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Liberal journalist Hendrik Hertzberg courted controversy Sunday by bashing President Trump and openly questioning in a tweet: “Time for a military coup?” After a request for comment, the left-wing New Yorker magazine reporter weakly attempted to defend himself in a tweet, claiming he was being “sarcastic.” Hertzberg, a longtime political commentator and staff writer at the New Yorker, was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War and later served as then-President Jimmy Carter’s chief White House speechwriter. Over three hours after his initial tweet made waves, Hertzberg followed up by tweeting: “As somebody or other once said, I was being...

A mother who "deliberately and unjustifiably frustrated" a father's attempts to visit his child was appropriately stripped of child support and primary custody, an appellate panel in Albany has held. The Appellate Division, Third Department, unanimously affirmed a Schuyler County Family Court judge in a case where the custodial mother had repeatedly hindered her estranged husband's efforts to establish relations with his daughter, even though the father made no attempt to enforce his visitation rights for six years. Luke v. Luke, 510880, centers on a child born in 2001 to Melvin W. and Heidi L. Luke. The Lukes, who are...

As dismay grows in his own party and among many observers over Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s seemingly surprising embrace and defense of left-liberal Democrat Rob Reiner and his tenure as chairman of the California Children and Families Commission, it is becoming evident that some of Schwarzenegger’s highest ranking appointees and advisors have long been involved with the controversial commission and the movie director/initiative promoter himself and have played key roles in the direction the program has taken. “The First 5 Commission,” says one Schwarzenegger friend using the Reiner commission’s nickname, “and Reiner himself have been much closer to the governor...

When Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger decided he wanted to appoint controversial Democratic operative Susan Kennedy as his gubernatorial chief of staff in the immediate aftermath of his November special election initiative defeats, according to very reliable informed sources, the former cabinet secretary to recalled Governor Gray Davis first insisted on being paid $250,000 a year. Schwarzenegger said no, and Kennedy assumed the deal was off. But when the former action superstar returned from his glitzkrieg post-election tour of China, he resumed negotiations. Kennedy ended up with a salary this year that, though short of her original figure, does approach it. She...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - With time running out, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic leaders are engaged in delicate negotiations to see if compromise is possible on all or some of the governor's special election initiatives. The Secretary of State identified midnight Thursday as the last time the Legislature can put any new measures on the ballot. But both sides said that deadline can be extended, perhaps as long as another two weeks. Talks have been ongoing for months but appeared to be headed nowhere because neither side seemed motivated to find common ground. Recent days have seen an infusion of energy,...

With 38 days until his inauguration, Mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday moved his transition team into City Hall and began laying the groundwork for the transfer of power from incumbent James Hahn. Former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg, who came in third behind Villaraigosa and Mayor James Hahn in the primary election, is expected to chair the mayor-elect's transition team. He'll be assisted by Robin Kramer, executive director of the Broad Foundation, who was chief of staff to former Mayor Richard Riordan. Kramer said the transition team plans to create an Internet Web site within the next several days so interested...

Stalled in the polls and running out of time, Mayor James Hahn on Thursday launched the first TV attack ad of the mayoral campaign, tarring his main rivals as "Sacramento politicians" who pocketed cash from Enron Corp. while steering California toward an energy crisis. The 30-second spot marked the start of a scalding advertising fight that is expected to intensify until Tuesday's election. City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, one of the targets of Hahn's ad, responded within hours with a TV commercial that zeroed in on an ongoing corruption investigation at City Hall and asked, "Can we really trust Jim Hahn?"...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared with Bob Hertzberg on Friday to endorse the Los Angeles mayoral candidate's plan for education reform, giving Hertzberg a televised boost as he struggles to keep pace with two better-funded rivals in the campaign's final stretch. In a hastily arranged event at Schwarzenegger's Santa Monica office, the governor — who already had expressed generalized support for Hertzberg's proposal to break up the Los Angeles Unified School District — held a private, 20-minute meeting with the former state Assembly speaker. At a news conference afterward, the governor did not endorse Hertzberg, a longtime friend; instead, he reiterated...

What do you get the man who turns 50? For Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg, it was a surprise party at the exclusive Jonathan Club with a quasi-endorsement in his bid for mayor from Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger and his Democratic wife, Maria Shriver, former Mayor Richard Riordan and his Democratic wife, Nancy Daly, were among the 100 or so who roasted Hertzberg at the dinner. Schwarzenegger, according to guests, made it clear he could work well with a Mayor Bob Hertzberg, who was a key player in helping the governor get started in Sacramento. While not coming out officially...

In an effort to galvanize the message Kerry wants to deliver in the time remaining, he convened a powerful roster of journalists and columnists in the New York City apartment of Al Franken last Thursday. The gathering could not properly be called a meeting or a luncheon. It was a trial. The journalists served as prosecuting attorneys, jury and judge. The crowd I joined in Franken’s living room was comprised of: Al Franken and his wife Franni; Rick Hertzberg, senior editor for the New Yorker; David Remnick, editor for the New Yorker; Jim Kelly, managing editor for Time Magazine; Howard...

I'm in a rental car with Al Franken, and we're driving across New Hampshire on the Sunday before the nation's first primary, heading to a John Edwards rally. The Democrats are in a kooky mood following the sudden collapse of Howard Dean in Iowa, and Franken -- comedian, celebrity, scourge -- is spending two days in the state not in any official capacity but as a sort of good-will representative from the party's satiric wing. He is not, as you might think from the outrageous trappings of his comedy, an extreme lefty but rather a devout party man, one who...