Gov. huddles with top Democrats

After the Big 5 meeting yesterday, Gov. Schwarzenegger has met with both Senate leader Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez to discuss his infrastructure package. At a press conference today, Nunez announced that of all the infrastructure meetings he has had with Schwarzenegger, today’s was “the best.” Nunez met with Schwarzenegger this morning for two hours, after which Schwarzenegger also held a press availability. “I just wanted to come out here and say hi,” began Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger continued to insist that the Legislature work towards a global infrastructure package, saying “it’s not like we are redesigning the wheel.” The governor also offered to skip the Arnold Classic bodybuilding event schedule in Ohio this weekend if Nunez thought it would be necessary, though Nunez declined to ask the governor to stay. The deadline for placing bonds on the June ballot is March 10th. Schwarzenegger also said the prison bond has been “a lot more problematic” than other aspects of his proposal. He added that he upped the size of the levee bond following his Washington D.C. swing, saying that he had been told “there is very little money available,” though he said he helped “put the spotlight” on the levee issue at the federal level. What made the meeting successful, according to Nunez, were concessions on the governor’s part about the contents of the bond package. Nunez said Schwarzenegger agreed, at least in principle, to include money for affordable housing, “natural resources issues” and public transit. Nunez sounded particularly optimistic about how close the two parties were on the issue of education. Neither leader sounded optimistic about placing the bonds on the June ballot. The sides remain far apart on the total size of the package, with Schwarzenegger saying “we need to think bigger than” Nunez’s plan, and Nunez calling the size of the package the “main difference” between the two sides.