Free Republic

LA MESA, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign bus tour hit a pot hole on its very first stop: a town hall meeting Tuesday at which the governor was heckled by people upset with his position on illegal immigration. The hot-button issue was a theme of a day on which Schwarzenegger emphatically distanced himself from a 1994 ballot proposition, saying "I was wrong" to support a measure that sought to deny illegal immigrants many government services. His day began in the San Diego County community of La Mesa, where about 150 people attended a campaign event. Among them was...

Attorney General Supports Poochigian’s Request for Review of First 5 Commission’s Use of Taxpayer Funds Citing Conflict, Lockyer Refers Investigation to Sacramento County District Attorney “Attorney General Bill Lockyer has acknowledged that allegations that the First 5 Commission may have misused taxpayer funds in connection with campaign advertising for Proposition 82 warrant a prompt review. Although the Attorney General’s office has investigated and prosecuted other state entities and officers in the past, he has decided to refer this case. I believe that Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully will fully investigate the matter and, if warranted, prosecute any civil or...

Actor-director Rob Reiner is taking a lot of well-deserved media and political heat - from politicians in both parties, for a change - over a lavish promotional program for preschool education financed by tobacco tax money that is controlled by a commission he heads. Although Reiner and the First 5 California Children and Families Commission insist that he didn't play a direct role, it's perfectly clear that the commission was using public money to boost a Reiner initiative to tax the wealthy for preschool programs. Reiner temporarily stepped down from the chairmanship last week as political and media criticism mounted,...

Strickland Files “Public Documents” Request for Reiner Documents “The public has a right to know how their money is being spent” (Sacramento) – Taxpayer Advocate Tony Strickland has filed a request pursuant to the California Public Records Act for all documents surrounding the decision of a California commission to funnel millions in public funds into a television advertising campaign that may have been designed to boost an initiative petition being circulated by a member of the commission. The Sacramento Bee broke the story in December, with a more recent Los Angeles Times story highlighting the fact that more than $23...

Actor-director Rob Reiner is taking a lot of well deserved media and political heat--from politicians in both parties, for a change--over a lavish promotional program for preschool education financed by tobacco tax money controlled by a commission he heads. Although Reiner and the First 5 California Children and Families Commission insist that he didn't play a direct role, it's perfectly clear that the commission was using public money to boost a Reiner initiative to tax the wealthy for preschool programs. (snip) The bigger issue is the emerging syndrome of wealthy Californians pursuing their pet causes through the initiative process, spending...

SACRAMENTO - For the first time since then-private citizen Arnold Schwarzenegger persuaded voters to pass Proposition 49 in 2002, the state will start spending more than $500 million on after-school programs next year. Under Schwarzenegger's proposed 2006-07 budget, the state will spend an additional $428 million on after-school programs under Proposition 49, bringing the total funding for those programs to $550 million. That is new spending required for the first time under Proposition 49 as triggered by an increase in state revenue, although it is not supported by new taxes or other revenue sources. But some critics say the measure...

Then-Gov. Pete Wilson coined, or at least adopted, the phrase "autopilot spending" in the early 1990s as he struggled to close an immense state budget gap and confronted political and legal barriers that made it nearly impossible to reduce spending even when revenues had plummeted. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has voiced the same complaints, most recently this week when he proposed a budget for the 2006-07 fiscal year. But an exchange with reporters also underscored that while Schwarzenegger complains about automatic spending, he's also an ardent advocate of it. At one point, he renewed his pitch for gaining unilateral authority to...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - An unexpected boost in state revenue has given Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger an election-year bonus: funding for the after-school initiative he championed during his initial foray into California politics. Proposition 49 will be funded for the first time since voters approved it in 2002. Schwarzenegger is expected to include the funding in the budget he presents to the Legislature next week. "It's a happy coincidence of his sponsorship of a popular measure and now a favorable budget situation," said Jack Pitney, government professor of government at Claremont McKenna College. "It's one bit of good luck after a line...

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced today that his state budget proposal will include boosting K-12 education funding by $4 billion. "Nothing is more important than education because how we prepare our children today will shape the California of tomorrow," Schwarzenegger said. "That is why I am very happy to announce that my education budget for the coming year will increase our investment in our children by $4 billion, the largest increase in our entire state budget ever, bringing total education spending to nearly $11,000 per student." Schwarzenegger will release his complete 2006-07 budget on Jan. 10. The governor's news...

SACRAMENTO – A little more than a week after voters rejected Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's four ballot measures, Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill repeated her call to repeal the after-school funding measure that helped launch the governor's political career, Proposition 49. Hill recommended the repeal yesterday during her annual budget forecast, which produced a rosy assessment about overall state finances, including a projected $4 billion increase in the state's current year budget reserve. The projected growth in revenues, according to the Legislative Analyst's Office and the state Department of Finance, will trigger the operation of Proposition 49 in fiscal 2006-07, which begins...

LOS ANGELES – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Wednesday that Henry Cisneros, a former housing secretary in the Clinton administration, will serve as national chairman of his charity that supports after-school programs. "Providing after-school programs for all children by the year 2010 continues to be one of my most important priorities," the governor said in a statement. "I am very grateful that Henry Cisneros has agreed to serve as chairman." Schwarzenegger has promoted after-school programs for years, and his After-School All-Stars pays for sports and educational programs for poor and minority children in 15 cities. Its major financial sponsors include Hummer...

<p>The voters' signatures aim to put an after-school funds boost on the ballot.</p> <p>Arnold Schwarzenegger's official task in the capital city Wednesday was to announce he has more than enough signatures to place on the November ballot an initiative that would increase funds available for after-school programs.</p>