Jon Fleischman at the FlashReport says:
…the Governor is endorsing Nunez’ self-serving measure in return for Nunez’ support on the health care/tax hike package. Actually, my sources tell me that the Governor actually wants Nunez to stay in place in order to have his help to raise money and campaign next year for the health care/tax hike plan. This may sound unbelievable — but, yet, I believe it.
Oh, I hear that some sort of “fig leaf” endorsement by Nunez of the Common Cause redistricting measure that the Governor is supporting is in the making — to provide some cover. But I will remind the Governor and all of our readers that Nunez screwed over the Governor and other negotiators who were insisting that redistricting reform accompany a term limits reform measure on the SAME BALLOT, tied together. Nunez backing some measure that will supposedly appear on some future ballot is a shameful retreat from the Governor. (Of course if the redistricting plan is a real and good one, all of Nunez’ allies will destroy it anyways.)
In the Sacramento Bee article quoted below, Kevin Spillane, spokesman for the No on 93 campaign says much the same thing, but “Steve Maviglio, Núñez’s spokesman, was more blunt about Spillane’s accusation. ‘That’s just nonsense,’ he said. ‘He’s just making things up. There was no deal. It’s just sour grapes.'” Meanwhile, at The California Majority Report, Maviglio gloats over the news with the headline “A Bad Day for the Flash Report,” saying: “Fleischman wrote some interesting fiction about the reasons for Schwarzenegger support. No need to bother reading it; let’s just say the Governor won’t be on his holiday card list next year.”
Note that Capitol Weekly‘s Roundup points to the perceptive Anthony York’s own Los Angeles Times op-ed from last month explaining how both Nunez and Schwarzenegger need each other and predicting the deal:
Nuñez’s political future is in the hands of one man, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger…he desperately needs Schwarzenegger’s endorsement of Proposition 93. Most observers believe that voters will defeat the measure if it lacks the governor’s seal of approval.But Schwarzenegger’s support comes at a price. The governor has consistently used Nuñez’s desire to change the term-limits law as leverage in his negotiations with the speaker about healthcare reform, and it seems to be paying off.
See also Jamie Court of the Huffington Post, who says: “Schwarzenegger insists he did not support Prop 93’s term limits extension to give Nunez another six years because Nunez backed Arnold’s unaffordable mandatory purchase plan. I dare Arnold to take the polygraph challenge.”
From the media blogs: Jim Boren at the Fresno Bee blog notes that the Governor went from “undecided” to “decided” and wrote his op-ed piece in a very, very short time period. Dan Weintraub says “If anyone doubted that the health care reform bill pending in the Senate would pass, you can forget that now. It must be a done deal.” Mark Landsbaum of the OC Register says “…the governor first said there’s no way he’d support the term-limit changes unless Democrats in the Legislature went along with his redistricting plan. They didn’t go along, so now he’s caved in. Now there’s some tough negotiating.”
Most Republican’s aren’t very happy right now: for instance, president of the Fresno Lincoln club, Michael Der Manouel, Jr., refering to the governor, asks, “When do we throw this guy overboard?” See also Woody’s roundup, One Citizen Speaking, Red County’s The OC Blog and San Diego County blog, Boi From Troy, and The West Ranch Beacon.
On the left reaction is decidedly mixed: see D-Day, The Liberal OC, and Beyond Chron, for instance. See also PacoVilla’s CCPOA blog, The Moderate Voice, and Edwards Industry, Policy and Political News.
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