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Gov. Arnold Schwarznegger's staff, eager to show the governor hasn't been incapacitated by his surgery to repair a femur fractured on the slopes, has issued a statement from the governor and a few "action" photos of him working from his hospital bed. Today I woke up feeling great and I am back at work. From the hospital I am preparing for my State of the State address, meeting with members of my staff and working on the state budget. I am also looking forward to my inauguration to a second term as your Governor - even if it means I have to walk into my swearing-in ceremony on crutches. Over the past few days I have received so many phone calls and notes wishing me a speedy recovery. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.
 
-- Jordan Rau
Turns out Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's skiing mishap, in which he fractured his right femur, wasn't so glamorous. Schwarzenegger's press operation isn't releasing any details, but the Times' Peter Nicholas tracked down an eyewitness: Adi Erber, a ski instructor who was with the governor at the time of the accident, said that Schwarzenegger was standing still, preparing for the final 200 yards of the run on Bald Mountain in Sun Valley, Idaho. The governor's ski pole got caught in one of his skis, causing him to trip and fall.
Erber described it as a "freak accident.''
He said the governor was in pain, and that a rescue team took him down the hill on a toboggan. Schwarzenegger was then taken to the hospital for X-rays.
The two men, accompanied by security guards, had been skiing for about two hours prior to the accident, Erber said.
"It was the last run down,'' Erber said. "He was trying to take off again and he tripped.''
Erber, a fellow Austrian, said that skiing is one of Schwarzenegger's favorite sports, and predicted that once the governor's leg heals he would be back at it.
"I've skied with him for 18 years,'' he said. "He's an expert skier.''
He added that the governor "will be back in shape in no time. And I'm sure he will ski again.''
-- Jordan Rau
The governor's doctor says Schwarzenegger is awake and alert after the 90-minute surgery this morning to mend his broken leg. He'll remain in the hospital for three days.
Here's the statement from Dr. Kevin Ehrhart: At 9:45 this morning our surgical team, consisting of myself, two assistant surgeons, an anesthesiologist and two nurses, completed a successful open reduction internal fixation on the upper part of Governor Schwarzenegger's thigh bone. The surgery involved using cables and screws to wire the two main fragments of the Governor's broken femur bone back together. It lasted approximately an hour an a half, was without complication, and the post-operation x-rays look great.
Following the surgery, the Governor was awake, alert and talking in the recovery room. He is now fully coherent and I have cleared him to resume his duties as Governor. The Governor will remain in the hospital for three days, as is standard for this type of operation. Recovery will take approximately eight weeks and I expect the Governor to fully recover. The Governor is not in a cast and will use crutches to walk while his leg heals.
Here's the written comment from First Lady Maria Shriver: When we checked Arnold into the hospital on Christmas night he was looking forward to his surgery. He has been in good spirits. He asked when he could get back to work and he's looking forward to his inauguration next week. Our children and I are grateful for everyone's support and prayers.
-- Jordan Rau
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is to undergo surgery Tuesday to repair his right femur, which he fractured while skiing Saturday.
This is the statement issued by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Kevin Ehrhart on Monday: First thing tomorrow morning, our team will repair the Governor's fractured right femur by performing an open reduction internal fixation on the upper part of the thigh bone. This relatively common surgery involves using orthopedic cables and screws to help the bone heal.
Governor Schwarzenegger will be put under general anesthesia for no longer than two hours and the surgery should last less than two hours. As is standard for this type of surgery, the Governor will be kept for observation for three days. The Governor will use crutches following the surgery and recovery will take approximately eight weeks.
I have spoken to the Governor several times since the skiing accident occurred and he is very comfortable. The Governor has already been admitted to the hospital for standard pre-operation procedures and I am confident he will have a speedy recovery from this routine surgery."
While Schwarzenegger is under general anesthesia, Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante will serve as acting Governor.
-- Jordan Rau
Schwarzenegger broke his leg while skiing Saturday. Here's the 411 about the 911 from Adam Mendelsohn, the governor's spokesman: This morning while skiing with his family in Sun Valley, Idaho, Governor Schwarzenegger suffered a fracture to his right femur. After the accident the Governor was taken to a local hospital for X-rays and was soon discharged. He is currently at his home in Sun Valley, Idaho, with his family. When the Governor returns to Los Angeles from his scheduled Christmas trip, he will have surgery to repair his femur. No one else was involved in the skiing accident.
The Times story Saturday night fills in the background: The femur, the long leg bone between the pelvis and the knee, is considered one of the strongest bones in the human body.
Schwarzenegger is well known in Sun Valley, and has led a traditional Christmas Eve torchlight parade on the local mountains. A mogul-filled ski run there is named Arnold's Run in his honor.
Schwarzenegger has often ducked out to the ski haven in the Sawtooth Mountains, which has become a de facto hideaway for politicians and silver-screen stars. John F. Kerry snowboarded there during his presidential run and locals have spotted Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, Clint Eastwood and Jamie Lee Curtis in town or on the slopes.
-- Jordan Rau
When the Schwarzenegger administration this week announced the 14 members of the Market Advisory Committee, a new panel created to help the California Air Resources Board enact this year's Global Warming Solutions Act, there were a slew of details about the chairman: Winston Hickox is former Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency. As Secretary of Cal/EPA, Hickox was instrumental in the enactment of legislation requiring new greenhouse gas emission standards for cars. He also established the Environmental Protection Indicators for California, and led the implementation of Environmental Justice legislation in California. Since July of 2004, Hickox has been employed by CalPERS, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, as a Senior Portfolio Manager. He has assisted with the design and implementation of a series of Environmental Investment Initiatives, including investments in clean technology, and other investment initiatives focused on the impacts of climate change. Hickox currently serves on the Sacramento County Employees’ Retirement System Board, as well as the Boards of the following NGOs: the California League of Conservation Voters, Audubon California, and the Sustainable Conservation Boards. Hickox has a BS in Business Administration from Cal State University Sacramento, and an MBA from Golden Gate University.
One pertinent biographical detail, however, was left out: Hickox is a partner at California Strategies, the uber-influential government consulting, PR and lobbying firm founded by Bob White, the former chief of staff to Pete Wilson.
BreAnda Northcutt, a spokeswoman for Cal EPA, said Hickox's current employment "certainly wasn't omitted with maliciousness," but that the lengthly bios of all the members had to be edited down so that only the most directly relevant experiences were included. Hickox said he was "not at all hesitant" to have California Strategies mentioned. He says he will be working on the firm's "existing book of business" and otherwise will concentrate on helping institutional investors learn from and replicate what California's public pension funds have done in terms of using their capital to address climate change issues.
Interestingly, California Strategies is in merger talks with another player in a major government endeavor: Smith, Watts & Co., whose partners D.J. Smith and Mark Watts are two of the biggest consultants and lobbyists on transportation issues in Sacramento. (The firm's former partner, Will Kempton, is director of Caltrans.) They helped design and get approved by voters this year's $20 billion transportation bond package. Now that it has passed, the state is going to have a huge influx of new money to be divvied up for roads, bridges, public transit systems and ports.
So with these two moves, California Strategies soon will include people with great connections and expertise concerning two of the biggest ventures the state of California is undertaking. We can already hear the clients queuing up at the door.
-- Jordan Rau
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a new press secretary. He is Aaron McLear, a 29-year-old spokesman who was the Republican National Committee responsible for the northeast section of the country.
McLear replaces Margita Thompson, who left to go to work for HealthNet. Though the job is a pressure cooker, it should be pleasant compared to some of McLear's recent gigs. It couldn't have been very fun, after all, to watch the Republican Party lose some of its few remaining moderates in the Northeast, like U.S. Rep. Sue Kelly of New York and Sen. Lincoln Chaffee of Rhode Island. (You know a Republican campaign season sucks when your biggest victory is the re-election of moderate Democrat Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.)
Before the RNC, McLear was communications director for President Bush's Ohio campaign. He came there from the press shop of Ohio GOP Gov. Bob Taft, a.k.a. the first governor in that state to be convicted on criminal charges. McLear told Kate Folmar at the Mercury News that he is excited to work for a ""new kind of leader, who is very inspiring, with a sense of bipartisanship that is very unusual.''
Steve Maviglio, the Democratic Assembly's communications director and a quick-witted blogger at the California Majority Report, welcomes McLear with this tidbit from the past: while in college McLear was the "Brutus" mascot for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
“When the crowd rushed the field they put me on their shoulders and passed me around,” McLear told the student newspaper, the Lantern, in 1999.
Funny, that's just the way the Capitol press corps treats press secretaries!
-- Jordan Rau
Global warming has some upsides apparently, at least for state lawmakers who participated in an "International Study Travel Project to South America" hosted by the California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy, a nonprofit group whose members include utility, labor and business leaders.
The November trip drew criticism because it gave a number of corporate executives -- including ones working for Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, Sempra Energy, Comcast and Chevron (all members of the foundation) -- lots of quality time with some of the Capitol's biggest players: Schwarzenegger's chief of staff Susan Kennedy, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Stephen Larson, executive director of the California Public Utilities Commission.
The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights obtained via the state's public records law the itinerary for the trip, and it turns out it wasn't all schoolbooks and lectures. The foundation reported that: According to the records, the tour ... included only two full working days and four days in which meetings were over by noon.. Much of the time was set aside for city tours and free time at high-end resorts in Brazil, Argentina and Chile, for which the politicians and lobbyists on the trip were recommended to pack “a swimsuit and comfortable hiking/walking shoes as it is heading into summer in South America…”
The itinerary is on pages 5 through 11 of the records. But in fairness to the participants, it wasn't all fun and play. There was the lunch hosted by Chevron Brazil, followed by two hours of briefings by Chevron employees; the briefing/dinner hosted by General Motors at the Copacabana Palace (reception in the Pool Room and dinner at Pergula restaurant); and what must have been the most malodorous part of the trip: the "Briefing/Tour Swine Farm" in Rio de Janeiro.
-- Jordan Rau
  Not everyone in the Capitol has abandoned their hard feelings about Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2005 "year of reform" effort to strip unions and lawmakers of much of their power. Gale Kaufman, the Democratic consultant who masterminded the campaign that tanked Schwarzenegger's special election, has put out a little negative ad of her own in the form of her office holiday card this year:
That's Kaufman's son playing the Alex Trebek role and her two stepsons, Michael and Sean Murakami, playing the contestants who know the "right" answer. We're not sure who the other kid is but he has pretty lighthearted parents to allow Gale to set up their child as the dunce by giving the wrong answer.
As politicians like to say, children are the future: the future of negative advertising.
-- Jordan Rau
His work done in California, Schwarzenegger reelection campaign manager Steve Schmidt is onto another loose cannon. The Washington Post reports that Schmidt will be working as a senior adviser to the presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. John McCain. Er, make that McCain's exploratory committee. The maverick Republican senator hasn't yet announced his candidacy.
Schmidt, who helped send W. back to the White House in 2004, had the job of keeping our sometimes overly candid governor on message and above the fray throughout the campaign. Rarely did the governor utter a nasty word about opponent Phil Angelides. He left it to Schmidt's team to put the venom in electronic missives with such titles as "Typical Phil."
And for this Schmidt was paid handsomely. Some $333,750 in less than a year. Of course, he was just one of many Arnold confidants to rake in large amounts of campaign bucks. Others include "Terminator 3" stunt double Dieter Rauter, paid $62,000 to use a hand-held video camera to film Schwarzenegger starring in his role as governor. No word yet on whether any presidential contenders are courting Rauter.
-- Evan Halper
The Sacramento Bee reports rumors that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver have toured a new 15-floor hotel and condominium project being built a few blocks from the Capitol as a possible home away from his Brentwood hovel.
For three years, Schwarzenegger has been staying in the penthouse at the local Hyatt while in Sacramento, but the chain's decor and room service menu options are no doubt getting old.
The governor denied any moving plans this morning, telling reporters: "I'm very happy in my little hotel room." Still, finding a more permanent home might placate some of those still irritated with Schwarzenegger's less than enthusiastic embrace of Sacramento, which he equated with "death" in this month's issue of Men's Journal.
The always astute Anthony York, who runs the Capitol Weekly and writes the daily Roundup blog, notes an irony: the development is owned by three Indian tribes, which have been able to invest in real estate because of all the casino gambling authorized by state lawmakers. So Schwarzenegger, who declared he would not take donations from the tribes, could end up paying them instead for a place to lay his head.
-- Jordan Rau
Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton), who is being investigated by colleagues for distributing pseudo official-looking badges to campaign contributors, today apologized for calling Assemblyman Hector de la Torre "the most racist legislator I have encountered." De La Torre, who is heading the inquiry, had said flashing the badges was a crime.
In a statement that Dymally's office issued this afternoon, the assemblyman said: Events in the past weeks have caused me to reflect on my intemperate statement about race and politics.
I have been around long enough to know that you do not mix your personal feelings with public policy.
I deeply regret my statement about Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, and it is my hope that this issue is now behind us.
I support the Speaker's effort to develop a policy regarding the issuance of badges. I voted for the [former Assemblyman Rudy] Bermudez bill that prohibits the use of the state seal on unofficial documents.
Bottom line seems to be: Dymally isn't disowning his characterization of De La Torre but wishes he hadn't expressed it.
-- Jordan Rau
Good help is hard to find, even when you're Arnold Schwarzenegger. More than a month after Margita Thompson, the governor's press secretary, resigned, the administration has been unable to find a replacement.
Early on, Matt David, the well-liked deputy communications director for Schwarzenegger's reelection campaign, was rumored to have a lock on the job, but he has apparently decided to return to D.C., according to sources. With the governor's State of the State speech and budget coming up next month, communications director Adam Mendelsohn has hired former deputy press secretary and campaign spokeswoman Julie Soderlund through mid-January as a stopgap, but there is no word on a permanent successor.
We're not sure why. The job seems simple enough: translate and explain all the utterances of a notoriously off-the-cuff governor and placate the ceaseless demands of reporters throughout California and the world. Plus, you get to work holidays and weekends for no extra money.
-- Jordan Rau
Another year, another zillion bills. The Times' Nancy Vogel has sifted through the mounds of legislation already filed by California's 120 lawmakers. Here are a few offbeat highlights, with our own proposed names attached:
The Lance Armstrong 'Back Off Buddy' Protection Act: Assemblyman Pedro Nava wants to require motorists to stay at least three feet to the left of bicyclists when passing them. Under AB 60, violators could be fined up to $250. Perhaps violators will also be required to participate in the Tour de France by riding a Big Wheel.
The Pen Should Not Be Mightier Than The Sword Act: Just in time for the holidays, Assemblywoman Nell Soto wants to ban the sale of shock pens -- gag items that deliver a mild electric shock to whomever tries to use them -- to minors. AB 58. Guess we'll have to go back to those old vaudeville standbys, the electric hand buzzer and the water-squirting lapel flower.
The Immigrants 'Friends or Foes?' Dueling Legislative Packages: With SB 1, longtime undocumented immigrant advocate Sen. Gil Cedillo has proposed creating a state Office of Immigrant Affairs to assist "new citizens and eligible immigrants" in learning about the naturalization process and integrating into California. Sen. Tom Harman's SB 3, on the other hand, would make it a state crime for illegal immigrants to "trespass" on Californian soil. They could be fined up to $1,000 or imprisoned for up to six months. Of course, careful followers of the immigration debate will remember that it is already illegal to sneak into the country, hence the "illegal" part of the oft-used phrase "illegal aliens."
The Long Trek To Homeroom Relief Act: Newly elected Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries wants parents and guardians to be able to deduct from their state taxes 20% of the cost of ferrying their kids to school. AB 33 would apply to any school transporation costs, including fees or charges imposed by school districts for transportation. Jeffries, a Republican, represents Riverside, Temecula, Murrieta and Lake Elsinore.
-- Jordan Rau
Having lost races for governor, lieutenant governor and state controller, Republican State Sen. Tom McClintock of Thousand Oaks is working his way down the ole ballot. The Capitol Morning Report, which is sort of the daily racing sheet of Sacramento politics, reports that McClintock has opened a campaign account to run for a Board of Equalization seat in 2010.
Of course, many termed-out legislators open accounts for offices they don't have interest in, just so they have a way to continue fundraising. But then again the Board of Equalization is a popular way station for politicians looking to run for another job. McClintock's interest in the BOE remains unknown as he did not respond to a request for comment.
-- Jordan Rau
Be careful what you put in writing.
Before he took a high-level job with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dan Dunmoyer was a prominent insurance lobbyist in Sacramento, where he held the view that the insurance industry was much beleaguered.
In 2002, he wrote a candid internal memo spelling out ways that insurers could strengthen their political clout. No fan of the regulators, Dunmoyer wrote that Department of Insurance was "out of control’’ and filled with "hostile’’ and "unmanageable’’ staff. He was equally dismissive of certain legislators, advocating the industry "spend dollars to defeat an anti-insurance legislator.’’ Mentioning Democratic state senators Joe Dunn of Santa Ana, Martha Escutia of Whittier and Jackie Speier of Hillsborough (all of whom termed out this year) Dunmoyer advised that if they run for higher office, the industry should see to it they have "no place to land.’’
The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a Santa Monica-based non-profit group frequently critical of the governor, sent a letter to Schwarzenegger on Monday saying Dunmoyer needs to go. Citing the memo - portions of which were published by the Los Angeles Times in September - the foundation said that Dunmoyer should be removed from the latest job in the administration: cabinet secretary, which is the principal link between the governor and the state’s mammoth bureaucracy.
The memo "details Mr. Dunmoyer’s aggression toward civil servants, consumer advocates and regulators at the Department of Insurance, as well as legislators, leaving him an inappropriate choice for the post,’’ the foundation wrote.
In reply, a spokeswoman for the governor, Julie Soderlund,said: "Dan Dunmoyer is responsible for executing the policies and priorities of Gov. Schwarzenegger.’’
Sounds like he’s staying.
-- Peter Nicholas
Hola. In California's ongoing health care reform talks, usually Democrats are the ones who are blamed for taxes. But in what may be a hint as to the direction his own health care reform efforts are heading, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today aimed this age-old criticism at the state's existing health care system.
At a tour of the California Hospital Medical Center, Schwarzenegger said that the heavy cost of providing medical care to the uninsured, through emergency rooms and the like, is a “hidden tax”: And as you know, by federal law emergency rooms are not allowed to turn away anybody. So with the 6.5 million uninsured residents, California has a health care crisis, we have a serious crisis. In just this one hospital alone here they're sending out bills worth 60 million dollars a year that are all related to ER care, but they have not been paid. Now, multiply that out by the amount of hospitals that we have in California and it will come out with a number that goes into the billions.
Now, guess who is paying for those billions of dollars? It’s you, me, everyone is paying for that. So working families who have medical insurance get clobbered with hidden taxes; as a matter of fact, each individual pays an additional $400 to $500 on those hidden taxes, and families of four pay $1,200.
Schwarzenegger's analysis comes from a report released by the New America Foundation. But the politics of his comments are tantalizing. The governor already has declared that though he wants to help every Californian to be able to obtain health care insurance, but will not raise taxes to do so. However, IF Californians are already paying a tax by any other name through their premiums, then a number of possible solutions -- such as some versions of an employer mandate to provide coverage or a requirement that individuals purchase insurance -- could be argued as not raising taxes but as making people pay costs that others are now shouldering.
It's an argument not likely to win over the anti-tax crowd, but could give Schwarzenegger some important rhetorical wiggle room for whatever plan he presents next year. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, who is expected to release his own plan shortly, immediately lauded the perspective, saying: “We certainly agree that easing the burden of the “hidden tax” –- especially what responsible businesses pay when they offer insurance but their competitors do not –- is a priority.”
-Jordan Rau
I'm leaving tonight for a couple of weeks of vacation in Argentina and Iguacu falls, Brazil side. While I'm away, the always entertaining Jordan "Sir Linksalot" Rau will take over blogging duties for Political Muscle. I'm returning just before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's inaugural, budget release and state of the state address. Adios.
(Photo: Jorge Saenz / AP)
 "Donna looked at Tim, holding his gaze deeply. Her brown eyes tried to see past their tense days together in Taiwan to gain insight into another part of his soul.
"An orderly cleared his throat.
"Taylor glanced briefly at the orderly, then refocused on Donna. His crisp blue pilot's eyes suddenly seemed to relax. His lips turned upward, 'I thought I'd be scared when I asked you this question, but I'm not; Donna Klein, will you marry me?'
"Donna smiled back and carefully bent over Tim's face. Curly strands of red hair brushed against his forehead. She kissed him then pulled away just far enough to say ..."
If you want to know Donna's answer, you'll have to find a copy of Republican Assemblyman Chuck DeVore's novel, "China Attacks." Despite the passage above, the novel is a macho, political-military potboiler that imagines the brinkmanship between China and the U.S. over an invasion of Taiwan. I won't tell you the ending to the 415-page book, published in 2000 and co-written by DeVore, but let's just say our communist trading partners get some needed butt-whooping. The novel has been translated into Chinese.
 The California National Guard makes an appearance in the novel, which is not surprising because DeVore is a lieutenant colonel in the California Army National Guard, personnel division. (He has been an intelligence officer as well.) His personal website features photographs of DeVore while "activated for Desert Storm" in Ft. Irwin, California.
DeVore also boasts about meeting "the late freedom fighter" Enrique Bermúdez Varela, the Nicaraguan Contra military leader who became a key liaison with the Reagan administration. He was assassinated in 1991. (Claudia Bermudez, his daughter, twice ran unsuccessfully against Democrat Rep. Barbara Lee for Oakland's congressional seat.)
"During his 18-day deployment, Chuck led armed patrols to combat threats to people and property by enforcing the curfew, clearing the streets of rioters, protecting vulnerable businesses from looters and arsonists, and gathering and analyzing information on the activities and intentions of looters and criminal gangs."
Chuck DeVore: A one-man army.
In an interview, DeVore said he has received hate mail from mainland China about "China Attacks." One writer, a professor in Beijing, called him a "white pig" and compared China's interest in Taiwan to President Lincoln keeping the union together during the American Civil War. DeVore wrote back and said that while the Union fought for freedom, China is "fighting to enslave" Taiwan.
(Photos: ChinaAttacks.com; state Assembly website)
 After leading the Democratic takeover of Congress, incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco has agreed to serve as co-chair of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's inaugural. The governor is making a strenuous effort, despite complaints from Republicans, to include Democrats throughout his new administration. Former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, another Dem, has been asked to emcee the ceremonies Jan. 5 in Sacramento.
In October, Pelosi showed up at the debate between Schwarzenegger and Democrat Phil Angelides and attempted to show the "close connection" between the governor to the unpopular GOP president. Now, "bipartisanship" is the buzzword. In fact, seemingly the entire California Democratic Party power structure is joining Schwarzenegger. The list of inaugural co-chairs is neatly divided between Republicans and Democrats. A (partial) list of the well-known figures:
Barbara Boxer, U.S. Senator (Democrat) Gray Davis, 37th Governor of California (Democrat) George Deukmejian, 35th Governor of California - Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Senator (Democrat)
- Gavin Newsom, Mayor of San Francisco (Democrat)
- Fabian Nuñez, Speaker of the California State Assembly (Democrat)
- Pelosi (Democrat)
- Don Perata, President pro tem of the California State Senate (Democrat)
- Nancy Reagan, former First Lady of the U.S. and California
- George Shultz, former U.S. Secretary of State
- Antonio Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles (Democrat)
- Pete Wilson, 36th Governor of California
(Photo: Matthew Cavanaugh / EPA)
Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally's fight with his fellow lawmaker, Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, is rooted in a longstanding feud over a South Gate political boss now in jail for embezzling millions. Four years ago, Dymally intervened to defend the corrupt official while De La Torre was trying to clean up South Gate's political cesspool.
This month, De La Torre is leading an Assembly Rules Committee investigation into whether Dymally improperly ordered and distributed fake official-looking badges to relatives and campaign contributors. In turn, Dymally has called De La Torre "the most racist legislator I have encountered in over 40 years."
 In 2002, Dymally and De La Torre took separate sides when then-South Gate treasurer Albert Robles, in photo, was charged with threatening to rape then-state Sen. Martha Escutia (D-Whittier) and shoot her husband, political consultant Leo Briones. Robles, the self-described "King of South Gate," also allegedly threatened to kidnap then-Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh (D-Los Angeles), drive him to Tijuana and shoot him in the head. Firebaugh died in March 2006 of liver failure.
Dymally testified on behalf of Robles, in an attempt by the defense to portray southeast Los Angeles County as a down-and-dirty place where profane language and threats are part of the everyday conversation. "You keep on trucking," Dymally told the L.A. Times during the trial, shrugging off the outrageous language. A judge dismissed the seven felony charges against Robles after a jury deadlocked on all counts.
In an interview, De La Torre said he holds no animosity toward Dymally. "I don't think I ever met Merv before I came to Sacramento," he said. "I've always been respectful of him. We're not buddies, but I've never been hostile to him." As for the 2002 trial where Dymally defended Robles, De La Torre said: "My whole community was upset. That trial was very closely watched."
De La Torre, a former South Gate city councilman, had frequent fights with Robles, however. He organized opposition against Robles among recent Latino immigrants, off-duty cops and white senior citizens. In one meeting, Robles called De La Torre a "narizon," Spanish slang for someone with a big nose. And so on. When city clerk Carmen Avalos complained about the astonishing corruption in South Gate - such as lucrative city contracts handed out to friends and relatives - the city council cut her pay to $600 a month and took away her staff.
In 2003, South Gate residents voted overwhelmingly to oust Robles and his political allies, Mayor Xochitl Ruvalcaba, Vice Mayor Raul Moriel, and city councilmember Maria Benavides. De La Torre backed the effort. This year, a judge sentenced Robles to a decade in federal prison for plundering more than $20 million from the city. De La Torre told the Times that Robles "brought the city to its knees," but the sentencing "stopped the car just before it headed over the cliff."
(Photo: Wally Skalij / AP)
 Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton) - whose office distributed fake police-type badges to campaign contributors - called an Assembly colleague a racist for investigating the matter and allegedly singling him out.
Dymally is angry because Assembly Rules Committee Chairman Hector De La Torre (D-South Gate) said flashing the badges was a "crime" as he launched a committee probe into the possible misdemeanor offenses. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) asked him to investigate how the badges were made and distributed, and report back next month. Nunez, too, called the badges "disturbing."
The e-mail exchange came between a reporter for Capitol Television News Service, which provides video feeds and news to several stations, and Dymally's press secretary. The comments, however, were from Dymally and relayed through the press aide. The TV service sent out the exchange in an "editor's note" tonight and it quickly spread around the Capitol.
 Why does Mr. Dymally consider this a race issue?
"Because Assemblyman De La Torre is the most racist legislator I have encountered in over 40 years."
Is he implying the Speaker is a racist?
"Not at all, on the contrary it was not his intention to single me out, that was the work of De La Torre."
Is this a challenge to Nunez's leadership?
Dymally says he was an original supporter of Nunez, then adds: "His selecting De La Torre for this particular assignment was due to the fact that he was unaware that De La Torre has a reputation of racial antagonism towards African-Americans."
 Dymally, it should be noted, has accused the L.A. Times of having a racial motive over the story as well. He sent out a statement saying: "The L.A. Times has been working on this story for six months now. I feel the story was picked back up to scrutinize me because I was given the chairmanship of the Assembly Health Committee and have announced my candidacy for the 25th Senate seat. The harassment of Black elected officials is nothing new to me."
In the e-mail exchange, shown below, Dymally falsely claims that De La Torre leaked information to the Times. in fact, the newspaper wrote about the badges only after a Dymally protege had been arrested for allegedly impersonating a state official using one of the badges.
Read background on the story here. And here.
The badges in question are heavy, metal and come with an official seal that reads, "California State Assembly. Commissioner." There is no such thing as a state Assembly "commissioner." Dan Morain, the L.A. Times reporter who first broke this story, found that a dozen people who received badges have donated more than $25,000 to Dymally since 2003.
Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for Nunez, declined to comment on the e-mails and said the Speaker is waiting for the investigation to be completed. De La Torre's office called Dymally's comments "unfortunate" and said the investigation is looking at the "practice" of ordering badges and handing them out, and is not singling out a particular lawmaker.
Four weeks after his reelection, a SurveyUSA poll shows Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger with a 55% approval rating. The poll reveals a partisan split: Eighty percent of Republicans approved of Schwarzenegger's job performance, while just 39% of Democrats were satisfied. Fifty-four percent of Democrats disapproved.
Union members were evenly split in their opinion of Schwarzenegger, while gun owners favored him. Majorities of both anti-abortion and pro-choice voters approved of his performance. The poll was conducted by telephone with a recorded voice asking the questions. Read the results here.
We've been running a regular series called Spilt Milk, but more people should see it. Here are a few factoids my colleagues dug up this month about California politics. The numbers:
- Traveling speaker: Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) spends a lot of time flying between Sacramento and Los Angeles. Taxpayers forked over $18,951 for his travel last year. The average lawmaker's travel cost: $6,415. — Nancy Vogel
- Chicken feed: Before they feast, politicians may give thanks to turkey producers and their lobby, the California Poultry Federation. Pols have gobbled $518,000 in poultry-related donations since 2000. This year, the lobbyists feted lawmakers at a capital steakhouse whose entrance features a glass-fronted cooler where chunks of beef age. The cost was not chicken feed: $6,162. — Dan Morain
- High taxes: Californians pay more taxes, on average, than most Americans — $10.96 of every $100 goes to the taxman, according to the Legislature’s budget analysts. But it could be worse. New Yorkers hand over more than $14. — Evan Halper
- Rent for sex offenders: Newly passed Proposition 83 bars released sex offenders from living near schools and parks. With few legal places to live in the state’s big cities, parolees are scrambling — and taxpayers are helping with the rent. In the Bay Area, the state pays $4,960 a month per offender. — Jenifer Warren
 Lawmaker go green: Hybrid cars are "must-haves" for lawmakers. Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys) swapped his state-leased SUV for a hybrid and paid $11,031 from his taxpayer-funded office account to pay off the SUV lease last year. Most lawmakers spent $3,500-$4,500 in public money for their state cars. — Vogel
- Circus tickets: Some say Sacramento is a circus. So perhaps it’s fitting that when Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey came to town this fall, Capitol staffers got into the Big Tent for free. Lobby powerhouses AT&T and BP-Arco spent a combined $2,599 hosting legislative aides and their families, cotton candy included. — Vogel
- Big guns: Sacramento has lots of big-dog lobbyists. The political law firm Nielsen, Merksamer, Parrinello, Mueller & Naylor always ranks at or near the top, with clients like Apple, Bank of America, Motion Picture Assn. of America and Californians for Ferret Legislation. Its billings led all others at $7.82 million between 2005 and Sept. 30, 2006. — Morain
- Idol tickets: It was a girls’ night out -- of the Capitol. The Recording Industry Assn. of America spent $600 treating four female legislative staffers to a concert by "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson, in photo, near Sacramento in August. The women work for state Sen. Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont), Assemblywoman Mimi Walters (R-Laguna Niguel) and Assemblywoman Audra Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks). — Vogel
(Photo: Vince Bucci / Getty Images)
 San Francisco politics can be brutal, which explains why the city has produced some of the toughest bosses and the most powerful figures in the Capitol. It's a great training ground for political eye-gouging and base manipulation. When everyone is a Democrat and the city is as small as San Francisco, the disputes often become personal and the wounds rarely heal.
Now, it looks like New York-born state Sen. Carole Migden - one of the most ambitious and bare-knuckle politicians in California -- may face a reelection fight in 2008 against her rival in the Assembly, Mark Leno. He is the author of gay marriage legislation Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed, but which is coming back next year. The fight is certain to rip apart the city's two Democratic gay and lesbian political organizations, and everyone else there, like during the 2002 race when Leno ran for Assembly and Migden backed his rival, Harry Britt. According to today's Bay Area Reporter: "The ice did eventually thaw between the two out lawmakers but there are still signs of a rivalry. On the same day last week that Leno introduced his same-sex marriage bill for the third time, Migden put forward a bill to allow any non-gay couple to enter into a domestic partnership. Now, the frost may be coming back.
 "Last weekend Leno paid for a poll that was conducted to test the waters of waging a possible run against Migden. The poll, according to several people who took it and then blogged about it, portrayed Migden's negatives as her being difficult and a rude lawmaker, and Leno's as being soft on crime and myopically focused on gay issues."
The situation is a case study of two critical issues in California: term limits, which is forcing Leno to find another job and threatening to cut short Midgen's tenure; and redistricting, which is pitting two ideological twins against each other in a homogeneous district that never changes.
(Photos: John Storey /AP; Steve Yeater / AP)
(Photo: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images)
 Steve Wiegand has a uncharacteristically cheery column today about the California Hall of Fame started by Maria Shriver and Gov. Arnold "Schwarzie" Schwarzenegger. The new exhibit includes people such as Alice Walker, Cesar Chavez, Walt Disney, Ronald Reagan, Clint Eastwood and other successful types who lived here.
"When he looks out over the Golden State, he (Schwarzenegger) doesn't view a state populated by an ungovernable teeming mass of 36 million disparate souls," Wiegand writes. "Instead ... he sees 'the home of hopes and dreams for so many.' "
I don't disagree with Wiegand about Schwarzenegger, but I do wonder about the California Hall of Fame. Shriver and Schwarzenegger have created a temple to the individual. It's built on the belief that anyone can make it if they just try hard enough, if they just work toward their "dreams." This has been a characteristic of the governor his entire life: a faith in the power of singular ambition. Now, he and Shriver have put them on glass shelves for children to see.
Schwarzenegger and Shriver are constantly holding up successful people as inspirational models. Shriver's well-attended women's conference in Long Beach features a multitude of celebrities, such as Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart, offering atonal advice to thousands. Shriver writes inspirational books, like "Ten Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Went Out Into the Real World."
Although the governor has mellowed a bit on this subject - saying he realizes some people "don't have bootstraps" - Schwarzenegger offers himself as the model of self-achievement and as a guide star for others: work hard and stay positive. Heck, I've been hearing him say this so much I actually believe I could, for example, make it in Hollywood if I just finished that screenplay. Schwarzenegger's work ethic and perseverance in life, despite breathtaking flops, can be motivational.
The problem is that only successful people seem to be telling us how to be successful. Of course they think they have the answers. They made it. But their answers often don't take into account the sheer randomness of life or forces you cannot control, like being a Kennedy heir. I'd rather have a homeless person on Skid Row tell me how he or she ended up on the sidewalk covered in cardboard. Patt Morrison in the L.A. Times writes today: Why not create a California Hall of Infamy for "the lunatics, the villains, the scoundrels, the eccentrics that the world expects of us." She says: "There's Hollywood's glam flimflammers, like embezzlin' David Begelman. Financial headliners like Charles Hurwitz — a Texan, actually, but Californian for our purposes — who ravished the redwoods to pay off his junk-bond debts. And the gorgeously named Courtney Chauncey Julian, the 1920s L.A. oil speculator and swindler. Cherished eccentrics like Timothy Leary and Simon Rodia, who assembled the Watts Towers and buried his 1928 Hudson automobile nearby so the cops couldn't find it. So many deliciously outré cultists and true believers, madams and madmen."
But what about the tens of millions of people who work hard their whole lives, and just sort of become ... ordinary. What about these people?
The next lecture will be on movements and Hegelian dialectics. (Kidding!) But look at it this way: Instead of honoring Cesar Chavez at the new Hall of Fame, why not honor California farmworkers? They toiled too.
(Photos: Arleen Ng / EPA; Rich Pedroncelli / AP)
A few things on the Web this afternoon:
- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tries to stop Truckee Donner Public Utility District from signing 50-year contract to "purchase unclean and polluting coal power from Utah." Writes letter. UPDATE: District votes 4-1 to reject the contract.
- Former Assembly majority leader Dario Frommer joins L.A. law firm with Clintonites and ex-Assembly speaker Bob Hertzberg.
 Political leaders worldwide are chanting a new mantra based on growing alarm about global warming, following California.
- New poll shows Californians want changes to how elections are run, and would entertain runoff voting and a "Citizen's Assembly" for electoral reforms.
- California and other states should avoid centralization of health care and inject a healthy dose of market competition and consumer choice. Commentary from the Galen Insititute.
- Wrestling star John Cena wants to replace Schwarzenegger in new "Predator" role. (The only movie featuring two governors - Arnold and Jesse Ventura.)
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced 11 new appointments to his senior staff, formally telling the public what was already known to many in the Capitol. The list includes four Democrats and seven Republicans. A few are simply switching jobs within the administration.
 Four have worked for corporate interests, including a new liaison with the Legislature, Chris Kahn, shown in photo. As legislative affairs secretary, Kahn must monitor and manage the development of hundreds of bills that land on Schwarzenegger's desk every year.
He is moving over from a major Sacramento lobbying firm, Sloat Higgins Jensen & Assoc., which has represented oil and gas producer Aera Energy, the Association of California Life and Health Insurance Companies, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Blue Cross, the California Business Roundtable, Verizon and other major companies.
The other appointees have worked for Pacific Gas & Electric, the California Restaurant Assn., and the insurance industry's lobbying group. Susan Kennedy, the former Cabinet secretary to Gov. Gray Davis, remains as Schwarzenegger's chief of staff. "As we begin a new year and embark on my second term in office, I am pleased to have such a strong team of professionals around me," the governor said in a statement.
For those who care, the full list with salaries comes after the jump.
(Photo: California Secretary of State)
Continue reading "Schwarzenegger Hires Lobbyist to Manage Legislation" »
California is poorly prepared to handle a deadly flu epidemic, bioterrorism or other disaster, says a new report by the nonprofit Trust for America's Health. California estimates that as many as 130,700 beds would be needed for a flu pandemic, but in May the state could find only 17,300 emergency beds to add to the existing supply of 72,000, for example.
Read the report here. California gets a "red" color, which is bad.
The Schwarzenegger administration said the findings ignore $214 million the governor directed in the 2006-07 budget for emergency health response. (The report does mention the money in passing, however, and the group's executive director said California has been "at the forefront of aggressive, proactive planning for a possible pandemic flu outbreak.")
And don't forget the snappy new Website showing Schwarzenegger responding in serious ways to various disasters.
 The Weather Channel, which knows something about global warming, has given four California politicians a Top 10 award for most influencing the "global climate change discussion in 2006."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Senate leader Don Perata, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and former Assemblywoman Fran Pavley made the hot list for championing first-ever mandatory reductions of carbon dioxide emissions for a U.S. state.
The Weather Channel also included British prime minister Tony Blair, seen in photo with Schwarzenegger at a global warming event in Long Beach, and President George W. Bush. They said Bush's opposition to global warming regulations "ironically" made him influential. "For example, by opposing mandatory reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, he gave states such as California and New York reason to act on their own."
See, everyone really can work together.
(Photo: Chris Pizzello / AP)
Some reaction to the health care plan unveiled by Senate leader Don Perata:
- "California voters and the governor have rejected play-or-pay schemes in the past as being unfairly burdensome on the small-business owners," said Michael Shaw, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business. In the L.A. Times.
- Perata's left wing proposal should be DOA with Arnold. Jon Fleischman on FlashReport.
- Perata strikes middle ground in health care debate, but falls short of Democratic goal of universal coverage. Associated Press.
- Democrats welcome YOU to the debate, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Steve Maviglio says it's the governor who has been behind.
- Perata may have already given the governor a boost in accomplishing what Schwarzenegger has identified as Job One in 2007. Timm Herdt in the Ventura County Star.
- Plan is limited to concepts, but offers the most details on what leaders may be discussing in health reform next year. Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access.
- Perata's plan is a disaster. He ignored problems with Massachusetts model.
The official-looking badges that Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton) handed out to campaign contributors, relatives and others now are being investigated by the Assembly Rules Committee, the governing body for the 80-member lower house. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles), who ordered the internal probe, wrote in a letter that the badges "are very disturbing to me personally."
But Assembly Rules Committee Chairman Hector De La Torre (D-South Gate) has already told the L.A. Times' Dan Morain and Evelyn Larrubia: "You can dance around it all you want, but it is a crime. I have very strong feelings about this, and those feelings will be reflected in my report to the speaker."
These are not plastic badges that a child would carry. They are heavy, metal badges that come with an official seal and that read, "California State Assembly. Commissioner." There is no such thing as a state Assembly "commissioner," but I wonder if the average person is going to know that. Morain, who first broke this story, found that a dozen people who received badges have donated more than $25,000 to Dymally since 2003. Morain writes today: "Names on order forms include Dymally's wife and a former chairman of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, which owns a large casino. The tribe has donated $9,200 to Dymally, and Morongo gave $65,000 to the Legislative Black Coalition, which helps elect African Americans. Dymally chairs the Legislature's black caucus."
What has law enforcement been doing about this? L.A. County District Attorney Steve Cooley looked into the matter this summer, and his Public Integrity Division wrote Dymally a stinging letter. David E. Demerjian, the head deputy of the division, cited state law prohibiting the unauthorized use of the Assembly seal and against the distribution of badges that might resemble those of a state officer. He wrote:
The violations are misdemeanors. Dymally responded by collecting some of the badges and returning them to Cooley's office. No charges have been filed against Dymally.
The Nunez and Demerjian letters can be read in the link below.
Continue reading "D.A.: It Appears Dymally or Staff Broke the Law" »
 Former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown - frequently used by Republicans as a symbol of everything wrong with California politics - has agreed to be master of ceremonies for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's inaugural next month.
Brown - the 72-year-old former San Francisco mayor known for his wicked sense of humor - predicted during the reelection campaign that Schwarzenegger would trounce Phil Angelides. He was right.
According to Schwarzenegger's inaugural committee, the invitation-only ceremony Jan. 5 at Sacramento's Memorial Auditorium will include an invocation by Pastor J. Alfred Smith, Sr., of Oakland's Allen Temple Baptist Church, a longtime haven for Democratic politicians.
Following the swearing-in ceremony, Schwarzenegger and Democrat Maria Shriver will host a "bipartisan reception" in the Capitol rotunda for all members of the Democratic-controlled California Legislature and the state's other constitutional officers. Did we mention that most of them are Democrats as well?
UPDATE: I wonder if this is the first time a lobbyist will host a California governor's inaugural?
(Photo: Tony Avelar / AP)
After prison guard Manuel A. Gonzalez Jr. was stabbed to death by an inmate at California's prison in Chino, the state's Office of Inspector General ordered officials to change how they handled potentially violent inmates at prison "reception centers." They developed new procedures for locking up tools that could be used as weapons. They purchased more protective vests for guards. They created a special investigative unit for such crimes.
While the Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation has made substantial progress on most of the problems that lead to Gonzalez's death, a new audit shows there is work to be done. The audit, released today, faults the department for failing to properly secure tools in some areas. "One of the boxes, secured with a maintenance lock, housed ladders of varying lengths, which could be deployed for inmate escape," the report said. And they reported a statewide medical emergency plan for other institutions remained unfinished. "For example, some institutions failed to provide one or more pieces of basic equipment in their emergency kits, such as oxygen tanks, suction devices, airways, or adjustable cervical collars. In addition, some emergency medical personnel at these institutions demonstrated limited knowledge of the proper use of such equipment."
Read a PDF version of the Inspector General report here. The department's response is at the end.
Two days before he was recalled from office, Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill creating a 27-member commission of doctors, business leaders, organized labor, drug companies, hospitals, lawmakers, economists and others. The panel was required by 2005 to uncover ways to lower costs and substantially improve California's ailing health care system.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger blew it off.
 Despite the law, the governor has yet to create the awkwardly named California Health Care Quality Improvement and Cost Containment Commission.
Certainly, there are many reports on how to fix health care, and there are hundreds of government reports that end up meaningless or shelved. But it's not like Schwarzenegger hates bulky government reports on how to cut costs. In his first year, the governor ordered up the California Performance Review, a top-to-bottom audit that found 279 specific ways to make government more efficient and save $32 billion. It didn't go very far.
The cost-cutting commission was a companion to a "universal" health care system the Legislature passed in 2003. That mandatory program, SB 2, was overturned by voters through a 2004 referendum. But the panel remained, and Schwarzenegger ignored it.
Kim Belshe, the governor's health and human services secretary, said in an interview that the 27-member commission appeared unwieldy and a bit imperious - likely to produce a top-down report that would undoubtedly have gathered dust. Schwarzenegger, she said, is creating his health care policy with face-to-face interviews and meetings with hundreds of experts. That's far more desirable than reading a report, she said.
Three years after being elected, the governor is indeed calling people into his office to figure out California's $155 billion health care system. He is expected to offer a plan early next month. For some, the governor's approach to investigating the longstanding crisis has been like high school dating. Anthony Wright from Health Access, explains it this way on his blog: "So when the Governor’s staff asks for our input, and that of others, including the Legislature, it's a bit of a tease. It’s sort of like high school dating. You ask the girl to go out to the movies, she says no; you ask her out to go roller-skating, she says no; you ask her out to dinner, she says no. At this point, she needs to take the initiative and suggest something, to restart the conversation. Maybe she suggest something completely different, but there’s a limit to the options. She might reconsider some of the previous options: maybe she likes ice-skating rather than roller-skating. Or only dinner with a movie. But there needs to be a sign that she’s actually interested in going out."
Starting next month, perhaps Schwarzenegger and the Legislature will finally get to first base.
(Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP)
A few things on the Web this morning:
California voters just ordered up nearly $40 billion in public borrowing to spruce up the state's freeways, bridges, homeless shelters, schools and levees to prepare for a massive wave of new residents. "People will always come. So we have to be ready for the increase," Schwarzenegger said this summer. "We will have in the next 15 years 50 million people in this state. We've got to get our act together."
He's right. The trend line is pointing upward. But for people already living here, California has become less attractive.
 The newest figures from Schwarzenegger's Dept. of Finance show population growth has been sluggish. During the fiscal year 2005, California saw a net population growth of just 1.4% - about 500,000 people. The majority of those were "natural" - new births, minus the people who died. In addition, the state counted about 207,000 "new foreign immigrants."
But for the first time in a decade, more people left California for another state in 2005 than moved here. There was a net loss of 29,000 people to other states, the first "negative flow" since a recession in 1994, when 350,000 people moved elsewhere, the Associated Press reported. Californians are moving to Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Washington and Oregon.
The main reason? High real estate costs. The AP tracked down a man named Stephen Gallant, who moved to Michigan this summer after nearly three years in Los Gatos, in the Silicon Valley. He traded a $2 million house for one in a Detroit suburb that was about half the cost and double the size. "It was all about lifestyle," said Gallant, former chief financial officer for Global Motorsport Group Inc. "If I'm going to spend $1 million on a house as opposed to $2 million, that opens up a lot of purchasing power, the ability to go out and do other things."
(Photo: Victor Calzada / AP)
 Couldn't get enough of that fantastic 2006 race for governor? Do you miss those hilarious stories about "typical Phil" and "hot-blooded" Latinas?
You can preserve those heartfelt memories with Schwarzenegger "Protecting the California Dream" merchandise. The governor is having a fire sale to dump all the unwanted goods on joinarnold.com, and raise a little money.
An urgent notice went out this week to Schwarzenegger supporters asking them to purchase Arnold swag, which is "now commemorating the governor's historic reelection campaign. ... A few items are already gone, so visit the store now and be sure the pass this 'End of Days' notice along to your friends and family."
Hurry, the sale ends Dec. 29 to make way for "Arnold for Board of Equalization" merchandise.
 Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his friend, Sylvester Stallone, are going to the movies together in Sacramento. Stallone is flying up from L.A. tonight for a special, private screening of his new movie, "Rocky Balboa." Members of the governor's staff, lawmakers and other VIPs have been invited to the screening arranged in part by the California Film Commission. Sheryl Main, who works for Schwarzenegger in his communications office, took a leave of absence from the state to handle publicity for "Rocky Balboa" while it was in production.
(Photo: Albert Ferreira / AP
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