Goodbye to all that

This is my last posting on Political Muscle. After a decade of covering California governors, lawmakers, the gubernatorial recall, the Florida recount, dozens of propositions and endless campaigns, I've decided to take the buyout offer from the L.A. Times. It's time to travel in a different direction.

It will be difficult to leave such a remarkable news operation with such talented reporters and editors. The Political Muscle blog has been fantastic real estate for the Sacramento bureau. It has allowed us to spotlight the floating opera of California politics in playful, occasionally serious and sometimes outrageous ways. And we poked fun at the king in public. What could be more important than all that?

Stay tuned for a new Political Muscle blog after a brief hiatus. Meanwhile, get your fix of California political news from the L.A. Times here. Take care.

- Robert Salladay

Admit one: "Sicko" to Sacramento

Get out your designer Gucci hospital gowns and your diamond-studded radiation safety goggles: The red carpet's coming to the Capitol. "Sicko," Michael Moore's latest Mooramentry about America's health-care system, is debuting in Sacramento (as well as lesser metropoli: New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.) on June 12. The big man will be here--and just in time for the state budget conference committee to be finishing up.  It'll be just like Cannes!

Moore's choice of venue isn't hard to grasp, as the Capitol here and in D.C. are enmeshed in debate about cost and availability of health care.  (NYC and L.A. share a slightly different political focus, on universal access to rhytidectomies).  Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez is hosting the premiere and will meet with Moore in the Capitol as well. (Note to Michael Moore: possible next project: "McClintock and Me".)

Don't bet that Moore will have too much enthusiam for Nunez's reform plan--or those of anyone in Sacramento except for single-payer icon Sen. Sheila Kuehl--because Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Democratic leaders have already agreed to build on the existing system of private insurers, which Moore's movie blames for much of American's health-care ills.

Tickets to the premiere of "Sicko" will be $150,000 each, with Insurance covering $8.75 and a co-pay of $149,991.25.

                                                                                                                                                     -- Jordan Rau

Update: During his visit on June 12, Moore will testify at a legislative briefing put on by Kuehl. He'll also participate in -- prepare for a big surprise -- a rally put on by the California Nurses Assn., which supports single-payer, and Physicians for a National Health Program, which, well, take a giant crazy guess about its ideological orientation. Then there's the actual screening; no word yet of an afterparty. The movie opens June 29.

Dear Leader

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger brought to Canada his vision of an independent, new world, desired by all people, that will appear as brilliant features of Schwarzenegger's century and remain forever under the rays of the great sun. The august name of Schwarzenegger represents glory and happiness of humankind and hope and future of the world and it would shine forever.

(Photos: Duncan McIntosh, Office of Governor Schwarzenegger; Text: DPKR)

Dept. of Borrowed Charisma

"Democratic Presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton will announce the endorsement of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Wednesday, a prize that could help the New York senator expand her reach among Latino and union voters, sources confirmed today.

"The announcement, scheduled to take place at UCLA, follows months of political courtship on both coasts. Clinton has met with Villaraigosa several times in Los Angeles and Washington, wooing him more than any other top Democratic candidate." L.A. Times

In a statement today, Clinton campaign advisors Mark Penn and Sergio Bendixen immediately shoved Villaraigosa into the "Latino" aisle. They said his endorsement "is proof that the Clinton Campaign's focus and strategy to win the Latino vote continues to grow stronger. ... Latino voters have great respect for Senator Clinton."

A few other items on the Web today:

Stem Cell deal: "California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty are set to announce a new $30-million joint research venture to facilitate stem-cell research. McGuinty and Schwarzenegger are expected to sign the deal on Wednesday as part of the California governor's three-day trade mission to Canada." CTV.ca

Coincidental or ironic? Arnold Schwarzenegger: language master. (Really!) Sporkfancier. Maria Shriver, multi-tasker. Buzz Foto LLC.

Democratic AGs back off Wall St. "The political priorities that congressional Democrats have adopted will leave state attorneys general to focus scarce resources on a more traditional consumer protection and health and safety agenda. This suggests that states will play a smaller role in investigating alleged Wall Street abuses than in the recent past." Forbes.

(Photo: Chris Carlson/AP)

Acting out

California's Williamson Act, which was designed to protect farmland from development, is under threat in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's state budget plan, according to the S.F. Chronicle and The Ethicurean and The Sacramento Bee and Grist and a local Assemblywoman and the Tulare Chamber of Commerce.

Environmentalists are closely watching the budget-cutting proposal from the pro-growth "green" governor, who simultaneously wants to curb global-warming emissions while spending billions on new or refurbishing freeways. He's so complicated!

The Williamson Act, says the Ethicurean, "helps preserve farms and ranches by allowing those who enroll in the program to have their land taxed at a rate based on actual use, not potential use. The state then compensates cities and counties for the revenue loss." But the governor's budget would shift the $40 million cost to cities and counties, which would increase the temptation on farmers to "to shut down operations and sell to the highest bidder, namely developers."

"It was a bad idea then and an even worse idea today," Assemblywoman Lois Wolk wrote to Schwarzenegger recently, referring to a similar proposal by Gov. Gray Davis in 2003. "We urge you to reconsider this ill-advised proposal that will only harm our rural economies while providing negligible benefit to the state budget."

The governor's agriculture secretary, A.G. Kawamura, says the Schwarzenegger administration doesn't want to end the Act, but rather shift responsibility: "These local budgets have seen tremendous growth in property tax revenues in the past decade and are in a better position than the state to continue with this responsibility."

(Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)

Puck it

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger does the ceremonial puck-drop before Game One of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals hockey game between the Anaheim Ducks and Ottawa Senators in Anaheim on Monday. Schwarzenegger and the premier of Canada's Ontario province have a wager hanging on the outcome of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Schwarzenegger, who is traveling in Canada this week, said he bet Premier Dalton McGuinty a custom-made jacket by designer Tony Nowak (who has done clothing for Schwarzenegger's bodybuilding and political careers) and a collection of California products, including various fruits and wines, that the Anaheim Ducks will best the Ottawa Senators and take home the Stanley Cup. Associated Press.

A few other things on the Web:

Order for the mayor: "Just eight days after Phil Ginsburg began his job as Mayor Gavin Newsom's chief of staff, he found himself at a hastily called news conference, looking on as his new boss apologized for having an affair with his campaign manager's wife. 'Wow," Ginsburg recalled thinking at the time, 'this wasn't in the job description.' Since taking the job in January -- and the nearly $75,000 pay cut that came with it -- Ginsburg has spent much of his time dealing with the unexpected." S.F. Chronicle.

Bullet train derailed: "Traveling in California this holiday weekend, it certainly would be convenient, even fun, to step aboard a 200-mph bullet train and zip around in quiet comfort. It definitely would beat suffering through long, inane security lines at oppressive airports — or enduring a daredevil, but dull, drive along Interstate 5 through the San Joaquin Valley. The long-dreamed-of California bullet train, however, keeps encountering difficulty leaving the station." George Skelton.

Canada trip special interests: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will head to Canada today for a three-day trade mission with California business leaders that will be largely financed by undisclosed private donors. ... Fifty-two business delegates will join Schwarzenegger on the trip, according to a list the Governor's Office released Friday. A third of those going represent interests that have donated to Schwarzenegger's campaigns. Sacramento Bee.

(Photo: Kevork Djansezian/AP)

'That's Senator Migden to you'

The Carole Migden Media Cycle came full circle this weekend, about 10 days after her car accident(s) in the Bay Area. The state Senator from San Francisco revealed she may have been disoriented from treatment for leukemia, a condition she had kept secret for a decade from her colleagues and the media. Now: the profiles.

You know you have a kinetic, fiery personality when you drop the C Bomb into the conversation and it still doesn't stop people from assuming it was more than just the cancer drugs that caused the car to swerve around the freeway and rear-end another vehicle. Steve Harmon with Media News in the Bay Area goes for the direct approach:

"Even before her wild ride on I-80 that ended in a collision, Sen. Carole Migden blazed a jagged political path as a state legislator known for her fiery temper and often impertinent attitude.

"In one tightly-wound package, Migden embodies the best and worst of liberal San Francisco politics. She is an effective lawmaker, without a doubt. But she's also a throw-back emblem of political entitlement whose career has been marked with infamous moments — such as the time she pushed another lawmaker's vote button — for her own bill, in the Assembly.

The Times' Jordan Rau found a typically Carole anecdote. Dennis Kelly, president of the United Educators of San Francisco, recalled "a meeting at Migden's office a year ago when the two were calling each other by their first names.

"When one of the other union officials addressed her as Carole, 'she wheeled around and said, 'That's Senator Migden to you,' " Kelly said.

"The meeting continued, he said, but Migden again rebuked Kelly's associate, for using the term 'bang for the buck.'

"She said, 'Don't ever say that in my office; that's a prostitution term,' " Kelly said. In fact, he said, the phrase was coined during the Cold War in reference to defense spending.

" 'It was really a hostile and nasty interview,' Kelly said."

Migden has always been nice to me, perhaps because I once worked for her hometown newspaper. Duh.  But I've seen her act sweet to lots of people, and she has a big heart when it comes to the poor and the sick. I have always assumed that Migden, being from New York, believed anyone working in the Capitol must have thick skin to get this far, and if you can't take it you're probably in the wrong business. There are billions of dollars at stake, and lives.

She told Rau last week: "I can also be forthright and blunt, and I think I enjoy a reputation of being straightforward and honest and working well with my colleagues."

(Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP)

Jimmy Camp's new job

Jimmy Camp sent an email out over the weekend: He's found himself a job.

The punk rock Republican, a regular fixture in Orange County politics, has been appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as the new deputy director of communications for the Dept. of Fish and Game. Pay is $91,128 a year, which should supplement his music career nicely.

Camp, 42, was the political director for Bill Simon for governor and the California Republican Party, and a consultant for newly elected O.C. supervisor Janet Nguyen. And he recently released a new CD recorded solely on an iPod. Camp's folk-rock album includes "White Trash Weekend" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Hate," which has these lyrics:

"Well there's lots of Jews and Mexicans.
You got Japanese and lesbians,
people rolling around without no legs.

"There's candidates who won't shut up,
rich girls that drink from silver cups,
people with 12 items in a line that's meant for nine.

"Well, there's hippies smokin' pot all day,
children gettin' in the way,
somebody on my telephone.
Well, he's got a deal for me."

In his email to friends, Camp said Fish and Game "is a perfect fit for me. ... Could you imagine me working for the Department of Corporations or the Department of Health and Human Services? Me neither. Although I expect that I may need to buy at least one suit. However, I did tell the Governors Communications Director that I would only take the appointment if I were able to wear a 'Smokey the Bear' hat. He said 'no problem.' "

Malibu Schwarzenegger

Let's stop for a moment look at one case of special interest lobbying involving Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The governor recently turned down a request by Australia's BHP Billiton Ltd. to build an $800 million liquefied natural facility off the coast of Oxnard and Malibu. Schwarzenegger rejected the project after the California Coastal Commission and State Lands Commission both turned down the proposal last month, and after fierce objections from environmentalists.

Throughout the battle, BHP and other natural gas producers engaged almost every political player closely connected to the Schwarzenegger administration. In fact, no other lobbying campaign since the 2003 recall has hired as many Schwarzenegger friends than the LNG effort.

Not everyone worked directly for BHP. But the full-court press over the past three years included Schwarzenegger political guru Mike Murphy and his company, Navigators, which worked on an LNG coalition to move public opinion on the subject; Marty Wilson, the governor's chief fundraiser, who also worked on the LNG coalition; and consultant Joe Rodota, a behind-the-scenes Schwarzenegger advisor since the 2003 recall. BHP hired a Los Angeles law firm that employs George Kieffer, a Schwarzenegger friend and the personal attorney to Maria Shriver, and Richard Costigan, the governor's former legislative affairs director. And they engaged Karen Skelton, a prominent consultant in Sacramento and a Shriver friend.

And yet the governor turned down the LNG terminal. Isn't this exactly the opposite of what Schwarzenegger critics suggested would happen? Why?

Indeed, how do politicians make their decisions? Do campaign contributions buy votes from elected officials? Does pressure from lobbyists matter? The general assumption in Sacramento and Washington D.C. is absolutely yes yes yes, when it comes to money. Many corporations and unions believe that, say, a $250,000 contribution to support a candidate is a prudent investment, particularly if they can reap millions from tax breaks or public pension boosts.

A new search engine that tracks the contributions made to California politicians, Maplight.org, has opened a debate over what causes elected officials to make specific votes. To N.Y. Times technology columnist Davis Pogue, the Maplight database is so disturbing that he must conclude: "I can't quite figure out why these contributions are even legal. Let the various factions explain their points till they’re blue in the face, sure — but to cut checks for millions of dollars?"

"Another mind-blowing example: from the home page, click 'California.' Click 'Legislators,' then click 'Fabian Nunez.' The resulting page shows you how much this guy has collected from each special-interest group — $2.2 million so far — and there, in black-and-white type, how often he voted their way. Construction unions: 94 percent of the time. Casinos: 95 percent of the time. Law firms: 78 percent of the time. Seems as though if you’re an industry lobbyist, giving this fellow money is a pretty good investment."

A few people on Pogue's blog agreed. One man wrote: "Let's stop calling them contributions and start calling them what they really are, bribes. Or how about kick-backs?"

But then political scientist Matthew Jarvis and others jumped into the debate. Jarvis said that "establishing CAUSATION is much harder" than simply juxtaposing a particular vote next to the amount of money from special interests. More:

"The problem is the reverse direction of causation. If you were a large corporation seeking to get certain policies passed, you could try to bribe members of Congress to pass that policy (which is, essentially, the accusation that is made about votes and campaign contributions). Or, you could take the approach that what you’d rather do is elect those who already agree with you. So, when you see a correlation between money and votes, ask yourself: who ELSE would they give the money to? Those who are going to vote AGAINST them?"

When it comes to pressure from lobbyists, why did Schwarzenegger reject the BHP terminal off the coast of Malibu?

It's possible the massive lobbying effort just went too far, hired too many Schwarzenegger friends, and was too public. BHP Billiton paid Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, the prominent L.A. law firm that includes Kieffer, about $2.7 million to lobby the governor's office, the Lands Commission, the Coastal Commission and the Legislature on the project over three years. It should be noted that BHP Billiton never gave a campaign contribution to Schwarzenegger or any elected official.

Perhaps the deal died because of behind-the-scenes pressure from other friends and advisors, such as environmentalists Bonnie Reiss and Terry Tamminen. Perhaps Schwarzenegger really did believe the project would contribute to global warming, harm marine mammals, ocean views and birds near Channel Islands National Park.

Perhaps he knew he would never eat lunch in Malibu again.

(Photos: Win McNamee/Getty Images; BHP-Billiton-LNG International via AP)

Clinton fundraiser with partyboy Brett Ratner

Playboy politics: "In location scenes for his cameo on last Sunday's 'Entourage,' music blared by the pool at Brett Ratner’s Benedict Canyon home. Women were clad in lingerie. Women wandered in bikinis. In fact, at this party, women were everywhere. That should give a sense of how unlikely a place Ratner’s pad will be for a Hillary Clinton fund-raiser next Wednesday. Event is aimed at young Hollywood, and although organizers say the vibe will be quite a bit more staid with Clinton's visit, it reflects the new efforts presidential campaigns are making as they search for new dollars." Variety.

Other items on the Web today:

Oropeza loses union: The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor has dropped its longstanding support for state Sen. Jenny Oropeza, endorsing her opponent in the race to succeed the late Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald. Oropeza traced the decision to her vote last month for five tribal compacts that would more than double the number of slot machines at California's American Indian casinos. Labor groups have strongly opposed the compacts on the grounds that they contain insufficient organizing protections. Press-Telegram.

Meanwhile ... "Issues of racial and ethnic representation influence the contest in the 'minority-majority' 37th District. Oropeza is Hispanic, as are more than two-fifths of district residents. Richardson is African-American, as are about a quarter of district residents, and has rallied support from a number of activists who want to maintain black representation as previously symbolized by Millender-McDonald, who died April 22 after serving slightly more than 11 years in Congress." N.Y Times.

Paris sex tape. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger "also suggested he’s a big fan of Paris’s home sex video, leaked to the net. He joked (on Jay Leno): 'I’ve seen all her films. Obviously, we both do action movies.' " The Sun.

(Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)