While at this point it seems pretty clear that comparing Arnold Schwarzenegger is kind of like comparing diseases that you could get, Gray Davis does come out a winner. But really, only just. The failures at the end of his administration made his hold on the office even weaker. So, yeah, Davis was a better governor, but kind of like how falling in a prickly pear is better than sleeping in a fire ant hill.
But, while there were many differences between the two administrations, there is at least one commonality: Susan Kennedy. In an interview last year, Kennedy compared herself to a CEO:
Susan Kennedy likens her job to being CEO of a large corporation. In this case, though, the company is the State of California, "with the governor being chairman of the board."
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"Actually, the governor's office is run like a corporation," Kennedy says. "I have a legislative secretary who handles the governor's legislative matters; a cabinet secretary who oversees health and human services, prisons and education; a legal affairs secretary; {and} then we have finance and research departments. Governor Schwarzenegger, as chairman of the board, makes final decisions and we carry out his directives." (Marin Magazine April 2008)
Well, I qon't quibble with her metaphor and argue that the Governor is supposed to be the CEO, and she is the COO or what not. But, if she claims to be an officer of the state as corporation, wouldn't she have been fired by now?
The fact is that the state is a mess, and her "corporation", the Governor's shop, has caused much of said mess. And her record as Davis' deputy chief of staff was hardly stellar. What kind of corporation would stick with somebody with this kind of record?
Washington (Pony Express Press): As the War between North and South rages on, President Arnold Schwarzenegger has again announced his intention to veto a bill that would emancipate the slaves throughout the American territories, based on the fact that the practice of slavery has been ratified in the states of the Confederacy in the past.
"It would be wrong for the people, and by people I mean wealthy landowners, to vote for something and for me to then overturn it," Schwarzenegger said. "So they can send this bill down as many times as they want, I won't do it."
This is the second year in a row that President Schwarzenegger has vetoed the emancipation bill from the Congress, refusing to offer a proclamation of his own. The bill would set free millions of colored Americans from the bonds of slavery. Some have suggested that the people actually voted for the legislators who drafted the bill, but the President, in the midst of shuttling back and forth to Gettysburg for updates on the fighting, dismissed this.
The situation was made all the more intriguing by the fact that the President's chief of staff is currently a slave. Abolitionist activists have called on the chief of staff to resign.
Frank Russo predictably delivered with great coverage of yesterday's Assembly Natural Resources Committee hearing into political pressure from the Governor's Office on the California Air Resources Board. Just keep scrolling. The most shocking piece of news that Russo highlights, which was also in a couple news articles on the subject, was that the Administration flack sent to give the Governor's side of the story, Dan Skopec, ISN'T EVEN PART OF THE ADMINISTRATION ANYMORE.
Skopec no longer works for the Schwarzenegger Administration as of a week ago, and has started his own firm, "Climate & Energy Consulting" on Sacramento's K Street Mall, to serve clients he described as "emerging technologies companies that will take advantage of the changes in energy that will result from climate policies." Despite repeated questions from committee members, he refused to reveal who in the Administration had asked him to testify, who he had spoken to about the hearing, who had prepped him, and what he was told. Although he repeatedly testified about actions of the Schwarzenegger Administration using the word "we", he later apologized for the use of that word which he is accustomed to use. He later admitted that he was not speaking for the Schwarzenegger Administration, but was basically there as a private citizen.
They sent a lobbyist to defend the Governor. The hay that can be made from that decision is pretty clear. And this part could be even more damning:
Dr. Sawyer (the former CARB chief), in his testimony, complimented Catherine Witherspoon for resigning from her position as the Executive Officer of CARB since she serves in that position at the pleasure of the board itself. Despite the desire of Susan Kennedy, Schwarzenegger's Chief of Staff, to have her fired, this could not be accomplished directly by the Governor. Sawyer said he had been ordered to place this on the agenda and met with a subcommittee of the board only to find out that there was a consensus of fellow board members not to do so. It was feared that had Witherspoon remained in the position that individual board members would be removed until there was a majority willing to fire her.
Does this remind one of the Saturday massacre involving U.S. Attorney General Elliott Richardson and Archibald Cox during the Watergate scandal of the Nixon Administration?
Schwarzenegger is taking a beating in both the local and national press, as well he should. This reflects nothing more than an abuse of power.
I would like everyone reading this who lives in California to call their Assemblymember. They need to know that they will be supported in this effort to rein in the Schwarzenegger Administration and ensure that oversight is undertaken and the laws of the state are met. That includes subpoenas for top Schwarzenegger Administration officials if need be. The Senate also needs to hear from you; they will be meeting next week in the Rules Committee to confirm the new chair of the Board, Mary Nichols. That needs to be a legitimate confirmation hearing with tough questions about Nichols' independence and how she will implement the Global Warmings Solution Act. This is not a small issue; as I write, I'm watching the Live Earth concerts and seeing millions of people begging for action on climate change. Now, here we have one of the only legitimate pieces of legislation in this country addressing the issue, and it's being undermined by a Governor who wants to talk big on the environment while supporting his corporate buddies behind the scenes.
The first couple reports about today's Assembly Natural Resources Committee hearing into the politicization of the California Air Resources Board are starting to dribble out. The SacBee described a set of angry lawmakers sking pointed questions and threatening that their probe into how the Governor is trying to manipulate the board into adopting his favored implementation of anti-global warming laws would continue.
Assembly Democrats said Friday they will continue investigating whether Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger exerted "illegal and improper pressure" on the California Air Resources Board after they were dissatisfied with answers given by two lower-level representatives of the governor at a Capitol hearing.
I wouldn't have expected the national media to pick up on the story of the Governor's actions not matching his rhetoric when it comes to the environment, but the New York Times actually found some room for it in today's paper. They even highlight the governing-by-magazine-cover that has become a staple of this Administration.
In September, Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, signed into law a landmark emissions-reduction measure and then drove a green bus during his easy, breezy re-election campaign. Since then, he has announced that he will buy offsets for his own personal carbon emissions, threatened to sue the Environmental Protection Agency over air quality and appeared on the cover of Newsweek spinning a globe on his finger [...]
But the Governator’s eco-friendly reputation may have taken a dent over the last week in a messy battle over the leadership of the California Air Resources Board, a science-geared agency that has traditionally operated with considerable autonomy, even though its 11 members are political appointees. Its most visible mandate is the nuts and bolts of putting the emissions law, known as AB 32, into effect [...]
“We have schizophrenia here,” said James Marston, a lobbyist for Environmental Defense who worked on passing the emissions law. “Even while we were doing AB 32, the Schwarzenegger administration was a little schizophrenic." [...]
“There’s an obvious difference to what he’s been saying and what his administration and other appointees have been doing,” said Don Perata, a Democrat who is president pro tempore of the State Senate. “There’s some real knuckle draggers over there.”
Jamie Court and Judy Dugan of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights pen an extremely troubling piece today about Big Oil, particularly Chevron, outright buying our government and its leaders. This is not limited to Republicans, but certainly the Governor is the biggest recipient of this largesse.
Take Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who once claimed that he was so rich he did not need anyone else's money - and who isn't running for another office. Yet as gasoline prices were breaking last year's record of $3.38 a gallon, Schwarzenegger collected a $100,000 check May 1 from Chevron, the West's largest refiner. The company certainly had the cash on hand. Just three days earlier, it reported a $4.7-billion first-quarter profit, up 18% over the same period last year.
The contribution brought Schwarzenegger's take from Chevron to $665,000 (making it his 15th largest donor) since 2003, and his total political tribute from the energy industry is now $4 million. According to a recent Schwarzenegger fundraising solicitation, Chevron's $100,000 buys the company special briefings with the governor, something that beleaguered motorists aren't getting.
In all, oil companies delivered $90 MILLION dollars to political campaigns and parties in 2006, and while a lot of that went to block the corporate tax-for-alternative energy Prop. 87, plenty was spread around to political leaders and parties. And that seed money ensures that there is no investigation into practices like this (over):
First, my condolences to the family of Assemblywoman Karen Bass (D-LA), who lost her daughter and son-in-law in a car accident on the 405. The family will be in our thoughts. No good segway here, sorry.
Teasers: Arnold Schwarzenegger's staff living large on the lobbyist dime, Prop 90, Jessica's law makes us less safe, Crazy Tom McClintock, the CCPOA, and more!
The Special Master in the federal court case regarding the prisons will be looking into the relationship between the CCPOA and the Schwarzenegger administration:
Special Master John Hagar reiterated his view that the governor had abandoned reforms to appease the guards. He also said he intended to force the aide, Cabinet Secretary Fred Aguiar, and Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy to testify as part of his probe of the union's influence in the prison system.
In extraordinarily blunt remarks, Hagar said Kennedy appeared to be "in the pocket" of the union, had traded favors with the group and had allowed its leaders unusual access to the governor's office.
And he lamented that politics interfered with the efforts of two reform-minded chiefs of the state corrections department, who resigned in quick succession earlier this year.
"People have quit because they felt their ethics were compromised," Hagar said. "There are significant problems…. The place is crumbling."
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Critics say the plan, which would increase the number of inmate beds by more than 40,000 by 2011, relies too heavily on prison building and should instead aim to decrease California's 70% recidivism rate, the nation's highest.
The crisis has quickly become a campaign topic, with Schwarzenegger's Democratic challenger, State Treasurer Phil Angelides, holding two events last week to promote his own prison reform plan. (LA Times 7/13/06)
So, what role is the union playing? And are they obstructing the real reform that could help a) reduce recidivism and b) reduce the overall general prison population. It takes no genius to understand that more prions = more prison guards = a more powerful union. Now, I'm all for unions and collective bargaining, but in the context of the prisons, growth is bad. We need to ensure that these conflicting interests don't encourage the wrong motives.
