Posted on 05/09/2006 9:45:31 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
OAKLAND — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Legislative leaders barnstormed the state Monday to tout their agreement on a $37.3 billion infrastructure bond package likely to play a pivotal role in November's election.
The tarmac at Oakland International Airport was awash in bipartisan praise as the "Big Five" — the governor and the Assembly's and state Senate's Democratic and Republican leaders — held their news conference before jetting to Burbank, Santa Ana and San Diego for similar events.
"I think this is going to be terrific for the whole state of California," Schwarzenegger said of the plan lawmakers approved in the wee hours of Friday morning. He thanked legislative leaders "for having worked together so well on this — I'm so proud of them."
State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, said if he still taught high school civics, he could use this deal as "a textbook example of bipartisan cooperation, except I don't think it's ever happened before to this magnitude."
Indeed, this is the largest public works package in California's history and undeniably key to Schwarzenegger's platform for re-election in November; it is potentially a legacy for the governor and could blunt a Democratic challenger's accusation of excessive conservatism. Schwarzenegger's campaign is already e-mailing reporters with quotations of praise he is getting from politicians on both sides of the aisle, as well as from other sources, for helping to broker the deal.
State Treasurer Phil Angelides and state Controller Steve Westly, rivals for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, issued statements Friday praising Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuez, D-Los Angeles, for leading the way to the deal, but neither mentioned Schwarzenegger. Angelides later told reporters the governor is just "standing on the back of the caboose waving at everyone."
Perata and Nuez said Monday that is not the case at all, insisting the governor and the Legislature both deserve credit for this deal. Perata said lawmakers "weren't sent to Sacramento to be stalking horses for anybody running for office," and Nuez said, "Don't underestimate the role that the governor played."
Nuez said he anticipates campaigning with Schwarzenegger to ensure the bond measure is passed in November; Perata said he believes the Democratic nominee should embrace the plan wholeheartedly.
After decades of underinvesting in the state's roads, schools and levees, even a few more weeks of inaction simply was not an option, Perata said.
"We know the public had already figured this out, and they were waiting for us to do something. ... I don't think there was anything more important than getting these bonds on the ballot this year," he said. "The governor stepped in only when he was asked to; he was not intrusive, he helped close the deals."
The governor's staff provided a breakdown Monday showing Alameda County stands to get about $253.7 million for K-12 school modernization and new construction, while Contra Costa County stands to get about $377.9 million and San Francisco stands to get about $112.7 million.
The bond money is meant to leverage state, federal and other dollars for an overall infrastructure plan totaling $115.8 billion.
State Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman, R-Irvine, said Monday the plan "truly serves both Northern California and Southern California," and he praised Perata as "the leading force from the Legislative standpoint."
Assembly Republican Leader George Plescia, R-San Diego, said it was achieved in "the spirit of compromise, of government working together to try to get things done for California."
A broad coalition of labor groups, tax-reform organizations, local transportation authorities and city and county governments has been pushing a proposed ballot measure that would close loopholes in Proposition 42 of 2002 so the earlier measure's gas taxes are used solely for the local and state transportation projects for which they were intended.
Asked Monday whether this measure goaded lawmakers to act on the bonds, Schwarzenegger replied it was a broad, bipartisan recognition of long-overdue need that led to Friday's deal.
"Everybody was willing to give up something in order to get the deal done."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger greets local elected officials and well-wishers as state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland (right), looks on. They and other legislative leaders visited Oakland International Airport on Monday to tout an infrastructure bond package that the Legislature approved last week. (Nick Lammers/staff)
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger greets local elected officials and well-wishers as state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland (right), looks on. They and other legislative leaders visited Oakland International Airport on Monday to tout an infrastructure bond package that the Legislature approved last week. (Nick Lammers/staff)
But probably not in the way they intend...
They put lipstick on a pig and the taxpayers have not yet allowed it to sink in; no meaningful reduction in spending:
How many generations have been saddled with unnecessary taxes? Paying for today's current expenses?
What was the level of existing bond liabilities before this criminal "agreement"?
What is it now?
That's all the taxpayerd need to know. Not the electorate, the taxpayers!
Bipartisan Big Bonds Alter Political EquationConfound, indeed. When you can't tell 'em apart, there is a problem!Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger continues his full-court press on the new infrastructure bonds package, campaigning along the state’s interior north-south axis today in Chico, Merced, and Bakersfield, touting the plan’s proposed improvements to the aging Highway 99 artery. Meanwhile, some very partisan Democrats are struggling in the aftermath of Schwarzenegger’s bipartisan coup yesterday, when Democratic legislative leaders Fabian Nunez and Don Perata, touring the state in the governor’s jet, said they would campaign with him for the bonds this fall.
With Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former Governor Jerry Brown also appearing at yesterday’s events, the bipartisan aura which surrounded the former action superstar during his first year in office, in which he achieved record levels of popularity, is on the rebound. Couple this with a multi-billion dollar windfall in tax revenue, which blunts talk of a tax increase, and you have a situation that begins to confound the classic Democratic approach to campaigning against a Republican.
I saw a clip of Moonbeam in the midst of the Gang,, he looked kind of confused too, if ya ask me..
Isn't that his permanent state?
BUMP!
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