A Continuing Pattern Of Incompetence

The corrupt and inept Republican administration which has been so totally failing to respond to the results of hurricane Katrina isn’t the only story. We have some right here in California too.

Two bits from the SacBee today:

State forfeits $90 million in aid

Conceding that California isn’t ready to shift 500,000 aged and disabled Medi-Cal patients into HMOs, the Schwarzenegger administration has agreed to forfeit $90 million in federal funds so the state can have more time to plan, officials said Tuesday.

Yeah, we could have used that $90,000,000. Oh well. Add that to the $50-80 million the $chwarzenegger-power-grab election is costing us. We could be building a better state instead of squandering and losing money right and left. We could be doing things like stopping pollution, but we’re not:

The Schwarzenegger administration is gutting the state’s nascent program to regulate the biggest uncontrolled source of water pollution in California – the runoff of pesticides, fertilizers and salt from 10 million acres of irrigated crops.

No sooner had the state completed its hiring of enforcers to police drainage from Central Valley farms than top administration officials ordered the staff cut by two-thirds.

It pisses me off that they have the agenda to do stuff like that. It pisses me off that they can just do it by executive order. It pisses me off that $chwarzenegger is in the governor’s office at all. But, new recalls notwithstanding, we seem to be stuck with the schmuck through 2006. We can’t even get a mid term legislature adjustment like we can hope for nationally. We can get the word out that the $chwarzenegger gang is morally corrupt and bankrupting our state in more than one way, taking us in the wrong direction, and not building the kind of future we want to see.

Field Poll: Dems lead Arnold

Full stats here (PDF)

Dem primary (June numbers):

Angelides 32 (37)
Westly 22 (28)
Undecided 46 (35)

vs Arnold:

Angelides 43 (46)
Arnold 40 (42)

Westly 42 (44)
Arnold 39 (40)

For some reason, across the board, undecided numbers rose. The primary is 9 months away, so there’s still a great deal that’ll happen. For now, things seem to be in a state of flux, although Arnold’s numbers remain low, and still getting lower. There are no miracles on the horizon for him, it seems, at least not for the remainder of 2005.

Assembly Approves Gay Marriage

From the SF Chronicle:

The measure passed on a 41-to-35 vote, with no support from Republicans. The author of the bill, Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, worked desperately throughout the day to find the votes needed for passage.

Will Arnold veto? Signs point to maybe:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not taken a position on the bill, but his office has repeated that he believes the issue should be decided either by a vote of the people or a court decision. He has said he supports the state’s current domestic partnership laws.

Sounds like he’s planning to veto and defer to the June 2006 ballot measure. Californians MUST organize for that vote. I’ll be back in the Golden State by then and pledge to work my ass off to support equal marriage rights.

For now, this does make me feel good to be a Californian.