Governor (Schwarzenegger) Struggles With State's Realities

[kskiska]

After a well-received inaugural address, Schwarzenegger spent his first week facing the realities of governing. With a bare-bones staff -- some of them inexperienced with California and its byzantine government -- Schwarzenegger is finding that the problems he inherited from the former governor are more complicated than any campaign slogan.

Aides to Schwarzenegger said he was well aware that governing was complicated, but nevertheless acknowledged a difficult week getting started. His new communications director, Rob Stutzman, doesn't yet have a workable state phone on his desk.

(snip)

Schwarzenegger began fulfilling many of his campaign promises last week by introducing an aggressive legislative and ballot-box agenda. But he also added some confusion by making contradictory statements and declining to offer many details on his plans, at the same time he demanded that the Legislature rush to meet a deadline. In some cases, he backtracked somewhat when faced with political reality.

There was a consistent theme throughout the week: Schwarzenegger is pleasingly optimistic, diplomatic and enthusiastic about change. But the problems he wants to tackle have been debated and analyzed for years. Even fresh eyes may not turn a disaster into the "miracle of Sacramento," as he described it Monday in an inaugural address before 7,500 invited guests.

(snip)

During the campaign, Schwarzenegger made it sound like billions of dollars in state spending were being wasted by incompetent politicians and waiting to be uncovered by his "audit," which has now been scaled back despite numerous campaign promises of a thorough, independent review.

more…
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/11/23/GOVERNOR.TMP

[wabeewoman]

1. When are the dems going to learn

Karl Rove tactic: "he demanded that the Legislature rush to meet a deadline" -- rush it through. Democrats need to just slow it down, mellow it out and stop them from rushing everything through. It gives no time for public debate, no time for the negatives of the proposals to come out.

[dusty64]

38. That certainly seems

to be the new extreme right tactic. Rush things through hopefully before anyone has a chance to look at these 1,000 page proposals and see how bad they really are.

[DarkPhenyx]

2. Big surprise.

He either had no idea how to run a State Gov't or he lied in order to get elected. Either way California is going to get exactly what it asked for.

[imax2268]

3. This is going to be good...

(on edit)two things can happen...he succedes or he falls flat on his face...

[shanti]

42. but either result

cannot be good for california.

[Room101]

4. After a well-received inaugural address ?

It was closed to the general public.

[catzies]

47. But it was carried live on local TV and NPR...

...just because they don't let the hoi polloi in doesn't mean they're not worth chasing ratings for.

[Jack Rabbit]

5. Toto, I don't think we're in Hollywood anymore!

I'm still having trouble taking this guy seriously.

[MaryBear]

11. Please do.

Take him seriously, that is.

Like it or not, Ahnold is the guv, and shrub is the prez.

:puke:

[aquart]

18. Hope it ages him in dog years.

I have no nice Arnold thoughts.

[madrchsod]

6. the repeal of the car tax,

now that was really smart thing to do- cutting millions from public safety. it`s going to be interesting if karl dumps arnie when things go from bad to worse.

[Kremer]

8. Millions?

Try 4 billion his repeal cost public safety to CA & this 4bil was added to CA's ongoing debt! Good work Gov Groper!!!!!

[Drifter]

27. And all the people hear ...

is that he cut taxes. Which of course leads to more budget problems. Gettin the job done.

Cheers
Drifter

[interceptor]

24. isn't that bad

(I have a feeling this one might get censored!)

I'm in California. The friggin car tax was ridiculous and off the chart and drastically affected the poor as well as the rich. If you're outside the state you don't realize how much it ticked people off. It ticked me off when I bought just my motorcycle after moving here, it was obscenely high. Yeah, I could pay it with a little pain, but WTF? Other states get by without that kind of a huge tax and bridges aren't crumbling, and the people here weren't happy. Obviously a lot of us Dems were mad too, if Arnie got into office here (no, I didn't vote for him, I voted no on recall just for loyalty's sake.). This state is solid blue ya know.

Let's be honest - the grassroots movement was against Davis here and Bustamante torpedoed the guy. I'd like to say there was a strong Democrat movement for him but it was divided for all sorts of reasons. How come we get two strong senators but got that guy for governor? I don't get it.

Anyway, now we've got a movie star trying to cut the budget and taxes at the same time...*sigh*...Its AFU. I'm on flu medicine and its affecting my writing. We're still pretty emotional about the whole thing in CA. I've got to move out of here...

[bahrbearian]

28. About the car taxes

In Washington we repealed the car Tax and the bridges are crumbling, now they want to make toll roads and bridges to pay for new construction. I guess you do have to pay for services..Nothing is free.

[Gin]

29. Virginia had a personal property tax on vehicles that was similar to

the car tax in California. A new car could be 600.00 and go down year by year. Nobody liked it. A rethug ran on repealing the tax and of course he won. The state went downhill and into red ink from there.

Thankfully...even the republicans voted his sorry ass out of office and we have Gov. Warner, a Dem in office. He had to make tough choice and we are still 1 billion in the red. More cuts to come.

The car tax cut was spread out over several years. Warner froze it when he came in or things would be worse.

Ahnold should have done that and not repeal it all-together.

Just my 2 cents from the other coast! :)

[trapper914]

31. Similar program in Indiana

though not as costly. But here's something I don't get. Why charge more for new vehicles? Seems like it should be the other way around. At least those buying the new cars are contributing sales tax dollars to the state economy.

[Mountainman]

30. Well I don't understand you at all

I bought a pick up and a motorcycle and I knew what the tax was going to be before I bought them. I got rebates on both which more than offset the car tax. I could have not bought them but the tax did not enter my mind at all.

I think the car tax was something the right wing talk show gas bags could use to attack Davis when they should have been talking about Enron and how the price of electricity and the taxes to pay for the futures contracts came about.

No the car tax was just a ruse to keep us from talking about what the real problem behind the money problems is, Enron and the other deregulated energy companies who ripped us off.

[pinerow]

46. Hate to burst your bubble, the so-called 'car tax' was a

Pete Wilson brainstorm...in essense. it works like this..if the state is facing 'x' deficit...the 'car-tax is enacted to forestall said deficit...learn the history before you criticize...

[catzies]

48. Welcome to DU, interceptor!

:hi: And take care of that flu; it's a nasty one. It had me down for 3 weeks.

[Zhade]

52. Two strong senators?

Feinstein is no progressive.

She voted for the IWR.

She recently came out in support of the Patriot Act.

Feinstein is strong, maybe - but for the wrong reasons.

[BurntIceCubeTray]

55. Exactly. The car tax was fair and balanced

If someone wants to drive and pollute the pristine air of CA they should be paying at least $1000.00 per year and a local impact tax for 50% of that. There is no excuse for not using public transit, walking or bicycling in these times. The world is few years away from total destruction from autos and it's time to tax them into extinction.

[Paul Hood]

7. Arnie's good cop and bad cop all in one.

Amid all this, Schwarzenegger reached out to lawmakers with personal meetings. He invited several of them to chat in a private Capitol courtyard, while he smoked cigars. Democratic lawmakers said he was warm and interested in their thoughts.

And then Schwarzenegger took to KFBK radio in Sacramento to threaten them: "Have the legislators learned anything from this last election? If they didn't get it, there will be severe casualties come the election in March, severe casualties come November."

[Gman]

9. But none of this really matters

They were successful in undoing last year's reelection of Davis and now a CA has a GOP governor with next year being the presidential election year.

[JCMach1]

10. Even worse, it's Dems and Indies who put this

turkey in office...

:grr:

[The_Casual_Observer]

12. Planet Hollywood

A hugely hyped flop.
It hasn't taken Arnold very long to figure out that this is going to flop too. He is already talking about tax increases if the voters don't approve the loan. He is a fool.

[WhereIsMyFreedom]

21. I think that's his plan

He's going to take everything to the voters, and then when they reject his absurd solutions he'll do whatever he wants and call it the will of the voters. The media will give him favorable coverage and California will suffer.

[CarlBallard]

13. He should smash some more cars

Then your state won't have any more problems.

[LibDemAlways]

14. As a lifelong Californian it pains me to say this but

there are a whole lot of braindead morons in this state who apparently confused Ahnold's tough guy movie persona with the reality that he is a bodybuilder turned action-movie star -- a cartoonish guy with a huge ego and lots of ambition -- but no gray matter.

Ahnold can't fix the state's problems. He won't even know where to start. The people who thought he could are a sorry bunch of fools.

[BootinUp]

17. still can't understand how

in the hell anyone thought he won that debate. I was watching it and thinking 'boy he's showing a complete lack of any knowledge on the issues and trying to hide it with bluster and rudeness'.

My first 24 years of life were spent in California. It pains me to watch.

[leesa]

41. The media tells you he won. He wouldn't have had to say a word and he

would have won. Same thing happened with Bush's "debates" against Gore. There is no way Bush won...all he did was spew platitudes that usually had nothing to do with the questions and lied about his record in Texas. I thought I had entered a different universe when the media declared him "magnificent" and the clear winner. Gore lost because of his make-up and his sighing....when did those become debate criteria? The media is owned by the GOP and the GOP person will always win. Same thing happened with Jeb Bush in his 2002 "debates".

[TankLV]

36. I respectifully disagree w/your accessement of his intelligence.

Aaaaaanoooood is not king georgie jr. He's gotten to where he is BECAUSE he is an extremely intelligent and calculating man. He had a plan when he was 14 years old to do what he's done - and he has succeeded beyond his dreams.

He is also very dangerous simply because he BELIEVES his own hype and has CHOSEN to buy into the repuke crap. He is a very rich successful person who is for HIMSELF 1st. Just like the "log cabin repukes" - rich white men who value their material success and posessions to the exclusion of the suffering and problems of all those less fortunate than themselves.

[Polemonium]

51. You mistake ambition for intelligence

Yes he's been manipulative, he's worked hard, and he's done what ever it takes to get ahead without any moral sense that his actions have at times been deplorable. This makes him dangerous, but not intelligent. Smarter than a stump, but not any smarter than the average American, just less concerned with who he steps on.

[Zhade]

53. "Log Cabin Republicans" are more known for being gay than rich.

NT!

[moondust]

15. Hey Arnold---let's make a movie of you saving California.

You know, get a camera to follow you around for the next three years and then put it on the big screen. What say, Mr. Muscly?

[meisje]

16. I wish him good luck

I don't care who it is, things need to improve!

[interceptor]

26. me too

Things do need to change here. I think the Dems in the legislature won't let him screw it up too much anyway.

[leesa]

45. Umm...doubtful. Arnie's in the pockets of Enron and the energy folks

who stole 9 billion from the state...things are NOT going to get better. Debt is simply going to be hidden...put on the state credit card for future generations to deal with.

[eileen_d]

19. I hope his head hurts.

Hope he falls on his face... hell, I hope he breaks down and cries. Unqualified SOB. :grr:

[Pale_Rider]

20. Ah-nold just should shut-up and ...

... let his creepy aids run the show.

[shanti]

43. oh, you mean like pete wilson??

no thanks, been there, done that.

[Zhade]

22. Not so easy filling a position you aren't qualified for, eh, SchwarzeNazi?

Good. FUCK YOU. YOU ARE NOT MY GOVERNOR.

And every fool who voted for him - but especially (alleged) progressives - will learn they should have listened to those of us warning them, instead of abdicating thier duty to be informed citizens who would have rejected this unqualified rightwing nutjob the second they heard his 'ideas'.

I'm still hyper-pissed about this whole thing. It was a blatant power-grab, backed by bullshit media spin on Davis' record (which was not nearly as horrific as even some Dems thought). This was not democracy in action. This was a farce that should make every Californian - and American - weep with rage.

:grr:

[The Zanti Regent]

23. I Second that statement

Fuck You Arnold!

Cutting the Car tax and then ordering Bustamante to drop his lawsuit to get our 9 billion back from your pal Ken Lay. You added 13 billion to the deficit and we are NOT going to vote for you asinine Borrow and Spend shir.

I'm waiting for the ladies to come out of the woodwork and hit this Nazi thug with Paula Jones lawsuit after lawsuit and leave him totally impotent (if he isn't already from all those steroids).

Arnold is NOT my Governor and HE NEVER WILL BE!

Camejo, and those Pink Tutu Democrats, Lockeyer and Shelley, who rigged this election should be rounded up for High Treason along with Lay, Millken, Riordan and Issa!

[interceptor]

25. not to pick a nit

But do you live in the same California? There were a lot of people ticked here. I'm not saying it was Davis's fault or you're necessarily wrong, especially with the tech industry so friggin down, but we're just going to set up for another loss if we *don't learn from why this happened* and look objectively at it. This state's been voting solid blue for a long time - I don't think they're such sheep that they're just going to get up and vote Repuke without some provocation. If we just chalk it up to Issa's pocketbook and the media then we're not learning anything from it and we can't plan for the next battle.

[Mountainman]

33. People were ticked but they were constantly lied to for months!

I live near Bakersfield and all you got was anti Davis rants on all AM stations you could listen to. But there was never any talk about how deregulation enabled the power companies to shut down electric plants to force the electric shortage on us and how the price of electricity were munilpulated by the likes of Enron.

The problem with what you are saying is that you ignore the real causes of the money problems just like the right wing talk shows did. The average working Californian took it out on Davis when anyone, even Arnold would have been in the same position given the same circumstances,

You and people like you are to blame IMHO for not giving the people the real facts but only lying to them for political gain. Now we have to face the music and hopefully we will begin to understand that nice sounding words don't solve problems.

I hope the next thing out your mouth isn't to blame all the Dems in office in the State and let the likes of Issa off the hook like you do Enron and Co.

[Zhade]

54. Yes, I live in the same California. Los Angeles area, to be precise.

Yes. A lot of people were indeed ticked. Good, smart, honest people. Friends of mine, even. They were ticked - and then they were tricked.

Tricked into believing the deficit was $30 billion higher than it was (it was $8 billion, not $38 billion, and some spending could not be cut, because the legislature - which, by the way, has a lot to do with the economic status of the state - has no choice when it comes to mandatory budget spending).

Tricked into thinking it was all Davis' fault - when the blame rested squarely on Enron and company, with the assistance of Bush, gang-raping California via energy-market manipulation, which put us at least $9 billion in the hole. Couple that with the above-mentioned true deficit, and you'll quickly realize that no Enron equals California up a billion dollars.

Tricked into thinking Arnold would not let that happen again - when he met with Kenny Boy Lay in 2001, and now has announced he wants further energy deregulation.

Tricked into thinking there was no connection between Arnold and the White House, when the fact is that Karl Rove met with the guy and publicly stated that he'd really, really, REALLY like Arnold in California.

These are a few examples of how the people were rightfully angry at the wrong target.

[SemperEadem]

49. The Dems who helped to engineer this election remind me

of the Scottish Earls in 16th century Scotland who sold out Mary Stuart to England.

All of them greedy, grasping grabbers who created a monstrous problem because they couldn't keep their rapaciousness in check.

[0007]

32. I perdict that the GOP will hang Schwarzenegger out to dry...

I perdict that Schwarzenegger will switch parties and get Califorina back on it's feet.

I perdict that Schwarzenegger's Terminator 4 will be kicking junior out of office and supporting the next Democrate President.

I can dream can't I?

[radfringe]

34. "SACRAMENTO MIRACLE"? heh?

Shades of Dukakis and the Massachusetts Miracle...

will the Groper's past/present/future escapades be his Willy Horton?

[ibegurpard]

35. Good. Let him struggle.

I hope the Democrats let him twist in the wind.

[realFedUp]

37. LA Times story on Arnold's first week

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-arnold23nov23,1,6443246.story?coll=la-home-leftrail a d v e r t i s e m e n t

A Reality Check
First week shows governor will need more than charm
By Peter Nicholas and Joe Mathews
Times Staff Writers

November 23, 2003

[leesa]

39. I suspect the man is struggling with reality in general

Just put it on the credit card, whatever it is...15 billion in debt? Charge it!

[xchrom]

40. may schwarzenclown

struggle back out the gubernatorial door.
and may dems have the nerve to make sure he sleeps on a bed of nails.

[ramapo]

44. People love the "waste" rhetoric

Politicians always trot out the old "everything would be ok if we can just root out waste and welfare cheats". It has helped so many, Arnold being the latest, get elected. I always hear theis line parroted back to me whenever I bring up the deficit, debt, etc.

Maybe when "waste" is defined as corporate subsidies, pork legislation, and tax giveaways to the rich, will there be some truth to this rhetoric.

[rocktivity]

50. Some people cut off their noses to spite their faces

California voters cut off their entire heads.

What in the world made them think that a complete neophyte with no political platform, and who will most likely torpedo the energy lawsuit setttlement, would be an improvement on Davis, anyway? How do they expect anyone to run a state with no tax revenues? And don't they care that Arnie may steal six billion dollars right out from under them? But apparently none of that matters--only California's "revenge" on Davis for the car tax does.


rocknation