Tag: California

President Bush is in California to raise money for Republican House candidates like the ultra anti-environmentalist Rep. Rich Pombo and Rep. John Doolittle, who has been closely associated with GOP scandal figure Jack Abramoff . But one Republican who will not be photographed with the president is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger:

By [Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phi] Angelides’ account, the governor is trying to hide his allegiance to President Bush and the national Republican Party’s agenda in order to get reelected in a Democratic-leaning state. He said Schwarzenegger was “scurrying to get away, out of the camera shot” as Bush visited California on Tuesday to raise money for Republicans in Los Angeles and the Central Valley.

Schwarzenegger, however, said it was more important to campaign for the bipartisan ballot measures than to meet with Bush.

“President Bush is coming out here not to help California, but to do fundraising in California, so there’s no reason for me to meet with him,” Schwarzenegger told reporters in Beverly Hills after a breakfast fundraiser for the bond campaign.

Arnold leads Democrat Phil Angelides 17 percentage points in one poll and 12 in another. This is bad:

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has widened his lead over his Democratic gubernatorial rival, according to two polls released on Wednesday. One survey puts him 17 percentage points ahead.

A Public Policy Institute of California survey of 2,003 adult residents between September 13 and 20 found 48 percent favoring the Hollywood action star to 31 percent for State Treasurer Phil Angelides in the November election. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percent.

The 17-point difference compares with a 13-point spread between the two men in both July and August.

A separate Field Poll survey of 557 likely voters conducted from September 14 to 24 found 44 percent favoring the Republican incumbent, compared to 34 percent for the Harvard-educated former real estate developer Angelides.

In July, 45 percent said they favored Schwarzenegger, compared to 37 percent for his opponent.

Phil Angelides has had a tough making headlines in his campaign to unseat Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — so this is good news:

In a move to bolster his appeal among Democrats, state Treasurer Phil Angelides said Saturday night that on his first day as governor, he would call on President Bush to withdraw California’s National Guard troops from the war in Iraq.

The Democratic nominee for governor said in a telephone interview that he would take court action against Bush if necessary to extract the state’s National Guard members from Iraq. He said he would also urge other governors and members of Congress to join his effort.

Frank Rich mentioned it on George Stephanapolous’ show this morning, which is good. Maybe the newsers will give it some play next week.

Governor says, “a society is judged by how well we treat our most helpless,” on the same day he vetoes healthcare coverage for California’s poorest

This morning as I was scanning Buzzflash as I saw the headline, “Schwarzenegger denies all Californians the right to universal health insurance,” with a link to an article in the Washington Post:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a universal health care bill Friday, saying it would create a “vast new bureaucracy.”

The bill would have provided every California resident with health insurance through a program administered by a new entity, the California Health Insurance Agency…

The bill’s author, Sen. Sheila Kuehl, a Democrat, said the bill would do what the governor said he wanted while saving health care consumers and doctors money. She suggested his real agenda was to leave health care in the hands of private insurance companies.

This surprised me because I even earlier this morning I had read the dead-tree version of the Los Angeles Times, and there was nothing about this veto. We could reasonably expect this story to appear in the local paper. For starters, Sen. Kuehl represents a huge chunk of Los Angeles’ Westside.

I checked the Times online and found a story about laws the governor signed yesterday but not a peep about the universal healtchare bill. The online Times had a quote from the governor about a foster care bill he signed that is ironic in light of the bill he vetoed that would have guaranteed doctor’s care to poor people in California:

Saying that “a society is judged by how well we treat our most helpless,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday signed eight bills aimed at making California a better parent to roughly 75,000 foster children.

He also signed a bill that makes it a crime to leave a pet in a hot car.

The Times reported on September 6 that the universal healthcare bill was dead on arrival. The governor had announced before the bill was passed that he planned to veto it .

Until this morning, I’d wager that the number of Californians who could name Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Republican opponent in her reelection bid this year was limited to the candidate, his family and staff — until this morning when his name appeared on page 1A of the Los Angeles Times.

I’m a political junkie, obviously, and I couldn’t have dredged Richard Mountjoy’s name — even if I had been waterboarded. Well, he’s got publicity now:

U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mountjoy has claimed in his campaign biography that he served aboard the battleship Missouri during the Korean War, but his military record shows no assignment on the famous vessel, The Times has found.

In an interview Thursday, Mountjoy acknowledged that he did not serve on the Missouri. Last week, when first asked about his record, he said his Missouri stint had been “very brief” and that he otherwise served on the U.S. heavy cruiser Bremerton, which has a less celebrated history.

He said later that he occasionally boarded the Missouri during the Korean conflict and was on the ship for “a couple of days at a time.”

But his name does not appear on the ship’s muster rolls for those years, according to a researcher engaged by The Times. Asked about this, Mountjoy said, “I would have never answered a roll on the Missouri” because he wasn’t assigned to the ship.

Unfortunately, Phil Angelides, the Democratic candidate for governor, has proven he is no match for Gov. Schwarzenegger’s celebrity status. Still, here is advice for Angelides from Los Angeles Times political columnist Geroge Skelton:

As fall approaches, Treasurer Phil Angelides seems to have only two accessible paths to reach the governor’s office, both of them steep.

– He must wrap President Bush so tightly around Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in voters’ minds that they “send a message” about the botched war and other Bush blunders by rejecting the governor’s reelection bid. Schwarzenegger, after all, did play a significant role in reelecting Bush.

– Angelides must remind voters of Schwarzenegger’s inconsistencies in rhetoric and behavior since being elected and get people seriously thinking about whether this governor should be trusted again.

Beyond that, Schwarzenegger could stumble badly, embarrassing and disgracing himself. But forget it. That’s every losing candidate’s fantasy and it almost never happens.

Schwarzenegger’s handlers seem to have him well under control. And aides likely won’t be providing any more links on the governor’s public website to his recorded private bull sessions.

There have a pair of corollary events in the California governor’s race this week.

First, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed former Rep. James Rogan to the state bench. Rogan, an ultra-rightwinger from Glendale, made his mark on history as one of the House Managers in the Clinton impeachment.

A few days after this prime example of a Republican governor busily packing California courts with rightwing, activist idealogues comes word of an audacious slap in the face to California Democrats:

Some of Hollywood’s most reliable and generous donors to the Democratic Party — Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and media mogul Haim Saban — are endorsing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s bid for reelection.

Their support is partly a matter of friendship over partisanship. But it could deal a blow to the governor’s main opponent, state Treasurer Phil Angelides, by signaling to other Democrats that it’s acceptable to embrace a Republican.

“It starts with a personal relationship. They are friends,” said Andy Spahn, a spokesman for both Spielberg and Katzenberg.

The two men also like Schwarzenegger’s plans to tackle global warming and fund schools. But further, Spahn said, “they are receptive to the governor’s taking a less partisan approach to the job and a more inclusive approach to government.”

This defection comes as the fortunes of Democratic challenger Phil Angelides appear to be fading fast, and there is a whiff of rats deserting the sinking ship. It is also reckless. Schwarzenegger has been penned in this year because it’s an election year and because of his disastrous performance last year, but any number of factors could set him free to pursue the ideological interests of his party.

You would be hard pressed to find any Democrats in California who think a return to the agenda enacted during the 16 years of Republican rule that ended with the term of Gov. Pete Wilson, Schwarzenegger’s mentor, would be anything but destructive for the state.

True, the political influence of these moguls is limited, but their endorsement gives Schwarzenegger cover from namebrand California liberals that he has not earned and never will.

It reeks of cronyism. These guys can conveniently forget that Arnold believes he’s Ronald Reagan reincarnate because their relationship with him is based on business. After all, they’ll be working and socializing with him long after his second term.