FR friend Adam Mendelsohn had to work a lot over the weekend, as Phil Angelides and/or his operatives have released more of their secret cache of audio recordings of Governor Schwarzenegger with his speechwriters, that were famously extracted from the Governor’s computer system by crafty though questionable techniques. Of course Cathy Calfo, who managed Angelides’ losing bid, denies they released the tapes (again). Riiiight. The Governor’s office released the following statement from Mendelsohn:
"There are over three hours of private tapes. They show a Governor who is thoughtful, concerned and focused on solving some of California’s most serious problems. Governor Schwarzenegger discusses his hope of inspiring kids to accomplish their dreams. He shares his ideas on tolerance and the need for ‘as many tolerance museums as gymnasiums.’ The Administration is releasing the recordings in their entirety to the media because the people of California deserve all the information directly rather than through anonymous leaking.
"On four separate occasions our speechwriter recorded the Governor during practice sessions. The purpose of these sessions was to have a free flowing, private discussion about a wide range of topics. The information was then used for speeches, opinion pieces, and to develop policy statements for the Governor. There were no additional recordings."
The release from the Governor’s office then goes on to list four excerpts that the Governor’s office would like you to read, as opposed to the ones that have been latched onto by the media. Since our space here is precious, we have decided not to include these non-controversial quotes here. I am happy to link to them if the Governor’s office puts them online (!). Of course, read any of the many stories on the main page to see what choice things the Governor says about Senate President Pro-Tem Don Perata, Speaker Nunez, and others…
I did want to draw the attention of FR readers to the fact that today the LA Times has an entire article dedicated to beating up on Mendelsohn. I thought the article represented a low-blow on the part of the Times. Adam’s job is to represent the Governor as best that he can. Of course, given the unfair and ongoing jihad that the Times has been undertaking on the Governor, this means that Adam has had to be a bit more formal that he would otherwise like to be. But the Times should examine their own biased coverage, and then ask themselves whether they should be taking shots at Mendelsohn, or maybe rethinking the way they cover the Governor.
I had an opportunity to chat with Rex Frazier, the President of the Personal Insurance Federation of California, at the swearing-in ceremony of Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner a few weeks ago. He is a great guy who really has some interesting perspectives that are worth sharing with FR readers. Make sure you check out the column he penned for the FR on the main page. It takes an interesting look at how good drivers are having to pay more for insurance because of bad drivers, because of lenient judges who allow dangerous drivers to have major tickets and accidents taken off of their records.
On a closing note, we’d like to dedicate this video of Johnny Cash singing the "Folsom Prison Blues" to the Assembly Republican Caucus, the members of which are all traveling out to Folsom prison this morning to outline their priorities and principles in reforming California’s troubled prison system, and announce a new approach the Caucus is taking to fully explore the problems in California’s prisons.
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