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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger considers himself a glass-half-full guy, and he ended his California Small Business Day speech in Sacramento with a dose of optimism. But it seemed clear the governor has just about had it with California's governance system, especially after last week's special election was a colossal failure. Though he blamed many of the state's budget problems on the current economic collapse, he said part of our woes are "self-inflicted." "California hasn't had a responsible fiscal system since Earl Warren in the late '40s and early '50s," he said. The governor ticked off a number of complaints about the...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday that he and lawmakers will try to quickly solve the state's $21.3 billion deficit without taxes, gimmicks or much borrowing. The Republican governor told reporters after a prayer breakfast in the capital that voters sent state leaders a clear message during Tuesday's special election: Live within your means. Schwarzenegger said he took that as a sign voters want more cuts to state programs. He also has proposed selling state assets such as San Quentin State Prison, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and CalExpo, the state fairgrounds in Sacramento. "All of us have to do the...

Here are some partial quotes: "Voters were very confused on what we were asking them to do" "Voters were saying: "It was quite complex" "This is too complicated" "We don't want to vote on it" "We are fatigued with the number of elections we have had, especially Special Elections" "We realize that there are going to be cuts but whatever needs to be done, you do it, and we don not want to participate in it." What an arrogant condescending twit. And she still doesn't get it. I sent her a "nice" message. http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/Speaker/

MapsAll Ballot Measures Statewide/County Ballot Measures Proposition 1A Proposition 1D Proposition 1B Proposition 1E Proposition 1C Proposition 1F 65.9% NO on 1A 62.6% No on 1B

Defeat is sharp rebuke to governor, Legislature Matthew Yi,Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau Tuesday, May 19, 2009 As expected, California voters were rejecting a package of ballot measures in Tuesday's special election that would have reduced the state's projected budget deficit of $21.3 billion to something slightly less overwhelming: $15.4 billion, early returns showed. The defeat of the measures means that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state Legislature will have to consider deeper cuts to education, public safety, and health and human services, officials have said. Propositions 1A through 1E were being defeated in early returns. Those measures seek to...

The spendthrift governor and Legislature over-taxed and over-spent California state government into its current predicament. They put government employees first and taxpayers second. They routinely overestimated future revenue while consistently mismanaging the cash on hand. Their fiscal appetites regularly were greater than what they could afford, and they put off solving their financial problems by borrowing more and more, and shifting money around to pay for things taxpayers didn't intend that money to be spent on. This should tell voters everything they need to know about Propositions 1A-1F on Tuesday's special election ballot. The same people who created this mess...

The battle over six budget-related measures on Tuesday's special election ballot has generated more than $31.5 million in campaign spending, split the state's labor community and created strange bedfellows on both sides. Supporters, aided by the powerful California Teachers Association and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's business allies, have raised more than $27.6 million to back Propositions 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E and 1F. Opponents, a collection of unions, anti-tax groups and supporters of children's and mental health programs, have raised $3.8 million. ... the California Federation of Teachers, a smaller rival to the California Teachers Association ... has chipped in more...

The end of Washington’s spending spree may soon come thanks to incautious California. The day care center known as the California Legislature has led the State of Disaster to fiscal ruin. So bad is the situation here in the Shaky State that politicians - unable to balance the budget without bankrupting the taxpayers - rigged a series of ballot propositions to do jigger the books. ... Odds of these ballot measures passing is slightly below Hell’s sixth ring. If they fail, California’s $42 billion shortage combined with its junk bond rating would likely push the Land of Fruits and Nuts...

On Jan. 10, 2008, it was 22,000. This past New Year's Eve, it was 15,000. Two weeks ago Friday, it was 8,000. Now, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration – looking down the barrel again at a massive budget crisis – is talking about letting 38,000 inmates out of prison before their time is up. Proposals 1 and 2 never got off the ground when the governor's budget writers eventually found the money to keep the prisons full. More recently, the administration never followed up with legislation to enact the early releases corrections Secretary Matt Cate announced on April 24. The latest...

he majorities rejecting the attempt to tax California into a brave new world are growing, and Arnold and his tax-and-spend-and-tax-again Democratic allies are facing an embarrassing meltdown in next week's vote in California. The tax hike crowd have spent massively on the initiatives and Arnold is stumping furiously, but the no vote is fueled by voter anger at the enormous surge in spending in the Golden State over the past decade, and by the refusal to make serious reforms in the way the state runs. The public pension problem is also beginning to come into view, and ordinary voters are...

Late word this evening that will get everyone's attention: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has informed legislative leaders that if three of the six budget-related ballot measures fail next Tuesday, the state faces a $21.3 billion deficit between now and next July. In a letter to the four legislators this afternoon, Schwarzenegger actually offered two new assessments from his budget team of what lies in store for California: a $15.4 billion shortfall if Propositions 1C, 1D, and 1E pass, and the aforementioned $21.3 billion if they fail. This comes after Schwarzenegger told reporters in Culver City today that he intends to release...

Don't think of the May 19 ballot as a special election so much as an IQ test. California voters are being asked to approve six budget "reforms" that will supposedly fix the state's massive budget deficit and keep politicians from digging a big hole in the future. The titles and verbiage for each one are rather complex, but it's not any test of intelligence to figure out what the measures really mean. ... The real test comes with our decision about how to vote ... The underlying question for each of the propositions is the same: Are voters stupid enough...

State's future at stake in May 19 vote John Wildermuth,Matthew Yi May 9, 2009 If California voters reject a package of budget measures in next week's special election, it will set off a fiscal free-for-all that could set the state's course for years to come. Defeat of the measures on the May 19 ballot would chop nearly $6 billion in expected revenue from next year's budget, on top of a projected $8 billion deficit left by shrinking tax collections. Proposals by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and others to close that gap are driving a wildfire of criticism across the state. Deep...

SACRAMENTO (CBS 5) ― Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has said that thousands of inmates could be forced out of state prisons if his proposed ballot measures fail in the upcoming special election. Schwarzenegger said he will open prison doors if voters don't approve the measures to close a projected $6 billion budget hole during the May 19th vote. ... The governor's plan would release 38,000 inmates, 19,000 of those are what the state considers low risk. The other 19,000 inmates are illegal immigrants whose offenses are said to be non-serious. The governor would commute their sentences and release all of them...

SACRAMENTO—Five of the six budget-related measures on California's May 19 special election ballot are trailing, particularly among voters who say they're closely following election news, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll released Thursday. "The voters who are really tuned in are really turned off," said Mark Baldassare, president and chief executive officer of the San Francisco-based research organization. "They see the state's budget situation as a big problem, but so far they don't like the solution." The six propositions, put on the ballot by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers, are an attempt to deal with the state's...

California voters are standing firm in their opposition to the budget-related propositions on the May 19 ballot, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. The PPIC's latest poll mirrors previous surveys showing strong resistance to all but Proposition 1F on elected officials' pay raises. That's even though voters are split on whether the governor and the Legislature should have called the election. Here are the numbers. The rest told pollsters they haven't made up their minds. Proposition 1A: 52 percent no, 35 percent yesProposition 1B: 47 percent no, 40 percent yesProposition 1C: 58 percent no, 32 percent yesProposition 1D:...

The California Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit today against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other state officials to recoup $12 billion in education funds it says the state owes schools. The suit in San Francisco Superior Court comes as CFT campaigns against Proposition 1A, a spending limit and temporary tax hike on the May 19 ballot. That proposal, in conjunction with Proposition 1B, would help provide schools $9.3 billion of the $12 billion that CFT is demanding. But CFT opposes Proposition 1A because it believes the measure would limit long-term funding for schools. The lawsuit is partly a political attempt...

The 'Plan B' scenarios if the special election measures are defeated continue to trickle out of the administration of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. This afternoon, a new one: the governor is prepared to propose a $2 billion suspension of the 2004 constitutional initiative protecting city and county revenues. Talk of suspending 2004's Proposition 1A comes on the heels of a meeting yesterday where Schwarzenegger aides told the firefighting community that voters rejecting the measures on the ballot in two weeks time would result in as many as 1,700 firefighting positions. One local government official on this afternoon's call said the plan...

Here are Rep. McClintock's recommendations for the May 19th Special Election. Prop 1A: Extend the Tax Increases. NO. This is the fig leaf that hides certain deficiencies suffered by the legislators who caved into pressure for the biggest tax increase in California's history. This measure EXTENDS the tax increases for up to two ADDITIONAL years in exchange for a spending limit that doesn't limit spending. The "spending limit" is laughable – it requires placing "unanticipated revenues" into a special fund that is then to be spent for a variety of additional purposes including education, debt service and health care. And...

Prospects are rapidly diminishing for the five ballot measures that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders say they need to keep the state budget from drowning in red ink. So, one might ask, what's Plan B? Rejection of three measures (Propositions 1C, 1D and 1E) would have a direct impact totaling nearly $6 billion on the 2009-10 budget, which was supposedly balanced by Schwarzenegger and legislators in February. Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor has already proclaimed that the 2009-10 plan is $8 billion out of whack, so rejection of those three measures would create a $14 billion hole. But wait, there's...