"Evolution?" More like RINOld exposing his dumb pandering arse again!
Posted on 06/16/2006 12:22:09 PM PDT by calcowgirl
With California’s state budget hung up, at least for the moment, on the politics of illegal immigration and children’s health care, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is right in the middle between legislative Democrats and Republicans. It’s consistent with his evolution from supporter of the anti-illegal immigrant Proposition 187 in 1994 to his dramatic declaration in 2002 that he opposed any Prop 187-like measure.
Schwarzenegger wants to add money for existing children’s health care programs at the county level, which service children who are here illegally. But he doesn’t want to start up a new program, which would begin the process of adding such immigrant kids to the state’s Healthy Families program, until he knows how the program would be paid for. Legislative Democrats want to do both things. Legislative Republicans want to do neither.
The amounts of money involved, $22 million for the existing programs, $1.8 million to start the process of adding illegal immigrants to Healthy Families, are minor, “budget dust” as one player calls it, in a $130 billion-plus state budget. But the implications are large.
The Department of Finance estimates that the ultimate cost of adding immigrant kids to Healthy Families would be $300 million. That’s not budget dust.
The former action superstar declared during his campaign in the 2003 recall that “We have to make sure that every child in California is insured.”
But critics say that little has happened since he became governor. Nevertheless, under Schwarzenegger, there have been increases so that over 90 percent of eligible California children are receiving health care through the Healthy Families program geared to lower income kids.
The governor declared last week on his bus tour that he wants to make 2007 “the year of health care, and other things” much as this has become the year of infrastructure. But does he have a plan yet? No.
When I asked him how he would get there, he said he would put together a summit, “with all the stakeholders.”
But since he doesn’t have a comprehensive plan yet, and doesn’t have a funding source for adding the immigrant children to Healthy Families, he’s not for spending the $1.8 million to begin putting that together.
It’s also a way for him to placate legislative Republicans.
In any event, one Schwarzenegger friend likes his positioning. “He has the National Guard on the border helping the Border Patrol but he’s not for denying health care to poor kids.”
Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger’s Democratic challenger, state Treasurer Phil Angelides, wants to expand the program and spend the money. He says he would fund this new commitment through his program of tax hikes on the rich and closure of mostly undisclosed corporate tax loopholes, which he maintains would amount to only $5 billion per year for all the new spending he is calling for.
Schwarzenegger’s views on health care for the children of illegal immigrants put him at odds with most Republican politicians. It wasn’t always that way.
In 1994, he voted for Prop 187, the anti-illegal immigrant initiative championed by then Governor Pete Wilson in his come from behind re-election campaign against then Treasurer Kathleen Brown. The measure denied education, health care, and other services to illegal immigrants. (After the campaign we learned that Wilson himself had employed an illegal immigrant, a fact which might well have led to a different outcome.)
But in 2002, while campaigning for his Proposition 49 after school programs initiative, Schwarzenegger declared his opposition to future Prop 187 type moves. In a question and answer session after his speech to the Commonwealth Club at San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel, the former Mr. Universe said that he “would never stand in the way of a child going to school,” an answer which drew a standing ovation.
A year later, with Schwarzenegger's candidacy in the dramatic recall election just declared, Wilson, unbriefed as to the campaign’s message, got him in hot water when he declared on a national TV show that the brand-new candidate had backed Prop 187. And Schwarzenegger’s staff, not all of whom were familiar with the movie star, compounded the situation when spokesman Rob Stutzman said that the candidate would be very open to doing another Prop 187.
He was not, but that took awhile to straighten out. Schwarzenegger ended up doing well with Latino voters in his campaign. But he never had a Latino outreach program to speak of. And when Schwarzenegger told an LA radio show last year that the anti-illegal immigrant vigilantes who call themselves the Minutemen were doing a great job, his support plummeted.
But after his terrible “Year of Reform” last year, Schwarzenegger is back to where he was in 2002. Now, with old backers of Prop 187 no longer around him, the governor has brought on former Univision broadcaster and League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) director Arnoldo Torres, a one-time advisor to Jesse Jackson, to counsel him and run Latino outreach.
It’s not clear that either legislative Republicans or Democrats have thought through the implications of this budget dust-up over “budget dust.” The Republicans run the risk of looking churlish, with members of their own party in local office around the state supporting Schwarzenegger and the Democrats’ extra $22 million for existing children’s health care coverage. The Democrats run the risk of early exposure of a potential Achilles heel of a big initiative this fall, that would raise the tobacco tax to pay for health care. Much of the money would go to the care of illegal immigrants.
In the wake of the overwhelming defeat of Proposition 82, another tax somebody else to pay for a nice thing initiative, adding early to the weight of controversy around the tobacco tax measure is not well advised.
Democratic sources say they are content to sit back and let the governor get the necessary Republican votes, dealing away or line item vetoing in the process the radioactive $1.8 million preparatory funding for including illegal immigrants in the Healthy Families program. But it isn’t likely they’ll sit back for long, because Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez want a timely budget this year as well as they continue their bid to restore the reputation of the Legislature.
mark muh place BumP
I have no problem with Latino outreach... but he's got the wrong folks advising him if he wants anyone to believe there is an ounce of R left in him.
ping
(snip)
A special focus of the governor will be to repair his relations with Latino voters.
About 32% of Latinos voted for the governor in the recall election. But a poll last month by the Public Policy Institute of California showed some slippage. Only 25% of Latino voters said they would vote for Schwarzenegger over Angelides and Westly.
In the last month, the governor has hired two people — one for his gubernatorial staff, the other for the campaign — whose jobs include outreach to Latinos.
Arnoldo Torres, a Democrat who was hired as a campaign consultant, conceded that the governor's shop has "work to do." Latinos, he said, have felt snubbed.
Schwarzenegger spawned resentment by praising the efforts of the Minutemen, a volunteer civilian border-patrol group that President Bush likened to "vigilantes."
And the governor has never made an extended visit to Mexico — California's largest trade partner — although he has traveled to Japan, China, Jordan, Israel and Germany. Now a trip is in the making.
Aides to the governor are discussing a possible trade mission to Mexico in August, three months before the election. That would mean wide coverage in the Spanish-language media of Schwarzenegger meeting with Mexican President Vicente Fox.
Torres, in an interview, said that early in his term Schwarzenegger "lost his way."
"There was not any communication with the Latino community," he said.
"The campaign's attitude is, 'Mea culpa. What can we do to make it better?' This governor has tried to govern better and he has begun to govern better. That's a very promising beginning."
.
This kind of criticism just helps Bustamante Angelides. Because that's the alternative. Is that what you want? If you don't fall all over yourself drooling over Arnold, it means you want the Democrat to win.
Sorry I couldn't resist.
YUCK!
I guess we must understand that illegals vote . Otherwise why bend over for this ?
--
Uhhh.. it's the developers against the old WH team and developers.. :-\
Candidates assemble power teams
Steven Harmon and Edwin Garcia in the San Jose Mercury -- 6/16/06
One is essentially a homegrown operation, with long ties to its candidate, Phil Angelides. The other is a White House Dream Team, assembled by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to keep him in power. The brain trusts behind the two men who want to win November's governor's race come to their jobs with different experiences, strengths and reputations.
The amounts of money involved, $22 million for the existing programs, $1.8 million to start the process of adding illegal immigrants to Healthy Families, are minor, “budget dust” as one player calls it, in a $130 billion-plus state budget. But the implications are large.
Well if $1.8 mil is so minor they should just send it to me and be done with it. At least I am a citizen and not an illegal alien who should get NOTHING but sent back to Mexico so Mexico can care for them.
I thought you'd like that! LMAO
*Arnold 20*
Arnold is thy god, which have brought thee out of the land of GrayDavis, out of the house of bondage.
Thou shalt have no other gods before Arnold.
Thou shalt not honor nor vote nor endorse any challenger to Arnold: for Arnold thy god is a jealous god.
Thou shalt not take the name of Arnold in vain; for Arnold’s minions will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Remember Maria Shriver’s birthday (February 6), to keep it holy.
Honour thy Kennedy family: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Kennedys giveth thee.
Thou shalt not be a buzzkill to Arnold’s agenda.
Thou shalt not bring up Arnold’s past indiscretions.
Thou shalt not steal Arnold’s dream of a second term, or, perhaps even the Presidency someday (thou shalt “Amend for Arnold”).
Thou shalt not bear true witness against Arnold’s duplicity and empty-suited rhetoric.
Thou shalt not covet smaller government, nor fiscal restraint, nor your constitutional rights and liberties.
And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking... it was, like, totally right outta Hollywood!
Thou shalt not covet smaller government, nor fiscal restraint, nor your constitutional rights and liberties.
Oh, that is priceless! (Sad and true, but priceless nonetheless!)
When you subsidize something, you get more of it. Right now, $1.8million is 'budget dust'. But fast-forward that into the future.
The best course is to eliminate existing programs.
Worth repeating.
IOW, typical duplicitous Arnold, but then, I repeat myself.
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