← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Gabrielle
Thread ID: 16738 | Posts: 5 | Started: 2005-02-14
2005-02-14 01:35 | User Profile
[img]http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/ALLPOLITICS/02/11/schwarzenegger.showdown.ap/story.arnold.sd.jpg[/img]
"SACRAMENTO, California. (AP) -- It may be that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state's Democrats have given up, for now, working out their differences in the Legislature over a series of constitutional amendments to overhaul state government and politics.
Instead of arriving here Friday to promote the Republican governor's plans at the GOP's spring convention, state Republican Party delegates will gird for what they expect will be an unprecedented special election this fall.
"California Republicans are on the offensive," said Ron Nehring, chairman of the San Diego County GOP Central Committee. He said he doesn't believe a compromise with Democrats is likely.
Schwarzenegger has threatened to bypass the Legislature and take his plan to voters in a special election if he cannot get his way with lawmakers.
Democrats, meanwhile, are assembling their own war machine. This week, they established a political committee supported by a coalition of unions, education groups and advocates for the poor that will coordinate resources and strategy.
So far, the state's largest teachers union, the California Teachers Association, has aired radio ads attacking Schwarzenegger's budget proposal as bad for schools; the state's largest nurses union has run TV ads criticizing his decision to loosen hospital staffing rules and a proposal to eliminate the Board of Registered Nursing; and a pro-consumer group has been flying an airplane towing anti-Schwarzenegger banners wherever he's made recent public appearances.
The ever-popular governor has hit the road, taking his case directly to the voters. He's also returned to the bully pulpit of talk radio, which he used effectively during the 2003 recall campaign and last year, to push his plans.
The GOP convention, said California Republican Party spokeswoman Karen Hanretty, is "the first step in mobilizing them for a potential special election."
At the heart of Schwarzenegger's reform agenda are four measures aimed at reducing the clout of public employees and teachers, and ending the power of incumbency in Sacramento.
He wants to convert the state's public pension program to a 401(k)-style system, require merit pay for teachers, and redraw congressional and state legislative boundaries to make the seats more competitive. He also wants to establish a mechanism that would automatically cut state spending when it exceeded revenue.
Schwarzenegger called a special session of the Legislature last month to push his proposals; they've gone nowhere. Instead, both sides are preparing ballot initiatives to qualify for a fall special election.
To date, both sides have submitted nearly 70 measures on a wide variety of issues that could end up on the ballot if a special election is called.
While Democrats may persuade voters to pass some of their initiatives, it's still a risky strategy because Schwarzenegger will succeed with some of his agenda too, said Garry South, a former adviser to Gov. Gray Davis and longtime Democratic strategist.
Still, Schwarzenegger has yet to be truly tested, according to South.
"He's lived a charmed political life so far," South said. "He's been able to pick the low-hanging fruit. This will be different."
[url]http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/02/11/schwarzenegger.showdown.ap/index.html[/url]
2005-02-15 12:00 | User Profile
[img]http://wwwi.reuters.com/images/w148/amdf858765.jpg[/img]
"SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - California's Republican loyalists said on Saturday they are ready to rally behind Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ambitious political agenda that includes ballot measures Democrats vow to defeat.
Republicans meeting at the party's state convention in Sacramento said they will eagerly fight by Schwarzenegger's side if he asks voters to support this year's agenda through ballot measures, a sharp contrast to a September convention when party officials feared key conservative members would not embrace the socially moderate Hollywood icon.
But Schwarzenegger has in recent public appearances rarely missed an opportunity to stress he stands with conservatives on fiscal matters and that he has ruled out tax increases to balance the state's budget. California faces a $9.1 billion shortfall in the next fiscal year starting in July.
"When he first came onto the scene, I was skeptical ... but I think he's proven himself," said R.Q. Williams of Napa County's Republican Central Committee. "He hit the nail on the head, pointing out that what we need to do is rein in spending, not worry about how to figure out taxes and new fees."
At a dinner on Friday night, Schwarzenegger launched into a blistering attack on California's Democrat-led legislature to get rank-and-file Republicans to support potential ballot measures to overhaul the state government.
Democrats, he said, are "spending addicts" who are standing in the way of his agenda, which includes a plan to partially privatize the state's public pension funds. The largest and third-largest U.S. pensions funds are in the state.
PUT IT TO VOTERS
His plan mirrors White House aims for the Social Security system.
Democrats, public employee unions and pension fund officials oppose the plan, which Schwarzenegger says is needed so the state can rid itself of costly financial obligations to the funds. Schwarzenegger has threatened to put the plan to voters if lawmakers do not seriously consider it.
The plan would strike at the heart of one of the state Democratic Party's most significant sources of support.
"The train has left the station and there's three things they can do," Schwarzenegger said. "One is they can join and jump on the train. Number two, they can go and stay behind and just wave and be left behind, or number three, they get in front of the train and you know what happens then."
Republicans gave him raucous cheers, reflecting a new confidence after years in California's political wilderness.
"There's a euphoria that we're relevant again," said U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa. "The Republican party was doing very well in Washington, and was irrelevant in California for a number of years. It was also divided and leaderless. Now they are united with a tremendous leader."
Democrats said Schwarzenegger runs the risk of putting measures that are too conservative to voters who in November re-elected liberal Democrat Barbara Boxer to the U.S. Senate.
"He's really off the mark in terms of the majority of Californians," said Democratic Assembly Member Wilma Chan.
Democrats are ready, added Democratic campaign adviser Bob Mulholland: "Bring it on ... Schwarzenegger is not invincible."
Democrats and their allies could counter with their own measures, said Larry Gerston, a political scientist at San Jose State University. "Measures could be put forth by liberals, environmentalists, unions, which would flood the ballot and take attention away from his measures," he said. "
[url]http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=7610655&pageNumber=0[/url]
2005-02-16 06:09 | User Profile
[QUOTE]... Schwarzenegger has threatened to bypass the Legislature and take his plan to voters in a special election if he cannot get his way with lawmakers. ...[/QUOTE] And we voters will give what he wants... whenever he wants it! We elected him to do battle with the career bureaucrats and that is exactly what he seems to be doing. These politicians still don't ââ¬Åget it.ââ¬Â We Californians are tired of their incompetence and their corruption.
:taz:
2005-02-16 06:22 | User Profile
Better the pro-Labor Democrats than the pro-Corporate, open-borders Boobingrabber... :D
2005-02-17 01:36 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Howard Campbell, Jr.]Better the pro-Labor Democrats than the pro-Corporate, open-borders Boobingrabber... [/QUOTE] Did I hear "pro-Labor Democrats?" Excuse me while I guffaw. :lol:
Would those be the same "pro-Labor Democrats" that passed NAFTA, GATT, and support the WTO? Would those be the same "pro-Labor Democrats" that destroyed proposition 187 and endorsed "motor voter?" Would those be the same "pro-Labor Democrats" that vehemently oppose any kind of immigration standards or budgetary controls?
Yeah... right...
:cool: