Posted on 10/01/2005 9:53:58 PM PDT by calcowgirl
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger discussed his Nov. 8 ballot measures yesterday at the Joslyn Senior Center in Escondido.
He also sought to clarify his position on same-sex marriage, saying he believes that gay and lesbian couples should be entitled to the same legal protections as heterosexual ones, but that marriage "should be between a man and a woman."
The governor weighed in on the emotionally charged topics at a meeting with The San Diego Union-Tribune's editorial board during a visit to the San Diego area to campaign for his Nov. 8 special election ballot agenda.
Some Latinos have criticized Schwarzenegger as having failed to appoint enough Latinos to judgeships and high positions in his administration. Schwarzenegger said he has been so preoccupied with California's economic woes since his election in the 2003 recall that he has not paid as much attention to Latino concerns as he should.
"We in the administration have not done the best job with Latinos," the governor said. "It is regretful to say that because I concentrated so much on fixing the economy, fixing this and fixing that and was overwhelmed with so many different things when I took office, that we have, not intentionally, but just neglected to bring in more Latinos, have more meetings, more outreach to Latino groups."
He added, "I am committed to doing much more and for us to focus on that now because that's a mistake that was made."
Schwarzenegger received a solid 32 percent of the Latino vote two years ago as the top candidate to replace ousted Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, according to a Los Angeles Times exit poll. Since then, his esteem among Latinos has slid precipitously. In a poll released this week by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California, only 18 percent of Latino voters approved of the job the Republican governor is doing.
Schwarzenegger has been assailed by Latino leaders for praising the Minutemen border watchers and for refusing to sign legislation allowing illegal immigrants to obtain special driver licenses after initially signaling his intention to do so.
He later said he would not sign a driver license bill until the federal government adopts a uniform nationwide policy.
Schwarzenegger also caused a stir in April for saying the United States should "close" the border. The Austrian immigrant governor quickly said that this was a misstatement because of language problems and that he meant to say "secure" the border.
"Because of my stand on driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants, because of my stand about securing the borders, automatically I have been labeled as someone that is prejudiced, someone that is a racist, someone that just doesn't want other immigrants to enjoy the same kind of opportunities that I have had when I came over here as an immigrant and all that, which is all a bunch of nonsense," he said.
Art Torres, chairman of the California Democratic Party, said Schwarzenegger has a lot of lost ground to make up with Latino voters.
"It's impossible to think that he couldn't find one Latino to put in his Cabinet," Torres said. "That's kind of stretching it.
"I don't think that he's a racist. I don't think he's anti-Latino," Torres added. "I just think some of his comments have been ill-founded and incendiary to the Latino community. And I guess now he's realizing that, given the poll numbers."
On Thursday, Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have legalized same-sex marriages in California while signing four bills to outlaw various forms of discrimination against gays.
The governor reiterated yesterday that in vetoing AB 849, he felt bound by Proposition 22, the successful 2000 ballot initiative that says "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."
"I cannot go against Prop. 22," he said. "Just simply, I will not let the legislators tamper with the people's vote."
Asked how he voted on Proposition 22, Schwarzenegger, who has resisted expressing a personal opinion about same-sex marriage, hesitated and then said he "probably voted for it."
The governor said public attitudes about same-sex marriage might well have changed in the five years since Proposition 22 was approved with 61 percent of the vote. One public opinion poll recently suggested that Californians were evenly split on the issue.
"If they go back to the people, it could easily be that it will win, that it will pass, that we will have marriage amongst gay couples," Schwarzenegger said.
He did not respond directly when asked what position he would take if an initiative to legalize same-sex marriage were placed on the ballot.
"I personally think that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. But I think a gay couple should have all the rights that a marriage has," he told the Union-Tribune editorial board, which regularly hosts newsmakers to discuss current events and invites reporters and editors from the newsroom.
Yesterday morning, Schwarzenegger promoted the package of Nov. 8 ballot measures he is backing at a meeting of about 200 people at the Joslyn Senior Center in Escondido.
The governor came armed with a new study by a sympathetic business group that concluded that Proposition 76, his initiative to control state spending, could actually increase school spending over the long term rather than cut it as opponents contend.
Larry McCarthy, president of the California Taxpayers Association, said Proposition 76 would allow the state to earmark one-time revenues, such as the proceeds from this year's tax amnesty, for education without increasing the state's permanent financial commitment to schools.
"Under current law, it is impossible really to give schools any one-time money," McCarthy said.
Cal-Tax's view that Proposition 76 would result in more funding for schools than current law is not shared by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office, which writes the ballot pamphlet analyses and issued a 13-page report on the measure yesterday.
Legislative Analyst Liz Hill said in her report that "budget reductions resulting from the spending limit or (the) governor's new authority could apply to schools."
The main parts of Proposition 76 impose a loose limit on the growth in state spending, based on the average of revenue growth in the three previous years, and allow the governor to make midyear spending cuts if the budget falls out of balance and the Legislature fails to close the gap within 45 days.
Outside the senior center, an estimated 180 protesters shouted and chanted against the governor and his ballot propositions. Led by longtime Escondido firefighter Mike O'Connor, wearing his helmet and toting a bullhorn and a U.S. flag, the protesters lined up along Broadway and Park Place.
"Why don't you come out here where the real people are?" O'Connor shouted into his bullhorn.
Mike Diaz, another Escondido firefighter, sat atop the Escondido Firefighters Association's antique fire engine, sounding its loud siren, shortly after the governor's arrival in a dark sport utility vehicle.
Although most of the demonstrators appeared to be firefighters from throughout North County, they were joined by teachers and nurses who also object to Schwarzenegger's ballot initiatives.
"The governor needs to hear from the working folks, but he seems to be listening mostly to big business," said Sandy Dewees, an emergency-room nurse in the Palomar Pomerado Health district.
Well, you all DO keep trying to get Democrats elected in CA and defeat propositions, which would help reform CA...
But the "dissenting vocal few" is even willing to be viciously against spending cuts, which they were advocating before, just to defeat Arnold's agenda, never mind, that it will also seriously harm California.
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more BS and you know it, learn how to sling mud, you'll do more good that way then using crap like that around here.
And using Tom against those who have long supported him and trying to twist things around is even more ludicrous, imo.
He knows what is at stake (not that I and others don't) but to impugn that some who did or do support him now or at anytime but may differ on elements of these reforms is pretty disingenuous, by you for one, and many others as well. Like I said you seem to want to stifle debate , too bad.
Besides the thought of all those who now grab Tom's legs and now adore him when before they belittled and ridiculed him, frankly sickens me and shows how many still do the expedient thing as it serves them best to do so or so they think..
Again, critical review of the issues is the responsiblity of each individual and not just up to a few with pom poms in their hands.
I hear ya on that but Im just pointing out the old broad brush effect and frankly, it does tee me off that others are so focused on personality and not on issues.
How's your end of the Gulf Coast holding out?
I'm on the bluffs on the MS river --- 150 miles north of the Gulf. MS's gulfcoast is all but destroyed, but with our great Governor Barbour (no RINO in him...lol) the recovery is going good. I was AMAZED that Katrina reached here and knocked out our electricity for 5 days.
Who's running against Arnold?
Well, hang in there and we got our fingers crossed that we are thru the worst this year and beyond.
Hard to say who the ultimate candidates will be,, with Meathead and warren beatty stiring things up, phil angelides or steve westly are the most likely to run for the c'rats, I'm not abetting man but angelides probably,, he's another gray davi$ clone to a great degree, at least that is my suspicion, hope and wish.
he makes limp milquetoast look exciting. ;-)
I recall Westly... not familiar with Angelides, but your word is good enough for me that he's mostly a Davi$ clone. I hate Rob Reiner.
personally I wish Ishtar Beatty would run, with Sean Penn for Lt. Gub.. oh the commercials would be a hooot. :-D
LOL!!!!
They have the egos for a run --- too bad they can't be "nudged."
Yechh - [extreme shudder]. Thanks for pinging me. He really is disgusting.
Now I can't go to bed until I read enough other stuff so that doesn't stick in my mind!
Well, answer me this: who is more conservative, someone who wants a Democrat elected, or someone who wants a Republican elected. And who is more conservative, someone who wants spending cuts, or someone who doesn't?
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More BS and you know it taking, CO's post and ... twist twist twist'ing it to your purposes. Some uniter you are.. lol
Would you like me to go back and post a few of your "gems" too where you actually appeared to have some concerns over the environmental policies being pushed down our throats and where you almost seem to be trying to be open to discussion instead of following the talking points of the moderates... and not the conservatives.
Those acts would be when the GReens were granted their wishes in the name of bipartisanship as oodles of enviro bills got signed ( and how many more soon enough), by who, :-), need I remind you. How conservative of you.
PS - Where are the cuts from the first 2 years of budgets the GUb submitted. and how do you sustain the spending levels we are at without destroying the foundations of this state's economic well-being, and support a Gub whosupports current social programs and spending levels by bowwoing us into more long term debt to keep them afloat?
Oh, that's right you're conservative, oh wait, republican.. how far the beasts have strayed from the farm, eh?
You moderates got swindled and hate to admit it, much as the dems got swindled in the 1990's and now are losing their party and standing nationally as the termites eat the pillars it was built on.
Now we are in a real crunch and must pick the elesser of 2 evils, imo. But to say we want democrats elected is just plain out a lie., if folks back in 2003 hadn't fallen for the Trojan horse, we would likely have a smaller or no deficit, but why vote for a real conservative when you can vote for an action hero instead. and don' give me that unelectable crap like so many try and play here.
CA: Green bills await governor ^
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1495075/posts
The Longfellow poem on your home page is one of my favorite hymns. So glad you posted it. ":^)
What "Latino groups" might that be, Arnold?
He added, "I am committed to doing much more and for us to focus on that now because that's a mistake that was made."
Aw, did someone's fweelings get hurt?
We have, just not on this thread.
What we have here is failure to communicate. I don't like it any more than you do but that's the way he wants so that's the way he get's it.
We reside in a democratic republic. We vote our conscience and accept the results. The minority also has Hiram Johnson to thank for a small bit of due process to shield us from the tyranny of the government and the majority; the recall and the initiative.
A characteristic of same political parties over time is that they will surrender their principals and core values to maintain power. The irony in California is that the California Democratic Party hasn't surrendered its principals, nor its core values and it still wins while the CAGOP, which is showing a willingness to prostitute itself for victory, has had only one notable success, Schwarzenegger, and he has expanded the power of government, increased taxation, increased indebtedness, etc., etc., all core Democrat values.
What is puzzling is that the spokesman for the CAGOP policy wonks appear offended when we take umbrage with your conditional values. What is not surprising is the logic you use to support your contentions.
Thanks.
You cited my post as some form of prima facae evidence that I am overtly trying to get Democrats elected. You and several others of Arnold’s droids have accused me of being an evil secret Democrat operative, which, considering my posting history on this site, including the articles I have published here, is totally laughable and without credibility. Here are some examples:
A Burning Desire, A Critique of the Sierra Club Public Lands Fire Management Policy (1999)
Free Advertising: How Eco-Drivel Can Destroy a Forest and Feed Developers
Klamath Basin is a Watershed Event
ESA Reform
An Analysis of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Environmental Policy
Kelo and the 14th Amendment: Exploring a Constitutional Koan
Wild Cow Mary Could Save Norton Nomination, But Who Saves the Cows?
If I was trying to get Democrats elected, FO, I wouldn’t write that way.
Your demonstrated lack of credibility has clearly never bothered you. FO. Consider this exchange, where you offer to refute my list of Arnold’s actions and never did so. You did the same thing yesterday when confronted, you turned tail and ran.
It is your typical behavior. You are perfectly willing to throw up unsupportable blandishments in support of a campaign of fear hopefully to plug the thread with noise from droids that would drive any thinking person away, with the intent to bury the response at the end. You pulled that little stunt repeatedly during the recall. You pulled it out of the drawer on Prop 79, where you might have well as said, "Bustamante." Your mistake today was to post it so early.
The reason you don’t care about credibility is that your purpose here has nothing to do with principles, conservative or otherwise. You strive to change the structure of the Republican Party, to make it a party of the political center, not a party of conservatives, who, despite your protestations, constitute the bulk of the Republican Party membership.
That “centrist” Party leadership has cheered Arnold’s performance, which includes appointments of many Democrats to high positions of political power. Indeed, after the recall, the same people exert powerful influence as when Davis was in office.
Gray Davis was hugely destructive to this state’s finances. Seeing as his fiscal policies have continued under Arnold’s “leadership,” I would have preferred Democrats be held accountable for it, not Republicans. Gray Davis’ regulatory policies were equally destructive, but not as bad as Arnold’s. Given that you have offered continued support for those policies, one might easily accuse you of trying to elect Democrats, because the results of Arnold’s policies are destructive to the conservative Republican base which funds Republican candidates and does the bulk of the elective legwork.
You can’t get moderates to do campaigning, so you have to pay for it. Thus, no matter how much corporate money Arnold raises, it will never be as effective as grass roots politics. Without a base, he will have a very hard time getting re-elected. As his current poll numbers reflect, it is the base that has left him because his policies have been destructive to that base.
That conservative base consists of small business and private landowners. Arnold’s regulatory policies favor big business, with no loyalty to either party, and are destructive to private landowners. They favor increasing bureaucracy, which funds Democrat public employee unions. They favor converting land to development and open-space subsidies to developers of “sustainable communities,” what will someday be the equivalent of government housing projects.
Arnold’s social policies are problematic for Republicans as well. “Domestic partnerships” are statistically conducive to child molestation, all protestations to the contrary. Those policies support marginal relationships that are not a decent environment for child-rearing, contributing to fatherless households which demonstrably produce crime, divorce, ignorance and poverty. Those policies induce higher costs for health, welfare, prisons, "educators," shrinks, case workers... ALL of which lead to higher taxes that fund the Democrat political machine and drive Republicans out of State.
Thus, your policy preferences and drive to marginalize conservatives are destructive to Republicans, by which to take advantage of power in government, something antithetical to the purpose of this forum.
Thy hand in all things I behold, and all things in Thy hand.
Thou leadest me by unsought ways, and turn my mourning into praise.
Your demonstrated lack of credibility has clearly never bothered you. FO. Consider this exchange, where you offer to refute my list of Arnold’s actions and never did so. You did the same thing yesterday when confronted, you turned tail and ran.
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