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Schwarzenegger: Republicans who backed tax hikes are 'great heroes' By Rob Hotakainen Feb. 23, 2009 WASHINGTON --- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday came to the aid of six Republican lawmakers who ran afoul of the state GOP Party for backing a budget with tax increases, calling them "great heroes" who put people before politics. "I think that they've done a terrific job and they should pay very little attention to what the party says," the governor told reporters in Washington. "Because remember what I said, what is good for the party is not good for the people and what is...

How bad did things get between Der Governator and his fellow Republicans? Schwarzenegger’s biographer, Joe Mathews, reports that he recently considered dropping out of the party altogether. It’s the latest blast in a long-running war. A few months ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger and a few close associates discussed whether he should leave the Republican Party, according to two people familiar with the conversation. His friend Mike Bloomberg, the New York mayor, had become an independent. Maybe Schwarzenegger should, too. But the governor and his people quickly concluded that Californians already saw him as independent of the Republican Party. So what would...

Reporting from Sacramento — After five years as governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger came full circle on Friday: The film star who promised to rescue California from its fiscal wreckage without raising taxes signed into law $12.5 billion in tax hikes. With that, the Republican governor broke one of the few bonds left between his shrunken party and California's mainstream voters, marring its hard-won image as a guardian against higher taxes. "Their last gasp has been taken from them," said Larry N. Gerston, a political scientist at San Jose State, citing the unpopularity among most California voters of the party's conservative stands...

SACRAMENTO — After months of dire warnings and a week of round-the-clock arm-twisting, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this afternoon signed a $41 billion budget package of steep tax increases and spending cuts. ... There is something in the package sure to offend nearly everyone: fed-up voters, tax-averse conservatives, labor unions, environmentalists, educators and local officials worried about how to keep the fraying social safety net from snapping. The deal also could end the political careers of the handful of Republican legislators who joined fractious Democrats to vote "aye" as the sun rose Thursday. The governor did not make any comments as...

SACRAMENTO-While tensions are rising between President Obama and Congressional Republicans, California's Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he is eager for more opportunities to partner with Obama on big issues like health care and energy. He's also got some advice for the new president about building inclusive "post-partisan" coalitions. Schwarzenegger is positioned to become perhaps Obama's most important Republican ally. He was among the most prominent GOP governors who backed the economic recovery plan that cleared Congress with support from no Republicans in the House and just three in the Senate. And Schwarzenegger has advanced his own state-level initiatives on health...

FEBRUARY 18, 2009 The Decline of California They still think they can tax their way out of this one. If you thought Washington's stimulus debate was depressing, take a look at the long-running budget spectacle in California. The Golden State's deficit has reached $42 billion, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is threatening to furlough 20,000 state workers (go ahead, make our day), and as we went to press yesterday Democrats who control the legislature had blocked lawmakers from leaving until they finally get a deal. It's sad to watch. The Golden State -- which a decade ago was the booming technology capital...

JANUARY 31, 2009 California's 'Green Jobs' Experiment Isn't Going Well By STEPHEN MOORE Los Angeles Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was all smiles in 2006 when he signed into law the toughest anti-global-warming regulations of any state. Mr. Schwarzenegger and his green supporters boasted that the regulations would steer California into a prosperous era of green jobs, renewable energy, and technological leadership. Instead, since 2007 -- in anticipation of the new mandates -- California has led the nation in job losses. The regulations created a cap-and-trade system, similar to proposed federal global-warming measures, by limiting the CO2 that utilities, trucking companies and...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday plans to discuss his goals for political reform that may include a push to change California's primary election laws. The governor and those close to him who helped spearhead the recent change in the state's redistricting laws are expected to voice suport for open primaries, which would allow voters to cast primary ballots for any candidate, regardless of partisan affiliation. A ballot initiative could be before voters by 2010, perhaps even earlier, to change the state's primary laws. Schwarzenegger has already signaled his support of an open primary. That issue - and others - are...

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the chairwoman of the state Air Resources Board both signaled Wednesday that regulators will approve a landmark plan to combat global warming, even though a vote has yet to be cast. The air board takes up the plan, which is contested by key business groups and some economists, Thursday. Asked why the state should push ahead during a recession, Schwarzenegger said: "Well, first of all, let me just say that I recommend very strongly that we move forward, because it doesn't make any sense that we are looking at our health and destroying our...

On Friday, the California Air Resources Board will decide whether to adopt its “scoping plan” for the implementation of AB 32, the 2006 anti-global warming law. It requires state energy suppliers to use far more power from cleaner but more costly sources. Given that this would impose unique burdens on California businesses, many observers (including this editorial page) have been skeptical and said a national or international approach to global warming makes more sense. The response from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been that the opposite is true: Far from burdening the economy, the forced transition to new sources of power...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is looking to get his reform mojo back. Buoyed by the passage of a redistricting overhaul he had sought for years, the governor who famously promised to "blow up the boxes" of state government is expected to press ahead next year with a broader government reform agenda ... . The goal: reverse the dysfunction of the Legislature, ... With many of his other policy ambitions stifled by the tanking state budget, reclaiming the reform mantle may be an opportunity for Schwarzenegger to burnish his legacy ... The narrow passage of Proposition 11, ... , gives...

Five years ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger took over a state drowning in red ink, brimming with confidence that he and the Legislature would forge a bipartisan solution that would put California back on sound financial footing. “I know there are some who say that the Legislature and I will never agree on solutions to our problems,” the internationally famous bodybuilder and action-movie star said in his Nov. 17, 2003, inaugural address. “But I've found in my life that people often respond in remarkable ways to remarkable challenges.” Five years later, Schwarzenegger presides over a state drowning in red ink and last...

SACRAMENTO, California: Arnold Schwarzenegger still has two years left in his term as California's governor, but the Austrian-born Hollywood star already appears to be preparing for his next role — likely on the world stage. In January, he will address the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Switzerland. That event follows an international summit on reducing greenhouse gas emissions he convened earlier this month in Beverly Hills. Schwarzenegger also has been asked repeatedly whether he would entertain a position if offered one by President-elect Barack Obama, most likely focused on alternative energy or other environmental initiatives. He's been coy in...

For more than two years, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, leading California Democrats and environmentalists have insisted that AB 32 – a 2006 law requiring California businesses and residents to use cleaner but far more costly sources of energy by 2020 – would actually prove to be an economic bonanza. They asserted it would position the state to lead the world in green technology and reduce societal costs stemming from air pollution. This claim falls apart under the slightest inspection. Sure, some well-positioned industries might thrive. But how could sharply increasing the operating costs of most businesses and reducing the disposable income...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Sunday he will not join legislative Democrats in a court fight against Proposition 8 despite his opposition to the same-sex marriage ban, but he believes the courts ultimately should and will allow such marriages in California. The Republican governor reiterated on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" that, "for me, marriage is between a man and a woman. But I don't want to ever force my will on anyone." "I think that the Supreme Court was right by saying (a gay marriage ban) was unconstitutional and that everyone should have the right," Schwarzenegger said. "So the...

Priorities: California is headed toward fiscal disaster, thanks to the worst performance by any state, ever. So what does Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger do? Convene a big meeting on global warming, of course.The swaggering governator will host an international summit next week "to discuss and develop strategies aimed at combating climate change." Along with California's chief executive, five other governors plan to attend the extravaganza — between, of course, pleading for bailouts from Washington for their ailing state economies. Also invited are officials from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the EU, India, Indonesia, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Spain and Britain. In case...

Reporting from Sacramento and Pasadena -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today expressed hope that the California Supreme Court would overturn Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage. He also predicted that the 18,000 gay and lesbian couples who have already married would not be affected by the initiative. "It's unfortunate, obviously, but it's not the end," Schwarzenegger said in an interview on CNN this morning. "I think that we will again maybe undo that, if the court is willing to do that, and then move forward from there and again lead in that area."

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and an ideologically polarized Legislature had danced around California's budget mess for years, running up deficits even during prosperous years and covering shortfalls with hide-the-pea bookkeeping and phantom revenues. Their current budget, enacted just a few weeks ago after a record-long stalemate, was packed with even more gimmicks and based on a revenue forecast that wasn't worth the paper on which it was printed. And on Thursday, Schwarzenegger – who was elected five years ago on his pledge to end "crazy deficit spending" – made it official: The...

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday said Democrat Barack Obama's victory in the presidential race is an "extraordinary accomplishment" that will be great for the country. The Republican governor congratulated Obama, a Democrat, for his historic win and urged Americans of all political stripes to get behind him. "We are ready as a state to do everything that we can to work with the White House and with his administration," Schwarzenegger said during a news conference in favor of a redistricting measure he championed on Tuesday's ballot. The initiative remained too close to call. Schwarzenegger has left...

California's first lady says she is voting against a ballot initiative that would prohibit same-sex couples from getting married in California. Maria Shriver said in an interview with KNBC-TV in Los Angeles that she is voting no on Proposition 8. Shriver said, "I believe in people's right to choose a partner that they love, and that's a decision that I have come to, and I have felt that way for a long time." Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also opposes Prop. 8.