California Insider

Gov. Schwarzenegger abandoned his pension reform initiative this morning and, joined by city, county and some law enforcement officials, vowed to negotiate a better plan by this summer and place it on the ballot no later than June of 2006. The governor's opponents welcomed the news as the first sign that their campaign against him is working, and urged him to drop the rest of his agenda and embrace their own. Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Assn. called on Schwarzenegger to embrace universal health care, increasing corporate taxes and public financing of political campaigns.

Jamie Court of the Foundation for Taxpayers and Consumer Rights, added this:

"Arnold showed the first sign of waving his white handkerchief today when he announced at a press conference he would not go forward in 2005 with his proposal to gut the pension protections of cops, firefighters, nurses and other public employees. With negotiations between the Gov and Dems going hot and heavy in the state house over redistricting plans, it seems like the house of cards that is Arnold's special election is about to fall down all around him. If legislative leaders play their cards right, it will be Arnold who looks like the Joker."

UPDATE: Treasurer -- and candidate for governor -- Phil Angelides chimes in:

"Today's news is a clear defeat for Governor Schwarzenegger and a victory for California. The Governor's pension privatization scheme now sits in its rightful place - the rejection pile of bad ideas.

"Over the past several months, Governor Schwarzenegger's aggressive pursuit of his Bush-like pension privatization plan has deeply divided Californians. Instead of attacking teachers, fire fighters and police officers who serve our children and our communities, the Governor should have spent his efforts doing what he promised to do - balance the budget in a way that protects education and moves California forward.

"The Governor should now throw his other bad ideas on the same rejection pile. He should abandon the rest of his ill-conceived special election proposals, put an end to his massive borrowing spree, and fulfill his pledge to fully fund education."

Common Cause has released a study showing that the number of competitive districts in California jumped after 1990, when districts were drawn by the state Supreme Court, and then declined again after 2000, when boundaries were drawn by the Legislature. Defining a competitive district as one that produces a winner with less than 60 percent of the vote, Common Cause said more than 80 percent of legislative and congressional elections in the 1980s were uncompetitive. The number of competitive elections leaped by more than 50 percent after 1990, then dropped by 55 percent after 2000. The full report is here.