Casey Christie / The Californian
Arnold Schwarzenegger shakes hands and signs autographs after his speech Thursday at Valley Plaza in Bakersfield.
Posted on 12/05/2003 12:02:49 PM PST by NormsRevenge
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger stormed onto a Valley Plaza mall parking lot Thursday afternoon, backed by a blaring rock-and-roll soundtrack.
The classic anthem by Queen, "We Will Rock You," roared out over the crowd six times and chants of "Arnold, Arnold" rose and faded away.
A loud cheer burst from the crowd when the movie star-turned governor finally swept up to the podium just before 1 p.m.
"Thank you," Schwarzenegger told the crowd. "You flexed your muscles and you made me governor."
Schwarzenegger said he came to Bakersfield to ask the estimated crowd of 5,000 to exercise its political power for him again. It was his second visit to the city since he entered the race to recall former Gov. Gray Davis.
He has a plan to shore up California's $28 billion budget deficit and limit how much money politicians can spend. He wants to do that, he told the crowd, by issuing a $15 billion bond and putting a constitutional spending cap on the state budget.
The governor asked Bakersfield residents to help him overcome the concerns of the Democrat-dominated Legislature, which has questioned the wisdom of carrying that much debt.
"Call your legislators and tell them you want action now," he said.
Legislators have to approve placing the constitutional amendment on the ballot today or the voters won't see the spending cap proposal on a March ballot.
Many in the audience said they supported Schwarzenegger's get-tough approach to the budget.
"You can't give candy to everyone forever without paying for it," said Reed Schweer, who added that he would support taking on the additional debt called for by the proposed bond measure.
Others weren't familiar with the specifics of the plan, but said they had faith in Schwarzenegger's leadership.
"He seems pretty sure how he's going to handle the situation," Winston Garza said. "That's why I voted for him. I put my 100 percent confidence in what he's doing."
But there were also several hundred protesters on hand.
They voiced objections to a variety of issues, including possible cuts in services for the disabled and job reductions for state employees.
"I'm against borrowing," Dolores Martinez, president of the local chapter of the state employee's union, said about the bond measure. "It's going to cost us more money. It's ridiculous."
Thursday's rally, and similar events Tuesday in San Diego and one scheduled for today in Tracy, are aimed at Democratic legislators who could lock up the bond and spending cap vote for Schwarzenegger if they back his plan.
All four of Kern County's state legislators, Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, Assemblyman Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, and Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, shared the dais with the governor.
Florez gave Schwarzenegger his support for the bond and spending cap while sharing a plane ride to Bakersfield with the governor, Parra and McCarthy. Ashburn, who was invited to fly with the group, drove himself to Bakersfield after he decided to file today for the 20th Congressional District.
Florez called for some compromises on the bond details, but said the state is hemorrhaging money and the deficit has to be patched before the real work of crafting a balanced budget can be done.
Schwarzenegger said the $15 billion bond will eliminate the deficit. The spending cap will balance the budget by controlling the overspending Legislature.
"We are taking the state's credit cards away from the politicians and throwing them in the garbage," Schwarzenegger told the Bakersfield crowd, breaking a fake credit card in half.
But Florez said if the $15 billion bond is approved, "we are getting another credit card out. We just have to make sure it's as inexpensive as possible."
That's what today's negotiations will be about, he said.
Many people at the event seemed drawn simply because of the governor's super-sized movie star image.
People surged for autographs. A woman fainted and had to be helped up.
Michael Haywood, a teacher at Evergreen Elementary, walked his entire fourth-grade class to see Schwarzenegger.
"Arnold is Arnold," Haywood said. "They all know who he is," he said of his students.
Matthew Maxwell, 12, was less starstruck.
Maxwell, who has cerebral palsy and uses a walker, said he opposed the governor's proposed changes to disability benefits, including cuts in funding for recreational activities for disabled children.
"I'm more concerned about the problems than to see him up on the stage," he said.
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