Bonsai Bush

Our famed governor seems determined to follow in the footsteps of the Whitehouse. Taking a page straight from the Bush playbook, he has apparently cranked out a new video advocating his plan to end the lunch break:

Schwarzenegger's Labor and Workforce Development Agency spent $1,200 creating what they call a video news release, which features a voice-over and interviews with managers of three different businesses praising the governor's proposal. The release was made available to television news stations throughout California and was used by at least three Bay Area stations earlier this month.

In response to criticism, Schwarzenegger's spokespeople point to a video they made earlier, covering a policy that had already een enacted:

An administration official defended the video, however, saying it was akin to the type of news releases that are distributed by government agencies every day in Sacramento. The video was distributed to television stations to use if they wanted, and the stations were free to report other people's perspectives on the proposal, said Rick Rice, undersecretary of Schwarzenegger's labor agency.

It is obviously one of the functions of government to publicize policies that exist, and video can certainly be an effective way to do that, but this Rick Rice guy is missing (or more likely intentionally confusing) an important point: spending state money to inform the public about an existing law is totaly legitimate. Spending state money to advocate a proposed law change is not.

Update: Think Progress also caught this one.