Two Democrats spar on education

By Peter Hecht , Sacramento Bee, April 3, 2006

LOS ANGELES - It wasn't the great debate that both campaigns promise is coming. But the two Democratic contenders for governor at least showed up in the same city and the same place - though two hours apart - Monday to contrast their visions for improving student achievement levels in California's struggling public schools and increasing access to higher education.

Steve Westly, the state controller, promised to raise K-12 funding by changing the payout formula for the California Lottery to offer a smaller percentage in prizes for lottery ticket buyers and a larger share of revenues for schools.

Phil Angelides, the state treasurer, sold his plan to tax high income earners and close corporate tax loopholes to pay for training and recruiting more teachers for public schools as well as rolling back student fee increases at the University of California and California state university systems.

Angelides also chided both Westly and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who say they don't support a tax increase, for being in denial over how to fund education.

With the June 6 primary election nine weeks away, the two Democratic candidates preened their educational credentials and differing philosophies before the state convention of Education Trust - West, an advocacy group working on improving the quality of education for economically disadvantaged students.

Westly, the first to address the gathering at the Omni Hotel in Los Angeles, remarked on the challenges faced by many minority and low-income students and charged that California is turning its back on public education.

"We have tied their (students') hands with funding cuts, crowded classrooms and broken schools," he said. "If we want a high school degree to stand for something, we have to stand by our kids."

Angelides, noting that California has the largest number of low-income students and English learners of any state, complained that the state ranks near the bottom in education spending, declaring: "We are never going to have first-rate schools with second-rate levels of investment."

Turning his attention to Westly and Schwarzenegger and their stated resistance to raising taxes, Angelides said: "Let's be clear. I'm the only candidate for governor who will do what it takes to fully fund our schools and balance the state budget."

Angelides has proposed closing unspecified corporate loopholes and raising taxes on families earning $500,000 a year or more to generate more revenue for education.

On Monday, Westly pledged to squeeze more money out of the California State Lottery.

Currently, the lottery guarantees 34.1 percent of revenues from ticket sales for K-12 schools, 53.9 percent for prizes and 12 percent for administrative overhead and retail commissions. Westly told the gathering that he wanted to cut percentage of the lottery prize money by an unspecified amount and shift some of the prize money to schools.

His proposal seemed to challenge assumptions by state lottery officials, who have frequently said that big dollar lottery payouts lure more ticket buyers and, as a consequence, a greater share for education. Lottery revenues account for about two percent of total education funding.

In an interview, Westly said he wasn't sure if he would need to bring a new initiative before voters to rewrite the lottery funding program from the 1984 voter-approved California Lottery Act or whether he could into law a reform measure passed by the Legislature.

"While it was passed by voters," Westly said of the lottery initiative. "a lot of voters thought more money would be going to education."

Though Angelides didn't comment on Westly's plan, his campaign director, Cathy Calfo said in a statement Monday: "Instead of real plan, Steve Westly has offered a phony lottery reform proposal that incredibly calls for slashing prizes while still selling the same number of tickets."

The two Democratic candidates also disagreed on whether to roll back tuition increases approved by Schwarzenegger for the University of California and the California State University systems. Angelides said he would drop the tuition rates for all students to the levels before Schwarzenegger took office.

Westly said he would seek a targeted increase in financial aid for lower-income students, but not a tuition decrease for all students.

The separate speeches by Westly and Angelides, who never saw each other, marked the closest they've come to a formal face off.

The Democratic contenders have been sparring over several proposed debate dates and venues, possibly a debate this month at UC Davis. But, to date, the pair has only agreed to appear together at one event, a May 3 debate on environmental issues sponsored by the California League of Conservation voters.

Russlynn Ali, executive director of the Education Trust West, said both candidates were invited to appear together for a candidates' forum and question and answer session. "Initially, the invitation was for them to appear on stage together but we never used the word 'debate.'" she said.

But Ali said only Westly accepted the group's invitation by its mid-March deadline. So the educational group scheduled him to make a luncheon speech. Then last week, Angelides suddenly announced he would appear as well.

Though its convention schedule was already set, Ali said the group pushed back some conference workshops so Angelides could deliver his address later Monday.

While they generally disagreed in their presentations on how to raise revenues to address educational needs, both Westly and Angelides pledged to fully restore funding mandates under Proposition 98, an initiative that guarantees set funding levels in the state budget for K-12 schools and community colleges.

Each assailed Schwarzenegger for failing to restore up to $2 million in Proposition 98 funding for K-12 schools and community colleges that he used to balance the budget during the 2004 fiscal crisis.

Westly, meanwhile, said he wanted to shift a greater percentage of California's educational budget money to underperforming schools and to create incentives to lure some of the best teachers to work in some of the most troubled educational environments.

Repeating a theme raised in the conference by the Education Trust group, he noted that schools serving poor and minority students "are more likely to be staffed by new teachers, interns" and instructors lacing teaching credentials than schools in affluent suburbs.

Angelides, who has proposed increased pay and housing incentives to attract teachers to problem schools, said: "We must close the achievement gap that threatens our society and our social fabric." But while Westly said restoring Proposition 98 funding and doing a better job of bringing in more taxes from California residents by cracking down on tax cheats and more efficiently collecting taxes, Angelides said he will push hard for a tax increase if he is elected governor.

"I will go up and down the state asking business leaders, civic leaders to - yes - pay more so that we can do better," he said.

Willie Brown: Westly has advantage over Angelides

As far as former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown is concerned, the Democratic primary for governor is just about over and it's Steve Westly in a landslide.

But Westly might not be too pleased when he hears Brown's less-than-complimentary reasoning.

Brown made his observations last Friday at a North Beach meeting of the Sacramento Seminar, a group of mostly retired legislators, journalists and various other political observers.

Recent polls giving Westly a one- or two-percentage point lead over state Treasurer Phil Angelides don't begin to show how Westly's campaign is taking off, Brown said.

"That lead is now eight points and rising. The race will be over by the first week of May," said Brown, who now spends his time with comedian Will Durst as co-host of a morning talk show on KQKE radio in San Francisco.

Angelides "is being smothered by Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, labor" and the rest of the traditional Democratic power structure that's backing his run for governor, the former mayor said.

Voters, especially Democratic voters, are looking for something different and they believe they've found it with Westly, although not for the reasons the state controller might have hoped when he pumped $22.5 million into his campaign.

Westly is "less informed, less knowledgeable" than Angelides and in this campaign, that's a plus, Brown opined.

"There's an air of mystery around Westly," he said. "He's managed to make people forget that he almost lost to Tom McClintock," an avowedly conservative Republican, in the 2002 race for controller.

The best way for Westly to stay in front, Brown suggested, is to keep reality from impinging on the mystery by avoiding a mano-a-mano battle with Angelides on the issues in the governor's campaign.

"He can't let it change," Brown said. "He can't get to the point where he's answering the same questions as Angelides."

Angelides and Westly Need to Give Voters a Reason to Go to Polls

By George Skelton, Los Angeles Times Columnist, May 25, 2006

Treasurer Phil Angelides leads Controller Steve Westly by three points in a new poll, but a third of Democratic voters still haven't decided who should be their party's gubernatorial nominee. Why? The pollster thinks he knows.

Neither candidate — nor Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, for that matter — has been talking about things that really interest the voters, says Mark Baldassare, survey director for the Public Policy Institute of California.

That would be immigration and education, in that order, with a caveat: If you're a Democrat, you probably want to hear the candidates talk about education more than immigration, and vice versa if you're a Republican.

The statewide poll, released today, finds Angelides running slightly ahead of Westly among likely voters, 35% to 32% with 33% undecided. That's far more undecided than in previous elections, the pollster notes.

The survey, however, shows a surge for Angelides since an April PPIC poll, when he trailed Westly by six points, 26% to 20%.

Still, there seems a lot of ambivalence with the election fast approaching on June 6.

One indication of that is this: When independent voters — registered as "declined to state" — were reminded by poll interviewers that they could vote in either the Democratic or Republican primaries, 54% replied that they had no intention of participating in either, and 17% weren't sure.

Why the indifference?

The poll asked another question that provides a clue: "Which one issue would you like to hear the candidates talk about?"

The combined volunteered responses of all likely voters was: illegal immigration 25%, education 23%, state budget and taxes 12%, jobs and the economy 10%, infrastructure 4%.

Democratic voters, overall, ranked education ahead of immigration by 30% to 15%. But Latinos preferred to hear more about immigration, 28% to 25%. Independents and Republicans also would rather hear the candidates' views on immigration — by 29% to 20% and 32% to 18% respectively.

Although illegal immigration is a federal responsibility, Baldassare notes, "people want to hear something about it from the candidates. They don't want a candidate for governor — let alone a governor — to just ignore the issue."

Schwarzenegger, who can wax eloquent about his immigrant background, recently has been forced by events into responding to the delicate issue of illegal immigration. On Wednesday, he said he's prepared to send National Guard troops to the border as proposed by President Bush, pending answers to some important questions. Like how long will the mission last, and who's going to pay for it?

The governor says he favors a tighter border, a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for people here illegally. But some GOP pros privately have been critical of him for not leading more on the issue. And now the PPIC poll shows this is the topic Republican voters most want to hear him address.

Instead, Schwarzenegger has been going around the state promoting the $37.3-billion infrastructure bond package that he and the Legislature placed on the November ballot.

"To hang your reelection hat on the words 'infrastructure bonds' is not a good idea," says Democratic consultant Gale Kaufman. "It doesn't mean that infrastructure is not important. It's just not a vote-getter. 'Infrastructure' is too nebulous."

Perhaps it's one reason why Schwarzenegger's job approval among voters has actually dipped slightly: to 42% approval, 48% disapproval in the latest PPIC poll, from a slightly positive 46%-44% in April.

But that also could be because voters are nervous and in a sour mood: 59% believe things in California are going in the wrong direction; 48% fear the state's headed for bad times financially in the next year.

Angelides and Westly have been ducking for cover on immigration. Their views are similar to Schwarzenegger's, except both oppose deploying the National Guard.

The education issue is helping Angelides, but he probably could benefit more by tweaking his message.

The treasurer has emphasized his commitment to "fully fund" schools and raise taxes on "the big boys" — rich folks and corporations — to pay for it. But the education debate between the two candidates, Baldassare points out, "has evolved into who's going to raise taxes on middle-income people." And Democratic voters aren't inspired by the tax issue, he adds.

Dissecting the poll data, one sees that Westly is running seven points ahead of Angelides among women, presumably because he's more appealing on TV. Angelides is up by 14 among men. But women are twice as likely as men to regard education as the most important issue. And among the women who think that way, they divide equally between the two candidates. Among all Democratic voters who rate education highest, Angelides leads by 10 points.

Angelides and Westly both could win points by talking less about pouring money into schools and more about how they'd change classrooms to improve learning. Both candidates have sketched out rough plans — including more charter schools — but you wouldn't know it by watching their attack ads.

"They need to start talking about something," says consultant Kaufman. "They haven't given Democrats one reason to go to the polls."

Baldassare doubts that the mud-throwers are up to it. "It's not just the candidates, but the campaigns," he says. "Do they know how to do anything differently?"

It's looking like this: a large number of undecided, combined with a barrage of depressing ads, resulting in millions of people thumbing their noses and not voting.

Campaign 2006: Angelides or Westly? Many still on fence

With primary looming, voters don't have strong impressions

By Kevin Yamamura , Sacramento Bee, May 28, 2006

Democratic gubernatorial candidates Steve Westly and Phil Angelides have spent a combined $56.9 million this year telling Californians why they should be governor.

But plenty of voters are still left scratching their heads.

A Public Policy Institute of California poll released Thursday showed one in three likely Democratic voters remains undecided, while Angelides holds a marginal three-point lead as the June 6 primary draws near.

The campaigns suggest their candidates started with low name recognition and face a changing media environment and voter fatigue in a fifth straight election year.

"Well, it's a big state," state Treasurer Angelides said Friday. "And I've always said, when I got into this race, (Gov.) Arnold Schwarzenegger was known by 100 percent of the people … and I wasn't known by the people of this state. But I guarantee you, over the next 11 days, voters are going to get to know who I am."

Pollsters and analysts believe a more fundamental problem may exist: the pair of candidates have too few ideological differences and made weak early impressions before sinking into a nightly feud of negative ads that confused the electorate.

"The third who are undecided have a clue who they are, but they just don't like them," said Barbara O'Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at California State University, Sacramento. "It's not that they haven't had the opportunity to know them, because the amount spent on ads has been astronomical, running all over on network and cable channels."

The PPIC poll, which has a plus or minus 5 percent margin of error, showed that 79 percent of likely Democratic voters have seen advertisements in the gubernatorial race, while 68 percent said they are very closely or fairly closely following news about the contest.

Both candidates began widespread voter communication last year when they campaigned against Schwarzenegger's special election initiatives.This year, they spent a combined total of $56.9 million through May 20.

Westly, the state controller, began launching ads in small cities in January and has been on air in major markets since late February. Angelides kept pace in major markets for a month and then left the air for three weeks. He relaunched ads in late April and has continued advertising on television ever since.

That doesn't even account for the help from Angelides' friends. An independent expenditure committee organized by law enforcement and firefighter unions has spent nearly $10 million on his behalf over the past month, with $8.7 million coming from the family of Sacramento developer Angelo K. Tsakopoulos.

All that money has raised awareness, but not necessarily support.

"Sometimes you see large numbers of undecideds and you think, well, people haven't tuned in," said Mark Baldassare, PPIC poll director. "But at this point in the campaign, the poll suggests people are pretty engaged in this election. It's just surprising that so many people haven't decided whether they like or dislike Angelides or Westly."

Westly senior adviser Garry South said his focus groups have shown that more voters than usual either haven't seen ads or haven't absorbed them.

"Viewing patterns have just radically changed, and people are blogging, getting their news off the Internet, using TiVo to zip through ads or listening to satellite radio with no ads at all," South said.

He disputed claims that neither candidate has done well at connecting with voters.

"That's just a bunch of ivory-tower poppycock," South said. "They have been talking about issues voters care about. … I mean, the oil ad we put up, you think we weren't talking about gas prices?"

That 30-second ad, launched more than a week ago, accused Angelides of taking nearly $500,000 in oil contributions. Angelides responded on the campaign trail that Westly himself has taken more than $100,000 in oil and energy contributions and invested in oil companies.

The back-and-forth attacks have grown increasingly nasty since the candidates exchanged broadsides at a May 10 debate and Westly launched the first negative ad two days later.

Since then, Angelides has aired commercials accusing Westly of breaking his clean campaign pledge, proposing middle-class tax increases and steering public pension funds toward a corrupt businessman.

On Saturday, Angelides' campaign pointed to a report in the Los Angeles Times describing an e-mail Westly sent to one of his political fundraisers.

It said barnesandnoble.com President Marie J. Toulantis was pleased with Westly's efforts affecting the company's interests as a member of the State Board of Equalization and suggested it would be a good time to ask her for fundraising help.

"We have followed up with Marie, the president of Barnes & Noble -- and she is reportedly happy …. Could you please call her to see if she would help with our upcoming trip," the e-mail said. Westly later traveled to New York, where he attended a fundraising luncheon held at Barnes & Noble's offices.

Westly spokesman Yusef Robb said the e-mail didn't mean the controller was taking official actions in an effort to garner campaign cash.

"All I can say is the two worlds are entirely separate," he said.

Westly, meanwhile, has unleashed a deluge of ads against Angelides, mostly accusing him of being a greedy Sacramento developer, taking oil money and raising taxes on the middle class.

Some believe the negativity has simply confused voters.

"In general, there is a value to negative advertising," said Gale Kaufman, a Democratic political consultant. "But if you ask me if I think they're working now, I'll give you a different answer. No. 1, they only work if you've already established enough of an impression about your own candidate in a positive way."

Jeanette Pereira, a 42-year-old student in Riverdale, said she remains undecided because she doesn't know enough about either candidate.

Pereira recalls seeing only one ad, a negative Westly commercial. While it stuck in her mind, she said she didn't like the negativity. But she also hasn't heard much of Angelides.

Kaufman's client, the California Teachers Association, contributed $1 million toward the Angelides independent expenditure.

She said she questions why two Democrats would engage in a fight over taxes. She also said both candidates haven't made a strong case about health care or gas prices, two issues of importance to voters.

"It would seem to me that without too much effort we could be talking about things on people's minds," Kaufman said.

In the 2002 GOP gubernatorial primary, 26 percent of voters were undecided two weeks before the election, according to a PPIC poll. In the 1998 open gubernatorial primary, PPIC found that 25 percent of voters were undecided one month out.

In 2006, the question is whether they will make up their minds or stay home.

"We could end up with low voter turnout if the candidates continue to emphasize the negatives and de-emphasize their positions on issues that matter to Californians," Baldassare said. "Because they're hearing so many negative things, voters are thinking, 'I could make a mistake here voting for this person or that person, so maybe I ought to just pass on this.' "