California Insider

In November, San Francisco voters will get a chance to vote on a resolution condemning the war in Iraq.

"Today, we speak of Vietnam with regret," said Geraldine Earp of the Senior Action Network, one of several groups supporting the resolution introduced by Supervsior Chris Daly. "What will we say to the next generation that we have done the same thing again?"

Here is an AP story on the resolution.

Contrary to recent reports in the nation’s Paper of Record, the toilet paper in California’s Capitol has not been downgraded in a money-saving move by the cost-conscious Arnold Schwarzenegger.

A colorful front-page New York Times story last week based on an interview with the governor concluded with these lines:

On fiscal matters, Mr. Schwarzenegger considers himself an old-school Republican determined to ferret out waste. No item is too minor to escape his attention.

For instance, since Mr. Schwarzenegger took office on Nov. 17, the toilet paper in the Capitol has been switched from two-ply to one-ply, a saving of thousands of dollars over the years. "It's not anymore the two-ply," he said. "Because you know what? We're trimming. We're living within our means."

But after inquiries by this reporter, the governor’s communications director, Rob Stutzman, acknowledged that the claim was untrue. It was, Stutzman said, part of a running joke between Schwarzenegger and Times reporter Charlie LeDuff, dating back to last fall’s recall campaign.

During the campaign, LeDuff repeatedly challenged Schwarzenegger to name something, anything, in the state budget that he was willing to cut . Schwarzenegger repeatedly refused to be specific. Finally, LeDuff asked him if he would be willing to change the paper in the Capitol bathrooms from two-ply to one. And when the two met again last week, LeDuff arrived with a roll he’d swiped from one of the Capitol restrooms. Thus the Schwarzenegger quote.

LeDuff could not be reached for comment. Stutzman said he hasn’t sought to clarify the governor's comments.

“We’ve been kind of busy around here,” he said.

Thanks to reader VM for the tip.

UPDATE. After talking to Charlie LeDuff, some clarification: LeDuff says he only asked the governor once during the campaign about reducing costs, and toilet paper. And he says he did not take any toilet tissue from a Capitol bathroom into the governor's tent. And I should note that the error here was not in The Times' telling of the story but in Schwarzenegger taking credit for something, no matter how small, that he did not do.

In what will likely be a string of such stories around the state, the Chronicle today reports on the adoption of the budget for Contra Costa County, where supervisors are warning about deep cuts in health and social service programs in the year ahead.

Excerpt:

The budget cuts a variety of health and social services and could affect everything from how many drug addicts can get into county rehabilitation centers to how quickly the mentally ill see a doctor. Smaller programs, such as one that provides free bicycle helmets to 1,400 poor children, face elimination.

What the story doesn't report is that the general fund cost of employee salaries and benefits in that county has grown by 25 percent in the past three years, from $466 million in 01-02 to $586 million for 04-05. Salaries and benefits as a share of the county's budget, meanwhile, have grown from 38 percent to 53 percent. Much of that has to do with Contra Costa's increasing pension costs, which are a leading indicator for the rest of the state. The numbers for Contra Costa County can be found in this budget document.

Secretary of State Kevin Shelley has numbered the 14 propositions that will appear on the November ballot. They are:

59. SCA 1, a proposal to broaden access to government information.

60. SCA 18, the legislative constitutional amendment to counter the open primary initiative, which is Proposition 62.

61. $750 million bond measure for children’s hospitals.

62. Open primary initiative.

63. New tax on million-dollar earners to pay for expansion of mental health care.

64. New limits on lawsuits filed under Unfair Business Competition laws.

65. Initiative to protect local funds from state tax shifts.

66. Softening of three-strikes law; specifies violent and/or serious felonies that trigger third strike.

67. Telephone tax to pay for emergency room care.

68. Card room and race track initiative to expand casino gambling beyond tribal reservations and send 25 percent of revenues to the state.

69. DNA initiative to require collection of samples from all felony arrestees.

70. Initiative to expand tribal casinos and apply fee equivalent to corporate tax.

71. Authorizes up to $3 billion in bonds to pay for expanded stem cell research.

72. Referendum on SB 2, the health care mandate.