He said last night in his decline speech that all he wants is to do the best for da people of Kalifornia. He's also made a statement somewhat softly that he will get the special interests that are ruining Kalifornia. What?
Do you know who they are? The public employee unions, which he wants to privatize, and then have his special interest Goldman Sachs (in which he has about 6 parterships of his own) do the investment consulting for the privatized unions.
Some other(not all by any means) special interest examples:
Arnold received a $105,000 campaign contribution from the American Insurance Association the day he vetoed SB399 which would have forced insurers to pay medical costs for people under Med-Cal in accidents caused by insured drivers (currently paid by Medi-Cal, ie. the taxpayers, costing $225 million/year).
Arnold vetoed AB 89, which required employers of 25 or more workers to publicly identify the number receiving the state's health care programs for low-income Californians (particularly Medi-Cal). Wal-Mart is the biggest offender, from whom he received a $250,000 campaign contribution the day he vetoed the bill.
Chevron donated in the millions to Arnold's initiatives. He has not made any effort to negotiate lower gasoline prices afflicting working families.
Arnold traveled to Japan last November meeting with Toyota officials promising them his personal efforts in Kalifornia, especially to build a Prius plant. Toyota contributed $258,000 to his campaign committees.
Campaign finance records show that Arnold's early announcement to seek reelection spurred big business donors to pour $10 million in one month into his special election campaign.
Re. Gray Davis, I have to disagree with the statement that he was hated. He was too cautious, he went for big donations it's true, but he had reasons to feel insecure in the job. He was conservative in spending for the needs of the people and did not support teachers. But, how anyone could have thought Arnold--a closet right-wing Republican which was not such a secret if you took a good look at his support and how the recall was engineered by rich Republicans in the Legislature (Darrell Issa) and in the state, support from George Schultz, Enron (the rumors were there)--would do better than Davis? How so? The difference between conservative Democrats and right-wing Republicans (fascist) is still stark.
Davis did not betray the special programs helping the disabled, low-income seniors, etc. Arnold was all for it. I think a lot of the resentment against Davis came from greedy Californians who thought they should have more money. Well how? The till was empty--nothing extra. Primarily, because King Bush reduced taxes in huge amounts on the country's top 1% and graduated lower taxes on the wealthiest, starting in 2001. This was money that went to the states each year, and profoundly socked the states, particularly California. This has been going on year to year since then along with huge expenses on war in Afganistan and of course Iraq, planned by Bush, and made possible by 9/11 (convenient).
The recall was unjust because Davis had committed no wrongdoing as governor. Republican money with paid signature gatherers put it through. Never was Arnold a populist, an independent--the whole election was a fraud. The people were eager for pie in the sky, and I think the Republicans had fomented a lot more resentment against Davis in the years preceding the recall than is known. That's my guess there.
During the state budget negotiations in 2002 Davis and the Demo Legislators wanted to raise some fees at least to cover the needs of the special programs, but the budget requires a two-thirds Senate vote to pass. The minority Republicans in the Senate would not agree to any raise in taxes, inlcuding fees only to keep the state solvent and take care of people's survival. What Davis did then to save the situation was institute a hardship, one-time only triple auto license fee which went into effect.
Arnold walked into this, well planned ahead of course, and said he was "cleaning house"--a phrase that's been around since roll-your-own days. Believable? No. There was no mecca here for anyone, even middle-to-low income out-of-state Californians moving here just for that. But he was charismatic and they wanted to believe it.
First thing Arnold did was repeal the drivers license approved by Gray Davis for immigrant workers here. Lots of people don't want that. However,they take the cheap labor of immigrants in the fields or in the homes, etc. This I strongly feel as a white Californian is bacically racist, not because of danger of immigrants' driving because they would have received basic driving lessons.
In addition, Arnold promptly repealed Davis' one-time triple auto license fee which would have provided the necessary money for the basic programs and kept the state solvent.
Also, Gray Davis was a top gentleman in handing over the reins to Arnold. He deserves credit for that.
Now, something else, I visited Sacramento and noticed in the state capitol building that among the photos of all the governors of California there was no photo of Gray Davis. As if he had never existed. He served five years and was not disgraced. This is wrong.
Arnold's Prop. 76 would have given him virtual control over state spending in education, health care and other areas,taking this away from the people's representatives, the state legislature. Sounds like King Bush? Of course. This was a stealth prop., like Prop. 73, which described a fetus as an unborn child. Prop. 73 was not Arnold's prop but he endorsed it.
Davis left a debt which was miniscule compared to Arnold's legacy. Arnold has done more in two years than any other CA governor could possibly conceive to dessimate our state's finances creating huge deficits for our children's children to pay off. Sound like King Bush?
Californians voted on his bond initiatives creating these deficits because he was taking his case to the people, instead of the bad, bad Legislature. Where did this money go. He plugged a few budget holes, but what is the result of the rest? We're no better off, but worse off. This is bad, bad government financing. But, not if you want to take over the state. Sound familiar?
In the meantime, Arnold has enriched his corporate donors handily tricking the people into thinking the special interest enemy is the unions, blaming them for tanking the state, thus doing a shell game, hiding the real culprits his corporate donors.
Arnold threw away the opportunity he bought and paid for to govern Calfornia within budget providing survival assistance. Instead, he chose economic chaos. Sound familiar?
As Howard Dean would say, we can do better than that.
Let's recall Arnold pronto!