Elections 2006

Tapping the fortune he built as an EBay executive, state Controller Steve Westly has put $20 million into his campaign for governor -- more than enough to mount a viable bid for the Democratic nomination to challenge Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Westly, whose main rival in the June primary is state Treasurer Phil Angelides, had $24.1 million in his campaign account at the end of 2005, according to a report he released Thursday.

Judy Chu and Mike Eng arrived on the political scene in the early 1980s during a tumultuous moment in Southern California's Chinese community. Thousands of immigrants had moved into Monterey Park from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong -- sparking a backlash among longtime residents in the suburb who sought a ban on Chinese-language storefront signs.

Controller Steve Westly aided retailer Barnes & Noble's fight to avoid a multimillion-dollar California tax bill at the same time he was arranging a fundraiser at the chain's East Coast headquarters. Using his position on a state tax board, Westly joined Barnes & Noble's push in 2004 to be forgiven as much as $22.8 million in sales taxes, interest and penalties -- money owed for years of not collecting sales tax on goods sold online.

Cementing its reputation as a progressive haven and further irking business groups, San Francisco has become the first city in the country to mandate paid sick leave for all employees. The ballot measure, which hardly generated discussion here and passed with a resounding 61% of the vote, comes at a time when businesses are reeling from a city plan that requires employers to contribute to universal healthcare and a citywide minimum wage boost phased in over the last few years.

The race for secretary of state is shaping up as a referendum on whether California elections are properly run and, in particular, whether electronic voting machines are secure. Incumbent Bruce McPherson, appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year to replace disgraced Democrat Kevin Shelley, is arguing that he turned a dysfunctional agency into an efficient, well-run office that has certified five types of electronic voting machines. His main challenger, termed-out Democratic state Sen.

Emboldened by the slide in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's popularity, California Democrats took turns pounding their chief Republican adversary Saturday as tensions erupted at their state convention among three men vying to challenge him if he seeks reelection.

Political fallout from corruption scandals and the Iraq war cast a pall over a gathering of Republican governors in Carlsbad, Calif., on Thursday as GOP strategists and leaders acknowledged the party faced a tough climate for its 2006 campaigns. "You'd have to be really disconnected from reality to not see and admit that Republicans nationally have gone through a tough patch here the last six or eight months," Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said. "We should just acknowledge that."

Supporters of an initiative to amend the state Constitution to outlaw same-sex marriage said they didn't get enough signatures to qualify the measure for the June ballot. The supporters of the "Protect Marriage" initiative failed to gather the 598,105 signatures they needed by Tuesday's deadline, said Andrew Pugno, a lawyer for the campaign.

Sacramento People react to state Treasurer Phil Angelides in three ways -- only one of them good: * They're grateful for his playing the role of California's leading anti-Arnold. * They deride him as an opportunistic, tax-and-spend liberal. * They shrug and ask, "Who is he?" If they even care. Most people fit into the last category. When the Field Poll, in mid-February, asked voters their opinion of Angelides, 62% said they had none. They didn't know enough about him.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took a bruising fall at the ballot box. The question now is whether he can pick himself up and win his race for reelection. And that will largely depend, of course, on who he runs against. Forget Warren Beatty and Rob Reiner. They are not going to run. They don't want to, at least in 2006, both actor/directors have told me. Beatty keeps playing this game: He hints at a possible gubernatorial run to attract news media attention to his anti-Schwarzenegger message.