Arnold Schwarzenegger,  Bear Flag League,  Politics,  Proposition 73,  Proposition 74,  Proposition 75,  Proposition 76,  Proposition 77,  Special Election 2005

California Special Election Watch: Schwarzenegger and McCain The Burbank Event

October 10, 2005 /

U.S. Senator John McCain (R-Ar) listens before formally endorsing California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (R) reform agenda during a news conference in Burbank, California, October 10, 2005. McCain has endorsed the four initiatives favored by the governor, which would curb the power of the Democrat-controlled Legislature and their allied public employee unions.

The ASSociated Press has Schwarzenegger Enlists McCain.

In a brief appearance with the governor in a hotel conference room, the Arizona senator urged California voters to support the four initiatives backed by Schwarzenegger on the special election ballot.

“I have campaigned for reform efforts all over the country,” McCain said. “What happens in California has significant effect in states like mine that are nearby. It’s just a reality.”

McCain said he supported the proposal that would take the power to draw district boundaries away from legislators and give it to a panel of retired judges.

“We need more competitive races,” said McCain, known nationally for his efforts to retool the campaign-finance system. “We need the voice of moderation.”

Now read LA Times reporter Bob Salladay’s “pool report” on Schwarzenegger’s visit to a nurses’ conference with John McCain after their joint appearance in Burbank this morning via Dan Weintraub of the Sacramento Bee.

Pool Report

After the Sen. John McCain press conference at the Burbank Airport Hilton, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger moved to the Festival Room next door, where about 100 nurses were having lunch.

It was the annual convention of GSG Associates Inc., a Pasadena company. GSG Associates is a statewide group of registered nurses who review workers’ compensation claims looking for cost containment for businesses. Website:

www.gsga.net has more on this subject.

When Schwarzenegger entered the crowded room, the nurses applauded and cheered. The governor then looked around and asked where McCain was. The senator walked in amid more cheers and applause.

Schwarzenegger told the utilization review nurses that he “just wanted to drop by” their luncheon. “What they did with the recall is change the governor, but they did not change the system, the broken system,” Schwarzenegger said.

“You all are doing a great job. I just think the world of what nurses do,” Schwarzenegger said. He said in the past 10 years he has had a heart operation, a hip “replacement” and work on his shoulder.

“This is what happens when you are the Terminator,” he said. “They switch body parts on you.” He added to more applause: “Let me tell you, after the heart surgery, the doctors went home but the nurses stayed.”

“I know they will make you think all the nurses hate me. It’s obviously not true. … But I feel very comfortable here.”

McCain then spoke, saying “Americans are not happy today” and want reforms made to the political system. Approving Schwarzenegger’s agenda would “send a message around America that reform is on the way.” He said America has an urgent shortage of nurses.

After finishing to more applause, Schwarzenegger made his way through the crowd shaking hands with the nurses.

Schwarzenegger was confronted toward the end of the line by Paul Krekorian, the president of the Burbank Board of Education, who had slipped into the room. Krekorian asked the governor why he “broke his promise” to protect education funding under Proposition 98.

Schwarzenegger, looking intensely at Krekorian, responded that Proposition 76 would create a payment schedule to return the money to schools but that there is “no money in the budget” now. Krekorian said there was plenty of money but it is given away in corporate tax loopholes.

Schwarzenegger said he had asked Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez to find money in the budget to return the $2 billion “owed” to schools. “He couldn’t find it. We can’t spend what we don’t have,” Schwarzenegger said, before walking away.

But, certainly they will show all of the union protestors on the nightly television news.

An interesting contrast between pool reporting and the spin the MSM editors place on the reporting. For example, this piece drawn from the ASSociated Press in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Flap looks forward to Sallady’s piece tomorrow morning in the Los Angeles Times.

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Cross-posted to the Bear Flag League Special Election Page