When finances turn questionable for a big business, there are layoffs. From General Motors to General Electric and even the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Chronicle, that is how it’s done.

All through his almost seven years as governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most basic priority has always been clear: As much as possible, feather the nests of his largest political donors.

It may not have been the unkindest cut made last year by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as he blue-penciled more than $500 million from the state budget before signing. It may also not have been the most inefficient or deadly one.

Just about a month ago, one of the leading political rating services in Washington, D.C. lowered Barbara Boxer’s reelection status from “likely” to “leaning.” This was one indicator of the general, and seemingly perpetual, sense that the three-term Democratic U.S. senator is vulnerable.

[Editor’s Note: Assemblyman Nava will lead tomorrow afternoon’s oil-drilling hearings in City Hall, from 1 to 4 o’clock. See The Lowdown.]

These days, the Grand Canyon state is the place to go if you’re looking for the gang that couldn’t shoot straight.

It’s never hard to find self-serving propositions on the California ballot. But even in a time that sees Pacific Gas & Electric Co. sponsoring a measure to force cities to get a two-thirds popular vote before they can set up or expand a public electric utility, a measure sponsored by Mercury Insurance takes this year’s prize for sheer gall.

There’s a sense among a lot of Californians that legalizing marijuana and then taxing it is some sort of panacea that would solve many law enforcement problems, make it safer to smoke pot and also produce a tax bonanza of $1 billion or more per year.

Nobody at Anthem Blue Cross, the firm that’s now a poster boy for out-of-control health insurance premiums, likes remembering the company’s days of high anxiety back in 2004, when California’s then-Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi was holding up its $18 billion deal to take over Thousand Oaks-based WellPoint and its California Blue Cross subsidiary.

How far right can California’s Republican candidates move before they’re too far out of this state’s apparent mainstream to be electable?