My Interview With Whiskey and Bacon
Last week, I violated one important rule of good reporting: never assume. I had assumed that California’s breakout media stars of January, Gov. Schwarzenegger’s miniature pony Whiskey and potbellied pig Bacon, would be unavailable to offer their own comments on his state of the state speech.
I thought wrong. I got a call over the weekend from a previously unheard-of public relations firm, Orwell-George Communications, saying that the animals would like to talk.
I met the pig and the pony — along with their CHP detail, publicist and agent — in the private room behind a fashionable café in Brentwood. Here is an edited transcript.
Q: Were you surprised to have so much of the State of the State address devoted to you?
WHISKEY: Floored, and I don’t use that word lightly, since I’m only three feet tall. First off, it struck me as a big risk for a politician to talk about pigs – no offense, Bacon. And that goes double when the politician in question is named Arnold. People put that name and pig together, and they’re thinking less about your political agenda and more about that pig on “Green Acres.”
LAO Report Deepens Budget Woes
Bad as California’s budget numbers are, they’re likely to get worse.
Along with the continuing commotion over whether California will get the $6.9 billion it needs from the federal government to help close the budget deficit (Note to gamblers: take the under, the way under), state Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor warned Tuesday that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger might have been a teensy bit optimistic when his budget folk estimated next year’s revenues. About $3.1 billion optimistic, that is.
In Taylor’s words, the governor’s budget is realistic, but “there’s a downside risk on revenues.” Taylor’s main concern is that the governor’s financial team is counting on a faster, more robust economic recovery than he sees as likely.
It’s important to remember that both Taylor and the governor are dealing with best guess estimates of what the upcoming year will bring and there’s a lot of “potato/po-tah-to” arguing that goes on among the green-eyeshade crowd.
Stories from the Archives Through a Marijuana Haze
Checking Rough and Tumble in the early afternoon yesterday to catch up on the latest California news, the first two headlines made me think I had fallen through a time warp. The first said Tom Campbell was running for the U.S. Senate. The second said the Schwarzenegger Budget was overly optimistic. I’ve read those stories before. Must have come from the archives.
Then I came upon the third story: Assembly committee okays recreational marijuana use and proposes to tax it.
Now, here is something new. I figured that the legislature was going to try a new way to solve the budget problem. By a 4 to 3 vote the Assembly Public Safety Committee moved forward AB 390 by Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco).
Making the Most of Opportunity
I’m a softie for a few things. Children. Puppies. And immigrant entrepreneurs.
Puppies because their fresh eyes are struck with wonder and awe at what the rest of us ignore as humdrum. Children because their spirits have not yet been crushed by cynicism; they dream of doing fun, marvelous things in a long life of boundless opportunities.
And immigrant entrepreneurs because, well, pretty much because of the same reasons.
Immigrants land on these shores and are thunderstruck by what we native-born Americans dismiss as ordinary. They see so clearly what we’ve stopped seeing.
Take the word “opportunity.” Many Americans are so accustomed to that word that it seems empty. We’re not really sure, even, what it means. Or what it looks like when it smacks you upside the head.
Legal Reform = Jobs Jobs Jobs
Governor Schwarzenegger is right on the mark by making legal reform one of his top 5 priorities he outlined in the State of the State. Although legal reform was not part of his speech, it is included as one of his five proposals to get California’s economy back on track.
Focusing on the elimination of frivolous lawsuits as a part of our economic recovery is a huge step forward. Governor Schwarzenegger has always understood litigation reform. He is a businessman and and I think he better than most knows what kind of damage a lawsuit can do.
The Governor’s proposal is to focus on on an atmosphere in which businesses can thrive. He will propose a series of changes to regulations governing class action lawsuits, product liability suits and seek to cap punitive damage awards. While the devil is always in the details, this will be huge reform if delivered to the Governor’s desk later this year.