Arnold Schwarzenegger, who once famously warned Republicans that they were “dying at the box office,” has decided not to support either of the leading GOP candidates for California governor, a spokesman said on Friday.

The former governor’s decision to speak out against the candidacies of John Cox, a Rancho Sante Fe businessman, and Travis Allen, an Orange County legislator, stands in sharp contrast to his past refusals to weigh in on those who have followed him into office.

“They will not get his vote,” said spokesman Daniel Ketchell.

Obama administration aides are activating their network to help former colleagues running for office, including eight candidates in California.

The Obama Alumni Assn. sent an email to members this week with a list of all candidates on the ballot and urging them to take action.

“They need your help,” the email reads. “Ask your regional or constituency Obama alumni organization to get involved ... now is the time to donate, spread the word, ask your friends in these states to vote.”

Travis Allen is asking Californians to vote for him next week to be the state’s next governor. But for right now, he’s got a day job and he missed much of it on Thursday.

Allen, a Republican legislator from Huntington Beach, walked onto the Assembly floor just before 3 p.m., even though the lower house was called to order almost five hours earlier. Unlike many days of floor session when only a few bills come up for a vote, this is the week when bills must clear the house or be scuttled for the year. The Assembly had 459 bills to consider this week, with 133 on the docket for Thursday.

Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell) wrote a series of tweets throughout the day, including a live video feed in the morning showing Allen’s empty desk on the Assembly floor.

In a Los Angeles campaign push ahead of next week’s primary, California Treasurer John Chiang spoke to parishioners at a Culver City church about his faith and why he believes that has prepared him to lead the state. 

People attending Wednesday’s service at the Agape International Spiritual Center meditated before the church’s founder and spiritual director, Michael Beckwith, introduced Chiang.

The Democratic gubernatorial candidate spoke briefly about the struggles his family endured, including discrimination, and how their faith held them together.

Two months after the death of his longtime chief of staff, Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday appointed the state’s top healthcare official to fill the post for his final months in office.

Diana Dooley, who served as secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency since 2011, now moves into the chief of staff role that Brown has designated as his executive secretary. She was a top staff member during the governor’s two terms that ended in 1983, including a stint as legislative affairs secretary. Dooley, 67, will earn a salary of $201,876.

She succeeds Nancy McFadden, who died in March and was widely seen as a key architect of Brown’s policy agenda over the last seven years. At her death, he called her “the best chief of staff a governor could ever ask for.”

Antonio Villaraigosa is struggling to secure second place in the June primary election for California governor and is several points behind Republican businessman John Cox for the No. 2 slot, according to a new poll released Thursday.

Cox was favored by 20% of voters surveyed in the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll. Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles, had the support of 13%, according to the poll. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the front-runner in polls and fundraising since he entered the race in 2015, was the choice of 33% of likely voters, according to the poll.

"We think it's likely to be Cox against Newsom in the general election," poll director Mark DiCamillo told the Sacramento Bee.

The Los Angeles Police Department and other law enforcement agencies have failed to properly identify and respond to some hate crimes and need better policies and training so officers can recognize the specific characteristics of those offenses, the state auditor said in a report released Thursday.

The audit found flaws in the categorizing of hate crimes by the LAPD, San Francisco State University Police Department and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. The first two agencies failed to correctly identify 11 of the 30 cases auditors reviewed as hate crimes, even though they met the elements of such crimes.

“Officers at these law enforcement agencies may have been better equipped to identify hate crimes if their agencies had adequate policies and methods in place to identify hate crimes,” State Auditor Elaine Howle wrote to Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature.

With the June primary election less than a week away, Republican John Cox brought his campaign for governor to Stockton on Wednesday, taking aim at Democrat Gavin Newsom, whom he expects to face in a November runoff. 

Polls indicate Cox is neck-and-neck with Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles, in a battle for second place in the field of gubernatorial candidates led by front-runner Newsom.

"If you look in the dictionary for the words 'Bay Area elitist,' you see Gavin Newsom’s picture," Cox said in a speech to a crowd of more than 100 before the Stockton Republican Women Federated. Cox, a wealthy Rancho Santa Fe businessman, touted his endorsement last week by President Trump.

Allies of Antonio Villaraigosa are spending at least $2.3 million to air blistering ads attacking fellow Democrat and front-runner Gavin Newsom as a lazy elected official. 

“We all know guys like Gavin,” a narrator says in a 30-second ad titled “Guys” launched Wednesday, in the final days before the primary. “Boasting, overselling his achievements, making false claims.”

The ad and another one, called “Work,” that was released Monday quote Newsom’s past comments about his boredom with his lack of official duties as lieutenant governor. It concludes, “Gavin’s not going to work as governor.”

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley will join Democrat Tatiana Matta on Wednesday evening at a fundraiser for her congressional campaign held in downtown Los Angeles. Matta was the co-chair of O’Malley’s veterans and military families committee for his 2016 presidential primary campaign.

“Tatiana is the strong, clear voice of the new generation of leadership. She will work tirelessly for the well-being of our military families and our family-owned businesses. Tatiana will always put people ahead of politics. I’m honored to support her,” O’Malley said in a statement.

Matta is one of five Democrats challenging House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) for his seat in the 23rd Congressional District.