Free Republic

No one can seriously question one of the two major assumptions behind the $38 billion worth of construction and repair bonds proposed on the Nov. 7 state ballot. Traffic relief is a must in myriad parts of California. Port security isn't a tenth as tough as it needs to be. Who can argue against battered women's shelters and housing assistance for senior citizens, veterans and working families? Overcrowded public schools need relief. And the levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin river delta area are a disaster waiting to happen. Taken together, all those realities make up one big assumption behind the...

SACRAMENTO - When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced an ambitious transportation bond in January, he touted the plan as way to improve more than 1,000 miles of state roads and build hundreds of miles of carpool lanes on California's busiest freeways. Democrats later shrank that pavement-laying proposal and substituted billions for bus, rail and other urban transit projects, but supporters have stuck to their public message since the latest version was placed on the November ballot. The bond, they say, would largely build roads and ease the lives of California's legions of freeway commuters. On Web sites and in fliers soon...

It was a priceless photo for a Republican governor running for reelection in a blue state: Him standing at the mike, the two Democratic legislative leaders at his side. All three grinning into the cameras in the Capitol news conference room — announcing their bipartisan agreement last week on a bill to raise the minimum wage. But that was not an abnormal picture in this atypical year. Bipartisan deals, aberrant in the past, have become commonplace: a $37.3-billion package of state bonds for public works, a rare on-time budget and — the most recent — legislation forcing drug companies to...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to narrow his rift with conservatives Saturday by casting himself as tougher on illegal immigration than his Democratic challenger, Phil Angelides, but failed to quell a Republican revolt over his call for billions in borrowing for housing and school construction. The Republican governor told party loyalists at a state GOP convention in Century City that he had put National Guard troops on the Mexican border — as demanded by President Bush — to help federal authorities "get their act together." "My opponent wants to pull the National Guard off the border," Schwarzenegger told the crowd of...

Last fall, when it was evident that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "year of reform" ballot measure package was doomed and had seriously eroded his popularity, he and his advisors began looking for a political life ring and hit upon "infrastructure" -- doing something about the state's badly neglected highways and other public facilities. It was, in a sense, a natural choice. Schwarzenegger had assumed the governorship on a three-word slogan, "recover, reform and rebuild." The first referred to the chronically and dangerously unbalanced state budget, the second to making the political system more responsive and the third to improving the infrastructure....

SACRAMENTO State lawmakers are betting that voters eager to avoid a Katrina-style disaster in California will rally behind a $4.1 billion bond on the November ballot to shore up the state's fragile levees. While few experts disagree that California needs to rebuild its aging levee system, an Associated Press review of the bond has found the measure requires voters to take a leap of faith that the state will spend the money the way lawmakers have promised. An extensive examination of the measure, reviews of state and federal studies, and interviews with two dozen water experts, lawmakers and environmentalists have...

California voters will be asked to approve a $4.1 billion levee bond in November. The figure represents a compromise between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had sought about $6.5 billion, and Democratic lawmakers, who had wanted to spend about half that. THE PROBLEM: _ Levee system: A fragile network of 2,300 miles of levees in the state's Central Valley and Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is in need of major repairs. The system includes 1,600 miles of levees that were reinforced in the 1960s and 1970s and 700 miles that amount to little more than grassy berms. It was built more than...

Angelides touts bond package Treasurer agrees with governor that voters should approve $37 billion OAKLAND — They were not on stage together, but they came as close as these electoral rivals probably ever will. State Treasurer Phil Angelides set aside his bid to unseat Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for a few moments to agree with his Republican opponent that the state's voters should pass the $37 billion infrastructure bond package. Even the few slight jabs he did throw in Schwarzenegger's general direction failed to incite a response from the Join Arnold campaign. "This bond package will not be an issue in...

It has happened before. It can happen again. As liberal as they are in some ways, Golden State voters may be set to strike back at their increasingly hungry government. We're not the only ones who sense something brewing. The Los Angeles Times recently judged voters to be "cranky about tax increases and big-ticket bonds" and noted that they now face "a November ballot that would break records in government spending." Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also seems to sense that Californians may be starting to feel tapped-out. He is no skinflint on the spending side — in fact, he's responsible for...

SACRAMENTO — Forget logic, this is politics. By far the two highest-profile supporters of public works bonds won't be campaigning together for the $37 billion package on the November ballot. Both Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic challenger Phil Angelides back the bonds but made it clear they won't be jointly touting the proposal. So the political snarl in California and uncertainty over passage of the bonds grow larger, analysts say, even though the proposal is the pride of Republican Schwarzenegger and the Democrat-dominated Legislature this year. The clarification came after a little political poke at the situation by Senate leader...

Build highways, freeways and mass transit, he said, "so you don't get stuck in traffic all the time." Expand universities, build new classrooms and modernize old ones "so that our kids have the best place to go." Strengthen the state's levee system "to protect the people of California from a major disaster." But in his stem-winder on the banks of the Sacramento River, the governor mentioned nothing about the housing bond, a key component that helped him win votes from Democratic legislators for the bond package he has touted as a bipartisan triumph. Housing bond supporters such as Assembly Speaker...

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata sounded downright gloomy today as he discussed the fate of four bond issues on the November ballot. Speaking at a Sacramento Press Club lunch, Perata called the defeat of six local transportation bonds and the statewide library bond in this month's primary election "sobering." Other factors working against the bonds, according to Perata: continuing problems in launching stem cell research bonds approved by voters in 2004 and a cluttered November ballot full of spending measures, including a proposal to up cigarette taxes and one on oil. Frustrated voters may just say "no." Perata was...

The resounding defeat of two spending measures on the California ballot provides fresh evidence that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other supporters of a $37 billion public works bond package will have to make a strong case to voters. That was the assessment this week of politicians and pundits after voters rejected Propositions 81 and 82. The Republican governor has hitched his re-election campaign to the building plan. Democratic leaders, including gubernatorial nominee Phil Angelides, also support the plan, as does the California Chamber of Commerce, which led the opposition to Proposition 82. "I think the lesson to be learned for...

To hear Governor Schwarzenegger tell it, he didn't need any convincing by Democrats to support a separate bond measure for more affordable housing. And he wishes the infrastructure package was much, much bigger. In one of the unreported tidbits from the Wednesday north state press bus interview, Schwarzenegger was asked why he didn't mention the $2.85 billion housing bond at his town hall event that morning in Redding. He blamed it on a simple oversight, not having his notes in front of him. But he didn't stop there. "To be honest with you," he said, "I don't even know why...

California voters turned frugal Tuesday, turning down several state and local bonds and taxes -- and raising questions about prospects for $47 billion in state bonds proposed for the November ballot. The failed statewide ballot measures would have used $600 million in bonds to build and refurbish public libraries, and raised income taxes on wealthy Californians by $2.4 billion annually for preschools. Their demise could give pause to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democrat legislative leaders as they contemplate how to convince Californians to support the richest series of bond measures in the state's history. Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata,...

Assembly Republicans stood united for four basic points that should be included in an infrastructure bond deal. Why did the GOP Caucus lose its resolve, putting up the votes without achieving policy victories in any of the four areas?

OAKLAND — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Legislative leaders barnstormed the state Monday to tout their agreement on a $37.3 billion infrastructure bond package likely to play a pivotal role in November's election. The tarmac at Oakland International Airport was awash in bipartisan praise as the "Big Five" — the governor and the Assembly's and state Senate's Democratic and Republican leaders — held their news conference before jetting to Burbank, Santa Ana and San Diego for similar events. "I think this is going to be terrific for the whole state of California," Schwarzenegger said of the plan lawmakers approved in the...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a bipartisan delegation of legislative leaders flew around the state yesterday to promote the $37.3 billion public works bond package approved last week for the November ballot. “When I ran for governor, people always said it would be impossible to bring Democrats and Republicans together,” the Republican governor told an airport news conference in San Diego. “But we've proven again that we can come together.” Schwarzenegger highlighted school construction money that would go to San Diego if the education component of the package is approved in the November election. “For San Diego, this means that for...

SACRAMENTO – State lawmakers early Friday approved a series of bills that would place a record public works spending plan before voters in November, reviving a proposal that had broad public support but failed to pass the Legislature earlier this year. The $37.3 billion package would be the largest bond issue in California history and now goes to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The governor, who proposed an even larger spending plan in January, called the votes in each house “a landmark accomplishment that will yield benefits for generations to come.” “For the first time in a generation, we are making a...

Sacramento -- Bleary-eyed lawmakers voted early today to put a $37 billion package of bonds intended to fix levees and build new highways and schools on the November ballot. "Today we made a giant step forward in terms of our commitment to the state's economy and in terms of strengthening our crumbling infrastructure," said Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland. "We also showed what bipartisanship can look like." An attempt by the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to put a larger bond on the June ballot failed two months ago. Of the four bonds, transportation is the largest, at...