PING!
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Just like the Clinton pardons he has to get every dime he can now before he is thrown out.
I would bet the slickster is advising him how to do it.
I'm confused. I thought the state couldn't afford 30 million for the recall election.
I think thats OK.....if he uses his own money.
Yep, sure whatever. The dirty little secret is that taxes are going to be raised, and raised substantially, no matter who is elected governor next year. The only issue is what systemic reforms will be enacted so that the tax raises are temporary, and subject to a sunset clause. Massive reform is needed, which will probably have to be effected by initiative (public employee pensions, privitization, public school reform, repairing the business climate, etc.), while in the interim perhaps leaving the state without a budget, and returning public employees to the minimum wage. That will take time. Who is most reasonably calculated to declare a Jihad on the state legislature and go for the throat?
Ya I am a moderate, and that sounds immoderate, but I do have some skill with numbers. At least I can add and subtract, and know how to read an income statement in a budget.
Folks, the denial of reality by just about everybody in this state of California is simply awesome.
Next year in California is going to generate a LOT of threads. We live in interesting times.
PS: John, thanks for the kind words on the other thread. When we first became friendly, we disagreed about half the time; now it is down to about 25% of the time. I think that is in part because we really communicate with each other in good and honest spirit.
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| 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