Capitol's warring factions gird for November

The following first appeared in Capitol Weekly By Shane Goldmacher and Malcolm MacLachlan Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, wounded in the polls and hoping to salvage his reform agenda, squared off against the Legislature’s majority Democrats this week, as both sides focused on using the using the final weeks remaining before the Nov. 8 special election to jockey for position – and political momentum. Lawmakers barely unpacked their bags from the month-long summer recess before the battle was joined. "Everything’s colored by that election," Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, told reporters Monday on his first day back in town. Chances for a bipartisan compromise appeared dim for any of the three Schwarzenegger-sponsored proposals on the ballot. One would give the governor the power to make mid-year budget cuts, another makes it easier to fire teachers and the third allows retired judges -- rather than the Legislature’s majority party – to redraw the state’s congressional and legislative districts. The Legislature has until today to place its own measures on the special election ballot, according to the secretary of state, though Capitol observers believe that deadline is elastic. Right now, both sides appear to be gearing up for a ballot-box battle, largely because the issues in the special election—such as Proposition 75, which would require unions to get members’ advance approval before collecting money for political campaigns—overshadow the 830-some bills still pending in the Legislature. Sen. Jackie Speier, D-San Francisco, introduced a bill that would ban the governor and other constitutional officers from holding outside jobs while elected to a statewide office. Speier clearly hopes to remind voters of Schwarzenegger’s multimillion-dollar deal as executive editor of two bodybuilding magazines that are filled with advertisements for dietary supplements. Last year, Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have regulated the supplement industry, and Speier recently reintroduced a similar bill. Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, hastily canceled the magazine contracts after newspaper reports detailed his financial arrangements. Schwarzenegger may also be forced to confront a bill that would ban the sale of violent video games to children, highlighting another potential conflict of interest for a governor who currently earns an income from the sale of video game based on his ultra-violent "Terminator" movies. Schwarzenegger is busy preparing for the special election, as well. In the first seven days after the Legislature reconvenes, Schwarzenegger will hold five fundraising events, including a Rolling Stones concert in Boston where guests can watch the show from a seat in Schwarzenegger’s luxury box—for $100,000. His office has also moved deputy press secretary Darryl Ng off state payroll, putting him to work as a spokesman on the special election campaign. This week, Schwarzenegger also threw his support behind SB 588, a bill targeting sexual predators authored by Senator Jeff Denham, R-Merced. It includes several controversial provisions, most notably the use of Global Position System, or GPS, technology to track some sex offenders for life. Denham and his fellow Republicans hope Democrats will be placed in a politically awkward position if they oppose the tough-on-crime bill. "Democrats do not have a good record on this type of bill," said Tony Quinn, a Republican political analyst and co-editor of the California Target Book. "I wouldn’t be surprised to see this made part of an initiative in the future." Meanwhile, Assembly Democrats are pushing bills to raising revenue for education and to raise the minimum wage by 50 cents, while pegging future increases to the pace of inflation. Both bills would likely force the governor to wield an unpopular veto that could motivate the Democratic base. Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, who is the author of the legislation to raise the minimum wage, hopes that the pressures of the special election will spur a gubernatorial signature. "I think every bill right now is going to be looked at for how it affects the special election," Lieber noted. Besides such "job-killer" bills, the top target on the Republicans’ legislative hit list is Assemblyman Mark Leno's AB 849, which would legalize same-sex marriage. Though a similar bill died after an emotional vote earlier this year on the Assembly floor, Leno resurrected the issue through a procedural maneuver known as "gut and amend." Senate Democratic leader Don Perata’s top priority for the session, which ends September 9, is a $10 billion transportation bond that, if approved by California voters early next year, would be the largest such transportation financing bond in state history. The proposal requires approval from the governor and Legislature to make the ballot. The Legislature also must tackle the complex issue of implementing a federal deal that Schwarzenegger negotiated with the Bush administration earlier this summer, which promises $18.4 billion in Medicare funding for hospitals. The law, which must be passed in order to ensure the continued flow of federal dollars to state hospitals, would fundamentally change the way California funds hospitals that serve the poor. Despite the huge potential financial impact of the Medi-Cal changes and the transportation bond, both continue to play second fiddle to pre-election posturing. "We have virtually wasted a year, at a time when we cannot afford to do that," said Perata, lamenting that the special election has taken the focus away from "thoughtful" solutions to state issues. "This is going to be a referendum on the governor," he said.