Posted on 03/17/2008 1:35:45 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Governor Schwarzenegger kicked off his latest road show this morning in Fresno, talking budget reform and striking a curious balance between defending elected officials and criticizing them.
The governor’s event with Fresno Mayor Alan Autry and others had a familiar theme. Armed with his now infamous budget charts showing the imbalance between state expenditures and revenue, Schwarzenegger promised a new push this year for a constitutional amendment to change the budget system.
That proposal was hinted at in his State of the State speech two months ago but remains more concept than concrete. What we do know is that it would create a new rainy day fund by constraining spending in robust times and would give the governor the option of unilaterally cutting some state spending if the Legislature fails to do so as needed.
This morning’s event, broadcast on the governor’s website, featured Schwarzenegger walking a careful line when assessing blame for the budget problem. While at one point saying that elected officials are not the problem (”No one has forseen this [budget] situation,” he told the audience), the governor then dusted off some language that sounded like it came from his failed 2005 campaign to pass the budget proposal known as Proposition 76.
Schwarzenegger said that rather than punishing Californians, perhaps someone should “punish Sacramento” for the problems.
“Why take people, vulnerable citizens,” said the governor describing the recent spate of feast or famine budget years, “on this kind of roller coaster ride?”
The governor then went on to blame the amorphous “Sacramento” for — in his words — stealing money over the years from the people.
He criticized last week’s Assembly vote on a new tax on oil production as the wrong approach. “The oil companies didn’t create this [budget] problem,” he said, later arguing that the proposal was merely “taking money away from the [oil company] shareholders.”
And in a preview of things to come this spring and summer, Schwarzenegger seemed to make it clear that he wants to negotiate a reform proposal in tandem with the coming year’s budget. That could be particularly tough, given how little consensus there is so far on how to solve anything related to the state’s recurring gap between revenues and expenditures.
I wonder what the carbon footprint of a Trojan Horse is anyway?
It's everybit as big as that bastardly 25 million acre land regulatory agency this bastardly governor has spread over 1/5th of CA's golden (not GREEN) surface!!!
There! I think that about covers it for his dastardly deed!!! What a monument to his being an ignorant political hermaphrodite!!!
He better add another $1B to stop global warming.. especially warm in Fresno
He gave a state of the state address a few months ago?
Yup, January
I don't like what he is doing and if we do another recall of several people I am aboard, but all this momentum to the left did start with the Republicans and other conservatives who did not get off their @$$ES to vote when it was pivotal.
He’ll end up signing a hugely tax-hiking budget (... oh, they’ll call most of it “closing loopholes”) with a few token cuts and some cosmetic budget reforms.
Outraged conservatives may attempt to override the Legislature with a ballot initiative, but I doubt it will succeed.
They also may target Schwarzenegger for recall, but again, I doubt it will succeed.
This stinks.
This stinks.
The one thing we can say for certain.
I don’t call it StinkyMento for nothin’. ;-)
You just refuse to come to grips with that truth!!! Nothing forced A.S. to swing left except his own lust for love in all the wrong places!!!
In many ways, he's more of a hipocrite than the former Governor Spitzer!!! At least Spithead wasn't a political hermaphrodite!!!
More drivel from supporters of our failed governor.
We're still waiting for him to "blow up the boxes" as originally promised, and to act as if he meant it when he said the state must not spend in excess of revenue. How many state employees have been eliminated from the state payroll?
We should have known we were dealing with a European socialist from the beginning. All those conservative promises were merely a snare and a delusion, designed to fool a dumbed down electorate into believing the Austrian was a conservative. Once he found out how hard it was going to be to deliver on his promises, he simply tossed them into the dumpster and joined the other side.
He is so much worse than Gray Davis it is staggering. Like Davis, this one, too, ought to be recalled. Now.
The problem is not that the governor needs more power--it is the fact that we have an incompetent, spineless socialist that does not have the will to balance the darn budget. I don't want a new Gov. Newsom or Villaraigosa having more power.
”No one has forseen this [budget] situation,” he told the audience), the governor then dusted off some language that sounded like it came from his failed 2005 campaign to pass the budget proposal known as Proposition 76.
HOGWASH! This problem has been festering since 2002. It is the reason ARnold first got elected on a "fiscal conservative" platform. But instead of fixing it when he came in to office, he chose to NOT cut spending but instead to just borrow more money with Prop 57/58. All of Arnold's moves since then have exacerbated what now looks like a minor problem--a $6 billion dollar deficit that Davis left. Now we have $18 billion on top of $25 billion in debt (not counting the $40 billion in new infrastructure debt). And Prop 76 would have resulted in MORE spending.
The disinformation campaign continues! These people should be in prison!
A short history lesson. Conservatives did vote. We voted against the Austrian's lame proposals.
The urban myth, "conservatives didn't vote", now repeated by A CA Guy, was a red herring put out by FairOpinion to demoralize conservatives.
Proof there was no real Republican/conservative vote would simply be that the one proposition to notify parents if their kids were getting an abortion went down to defeat.
How in the hell with conservatives voting would that one go down?
It went down because conservative voting was way down.
Urban FACT.
The results on especially the parent notification issue proves it.
Cal: billions for illegals, billions in debt and wondering what to do.
We had a parental notification proposition about your children getting an abortion going down that day.
If there were conservatives in numbers, then parents today would have the right to know if their child was having an abortion and it could not be done behind your back.
If there were so many conservatives out there (which there wasn't), then that prop would have passed EASILY.
Not saying I like at all what A.S. is doing, and if someone want to recall, I'll sign on.
We can NOT lose sight of the fact that when he tried to blow up boxes, the conservative vote ran for the hills.
Have to call a spade a spade.
We have to be responsible for what DID NOT HAPPEN.
There wasn't a big conservative vote that election.
What happened to A.S. that election reminded me of that Clint Eastwood movie where as a gunman he was hired to protect the town with the promise that the people would stand by him. But once the bad guys came to town, all the town folk hid behind doors and did not help at all abandoning the Eastwood character.
In a large way, that went down just like that for A.S. that election.
We have to be responsible for what DID NOT HAPPEN.
WE Kimosabe?
castigating the conservatives is the easy shot to take here, but imo, there are a helluva lot of reasons things blew up in the ballot box .. but frankly, it comes down to it just wasn’t meant to be and for that the ultimate blame is not the conservatives fault, it is the leadership of the state that has lost sight of its own responsibilities on all too many fronts, imo.
most measures need not be placed at the voters feet to decide , we elect representatives to make those decisions and when they don’t or won’t, then it becomes a crapshoot... which is about all we have coming out of StinkyMento these days ,, is crap.
WE
Yeah, as in WE did not get out the vote on at least some of the propositions.
Especially the ones about parental notification and the other one that affect the unions that gave them ulcers.
WE did not follow through.
WE got our @$$es handed to us by the state employees and unions.
Their numbers were such that they should have been overcome and WE did not come out to vote as WE all should have.
I did, maybe you did, but in general the conservatives/Republicans did NOT my friend.
WE can beat ghosts all night long. I hear your frustration so I’ll leave it at that, I’m not out to relight old battleground campfires. I’ll leave that to other hill folk. ;-)
If nothing else, you’d like to think a lesson was learned, but then we saw 2006 follow and how easily folks can be turned off..
I’m not sure what cause would unite the bulk of the voters, voters are very fickle in this state. and in many instances, they vote with their feet and just look for a more accomodating state.
I think A.S. was always left on the social side but did indeed try to deal with the government employees and unions.
I think ones those props went down to defeat and crushed his power, he felt he had to move left.
I think a lack of vote of conservative nature caused those props to go down to defeat.
Sure, again go for recall on Arnold if they don’t cut spending and instead raise taxes, but I felt I have to be real here and say the lack of vote is what sent the man more to the left. To his credit, he did stick to his word and did indeed try to blow up the boxes of government when he tried to take on unions and government employees.
We could have done better on the special election that MAYBE would have even avoided what is happening in the state today.
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