Survey: Schwarzenegger Enviro Record Mixed

The California League of Conservation Voters has released its "environmental scorecard," and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has dropped in ranking despite getting praise for shifting to a Democratic agenda. In 2004 and last year, the Republican governor agreed with the environmental group 58% of the time in signing or vetoing legislation, but this year his average was 50%.

The group has endorsed state Treasurer Phil Angelides, but their election-year survey of legislation hardly excoriates the governor. In the rankings, Schwarzenegger landed just below the average of the entire Legislature when it came to agreeing with the league, but far below Democratic lawmakers who embraced their agenda. This is important evidence for people who assume Schwarzenegger has become a Democrat this year.

The league praised Schwarzenegger for signing landmark bills to curb global warming and establish a statewide biomonitoring program, among others. But they criticized him for vetoing a bill to impose a $30 fee on containers in L.A. and Long Beach ports to improve air quality and security, and for vetoing another that would have required 50% of all vehicles sold in California to use alternative fuels by 2020.

The league said the 2005 legislative session was dismal for environmentalists but offered some skepticism about this year's big bills, such as the global warming regulations: "We give the Legislature and the governor credit for learning the lessons of 2005. While we won't look a gift horse in the mouth, it's fair to wonder if 2006 was, in fact, an election year gift that will be replaced in 2007 by a retreat to more traditional positions."

(Photos: Ben Margot / AP; David Paul Morris / Getty Images)

'Statesman' Dymally: I Am Pleased to Donate Old Clothes

Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally of Los Angeles has issued the following press release from his government office:

"Compton's Statesman Donates Clothes

"Assemblymember Mervyn M. Dymally (D-Compton) has announced that he will be donating 30 suits to a parking lot sale being hosted by Compton's St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church.

" 'It's my pleasure to donate the clothes,' comments Dymally. 'Hopefully some young men will take advantage of the opportunity and buy the suits to wear on job interviews.'

"The suits range in size from 40 to 44 and will be sold for $10, with shirts going for $3; ties will be given away for free to those who buy the suit and the shirt. 'These suits have history,' Dymally continues. 'I remember wearing some of these suits while I was lieutenant governor of California and in Congress.' "

Dymally was elected lieutenant governor in 1974.

Schwarzenegger at Florin High

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger visited Florin High School in unincorporated Sacramento County this afternoon to promote vocational education. He shook hands with students in a floral-design class and, talking to reporters, promoted the bond measures on the November ballot.

Most of the students at the school seemed unaware the governor was in their midst. The classroom that Schwarzenegger visited was on the far end of campus and cordoned off by police tape and patrol cars. The governor said when he was a student in Austria he took vocational classes — to be a salesman.

(Photos: Robert Salladay / LAT)

Palo Alto Firm Releases New Poll

An Internet poll by Polimetrix, developed by a Stanford political science professor, shows Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger with a 10-point lead over state Treasurer Phil Angelides. The polling company claims to have developed "a unique sample selection methodology that combines a large Internet panel with voter and consumer databases to create representative voter samples."

The poll was conducted for the Hoover Institution. Take the following results for what you will.

• Governor: Schwarzenegger 50%, Angelides 40%



• Lieutenant governor: John Garamendi 51%, Tom McClintock 45%



• Attorney general: Jerry Brown 58%, Chuck Poochigian 37%



• Controller: John Chiang 52%, Tony Strickland 40%



• Secretary of state: Debra Bowen 50%, Bruce McPherson 43%



• Treasurer: Bill Lockyer 55%, Claude Parrish 37%



• Insurance commissioner: Steve Poizner 55%, Cruz Bustamante 36%



• U.S. Senate: Dianne Feinstein 57%, Richard Mountjoy 39%

Initiatives

• Prop. 85, parental notification: 42% yes, 51% no



• Prop. 86, cigarette tax: 49% yes, 47% no



• Prop. 87, oil tax: 49% yes, 44% no



• Prop. 88, parcel tax: 31% yes, 60% no



• Prop. 89, campaign finance: 35% yes, 52% no



• Prop. 90, eminent domain: 58% yes, 28% no

The company said about the poll: "Participating in the survey were 877 likely voters belonging to the PollingPoint Internet panel. Panelists were selected to match a random sample drawn from the California voter list by age, gender, race, party registration and residence. The margin of error for the survey estimates is approximately plus or minus 3.5%."

GOP Mailer on Angelides: He Won't Protect Children

At a high school event in Sacramento today, state Treasurer Phil Angelides told students he was angry about a new California Republican Party mailer that implies he doesn't want to protect children because he opposes Proposition 85, which would require parental notification for underage abortions.

Sitting before the high schoolers, Angelides said it was ridiculous to expect a 15-year-old girl, for example, to petition a judge for a waiver — something the initiative requires. "It is part of a national agenda by the right wing to take away a woman's right to chose," he said and added, "Gov. Schwarzenegger is for this measure."

Schwarzenegger supports the initiative and backed a similar measure last year, but has shied away from discussing the controversial issue on the campaign trail.

Kerry Upsets Conservatives Again

A Phil Angelides campaign rally this week featuring U.S. Sen. John Kerry and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is getting conservatives all hot and bothered because Kerry said:

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq."

To right-winger Michelle Malkin, this is evidence that Kerry believes soldiers in Iraq are uneducated and pretty much worthless for nothing but war fodder. KFI-AM's John Ziegler is getting traction from it as well.

Kerry likely was making a point that has been around for decades: the poor and undereducated are sent in disproportionate numbers to die in wars. It didn't help that Kerry sounded like he was making a joke at the expense of soldiers. The Pasadena Star News said the crowd reacted with a mixture of "laughter and gasps," Malkin noted.

UPDATE: This story erupted today when White House spokesman Tony Snow said Kerry owes an apology to soldiers and their families. To which, Kerry responded:

"I'm sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did. I'm not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh. ...  Bottom line, Republicans want to debate straw men because they're afraid to debate real men."

A reader says Kerry is spouting myths about the troops. A Heritage Foundation report found military recruits actually better educated than the general population as a whole. But this comes as the military enlists older men and women, and with more recruits with past criminal records, no high school diplomas and with lower scores on aptitude tests.

(Photo: Ann Johansson / AP)

Angelides at Kennedy High: Cornel West and Banana Suits

In the smart-kid wing of Kennedy High School in Sacramento, the halls were empty about a half hour before state Treasurer Phil Angelides arrived this morning with his longtime friend Cornel West, the theologian and intellectual who first met Angelides when they were freshmen at Harvard. In one empty classroom, a lone teacher wearing a sweater vest carefully made his way to the whiteboard: "Write sentences with vocabulary words," he instructed.

Across the hall, students, many in costumes, filed into an Advanced Placement government class. One wore a banana suit. The student body president was dressed as a doctor, and another came as a dark angel, signaling doom. A bored-sounding student read the Pledge of Allegiance over the public address system. Hardly anyone noticed. The boy in the banana suit turned toward the U.S. flag.

Angelides and West arrived in the classroom and took their place before the students. Reporters and cameramen were in one corner near a row of books: "Ishi" and "Hiroshima." On the wall, teacher Todd Whalen kept a collection of kitschy postcards in plastic cases along with photographs of himself with students.

Angelides spoke first, mentioning a mock election of Kennedy seniors in which he beat Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by 13 votes — 161 to 148: "I'm very honored that the students at Kennedy chose me over Arnold Schwarzenegger."

Then he pointed toward student Exie Frazier, the editor of the school newspaper, to ask the first question. Frazier spoke about "shady characters" in politics and wondered why Angelides had not fulfilled his promise from several months ago to provide students with free copies of West's books. Angelides promised her he would get the books ASAP, with his own money. His staff said the books were purchased in June and delivered today — the campaign wanted to wait until the next Angelides-West visit to deliver them.

"You know what, it would be the potential journalist who would ask that question," Angelides joked.

A student asked about Proposition 85, which would require parental notification if a minor seeks an abortion. Angelides told the students that Schwarzenegger supports it and called the initiative a right-wing plot to take away women's rights. Another student, standing in the corner, asked about the "illegal immigrant issue" and wondered what could be done about immigrants using public facilities and not paying taxes. Angelides said "we need a real border" and spoke of his immigrant mother and grandparents.

Angelides said the state would "come to a grinding halt" if immigrants were to leave, because they provide so much for the economy. West, a graduate of Kennedy High, said: "I just wish we could be as scrutinizing of corporations that often don't pay their fair share of taxes." He mentioned Jesus' admonition to focus on the least of us.

The talk soon turned to the huge amounts that state and federal governments spend on war and prisons, and not schools. "We're being stupid about this," Angelides said. "We are not investing in the front end of life and paying more for the back end."

West mentioned the disproportionate number of African Americans in prison and lamented: "Especially brothers, especially brothers."

Afterward, the two men shook hands with students, hugged each other, and went their separate ways.

(Photos: Robert Salladay / LAT)

Stephen Bing Puts In Another $6 million

Multimillionaire Stephen L. Bing just committed another $6 million to finance Proposition 87, bringing his total to $49.5 million in support of the initiative that would tax oil companies to pay for alternative fuels research. No other individual has spent as much money on a single initiative or personal political campaign as Bing, who inherited a New York real estate fortune.

Movie producer Bing is one of several millionaires to spend lavishly from their own pockets for the initiative. Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have each donated $1 million to Proposition 87, bringing the total donations in support to $56.9 million.

Meanwhile, oil company giants have donated $85.1 million to defeat the tax-raising initiative, Dan Morain reports. Chevron leads the pack, with $34 million, followed by oil producer Aera Energy — a joint venture of Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell — with $30 million.

The combined $142 million spent on Proposition 87 is a record. Previously, the most costly initiative campaign in California — and in the nation — was the $93 million spent on Proposition 5, the 1998 initiative to legalize Nevada-style casino gambling on Indian reservations.

(Photo: Jim Ruymen / Reuters)

Voter Intimidation Scandal: A 'Perfect Story'

L.A. Times columnist Gregory Rodriguez dissects the controversy over Republican congressional candidate Tan Nguyen and the "do not vote" letter that went to 14,000 people in Orange County with Spanish surnames. He finds the story something of a perfect storm that allowed both sides, Republicans and Democrats, "to position themselves as Latino friendly. The only loser is the rakish yet soon-to-be-forgotten Nguyen. And no one owed him anything, so who cares?" Rodriguez writes:

"Editorialists called the incident 'despicable.' Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger labeled it 'racist' and a 'hate crime.' The chairman of the Orange County Republican Party called it 'grotesque and obnoxious.' You'd think they were all talking about a lynching, or at least a cross-burning. But no, it was a rather pedantic letter sent to fewer than 14,000 foreign-born Democrats with Spanish surnames in Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Anaheim."

The letter legitimately reminded many politicians and reporters of past efforts to intimidate Latino voters in O.C., so the anger is understandable to me. In the wake of the controversy, however, some conservative bloggers are asking, What's the big deal? And, according to the O.C. Register, a rally organized by Vietnam veterans and Vietnamese expatriates "lined Garden Grove's historic Main Street with yellow and green Tan Nguyen signs. Buena Park's the Rev. Wiley Drake showed up to videotape his global prayer-line broadcast, and a club singer in black fishnet stockings repeatedly lip-synced to her recording of the campaign's new country-Western theme song, 'Stand by Our Tan.'"

Nguyen is undoubtedly going to lose to Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez. But there are other winners. Rodriguez concludes: "The point is that plenty of politicos on both sides of the aisle got to prove their benevolence, the media got to show off their high-minded indignation and nothing, absolutely nothing, was done to alter the political status quo. A perfect story."

(Photo: Chris Carlson / AP)

Afternoon Roundup

• Phil Angelides gives $500,000 of his own money to gubernatorial campaign.



• Unions sue to block Gov. Arnold Schwarznegger's plan to ship inmates out of state.



• Rep. John Doolittle owes his wife's firm nearly $40,000, which means he personally benefits from corporate donors.



• An academic study finds that supposedly dumb voters watching "soft news" like "Oprah" can absorb and learn more about politics than serious folks who watch hard news. Be warned — the study contains sentences like this: "Given that rational individuals employ heuristic cues to compensate for incomplete information, citizens with different information needs will vary in what they require to fulfill their civic duties successfully."