As governor Schwarzenegger declared a “state of emergency” earlier today, and as he struggles to find friends on the GOP side of the aisle to help him address the state’s budget crisis, I am reminded of his Recall Express stop at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, CA on Oct 2, 2003. Cutting Edge-a talk show producer Ron Winship and I stood alongside the major network camera crews and reporters on the media stands with camera in hand to video his address regarding the proposed car tax.
In his speech Arnold stated “I know we can make this once again the Golden State that it once was.” He went on to share his opinion of former governor (Davis) and that 2003 legislature.
“All they have done is spend, spend spend, and when they realize they spend money they don’t even have, then it is tax, tax, tax.” He added “how crazy is that going to be to come up with this crazy idea to raise the car tax by 300%. We’re not going to let it happen. Let me tell you something…it’s going to hurt the person who is a low income person who makes $15,000 to $20,000 a year. The person who is struggling to make ends meet. A person who is struggling to put food on the table for their family.”
He then told us to look at a white GM car over which a crane dropped a huge ball to demonstrate his smashing any idea of the tripling of our car tax. If you watch the video you can make out the hand painted words on the car reading “Davis car tax.”
As a Hollywood movie star he is now preparing us for “Take Two.” Sorry Arnold but this is not a Hollywood movie set where you can alter course at a whim.
We have already lived with a US president who told us to “read my lips.”
You can watch this 14 minute video 24/7 free of charge at www.cuttingedge-atalkshow.com.
Go to the Archives link of the home page, scroll down to RECALL Express dated Oct 2, 2003, and verify everything that is quoted above. My point is that your words have “legs.” Be careful making public promises that may come back to haunt you.
As always your comments are welcome and appreciated.
You (I’m speaking to anyone who voted for the recall and actually thought Gray was AFU) were sold a bill of goods by Arnold and (indirectly) Karl Rove.
Rather than crucify him for finally coming to his senses, you should consider just killing yourself for being so gullible. OK, maybe that’s a little extreme, but you were duped and all that stuff that was true in 2003 is true today. Arnold just kicked the can down the road a couple of years.
We have driven this meme of “There are piles of government waste and taxes are too high and we need more goverment services” to the end of a dirt road, and now must chart a new path.
The truth can be devastating, no?
I don’t envy the governor’s position, which allows for no popular, easy solution. But let’s stop pretending that we can cut taxes to oblivion while affording the government most Californians demand, especially as revenue from property taxes and motor vehicle activity crater.
Let’s stop pretending that California wants – or needs – leaders who stubbornly refuse to change their minds in times of crisis.
I think the nation’s had enough of that for eight years, no?
DU
no_vaseline
The fact that we covered Arnold at four different events over the past few years should not be misinterpreted to reflect our support of his policies and conduct. Truth be told I voted for a long time friend in that RECALL election by the name of Tom McClintock who was just elected to Congress.
Therefore I was not “duped” by Arnold nor would I call myself “gullible.”
The Mechanical Eye
Several of those who comment on these posts have asked to me to take a postion on increasing taxes. My response is quite simple. Let’s look at Elizabeth Hills financial reports over the past few years and you will find that our state’s General Fund has far exceeded any COLA.
Where were the “Democratic” Conservatives in Sacramento who should have been seeing the beer keg half empty rather than overflowing with buckets of $100 bills as they grew the size and scope of our government.
For starters they had a responsibility to recognize their obligation as it relates to Proposition 58 The California Balanced Budget Act
State of California Legislative Constitutional Amendment where that 2004 vote was
4,461,157 / 71.1% Yes votes …… 1,813,507 / 28.9% No votes
Off to a meeting. More to follow.
Larry,
I wasn’t taking a shot at you for voting for McClintock. Tom is a good man and would of made a fine Governer, except……..he’s almost as much fun as Gray Davis.
I was taking a shot at the majority of California voters who voted to recall Gray Davis in the first place. It was inappropriate to recall him, and what Arnold did was worse.
The pain will be exponentially worse as a result of recalling Gray Davis – which was powered in no small part by the taxpayers “demanding” a cut that they “deserved”. Pete Wilson would be ashamed.
For clarification:
The word “you” was aimed at anyone who voted for the recall.
I have stated that often enough and I repeat it again here: As long as there is “governing by propositions” this state is going to have problems.
The poster-boy bad proposition is Prop. 13. It’s intention were good, but as always, the opposite of good is good intentions.
Propositions like Prop. 13 and similar ones mean that it is impossible to do solid long-term financial planning. That results in the grid-lock we have seen from way back when. Gray Davis just inherited the problem, and recalling him was nothing more than shooting ourselves in the foot. To solve the problem requires a big change, not changing the person at the top.
McClintock would have failed at this as well. Schwarzenegger’s early advisor, Warren Buffett, hit the nail on the head when he said it is crazy that he paid more property taxes on his $500K home in Nebraska than on his $4M home in Laguna Beach:
http://articles.latimes.com/2003/aug/16/local/me-recall16
But of course, this is something that Larry, and Mr. McClintock, don’t want to hear…
We won’t get out of our budget crises until this head-in-the-sand attitude changes.
As far as I’m concerned, Mr. Buffett knows a bit more about monetary things than Mr. McClintock…
While I didn’t plan to interject the cost attributed to illegal immigration we cannot keep our heads in the sand and ignore that impact.
“According to a study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), 60 percent of all illegal immigrants are in six states, with California having the largest estimated number at 3,470,000.
The total cost impact to these states is estimated at $27 billion annually for K-12 education, health care and criminal incarceration. This means California’s burden of accommodating illegal aliens is more than $11 billion annually”
That folks is not “chump change.”
Perhaps the incoming president will backfill the costs that we carry due to the federal governments lax policy as it relates to our open borders.
Joe.
You are bringing up Prop 13 that was passed by 65 percent of the voters in 1978. Perhaps you were in the minority if in fact you even voted in that election.
Let’s look at the opinion of Californians comparing our legislature Vs the initiative process as found on the Internet.
INITIATIVE PROCESS
NOVEMBER 2008
..
CALIFORNIANS THINK THEY MAKE BETTER PUBLIC POLICY DECISIONS THAN ELECTED OFFICIALS DO.
Since Proposition 13, the citizens’ initiative of 1978 that limited property tax rates, statewide ballot measures have proliferated: 107 in this decade alone, including those on the November 4 ballot. Six in 10 Californians and likely voters say the public policy decisions made by voters through the initi-ative process are probably better than those made by the governor and legislature; only one in four adult residents (23%) and likely voters (25%) say voters’ decisions are probably worse. Majorities across parties say voters’ decisions are probably better, with more Republicans (64%) and indepen-dents (61%) holding this view than Democrats (55%). Moreover, pluralities of residents (38%) and likely voters (40%) say they prefer that initiatives have the most influence in public policymaking; fewer name the legislature or governor. With Californians strongly disapproving of their state leaders today, preference for initiatives over the governor or legislature has increased somewhat since 2006. Republicans and independents are more likely than Democrats to prefer initiatives.
Perhaps you did not read my earlier redevelopment posts on SB 1206 where for several months I worked with the Senate on what began as a good product. We could not get both sides of the aisle to agree to the initial text and only saw passage of that Bill in 2005/06 after the proposed legislation was gutted. There are simply too many “special interests” who have clout with their highly compensated lobbyists in Sacramento.
Larry,
The group FAIR that you quote is a hate group. Anything they say is complete and utter BS.
As far as Prop 13 is concerned, I was not a US citizen at that time, and was not allowed to vote.
Joe.
This was the first time I have posted any data from FAIR. However I must challenge your credentials to call them a hate group. You may watch MSNBC while I watch FOX News. We do have choices. Each side can fault the opposition message and messengers.
From the FAIR web site I add the following text:
“FAIR, the national media watch group, has been offering well-documented criticism of media bias and censorship since 1986. We work to invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity in the press and by scrutinizing media practices that marginalize public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints. As an anti-censorship organization, we expose neglected news stories and defend working journalists when they are muzzled. As a progressive group, FAIR believes that structural reform is ultimately needed to break up the dominant media conglomerates, establish independent public broadcasting and promote strong non-profit sources of information.
Uniquely, FAIR works with both activists and journalists. We maintain a regular dialogue with reporters at news outlets across the country, providing constructive critiques when called for and applauding exceptional, hard-hitting journalism. We also encourage the public to contact media with their concerns, to become media activists rather than passive consumers of news.”
Joe. As a spokesperson on statewide ballot measures I have heard elected officials say they prefer our state legislature address policy issues rather than going to the costly and time consuming initiative alternative. However, as evidenced by the current budget mess, there are times when those in power cannot agree to agree on solutions.
We surely prefer not spending over $1,000,000 to get around 875,000 valid signatures on every statewide citizen initiative. Beyond that first step is the cost to publicize the ballot measure that can reach upwards of $10,000,000. That’s real money.
Larry,
FAIR has been added by the Southern Poverty Law Center to the national list of hate groups that is maintained by the SPLC:
http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2007/12/11/fair-crossing-the-rubicon-of-hate&splcnewsletter=panewsgen-121107/
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=846
The leaders of FAIR are known racists.
Joe.
While I have not vetted the FAIR group, any web site that contains a link to Daily Kos has zero credibility with me. Nice try.
Oh brother. WE had a link to Daily Kos – a live-feed to their latest stories in fact – until just a few weeks ago. It balanced off our link to the Drudge Report. You close yourself off to a lot of information.
What, did you hear some Bill O’Reilly horror story of something terrible one of the thousands of commenters on Kos wrote? You think WE’VE got trouble with Fiala, a site like Kos has a thousand Fialae.
Larry,
“While I have not vetted the FAIR group”
Yet you quote them, lending them credibility. Regardless if you like if the SPLC has a link to the Daily Kos in their blog roll (just like this blog had until the departure of SMS), fact is that the leaders of FAIR are known racists.
Next time, may I suggest actually vetting the sources you quote from? I trust that you don’t wish to be associated with racists like the idiots from FAIR…