Following is from Bakersfield Californian
Schwarzenegger's progress on plans for first 100 days as governor
The Associated Press
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has set out an agenda for his first 100 days in office, which began Nov. 17 with his swearing in as California's 38th governor.
Wednesday was his 17th day in office.
The following is a list of what Schwarzenegger has promised he would do during his first 100 days in office - and whether he's taken action so far:
-Repeal the recent tripling of the state vehicle license fee.
Yes. Schwarzenegger issued an executive order Nov. 17 rolling back the car tax.
-Call a special legislative session.
Yes. Schwarzenegger called three simultaneous special sessions. They began Nov. 18.
-Repeal a law that lets undocumented immigrants get driver's licenses after Jan. 1.
Schwarzenegger signed the repeal of the law Wednesday, after action Monday by the Assembly and last week by the Senate.
-Pass a jobs package with "real workers' comp reform."
No.
-Make spending cuts to address the current imbalance.
No.
-Freeze spending and complete an audit of the state's $99 billion budget.
No.
-Get the state a "fair share" of Indian gambling revenue.
No.
-Renegotiate state employee union contracts.
No.
-Submit a budget for fiscal year 2004, which begins next July 1, that closes a deficit estimated at $10 billion to $25 billion. Also, restructure debt built into this year's budget.
No.
-Streamline education bureaucracy and send more money to classrooms.
No.
-Pass an open-government constitutional amendment and ban fund-raising during the state budgeting process.
No.
The Associated Press
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has set out an agenda for his first 100 days in office, which began Nov. 17 with his swearing in as California's 38th governor.
Wednesday was his 17th day in office. Davis was in office 4.5 years and the A.P. seldom gave him the anal exam they've given Schwarzenegger here after 17 days.
The following is a list of what Schwarzenegger has promised he would do during his first 100 days in office - and whether he's taken action so far:
Isn't it amazing how important it is for the A.P. to evaluate the job our elected officials are doing now that an (R) is in office?
-Repeal the recent tripling of the state vehicle license fee. Yes. Schwarzenegger issued an executive order Nov. 17 rolling back the car tax.
-Call a special legislative session. Yes. Schwarzenegger called three simultaneous special sessions. They began Nov. 18.
-Repeal a law that lets undocumented immigrants get driver's licenses after Jan. 1. Yes. Schwarzenegger signed the repeal of the law Wednesday, after action Monday by the Assembly and last week by the Senate.
-Pass a jobs package with "real workers' comp reform." No. This is so disengenuous. The last couple of days Schwarzenegger has been touring the state pumping his request for the legislature to put his $15 billion dollar bonder before the voters in march. During this tour Schwarzenegger has stated that he is going to turn his attention to workers comp next week, after the issue of the bond is put to rest. If A.P. didn't know this they are unqualified to report the news. If they did, they should suffer the fate of having their subscribers yank their contract.
-Make spending cuts to address the current imbalance. No. This is another blatant attempt to skew the facts. Schwarzenegger has proposed around $4 billion in budget cuts. He has also stated that he will be proposing more cuts after an extensive review of the state books. Specificly, he stated by next summer he'd have a number of new proposals before the legislature.
-Freeze spending and complete an audit of the state's $99 billion budget. No. Once again, this is just blatant B.S. As part of Schwarzenegger's proposal to present a $15 dollar bond to California voters for approval, he has also proposed a limit on California's future spending increases. Everyone who's tuned in knows that Schwarzenegger hired that lady from Florida to review California's books, so it's clear he plans to follow through on this. I'd submit the job is already underway.
Although some of what A.P. is reporting is technically factual in the above three paragraphs, the overall message is bogus becuase it implies that Schwarzenegger has no intent to follow through with his promises. Schwarzenegger has taken specific actions to follow through on the promises listed in the above three paragraphs.
-Get the state a "fair share" of Indian gambling revenue. No. Schwarzenegger has either achieved the above six promises, or has taken action to see they are implemented. Some of these were very important. They outrank some of the items he has not taken action on yet, but let's consider that Schwarzenegger may have in fact taken action that we are unaware of on some of these issues. We have evidence to support the idea that Schwarzenegger will follow through on his promises. The A.P. seems desparate to disprove that premise.
-Renegotiate state employee union contracts. No. Once again, we don't know that some feelers have not been implemented to start this process.
-Submit a budget for fiscal year 2004, which begins next July 1, that closes a deficit estimated at $10 billion to $25 billion. Also, restructure debt built into this year's budget. No. If A.P. would only listen to the public statements of Schwarzenegger, they'd know he is developing a budget to present by January first. That budget will submit cuts in state spending. In addition to those he has promised to propose further cuts by next summer. Some will come sooner.
Look at this report. A.P. addresses the budget deficit at $10 to $25 billion. Evidently they are refering to just this year. As of last August, California's budet deficit was $37.5 billion. The physcal 2003-04 budget was supposed to add another $9 billion to that. Then Davis bonds began to unravel in court. Who knows what our actual deficit is today? Is it $46.5 billion? Is it closer to $50 due to the court ruling some of Davis bonds were illegal? Will more of Davis bonds fall out due to judged illegality? Are we actually closer to $60 billion in debt?
The co--suckers at A.P. couldn't have cared less about California's deficit situation during the run up to the 2002 November elections. They gave Davis a complete pass. Only after the defeat of Simon by Davis did A.P. and other news outlets tell Californian's what the true exent of California's state government debt was.
-Streamline education bureaucracy and send more money to classrooms. No. Schwarzenegger's comments when running for office were that he would not cut the education budget. Here A.P. morphs that promise into something different. Schwarzenegger was to smart to promise cuts in the education bureaucracy before the election. Davis and the democrats would have spun that as a cut to education. Here A.P. is morphing his comments in order to make it easier to corner him later on.
-Pass an open-government constitutional amendment and ban fund-raising during the state budgeting process. No. I'll be watching to see if Schwarzenegger follows through on this. He may or he may not, but one thing's for sure. He has already implemented more sound policy in 17 days than Davis did in five years. Thank heaven A.P. is here to keep California state government officials honest after their complete abandonment of that duty for five years.
I get a real kick out of Freepers who post this A.P. trash without making some comments about how bogus the comments are.
A.P. Rivals the ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC news departments for the news industry's yearly Golden Jackass awards.
I can't imagine a news organization that valued their credibility, publishing a report like this after 17 days. It's juvenile in the extreme.