Posted on 08/14/2004 11:51:12 AM PDT by FairOpinion
Riverside -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took his 2,500-page plan to change California on the road Friday, but quickly found that his two-month statewide tour will be anything but a victory lap.
Hecklers, demonstrators and commissioners with plenty of questions showed up for the first of seven scheduled public hearings on the plan, which is the centerpiece of the governor's effort to reorganize state government.
"In my State of the State address, I promised to shake up government, get rid of all the waste and inefficiency and make government smarter, faster and a better servant to the people,'' Schwarzenegger told 600 people on the UC Riverside campus.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I bet there is much more support to it, than opposition.
As I keep saying, Arnold is just getting started. He hasn't even been governor for a year yet.
The super spending Rats and fat gov workers should have piss running down their pant legs.
Well I'd like to think you are right, but you've seen the self-proclaimed watch-dogs of conservatism in action. He'll get it from the left. He'll get it from the right.
Not much will happen and they'll wonder why. Even the minimal good that could have been instituted will go by the wayside as these two camps pat themselves on the back.
We'll see most of the 118 commissions remain. We'll see the proposed $35 billion in cuts, whittled down to $4 to $8 million. Then we'll see the slice and dice squad trash him for not keeping his promises.
Some conservatives prefer throwing away any chance for small victories, because they couldn't win the war on the first day.
The generals of defeatism run rampant, mostly at the mouth.
"The generals of defeatism run rampant, mostly at the mouth."
LOL. You are right.
But people keep misunderestimating Arnold.
Just wait and see. Maybe Arnold won't be able to do everythind we and he would wish, but he WILL make positive changes, and if, hopefully, he gets a second term, he will leave California much better off, than he found it.
The RATS are already running scared.
Despite the naysayers in both camps, Schwarzenegger's legacy as governor remains where it always has, in his own hands. If he percieves correctly that he must make cuts, return California's fiscal house to order, and observe the tenets of the Constitution our Founding Fathers provided for us, he will go down in history as California's best governor. If he doesn't, his legacy will suffer in measure of how far he missed those marks.
Dire times provide the best possible chances for a person to achieve the pinnacle of success. It also provides the most chance of crashing and burning.
I hope that Schwarzenegger can see the right course. I am not convinced.
Thanks for the comments. Let's hope you are right.
Hey!!, there are lots of California State Government workers that are just as tired of the waste and bloat in state service as the normal citizens are. Personally, I just want to go to work and do my job of keeping mentally ill felons off our streets. But there are so many tiers of administration we have to appease,(most of it put in during the Jerry Brown years), and they have to justify their positions by trying to micromanage the work environment.
That, and all the Federal regulations that must be met, like having to document how many hours a week a client is in restraints, what kind of restraints, what plan of action is being implemented, what the goals and time frame for less restrictive restraints and eventual release, with evaluations documented and signed by the participants, usually on no less than a weekly basis and in some areas every two hours, proper physician order and documention, proper nursing care planning and documentation, notification and documentation of this to program management, changes in plan noted and documented, etc.,with copies sent to everyone but Arnold himself.
Most clients eventually become wise to the routine and just bide their time until they becom eligible for release in order to assault again.... and the process starts again.
He'll get it from the right.
Maybe if he got his inspiration from the right instead of maintaining the social programs of the left, there wouldn't be so many self-proclaimed generals horning in.
Besides, he's a big boy .. he can take it.
He mastered special effects, he can master special interests too. Right?
The state could save $3.3 billion over the next five years if all 126 of the plan's recommendations on infrastructure were implemented, she said.
But state Sen. Jim Brulte, R-Rancho Cucamonga (San Bernardino County), challenged the financial figures.
"How much of that is the offshoot of fee increases, and how much is cost shifting from other government agencies?'' he asked. "Those aren't really a savings.''
It would be nice if the media would report the answers in addition to the questions.
The majority of the $3.3 Billion 'Savings' in Infrastructure come from the following three items:
Recommendation Cumulative 5 yr Savings
INF11 Tapping Surplus Property Assets $379,400,000
INF13 Relinquish Routes to Local Agencies $432,000,000
INF15 Inadequate Revenues for Transportation Projects $1,960,000,000
--------------
Total of Above $2,771,400,000
In looking closer at the recommendations, we find:
INF11 Tapping Surplus Property Assets
Surplus property identification and sales do not capture full market value.Through policy and statute changes, the state will improve the identification and selling of underused and surplus state properties. Studies to assess property use should be continuously funded and properties should be sold at fair market value.
INF13 The State Owns Several Routes that it Should Relinquish to Local Agencies
The state owns several routes that it should relinquish to local agencies and eliminate the need for ongoing maintenance of these facilities.The state should hold a series of public meetings regarding proposed relinquishments and submit a list to the Governor for consideration.
Approximately 6,500 lane-miles of state highways could be relinquished to local agencies. Such relinquishment should be done in accordance with existing law and without providing funds for future costs.
INF15 Revenues for Transportation Projects are Increasingly Inadequate to Fund Needed Improvements
Infrastructure funding is not keeping up with needs for building, maintaining and operating facilities and a toolbox of stable funding options is lacking.Amend California constitution assuring taxes collected for transportation are used for transportation projects. Implement flexibility using funds for transportation and develop new fee collection method based on use of highways.
The financial proposals submitted by Schwarzenegger from the budget to the bonds to this "box buster" all attempt to solve our current fiscal crisis by requiring individual Californians to pay higher taxes, fees or prices. The "box buster" outlined above charges higher prices for assets in the first bullet point, requires local government to raise taxes in the second bullet point and raises fees in the third.
Not once has Schwarzenegger reduced spending or taxes including his (your) subsidy of your own in lieu of vehicle property tax. Not once.
This guy is certainly not acting like a conservative or even a moderate. I know he's a liberal and I'm beginning to suspect he's also as dishonest as the next politician or worse. Who would have guessed?
Most conservatives about a year ago.
My observations are consistent with your analysis.
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