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

    California Special Election Watch: Schwarzenegger’s Bus Tour for Reform Hits the Road

    The Governor’s “Road to Reform” Bus Tour will be THIS SATURDAY, November 5th and SUNDAY, November 6th.

    The Governor’s Bus is coming to a city near you.

    Check it out.

    Flap knows you will be glad you did.

    The Schedule:

    Saturday:

    San Diego County

    Montgomery Field Hangar
    3750 John J. Montgomery Drive
    San Diego, CA 92123
    (Kearny Mesa Area)
    Doors Open at 10:30 AM !!!

    Orange County

    Pacific Transformer, Inc.
    5399 E. Hunter Avenue
    Anaheim, CA 92807
    Doors Open at 12:45 PM !!!

    Inland Empire

    Fleetwood RV
    3125 Myers Street
    Riverside, CA 92503
    Doors Open at 2:00 PM !!!

    Los Angeles County

    16016 Montoya Street
    Irwindale CA, 91702
    Doors Open at 4:00 PM !!!

    Sunday:

    Oakdale

    Rocha’s Valley Enterprises, LLC
    1198 Warnerville Road
    Oakdale, CA 95361
    Doors open at 10:45 a.m.

    Bakersfield

    Bakersfield High School
    1241 G Street
    Bakersfield, CA 93301
    Doors open at 1:00 p.m.

    Technorati Tags: , , , , , , ,

    Cross-posted to the Bear Flag League Special Election Page

  • Arnold Schwarzenegger,  Bear Flag League,  California,  Media Bias,  Politics,  Proposition 74,  Proposition 75,  Proposition 76,  Proposition 77,  Special Election 2005

    California Special Election Watch: KNBC-TV Los Angeles Apologizes to Schwarzenegger for Ventura County Lefties Selection for Voter Forum

    California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asks citizens to vote for his Propositions on the next Nov. 8th California’s Special Election, as he takes part in ‘Decision 2005: The Voter Forum,’ an event sponsored by KNBC and KVEA, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005, in Los Angeles.

    The ASSociated Press and San Frnacisco Chronicle has LA TV station apologizes to Schwarzenegger after audience mix-up.

    KNBC-TV apologized to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s campaign Friday after the station found that the audience it organized for a voter forum this week apparently included several Democratic activists.

    The Republican governor was peppered with questions with a partisan slant at the televised event Thursday, and at one point a man in the audience tried to shout him down.

    The Ventura County Star reported Friday that questioners at the forum included Larry Miller, a member of the Ventura County Democratic Central Committee; Chris Robson, a member of the state Democratic Party central committee; and Mary Pallant of Oak Park, a Democratic congressional candidate in the 24th District.

    The newspaper identified Miller as the audience member who yelled at Schwarzenegger, “You’re wrong.”

    The studio audience of about 75 people was selected by a research company, which was directed to assemble a balanced group of voters from the Los Angeles area, news director Robert Long said.

    But the station was unaware that several of those picked were actively involved in local Democratic politics, and that was never made clear in the broadcast.

    Previously on Flap: California Special Election Watch: Ventura County Lefties Let Schwarzenegger Have IT.

    California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger(R) gestures as he answers questions from an audience of voters regarding Propositions 74 through 77 of next week’s Special Election from during an election forum at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, California.

    The Ventura County Star has County activists grill the governor

    Two Camarillo Democratic activists peppered Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday with the toughest questions he’s faced during a special-election campaign in which the governor has mostly appeared before only hand-selected audiences.

    During a televised town hall forum at the Skirball Cultural Center, however, Schwarzenegger faced hostile questions from a panel selected by a market research firm hired by KNBC. Among those chosen to ask questions were Larry Miller, a member of the Ventura County Democratic Central Committee; Chris Robson, a member of the state Democratic Party Central Committee representing the 37th Assembly District; and Mary Pallant of Oak Park, an announced candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 24th Congressional District.

    Interesting how this market research firm hired a “representive” audience of left wing idealogues, union representatives and Democrat Party activists.

    By all press accounts the Governor handled himself well and probably should have mixed it up with these folks weeks ago.

    Alejandro Puesan of the station’s research department said the selections were made randomly by the research firm charged with selecting questioners who represented the demographics of Southern California, by gender, age, race, ethnicity, county of residence and political affiliation.

    Yeah right!

    It was a set up by the LEFT, but what else do you expect?

    Schwarzenegger was fine on the issues and will be fine on November 8th.

    Miller, an elected trustee of the Ventura County Community College District, engaged in such a fierce exchange with Schwarzenegger that at one point, when the governor sought to complete his response, Miller blurted out, “No, I’m not going to let you finish because you’re wrong.”

    Miller had challenged Schwarzenegger about Proposition 74, the initiative he’s backing that would extend the probationary period for new teachers from two years to five. Schwarzenegger calls it a reform of “teacher tenure” designed to make it more difficult for teachers to obtain “a job for life.”

    “You’re absolutely wrong about tenure,”
    Miller said.

    In an interview afterward, Miller noted that the word “tenure” does not exist in the state Education Code governing K-12 teachers. The law does say that after a two-year probationary period teachers become “permanent” employees who have full due-process rights, including that of a hearing to challenge a decision to fire them.

    “The principals are the ones who aren’t doing their jobs,” Miller said during his exchange with the governor. “They’ve got the tools.”

    Flap also was an elected member of the Board of Trustees of the Ventura County Community College District and knows Larry Miller very well.

    Larry is a retired Moorpark College Biology professor and a long time American Federation of Teachers negotiator and union leader. He often represented the union before the VCCCD Board of Trustees. He even walked precincts for Flap when Flap first ran for office.

    Miller is a fierce advocate for his left-wing views and very outspoken.

    But, he is wrong on Proposition 74 and the remainder of the Governor’s reform agenda.

    How he was chosen for this confrontation with the Governor is probably a story worth pursuing.

    And the story has been pursued.

    The company recruited the Ventura County voters from a list of “politically aware” citizens it had compiled, Long said. But survey forms submitted by prospective audience members gave no hint that some had partisan ties — because they weren’t asked.

    The forum was intended to give voters a chance to learn more about Schwarzenegger’s slate of initiatives on the Nov. 8 ballot.

    During the forum, the abundance of politically charged questions didn’t appear to unsettle the governor.

    Schwarzenegger “did exactly what he should have done, which was politely listen to their not-so-polite questions and set the record straight,” said Todd Harris, a spokesman for the governor’s campaign.

    What a crock!

    This was a set-up to make Governor Schwarzenegger look bad, the Governor handled it well and the MSM has been exposed as the corrupt, biased bunch that they are.

    The California State Fair Political Practices Commission and the FCC should investigate this breach of fair play.

    Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , ,

    Cross-posted to the Bear Flag League Special Election Page

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

    California Special Election Watch: Ventura County Lefties Let Schwarzenegger Have IT

    California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger(R) gestures as he answers questions from an audience of voters regarding Propositions 74 through 77 of next week’s Special Election from during an election forum at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, California.

    The Ventura County Star has County activists grill the governor

    Two Camarillo Democratic activists peppered Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday with the toughest questions he’s faced during a special-election campaign in which the governor has mostly appeared before only hand-selected audiences.

    During a televised town hall forum at the Skirball Cultural Center, however, Schwarzenegger faced hostile questions from a panel selected by a market research firm hired by KNBC. Among those chosen to ask questions were Larry Miller, a member of the Ventura County Democratic Central Committee; Chris Robson, a member of the state Democratic Party Central Committee representing the 37th Assembly District; and Mary Pallant of Oak Park, an announced candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 24th Congressional District.

    Interesting how this market research firm hired a “representive” audience of left wing idealogues, union representatives and Democrat Party activists.

    By all press accounts the Governor handled himself well and probably should have mixed it up with these folks weeks ago.

    Alejandro Puesan of the station’s research department said the selections were made randomly by the research firm charged with selecting questioners who represented the demographics of Southern California, by gender, age, race, ethnicity, county of residence and political affiliation.

    Yeah right!

    It was a set up by the LEFT, but what else do you expect?

    Schwarzenegger was fine on the issues and will be fine on November 8th.

    Miller, an elected trustee of the Ventura County Community College District, engaged in such a fierce exchange with Schwarzenegger that at one point, when the governor sought to complete his response, Miller blurted out, “No, I’m not going to let you finish because you’re wrong.”

    Miller had challenged Schwarzenegger about Proposition 74, the initiative he’s backing that would extend the probationary period for new teachers from two years to five. Schwarzenegger calls it a reform of “teacher tenure” designed to make it more difficult for teachers to obtain “a job for life.”

    “You’re absolutely wrong about tenure,”
    Miller said.

    In an interview afterward, Miller noted that the word “tenure” does not exist in the state Education Code governing K-12 teachers. The law does say that after a two-year probationary period teachers become “permanent” employees who have full due-process rights, including that of a hearing to challenge a decision to fire them.

    “The principals are the ones who aren’t doing their jobs,” Miller said during his exchange with the governor. “They’ve got the tools.”

    Flap also was an elected member of the Board of Trustees of the Ventura County Community College District and knows Larry Miller very well.

    Larry is a retired Moorpark College Biology professor and a long time American Federation of Teachers negotiator and union leader. He often represented the union before the VCCCD Board of Trustees. He even walked precincts for Flap when Flap first ran for office.

    Miller is a fierce advocate for his left-wing views and very outspoken.

    But, he is wrong on Proposition 74 and the remainder of the Governor’s reform agenda.

    How he was chosen for this confrontation with the Governor is probably a story worth pursuing.

    Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , ,

    Cross-posted to the Bear Flag League Special Election Page

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

    California Special Election Watch: Schwarzenegger Debates the Issues – Decision 2005

    California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger takes part in ‘Decision 2005: The Voter Forum,’ an event sponsored by KNBC and KVEA, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005, in Los Angeles.

    The San Francisco Chronicle and the ASSociated Press has Schwarzenegger spars with voters in televised forum.

    Facing testy voters in a freewheeling televised forum, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Thursday disputed that he was targeting teachers and other unionized workers with his ballot proposals and warned that their defeat could shortchange schools and leave the state financially hobbled.

    “This is not a witch hunt after teachers,” the governor said while discussing Proposition 74, which would require teachers to work five years, rather than two, to earn tenure.

    If voters turn back his slate of four initiatives on Tuesday, “We will be back where we were two years ago, almost in bankruptcy and with a failed education system,” the governor said.

    Will California voters remember why they recalled Gray Davis two years ago and elected Arnold?

    Will they give Schwarzenegger the tools to REFORM California or will California government revert back to the status quo with the large public employee unions calling the shots?

    As he has throughout the campaign, Schwarzenegger described his proposals as critical steps to reform Sacramento, where “spending addicts” in the Legislature have pushed the state toward financial ruin.

    The governor remained composed in the face of sharp, sometimes hostile questioning from several audience members.

    One man, identified as Democrat from Camarillo, accused the Republican governor of using sugarcoated “spin” to convince the public to support Proposition 75, which would require public employee unions to obtain written permission from members before using their dues for political purposes.

    “The way you describe it, it wouldn’t make any sense,” Schwarzenegger told him. “We want to reform the system that is good for everybody. … We are not trying to silence anyone.”

    When Schwarzenegger was discussing schools, another audience member challenged the governor’s characterization of teacher tenure.

    “Let me say this to you … it’s almost impossible to fire a teacher,” the governor said.

    Indeed, it is.

    Stay tuned as the voters begin to focus on the election and GOTV efforts swing into action.

    Educator Margaret Fortune, chairperson of the proposition 74 campaign, speaks in support of the measure as California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger looks on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005 in San Diego.

    Technorati Tags: , , , , , , ,

    Cross-posted to the Bear Flag League Special Election Page

  • Bear Flag League,  California,  Politics,  Proposition 74,  Special Election 2005

    California Special Election Watch: Proposition 74 – Flap SAYS VOTE YES

    Flap supports Proposition 74, Put The Kids First Act, and urges its passage at the California Special Election, November 8th.

    From Real Clear Politics:

    Proposition 74: Public School Teachers Tenure

    • Public School Teachers. Waiting Period for Permanent Status. Dismissal. Initiative Statute

    Summary: Increases length of time required before a teacher may become a permanent employee from two complete consecutive school years to five complete consecutive school years; measure applies to teachers whose probationary period commenced during or after the 2003-2004 fiscal year. Authorizes school boards to dismiss a permanent teaching employee who receives two consecutive unsatisfactory performance evaluations.

    Latest polling results and a poll summary is here.

    This measure is a much needed reform in California Public Education.

    Where in private business can you work one year, have one supervisory evaluation and have lifetime tenure?

    The Answer: California Public Schools.

    Proposition 74 will give on site administrators more authority and accountability for their teaching staffs. Union rules and hearings will no longer cloud teacher performance issues.

    Flap handicaps this measure a close win for Governor Schwarzenegger and his California Recovery Team.

    Technorati Tags: , , ,

    Cross-posted to the Bear Flag League Special Election Page

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

    California Special Election Watch: The Los Angeles Times Poll

    Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, at left, gives a thumbs-up to supporters outside Republican Party headquarters in Bakersfield as firefighters demonstrate nearby. Schwarzenegger is actively campaigning for Propositions 74-77.

    The Los Angeles Times has Voters Dislike 3 of Governor’s Ballot Measures.

  • His initiatives on state spending, redistricting and unions are all in trouble, reflective of his declining popularity. A tenure issue is a tossup.
  • Californians likely to vote in the special election Tuesday oppose three of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ballot measures, but Proposition 74, his plan to roll back teacher tenure, remains a tossup, according to a Los Angeles Times poll.

    By and large, the survey found the public siding with organized labor and its Democratic allies in their clash with the Republican governor. Only about a third of likely voters favor Proposition 76, his flagship proposal to curb state spending, and Proposition 77, his plan to give retired judges the job of drawing district maps for lawmakers.

    Also in trouble is Proposition 75, Schwarzenegger’s plan to require public-worker unions to get written consent from members each year before spending dues on political campaigns: 40% are for it, and 51% against it.

    Beyond the ballot contests, the poll confirmed a steep dive in Schwarzenegger’s popularity. His 69% job approval rating a year ago has plummeted to 40%. He remains popular with Republicans, but his support among Democrats has all but collapsed.

    Again, not good news for Governor Schwarzenegger and the California Recovery Team. However, Propositions 74 and 75 are within striking range. Flap has always maintained that 76 and 77 were a reach.

    Will the governor be able to claim victory if Proposition 73, 74 and perhaps 75 win at the polls next Tuesday?

    You betcha.


    How the voters rate the Governor and Propositions 74-77 is here.

    The Los Angeles Times Poll Alert is here.

    Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , ,

    Cross-posted to the Bear Flag League Special Election Page

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

    California Special Election Watch: It is the Turn-out, Stupid

    Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger campaigns for Prop. 76 and his reform agenda at a gathering held at an auto salvaging facility Pick-A-Part in Ontario.

    Robert Sallady of the Los Angeles Times has Gov. Aims to Get Out Vote Selectively.

  • With Schwarzenegger’s initiatives lagging in polls, he hopes the state’s Democratic majority and opponents in the GOP stay home.
  • Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered next week’s special election to take his agenda to “the people,” but his campaign strategy relies on relatively few people showing up next Tuesday and large segments of voters staying home.

    The governor’s plan — “micro-targeting” voters, advertising in selected markets to reach them and conducting daily polls to augur the political mood — is guided by a single premise: If every Democrat and every Republican in California votes next week, Schwarzenegger’s measures are likely to lose.

    Another “hit piece” of the day from the Los Angeles Times. Robert Sallady is a master of the anti-Schwarzenegger “NEWS?” pieces. Or should we call him the negative Arnold spinmeister?

    The Times really needs to leave their opinions on their op-ed pages and out of the news columns.

    By the way, has Sallady ever heard of political science and turning out your base?

    Probably not…….

    And the newspapers wonder why their circulation is decreasing and ad revenue is down.

    Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , ,

    Cross-posted to the Bear Flag League Special Election Page

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

    California Special Election Watch: The Latest California Field Poll

    Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger holds 21-month-old Brenna Neault during a campaign stop on Halloween day Monday, Oct. 31, 2005, in Ontario, Calif. Schwarzenegger made the stop to urge voters to support four ballot initiatives aimed at curbing the power of the Democratic-controlled Legislature and the state’s public employee unions.

    Reuters has Schwarzenegger may be hurting his own cause — poll.

    California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s campaigning ahead of election day next week has hurt rather than helped efforts to win support for his four favored ballot initiatives, a poll released on Tuesday found.

    The Field Poll
    released on Tuesday measured voter reaction both before the new approach, from October 18-24, and after, from October 25-30, and found opposition on the rise.

    Most recently, 51 percent of likely voters opposed his plan to let a panel of retired judges draw electoral districts, compared to 41 percent the week before. Support for the idea fell over the period to 35 percent from 38 percent.

    Flap will post the link to the full Field Poll when it is fully released later in the morning.

    The Field Poll of 506 likely voters from October 18-24 and 581 adults the following week found unchanged support at 44 percent for Schwarzenegger’s proposal to give teachers tenure after five years rather than two. Yet opposition rose to 50 percent from 47 percent in the survey, which had a plus or minus four percent margin of error.

    The star of the “Terminator” films boosted support for a measure giving him more powers to cut the state budget to 32 percent, up from 28 percent. Yet opposition remained at 60 percent, creating a significant obstacle for perhaps the most ambitious of his special election ideas.

    Not the greatest results for the Governor and the California Recovery Team.

    But, the impact of Proposition 73 and 75 will be heaviest on voter turn-out.

    It is apparent theat Proposition 76 continues to fail badly and Proposition 77 has a long way to go for passage (and then a court challenge after the election).

    Stay tuned…..more later and of course the SPIN …….

    RIP Prop. 76 according to latest California Field Poll.

    Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , ,

    Cross-posted to the Bear Flag League Special Election Page

  • Arnold Schwarzenegger,  Bear Flag League,  California,  Media Bias,  Politics,  Proposition 73,  Proposition 74,  Proposition 75,  Proposition 76,  Proposition 77,  Proposition 78,  Proposition 79,  Proposition 80,  Special Election 2005

    California Special Election Watch: Another L.A. Times “Hit Piece” on Schwarzenegger’s Wife

    California first lady Maria Shriver hands out emergency backpacks to students at a south Los Angeles elementary school to kick-off Team SAFE-T, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2006.

    The Los Angeles Times has First Lady Appears to Be Sitting Out This Election.

  • Kennedy legacy clashes with her loyalty to her spouse, keeping Shriver silent on ballot issues.
  • On a recent morning, Maria Shriver had a roomful of admiring listeners hanging on her every word. Unfortunately for her husband, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, none of them was old enough to vote.

    Shriver was addressing a fourth-grade class at Charles W. Barrett Elementary School in South Los Angeles as part of a campaign to improve disaster preparedness among children. On another campaign important to the Shriver-Schwarzenegger household — the battle over state ballot initiatives backed by the governor — California’s first lady has remained virtually silent.

    Here we go!

    One week before the California Special Election and the hatchets come out for Governor Schwarzenegger’s wife.

    Paul Pringle
    the reporter is a committed leftie with a left wing agenda. And he is happy to oblige the Moonbat editors of the Los Angeles Times

    Ask Flap how he knows?

    Aides to the couple say that isn’t expected to change before the Nov. 8 special election. They and others don’t blame Shriver for her silence, even if it has deprived Schwarzenegger of one of his most articulate and charismatic advocates.

    After all, Shriver would be breaking family ranks no matter where she came down on the measures, Democratic and Republican activists say. As a Democrat and a Kennedy, they say, she would have to all but shape-shift to endorse proposals despised by the party that counts three of her uncles as icons.

    And if she were to publicly criticize the initiatives, things presumably would get chilly on the home front.

    And who from the Los Angeles Times ever asked Sharon Davis about why her husband bankrupted the state while he was California Governor?

    This is disgraceful BIASED journalism from the Los Angeles Times.

    Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , ,

    Cross-posted to the Bear Flag League Special Election Page

  • Arnold Schwarzenegger,  Bear Flag League,  California,  Election 2006,  Politics,  Proposition 73,  Proposition 74,  Proposition 75,  Proposition 76,  Proposition 77,  Special Election 2005

    California Special Election Watch: Schwarzenegger in FULL Campaign Mode

    California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks to the media while touring the Koreatown Galleria in Los Angeles, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2005. Elected two years ago to shake up a stagnated statehouse, the Republican governor is trying out various campaign messages in the closing days of a political campaign in which he hopes to push through a slate of ballot initiatives that would weaken public employee unions and clamp down on state spending.

    The San Francisco Chronicle has Schwarzenegger trolls for votes at San Diego restaurant

    Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger waded into a lunchtime crowd Sunday to kick off a final full week of campaigning for his four state ballot initiatives, telling customers waiting on shrimp salad and clam chowder that lawmakers have failed them.

    Schwarzenegger emerged quietly, without introduction, from the kitchen of Point Loma Seafoods. For 45 minutes, he shook hands, handed out campaign booklets, signed autographs and posed for photos. There were no speeches, no loudspeakers and — unlike many of his appearances — no protests.

    “Remember one thing: the Legislature couldn’t do it, so the people have to do it,” he told one customer.

    “The people have done a better job than the Legislature,” he told another, his voice barely carrying in the noisy crowd.

    With close races for Proposition 74 and 75 the Governor has taken the show on the road. Will it be enough?

    Why, of course!

    California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks to members of the Persian community during a roundtable discussion in Los Angeles, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2005.

    Technorati Tags: , , , , , , ,

    Cross-posted to the Bear Flag League Special Election Page