Posted on 07/03/2009 10:11:24 AM PDT by thecodont
A couple of months ago, I was doing an on-air interview with KPFA radio about the state budget and found myself saying out loud "I never thought I'd ever say this, but I want Pete Wilson back." The interviewer burst out laughing.
Yes, Governor Pete Wilson did things I strongly disagreed with when he vetoed a bill on employment discrimination against gay people and when he frequently chose business over environmental protection - but he knew how to be Governor. If you have to have a Republican Governor, it would at least be nice to have one who didn't have to go through on-the-job training - and Pete Wilson had actually been a Mayor and state legislator along the way.
When the budget crisis of the early 1990's hit, he was a realist. He knew that new taxes and big cuts were needed. He was very pragmatic about it. Each side would do the part they most hated. The Democrats would decide the cuts, the Republicans the taxes. And when a deal was reached, the Governor called Republicans into his office one by one and used the power of his Governorship until the number of votes was reached to pass the budget by two-thirds.
Fast forward to 2009. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stubbornly refused to sign or support bills that needed to be approved by midnight on Monday to keep the state from going into the hole by a few billion dollars more. Digging a $20 billion hole deeper for an abstract principle verges on political malpractice.
Schwarzenegger publicly said on Tuesday, "The legislators didn't do their jobs". But what about him doing his?
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Gov. Wilson also handled the earthquakes right. He immediately as the Feds/FEMA in ... he didn’t hesitate and play politics as the illustrious Governor of Louisiana did with Katrina.
This is the same Pete Wilson who caused major financial problems for Californians by jacking with energy prices, right?
So how EXACTLY did Gov. Pete Wilson make the Democrat legistature cut spending?
I could not find a reference but I do remember the broadcast.
Wilson was as beholden to the teachers union as any politician in California. He was a big-spender and a RINO. But he knew how to knock heads when he wanted to, as opposed to the rudderless adulation-whore Schwarzenspender. We would be in better shape with Wilson at the helm, but I doubt many of us here would be thoroughly happy with him.
He slated 100's of schools to be closed and the land to be sold. When they started screaming he said said fine, either cut spending or lose the schools. He won.
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