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Newsview: Bush's Global Clout Seen Growing By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 55 minutes ago President Bush departs the White House, Friday, May 27, 2005, to attend the United States Naval Academy graduation in Annapolis, Md. before heading to Camp David for the weekend. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)  WASHINGTON - In the rarified club of world leaders,  President Bush has taken his share of lumps. Critics have railed against his handling of   Iraq, his perceived disdain for the     United Nations and what they say is a swaggering approach to foreign policy.  But Bush probably would not want to trade places with...

AS a host on his own radio station, Dan Patrick has crusaded against rising property taxes. Until this month, however, his taxes hadn't been rising as fast as everyone else's. It seems that Patrick, owner of homes in Katy and Montgomery, had homestead exemptions on both. It wasn't his fault, really. As a professional slinger of zingers, he'd hardly leave himself open to something so easily verified on the Internet. Which is how we checked out the anonymous phone tip. Sure enough, Patrick's home on Lake Conroe has a full homestead exemption, designed to lessen the tax burden on a...

Dramatic differences emerge leading to lively exchanges Four candidates are running to shape the future of Friendswood. Running for Position 2 are Lonnie Moffitt and John LeCour. Contestants for Position 5 are Kitten Brizendine and Chris Peden. All candidates’ positions were stated at the well attended forum at Village on the Park Friday, April 15. Fifteen issues, raised by the audience, were addressed. The program provided concise, descriptive statements of their positions showing sharp differences between various candidates’ liberal and conservative positions. The issues soliciting the most divergent opinions were taxes, City-funded development, zero-based budgeting, and the candidates’ vision for...

FRIENDSWOOD — A group had a pep-rally of sorts at a Friendswood pizza parlor Tuesday to encourage support for Gov. Rick Perry’s proposal to limit increases in taxable property values to no more than 3 percent annually. The group released what it said were numbers showing government officials do not pay their fare share when it comes to property taxes. Edd Hendee, a radio talk show host and executive director of Citizens Lowering Our Unfair Taxes, released figures indicating that the property values of Friendswood Mayor Kimball Brizendine, City Manager Ron Cox, council members such as Mel Measels and Laura...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a history of using alternatives to mainstream media to get his message out - but he's now breaking new ground by writing a monthly column for exclusive distribution by ethnic news organizations. The column is translated into multiple languages by New California Media, an association of more than 700 ethnic news outlets that is holding its sixth annual awards banquet in Sacramento tonight. In a statement accompanying his debut column, the former international movie star and self-proclaimed marketing whiz said he looked "forward to communicating with California's many vibrant ethnic groups." The Austrian-born governor sounded familiar...

Though Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger once again used his political brawn to influence state ballot measures, even he could not alter California's legislative map during the recent election, according to a pair of independent pollsters who have been tracking California elections for decades. Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of California and Mark DiCamillo of the Field Poll weighed in Tuesday on trends that emerged from the recent election, agreeing that the Republican governor had a dramatic effect on the outcome of some key ballot measures - particularly the last-minute plunge in support for Proposition 66's effort to soften California's...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The California Chamber of Commerce and its allies failed to put a dent in the Democrats' big majorities in the Legislature on Tuesday, but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll wield less clout at the Capitol. They still have the Terminator. "They have a governor who leaps when they say jump," said Rico Mastrodonato, Northern California director for the League of Conservation Voters. "Having a governor like Schwarzenegger is one of the most powerful tools the business community has to leverage their agenda." JOBS PAC, the campaign arm of the chamber and the California Manufacturers and Technology Association,...

<p>WASHINGTON -- The Taliban has been routed in Afghanistan. Many top officials of the al-Qaida terrorist network have been rounded up. One of the world's most-feared rulers, Iraq's Saddam Hussein, has been toppled.</p> <p>If there was uncertainty before Sept. 11, 2001, about the United States' willingness to assert its immense power around the world, President Bush and the American military have provided resounding answers.</p>

<p>If nothing else, California's budget crisis is another opportunity to determine who has -- and who doesn't have -- real clout in the Capitol.</p> <p>It will be an exercise in political gamesmanship, not one in objective priority-setting, and whether one form of spending or one kind of taxation is "better" than another will have little or nothing to do with what's finally decreed. In the main, interest groups that have clout will suffer less as Gov. Gray Davis and the Legislature close a huge income-outgo gap, and those who don't have it will bear a greater share of the budgetary burden. The most successful players will be those who have built the "three-legged stool" of political action -- knowledgeable lobbyists with access to decision-makers, a program of regular, substantial campaign contributions, and an effective public opinion strategy based on grassroots organizing and clever use of media.</p>