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California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Warns of “Valley of Doom”
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger congratulates Iris Kyle after she won the Miss International body building competition during the Arnold Sports Festival Friday, March 6, 2009, in Columbus, Ohio
The California State budge is a mess and Arnold Schwarzenegger has accomplished nothing in his six plus years in office to reform the process. The economy is in a meltdown with high levels of unemployment. In the meantime, post-partisan Arnold has participated in massive spending and tax increases for CaliforniansArnold has NO credibility left and his special election (May 19, 2009) tax measures will FAIL – despite speech hyperbole – “Valley of Doom,” indeed.
Technorati Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger
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Shocking Poll: 55 Per Cent of Californians Dissatisfied with Tax Increasing State Budget
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of California, are seen during their opening walk at the CeBIT in Hanover, northern Germany, on Tuesday, March 3, 2009. The world’s biggest IT fair will run until Sunday, March 9, 2009. California is a partner state of this year’s CeBIT
Most voters are dissatisfied with the state budget recently passed by the legislature and signed into law by the governor. Among all registered voters 55% are dissatisfied, while 39% are satisfied. Disapproval is greater among those considered most likely to vote in the May 19 special election. Among these voters dissatisfaction with the budget is two to one (65% to 32%).
Dissatisfaction is greatest among Republicans (64%), although about half of registered Democrats (50%) and non-partisans (51%) are also dissatisfied.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s approval rating holds at a strikingly hot 38 per cent in the same poll.
Also, 18 per cent of Californians think the state is headed in the right direction.
Arnold has driven California into an abyss while he jets off to Germany to hob nob with Chancellor Merkel.
Look for a growing taxpayer revolt in California, the likes of which the state has not seen in 30 years.
Technorati Tags: California Budget, Arnold Schwarzenegger
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Photo of the Day: Girly-Man Arnold Schwarzenegger Ruins State of California
In fiscal matters Arnold Schwarzenegger has governed more like a Keynesian than a Friedmanite; in regulatory affairs, he governs more like a German socialist than an Austrianschool liberal. Today he is as much of an albatross for California Republicans as George W. Bush was on the national scene. The National Review March 9, 2009 coverArnold Schwarzenegger has been a DISASTER as Governor of California. And, to think his term does not expire until 2010.
What a mistake the California Republican Party made in recruiting Arnold to run in the recall election against Democrat failed Governor Gray Davis.
Technorati Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, National Review, Gray Davis
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California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Considered Leaving the Republican Party
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger,right, huddles with Florida Gov. Charlie Crist as President Barack Obama addressed the National Governors Association regarding the economic stimulus package, Monday, Feb. 23, 2009, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington
The Governator may as well have pulled the switch because after the latest California State Budget with it’s massive ($14 Billion) tax hikes, his credibility with California Republicans is ZERO.A few months ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger and a few close associates discussed whether he should leave the Republican Party, according to two people familiar with the conversation. His friend Mike Bloomberg, the New York mayor, had become an independent. Maybe Schwarzenegger should, too. But the governor and his people quickly concluded that Californians already saw him as independent of the Republican Party. So what would be the point of a switch? (A spokesman for the governor declined comment.)
To people outside the state, Schwarzenegger’s recent battles with Republican legislators over a budget and his criticism of GOP governors and Congressmen for their opposition to President Obama’s stimulus package might sound jarring. Schwarzenegger once was “Conan the Republican†(the first President Bush’s nickname for him), a politician who declared in his 2004 convention speech, “I’m proud to belong to the party of Abraham Lincoln, the party of Teddy Roosevelt, the party of Ronald Reagan and the party of George W. Bush.†Now he is on ABC News saying that “it doesn’t really mater if you’re a Republican or a Democrat.â€
Arnold has the ego of a movie star celeb and has a crying need to be popular. Popularity has served him well in bodybuilding and movies. In politics – not so much
Making difficult decisions as California Governor has placed Arnold in a situation he abhors – making some voters dislike him. Thus, he doesn’t make any decisions unless pressed and then the Republican Party be damned. IT is all about Arnold.
Flap hopes the California GOP has learned a lesson. You can take a popular figure from Hollywood and make him governor. But, if he does not have the requisite skill set to actually govern, then you have a problem.
Technorati Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, California Republican Party
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California Budget Pandering and Math 101 – Do Poizner and Whitman Have the Right Stuff?
Meg Whitman, a likely candidate for California governor, speaks in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009. The former eBay chief executive stressed her goals of job creation and limited government
Dan Walters has a piece this morning that makes it nauseatingly clear – Both the LEFT and RIGHT are pandering to California’s chronic structural deficit problems and offer little in solutions:Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who often utters fact-challenged pronouncements, told the simple truth about the state’s budget deficit just before the Legislature adopted billions of dollars in new taxes, spending cuts and loans to close the gap, to wit:
“Anyone that runs around, I think, and says that this can be done without raising taxes, I think has not really looked at it carefully to understand this budget or has a math problem and has to get back, as I said, and take Math 101.”
Given the hyperventilation we’ve seen in the last few days, this state must have lots of innumerate people.
Governor Schwarzenegger replaced former Democrat Governor Gray Davis via recall because of his California budget failures and increasing tax burden. Arnold has done little over the past six years except bloviate about post-partisan politics, global warming and accept every increase in spending the California Legislature delivers to him. The Governator has failed.
California needs fiscal leadership and budget reform with a specific plan – not pandering.
California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and former e-Bay CEO Meg Whiman, both Republican candidates for Governor should direct their energies towards solving California’s problems and leave the political hyperbolic pandering to John and Ken. Both bloviated at this weekend’s California Republican Party convention in Sacramento.
Two wealthy Silicon Valley titans courted support for their 2010 gubernatorial campaigns Saturday before riled-up party activists angry over taxes, fed up with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and distrustful of moderate candidates.
So state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner promised at a news conference that he would never raise taxes as governor.
And former eBay CEO Meg Whitman carefully explained to more than 900 state party delegates why she registered as a decline-to-state voter from 1998 to 2007 before re-registering as Republican.
She also apologized for “failing to vote on a number of occasions,” including in the 2003 recall election of Democratic Gov. Gray Davis.
“They have things to prove to party activists,” said Republican political consultant Dave Gilliard of the top two GOP contenders to replace Schwarzenegger. “They have to give some red meat to demonstrate their commitment to Republican principles. Taxes will be the litmus test.”
Time for leadership instead of “RED MEAT.” Time for a plan not a website.
What is their excuse?
Technorati Tags: Meg Whitman, Steve Poizner
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Day By Day by Chris Muir February 22, 2009 – Dey Vill be Back
And, Chris, the original Terminator, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, just completed a tax increase ridden (over $14 Billion) state budget that not only does not balance but does NOTHING to solve California’s long term structural budget deficit problems.John and Sarah Connor should come back in time and terminate his California Governorship.
What a disaster Schwarzenegger has been – reminds Flap of his co-actor in Predator, Jesse Ventura – another political failure.
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Technorati Tags: Day By Day, Arnold Schwarzenegger
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RINO California Governor Schwarzenegger Snubs California GOP Convention in Sacramento This Weekend
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hands the state budget package to his Legislative Secretary, Chris Kahn after signing it during a ceremony at his Capitol office in Sacramento, Calif., Friday, Feb. 20, 2009
Not that Arnold would be welcome anyway.Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, head of his party in the Golden State, is taking a pass on the big spring GOP convention in Sacramento this weekend — where, let’s face it, the long knives are out for him — to meet with President Obama in the nation’s capital.
While the Republicans are railing against Schwarzenegger on taxes and considering censuring their own who voted for the state budget, Schwarzenegger sidesteps it all: He’s in Washington, D.C., for the National Governor’s Association get-together, meeting with Obama and other administration officials on climate change and key economic topics.
Arnold may was well suck up to Obama for his next political job because he could not be elected to dogcatcher in California.
Flap would be surprised if Arnold before the end of his term of office in 2010 doesn’t leave the Republican Party.
Schwarzenegger and GOP are NOT a good fit.
Technorati Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barack Obama
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Are California GOP Governor Candidate Meg Whitman’s Job Creation Goals Realistic Or a Rookie Mistake?
Meg Whitman, a likely candidate for California governor, speaks in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009. The former eBay chief executive stressed her goals of job creation and limited government
Meg Whitman, a candidate for the GOP nomination for California Governor on Tuesday pledged to create two million more jobs in the Golden State – within five years.
Is this goal realistic?Not really and as Dan Walters writes it is pretty much HOT AIR.
It’s doubtful whether anything she could do as governor would reach that goal, especially since she’d have to deal with a Legislature controlled by liberal Democrats who oppose her specific proposals. And really, do we really want rapid economic growth of those dimensions, even if it were possible? Probably not.
This state has had a boom-and-bust economy for too many years, with those cycles coming about once a decade. The defense spending boom of the 1980s, the hightech boom of the 1990s and the housing boom of this decade all went bust, leaving personal, economic and fiscal chaos in their wake. One effect was the state’s chronic budget crisis.
California desperately needs some economic equilibrium, with steady expansion to match our population growth.We need efficient infrastructure, and good education and job training programs to attract long-term investment in permanent new jobs.
The next governor should make those conditions a priority, not offer pie-in-the-sky promises that can’t – and shouldn’t – be kept.
Meg Whitman, the former CEO of e-Bay is a rookie in politics. She has never before run for office and has been a registered Republican only since 2007. In fact, she missed a number of elections as a California voter, including the Gray Davis recall election which elected current GOP Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Whitman is an accomplished business woman but her stands on the issues are very similar to moderate or RINO Schwarzenegger.
California voters six years ago took a chance with another rookie politician in Schwarzenegger and it has been a disaster – both for the California Republican Party and the California economy.
California cannot afford another rookie mistake.
Technorati Tags: Meg Whitman, Arnold Schwarzenegger
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California Governor Schwarzenegger Rejects GOP Senate Leader’s Call to Reopen State Budget Negotiations Without Tax Increases
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks during an event February 17, 2009 at the State Captiol in Sacramento, California. California lawmakers remained deadlocked Wednesday over a plan to increase taxes to tackle the state’s budget deficit as Republicans ousted their legislative leader for his support of tax hikes
California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger held a noon time new conference on his State of California Website and rejected newley elected GOP Senate Leader Dennis Hollingsworth’s call to reopen stalemated California state budget negotiations with taxes off of the table. He said those Senators that think the California State Budget shortfall can be solved without new tax revenues do not know their math and need to retake math 101.“Anyone that runs around, I think, and says that this can be done without raising taxes, I think has not really looked at it carefully to understand this budget or has a math problem and has to get back, as I said, and take Math 101,” Schwarzenegger said.
In the meantime, the California State Senate has reconvened and Senate Democrat Leader Darrell Steinberg called up AB 3, the budget tax bill for a vote and it failed 23 to 12 (27 affirmative votes necessary for passage). Note: GOP Senators Cogdill, Ashburn and Cox did NOT vote along with Democrat Senator Correa.
Steinberg then took to the floor of the Senate and said he would call up a vote every hour on the hour and update the state of the state if a budget does not pass today. This hour was a potential loss of federal transportation money.
Stay tuned……
Technorati Tags: Darrell Steinberg, Dennis Hollingsworth, Arnold Schwarzenegger
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Will GOP Senator Abel Maldonado Break the California Budget Stalemate and Sell Out California Taxpayers?
State Senator Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, gestures while calling for more reforms on the state budget plan before the Legislature, at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Monday, Feb. 16, 2009. Maldonado has been pressured to vote for the spending plan, hammered out between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders
This is the question as the California State Senate is set to reconvene at 10 AM in Sacramento.So, what does Senator Maldonado, the reputed stalemate breaking vote really want?
On Monday, Maldonado said he would “take a look at” voting for the budget package if it included financial penalties for future legislators who fail to pass state budgets on time or drive the state into deficit. And Maldonado, who lost a 2006 bid for state controller to a more conservative challenger, said he wants future California primary elections to be “open,” allowing voters to cross party lines to cast a ballot.
Though widely believed to want to run again for statewide office, Maldonado said in an interview: “An open primary is for the people of California, it’s not for me. I don’t want anything in this budget that’s for me. I’m not for sale.”
Yet, Senator Maldonado has made it clear over the weekend what is on his WISH LIST.
The Santa Maria Republican told reporters Monday outside his office that his list of demands includes four things. He wants an open primary system similar to those used by local governments in which the top two vote-getters regardless of party run in the general election. The system is said to favor moderate candidates, such as himself, rather than encourage primary hopefuls to woo voters at their party’s extremes. He acknowledged he plans to run for statewide office, but sold the open primary as more of a “good government reform.”
The open primary change would have to be approved by voters. Maldonado did not specify when he wanted it, but sources said he has asked that it be included on the May special election ballot before Maldonado attempts to run for statewide office next year.
Maldonado wants two items sure to be unpopular with his colleagues. He wants a law passed so the state would stop paying lawmakers if they do not approve the budget on time. He also wants a ban on legislative pay raises and per diem increases in years when California faces a budget deficit. An independent board, the California Citizens Compensation Commission, currently sets legislative pay.
And he threw in one last item: remove the pork spending from the budget package. He didn’t specify what qualified as pork, but leaders already have provided small sweeteners for various members to help win their support, such as $35 million annually for Orange County, where Sen. Lou Correa lives. Maldonado also wants to block state Controller John Chiang from spending $1 million on new office furniture, something Chiang’s office said was approved before Chiang was elected.
Maldonado sounded amenable to only getting part of his wish list, however. “I think government reform is a priority. It could be one, it could be two, at the end of the day, I want government to be reformed.”
It is obvious that the Senator wishes to run for California statewide office and wants his vote breaking the California State Budget Stalemate as a quid pro quo to help facilitate that result. However, what Maldonado does not understand is that by selling out California taxpayers, he will incur their wrath both Republican and Democrat.
The Democrat Leaders and Governor Schswarzenegger have played him the perfect fool. They will blame him as to holding up the proceedings and anything untoward as a result of the passage of the budget they will blame Abel.
So, rather than being an anti-tax hero in the GOP, Maldonado will be played a patsy by the Democrats and end his political career.
Not a smart move, Senator. Not for yourself or the California taxpayers.
In the meantime, California taxpayers can help persuade Senator Maldonado to not support the Big 5 budget deal with its concomitant tax increases. Here is his contact information:
Capitol Office
State Capitol, Room 4082
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 651-4015
Fax: (916) 445-8081
San Jose Office100 Paseo de San Antonio, #206
San Jose, CA 95113
Phone: (408) 277-9461
Fax: (408) 277-9464
Monterey Office590 Calle Principal
Monterey, CA 93940
Phone: (831) 657-6315
Fax: (831) 657-6320
San Luis Obispo Office1356 Marsh Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Phone: (805) 549-3784
Fax: (805) 549-3779
Technorati Tags: Abel Maldonado, California, California State Budget, Arnold Schwarzenegger