Free Republic

I don't recall even being in a situation where the closer Election Day gets, the less likely I am to vote for the GOP nominee. Yet, that is where I find myself vis-a-vis Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. I'm one of many conservatives who voted for Arnold in the recall, despite my preference for Tom McClintock. I found the prospect of Cruz Bustamante in the governor's office horrifying and wasn't convinced McClintock could win. The stakes so too high I though it prudent to back the Republican with the best chance of winning, and so I cast my vote for Arnold. Like...

Schwarzenegger Squashes Religious Freedom Thomasson: “Arnold Schwarzenegger has two faces. He speaks at churches and says he believes in religious freedom and family values, yet he’s stabbing pro-family Californians in the back.” Sacramento, California – Campaign for Children and Families is shocked and dismayed that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed SB 1441 (Kuehl). Today’s disastrous action by Schwarzenegger means Christian and other faith-based colleges in California will be forced to promote transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality if they accept students with Cal Grants. “People of conscience are appalled that Arnold Schwarzenegger has trampled religious freedom to satisfy hyperactive sexual activists,”...

We teach our children that, if they tell the truth, they won't get into trouble. It didn't work out that way for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who, during a series of town hall meetings last week, put his finger on an unpleasant -- but undeniable -- facet of the immigration debate and got pummeled for it by right-wing talk radio hosts and bloggers who can't accept the truth. Schwarzenegger warns that we are entering "a dangerous area.'' He thinks we shouldn't blame those who want to come to America but rather the federal government, which is "not securing our borders.''...

SAN FRANCISCO Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to headline a fundraiser for gay Republicans in Hollywood next week in what would be his first appearance in front of a gay audience since he took office, according to the event's organizers. The June 29 fundraiser for Log Cabin Republicans comes as Schwarzenegger considers whether to veto a bill that would require chapters from gay history to be added to public school text books in California. The governor already has indicated he opposes the measure. The governor's stock has been down with gay rights groups since he vetoed a gay marriage bill in...

After months of having the Democrats all over the state airwaves, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will be wasting no time after the June 6 primary to get back into the starring role in California politics. .... Then, it's Terminator Time: Word is filtering out that he'll hit the road on a big bus tour the next day. If that's true, it will not only put the pedal to the metal -- it won't give the Dems (or hey, the press corps) much time to recuperate from what's been a scorched earth campaign. ...... One other thing: Arnold looks to be going...

First, immigration is about our security. The first order of business for the federal government is to secure our borders. Washington must do a better job of it. We learned on 9/11 that not all who cross our borders want to share in the American dream. A few want to replace it with a nightmare. If we don't know who is coming over our borders, we won't know whatthey might do. And in a post-Sept. 11 world, that is a risk we cannot take. Congress must strengthen our borders. That's why as governor, I have supported legislation to end human...

SACRAMENTO – Republican activists are gaining ground in a bid to get their party to denounce Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's spending policies. The chairman of the state party has agreed to help get three draft resolutions against the governor's budget, public-works and minimum-wage-increase proposals a "full and fair hearing" at the Feb. 24-26 GOP convention in San Jose. A controversial draft resolution - chastising Schwarzenegger's appointment of dozens of non-Republican judges to the bench - gained a key endorsement Wednesday by the California Republican Lawyers Association. "As the only chartered Republican lawyers organization in the state, we had to take a...

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said yesterday he wouldn't fire his top staffer, Democrat Susan Kennedy, to appease Republican activists worried about his move toward the middle. "I will hire the people I want to hire because they are the best," he said. "I will keep Susan Kennedy exactly where she is." Schwarzenegger discussed a wide range of issues during his appearance at the Sacramento Press Club, saying voters should decide whether California enacts a physician-assisted suicide law and pledging to release his tax returns for the past 10 years. During his career before he became governor, Schwarzenegger said, "90...

A grassroots effort has been launched here in California to recall Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger's election to governor is the result of another recall. In 2003, Californians recalled Governor Grey Davis. We have local reaction to this effort to oust Schwarzenegger from office. The group calls itself “Save California Now” and their website is recall2006.com. They say they have 10,000 volunteers signed up, all with the same goal in mind: recall Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger before this year's November election. But locals aren't so sure a recall is feasible.

Sequestered at an elegant Newport Beach hotel, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday began an election-year campaign to rehabilitate himself among disaffected supporters. At a closed-door luncheon with about 40 donors in this wealthy Republican enclave, Schwarzenegger sought to ease their fears about the direction his administration has taken in recent weeks. ... ... A contrite Schwarzenegger is attempting to assuage donors who are worried that he has shape-shifted into a Democrat — but he is facing opposition on multiple fronts. Although many in the GOP are angry that he hired Susan Kennedy, an aide to former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis,...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Attempting to rekindle his image as a bipartisan populist, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday urged cooperation among lawmakers and proposed a sweeping $222 billion public works program that would require the largest bond package in state history. The governor's annual State of the State speech addressed issues basic to the lives of most Californians, including more funding for public schools, rebuilding freeways and transit systems, improving air quality and raising the minimum wage. He asked Californians to move beyond a year filled with acrimony over the special election he had called and devoid of significant political accomplishment....

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger began 2005 convinced California was in need of major changes and believing he had the clout to sell his "year of reform" to voters. He starts the new year in a far different position. Much of his political capital is gone, spent in the ill-fated special election, he will face a well-funded Democratic opponent in his re-election bid next year, and he even caused upheaval within his own party when he appointed a Democratic activist as his chief of staff. Meanwhile, he has to show voters that he remains capable of significant accomplishments. But...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's top education advisor said the administration is prepared to consider raising taxes as part of a long-term solution to the problems plaguing California schools. The statement by California Education Secretary Alan Bersin came in a Dec. 1 speech to the California School Boards Assn. It was posted on the group's website Friday. His comments mark the first time any top administration official has acknowledged that new taxes could be needed to restore the quality of state services. "No one can look at the history of California education over the last generation and not notice we...

FREEP ARNOLD: Don't Be A Capital Punishment Girly-Man (TOOKIE MUST DIE) It's time to contact California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger and urge him to permit justice to run served--victim's rights demand Tookie's Termination. Posts to FR threads probably won't be seen by him or his staff--it's preaching to the choir. Posts to the Official Governor of California Governor web site WILL be seen by his staff. Please go there and THEN also bump and ping this thread. Let's do it nicely, but firmly. Thanks. Tookie's victims and our society is counting on us. Below is a sample message. -------------------------------------------------- SUBJECT: Type...

The past few weeks have been a wakeup call to those Republicans, and especially those conservatives, who got stars in their eyes and supported movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger for governor during the historic Gray Davis recall campaign. On the heels of a decisive defeat in the recent special election for his reform ballot initiatives, the Terminator is acting like he wants to terminate his alliance with the Republican Party. Since he has failed to even slow the nonstop spending of the California Legislature, Arnold's false reading of the election-results tea leaves has now led him to join the Democrat Party...

30 minutes with Arnie to plead for life or death of a gangster From Chris Ayres in Los Angeles LAWYERS for Stanley "Tookie" Williams, the gangster facing imminent execution by lethal injection, delivered an eleventh-hour appeal for clemency to Arnold Schwarzenegger last night. They were given 30 minutes to persuade the California Governor not that Williams, co-founder of the notorious Crips street gang, was innocent of the four murders for which he was convicted, but that he was a reformed character who now preaches non-violence from death row and deserves mercy. The high-profile campaign to save Williams presents Mr Schwarzenegger,...

California Republicans are in open revolt against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over his hiring of a Democratic operative as his new chief of staff. And one leading state GOP official is touting actor Mel Gibson as a possible Republican primary challenger to Schwarzenegger. Officials with the California Republican Party are said to be furious with Schwarzenegger and have demanded a private meeting with the governor to complain about his appointment of Susan P. Kennedy, who was a Cabinet secretary during the administration of Gov. Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger was elected governor after an extraordinary effort succeeded to recall Davis in 2003.

Arnold Schwarzenegger stunned California last week by selecting the former deputy chief of staff to Gray Davis, the Democratic governor ousted by the recall that brought Mr. Schwarzenegger to power, to be his own chief of staff. Conservatives are furious that Susan Kennedy, a 45-year-old former acolyte of radical activists Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda, will be Gov. Schwarzenegger's top administrator, with power to hire and fire staff. Some liberals are angry at her joining a GOP governor; others are bemused. This Wednesday, 450 Gray Davis alumni will fill the state capitol for the unveiling of Mr. Davis's portrait. Ms....

The appointment of Susan Kennedy as Chief of Staff to the Governor is a betrayal of the hard working activists that supported the Governor during the recent special election. Kennedy has a track record as an active partisan Democrat that has worked contrary to Republican candidates and beliefs. Those of us who supported the recall of Gray Davis now find one of his top operatives, Susan Kennedy as the leader of Schwarzenegger staff. Not only did she work for Davis, but Kennedy is plagued by her involvement in the Oracle scandal. This is a dangerous false start for the Governor,...

We can discuss all of the details surrounding the bad run up to the election, the mistakes with drafting the initiatives and the battles within the horseshoe itself...but time calls for me to be short and to the point: 1. I'm still placing some 'blame' squarely upon the conservatives of the Republican Party. The "Tombots", along with the 'continual vendetta crowd' (you know who you are) never embraced Arnold. Simple 'pride' wouldn't let go of the 'sour grapes' they held as the party went for the win in the recall election (BTW: I still believe it was the right thing...