A few odds and ends…

* Sunshine Training: Following a recent report that found many state agencies are worse at allowing public access to records than local governments, Governor Schwarzenegger has signed an executive order designed to improve the openness of his administration. The order requires each agency to review or design a policy to comply with the state’s Public Records Act within 30 days. The governor’s legal affairs secretary, Andrea Hoch, told reporters this afternoon that some 250 employees from various agencies participated in training on the issue earlier in the day. She said the action was based, in part, on a recent survey by the non-profit organization Californians Aware, which found that 31 state agencies were not in full compliance with the law allowing public access to most documents.

* Governor’s Campaign Filings: A legal battle dating back to before last year’s special election has ended, with an appeals court concluding Schwarzenegger and his political operation did not properly report contributions made toward passing the redistricting initiative, Proposition 77. The allegations, made by Democrats and labor unions, centered on TV ads paid for by Schwarzenegger’s California Recovery Team that advocated passage of Prop 77. The ruling by the 3rd District Court of Appeal says that the ads were contributions which the state’s Political Reform Act (PRA) says must be reported within 24 hours. In its ruling, the court writes that the governor’s campaign team “is not free to determine when and what to disclose; it must comply with the PRA.” What happens now? Well, the union-backed Alliance For A Better California is asking state campaign finance regulators to consider a fine equal to the amount that went unreported, which could be into the millions of dollars.

* The Cost of Skipping School: This week’s protests surrounding the issue of illegal immigration have prompted students in some schools to walk out of their classrooms. Trouble is, schools receive a good portion of their funding based on attendance figures. As a result, several school districts asked Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell for a waiver from the attendance/cash formula, in light of this week’s walkouts. Today, O’Connell sent a letter to local educators that says any kind of waiver is unlikely. “While I am pleased that students are… exercising their right to free speech and assembly,” wrote O’Connell, “we must encourage them to enjoy these hard-fought liberties in ways that will not hinder their or their classmates’ education.”

Yet another way, it seems, that it really does pay to stay in school.

Two weeks ago, actor/director Rob Reiner sounded like a man who had no intention to giving in to what he saw as much ado about nothing.

Two weeks later, he’s apparently had a change of heart.

Reiner apparently told Governor Schwarzenegger of his decision over the weekend to resign as chairman of the California First 5 Commission, after weeks of questions and criticisms over how the commission, under his leadership, spent millions of state dollars on a PR campaign that seemed quite similar to Reiner’s political efforts on the issue of preschool programs.

“We agreed that we cannot let personal political attacks get in the way of doing the very best we can for California’s children,” said Reiner in a statement released by the governor’s office.

Reiner’s term as chairman, as you may remember, had technically expired. And so all Schwarzenegger had to do was replace the well-known Democrat, which he did today by appointing Hector Ramirez as the new chair. Ramirez currently runs an LA-based organization called Para Los Ninos.

Reiner and his advisers must have clearly realized things weren’t getting any better after his long and impassioned defense on March 14 at the Sacramento Press Club (posted here), where he said he had no intention of resigning.

Meantime, the formal state audit of how the First 5 dollars were spent continues; so too, does the examination of the allegations by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office.

That quote seems to sum up the current debate over increasing the minimum wage in California, as Senate Democrats today moved forward their version of a pay hike and killed a version supported by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The comment came from Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Van Nuys), chairman of the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee, during discussion of SB 1167 from Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria). Maldonado’s bill, endorsed by the governor, would raise the state’s minimum wage from $6.75 to$7.25 this year, and another 50 cents next year.

But it doesn’t include a formula for future increases– the reason Schwarzenegger has vetoed similar bills in the past, and a key demand from Democrats.

“I believe there are times we need to compromise,” said Maldonado.

Nonetheless, Democrats refused to vote for the bill, a proposal that clearly could have been helpful to the governor’s reelection campaign.

Instead, Democrats will try their version of a minimum wage increase again, with the committee voting in favor of SB 1162 by Sen. Gil Cedillo (D-LA); the bill has the same wage hikes as SB 1167 but again includes an “indexing” formula for future hikes based on inflation.

Another minimum wage hike with an indexing formula will be heard this afternoon in an Assembly committee.

If the Legislature signs off on a deal to allow two Indian tribes from different parts of the state to converge and build side-by-side casinos in the city of Barstow, will it be making lemonade out of lemons… or setting a dangerous precedent for expansion of tribal gaming?

Those seemed to be the key questions in a marathon hearing of the Senate Governmental Operations Committee that lasted into the evening, and included at least one testy exchange between lawmakers.

Under discussion were gaming agreements between Governor Schwarzenegger and two tribes: San Diego County’s Los Coyotes Band of Mission Indians and the Big Lagoon Rancheria of Humboldt County (actually, only Big Lagoon’s deal was on the agenda).

The agreements would allow each tribe to build a casino in Barstow, more than 150 miles from Los Coyotes’ tribal lands and more than 700 miles from those of Big Lagoon. In part, the deal would settle Big Lagoon’s seven year legal battle with the state, which arose over environmental concerns about a casino on the tribe’s north coast reservation. Barstow city leaders also support the deal, leading Schwarzenegger tribal negotiator Daniel Kolkey to tell the committee it’s a “win-win” agreement.

But two Democrats, committee chairman Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter) and Sen. Gloria Romero (D-LA), seemed skeptical and suggested the deal could set a precedent for off-reservation Indian gaming in areas where a tribe has no ancestral ties.

Florez also wondered aloud whether necessary approval of the proposal by the U.S. Department of the Interior shouldn’t happen before the Legislature weighs in. “Why shouldn’t the state wait?,” said Florez.

But there was clearly tension about the direction of the hearing. And the lawmaker representing Big Lagoon’s part of the state, Sen. Wes Chesbro (D-Arcata), stormed off the dais after Florez allowed representatives of some of the state’s most powerful gaming tribes to speak ahead of the Big Lagoon tribal chairman, Virgil Moorehead.

“What’s wrong?,” Florez asked Chesbro, who then stoood directly over Florez sitting in his chair.

“In my seven years here [in the Legislature], I’ve never seen a hearing like this,” snapped Chesbro. “This is the biggest stacked deck. You know, there’s no fair consideration being given to the Big Lagoon Rancheria,” Chesbro said before leaving.

“Nice scene,” snapped back Florez. Senator Chesbro later returned.

The hearing certainly seemed to raise the possibility that the agreement is far from sailing through the Legislature, where the climate toward new Indian gaming deals has seemed to worsen since the 2004 stalemate over a massive tribal casino proposed for the Bay Area.

Just for the record… Arnold Schwarzenegger’s name will not be on the November ballot for another 225 days. But his pitch for four more years takes to the airwaves today, with the very first re-election campaign TV ad.

You can view the governor’s new ad here.

The governor’s new campaign team discussed the ad in a conference call this afternoon with political reporters (and it was hard to miss the Texas twang of the new Schwarzenegger politicos, best known for their past campaign efforts for President Bush).

Strategist Matthew Dowd called the ad the beginning of the “narrative” they will present to voters about Schwarzenegger’s record. “This is just our way to start laying the groundwork,” he said. Dowd says the ad will play this week in Los Angeles, San Diego, the Bay Area, Sacramento, and Bakersfield. But he declined to disclose the actual size of the ad buy.

(By the way, the ad seems to have a Reaganesque “Morning In America” feel to it… and notice how many shots there are of a California city that is definitely not “Arnold Country”– San Francisco)

Meantime, the governor is on the road making a similar pitch. So similar, in fact, that his stop this afternoon in Riverside– to tout his economic accomplishments– sounds more like a campaign event than an official state event, even though it’s being staffed as the latter.

In his conference call, Dowd acknowledged the campaign hopes to highlight their economic record this week at the same time “the governor goes around the state in the various media markets.”

But Schwarzenegger’s state spokesperson, Margita Thompson, dismissed any notion that the governor’s official event is really a campaign stop. She said this week’s events will highlight the fact that “work remains to be done” on improving the state’s economy, and says that various economic policies are still under discussion at the Capitol.

For a break from infrastructure bonds and campaign maneuvers, I recommend some of the coverage from this weekend’s newsmagazine edition of The California Report.

Following a week of protests in California over the issue of illegal immigration– based on action taken this week in the House of Representatives– host Scott Shafer speaks with Deena Bunis of the Orange County Register’s DC bureau about how the issue is likely to play out next week on Capitol Hill.

Also, an interesting look at one idea for alternate transportation to avoid the traffic jams on I-15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The idea: a magnetic levitation train, the focus of a $45 million congressionally authorized study. The train, say its backers, could get you from Disneyland to Sin City in only 90 minutes.

Show times and the actual audio (later today) can be found here.

Enjoy the weekend.

A few items landing in the “in” box worth pondering today…

* Infrastructure Bonds Might Fail? : A private poll out today suggests Californians might be a lot more worried about other issues than the state’s infrastructure. And bonds to pay for those projects could, in fact, fail if placed on the ballot. The poll of 800 likely voters comes from national pollsters Greenberg, Quinlan, & Rosner (the same firm that, coincidentally, just did a poll for our friends at NPR News) and was paid for by the California Business Properties Association and the California Tribal Business Alliance.

Among the highlights: 52% of those surveyed said they would vote no on a theoretical $32 billion infrastructure bond, while only 43% said they’d vote yes… the only region in this poll supporting a bond proposal was the Bay Area, and even there just slightly… 64% said it’s harder to do business here than any other state… and the top concerns of voters appear to be health care (77%) and education (70%).

* Kids & the Budget: A new analysis from the nonprofit California Budget Project concludes that a full 58 cents of every dollar spent out of the state’s General Fund in 2004-05 was spent on services for kids and youth under the age of 21. While most went to public schools, billions were also spent on health and human services, child care, and correctional services. The full report is here.

* Initiative Reform: Legislators from both sides of the aisle and Secretary of State Bruce McPherson today rolled out a package of proposed reforms to the California’s 94-year-old love affair with the ballot initiative. The reforms include: a modified version of the old “indirect initiative” where the initiative could, in some cases, become law through the Legislature without a costly political campaign (ACA 18/Nation)… a new review of initiative language by the Secretary of State, to avoid drafting errors reminiscent of the Proposition 77 fracas last year (AB 2460/Evans)… and an extension of the time allowed for proponents to collect signatures, from 150 days to a full calendar year, to ostensibly help grassroots campaigns that can’t afford paid signature gatherers (SB 1715/Margett).

State officials and environmental advocates filed lawsuits today to stop the expansion of a toll road in Orange County, an expansion that would cut through San Onfore State Beach.

Attorney General Bill Lockyer announced the lawsuit at a news conference this morning here in Sacramento. The lawsuit alleges that in trying to extend the 241 toll road, the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency (TCA) violated the landmark California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

You can read more about it here.

Lockyer told reporters that the violations include TCA’s lack of identifying possible mitigation measures, including the widening of nearby Interstate 5, rather than build the road in its currently designated location. And he said local officials “manipulated” the evidence in order to get the road where they wanted it.

The AG’s action was joined by lawsuits from the Natural Resources Defense Council, the California Parks Foundation, the Sierra Club, the Surfrider Foundation, and the Native American Heritage Commission.

The park, home to the internationally known surfing destination Trestles, was created in 1971 through efforts from both former President Richard Nixon and then Governor Ronald Reagan.

“I’m now defending the legacy of Dick Nixon and Ronald Reagan,” joked Lockyer.

Meantime, a statement from the TCA disputes the allegations and calls the lawsuits another “delay tactic that avoids dealing with the number one issue facing southern California today– traffic congestion.”

Campaign finance reports are now in for the first 90 days or so of 2006, and while the above headline refers to the new contribution limits for gubernatorial campaigns, there’s a pretty noticeable amount of money being spent all across the political spectrum.

Some highlights (focusing, as you might guess, on the biggest race):

* Arnold, Phil, & Steve: Fundraising efforts for all three major campaigns for governor has picked up since the end of 2005. The biggest change, given that he started in the red, was for Governor Schwarzenegger, whose reelection campaign raised $5.18 million and ended the filing period (through March 17) with $3.87 million in the bank.

Democratic contender Phil Angelides reported raising about $2.38 million so far in 2006, and ended the filing period with about $14.5 million in the bank.

And Democratic contender Steve Westly…well, we’re still awaiting his report as of this posting (just around 9:15 pm).

[THURS AM UPDATE: Westly’s report shows about $3.6 million in contributions, and $23 million in the bank]

* I Owe Myself: It’s not unusual for candidates to have to fork open their own wallets for some expenses. And given how competitive campaigns can be, it’s not unusual for the candidate to be the last one paid back.

But the governor certainly seems to be piling up some big IOUs from his campaign. Schwarzenegger’s own company, Oak Productions, is reported as being owed $488,364.29– with almost all of it being spent since the start of the year. In fact, that’s more than half of all his campaign’s outstanding debt (one other creditor of note: his state chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, who is owed $15,000 in consulting fees).

So what did Schwarzenegger’s own company front the money for? Mostly it was for his private jet, which appears to have cost about $340,000 in a little more than three months.

* I Say “Spend It”: The governor and the Legislature still haven’t worked out their differences over a major infrastructure plan, and yet a good chunk of cash has already been spent trying to get voters to pay attention. Senate President Don Perata’s “Rebuilding California” campaign has spent about $833,000 so far this year, mostly on TV ads supporting Perata’s infrastructure proposal. That’s in addition to large TV ad buy reported to be in the $2 million range in recent weeks by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to support the governor’s proposal.

* Still Collecting: Campaign accounts often continue to thrive for months, even years, after their original issue seems to disappear from the radar. You can add to that list the opponents to last November’s redistricting measure, Proposition 77. The “No on 77″ campaign still has about $466,000 on hand, with almost half being raised since January, including a single $100,000 donation from the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians. New efforts to change the redistricting process, it should be noted, are pending in the Legislature.

* Elsewhere: The Yes on Proposition 82 campaign, advocating universal preschool and spearheaded by actor/director Rob Reiner, raised $2 million raised, with $1.7 million cash on hand)… while the counterweight “No on 82″ campaign was not as active (about $81,000 cash on hand). And the largest war chest for a “down ticket” race still appears to be Bill Lockyer, the current Attorney General who’s running for Treasurer (about $9.5 million on hand).

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger may not have gotten any of his massive infrastructure plan through the Legislature in time to appear on the June 6 ballot, but he is continuing to try and hammer home the message with voters… this week, on education.

Last week, the Senate failed to take up two bond measures approved by the Assembly– one for levee repair and flood protection, the other for a number of education projects. The Senate adjourned before the bills could be delivered, and the dispute was partly over the notion that education projects should be placed on the ballot before infrastructure needs in areas like transportation.

This week, the governor apparently has decided to reaffirm his support for the $19.4 billion education bond that the Senate failed to consider. Advisers say his entire public schedule this week will focus on education needs addressed in the bond proposal, SB 69– including money for K-12 classroom construction, charter schools, and higher education.

“The Senate needs to take [the proposal] up immediately,” Schwarzenegger said today in Fresno. And at the weekly press briefing back here in Sacramento, advisers laid out a rough sketch of the governor’s weekly itinerary, which will likely include education events up and down the state.

It remains to be seen whether the strategy will place any new pressure on infrastructure talks with legislators, although it’s common knowledge that education continues to poll as one of the most important issues for California voters.