Posted on 08/20/2003 8:29:17 PM PDT by comnet
Schwarzenegger Says Won't Raise Taxes in Calif. Wed August 20, 2003 08:52 PM ET
By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - With a veteran diplomat and a business legend at his side, Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Wednesday that as governor of California he would wrestle the state's mammoth debt into submission without raising taxes.
Emerging from a meeting in Los Angeles with 19 business and academic leaders, Schwarzenegger laid down his economic program for the first time since declaring his candidacy in the Oct. 7 recall, sounding notes of fiscal conservatism.
"I'm very much a believer that the people of this state have not been under-taxed," Schwarzenegger said, flanked by former Secretary of State George Shultz and billionaire Warren Buffett. "I am in principle against taxes because I feel the people of California have been taxed enough."
Buffett, a top Schwarzenegger advisor and a Democrat, drew a collective gasp from horrified Californians last week when he suggested that Proposition 13 -- the state's landmark, voter-approved measure limiting property taxes amid skyrocketing land values -- should be reconsidered.
But Schwarzenegger, who saw his first campaign turbulence over Buffett's remarks, said he had no intention of tinkering with Proposition 13 and joked that the so-called Sage from Omaha would be wise to adopt the same line.
"I told Warren that if he mentioned Proposition 13 one more time, he has to do 500 sit-ups," the actor said, tossing Buffett a friendly but menacing stare.
Schwarzenegger is one of 135 candidates vying to replace Gov. Gray Davis should voters decide to unseat him in the unprecedented recall election. Although he has never held public office, polls show the action film star among the top candidates.
His campaign appearance came as a federal judge in Los Angeles refused an American Civil Liberties Union request to delay the election, thus removing a major hurdle to the vote. ACLU attorneys had argued that voters in Los Angeles and five other counties would be disenfranchised because they would still be using error-prone punch-card machines.
DAVIS SLAMS SCHWARZENEGGER
Davis, meanwhile, appeared with Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in the Los Angeles beach suburb of Santa Monica, not far from Schwarzenegger's restaurant, Schatzi, to hand out $53 million in grants to environmental groups.
Davis took shots at Schwarzenegger's economic round table, saying: "When I had an economic forum two years ago I had a big tent. We need to seek advice and guidance from a number of people. Anyone who wants to take my job ought to have specific plans, not just sound bites or rehearsed phrases from old movies."
Schwarzenegger, who has come under fire from Democrats, the media and even fellow Republican candidates for offering only vague ideas of his platform amid promises to "clean house" in Sacramento, on Wednesday gave details for the first time.
The "Terminator" star said that if elected he would immediately order an independent audit of the state's finances, which he said were hopelessly tangled, quickly work to bring spiraling worker's compensation costs into line and call a special session of the legislature to work on the budget.
"We must have a constitutional spending cap and must immediately attack operating deficits head on," he said. "Does this mean we are going to make cuts? Yes. Does this mean education is on table? No. Does this mean I am willing to raise taxes? No. Additional taxes are the last burden we need to put on the backs of the citizens and businesses of California."
Asked by reporters how he would get cooperation from California's state legislature, which is controlled by Democrats, Schwarzenegger made joking reference to his wife, Maria Shriver -- a member of the Kennedy family.
"I've lived with a Democrat for the past 17 years," he said. "I'm trained to work with Democrats."
Buffett, one of the world's richest men, meanwhile said that one of California's most fundamental problems was its credit rating, saying that "a change was needed" in the state government to see it restored.
He said that credit was like oxygen in that "when you have it, you don't even notice it. But when it's gone, you can think of nothing else."
As for the summit, Schwarzenegger campaign spokesman Sean Walsh rejected any notion that it was a staged event. "Warren Buffett and George Shultz are not a photo opportunity. They are brilliant minds with decades of experience." (Additional reporting by Michael Kahn, Arthur Spiegelman and Gina Keating.)
God, I wish someone would blow me away with hard numbers. I would so LOVE to be proven totally wrong.
Get the latest news in sacbee.com's Recall Election Newsletter. Sign up here. |
Recall candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks Wednesday in Los Angeles. |
After meeting behind closed doors with an economic team led by billionaire investor Warren Buffett and former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, Schwarzenegger strode into a scene unlike most in a gubernatorial campaign. In a hotel meeting room with enough cameras for a movie premiere, reporters from all corners of the globe shouted questions for 40 minutes on everything from taxes and family leave to Schwarzenegger's relationship with actor Rob Lowe.
Attacked by opponents for not offering specific plans in his 2-week-old campaign to replace Gov. Gray Davis, Schwarzenegger courted more criticism when he said budget cuts would be required to fix California's economy -- but refused to say where he would cut, and insisted voters might not care anyway.
"Let me tell you something, that the public doesn't care about figures, they've heard figures for the past five years, figures and percentages and all those kind of things," he said.
"What the people want to hear is, is are you going to make the changes, are you tough enough to go in there and provide leadership. That's what this is about, and I will be tough enough."
Schwarzenegger said that as governor he would order a 60-day independent audit of the state's books to help him decide where to cut. He said education was not on the table but that he might identify some specific cuts in the seven weeks before the Oct. 7 election.
He also promised to convene a special legislation session focused on reforming workers' compensation and said he wouldn't sign a budget without such reform. He pledged to focus on regulatory reform, energy reform and what he described as the unemployment insurance fund crisis.
Schwarzenegger said he would support a constitutional spending cap and seek to reduce the state's operating deficit while addressing a budget deficit now estimated by the state at $8 billion, but which Schwarzenegger pegged at $12 billion to $20 billion.
With California's credit rating near junk bond levels, Schwarzenegger said he was appointing a working group charged with restructuring the state's debt.
"Now before the carping begins about the need for the 25-point plan on each one of those items, let me make one thing clear, that these problems that I've just mentioned were not created in two weeks, nor will we be able to solve those problems in two weeks," he said.
He said businesses needed to be attracted back to the state to restore California to the vibrancy it enjoyed when he immigrated from Austria. Though he refused to rule out raising taxes in an extreme situation, he said Californians have been overtaxed while Sacramento politicians have overspent.
"I feel that the people of California have been punished enough, from the time they get up in the morning and flush the toilet they're taxed," he said.
Flanked by Buffett and Shultz, Schwarzenegger also reaffirmed his support for California's beloved anti-property tax measure Proposition 13. Buffett caused a controversy last week by making comments critical of Proposition 13.
"I told Warren that if he mentions Prop. 13 one more time he has to do 500 sit-ups," Schwarzenegger joked, as Buffett feinted dropping to the ground to carry out the order.
"I'm a big supporter of Proposition 13," Schwarzenegger said.
Asked his stance on California's landmark family leave law passed under Davis, Schwarzenegger said he would have to look at it. He said Lowe was a friend and supporter, not an adviser as has been reported.
Schwarzenegger held the press conference after meeting for about two hours with Shultz, Buffett and 18 other members of his Economic Recovery Council. Among them were business and political leaders including former California Secretary of State Bill Jones and Michael Boskin, former chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers under former President George H.W. Bush.
"So what's a fellow from Nebraska doing out here in California? Like most things in life there's an emotional reason and a rational reason," Buffett said before the meeting. The emotional reason, he said, was that he's long summered in California. As for the rational reason, "If California has troubles, the country has troubles. If California prospers, the country prospers."
The group met in a cabinet-like setting in an airport hotel conference room, seated around a horseshoe table with Schwarzenegger in front of American and California flags.
-- By Erica Werner, Associated Press Writer
I started reading your post without noting who wrote it. All I could think of is where did this person with a real brain come from? Of course it was you.
What blew my mind yesterday was the Field Poll results on turn out multipliers. As you know the key to poll accuracy lies in the turn out multipliers. Field says as of now this special election will have 45 percent Democratic, 40 percent Republican and 15 percent Independent voter turn out. That is why Arnie dropped in the field poll. If those turn out numbers are true, then the USA today poll is worthless. Pollsters have been using the 2000 turn out multipliers based on the assumption that the 2002 turn out for the governors race was an aberration. The 2000 turn out was nearly 30 percent independent. Field polled the groups for likely turn out.
But if 2002 turn out was not just a one time thing..... and the centrist turn out is once again just 15 percent.... This could be a surprising election.
You can read my take as of late last night by clicking here.
At minimum, I think it can be said that Schwarzenegger is blowing smoke with his contention that he can balance the budget with no tax increases, with education "off the table."
There have to be some serious cuts...more like a gutting.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.