Free Republic

Schwarzenegger says he wants to ban junk food at schools - By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer Sunday, March 6, 2005 (03-06) 13:18 PST Columbus, Ohio (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Sunday he wants to ban all sales of junk food in California schools and legislation was being introduced to accomplish the goal. Vending machines in schools should be filled with fresh fruits, vegetables and milk, Schwarzenegger said during a question-and-answer session with fans on the final day of his Arnold Classic bodybuilding weekend. The question session is an annual event at the athletics show. Schwarzenegger's comments on junk...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday that redrawing the state's legislative and congressional districts would break the hold of the political elite, but a leading Democrat labeled the proposal a Republican power grab. Schwarzenegger is pushing a constitutional amendment that would transfer the Legislature's power to draw legislative and congressional districts to a panel of retired judges that would produce new districts for the 2006 elections. Current districts, Schwarzenegger said, were drawn to maintain the partisan lineups that existed in the Legislature and congressional delegation following the 2000 federal census and few of them are competitive. Some look...

Dear Save Our License Friend: Thank you. Thank you for your hard work, financial help and continued support of the Save Our License Initiative. This past five months, thousands of individuals throughout our great state have spent countless hours collecting signatures and have donated their hard-earned money in an effort to qualify the initiative. We have spent the past two weeks counting and verifying signatures, and it is our duty to report that our current effort to qualify the Save Our License Initiative has fallen short. Because of your hard work and financial sacrifice, we spent almost $200,000 on paid...

WASHINGTON (AP) - When California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger nabbed an endorsement from Common Cause for his plan to redraw political district lines, some Democrats and open-government activists were dismayed. How could the respected good government group sign on with a governor who's been criticized for his supercharged fund-raising? Why was Common Cause embracing a plan that's picked up little or no backing from other nonprofit groups? "Common Cause is star-struck and so they're lending the governor their brand," said Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a Santa Monica-based consumer group that's among Schwarzenegger's chief critics....

Carmel -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger put himself at odds with President Bush over stem cell research Monday by endorsing a ballot measure that would use state bonds to promote that line of scientific inquiry, and he bucked leaders of his own party in California by embracing an initiative to open up primary elections. Proposition 71 would authorize the sale of $3 billion in bonds and the creation of a state institute that would award grants to stem cell researchers.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Endorses Prop 71Republican Governor Joins Effort to Fund Stem Cell Research Stating Initiative Furthers California's Position as World's Global Leader in the Bio-Tech Industry LOS ANGELES, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has joined a broad, diverse and growing coalition of business groups, elected officials, medical organizations and patient groups in endorsing a YES vote on Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative, on the November 2 statewide ballot. Prop 71 will support stem cell research at California hospitals, medical schools and universities, to develop lifesaving therapies and cures for diseases that could...

Arnold Schwarzenegger has proven his worth as governor of California. Amazingly, he has managed to single-handedly undermine the Democratic Party in that state which controls all statewide offices except his, both houses of the legislature, and a large majority of California’s Congressional delegation. He has been as big a lightning rod for controversy as he has been successful as well. Not bad for the nation’s first metrosexual governor. Not long after he was sworn in as governor, Arnold took on the Democratic establishment in terms of getting the state’s finances back on its feet. Since the Democrats in both houses...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger rode an extraordinary wave of popularity in his first year, thanks to a blend of celebrity, political smarts, and a bit of rookie luck. But the so-called Governator now faces so much criticism that many wonder whether he might be a mere mortal after all. The Republican governor who negotiated tough agreements with Democrats, charmed legislators with visits to his smoking tent and met rapturous crowds at shopping malls across California has hit a sophomore slump, marked by a series of actions that his adversaries are calling naive and even hypocritical. His state...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some Republican Party backers of abortion rights are upset with their party's new chairman, Ken Mehlman, for planning to host a salute next week to those who favor banning abortion. "This crosses the line," Ann Stone, national chair of Republicans for Choice, a political action group with about 100,000 members nationwide, said on Friday. Mehlman has scheduled an event on Monday to honor those who participate in the march that day against the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. our party's fight to protect the sanctity of life."

It's easy to critique Arnold Schwarzenegger's rookie year as California governor, and this space has contained its share of criticisms about errors of action and inaction. If one were to generalize about those mistakes, it would be that he overpromised the voting public and specific interest groups, especially on fixing the deficit-saturated state budget. It began on inauguration day 14 months ago, when his first act was to reinstate a very popular, $4 billion per year reduction in car taxes, while insisting that he could still fix the chronic budget gap. And it continued with promises to educators about school...

The state should invest $1 billion in stem-cell research over the next 10 years to keep scientists from leaving New York for California, three state senators said yesterday. On Nov. 2, California voters passed Proposition 71, which mandates the state spend $3 billion on stem-cell research. "If the state of New York does not recognize the competitive need, our research scientists are all going to change their tune from 'I Love New York' to 'California, Here I Come,' " Deputy Minority Leader Eric Schneiderman (D- Bronx) told a press conference at City Hall.

Former Gov. Christie Whitman's new book, "It's My Party Too" hasn't been released yet, but conservatives and Christian fundamentalists are enraged already, based on reviews and excerpts. "It sounds as if the author of the book is a Michael Moore radical, not a former member of President Bush's Cabinet," fumed Gary Bauer, a conservative activist and former presidential candidate. Rick Scarborough, a conservative Christian who is chairman of Vision America, wrote that Whitman's call to moderate GOP positions would be "political suicide" and that Whitman herself is a RINO (Republican in Name Only). Whitman argues that the rise of "social...

Schwarzenegger on the State of the State By Ken Masugi Television allowed us to visualize the fight against "special interests" Governor Schwarzenegger is spoiling for. The tedious build-up he was given at his State of the State speech Wednesday night said almost all. (Sacbee audio here, under the story on the speech.) The silly Assembly Speaker Nunez, the investigated Secretary of State Shelley, the investigated President Pro Tem of the Senate Perata, the boorish, ponderous Lt. Gov. Bustamante (whom the Governor sarcastically congratulated for "his wonderful speech" introducing him), all those officials down to members of the State Board...

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers prepared for battle on Thursday over his ambitions to restrain state spending and avoid tax increases in a budget proposal due next week. Schwarzenegger vowed on Wednesday to seek voter backing through ballot measures if his agenda is blocked by lawmakers. "If we here in this chamber don't work together to reform the government, the people will rise up and reform it themselves. And I will join them," he said. "You'll clearly have a partisan divide because what Schwarzenegger basically said is 'We've got a spending issue, not a revenue issue," said Larry Gerston,...

Arnold's second State Of The State Address to the California State Legislature.

There was uproar in Republican circles last week when California Governor Arnold Scharzenegger (search) was quoted in a German newspaper saying that the Republican Party should "move a little further left." But the reporter who conducted the interview now says Schwarzenegger never actually said that. Marc Hujer translated Schwarzenegger's English remarks into German and says he changed the phrasing to make the interview more understandable to a German audience. Schwarzenegger actually said he'd like to "Keep [the Republican Party] to the right where it is, but ... cross over that centerline a little bit, because that would immediately take away...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told a German newspaper this month that the Republican Party needs to "cross the center line" — that is, to slide toward the left. He couldn't be more wrong — and more disloyal to real Republicanism. The comment made it clear he's part of the only group more disappointed than the Democrats with last month's election results: liberal Republicans.

McClintock, Issa jockey for new campaign in '06Lieutenant governor attracts pair if governor, Boxer seek re-electionBy Timm Herdt, therdt@VenturaCountyStar.comDecember 17, 2004Nearly a year and a half before the primary, two of the key figures in the California recall election are engaged in a political game of chicken to dissuade the other from attempting to become Gov. Arnold Schwarz-enegger's unofficial running mate in 2006. Sen. Tom McClintock of Thousand Oaks, who stamped his name on the minds of California voters by remaining a candidate for governor throughout the recall campaign, already has formed a committee and is raising money for a...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will decide what his budget will contain. But if he follows the lead of his new finance director, Tom Campbell, it should be a more straightforward document than he and other governors have presented in the past.[snip] ... ``This will be an honest budget. This will be a budget that will withstand the careful scrutiny of anyone looking for what sometimes has been called trickery.'' ...Campbell specifically ruled out a number of the tricks that have been used in the past. ...[snip]He will give up on the idea of borrowing almost a billion dollars, by issuing bonds,...

"Are you, like, the governor?" a second grader asked Maria Shriver Schwarzenegger during a visit to his school. "That's a really loaded question," Shriver answered with a smile, the San Jose Mercury News reported. all that loaded it seems. The governor’s wife is seen as a force to be reckoned with in the California state capitol, the News explained. There’s nothing new about the glamorous TV reporter working alongside her husband. The News says she’s long been a full partner in Arnold Schwarzenegger's business affairs. "I've always been interested in helping Arnold with whatever he was doing. I want him...