the campaign against changing term limits.

Poizner, who is independently wealthy from his time as a Silicon Valley businessman, hasn't reported making any donations just yet.

From Capitol Weekly:

"He signed the ballot argument, and that's where this is coming from," said Wayne Johnson, a Poizner strategist, referring to Poizner's signature on the official rebuttal to the ballot argument favoring Proposition 93.

"Proposition 93 is an arrogant and self-serving power grab by career politicians," the statement reads. Poizner co-authored the statement with Martha Montelongo of the California Term Limits Defense Fund and Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

Kevin Spillane, who is the chief proponent of the No on 93 effort told Capitol Alert, "There is no announcement to be made."

"I am a 'Don't believe it until you see, it kind of a guy,'" said Spillane. "Until it happens, it hasn't happened."

A strong majority of Californians say a college education is a key to success in today's work world, according to a new poll from the Public Policy Institute of California. But at the same time 56 percent of state residents believe it's harder than it was a decade ago to get that college education.

The problem, according to the survey, is cost. No less than 84 percent of respondents said that affording a college education was at least somewhat of a problem for students today, with 53 percent calling it a big problem.

Student tuition and fees ranked as the issue most often cited as a problem facing California's public universities.

Fears of college costs break along some ethnic and socio-economic lines, according to the PPIC poll. While a majority of Latino parents (53 percent) say they are very worried about affording college, only 35 percent of white parents shared those same fears. Those making $80,000 or more a year were nearly 20 points less likely (56 percent) to believe costs prevent qualified students from attending college, than those making under $40,000 (75 percent).

See the full poll here.