Governor: Prop. 76 not a grab for power - Passage could bring a tax hike, he says

San Diego Union - Tribune ^ | 10/25/05 | John Marelius and Bill Ainsworth

[NormsRevenge]

WALNUT CREEK – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last night insisted his spending-control initiative on the Nov. 8 ballot is not a gubernatorial power grab that would produce draconian budget cuts, as opponents contend, and that it could actually lead to a tax increase.

Struggling to gain traction for his four-part ballot agenda with two weeks to go until the special election, Schwarzenegger fielded questions for the first time during the campaign from voters not selected by his campaign.

He and two of the most persistent critics of his agenda made separate appearances during a 90-minute forum.

His opponents – state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata and Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association – were uniformly scathing about all four of the Republican governor's ballot measures. But they were particularly critical of the one with the spending limit, Proposition 76, which they contended would slash money for public education.

"This governor's education is playing Kindergarten Cop. That's his entire experience in education," DeMoro said. "I don't think there's a Terminator solution to everything."

Schwarzenegger, who regularly warns voters that a tax increase would be the consequence of rejecting Proposition 76, said its passage also could result in one.

Under Proposition 76, if state revenues fall behind expenditures in the middle of a budget year, the governor would be required to take corrective action if the Legislature does not.

Theoretically, he said, if there were a $3 billion shortfall, the Legislature and the governor could agree to split the difference and close the gap with $1.5 billion in reductions and $1.5 billion in tax increases.

"It doesn't have to be just cuts," he said.

While opponents have seized on the provision as creating unprecedented power for the governor, Schwarzenegger noted the governor would only be empowered to act unilaterally if the Legislature defaults.

"Only if the legislators fail, only if they fail, does the governor have the right to fix it," he said. "Who else should fix it? There's no one else around. Every company in California and in America and in the world has a CEO that has to make the final decision."

Perata said the initiative would skew the budget process, leaving lawmakers with little ability to make spending decisions.

"This puts a huge amount of power into the governor's hands," Perata said. "I don't think we want to tilt it in that direction."

Schwarzenegger, in what he calls his "reform agenda," is sponsoring four of the eight state proposition on the Nov. 8 special election ballot, including Proposition 76. The others are:

Proposition 74, which would extend the time it takes for teachers to attain tenure, from two to five years.

Proposition 75, which would require public employee unions to obtain members' written permission before contributing their dues money to political campaigns.

Proposition 77, which would take the power to redraw political district boundaries away from the Legislature and give it to a panel of three retired judges.

Last night's event, co-sponsored by the Contra Costa Times and Oakland television station KTVU, featured questions from voters who were selected by an independent research firm, Nichols Research Inc. of Sunnyvale, to represent a cross section of voters in the nine-county Bay Area region.

Sponsors said the questions were screened primarily for organizational purposes and to avoid duplication.

In contrast, the audiences at what the Schwarzenegger political team calls "town hall meetings" that it has been holding around the state have been limited to people invited by the local Republican Party or sympathetic business groups.

Schwarzenegger and his two opponents clashed over Proposition 75, which could alter the balance of power between public employee unions and businesses in California politics.

DeMoro said the measure could drown out the voice of thousands of firefighters, teachers and state and local workers by putting bureaucratic hurdles in the way of spending dues for political purposes.

"Right now corporations outspend unions 13 to one," DeMoro said. "What this governor wants is to make that 13 to zero. He wants a football game with one team."

Schwarzenegger said he supports public employees, including teachers, and merely wants them to be able to have control over how their dues are spent.

"My fight is with union bosses," he said. Schwarzenegger said union leaders use their members' money to contribute to legislators and "they put the squeeze on legislators."

The governor also said that he would support efforts that would require corporations to have permission from their shareholders before they make political contributions. Union groups are trying to qualify such a measure for the ballot next year.

"Next year, when the other one comes on the ballot, I will support that," he said.

Regarding Proposition 77, Schwarzenegger said that because none of the 153 congressional and legislative districts contested in the November 2004 elections changed parties, new districts must be drawn immediately.

"The simple reason is the system is fixed," he said.

Perata acknowledged the current districts were drawn to protect incumbents and said Democrats in the Legislature are willing to change the system.

"We are politicians and we do have the interests of incumbents at heart," he said. "There's no question about that."

Perata said Democratic lawmakers are willing to adopt a commission system to redraw boundaries after the 2010 census but object to an unprecedented second redrawing before the 2006 elections, which he contended would create political chaos.

"I think it's time in this state to do something independent but we have to do it right," the Oakland Democrat said. "I believe that we will be able to get the governor's signature on that and put it on the ballot next year."

Schwarzenegger dismissed the notion that the Legislature can be counted on to change the system. "They will never fix it. Trust me. That's not what Sacramento does," he said.

Perata, a one-time teacher, said Proposition 74 is unnecessary. He said the most pressing need in education is attracting new teachers and that it is possible to weed out underperforming ones today without changing tenure rules.

"I believe that we have on the books right now . . . everything that is necessary," he said.

Schwarzenegger argued the existing two-year probationary period is not long enough to determine whether a new teacher is up to the job.

"I don't think that right now that after two years that teachers are experienced enough to get tenure for life," he said.

Yesterday's forum was the first of several televised events leading up to the election.

Schwarzenegger campaign officials said last night that broadcasts also have been scheduled in Sacramento, Fresno and Los Angeles, and that one is being negotiated for San Diego.

[NormsRevenge]

Schwarzenegger, who regularly warns voters that a tax increase would be the consequence of rejecting Proposition 76, said its passage also could result in one.

[Carry_Okie]

Pay no attention to the man in front of the curtain.

[goldstategop]

Of course. That's a good reason for voting against it - the Governor has confirmed what the critics have been saying - Prop. 76 opens the door to tax increases.

("Denny Crane: Gun Control? For Communists. She's a liberal. Can't hunt.")

[CyberAnt]

Voting recommendations from Tom McClintock

#73 – YES
#74 – YES
#75 – YES
#76 – YES
#77 – YES
#78 – NO
#79 – NO
#80 – NO

Proposition 73: Parental Notification for Abortion. If parental consent is required for a child to use a tanning booth or get her ears pierced, shouldn’t parents at least be notified if she’s getting an abortion? YES. Whether you’re pro-life or pro-choice, this should be the all-time no-brainer.

Proposition 74: Teacher Tenure. Do parents have a right to expect a higher level of competence before a teacher is granted life-time tenure? YES. This modest measure simply increases the teacher probation period from two years to five years.

Proposition 75: Public Employee Union Dues. Should public employees decide for themselves which candidates they will support with their own money? YES. This measure requires that before a public employee union can take money from that employee for political donations, it has to get the employee’s permission.

Proposition 76: State Spending. Should government live within its means? YES. This measure restores the authority that the governor of California had between 1939 and 1983 to make mid-year spending cuts whenever spending outpaces revenue without having to return to the legislature.

Proposition 77: Re-districting. Should voters choose their representatives in legislative districts that are drawn without regard to partisan advantage? YES. The most obvious conflict of interest in government is when politicians choose which voters will get to vote for them by drawing their own legislative district lines. This measure puts a stop to it.

Propositions 78 and 79: Prescription drug discounts. Do you want the same people who run the DMV to run your pharmacy? NO. These are rival measures, one supported by drug companies and the other by liberal activists – both of which purport to lower drug prices. What they really do is assure that one group of patients gets to pay higher prices to provide subsidized prices for others. There’s no such thing as a free Levitra.

Proposition 80. Electricity Regulation. Do you want the same people who run the DMV to run your electricity company? NO. This measure locks in monopoly control of your electricity by the bureaucratized utilities and forbids you from ever being able to shop around for the lowest-priced electricity available.

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Since Tom is recommending a yes on 76 - I seriously doubt there is a tax hike in there because Tom would be totally against this.

[NormsRevenge]

Don;'t be so sure.

In the current political climate, the only way Tom can get into the Gub mansion is by assimilating with the Moderate Borg, yaknow.

Just win, Baby. Maybe one of the Good Guys is willing to fall on his sword ,, uuhh,, do whatever it takes to climb to the top of the heap and then push some real reform without any more gimmickry being involved.


Pretty cagey, eh? (Oh shoot! Did I blow his cover?) ;-)

[CyberAnt]

I don't agree with you at all. But that's fine - you support Arnold and I'll support Tom.

[NormsRevenge]

You got it. What a system, huh?

And we both get to share paying off the debts already incurred and to come. What a deal!

[CyberAnt]

Save your breath! I've already voted.