California: Arnold Schwarzenegger

Just scant weeks after it was reported that the governor's office had been sitting on a negative story about the consequences of heavy regulations for the state economy, Arnold Schwarzenegger's staff has the gall to send an "In Case You...

From the gov's office: Gov. Schwarzenegger Announces Plan to Keep State Parks Open Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today unveiled a plan that would allow for all state parks to remain open without increasing the Department of Parks and Recreation budget appropriation....

It was Christmas in August for Democratic legislators Tuesday as a trio of federal judges gave them the gift of political cover.

The order to cut California’s prison population by more than 40,000 over the next two years – and the short, 45-day window to come up with a plan – will ease of pressure on Democrats facing some ugly political choices later this month.

There wasn’t a Democrat in the Assembly or state Senate who was looking forward to coming back to Sacramento to face a raucous debate on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan for slashing the prison budget through a combination of early releases and sentencing changes.

Taking 27,000 inmates out of the prisons – and releasing many of them back into their communities – was guaranteed to bring out the loud chants of “soft on crime” from conservatives, local police chiefs and plenty of everyday voters.

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As everyone licked their wounds, and returned to the state Wednesday, a new Big 5 began talking about the same old problem. Well, with one little twist ... Capitol Weekly reports, "As if the state budget crisis needed to be any more complicated, now the federal government has been dragged into the middle of the state’s ongoing fiscal battles. If you thought the last budget standoff was rough, just wait and see what happens now that the state’s $20 billion budget problem has gone three-dimensional."

"In essence, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger needs permission from the federal government to cut billions of dollars from the state budget. The governor outlined his proposals in a quickly-assembled budget revision last week, complete with deep cuts to education and health and human services.