The California Courage Campaign produces some pretty funny and irreverent videos. Their latest is a Christmas themed video aimed at Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for the failure to bring in more taxes revenue cash for the state.
When Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected I didn't have high expectations for his tenure as governor, mostly because of his campaign promises and platform. He pledged to open up the books and go after wasteful spending. So far there hasn't been much success there. He said he would balance the budget, not raise taxes, and not cut spending on education. That just seemed like too lofty of a goal for any politician in California. I guess because I had such low expectations it is easy for him to impress me.
I did overestimate his political appeal though. I really thought he would have long coattails and could win over state legislators who didn't want someone with his ability to attract attention campaigning against them. I am sure there are some isolated cases but I think I was wrong with that idea.
But my overall impression of his ability to govern has improved from when he was first elected. I have also been impressed with his pragmatic approach to governing. He is a member of the minority party AND that same party has been distancing themselves from him quickly, which means he has no constant base of support to depend upon.
Add to that his failed "year of reform" , voters that keep passing ballot propositions that mandate budget restrictions or money spent on particular programs, and a sudden decline in taxes because of a dramatic economic slowdown and he has serious problems to face.
The fact that he remains standing with these forces aligned against him is all by itself impressive. Sure, much of this has been his own doing and he is deserves criticism for many reasons. In fact, he is starting to seem more like Gray Davis more and more.
He should have asked President Elect Barack Obama to appoint him Secretary of Energy.
To my friends on the right:
Would you have preferred Gray Davis? He has his flaws to be sure, but many of the charges against him were just partisan attempts to gain power.
Maybe you shouldn't nominate people like Bill Simon, a man that couldn't beat Gray Davis during a time of serious problems, to be your leader.
To My friends on the left:
Maybe if Cruz Bustamante wasn't our standard bearer during the recall election things might have turned out better. Cruz Bustamante didn't even beat Steve Poizner to be insurance commissioner. Sure, Poizner could self-fund his race but this California is a progressive state where most statewide Democratic candidates should have an advantage.
Beating Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 would have been tough for anyone. Phil Angelides tried his best but I wonder how Steve Westley would have done?
Was there a Democrat in California that could have beaten Arnold Schwarzenegger?
Maybe someone needs to be crazy to run for governor of California? Are you impressed with any of the candidates for 2010?
I nominate Tom Hanks to run for the office.
Seriously, do you already know who you are going to support in your party's primary?
I bet they will pull something decent together that has a few stray Republicans joining along.
The Courage Campaign is doing fabulous work all across the state, and they're the vanguard of Democrats and Progressives who are actually fighting back rather than kneeling in fear of the conservative and Republican hostage-takers.
Steve Poizner might be a good choice. I'm waiting to see who else will surface on the Republican side though before I commit myself to any one candidate.
In my view, Arnold has been a complete failure. He strode into office thinking this governor thing was going to be as easy as bench-pressing his own weight. But, sadly, he had no real viable plan for turning the State around. It has only gotten worse during the five years he's been in office.
I lay an equal amount of the blame on the Legislature. They've failed to make the hard choices as well. I refuse to vote for anyone who serves now, or has served in the past, on this poor excuse for a governing body we call the State Legislature.
I assume you made an exception for Tony Strickland or is this a new voting practice for you?
I do not think it is fair to put all the blame on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Nevertheless, the blame does need to go the California GOP.
The California State Assembly Republican Caucus have blocked most if not all the budget bill in the legislature to deal with, they have block almost every budget bill no matter what it had in it. The GOP like my GOP Assemblywoman Audra Strickland who sadly won reelection, Good thing we have state term limits. Do people not read the papers do we not see what little work she has done for the people, but all the work she has done for her party. She should be working for the best interests on Southern California and I tell you the GOP she do not have that.
She had said along the lines of it is liberal rat increase. Frankly I wish I could pay more taxes, with my small increase it could help funding our schools, instead of closing them down. It will fund renewal energy research along with tax cut for innovations in efficiency, instead of drilling and exploiting the world for ’energy’. To fund badly need Mass transit construction and expansion in this state. It fund colleges, tax renews from the state help colleges keep there fees and prices down.
I can go on and on. The point is we as THE STATE have spent our selves into this mess, along with the recession, Job losses and home forecloses, with all due respect one must be stupid to think we can spend at these level with no tax in crease, and with the economy the way it is, we can not afford to cut social services.
Sadly the Democrats didn't field an alternative to Audra or Tony Strickland that voters could identify with or find compelling. If you start running decent candidates, we'll stop voting for Stricklands. Until then, the evil we know will have to do over the left wing losers.
Any nominations of Democrats you would volunteer for and be proud to support?
Brian,
I was talking about voting for a member or ex-member of the Legislature for Governor. This I will not do, nor would I ever vote for Arnold again for anything.
To give us a real choice,
You seem to forget that Tony Strickland won by less than 900 votes. Hannah-Beth was a strong choice for many residents and would have been a much better legislator. Tony shouldn't think he won a mandate to hold the budget hostage.
Taxin' Jackson would have been a horrible legislator. She's proven this already by her record when she served in the Assembly previously. As her moniker so accurately pointed out, she never met a tax she didn't like. That's why she lost. Voters recognized that this would be the worst time to impose additional taxes and thus Tony won. Get over it already.
Flamo,
You sound angry. I don't see anyone denying that Tony Strickland won here. If either candidate won by a slim margin I think it would be fair to say they didn't have a mandate to promote their ideology.
I spoke with Tony Strickland before the campaign and he had some decent ways of fixing the budget and the budgetary process.
I would encourage him to be a part of the negotiations and to insist on some of his reforms. If that involves some higher taxes, some budget cuts, and some reforms I think that sounds better then not being a part of the process.
The real question is how to push forward some of his proposals that he could get a majority to support. If he can do it without being a part of the negotiations that is impressive, but not very likely.
JMHO -
It doesn't matter if Strickland won by 9000, 900 or 9 votes. A win is a win.
As a good friend of mine says, there is no prize for 2nd place.
He won because he was able to dominate the eastern part of the district, a superior ground game and absentee chase. And he did it in a year when the Democrats dominated and Barack Obama won the district.
I don't say this to upset HBJ supporters, but to point out that we Democrats best learn from these painful losses. Accept, analyze and regroup. There's always another election around the corner.
And don't forget the lies. Lots of them.
I think Arnold could have done a better job. He has disappointed many. You are right about his campaign promises seeming to be mostly talk. Regardless or right or left, who do YOU think should be the next good replacement?
I think Arnold could have done a better job. He has disappointed many. You are right about his campaign promises seeming to be mostly talk. Regardless or right or left, who do YOU think should be the next good replacement?
I think Arnold could have done a better job. He has disappointed many. You are right about his campaign promises seeming to be mostly talk. Regardless or right or left, who do YOU think should be the next good replacement?
So, James, who do we blame? The budget crisis didn't just 'happen' all by itself. This applies to California and to our Nation. Is it something that can be fixed by the people currently in position in government or do we need new people, and new thinkers, to get it done? Who would be the right person for California? I thought Arnold was full of air when he first started to campaign but obviously the majority believed in him.
Brian,
I have no reason to be angry. My guy won. I was simply responding to Brian Leshon and others' continued obsession with Hannah-Beth Jackson and their dissatisfaction with the results of the election, in which Strickland won fair and square. It's beyond ridiculous at this point.
Hell, even Laura Winchester, an elected representative of the Ventura County Democratic Central Committee sees the light on this. She was not the best candidate for the Dems to run, face it. To put it in Laura's words, "Accept, analyze, and regroup." Better luck next time, jeez.
I agree with you though, Brian, somebody needs to step up and break the logjam in Sacramento over this budget crisis. Tony can play an important role in this being a newcoming member of the Senate. I am hopeful that we see some true leadership emerge from the Republican side and a compromise can be reached that is acceptable to all. Politics being politics, however, I'm not overly optimistic this is going to happen.
As for new taxes being part of the solution, I have stated my opposition to this in the past because of the additional harm I think it will do to the struggling State economy. I think we should look at cuts and elimination of ineffective and wasteful programs first and then, and only if absolutely necessary, we should look at some modest revenue enhancements (whether it be fee or tax increases) to make up the difference.
Laura,
If losing is so intellectually stimulating for you ask Ron to run for district attorney again.
Atleast HBJ didn't quit. What did you and Ron Bamieh learn when your candidate quit on you?
Debbie,
Dianne Feinstein is the best candidate for Governor.
Mongo, please define 'unnecessary or wasteful' things to be cut. Yes, I agree that we need to cut items or 'trim the fat' but who decides what items are the ones that are unnecessary? Aren't the local police and our teachers NECESSARY jobs and important ones too? So, why are those the ones being cut.
I'm not saying this was your doing or decision but obviously someone making the decisions to do cuts thought these areas were great places to take away some money!
Flamo,
Brian Leshon said:
"You seem to forget that Tony Strickland won by less than 900 votes."
The is an easy to check fact and the only insinuation is that it was a close race.
"Hannah-Beth was a strong choice for many residents..."
Obviously more people chose Tony Strickland but again it is a fact that she was the choice for many citizens.
..."and would have been a much better legislator."
What do you expect him to say? That he voted for someone he thought was the worse choice? I assume you voted for John McCain and you think McCain would have been the better choice. Same goes for your choice for the other candidates you voted for that didn't win.
"Tony shouldn't think he won a mandate to hold the budget hostage."
I wouldn't have claimed Hannah-Beth Jackson had a mandate, even if she won by 5%, so no I don't think he has a mandate. The voters chose to give him a chance to prove himself. He has at least 4 years to do so.
Flamo,
Brian Leshon said:
"You seem to forget that Tony Strickland won by less than 900 votes."
The is an easy to check fact and the only insinuation is that it was a close race.
"Hannah-Beth was a strong choice for many residents..."
Obviously more people chose Tony Strickland but again it is a fact that she was the choice for many citizens.
..."and would have been a much better legislator."
What do you expect him to say? That he voted for someone he thought was the worse choice? I assume you voted for John McCain and you think McCain would have been the better choice. Same goes for your choice for the other candidates you voted for that didn't win.
"Tony shouldn't think he won a mandate to hold the budget hostage."
I wouldn't have claimed Hannah-Beth Jackson had a mandate, even if she won by 5%, so no I don't think he has a mandate. The voters chose to give him a chance to prove himself. He has at least 4 years to do so.
Well, since you asked, Debbie, I would start by looking at our funding of the public school system. Since property taxes, sales taxes, and personal income taxes are all way down (which are the primary sources of funding for the schools), I would suggest a significant cut to the amount allocated to public education.
I know this will sound heretical to the big defenders of public schools, including the CTA and other public employee unions, but there should be no sacred cows during these extremely challenging times. And the fact is that the schools receive the biggest piece of the budget pie (about 40%), so they should be prepared to take a significant hit as well.
I have always maintained that public education in this state has been an abysmal failure. We are seeing more and more students emerging from our public school system who are barely literate. The test scores have gone down steadily over the years and, instead of demanding more accountability from our school administrators and teachers, we have allowed the scoring system to be adjusted downward to facilitate the poor test results. What kind of behavior does this encourage? More of the same, of course.
Even the President-elect and his wife have recognized the poor reputation of our public school system, making their first order of business in a recent trip to Washington, D.C. to selecting a good private school to send their two daughters to.
I am a big proponent of charter schools and private schools and believe that ultimately we should be looking at phasing out the behemoth, ineffectual public school system in favor of these educational institutions. Our future depends on it.
Although I agree DC's schools don't have a great reputation, the more pressing issue would be the added threat to the girls because of their father's position. A private school that has for many years dealt with increased threats makes sense.
But glad you made the security of the first family into a partisan attack. Shows real class.
Now, would you also cut funding for the state prisons and for law enforcement?
Brian,
Sorry, but you're reading way too much into what I was saying regarding Brian Leshon's comments. My main point was that they appear to be just more sour grapes from a Jackson supporter and I think we need to move forward from here. I agree with both you and Leshon that we shouldn't expect Tony's election as a mandate to hold the budget hostage, nor do I believe he feels that it is either.
The Legislature needs to get off the dime (Republicans and Democrats alike) and negotiate this thing out. It's costing us millions each day that it's dragged out further. The latest I've heard is that the State may be forced to issue IOU's to taxpayers eligible for tax refunds. If this happens, we're looking at some severe consequences for anyone that's been elected up there.
More Tired Cliches,
Sorry that my observations of the actions of our nation's highest leader in regard to "walking the walk" annoy you, but I felt it was topical enough to point out in light of the current discussion.
And, yes, I would absolutely support cutting funding for the State prisons. As I said previously, there should be no sacred cows and I have long believed that the prison guards' union has held far too much political sway over the years. Time to face reality here like everyone else.
Do you think it is fair that George W. Bush has anymore security then the rest of us? If he thought anti-terrorism funding was enough to protect us why does he get extra security?
Do you think it is fair that George W. Bush has anymore security then the rest of us? If he thought anti-terrorism funding was enough to protect us why does he get extra security?
Because he's the President, you do-do. I think he probably merits a tad bit more security than the rest of us given the position he holds, wouldn't you say? Most likely he's a more coveted target for terrorists than you and I, wouldn't you think?
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David,
Did you get my message that Mike won't be on until 7:45?