Separated by a City

There is a lot of talk around the Capitol about Democrats and Republicans settling their differences and coming up with a bipartisan compromise for the fall special election. But there is certainly no signs that a deal is imminent. Maybe the best indicator that legislative Democrats and the Governor have a ways to go is their schedules: they have, more or less, dueling press conferences on Monday morning, the first day of the legislative session. At 10am, Senate Pro Tem Don Perata and Speaker Fabian Nunez are set to discuss the important Democratic issues in the coming session. But over in Stockton, Governor Schwarzenegger is holding court at 10:30 to talk about “making California’s school bus fleet cleaner and safer.” Now if the Dems and the Governor are not even in the same building--let alone the same city--days before the deadline to come to a compromise, how close can they really be? Still, stranger things have happened.