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The new L.A. Times poll asked Californians who had an unfavorable opinion of Schwarzenegger and Angelides to explain why. Here are the top answers.
For Schwarzenegger haters:
- Not honest (17%)
- Poor record on education (15%)
- Ineffective/poor track record (11%)
- Personality/arrogant (10%)
- No reason/just dislike him (9%)
- Doesn't understand the problems of California (9%)
- Celebrity (8%)
- Illegal immigration/supports reforms-guest worker (8%)
- Beholden to special interests (6%)
For Angelides haters:
- Not honest/has no integrity (18%)
- Tax plan/will raise taxes (15%)
- No reason/just dislike him (15%)
- Weak leadership qualities (10%)
- Don't agree with him on the issues (10%)
- Negative campaign ads (8%)
- Democrat (8%)
- Lacks charisma (6%)
- Flip-flops on certain issues/Jessica's Law (6%)
- Typical politician (5%)
In an L.A. Times Poll released just before the 2003 recall, 74% of likely voters said California was headed in the wrong direction, compared to a paltry 19% who were satisfied. Now, 46% believe the state is on the wrong track, compared to 41% who think things are just peachy.
That's a considerable difference, but voters remain grumpy. Why, then, is Schwarzenegger doing so well among this downer group of likely voters? After all, he's in charge. Going deep into the new L.A. Times poll shows the governor's fundamental asset: people believe he would be a better leader.
It's all about power. The governor used the full force of his office to project himself as a chief executive; courted Democratic leaders and embraced their issues; cut back on the harsh rhetoric (even while his campaign amped it up against Angelides); and distanced himself from his corporate supporters (even while vetoing "job-killer" legislation they hated).
Except for cutting back on his harsh rhetoric, Phil Angelides had no power to do any of these things. He can only talk about what he wants to do. That's not leadership, at least not in the eyes of voters.
On major issues, except the environment and public education, Schwarzenegger holds healthy leads among voters who think he would do a better job. But he even leads Angelides by small margins on those two critical issues as well. From the poll: "Voters, overwhelmingly, think the governor has strong leadership qualities and this may be at the heart of the problem Angelides is facing. Three-fifths of all likely voters believe Schwarzenegger has this attribute, while just a fifth think Angelides does. (This perceived lack of leadership was seen by the voters as a problem for Gray Davis while he was fighting to keep his governor's job during the recall campaign. At that time, only 28% of voters said Davis had shown decisive leadership while serving as governor of California. And the rest is history — he was one of the only governors to be recalled.)"
Who would do a better job handling: California's economy: Schwarzenegger 52% Angelides 29% Both/Neither 12% The state's budget: Schwarzenegger 49% Angelides 29% Both/Neither 12% Immigration issues: Schwarzenegger 43% Angelides 30% Both/Neither 17% Public education: Schwarzenegger: 40% Angelides: 38% Both/Neither 12% Environmental issues: Schwarzenegger: 37% Angelides 36% Both/Neither 13%
Who do you think has:
"Mr. Burns: your campaign seems to have the momentum of a runaway freight train. Why are you so popular?"
—Lisa Simpson's probing question to Montgomery Burns, candidate for governor, in "Two Cars in Every Garage, Three Eyes on Every Fish."
Here are the questions asked today at a Capitol press conference with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger:
- "Governor you have been very visible this week with prominent Democrats — Sen. Perata, Fabian Nunez and others. Looking back on your Hollywood days, could you have scripted a better scenario for your reelection campaign?"
- "Governor, when we talked about your relationship with Speaker Nunez, he said it was at an all-time high. I was wondering if you could tell us what improved it? And if you could look back to 2004 when you called the Legislature 'girlie men,' how did we get from that to where we are now and Speaker Nunez talking about what a wonderful relationship you have?"
- "Are you worried that as your relationship with Democrats gets better, your relationship with Republicans gets worse?"
- "Governor, in July your approval rating among Latinos was about 12% and this week some polls show it's around one-third. What strategy or what bill do you attribute that surge to?"
You can imagine the governor's answers.
To view the video, click here, and click again on the "9/29 biomonitoring bill signing" link under "Video."
 Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's bill signing events Wednesday in San Francisco and Malibu were dramatic affairs. As my colleagues reported today, the elaborate ceremonies will be financed in part with corporate donations hidden from public disclosure.
These dramatic events are political at heart, even though the government arranges them.
How do we know this?
Schwarzenegger actually signed the global warming legislation, AB 32, in his Capitol office before attending the ceremonies on Treasure Island and in Malibu. The bills Schwarzenegger inked in front of the cameras were copies.
The bill had already become a law.
At a press conference today, Schwarzenegger said the public events allow the state to "put the spotlight on those people who worked so hard on these bills.... They should get the recognition."
He said he would work until 3 a.m. Saturday, if necessary, to sign the rest of the legislation piled up on his desk.
(Photo: Paul Buck / EPA)
Rebecca Schoenkopf over at the OC Weekly seems like a natural Angelides voter, but she's upset ... at the way he's running his campaign. This is the kind of meta debate that can hobble a candidate if people become too obsessed with it. It's not about his policies; it's about the logistics of his campaigning.
Anyway, she has a fun rant below (potty language censored). From her column, Commie Girl: "His campaign, though? Good Christ. The guy can’t get a lick of media until he does something howlingly stupid. There was that clusterf*** with the 'hot-blooded Cuban' tapes; they tried to ream Schwarzy on it, and he managed to give an apology that made everyone else look small. (Trick to a perfect apology: don't just say you're sorry the sensitive Sallys got offended; explain why it was wrong — that shows you've internalized the lesson. Per the governor: 'I was embarrassed when I read my comments in the newspaper' and 'If I heard my children saying those things, I would be upset.' See? Perfect!) It turned out Angelides' campaign leaked the tapes, a revelation not helped by his prissy schoolmarm act about how deeply offensive the tapes were, when it's stuff you and I and everyone we know say in private."
She has some choice words for the media in there too.
A group of Democratic consultants releases a poll tomorrow of 600 Spanish-speaking Californians. It was conducted by a group called the NDN Political Fund and PowerPac.org, both of which describe themselves as progressive. Among the NDN political advisors: Mike McCurry, former press secretary to President Clinton, and Mack McLarty, former Clinton chief of staff.
Here's what they found:
- Among Spanish speakers, Phil Angelides leads Arnold Schwarzenegger 64% to 21%, despite more than half of these voters having no positive or negative opinion of Angelides (54% say he is unknown to them).
- 69% hold a negative view of Schwarzenegger.
Mind you, this is a snapshot from a partisan group looking at people who vote in numbers far smaller than their proportion of the population.
Another political blog is up and running, and this time it's a decidedly partisan affair. Longtime Republican commentator Karen Hanretty and her Democratic counterpart, Robin Swanson, serve up the 2006 election in Behind the Ballot.
 After mostly ignoring Phil Angelides for several days on the subject of the Iraq war, Arnold Schwarzenegger said today that the Democratic treasurer had been "irresponsible" for meddling in the conflict by suggesting he would fight to bring troops home.
And only a few hours later, Angelides said Schwarzenegger had himself been "irresponsible" for remaining silent on such an important issue.
Not to be "irresponsible," but both candidates make a good point.
Let's stand back a bit and look at this outside of the political context of whether Angelides is helping his poll numbers by talking about the war and appealing to his Democratic base blah blah blah blah. (I'm just as guilty of this as anyone.)
Angelides seems to have a compelling argument that the Iraq war does affect California citizens in a big way, and should be open for criticism and moral condemnation from a California official. Schwarzenegger is factually correct when he says there is little the governor can do to change the course of the war or bring California National Guard troops home.
To be sure, Angelides has staked out an uncommon position for a politician running for a state office by criticizing the president on foreign policy. At a small anti-war rally today at Sacramento City College, Angelides said Schwarzenegger nevertheless has a responsibility to speak up about the great moral issues of the day, especially one that has claimed the lives of nearly 300 Californians.
He said: "Of course, governors do not set foreign policy, but we all have a moral responsibility to speak up, and my opponent Arnold Schwarzenegger has already suggested my views on this conflict don't belong in this race. Perhaps he has forgotten about the bully pulpit and his own prodigious use of it when he repeatedly told California that George Bush's decision to invade Iraq was making us safer."
He got applause when he said, "I've got this to say to you, Arnold Schwarzenegger: It's irresponsible to continue to defend George W. Bush's failed policy in Iraq. You disservice our nation and you disservice our troops."
But Angelides is incorrect when he says Schwarzenegger is defending the war. In fact, the governor's position is similar to many prominent Democrats: let's leave Iraq, but in a safe and prudent manner, with a plan. When asked if he supported the current Bush policies there, Schwarzenegger said today: "I support fighting the war on terror and I support our soldiers, men and women, to come back as quickly as possible, as soon as we find an exit strategy."
He lashed out at Angelides: "We have to recognize that it is not in the governor's power to take troops back and say, 'I am going to court to take the troops back,' because that is unconstitutional.... It is irresponsible for anyone to say, 'I will get the troops back and I will be fighting' or anything else."
Schwarzenegger, just Monday, waded into foreign policy himself by signing legislation outlawing state pension investments in the murderous regime in Sudan. He even brought along a former U.S. Secretary of State, George P. Shultz, to the signing ceremony. Of course, a law has much more impact than a governor jawboning, but it's still the chief executive attempting to exercise power over foreign policy.
In a way, Schwarzenegger himself has been doing his own silent protest of the Iraq war. Almost every day, the flag on the top of the Capitol is flown at half-staff for a dead soldier from California. Schwarzenegger also demands that a specially researched press release be sent out on every California solider who dies. Not even the Pentagon does this.
This is actually a nice debate with lots of contradictions. It may be inappropriate and illegal for a governor to call back Guard troops from a foreign war, but it's not inappropriate to address the issue of war.
UPDATE: I moved Bob Mulholland's email to the comment section, and opened it up for others to post as well. Also, I added the word "mostly" to the first paragraph because Schwarzenegger did get a question about Angelides and Iraq on Tuesday. He said pulling Guard troops was unconstitutional, but did not say Angelides was being irresponsible.
 
(Photos: Robert Salladay / LAT)
Phil Angelides, meet Len Munsil.
Munsil is the conservative Republican trailing a whopping 36 points behind Gov. Janet Napolitano, who is seeking re-election in Arizona. In an attempt to jumpstart his foundering campaign, Munsil is ... invoking Iraq, just like Angelides this week.
Or rather, Munsil is defending the U.S. response to the Sept. 11 attacks. He is Angelides in reverse.
Munsil's big issue this campaign week has been a demand that the state tear down a 9/11 memorial in its Capitol Mall. The Arizona Republic reports: "The sculpture, called 'Moving Memories,' consists of facts and comments designed to represent viewpoints related to the Sept. 11 attacks and their aftermath. Some messages display historic facts, such as when airplanes hijacked by terrorists struck the World Trade Center.
"Munsil said that taken as a whole, the messages indict the U.S. government and mock the Bush administration.
"Other critics of the sculpture have objected to specific messages, including one that says, 'You don't win battles of terrorism with more battles.'
"'It's an anti-war mentality and an anti-American mentality,' said Munsil, who won the Republican bid one day after the memorial was dedicated on Sept. 11. 'The people of Arizona need to know that this is what's on state property.'"
It's too soon to say if this gambit will propel him over the top, but my guess is he'll need something else. But at least Phil and Len are entertaining the English-speakers sitting in Paris cafés reading about American politics. The International Herald Tribune has the whole story.
President George W. Bush arrives Tuesday for a Republican National Committee fund-raiser in Los Angeles and for two embattled congressional candidates elsewhere in the state. Bush will be competing with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger during a key fund-raising period before the November election.
 Last year, Schwarzenegger complained that Bush should cancel an October 2005 fund-raiser that threatened to siphon off donations he needed to promote his special election agenda.
"In the next two months, it would be better if we just do the fundraising. Then let us go (past) our special election — and then they can pick it up again, the (Republican) national committee," the governor told the S.F. Chronicle.
A year later, Bush is back again. Schwarzenegger (seen here at a White House event in July) is not scheduled to appear with the president on this trip.
The president Tuesday will attend a breakfast fund-raiser for Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Tracy) in Stockton and a luncheon for Rep. John Doolittle (R-Roseville) at an El Dorado Hills country club. The evening is reserved for an RNC fund-raiser in Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, former Gov. Gray Davis is holding a fund-raiser Oct. 10 for Phil Angelides at a private home in L.A. "Co-host" admission price: $5000.
(Photo: Charles Dharapak / AP)
FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this story stated that the governor would attend Rep. Richard Pombo's fund-raiser. President Bush, not Gov. Schwarzenegger, will attend.
"Nuñez looked so happy, like a little boy who had just been handed the biggest ice cream cone in the world. ... It's days like this when you have to wonder how Angelides gets out of bed."
Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst at USC, in the S.F. Chronicle story about Schwarzenegger's global warming bill signing. The bill was authored by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, who turns 40 on Dec. 27.
The Field Poll has some interesting tidbits about Schwarzenegger that could embolden the union-backed effort to defeat him. The union message is that Schwarzenegger is a shape-shifter, someone who can't be trusted one year to the next. Here is what Field found:
- One negative shift in voter perceptions of the Governor that has occurred over the past two years is that more voters now believe that when making decisions on important policy matters Schwarzenegger is more likely to do what is politically popular (48%) than what he believes is right (41%). This contrasts with the views that voters held in 2004 when, by a 61% to 28% margin, voters felt Schwarzenegger made such decisions more on what he believed than what was politically expedient.
- Another area where voters are now more critical of the Governor relates to his 2003 recall election campaign promise to reduce the power of special interests in Sacramento. The current survey finds that a majority (51%) of voters thinks Schwarzenegger has done little or nothing to reduce the influence of special interests, while 41% feel he has done a great deal or some in this regard. Two years ago fewer voters (41%) felt the Governor had done little or nothing in reducing the power of special interests.
 Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation Monday requiring California to shed its pension investments with companies that do business with the murderous regime in Sudan, where genocide has claimed as many as 400,000 lives.
"We cannot watch from the sideline," he said, "and be content to mourn this atrocity as it passes into history. We must act, and we must act now.... It is an action that says we will not cooperate with them, with the horrors of Darfur."
Just a few hours before the choreographed event, Schwarzenegger attended a fund-raiser with his friend and economic advisor, Warren Buffett. The breakfast fund-raiser took place at the lavish Fairmont Hotel atop Nob Hill in San Francisco, at a cost of $25,000 a person.
What Schwarzenegger didn't mention was this: Buffett is the largest individual U.S. investor in a Chinese oil conglomerate that does business with the regime in Khartoum. Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway, holds 2.3 billion shares of PetroChina, or 1.3% of the foreign ownership of the oil company.
Anti-genocide activists who stood with Schwarzenegger on Monday were well aware of the unspoken connection, and the contradictions inherent in the governor's day.
Adam Sterling, national policy director for the Sudan Divestment Task Force, said the Republican governor should now turn his attention to pressuring Buffett, just as he is demanding the state's massive pension funds to sever their relationship with companies propping up the genocidal regime.
 "It goes along with the action Arnold made at the press conference Monday that he should encourage his friend to take similar action," said Sterling, who appeared with the governor at the ceremony.
This week, Sterling said, he his stepping up his campaign to pressure Buffett to change his relationship with PetroChina. The campaign can be followed on this link. Sterling said he did not mention the Buffett-Sudan relationship to Schwarzenegger on Monday, out of respect for his signing the landmark divestment legislation.
But in a report entitled "Berkshire Hathaway, PetroChina and the Darfur Genocide," Sterling's group reported substantial links between Buffett's investments and the government in Sudan. The Chinese oil business in Sudan is being directed by the China National Petroleum Co., the parent company of PetroChina, and is feeding the oil revenues in Sudan and thus the military. "CNPC's operations in Sudan have also paved the way for a hugely concerning arms trade between China and Sudan. For example, Sudanese government troops and militias have used Chinese-made helicopter gunships, based at CNPC airstrips in the country, to conduct raids on civilians."
Continue reading "Warren Buffett, Schwarzenegger and Sudan" »
Nobody throws a bill signing like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Here's the scene this morning, just before Schwarzenegger signed legislation to curb global warming.
UPDATE: Clea Benson at the Sacto Bee has a nice overview of Schwarzenegger's elaborately staged events in recent days.
(Photo: Monica M. Davey / EPA)
 It has been a decade since California voters approved Proposition 215, which aimed to legalize the use of medical marijuana and protect doctors who recommended it.
Some communities are still grappling with how to implement the voter-approved law. This week, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors voted to ban medical marijuana dispensaries. The reason? The centers would be too much of an easy target for criminals. As opposed, I guess, to banks and convenience stores, which they did not ban.
Meanwhile, in another galaxy, Assemblyman Paul Koretz said today he wants everyone to celebrate at the First Annual L.A. County Marijuana Expo & Patient's Festival, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday in West Hollywood. The public-at-large is invited. The event takes place in the West Hollywood Park Auditorium & Parking Lot at N. San Vicente and Santa Monica boulevards. Willie Nelson will not be performing, but somehow his photograph seemed apt.
(Photo: Kevin Winter / Getty Images)
The "decidely conservative" California governor appears with Gary Doer, the premier of Manitoba, Canada, today, according to the Winnipeg Sun. The two-day junket for Doer, the newspaper reports, will cost Canadian taxpayers $1,800.
There is a webcam to view Doer's visit and appearance today with that other guy. Viewing starts at 10:45 a.m.-ish
A few stories that caught my eye.
- The Daily News has more on the IRS investigation of churches that support Democratic candidates. More than just allowing candidates a platform on Sunday, some churches gave them money:
"Some said they thought they were making donations in support of local leaders' community efforts rather than political campaigns. Others said the candidates themselves reported the donations incorrectly. In the Daily News' review, beneficiaries of the offering plates included Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former Mayor James Hahn, City Councilman and former mayoral candidate Bernard Parks, and state Assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas. While it is not illegal for politicians to take the money, some have returned it and informed churches of the tax risk they face."
- Schwarzenegger gives an extended interview to the Hollywood Reporter about the future of entertainment and slips in a little more about a health care plan in the works. "You can't say everyone has to have health care when they can't afford it — that wouldn't make sense. We are now working on that."
- Click here to see YouTube video of the new Democratic Party ad linking Schwarzenegger to Bush, and here (scroll down a bit) to view the Alliance for a Better California ads with nurses, firefighters, cops and teachers (but no prison guards) telling Schwarzenegger to shove off.
Undoubtedly one of the more colorful politicians in recent California history, former state Sen. John Vasconcellos of San Jose delivers again. Doonesbury lampooned Vasco for his self-esteem movement, but that hasn't stopped the Democratic lawmaker from letting it all hang out.
Vasco was a guest on a Mendocino County radio program this week called "Mind, Body, Health with Richard Louis Miller." Miller wrote his listeners beforehand to say that Vasco would be talking about "his own recent experience with shingles and bringing an important message about what can be done to prevent it. Shingles, a.k.a. herpes zoster, is an outbreak of rash or blisters on the skin that is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox — the varicella-zoster virus."
Back in the office (see pix) after two days on the road. Lots of items to post today.
Phil Angelides and his staff flew back on my Southwest flight from Burbank. He greeted a few people after boarding, saying: "Hello ... Phil Angelides." Two of his daughters were with him. His staff scattered themselves throughout the plane.
Phil sat toward the front reading Nancy Vogel's piece in the L.A. Times about Schwarzenegger signing legislation to divest in companies that prop up the Sudanese government. I wonder if Phil noticed he wasn't mentioned until the 20th paragraph, well after George Clooney.
Angelides is mostly staying out of the spotlight today — radio and other media interviews, a fund-raiser and whatnot — while Schwarzenegger does photo-op bill signings in dramatic locations.
(Photos: Robert Salladay / LAT)
Dueling interpretations over whether the TV ads and photo-ops are having any impact on Angelides' and Schwarzenegger's status in the fertile minds of voters. A new Field Poll shows the governor leading the treasurer 44-34. The S.F. Chronicle has the smackdown: "Nick Papas, a spokesman for Angelides, said his campaign believes the Field Poll more accurately reflects the 'political climate' of the race and suggested that the stage is set for a turnaround.
"'This poll (Field) is nothing but bad news for Gov. Schwarzenegger,' he said. 'The governor has been on TV every day for 3½ months, spending $30 million — and he's run up and down the state signing bills — and this poll shows that all the stagecraft and co-opting Democratic issues are having no impact.'
"Schwarzenegger strategist Matthew Dowd pointed out that since July, the state Democratic Party and the Angelides campaign have been running ads criticizing the governor, but their candidate's numbers have not improved.
"'They've been competitive since July, but they've lost ground since they began attacking the governor,' he said. 'Angelides is in a precarious position with just six weeks to go.'"
The Public Policy Institute of California just released the following information about its new statewide poll: "Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger now has a 17-point lead over State Treasurer Phil Angelides in the governor's race (48% to 31%). The incumbent GOP governor previously led his Democratic challenger by a 13-point margin in our August (45% to 32%) and July surveys (43% to 30%). In the current survey, 15% of likely voters are still undecided and six percent name another candidate.
"Schwarzenegger holds the lead today because he is favored by 82% of Republicans, and is ahead of Angelides by 15 points among independents (42% to 27%). Meanwhile, 57% of Democrats support Angelides, while 21% favor Schwarzenegger. Significantly, many Democrats (17%) and independents (21%) still say they are undecided in the governor's race. Nearly six in 10 liberals favor Angelides, and seven in 10 conservatives support Schwarzenegger, while the majority of political moderates favor the GOP incumbent (50% Schwarzenegger, 29% Angelides).
Continue reading "Angelides Drops in PPIC Poll" »
 "If one's life is simple, contentment has to come"
— the Dalai Lama, guest of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver at Tuesday's women's conference.
There is nothing simple about Arnold Schwarzenegger, and it is making me sort of miss Gray Davis and Pete Wilson and every other California politician who used to throw up a portable podium and hold a press conference.
They didn't have famous friends. They didn't laminate press credentials for two-hour events or worry about lighting, SUV motorcades, pool feeds and written permission. They didn't have dramatic big-screen backdrops of their own image or recorded music when they walked into a room. They didn't have personal videographers or valets. They didn't have 10,000-square-foot lodges in Idaho or private G-4 jets. They didn't have  rapid response.
"Disconnect, in order to get connected," Maria Shriver told the women's conference she organized — 13,000 women in Long Beach today listening to fabulously successful people telling them how to make it, how to cope.
Monday, for Schwarzenegger it was George Clooney and Don Cheadle — a surprise event that sucked the air out of anything Angelides was doing that day. The governor hung out with Warren Buffett, one of the world's richest men, and George Shultz, the former Secretary of State. He attended a private fund-raiser in Bel Air.
Today, it was a duchess and the Dalai Lama, lifestyle gurus and presidential advisers, and a money manager, Suze Orman, who said: "While we may fake orgasms, men fake finances." Today it was Elle Macpherson and Martha Stewart, who said she studied Jean-Baptiste Colbert and thanked her domestic staff. Today it was Maureen Dowd and Karen Hughes, Tim Russert and Sally Ride.
This wasn't enough for a single day. Schwarzenegger had to stop by a Boeing C-17 plant in Long Beach for more dramatic pictures — webcast live!
 Mind you, I didn't mind it when I found myself on the 54th floor of the J.W. Marriott in Shanghai, traveling with Schwarzenegger on the company dime for eight days in China. His staff has these moments too — with the governor in military helicopters heading off to see the King of Jordan at his palace, gunships following. That photo of me in the right-hand column under "Our Blogger" is from a party on a private yacht in Hong Kong harbor.
I wonder what Phil is doing today.
Finally: Can someone tell me where the men's restroom is at this place? (See photo). The women have taken over the men's restrooms. Fitting payback, I suppose. Or, as the Dalai Lama might suggest, karma.
(Photos: Robert Salladay / LAT)
I was about to miss my flight to S.F. on account of traffic on the 405, so I turned around and went to the Schwarzenegger/Maria Shriver Conference on Women in Long Beach after all. I was in the area. I'll have to catch Phil's Iraq speech and whatnot on Thursday.
The following people will be selling their books — but not signing autographs — at the conference, according to the brochure someone in a black pantsuit handed me: Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York; Karen Hughes; His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Anna Quindlen; Tim Russert; Maria Shriver; Martha Stewart.
(Photo: Robert Salladay / LAT)
Alliance for a Better California, the union-backed group that defeated Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's legislative agenda last year, starts a TV advertising blitz Tuesday for Phil Angelides.
The advertising buy is certainly multiple millions of dollars and could last through election day.
This is the big union buy Angelides has been waiting for. The ads say nothing about Angelides, however; they are all about Schwarzenegger. This is an independent expenditure, outside the control of the Angelides campaign.
"We're doing this to make an impact," said Gale Kaufman, the lead consultant to the group, which is receiving money for the ads from the California Teachers Assn., the Service Employees Union International, California Professional Firefighters, and the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn.
There are two ads. The first features three teachers. The second, a teacher, a firefighter, a nurse and a police officer. The general theme, as expected, is trust. Do voters trust the governor from the recall? The special election? This year?
"There is really no evidence what he believes in," Kaufman said. "Our concerns is, were he to be re-elected, we have no idea which Arnold Schwarzenegger would show up for work on Jan. 1."
The ads were produced by McNally Temple, the same firm that helped the Alliance demolish Schwarzenegger during last year's special election. Kaufman declined to say how big the advertising buy would be.
Here is the script of the two 30-second Alliance for a Better California ads hitting the airwaves today supporting Phil Angelides (by questioning whether voters can trust his opponent, Arnold Schwarzenegger.) They are produced by McNally Temple.
TITLE: "In His Own Words"
Announcer: He promised a new beginning.
Schwarzenegger (video clip): I do not have to bow to any special interest. I have plenty of money. No one can pay me off. Trust me. No one.
Firefighter: But he's taken more special-interest money than any governor in history.
Teacher: Over $100 million from oil companies, drug makers and other big business.
Cop: He stands with them against working people and real reform.
Schwarzenegger (video clip): I'm always kicking their butt. That's why they don't like me.
Nurse: No governor. It's because we don't trust you.
TITLE: "In the Eye"
(Three teachers are in a classroom talking directly to the camera.)
Teacher One: We sat across the table from Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Teacher Two: He looked us in the eye and promised to repay the $2 billion he took from our public schools.
Teacher Three: But he broke that promise. (Screen cuts to protest footage.)
Teacher Two: Parents and teachers protested.
Teacher One: He wasted $70 million on a special election.
Teacher Three: To get more power to cut school funding without asking anyone.
Teacher Two: But voters said no.
Teacher One: When he first ran, he promised schools would be his top priority.
Teachers Two: Now he's promising it again.
Teacher Three: But why would we trust him?
The California Democratic Party is launching a new television ad statewide tomorrow, once again trying to play on comparisons between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and President George W. Bush. The ad, titled "Both," is produced by Morris & Carrick, whose co-owner, Bill Carrick, is helping state treasurer Phil Angelides on his media strategy.
The new CDP ad doesn't mention Angelides. But the Democratic party thinks it has a winner with the Bush-Schwarzenegger connection. Here is the script of the new ad: "George W. Bush wants to privatize Social Security. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to privatize the pensions of firefighters, police and teachers. Bush fails to fund his own education program. Arnold Schwarzenegger cuts school funding by $3 billion. George W. Bush raises the cost of college loans. Arnold Schwarzenegger raises college tuition and fees. Both are leaving our children behind. Call Arnold Schwarzenegger. Tell him he is too much like George W. Bush."
The Democratic Party also struck back today at Republicans for accusing them of illegally running "issue ads" attacking Schwarzenegger, like the one above. The state GOP believes that the law clearly forbids the party from running any ads attacking one candidate or supporting another — if the ads are paid for using unlimited donations. This rule kicks in during the 45-day window before an election, which started Saturday.
The GOP filed a complaint Monday with the Fair Political Practices Commission over the Democratic Party ads. But Rick Hasen, expert election law blogger, says it's complicated. He thinks the Democratic Party may have a point — that they can run the ads without being subject to contribution limits. Read his post for more details.
Art Torres, the chairman of the California Democratic Party, just wrote a scathing letter back to Duf Sundheim, chairman of the GOP, telling him he has the law wrong.
Torres says the FPPC has been clear: since the Democratic Party ads are about Schwarzenegger, and since Schwarzenegger obviously didn't ask for them to be produced at his "behest," they don't have to fall under contribution limits. Torres wrote: "Subdivision (c) of section 85310 imposes a contribution limit to persons who pay for communications that feature a clearly identified candidate where that communication is made at the behest of that candidate. Logically, then, if the candidate that is clearly identified in the communication does not behest the communication, then no such contribution limitation would apply." (Emphasis added by Torres.)
The courts or the FPPC will sort it out. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.
UPDATE: Patrick Dorinson, spokesman for the California GOP, said this legal back-and-forth won't be the end of it. He criticized Angelides for supporting Proposition 89, which would install modified public financing of campaigns and even stricter donation limits, while allowing the Democrats to "flaunt the law. ... We will be pursuing all of our legal remedies."
 In the Gala Room at the Burbank airport Hilton, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger turned toward a table with the words "Fighting Genocide" on a sign. He said, "Now let's get some action going and sign these bills."
More than a dozen cameras rolled. He sat down, picked up a pen and began scribbling on the bills, which would require the state's largest pension funds to divest in any companies that do business with the Sudanese government.
He handed a pen and a copy of the legislation to Don Cheadle, the "Hotel Rwanda" and "Ocean's 11" actor who has been an activist in the push to end the genocide in Darfur. The conflict has claimed an estimated 400,000 lives.
"Does this count as a gift basket, or do I have to complain?" Cheadle joked with the governor, a reference to the lavish goodie baskets routinely given away at Hollywood galas.
 Actor George Clooney received another pen and bill and smiled. The governor told the assembled media, including E! Entertainment news, that "California does not stand for murder and genocide." Schwarzenegger introduced Clooney by mentioning they starred together in "Batman & Robin."
"Selling DVDs," Schwarzenegger said.
"The last time I was onstage with Gov. Schwarzenegger," Clooney said, "he was playing Mr. Freeze and I was Batman. He's gone on to be governor and I still think I'm Batman."
Cheadle had heard the legislation "was in trouble" a week ago, that perhaps the governor would not sign it. He was with Clooney on the set of "Ocean's 13." They went to Clooney's hotel room and called the governor. Turned out what they heard was wrong. The governor would sign the legislation.
Cheadle said the legislation Schwarzenegger signed would send a message to other states and the rest of the world that powerful, wealthy California would stand up to genocide. "No bombers necessary for this one," he said.
The press conference attracted a documentary film crew working for producer Cathy Schulman, who did "Crash." Schulman and director Ted Braun are following Cheadle and two Darfur activists, Adam Sterling and Jason Miller. Schulman said Cheadle made her passionate about the subject while working together on "Crash."
"Just being around him you can't help but want to fight," Schulman said.
Sterling had this to say: "To the government of Sudan: We are going after you, state by state, pension fund by pension fund." Miller, his associate, said Phil Angelides has been "terrific" about working to end ties with Sudan as a member of the CalPERS board.
Schwarzenegger's own friends have major investments in companies that do business in Sudan. Financier Warren Buffett, who endorsed the governor Monday and has been an advisor, owns an estimated $2.7 billion worth of PetroChina stock through Berkshire Hathaway. It's the largest individual investor in the Chinese oil company, which does business in Sudan.
Miller said he would ask Schwarzenegger about Buffett, only later. Schwarzenegger did not take questions, but Clooney and Cheadle stuck around. Television reporters wanted to know if Clooney was running for office in 2008.
"Believe me, you don't want me in politics," he said.
CalPERS, the state's huge public pension fund, estimated it would cost about $1.9 million to fully divest from the country. But the legislation allows it to do a full assessment of investments. The state teacher retirement fund, according to Assemblyman Paul Koretz, author of the legislation, has about 20 million shares in PetroChina.
A Schwarzenegger aide brought the bills down to the signing in her handbag.
  
(Photos: Robert Salladay / LAT)
I'm headed to Burbank to see George Clooney and Don Cheadle, two great actors, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Former Secretary of State George Shultz will be there too. The governor is signing legislation at noon requiring the state pension fund and UC system to divest assets from any company that does business with the Sudanese government.
An estimated 400,000 people have been killed in genocide there, and several million displaced.
Phil Angelides could sue Schwarzenegger this afternoon for stealing his issue. No statewide elected official has done more than Angelides to divest California's pension fund from companies doing business in Sudan. In fact, CalPERS is a long way toward accomplishing what Schwarzenegger already is requiring by law today. The UC system as well.
But Schwarzenegger is governor, and he can bring along celebrities when he signs legislation, which brings along cameras, which causes news stories about the genocide in Sudan, and that perhaps is a good thing.
Duf Sundheim, chairman of the California GOP, has written his counterpart over at the Democratic Party, Art Torres, asking whether he is still running "issue ads" supporting Phil Angelides. The state is now inside the 45-day window before an election, which means political parties are prohibited from running soft-money ads that support or oppose candidates. That is, unless the ads are produced independently of the candidate. Duf writes: "If you are airing these ads paid for with soft money, you are in violation of the law and you are obligated to inform those media outlets who continue to run them to cease and desist from airing these ads immediately."
Here is an earlier post on this.
My brother the astrophysicist forwards NASA pix of the day — the California Nebula. I hear Jerry Brown is still governor there.
UPDATE: Speaking of the Oakland mayor, George Skelton has an interview with the former Gov. Moonbeam, who offers this explanation for why he would not run for U.S. president or governor if he wins the Attorney General race this November.
"No, no. I'm 68½ here. I have a wonderful wife who I think wants me to pay more attention to her."
(Photo: NASA)
Marty Wilson, the governor's wry and cool-headed fund-raiser, has been reduced to hawking posters and wine glass charms for his client. Here is the latest "Marty's Money Moment" e-mail sent out from the Schwarzenegger campaign. Buy fast, or Marty won't be able to pay his tab at Spataro.
 "Take a moment from reading the 'Money Moment' to check out the limited Edition screen prints, signed by both Arnold Schwarzenegger and the internationally acclaimed California artist Hiro Yamagata. These 24 inch by 24 inch unframed prints are being offered through our website for $1,000. This is a unique opportunity to help the Governor's campaign as well as have a very special piece of art for your home or office. And while you're surfing the site, stop by the Join Arnold store to buy some other great items for friends and family....if you're wondering what to get me for Christmas, the wine charms are very cool. Thanks everyone for all of your support it is only 46 days until Election Day!"
Is that a Terminator hand on Schwarzenegger?
(Photo: Californians for Schwarzenegger 2006)
Phil Angelides gave a big speech last week about cracking down on HMOs. Few people noticed. He has fairly detailed plans on balancing the state budget, but few people noticed that as well. I blame the MSM and bloggers too.
So now he's turning to Iraq, a far more emotional issue. From The Times: "The treasurer, who is trailing Schwarzenegger in the polls with little more than six weeks left before the election, plans to lay out his views on California's National Guard deployment in Iraq in speeches in San Francisco and Burbank on Tuesday and then in Sacramento on Thursday, aides said. The Angelides offensive on Iraq is part of his effort to remind voters of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Republican roots and his support for Bush's reelection.
"Schwarzenegger has let our troops down by not speaking out against the war," Angelides said in the interview."
Of course, Angelides knows any move to pull back federalized California Guard troops from Iraq is legally suspect. He went to Harvard fer chrissake, not some Midwestern college by mail! (Note to Kos readers: that is sarcasm.) The Bee: "'The governor can't countermand him — it's not a realistic possibility,' said Joseph Grodin, a former state Supreme Court justice and constitutional law expert at the University of California's Hastings College of Law. 'It's not a legal possibility, either.'"
But this won't stop Angelides from making an emotional point with voters. His allies have polling suggesting the current TV ads linking Schwarzenegger to President Bush's unpopular policies are working somewhat.
It's practically the only thing that is working. Somewhat.
My colleague Michael Finnegan makes this fundamentally important point summing up Phil Angelides' campaign problems: You have to build the groundwork. That means telling voters your background and courting influential groups such as the churches. Showing up at a few churches won't get you elected, but it sends a message to the media and elsewhere that you know the basics.
With 45 days left, it's still not done. Finnegan writes: "Basic political work has also proved a challenge for Angelides, a former state Democratic chairman, particularly in his appeals to African Americans. By the time Schwarzenegger one-upped him last month by speaking at First African Methodist Episcopal Church, a must-stop for Democrats in South Los Angeles, Angelides had yet to make a courtesy call to its politically influential pastor, the Rev. John Hunter.
"'It was certainly an oversight,' said Kerman Maddox, who handles political matters for the church.
"The Rev. Frederick O. Murph, pastor of Brookins AME Church in South Los Angeles, said he was concerned that Angelides had failed so far to make any 'big thrust, in terms of the African American vote.'"
From the Political Muscle foreign desk:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has assured the government of Malta that an accused pedophile will be treated with fairness if he is extradited to the U.S. The governor's letter is designed to ease the way for the prisoner, Lewis Muscat, to be transferred here, according to the Malta press.
"I am confident that Mr. Muscat's rights will be protected should he be found guilty of the pending charges," Schwarzenegger wrote.
Muscat, 56, allegedly sexually abused a female relative, now 11, over a period of three years. He is also accused of abusing other children and faces 18 criminal counts, according to the reports.
Malta Media News has more about Muscat, who has appealed his extradition to the U.S.: "The appeal adds that abusive acts on underage children, possession and control of pornography and distributing indecent material through electronic mail, Internet and telephone do not constitute a case for extradition.
"According to Section 5, Chapter 276 of the Maltese Constitution, an extradition can be carried out in cases of rape with violence, kidnapping, unconsummated rape and violent attacks."
You've all seen the California Democratic Party ads that attempt to link the governor to President Bush and some of his more unpopular policies.
The spot shows, and repeats again and again, footage of Schwarzenegger at an Ohio rally before the 2004 election, exhorting the crowd: "Let's go out and elect George W. Bush!" Bush won Ohio by 118,000 votes, and thus the presidency. The ad has been playing all over the place, and party officials think it's having an impact.
Starting Saturday, though, the party must dramatically scale back its financial support for Angelides' campaign — and the Bush ads.
Under state campaign-finance laws, political parties can use donations in unlimited amounts to buy TV time for spots promoting their candidates — or tearing down their opponents. But under a new provision of the law, this loophole closes 45 days before the election, and the infusion of party money dries up dramatically if they are coordinating with a candidate.
Today, the California Republican Party stopped financing ads that support Schwarzenegger and attack Angelides, and the governor's re-election campaign started picking up the tab for the media campaign. And yet, as we understand it, the Democratic Party still has booked TV time this weekend for its Bush-Schwarzenegger ads.
This is the first time this law has applied to a governor's race in California.
"This rule prevents parties and outside groups from gaming the system to benefit candidates using huge donations," said Ned Wigglesworth, policy advocate for Common Cause, a nonprofit advocacy group.
Money is a big issue for Angelides. He has collected barely half the amount that Schwarzenegger has received from donors — $14.6 million compared to $28 million. Now his campaign must pay most of the bill for his TV ads.
Or the Democratic Party could challenge the rules. They could, for example, say that Angelides is not directing the content of the party's Bush ads, and therefore they are exempt under another loophole in the law.
The party declined to comment on its ad strategy as of 6 p.m. Friday. Stayed tuned. The Schwarzenegger campaign, to be sure, will be watching the TV closely.
 When they come to Sacramento, people who live beyond the L Street corridor near the Capitol often are shocked at the rather crass way business is conducted here.
The private fundraisers with cheesy door prizes. The hallways outside the Senate and Assembly chambers cluttered with lobbyists. It's sort of Florsheim Gulch, California's answer to Washington's Gucci Gulch.
So, as a lesson in reality civics, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights based in Santa Monica sent a handheld camera to Sacramento during the final week of the legislative session and caught some great unguarded moments of the Capitol in action.
Watch the video here.
(Photo: Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights)
It was one of the biggest special-interest fights this year, worth billions of dollars to telephone companies such as AT&T.
Legislation by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez would allow telephone companies to seek statewide franchises to provide TV service — changing the current system where cable companies and satellite services dominate through agreements with local markets. The bill is sitting on Schwarzenegger's desk.
Now the telephone companies are reaching out to thank Nunez for his good work on their behalf. They have taken out full-page ads in major newspapers praising him for his "leadership and vision" to bring "cable TV choice to California." The ads are paid for through a coalition that includes AT&T and other interested parties.
This is a fairly traditional public relations strategy, although it's doubtful the average newspaper reader knows what Nunez has done to deserve such gratitude and glory. It's more about sending a signal to the media and insiders, and to Schwarzenegger.
 
On the eve of First Lady Maria Shriver's women's conference in Long Beach, which is expected to draw more than 10,000 women and feature the Dalai Lama along with Martha Stewart, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke recently about his negotiating strategy with Shriver and others. "You know it is the same thing, I can go to my wife and I can go and say, ‘Look, I have some friends coming over from Austria and I expect you to make the best wiener schnitzels they’ve ever eaten. This is absolutely a must.’ She most likely will burn that and they will all choke to death. That’s what she would do.
"But if I say to Maria, ‘I have some friends coming over from Austria, and the Austrians claim that Americans don’t know how to make wiener schnitzel. Let’s show them. I know you make the best wiener schnitzels in town. Better than my mother ever made. It is unbelievable. You make those wiener schnitzels, and it's going to be a winner.’ Now my wife is going to kick in and go and do everything she can because it’s a different approach."
This is Schwarzenegger being ironic or just funny. Nobody tells Maria Shriver to get in the kitchen and make some food.
UPDATE: Julia Rosen with the anti-Schwarzenegger Alliance for a Better California says this proves that Schwarzenegger is "all about Arnold walking into a room, assessing the situation and figuring out how he can walk out of it a winner."
The Mirror newspaper in England reports that Schwarzenegger has given up his fleet of Hummers. Of course, this is the same newspaper with the headline today: "We're All Praying for You, Hamster" and "I've Had Five Babies in 10 Months."
The story is apparently based on a comment former Vice President Al Gore made Thursday in New York at the Clinton Global Initiative summit. The Mirror writes, "Gore mentioned the garage clear-out at a speech in New York. He said: 'Arnie has given up his Hummers.' "
Schwarzenegger still owns four gas-guzzling Hummers, but his main form of transportation is chauffeured California Highway Patrol SUVs. The family car is a Mercedes G-wagon.
Schwarzenegger signs global warming legislation next week.
So far, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, have managed to keep the E. coli outbreak linked to California-grown spinach away from the governor. Politically that is.
 Kennedy is a master at damage control, most notably in her ability to enforce discipline and a sense of urgency on the state's vast and often unfocused bureaucracies. She learned many lessons during the energy crisis of 2000 and 2001, which pretty much destroyed her boss at the time, then-Gov. Gray Davis, who was criticized for what was seen as a slow reaction. (Little did they know, the conspiracy in Texas was unstoppable.)
And so, what has been Schwarzenegger's response to the great spinach debacle? While state health officials are focused on managing the problem, Schwarzenegger told the Sacramento Bee that he wants to ... promote spinach sales. He is planning a TV advertisement to help the industry rebound and start making money again.
"We have to help the industry because every so often something like this happens, and we all have to really work together to help them again to get back because they are losing millions of dollars every day," he said.
But the state does bear some responsibility. Natural Selection Farms (Charles Darwin would be pleased with the name) has been fingered as the source of the offending spinach that has sickened about 150 and caused at least one death.
 Some MSM reporting has found the farm in violation of a state water disposal permit, for example, and a generally laconic system of inspection statewide. Government health inspectors are now intensely involved in fixing the situation.
And now let me add the political twist. The distributor of the offending Natural Selection spinach is Dole Foods, which undoubtedly has been hit financially by the voluntary recall of packaged spinach. Dole Foods is owned by David Murdock, the 83-year-old healthy-living advocate and philanthropist who is also good friends with Schwarzenegger.
Last year, Schwarzenegger declared Dole Foods an "honor roll company" for helping fight obesity with portable salad bars in K-12 public schools and other healthy-eating programs. Murdock and his company, Castle & Cooke, and its executives have donated $304,600 to Schwarzenegger's various campaigns since 2002.
The administration consistently says that campaign donations never influence the governor. A press spokesman declined to say whether Murdock had contacted Schwarzenegger in recent days to discuss the crisis.
(Photos: Macio Jose Sanchez / AP; Paul Sakuma / AP)
Stephen Bing, the press-shy Hollywood producer and multimillionaire, has put another $13.5 million into the campaign supporting Proposition 87, which would tax oil companies $4 billion for research and development of alternative fuels.
His total buy-in is now more than $40 million.
Today, former President Clinton endorsed the initiative at his Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York. Bing was there, but he didn't come on stage when Clinton pointed him out. Clinton said about the initiative and its backers: "This is a very, very good thing to do and, since California is our biggest state, it pumps 190 million tons of pollution into the air from cars, trucks and buses that run on gasoline and diesel every single year. This is a big deal. I’m very grateful to them."
The campaign wouldn't say if Clinton would appear in ads for Bing's initiative, but my guess is that he will. Bing was a generous donor to the Democratic Party when Clinton was president, and they have many mutual friends, including Ron Burkle, grocery store magnate and financier.
Meanwhile, the Sacramento Bee highlights a potential problem with the initiative and asks voters to reject it. The issue, according to the Bee, is not whether the intent of Proposition 87 is good but whether the initiative shows "a deep paranoia about established structures of government oversight." "For one thing, Proposition 87 includes governance provisions that look like a sequel of the $4 billion stem cell program voters approved in 2004. Under this 'Son of Stem Cell' oil-tax initiative, all revenues would flow to a board whose individual qualifications are spelled out, in detail, in the initiative. Board members would be exempted from certain aspects of state conflict-of-interest law, which supporters say would allow University of California professors to sit on the funding authority and approve grants for other UC professors.
"Proposition 87 doesn't go as far as the stem cell initiative in exempting itself from open meetings and disclosure laws, but it still creates a new state agency that — like Proposition 71 — is shielded from legislative review."
  New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is in California this week on a two-day tour. He ends his visit tonight with a fundraiser in Stockton for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, after hanging out with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Today, Schwarzenegger and Bloomberg toured a fuel cell company in Sunnyvale. The governor's state-run website produced a live feed through its webcam.
The Schwarzenegger fundraiser is being hosted by Faye and Alex Spanos at their Stockton home, Villa Angelica. Apparently, there is a home in Stockton nice enough to get its own name. Spanos is owner of the San Diego Chargers and a developer. The cost is $5,000 per couple.
In its continuing effort to link Schwarzenegger with President George W. Bush, the California Democratic Party sent out an e-mail today noting Spanos' connections to a group called Progress for America. He's donated $5 million to that group, which has built "grass-roots" support for Bush on Supreme Court nominations, tax cuts and Social Security overhaul.
A highlight of the year is always the California State Auditor's report of "improper activities" by state workers. The report is just out. Included in the roll call:
- A Department of Industrial Relations employee took two days bereavement leave claiming a relative was dead when the employee was actually in Los Angeles County jail.
- Department of Corrections gave raises to 25 nurses at four prisons by claiming they were supervisors. One nurse received a $7,983 pay increase over 16 months. Auditors found $238,184 in pay was not justified. The nurses' union has sued.
- Seven out of 10 workers at one DMV branch "were experiencing workplace tensions" because of an absentee boss.
- A Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Employee submitted false time sheets and received $17,904 in extra wages.
Inland Empire voters were switched to the Republican Party without their knowledge, the Press-Enterprise found in its own investigation called "The Secret Shuffle." "Reporters called hundreds of the recent GOP registrants. Of the approximately 60 who answered calls, most were unaware their party registration had been changed, and none had been contacted by state or county authorities.
Only 19 voters said they had signed off on the switch.
The newspaper's review found a pattern of cajoling and outright deception by some of the GOP-funded signature gatherers, who received a 'bounty' of several dollars for every Republican they signed up.
People first were asked to sign petitions to qualify initiatives on issues such as keeping child molesters away from schools. Free soda, chips and bottled water sometimes were offered."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is preparing whiz-bang ceremonies for next Wednesday in San Francisco and Los Angeles to sign legislation designed to curb global warming. He clearly wants to be seen as a leader on this issue.
 The bill, by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, requires state regulators to measure greenhouses gases from industry, set emission limits, and reduce California's production of carbon dioxide and other harmful gases by 25% by the year 2020.
It's considered one of the biggest steps to curb global warming ever approved in the U.S.
But Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer (in photo) handed Schwarzenegger a dilemma by suing the six major auto manufacturers in U.S. District Court today. Lockyer said that the automakers have created a "public nuisance" and have been "refusing to act" to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide spewed from their cars.
A press release from Locker's office stated: "Under the law, a 'public nuisance' is an unreasonable interference with a public right, or an action that interferes with or causes harm to life, health or property. The complaint asks the court to hold the defendants liable for damages, including future harm, caused by their ongoing, substantial contribution to the public nuisance of global warming."
This is a more aggressive stance against business than Schwarzenegger has been willing to take, despite his involvement in another lawsuit defending California's tailpipe emissions regulations. Lockyer works as both California's lawyer and the attorney representing Schwarzenegger, depending on the case. This new lawsuit was created in his office without Schwarzenegger's help.
In reacting to Lockyer's announcement, Schwarzenegger was mildly supportive. He sent reporters to Linda Adams, his secretary for environmental protection. Her statement said, "We applaud any effort to defend California's right to clean air."
The governor said nothing.
UPDATE: Mark Martin at the S.F. Chronicle finds two bills on global warming that put Schwarzenegger in a bind as well.
(Photo: Jamie Rector / AP)
 A certain very bald employee of Arnold Schwarzenegger (be careful guessing who it is — there are at least five fitting that description) has complained that Political Muscle may occasionally lack substance. That hurt!
Therefore, just to show how serious this site really is, Political Muscle offers these links to YouTube videos about Arnold Schwarzenegger. (This is called retaliatory irony.)
Arnold goes to Stallone's house.
Arnold and Ally McBeal.
Arnold Skit on Mad TV.
Lots more here.
It's part of a campaign called FlunkArnold.com that launched today and encourages college students to produce videos of Schwarzenegger in a negative light. The producer of the best video gets free tuition for a year at any CSU campus and his or her video aired as an advertisement on "The Daily Show."
This is a union campaign run by the California Faculty Assn.
(Photo: FlunkArnold.com)
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