A deal unlikely on ballot measures:Partisanship driving legislative agenda

[Judi Lynn]

A deal unlikely on ballot measures
Partisanship driving legislative agenda
Lynda Gledhill, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau

Monday, August 15, 2005

Sacramento -- Lawmakers return from their summer vacation today with only a few days to negotiate with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on a bipartisan alternative to the Nov. 8 special election ballot measures.

But compromise appears unlikely, and Democrats are poised to take aim at the politically weakened governor. They plan to press ahead with legislative inquiries into his administration's conduct and with bills that could pose conflict-of-interest concerns for Schwarzenegger.

Legislation that would ban the use of some dietary supplements among high school athletes and a proposal to prohibit the governor and other constitutional officers from holding outside jobs could make their way to Schwarzenegger's desk in the next month.

Passage of the bills would put the governor in a politically awkward spot of deciding whether to sign or veto them and would remind voters of his recently canceled multimillion-dollar contract to serve as editor of two bodybuilding magazines that are filled with advertisements for performance- enhancing supplements. And the governor, who collects income from the sale of video games based on his "Terminator" movies, could also be forced to sign or veto a bill that would ban the sale of violent video games to children.
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http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/08/15/MNG0NE81B91.DTL