Phil's Rock and Hard Place. . .

Phil Angelides, his candidacy for governor flailing, faced a nasty choice this week: Accept the anti-Schwarzenegger endorsement of the prison guards' union or risk having their war chest and gutter-fighting tactics turned against him. Angelides blinked and took the money, in the form of up to $10 million in likely negative ads against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The cash comes attached to the union's handcuffs of political influence that would be slashed by Proposition 89 (corporate tax for public campaign finance), the Clean Money Initiative on the November ballot.

This is the same union that wrested a 37% pay increase and dictatorial power over the prison system from Gov. Gray Davis, in exchange for support that began with his candidacy against Republican Dan Lungren in 1998. This is the union that has killed every comprehensive effort to fix the state's failed prison system, and whose political threats have cowed the state's lawmakers for over a decade.

Even Schwarzenegger's capitulation to union demands for a veto over prison management appointments wasn't enough for the prison guards, and they turned against him. The union just last month weakened and then helped kill a broad prison reform package in the Legislature, in part because it is in a new contract negotiation with the state and wanted to flex its muscle.

Angelides doesn't have a detailed policy on prisons, but he does have some history with the union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. He now faces the wrath of the union if he vocally supports Proposition 89.