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Team Arnold lost his Big Four measures -- Propositions 74 through 77 -- on the California ballot Tuesday because this band of political hired guns deserved to lose. They ran a cynical campaign. After Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's big recall-election win in 2003 and his successful fight in 2004 against some well-funded ballot measures -- like the two Big Casino measures and a three-strikes makeover that rode high in the polls until he opposed it -- the team figured he could sell anything to the California voter. So they didn't do a careful job of lining up initiatives with curb appeal...

California's reformer-in-chief looked a lot better in the previews For an action-hero politician who likes to taunt "girlie-men," Arnold Schwarzenegger sure turned out to be a wuss. Two years after sweeping into office with promises to "blow up boxes," perform "the Miracle of Sacramento," and "not rest until our fiscal house is in order," California's Milton Friedman–quoting governor is wasting our time with a special election that does little more than tweak his unionized political tormentors and tinker at the margins of mis-governance, while the state's fiscal house maintains its disorder of $6 billion budget deficits. The governor is tramping...

BURBANK, Calif. - With his popularity at an all-time low, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger turned Monday to another political star - Sen. John McCain - to help sell his November ballot proposals to a skeptical public. In a brief, joint appearance with the governor in a hotel conference room, the Arizona senator urged California voters to support the four initiatives backed by Schwarzenegger on the special election ballot. They said little about the specifics of the proposals and instead depicted them broadly as an important step in efforts to make government more accountable. "I have campaigned for reform efforts all over...

In an interview with a German newspaper late last year, Arnold Schwarzenegger urged the GOP to adopt more liberal stances, identifying that as the key to a winning political formula. "The Republican party currently covers only the spectrum from the right wing to the middle, and the Democratic party covers the spectrum from the left to the middle," the newspaper quoted him as saying. "I would like the Republican Party to cross this line, move a little further left and place more weight on the center. This would immediately give the party 5% more votes without it losing anything elsewhere."...

SAN FRANCISCO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pulled his "Year of Reform" special election from his populist playbook, predicting that California voters will support his agenda because they want change in the way state government operates. Yet several of the measures on the Nov. 8 ballot, including two of Schwarzenegger's, have that "been there, done that" feeling. The election lineup includes at least three initiatives that are similar to ones California voters have rejected in the past, suggesting the governor could have a difficult selling job in the months ahead. In elections dating to the 1970s, voters have rejected variations of...

The Sierra Nevada, historically a majestic battleground for competing local interests, comes under the stewardship of the state's newest and biggest conservancy this week. Proponents say the 25-million-acre Sierra Nevada Conservancy will be more than a protector of the mountain environment - it will also be an incubator for jobs and economic growth. The conservancy's 13 voting board members - seven state appointees and six county supervisors - will hold their first meeting at 10 a.m. Thursday in Sacramento at the state Energy Commission building, 1516 Ninth St. The Sierra Nevada Conservancy is the ninth conservancy created by the Legislature...

Early last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recruited Democrats for a bipartisan campaign for twin ballot measures he called vital to restoring the state's fiscal health. In a Sacramento Bee commentary he co-wrote in February 2004 with Democratic state Controller Steve Westly, he said Propositions 57 and 58 would "make sure we would never face another deficit crisis." "Under Proposition 58, California would have to live within its means," Schwarzenegger said. This year, as California again faces a multibillion-dollar deficit, the governor has proposed asking voters to approve another new measure - one titled the "Live Within Our Means Act." He...

Too bad there’s never an egg timer around when you need one. Arnold Schwarzenegger cooked his political future some more this week, recklessly endorsing the anti-illegal-immigrant Minuteman Project vigilantes and helplessly watching as a public poll showed him losing a third of his popularity in three months. Maria Shriver was on the warpath about her husband’s downward spiral, urging wholesale firings at the top of Team Arnold and consulting such unlikely counselors about saving her husband’s career as Dick Morris, the Republican who engineered Bill Clinton’s revival before becoming Fox’s favorite Clinton hater. The wily Morris made his national reputation...

It's become painfully clear that the "super-hero Action Figure" we elected to clean up Sacramento -- the guy who said "I will clean house" -- was just acting all along. The Action Figure told us, "Any of those powerful special interests, if you take money from them, you owe them something….." "I don't have to take money from anybody. I have plenty of money," went on to raise more than $30 million from the special interests, a hoard of loot funneled through a convoluted, secret and loophole-ridden realm of campaign committees and non-profit organizations. He took in $72,000 a day....

SACRAMENTO – One year after taking office, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has cut taxes, avoided a state cash crisis, improved the business climate and is riding high in the polls. But his bid to become perhaps the biggest reform governor since Hiram Johnson, who nearly a century ago led the drive that allows Californians to vote on laws through the initiative process, has stalled in some cases and not yet begun in others. When the Legislature returns in January, Schwarzenegger will again face an issue that led to the ouster of his predecessor, Gray Davis, in a historic recall election last...

SACRAMENTO -- Reversing Gov. Gray Davis' near zero-tolerance policy against paroling convicted murderers, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proven to be 50 times more likely to give second chances to killers. Democrat Davis, in his five years in office, blocked all but six parole recommendations for killers and kidnappers, with two of the recommendations involving the same inmate. Republican Schwarzenegger, in office less than 12 months, has approved 60 parole recommendations from the state Board of Prison Terms for convicts guilty of the most serious crimes. That makes him, on average, 50 times more lenient than Davis. But Schwarzenegger aides dispute...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/938401/posts Recall or Revolution?Sac Bee ^ | 6/30 | WeintraubRunning away won't help. Eventually, the liberals get tired of the destruction they have sowed, and move on to better environs - where you moved to. Excellent idea to start to recall the legislators. The demoncrats are scared silly that the Davis recall will spread to other useless riders on the government gravy train.     http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/937923/posts Push to Recall California Governor Enters Final Week CNSNews.com ^ | 6/30/03 | Robert B. Bluey     http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/937824/posts Business and Labor Leaders Call on President to Halt Recall Effortkxtv ^ So how come...

After signing the Sierra Nevada Conservancy bill along the Bear River, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gives a thumbs-up to dignitaries and the media. From left are Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz; state Resources Agency Secretary Mike Chrisman; California EPA Secretary Terry Tamminen; and Assemblyman Tim Leslie, R-Tahoe City. The Union photo/John Hart Standing on a wide gravel bar with the Bear River flowing gently by him, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the Sierra Nevada Conservancy bill Thursday to the sound of bipartisan applause. "California is where the conservation movement began, and today we are happy to continue this noble tradition," Schwarzenegger said....

The text of a speech by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, as prepared for delivery Tuesday at the Republican National Convention: Thank you. What a greeting! This is like winning an Oscar! ...As if I would know! Speaking of acting, one of my movies was called "True Lies." It's what the Democrats should have called their convention. My fellow Americans, this is an amazing moment for me. To think that a once scrawny boy from Austria could grow up to become Governor of California and stand in Madison Square Garden to speak on behalf of the President of the United States...

In mid-July, when the budget stalemate started to drag, the governor’s office announced a press conference. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared in the Capitol pressroom and blamed the standoff on “special interests” causing “chaos.” Schwarzenegger singled out trial lawyers for supporting the “sue your boss” law, passed during the last days of the previous administration to give workers the right to sue employers for various transgressions. He also accused labor unions of blocking an effort to let school districts contract out school services such as busing rather than stick with union contracts. “I’ve always said, 'When the special interests push me...