California: Governor seeks "referendum proof" illegal alien driver license bill

KFI AM640, Los Angeles, John and Ken Show | March 8, 2004

[John Jorsett]

Just heard an appearance on the John and Ken show by Ron Prince, sponsor of the new Proposition 187-type initiative that (if it gets enough signatures) will appear on the November ballot. Prince reports that an associate was attending a meeting with Schwarzenegger aides, on the subject of how Republican candidates should handle their campaigns. In the course of the discussion, the question of the new illegal alien driver licenses came up. An aide answered, "Don't worry about that, we're going for a 'referendum-proof' version." It seems that if the legislature designates a bill as "urgent," two-thirds of the legislators vote for it, and it's signed by the governor, it becomes law immediately. That means there's no opportunity for a referendum as in non-urgent bills, the technique we used to persuade the legislature to repeal SB60. All that it would take for making SB 1160 (Democrat Assemblyman Gil Cedillo's new illegal alien driver's license bill) urgent is for two Republicans in the state Senate and six in the Assembly to vote for it. According to Prince, it appears that Schwarzenegger is planning on leaning on Republicans to vote for 1160.

It's not clear whether Schwarzenegger is going to succeed with this, but Prince says that the legislature is going to keep running at this until they win. The only way we can get them to stop this nonsense is to pass an initiative (like Prince's new "son of 187" initiative), which can't be overridden by the legislature. Prince says that his initiative needs another 200,000 signatures in the next 6 weeks. Go to www.Save187.com, download the petition, print it out (make sure you make a two-sided printout and not single-sided), sign it, get anyone else you can to sign it, and mail it in. I'm doing that myself right now. I'm fed up with this garbage and it's time to put a stop to it.

I'll also be writing a strong letter to the governor to let him know just how I feel about this attempted end-run around the people. If this turns out to be true, his new name will be Governor Judas as far as I'm concerned.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Hey, it's taxesforever!

How you doing Tax? Your a little late, CWO and PRND21 are already here. The trio is complete.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Is it xenophobic to oppose Illegals?

LOL! Now that's funny!

[Texasforever]

How you doing Tax? Your a little late, CWO and PRND21 are already here. The trio is complete.

Tell me Joe what has your nose out of joint tonight? I am here for ya bud let it all out.

[Joe Hadenuf]

You're playing the bait game again, PRND21. Why do you spend so much energy at it?

That's what the man does. He's just doing his job.

[goldstategop]

My friend, I voted for him but I'm not giving him 100% backing. In my world, not everything goes and as I've said elsewhere on this thread, I expect our Republican legislators to make sure the law remains as it is now.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Tell me Joe what has your nose out of joint tonight? I am here for ya bud let it all out.

I'm in a good ol mood tonight tax. Hows the weather down there in Taxas?

Run over any Armadillos lately?

[Texasforever]

I'm in a good ol mood tonight tax. Hows the weather down there in Taxas?

Did you know that there is a poster that calls him/herself Taxesforever? As to the weather, my illegal alien fan girl is busy as we speak.

[PRND21]

Is it xenophobic to oppose Illegals?

No, but it might be if you use a capital I every time.

If not, then how can an obvious, figure-of-speech exaggeration about the number of Illegals here be a "xenophobic" exagerration?

We're talking about Joe.

You're playing the bait game again, PRND21. Why do you spend so much energy at it?

I don't. Most of the xenophobics here aren't smart.

Why not come up with some posts of substance, just to show that you can?

Too busy reading about the tenth amnesty of W's career.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Did you know that there is a poster that calls him/herself Taxesforever? As to the weather, my illegal alien fan girl is busy as we speak.

Bet she cooked you up some yummy burritos with one hand while fanning you with the other. They are such hard workers.

[Texasforever]

Damn straight. Burp.

[FITZ]

In order to reduce the number of unlicensed drivers on our highways, who account for 20 percent of all accidents and, thereby, compromise public safety, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.

Handling unsafe drivers a license will make them safe drivers how?

[John Jorsett]

Second, I don't think Schwarzenegger is that stupid. The minute he signs the legislation he's a one term governor and I think his aspirations are beyond one term.

He's publicly said he'd sign an 'improved' bill (security concerns addressed, insurance, etc.). So unless he's playing some kind of strategy where he's working behind the scenes to make sure the bill never makes it to his desk, or that it contains things that he can use to say its unacceptable, he apparently is that stupid. The spin he's putting on this is that the people hated SB60 because of the security concerns. Or maybe he actually believes that. If he signs a bill with an urgency clause, it'll be an indication that he knows the people aren't on board and would referend it in a heartbeat. This bill is going to be the real test: if it gets passed in referendum-proof form, then Schwarzenegger will have put himself in the same camp as the legislature, prepared to jam unpopular legislation down the throats of the people regardless of their desires. He' d indeed be a one-termer, since the Dems already hate him, and he'd have just lost most of everyone else.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Damn straight. Burp.

I'm glad to hear you folks in Texas are enjoying your illegal alien cooked meals. Sounds great Texasforever. I bet you save a lot of money paying them very little for their services. Of course they aren't paying taxes like the rest of us, so I am sure that helps them.

What else do you hire illegal aliens for Texasforever? You have already told us that they work around your residence, and feed you. What other services are you paying illegal aliens for?

[Southack]

"We don't have quotes from Arnold on this, we have quotes from an unnamed aid."

That's Jayson Blair-esque.

Any talk radio shock jock or smarmy reporter can claim to have a quote from an "unnamed" source. That's hardly credible.

Yet here this thread continues to run with its lead "article" attributing to Arnold support for a "referendum proof" illegal alien license bill (hmmmm, didn't Arnold use the threat of a referendum as leverage to kill Gray Davis' illegal alien license law in the first place?!).

That whole "referendum proof" claim is a whole new ballgame, yet no one can quote Arnold himself as ever supporting such a drastic measure...just "unnamed" aides.

Forgive me if I don't rush out to crucify the good governor over such immature scandal mongering and rumors.

[truthkeeper]

(hmmmm, didn't Arnold use the threat of a referendum as leverage to kill Gray Davis' illegal alien license law in the first place?!).

No, he didn't. He didn't support the original SB60 referendum in the first place, and neither did David Drier, his chief advisor. (In fact, Dreier doesn't support California's referendum/initiative process at all.) The Governor stated he had issues with the "security aspects" of the first bill, which he would fix with a later "improved" bill. Apparently this is that bill.

Many of us have been paying close attention to this issue for months now and are well aware of what is going on. There are many informative links posted all over this thread by Sabertooth and calcowgirl. Take a look at them to get the complete picture.

[Sabertooth]

(hmmmm, didn't Arnold use the threat of a referendum as leverage to kill Gray Davis' illegal alien license law in the first place?!).

Not quite the whole story.

Arnold used the threat of a referendum he conspicuously refused to support to defeat SB 60, so that he could get a better bill" that gave CDLs to Illegals with background checks.

He is now working with Cedillo on that "better bill," which is SB 1160, and which includes the "urgency clause" that would make it referendum-proof.

That whole "referendum proof" claim is a whole new ballgame, yet no one can quote Arnold himself as ever supporting such a drastic measure...just "unnamed" aides.

No, it's a new facet of the old "Arnold really supports CDLs for Illegals" ballgame, which many of his supporters refused to believe he was playing.

The urgency clause in SB 1160 has been public knowledge for five weeks. Arnold has yet to distance himself from it, is known to be working on the bill with Cedillo, and has zero credibility in opposing CDLs for Illegals.

Against that backdrop, reports that he supports, the urgency clause are perfectly credible.

If he wants to put reasonable suspicions to rest, let him immediately declare he won't sign SB 1160 with an urgency clause.

Here is the danger this urgency clause poses for California: the law would take effect immediately and it would take a full ballot initiative in March of 2006 to get it overturned, which is more difficult to qualify than a referendum. Meantime, Illegals would be getting CDLs for two years.

If Arnold signs SB 1160 without an urgency clause, it would not take effect until January 2005, and could be contested by a qualifying referendum petition. Once the referendum qualified, the entire matter would be stayed until March 2006.

Schwarzenegger is not trusted on Illegal Alien CDLs because he doesn't really oppose them in principle, as his words and actions have shown. His big issue with SB 60 was background checks, not the Illegal status of the Aliens.

Let him put this story to rest. Let him declare that SB 1160 with an urgency clause is DOA. Until then, he is suspect.

[truthkeeper]

Excellent post, thank you. Best one on this thread. Everyone who purports to care about this issue should read and consider it carefully.

[CWOJackson]

Some of the members of the Road Kill Party can't help themselves. They're like an angry squirrel rushing out into traffic thinking they will make an impact.

If they're noticed at all it's nothing more then a bump, then a furry frisbe with a tail laying in the road.

[lonewacko_dot_com]

I called and was told that Schwarzenegger isn't "working with" Cedillo, he's just watching what proposals he's coming up with and providing comments. I was told that Schwarzenegger can't comment on something until it's a real bill. The spokesman confirmed the essence of Ron Prince's statements regarding the effect of the urgency clause vis-a-vis when it goes into law and how we'd have to get rid of it. He also stated that mine was among many other calls they've received on this.

Schwarzenegger's contact info:
http://www.governor.ca.gov/state/govsite/gov_contacts.jsp
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-445-4633
governor@governor.ca.gov

[truthkeeper]

Thanks very much for calling and for posting those phone numbers.