Schwarzenegger pays tribute to Times columnist George Skelton in new documentary

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger credits Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton for his decision to run for California governor in the historic 2003 election in which voters recalled Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and replaced him with the Republican action-movie superstar.

The revelation comes in a new mini-documentary about Skelton, the storied political columnist who has chronicled California politics for more than half a century.

“What most people don’t know is that George Skelton is actually the one that is responsible, in a way, for me running for governor,” Schwarzenegger says in “Bold Ink: A Columnist’s Life,” a mini-documentary produced by L.A. Times Studios to mark Skelton’s 50th anniversary with The Times.

“I was on a movie set, I was doing ‘Terminator 3,’ minding my own business. Then I read the story about the recall and I called him,” Schwarzenegger recounts in the film by senior producer Karen Foshay. “And he says, ‘Well, you will be perfect, you would be a great candidate.’ ”

Skelton proceeded to interview him, Schwarzenegger said, and then wrote a column about their conversation.

“All of a sudden, from that point on, people were bombarding me and saying, ‘This is a great idea, you should run for governor,’ ” Schwarzenegger said. “I said, ‘Look, I’m doing a movie, I don’t have time for all this stuff.’ But then eventually it did drag me into the whole thing.”

The documentary about Skelton’s journalism career captures his unflinching style and includes interviews with several politicians he’s covered over the years. It will air Jan. 24 at 7 and 10 p.m. on L.A. Times Today on Spectrum News 1 in Southern California.

Or you can watch it any time right here: L.A. Times’ George Skelton: 50 years cutting “through the B.S.” of California politics

I’m Laurel Rosenhall, The Times’ Sacramento bureau chief, bringing you the week’s biggest news in California politics.

The fight for second place in Senate race

Who could replace the late California Sen. Dianne Feinstein in 2024 election? Clockwise from top left, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine), former Los Angeles Dodger Steve Garvey and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland).

(Los Angeles Times)

Yet another poll shows Democratic Rep. Adam B. Schiff of Burbank leading the field in California’s U.S. Senate race to succeed the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

The real drama is shaping up as the race for second place between Democratic Rep. Katie Porter of Irvine and former Dodgers star Steve Garvey, a Republican. Under California’s nonpartisan primary system, the two candidates who get the most votes in the March 5 primary — regardless of political party — will advance to the general election in November. So the fight for second place is a big deal.

Garvey has led a very low-key — almost invisible — campaign until this month but recently began traveling the state doing media events and talking to voters.

In the shadow of Petco Park last week, Garvey was greeted as a Padres hero who played alongside baseball legend Tony Gwynn and helped the team to its first World Series appearance, writes Times political reporter Benjamin Oreskes. In Los Angeles, voters lighted up as they posed for photos with the former all-star Dodgers first baseman who anchored the team’s legendary infield in the 1970s and early 1980s.

A few knew that Garvey was running for the U.S. Senate. But they all remembered his steely forearms — “Hey, Popeye,” one yelled — and success on the diamond in two baseball-mad towns.

Garvey’s baseball fame is central to a Senate campaign that, at best, is considered a long shot in a state where GOP candidates running statewide often receive an icy reception from California’s left-leaning electorate. He hopes what propels him into contention is a nostalgia for his playing days and a political message light on specifics but heavy with criticism about the declining quality of life in California and the scourge of illegal drugs flowing through cities.

“Once we get through the primary, I’ll start a deeper dive into the [issues],” Garvey said Thursday outside the San Diego homeless shelter.

Read more in this article: Steve Garvey is banking on Dodgers and Padres fans to boost his Republican Senate run

Who’s moving to California as population declines?

Despite California’s high cost of living, the state has continued to attract more educated and well-paid residents, Times staff writers Terry Castleman and Ashley Ahn report.

New census data suggest people are still drawn to California by the state’s strong economy in the tech, medicine and entertainment industries, as well as its prestigious universities.

In 2022, almost two-thirds of those who moved to California from another state had a bachelor’s degree or higher, as did more than half who moved from other countries, the census data show.

The findings come amid an overall decline in California’s population, a trend that has implications for the state’s economic and political stature. For the third year in a row, California saw its population drop. It declined by around 37,000 people from July 1, 2022, to July 1, 2023, or 0.1%.

The loss is minuscule compared with the more than 500,000 people the state lost from April 2020 to July 2022. But it still represents the sixth-largest rate of loss of any state during that time span, Castleman and Ahn report.

Read their full article here: Despite California exodus, the well-off and well-educated still flock here. Will they stay?

Keeping up with California politics

Billionaire-backed futuristic city no longer shrouded in secrecy. Here are the details
The tech billionaires who for years secretly amassed land in the scrubby grasslands on the fringe of the San Francisco Bay have said they intend to begin gathering signatures for a ballot initiative in Solano County that would clear the way to build a new city from scratch.

Interview: California’s newest senator, Laphonza Butler, on Trump, Gaza and her future
Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), whom Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed last year to fill the seat of the late Dianne Feinstein, has been in Congress for just over 100 days. Ahead of her first formal speech on the Senate floor Wednesday, she spoke with The Times about what she hopes to accomplish before she leaves office early next year.

Newsom suggests ways to crack down on property crime without dismantling Proposition 47
Smash-and-grab thefts from California stores won’t be solved, Gov. Gavin Newsom said, by changing Proposition 47, the 10-year-old law voters approved to change some felonies to misdemeanors, including thefts of items worth less than $950. Instead, he wants to crack down on what he called “professional thieves.”

California’s water-saving plan slammed as costly, complicated and unrealistic
In a scathing review, advisors to the state Legislature have found that California’s proposed regulations for urban water conservation would be costly, overly complicated and difficult to implement.

California bill paves way for psychedelic therapy after failure to legalize ‘magic mushrooms’
The movement to legalize psychedelics in California appears to be entering a new phase, with a focus on incremental steps to permit the drugs in therapeutic settings following failed efforts to pass more sweeping change.

Newsom blocks proposed ban on youth tackle football: ‘Parents have the freedom to decide’
Gov. Gavin Newsom pledged Wednesday to hold the line against a proposed law that would ban youth tackle football in California, saying in a statement to The Times that he’d veto any such legislation.

Voters say California’s budget deficit is an ‘extremely serious’ problem, poll finds
Half of California registered voters consider the state budget deficit an “extremely serious” problem, and 57% believe the state is headed in the wrong direction, according to a new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times.

Poll: Immigration debate deeply divides California Democrats
Immigration and border security issues unify Republican voters while dividing Democratic voters in California, a statewide poll has found. The findings of the new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, illustrate some of the political difficulties President Biden faces in dealing with the large number of unauthorized migrants crossing the U.S. southern border.