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SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's top education advisor said the administration is prepared to consider raising taxes as part of a long-term solution to the problems plaguing California schools. The statement by California Education Secretary Alan Bersin came in a Dec. 1 speech to the California School Boards Assn. It was posted on the group's website Friday. His comments mark the first time any top administration official has acknowledged that new taxes could be needed to restore the quality of state services. "No one can look at the history of California education over the last generation and not notice we...

SACRAMENTO - A microcosm for what went wrong for Gov. Schwarzenegger in this month's special election can be found in part of East Highlands. The San Bernardino County area supported the recall of former Gov. Gray Davis. More than half of its registered voters are Republicans, like Schwarzenegger. Yet 53 percent of voters there opposed the centerpiece of Schwarzenegger's "year of reform" agenda: Prop. 76. They also opposed another Schwarzenegger-backed measure, Prop. 77, the redistricting initiative. Across the region, places where voters backed the 2003 recall and the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger swung against the governor Nov. 8 and opposed...

Dear Governor: November 9, 2005 06:19 AM EST There is no such thing as a fusion candidate, no such thing as a bipartisan campaign or a non-partisan issue, and come election night, there are just two parties, one at the GOP HQ and one at the Dem HQ. There's a winners' party and a losers' party. Last night you were speaking to the losers' party. I didn't go. Why bother? The polls had shown for a few days that only Prop 75 had a chance (the measure to stop public employee unions from deducting political dues from their members' paychecks...

TODAY, Californians are heading to the polls to vote on several major propositions that shall dramatically affect both the political and economic future of our state. We are following the activity and will report the results. California Propositions 2.8% of precincts reporting as of Nov 08 08:13 PM PST Results: http://www.sfgate.com/election/

CA Propositions 75, 76, 77 Defeated; Propositions 73, 74 Could Go Either Way: On the Eve of a Special Election, California voters defeat Propositions 75, 76 and 77, but divide on Propositions 73 and 74, according to a final SurveyUSA tracking poll. Support for Propositions 73, 74, 75, and 77 continues to erode. (Proposition 76 is addressed separately in the next box.) Proposition 73, on parental notification for abortions on minors, led by 11 points 1 week ago, and leads today by 4 points. It may hang-on and win, but if so, by the narrowest of margins. Extending the trend...

"On Church and State", by Lores Rizkalla, Freeper 'JustaWoman' Billy Graham said that "bad politicians are elected by good people who don't vote." I think the same is true of "bad propositions" passing because good people decide to stay home on election day. This Tuesday, California (among many other states) has a special election. Statistics say that an average of 5% of registered voters get out to vote in an off-year election. What's worse is the truth so beautifully, yet sadly, written by William Butler Yeats': "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." Where...

SACRAMENTO - The state employees' union can collect extra money to fight two ballot measures from workers who had objected to having their dues used for political purposes, a federal judge ruled Friday. Eight state employees had sued to stop the Service Employees International Union from collecting an additional two-tenths of 1 percent of their salaries - and from the salaries of all 28,000 nonunion workers - to fight two initiatives pushed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Morrison C. England Jr. issued a temporary restraining order that prevented the state controller from turning over the...

The John Ziegler Show on KFI has revealed the identify of the questioners of last night's state-wide broadcast forum on NBC and Telemundo. The forum included Arnold, Barbar Kerr (teacher's union) and Fabian Nunez (Dem legislator). Two of the questioners for Arnold are members Democrat central committees and one is a Democrat Congressional candidate! This forum allegedly included an independently selected balanced audience.

NO side leads YES side on all four of the propositions backed by Governor Schwarzenegger.

The latest ad from Governor Schwarzenegger's campaign has a clear message: if you're opposed to a tax increase, vote yes on Proposition 76. But when you examine the way Prop 76 would impact the state budget process, you're likely to conclude that the ad is a pretty big stretch. The ad features three "average" people sarcastically asking for a tax increase, higher state spending, and modifications to the property tax initiative Proposition 13. "This is how Sacramento thinks we think," says the narrator. The ad ends with a plea to "Say yes to 76, say no to a tax increase...

The second wave of the Stanford University/Hoover Institution/Knowledge Networks (S/H/KN) internet poll conducted during the final week of October shows two of the four propositions supported by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with comfortable leads, one narrowly ahead, and one trailing badly. The latest poll results show Proposition 74 (teacher tenure) slightly ahead, 53-47, but with a margin that is within the sampling error of the poll. The two most controversial propositions appear to be heading in opposite directions. Proposition 75 (public employee union dues) has a comfortable lead, 64-36, but Proposition 76 (state budget process) trails by double digits, 45-55. Finally,...

SACRAMENTO ---- California's chronic spending imbalance has generated multibillion dollar deficits each of the last four years and is set to create another $6 billion shortfall in the next fiscal year. A state government spending beyond its means was one of the main reasons for the recall effort against former Gov. Gray Davis, the 2003 special election that catapulted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger into the governor's seat. Schwarzenegger's solution for taming the perpetual budget deficits is a 6,000-word ballot measure that would completely overhaul how the state spends money and would give the governor authority to make midyear cuts if spending...

SACRAMENTO - As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger struggles to make his case for reform measures on the Nov. 8 special-election ballot, he and his opponents have stepped up their battle for the state's Latino voters. The governor taped a town-hall forum on Spanish-language Univision that aired statewide over the weekend, even as opponents launched their first Spanish-language TV ads featuring Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa attacking the governor's proposals. The high-profile events are just the latest campaign efforts aimed at courting the 2 million Latinos registered to vote in California, accounting for 14 percent of the statewide electorate. "We've been on the air...

A constitutional amendment setting limits on state spending and school funding When the dot-com boom was upon us, the state was taking in huge amounts of income tax from capital gains on stock options. When the dot-com bust hit, the spending had been locked into permanent formulas. This fundamental problem; one-time money going into permanent spending formulas; is at the heart of Proposition 76, "Live within our means." Because we haven't been living within our means, we've spent more than we had for each of the last six years; we've tapped out our state credit card, raided funds intended for...

For too many years, the California Legislature has been treating the public treasury with about as much consideration as a shopaholic treats a Visa card with no credit limit. Like all addicts, state lawmakers protest that they can stop spending any time they want. Really. But it's clear they can't. Otherwise, their bad habits wouldn't have continued when state revenue was shrinking. And why should they? There were virtually no consequences to their irresponsible actions other than getting re-elected. Proposition 76, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Live Within Our Means" act, is the addiction intervention the state desperately needs before it bottoms...

A Public Policy Institute of California polls shows none of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's initiatives on the Nov. 8 special election ballot with majority support. The poll also found voters also dissatisfied with the job performance of the governor, the state Legislature and President Bush. All results are from the sampling of likely voters. _ Proposition 73, the parental notification initiative, had support of 42 percent of likely voters but was opposed by 48 percent. _ Proposition 74, the teacher tenure initiative, was supported by 46 percent of likely voters and opposed by 48 percent. _ Proposition 75, the union dues...

Most political analysts would agree: The single most politically significant measure on the Special Election Ballot is Proposition 75, dubbed “Paycheck Protection” by its proponents. Proposition 77, the Redistricting Reform measure, is also a major reform. But without a change in the campaign funding paradigm (especially at the state legislative level), fair districts will not necessarily be competitive districts--Republicans are significantly outspent by the majority party. No, it is the major loss of political resources by public employee unions that would rock the foundations of the status-quo in Sacramento. Most political insiders, let alone members of the public, are unaware...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger warned Wednesday that legislators could push California into a nightmarish era of higher taxes and runaway spending unless voters endorse his proposal to place tighter controls on the state budget. In a staged poolside appearance at a private home, the Republican governor told an invitation-only audience that Proposition 76 would give him the tools to fend off a Legislature eager to dig deeper into taxpayers' pockets. He also suggested that without greater budget discipline, the state might be unable to meet the mounting demands for everything from electric power to health care to highways. "They have come...

ARCADIA, Calif. - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger warned Wednesday that legislators could push California into a nightmarish era of higher taxes and runaway spending unless voters endorse his proposal to place tighter controls on the state budget. In a staged poolside appearance at a private home, the Republican governor told an invitation-only audience that Proposition 76 would give him the tools to fend off a Legislature eager to dig deeper into taxpayers' pockets. He also suggested that without greater budget discipline, the state might be unable to meet the mounting demands for everything from electric power to health care to highways....

WALNUT CREEK – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last night insisted his spending-control initiative on the Nov. 8 ballot is not a gubernatorial power grab that would produce draconian budget cuts, as opponents contend, and that it could actually lead to a tax increase. Struggling to gain traction for his four-part ballot agenda with two weeks to go until the special election, Schwarzenegger fielded questions for the first time during the campaign from voters not selected by his campaign. He and two of the most persistent critics of his agenda made separate appearances during a 90-minute forum. His opponents – state Senate...

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (AP) - Defending his special election before an audience of voters, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday said his "year of reform" ballot initiatives are crucial to continue the changes he started after taking office two years ago. He cast the Nov. 8 election as the next step of the 2003 recall election that propelled him to office. Voters, he said, sent him to Sacramento to rebuild the state's economy and fix a moribund political system. After 400,000 new jobs and billions in new revenue, it was time for him to enter Act II, he said. "Now is...

It just has an odd sound, this pitch by the governor for Proposition 76: We must slow down spending so we can spend more. That's the way it comes out, anyway — confusing and illogical on its face. Political strategists for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger must think there's voter appeal in telling people they can have it both ways: less and more at the same time. Or, regardless of where people come down on the side of spending — wanting more or less — they're covered by Prop. 76. (snip) Schwarzenegger calls it his "live within our means act." But how...

California voters should support Proposition 76, the governor's reform to simply stop the state from spending money it doesn't have. The case against Proposition 76, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to curb growth in state spending, hinges on claims that it is a stealth measure to devastate crucial programs and empower a governor hostile to the interests of average Californians. But you don't have to be a Schwarzenegger supporter to recognize these contentions are canards. Consider the actual language of Proposition 76. It would cap annual state spending at the prior year's level plus the average of the three previous years'...

The scene may seem familiar to Californians: a Republican governor warning that fiscal meltdown is imminent unless voters approve new rules on how much money the state can spend each year. But Colorado Gov. Bill Owens isn't looking for the kind of budget cap that California Republicans want voters to approve next month. That was imposed 13 years ago. Now he is pleading with voters to lift it. The problem: Colorado's spending controls appear to have worked too well. Now some of the most strident fiscal conservatives in Colorado — long viewed as a model for others considering such restraints...

If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget control initiative had been approved 20 years ago, the state would be forced to spend at least $12 billion less than it does now -- an amount equivalent to the state's higher education budget, according to three new analyses of Proposition 76. The findings reinforce critics' concerns that the spending control measure is simply a way to shrink state government and starve programs. The initiative on the Nov. 8 ballot would require the state to spend no more than the average of the three previous years' revenue. The governor would also get new powers to...

PROPOSITION 76 attacks funding for our most important government services, including education and public safety, and should be defeated. Proposition 76 contains many radical and disturbing provisions, but two are especially dangerous: - It eliminates the Proposition 98 guarantees for education funding, and several other voter-approved expenditures, allowing the governor to cut literally billions of dollars from schools; - It allows the governor to make unilateral cuts in government spending in the middle of the fiscal year to nearly any program he chooses, without any input from any other branch of government. Under these two rules, many of the services...

SACRAMENTO – A state spending limit backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is aimed at avoiding future deficits, but it is not expected to help close the current budget gap and may have no impact on overall spending for years. Here's why: The limit in Proposition 76 on the Nov. 8 ballot is based on how much money the state takes in, and an improving economy is boosting state tax revenue. Simply put, increasing revenues could raise the spending limit. Schwarzenegger's finance department estimates that projected spending would be near the limit next fiscal year, about $2 billion under the limit...

Despite the governor's best efforts to sell Proposition 76 as the cure for what ails our state's budget process, it isn't. Instead, it's a direct assault on our democratic system of checks and balances. It would deliver a crushing blow to our public schools and could devastate state funding for local health care, transportation and public safety. Proposition 76 makes major changes in California's constitution, dramatically expanding the governor's power over the state budget and giving him the authority to cut spending for schools, public safety, health care, transportation and other programs "of the governor's choosing," without voter approval or...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign has launched a 60-second radio ad featuring state Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, touting Proposition 76, the Nov. 8 ballot measure that would change the state's budgeting rules. Below is a text of the ad and an analysis by Bee Deputy Capitol Bureau Chief Dan Smith. Announcer: Unless you want higher taxes next year ... pay close attention to this message. Tom McClintock: This is Sen. Tom McClintock for Prop. 76. 76 is the Live Within Your Means Act - to control state spending, balance the budget without new taxes and stop borrowing from our kids....

Proposition 76 is either the solution to the perennial state budget deficit or a draconian power grab that would allow a governor to slash social programs. The initiative, which is on the Nov. 8 ballot, would limit the increase in the state budget to the average increase in revenue over the previous three years. That is enough to set off alarms among proponents of social programs, but what really irks the governor's opponents is that the state would have to cut spending during the year, if revenue drops. "This would give this governor, who has already shown hostility to health...

I keep reading that stories that support for the ballot propositions backed by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is very weak. Even the Washington Times claims two are failing ("in the polls"), as if that finding represented a concensus of polls (Oct. 17, "For Arnold stakes are high"). I had thought I had seen them doing well, so I looked it up on the internet. The most recent poll I could find was done by Survey USA, released October 2nd. Its results: Proposition 73: Physicials must notify a parent of a pregnant minor 48 hours before performing the abortion. Yes, 59%....

Nov. 8 isn't about Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2006 re-election bid, actor Warren Beatty toying with a gubernatorial challenge, or national reports feeding the “zany Californians” label. Schwarzenegger has acknowledged that his measures hammer Democratic constituencies, though, he says, unintentionally. Asked if the four initiatives he's most solidly backing “are aimed at zapping Democrats,” the governor said, “Well, it happens to have an effect like that.” The core Schwarzenegger-backed measures would curb state spending in general, including on schools; make it harder for teachers to get job-security tenure; take the job of drawing political boundaries from the Democrat-dominated Legislature and...

Prop. 76 is a modest attempt to keep the state from spending more money than it takes in Public-opinion polls suggest that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was swept into office in an unusual recall election, is facing declining popularity as he tries to fix the fiscal problems that propelled him into office. The polls, if accurate, suggest that union-backed ads targeting the governor are taking their toll. They also suggest a certain fickleness among the voting public. Enormous budget deficits and out-of-control spending cannot go on forever. Yet the same public that wanted a change in Sacramento also wants to...

Everyone agrees that California has a chronic fiscal problem - five straight years of deficit budgets being graphic proof. The state, which had experienced serious budget problems in the early 1990s, thanks to a severe recession, was recovering nicely until 2000, when then-Gov. Gray Davis and the Legislature blew most of a one-time tax windfall on billions of dollars in tax cuts and new spending. --snip-- The budget crisis eventually cost Democrat Davis his job and propelled Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger into the governorship on his promise to clean up the mess in Sacramento. But while Schwarzenegger has made some incremental...

GOV. ARNOLD Schwarzenegger and supporters of Proposition 76 call it the "live within our means" measure. He might as well have called it the "save me from myself" act. For all his rhetoric about fiscal responsibility, Schwarzenegger has yet to send a truly balanced budget to the Legislature. His own budgets are laden with the types of deferrals and borrowing schemes that were used by his predecessor Gray Davis. One of Schwarzenegger's frustrations is that the state's ability to contain budget growth is constrained by a series of voter-approved formulas -- most notably Proposition 98, the 1988 measure that has...

California Ballot Propositions November 8, 2005 Special Election General Recommendations New endorsements posted as they become available. Click on proposition number to see IGS Hot Topic on the initiative. Or see our ballot measure summary guide at the bottom of this page. LIBRARY Institute of Governmental StudiesUniversity of California109 Moses Hall #2370  Berkeley, CA 94720-2370  510-642-1472 (voice)  510-643-0866 (fax)   ORGANIZATION/NEWSPAPER  73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 Alameda Co. Taxpayers Association                 ACLU of Northern CA  n n n - n - - - Assn. CA Water Agencies    ...

Because we haven't been living within our means, we've spent more than we have taken in each of the last six years. We've tapped out our state credit card, raided funds intended for schools and roads, and now bump along with the worst bond-rating of the 50 states, which costs us hundreds of millions of dollars in extra interest every year. The tired, defeatist answer is: Just raise taxes. But we've spent more than we have received in taxes every year for the last six years. Why do we expect the Legislature wouldn't do so again? There is a better...

SACRAMENTO - Opponents of Proposition 76 say it would cut crucial state spending on schools and consolidate too much power in the governor's hands. The measure would modify Proposition 98 to allow the Legislature to suspend the annual minimum-funding guarantee for education without having to build that minimum level back up again in future years. "It would eviscerate Proposition 98," said Jack O'Connell, state superintendent of public instruction. "It will cut school funding. It will mean even less predictability and less stability for school funding." The measure also would give the governor new power to cut budgets, allowing the governor...

SACRAMENTO -- Delegates to the California League of Cities voted by a narrow margin to support Proposition 76, the "Live Within our Means Act" sponsored by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The 135-124 vote came Saturday during the final hours of the League's annual three-day conference in San Francisco. Victorville Mayor Mike Rothschild, who attended the conference and lobbied other cities to support the issue, said the vote was difficult to pass because League delegates were "almost divided on staying neutral." "There were 486 voting members. We had to work very hard to get their support, " Rothschild said. "By the last...

Former Gov. Pete Wilson's one-time finance director has filmed a television advertisement blasting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget initiative - prompting a response Tuesday by Wilson that his former appointee has developed a case of "amnesia." In the ad that began airing last week, the state's former budget chief, Craig Brown, said that Proposition 76, scheduled for the Nov. 8 special election ballot, "doesn't fix the budget or stop new taxes." Moreover, Brown said the governor's budget measure "destroys our system of checks and balances." "This isn't reform," Brown said in the ad. On Tuesday, Schwarzenegger's California Recovery Team fired back,...

Arnold Resurgent? Last summer, I spoke at an event at which Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger also talked. He was in the midst of doing battle with the Democrats in California's legislature and, above all, with the public employee unions, who were spending large amounts of money on advertising. At that time many were saying that his "reform" agenda, embodied in five propositions that will be on the ballot in November, was in deep trouble. Arnold expressed confidence and said that in his bodybuilder days, what he and his competitors most feared was peaking too soon. He argued that his opponents had...

'Curtain up! Light the lights! You got nothing to hit but the heights!" Arnold Schwarzenegger might not sound like Ethel Merman, but he's belting out her song as the curtain rises on the November special election. He's gambling as Merman puts it in the 1960's Broadway hit "Gypsy," that his "lucky star is due." And soon we'll know whether "everything's coming up roses" for Arnold and the GOP. With a month to go until the Nov. 8 vote, the oddest thing about this election is that it is not really about the four initiatives he's endorsed, nor the four others...

The Republican governor is pitching Proposition 76, which he calls the "Live Within Our Means Act," as the best way out of California's chronic deficits. But voters appear to lose interest when they learn of the sacrifices that will be needed to allow the state to truly live within its means. The measure makes clear that it can't be done without limiting spending on the education and healthcare programs that account for more than three-quarters of the state's general fund. "Voters like the idea of government living within its means," said Mark Baldassare, director of research for the Public Policy...

SAN FRANCISCO - Employing fiery rhetoric warning of fiscal thievery by state lawmakers, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday implored a reluctant organization representing 478 California cities to endorse a ballot initiative to give him enhanced powers to shape the state budget. Appearing at the League of California Cities' annual conference, the Republican governor told a crowd of mayors, city council members and other local officials that they are in danger of future seizures of local tax revenues by state lawmakers if voters don't pass Proposition 76 in the Nov. 8 special election. Sell It Yourself The league's board of directors...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger implored California's mayors Thursday to support Proposition 76, a ballot measure intended to stabilize state finances and end deficit spending. He warned that if the measure fails to pass during the Nov. 8 special election, state lawmakers would likely raid local treasuries for funds to close the state's persistent budget gap. "I've already been informed in Sacramento that that's the very money they're going to go after next year if they don't have money," Schwarzenegger told several hundred officials at the annual conference of the League of California Cities. "Remember, they can. The...

NEW! POLL SHOWS OVERWHELMING SUPPORT FOR REFORM A recent public opinion poll of likely voters in California shows overwhelming support of Propositions 73, 74, 75, 76, 77. Proposition 75- Paycheck Protection- received the highest level of support at 60% in favor. Among Likely voters: PROP 73 59% Yes 39% No 2% Undecided PROP 74 55% Yes 44% No 2% Undecided Prop 75 60% Yes 37% No 3% Undecided Prop 76 58% Yes 36% No 6% Undecided Prop 77 59% Yes 36% No 5% Undecided Conducted by: Survey USA Sponsoring News Organizations: KABC-TV Los Angeles , KPIX-TV San Francisco 1,200 California...

In January, the governor issued a challenge to the Legislature's Democrats: change how you do business, or I will change it for you. The Democrats yawned. They were sure that Schwarzenegger would cave. The Democrats had been in charge before he got there, and they would be in charge long after he was gone. But a funny thing happened: Schwarzenegger didn't cave. How could that be, they asked, since he knows we are in charge. Schwarzenegger said: Tough: change is necessary. He said he would qualify initiatives, call a special election, and get the people to bring about change. The...

The LAO analysis of the governor's budget initiative from Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill is available for review. You can read it HERE.

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...

Listening to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger speak last week, in an early evening interview session at his celebrated courtyard cigar tent, he sounded at times like the fellow who ran for governor two years ago: Lots of optimism, big dreams, a sense of possibility. He talked of a vision to "create this huge boon and have cranes everywhere." He said he is growing impatient with the slow pace of government, relating with mock astonishment a recent conversation with House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Schwarzenegger had asked Hastert how long it had taken to pass a recent bill that got through Congress. "He...