It’s Not a Party Thing for Davis, It’s a Veto Thing

You can look at it in one of two ways:

Either “Partisanship? What partisanship?�

Or, “Gov. Gray Davis epitomizes divided government all by himself.�

According to numbers crunched by legislative Republicans with time on their hands, of 608 bills vetoed by Davis, 483 were written by Democrats. In a Legislature with a Democratic majority, more Democratic bills naturally reach the governor’s desk. But the man sitting at the governor’s desk is a Democrat.

Mindful of the governor’s remark last year that the Legislature’s “job is to implement my vision,� it doesn’t appear that all the visionaries see eye to eye--at least not on 483 occasions.

*

Boo who? Justice may or may not be blind, but it sure dresses funny.

With permission from Superior Court Judge John Cosgrove, many jurors in a Placer County marijuana trial today will file into the courtroom in Halloween costumes.

The Auburn jury will be hearing the defense’s side in the case against Steve Kubby, on trial for alleged possession of marijuana with intent to sell.

Now, even without a jury tricked out for trick-or-treat, Kubby’s is not your routine marijuana case. In July, he lost a runoff for the Libertarian Party’s vice presidential nomination. And Kubby was a force in the 1996 campaign that passed Proposition 215, allowing the medical use of marijuana. He has adrenal cancer and says that marijuana keeps him alive. Prosecutors contend that he was growing enough marijuana to keep many people alive.

Kubby, who has moved from Placer County to Laguna Beach, ran for governor in 1998 and plans to do so again. That, of course, depends on what happens in Department 10. Given adults’ costume preferences, Kubby may be facing a jury of peers masked as Al Gore, George W. Bush, Hillary and Bill Clinton, and the perennial favorite, Richard Nixon.

*

Everybody outta the pool: Hemet’s official city pool car was one hot number that left the city’s bean counters rather cool. The brief reign of the official Hemet Chrysler PT Cruiser began in an enthusiastic new-car mood and ended in an apology and a refund.

The car--complete with moon roof, leather seats and CD player--was bought without competitive bidding and at a price of $23,995, some three grand above list price, and many grand over the cost of the usual dull four-door fleet sedan.

Not everyone was pleased with the transaction, and, according to the Press-Enterprise of Riverside, penitent city officials have sold the car back to the dealer for what the city paid. It goes back on the market with 596 miles on the odometer--but without the city of Hemet decal on the doors.

*

Caught out of bounds: This time, most of the fighting went on between the hash marks.

Compared to last year, when 150 fans were arrested for brawling in the stands at Qualcomm Stadium, the latest game pitting the ferocious Oakland Raiders against the dead-bolt San Diego Chargers was positively sedate. Sunday’s football score was 15-13 Raiders, and the police arrest score--nearly all Raiders fans--was: one for assault, five for battery, 50 for public drunkenness, and 63 for misdemeanors like urinating in public.

Eight Raiders fans got misdemeanor citations for wrongly using handicapped placards to get preferential parking. Who do they think they are, anyway, UCLA football players?

*

*

One-offs: After a photo in a Concord-area newspaper showed a man fishing with his pet raccoon, Fish and Game officials tracked down David Malcolm and seized Rolo the 6-month-old raccoon, saying such a pet is against California law and could pose a rabies threat. . . . Someone returned an 1882 bound volume of Harper’s Weekly magazines to the San Rafael Public Library, at least 96 years after it was checked out. . . . The online pet supply business Petopia.com has fired more than 60% of its San Francisco-based staff and will find new homes for the company headquarters’ live-in pets.

EXIT LINE

“Since Ron didn’t answer the question, now let me not answer the question.�

--San Diego Superior Court Judge Dick Murphy, debating mayoral rival Supervisor Ron Roberts, both ducking the politically sticky question on relocating the city’s main airport, Lindbergh Field.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

California Voters by Party

One week before election day, a record number of Californians are registered to vote73% of those eligible. By party affiliation as of Oct. 10, the close of registration:

*--*

Party Registered voters % of total Democratic 7,134,588 45.4% Republican 5,485,467 34.9% Decline to state 2,256,311 14.4% American Independent 321,838 2.0% Green 138,695 0.9% Libertarian 94,937 0.6% Reform 79,152 0.5% Natural Law 58,275 0.4% Miscellaneous/non-qualified* 137,996 0.9% Total eligible voters** 21,461,274 Total registered voters 15,707,259

*--*

*

* Registration filled out with no recognizable party.

** U.S. citizens in California, age 18 and older, excluding prisoners and parolees.

Source: California secretary of state

Researched by TRACY THOMAS/Los Angeles Times

*

California Dateline appears every other Tuesday.