Posted on 05/09/2006 9:36:03 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a bipartisan delegation of legislative leaders flew around the state yesterday to promote the $37.3 billion public works bond package approved last week for the November ballot.
“When I ran for governor, people always said it would be impossible to bring Democrats and Republicans together,” the Republican governor told an airport news conference in San Diego. “But we've proven again that we can come together.”
Schwarzenegger highlighted school construction money that would go to San Diego if the education component of the package is approved in the November election. “For San Diego, this means that for education, for building schools, there will be $1 billion that will become available for new schools and modernizing existing schools,” he said.
Four separate bond issues will appear on the November ballot: $19.9 billion for transportation, $10.4 billion for education, $4.1 billion for flood control and $2.9 billion for housing.
The governor made a whirlwind campaign-style tour of California air terminals to stump for the bond package, making stops in Oakland, Burbank, Santa Ana and San Diego.
He was joined by Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata, an Oakland Democrat; Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman of Tustin; Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, a Los Angeles Democrat; Assembly Republican Leader George Plescia of La Jolla and, in San Diego, by Democratic Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña of San Diego.
Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders said they were able to put aside election-year politics to get a deal done.
“Even though it's an election year, everyone looked at what was best for the people of California, rather than what is best for politics,” Schwarzenegger said.
Perata said the overwhelming bipartisan votes for the bond measures were particularly impressive during campaign season.
“This was a remarkable achievement, if nothing else that we were able to get well over two-thirds votes for most of these bonds during an election year,” Perata said. “It's usually not the time that you would expect to see bipartisan cooperation, but it happened this year and it happened for a number of reasons, not the least of which is we had strong gubernatorial leadership.”
Núñez, who is co-chairman of state Treasurer Phil Angelides' campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor, distanced himself from Angelides' claim that Schwarzenegger was trying to hog political glory that rightly belongs to the Legislature.
“Everybody's entitled to their perspective and their point of view, but I've got to say there's enough credit here to go around for everybody,” Núñez said. “I think the governor played a key role in this.”
I prefer to think of it as a Strategic Fiscal Grope Plan or SFGP.
if memory serves, we are still paying off bonds from 1970!
man, wouldn't it be nice if the RINOld's wife hauled his arse back to L.A.! LOL
Forget "affordable housing" bonds. That's another way to say subsidize neighborhood crime.
Education is already sucking the taxpayers dry despite numerous bonds and gargantuan chunk of the budget.
McClintock's test is that bonds are OK for things that make long term infrastructure improvements. If it'll be around for generations it's not a problem amortizing costs that way.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger greets local elected officials and well-wishers as state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland (right), looks on. They and other legislative leaders visited Oakland International Airport on Monday to tout an infrastructure bond package that the Legislature approved last week. (Nick Lammers/staff)
Are you a Westly or Angelides voter? That's the only way he'll be hauled back to L.A. If you think that would be nice, you're nuts.
The voters get to decide whether to take on the debt. Afraid of the outcome?
I voted for McClintock.
Who did you vote for?
and your flunkie needs to get back to L.A. since he doesn't have a clue how to govern!
I notice you avoid the real issue: who are you voting for in November?
Not really. He has talked about several tests--and the transportation bonds continue to fail all those tests miserably. They include billions for local road repairs, more billions for inner-city rail projects, hundreds of millions for retrofitting buses, etc.
Remarks by Senator McClintock Before the Senate Transportation Committee(snip)
First, by definition, transportation projects provide a direct and exclusive benefit upon a distinct class of users, and they ought to be entirely supported by those users. Thus, highways should be financed entirely by the users of those highways in proportion to their use. Ports should be financed entirely by the users of ports; mass transit by the users of mass transit, and so forth.
With respect to highways, California has long recognized that the most efficient way to do so is through a tax on gasoline paid by highway users in proportion to their use.
Second, there should be a clear distinction between the state highway system, that links the principal population, commercial, industrial and resource centers of the state; and local streets and roads that exclusively serve local communities. We used to make that distinction and we divided our gasoline taxes between the state and the various local jurisdictions.
Third, it should be recognized that highway construction and maintenance is an ongoing responsibility of each generation and should be funded on a pay-as-you-go basis. Each generation has its own maintenance to do and its own roads to build without being encumbered by the decisions of previous generations. Only in the case of capital intensive projects like tunnels and bridges have genuine revenue bonds been used, redeemed not by general highway users, and not by general taxpayers, but by the specific users of those specific projects through tolls.
Measured against these principles, the bond measure before us is a textbook example of how NOT to finance highways.
McClintock voted against all the bond legislation, except the flood protection.
"My main concern is that much of those three bonds is for equipment, maintenance and social programs that are going to be obsolete before the bonds are paid off by our children."
Sacramento Bee, May 7, 2006.
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