Schwarzenegger strengthens calls for special election

[Minstrel Boy]

Schwarzenegger strengthens calls for special election

Wed Jan 26, 2005 06:40 PM ET
By Adam Tanner

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Jan 26 (Reuters) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Wednesday he would kick off an ambitious campaign as early as next month to force a special election that could rewrite California's political map and change what he calls "business as usual."

Appearing frustrated with his efforts to work with the Democrat-dominated legislature since taking office a little more than a year ago, the moderate Republican said 2005 was the year to force a vote that could amount to a defacto no confidence vote in lawmakers.

"The fact of the matter is I gave the legislators the chance to be my partner," he said. "If they don't want to work with me, if they don't want to be the partners, then it will be the people who are the partners."

The former Hollywood superstar has used the threat of government by initiative since he took office in a carrot-and -stick approach to gaining political support.

http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=bondsNews&storyID=7443059

[accipiter]

1. "strengthens"

Idiotic word choice.

[Deja Q]

2. Uh. That's the political system, you steroid-fed twit. What you're doing

(or so far, merely suggesting - the subject line didn't have enough room) is tantamount to destroying the government. And that is surely treason?

[Minstrel Boy]

4. I thought so too.

WTF is going on, California?

[la la]

15. arnie's 'strength'!

arnie wants to build up his strength by having all Californians agree with him. His steriod mix has affected his brain.

:mad:

[Voltaire99]

34. Nice post.

The big test now before us: do the people still want representative democracy?

I'm not betting yes.

[NEOBuckeye]

3. GOP Attempt at Hostile Takeover

They know they can't win a Solid Blue state in a fair fight, so they try to do it by force.


I say Califonians ought to get the jump on "The Gubernator" and recall him first.

[Pirate Smile]

5. Why can't the Democrats use the special election provision to their

advantage? Why are the CA Dem's always on the defensive?

[Democat]

43. They could use it to their advantage, but they seem to have lost focus

The California Democratic Party doesn't seem to have leadership since the Davis fall. For some reason they won't go on the offensive, they are always letting the Republicans call the shots.

It doesn't help that the Republicans control the entire California media, but that's no excuse.

[Wilms]

6. Mehlmen is not happy with Arnold.

Seems the entrenched DemopublicanRepublcrats like things the way they are.


<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=141x6217>

[NYC Liberal]

7. Hey

"The fact of the matter is I gave the legislators the chance to be my partner," he said. "If they don't want to work with me, if they don't want to be the partners, then it will be the people who are the partners."

You deal with the legislature you HAVE, not the one you WANT.

Thanks Herr Rummy! You really taught me a valuable lesson!

[VegasWolf]

8. Good!! Put the guv's name on the special election ballot! n/t

[calimary]

23. And HOW MUCH is that going to cost, Arnie? I thought you said

we had a budget crisis here.

[Zhade]

45. Why bother? He'll just get blackboxed into office again.

NT!

[The_Casual_Observer]

9. That particular ass better be careful. His "mandate" had to do

with his call to roll back a "car tax". I believe it ended there. A radical trojan horse power grab by fiat isn't going to go over real well with the common person, particularly when it looks like he's the one that's causing the problem now.

[dweller]

10. uh, when do the recall petitions start? n/t

dp

[seriousstan]

20. They started the day he was elected. What happened to the movement?

[hector459]

11. Arnold may get a big surprise about his support levels.

He is tainted with Bush now and Arnold is not teflon.

[Sandpiper]

12. Ahnuld is feeling frustrated by...Democracy

These are the people's elected representatives you're working with. Not your entourage of Hollywood sycophants and yes men.

Idiot.

[VegasWolf]

13. Idiot! n/t

[pinniped]

14. I don't remember the POS barking about all this before the (s)election.

Shut-up Pet Terminator groper.

[SaveAmerica]

16. Der Gropinator

[doodadem]

17. Help us out Californians (and other interested parties)!

Received this today, and although I always sign this stuff, and get back Ahnold's same robotoanswer, I'd like to flood his office on this one. This is happening right up the road from me in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. The Forestry Dept. already overroad all public opinion, environmentalists, and scientists last week, to open The National Monument to logging.
We gotta take a stand. Thanks bunches!

Dear NRDC BioGems Defender,

I need your help to persuade California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to be a savior, not a terminator, of California's and America's last wild forests.
The governor campaigned on protecting forests but has acquiesced as the Bush administration prepares to strip 58 million acres (4.4 million in California alone) of pristine, unroaded forests of their protection against roadbuilding, logging and drilling.

Governor Schwarzenegger says he wants to capture "the center" of American politics by being a champion of the environment. And he has indeed shown leadership on popular state laws that will combat global warming and protect marine life.

But apparently he hasn't registered how much Americans care for their national forests.

The governor's inaction has made it easier for President Bush to advance his appalling plan for terminating our last wild forests and throwing them open to greed-driven timber and energy corporations.

It's time that Governor Schwarzenegger heard from hundreds of thousands of people in all 50 states who want to save our last wild forests. Please go to
http://www.savebiogems.org/takeaction.asp
right now and send a message telling the governor to speak for the bipartisan majority by publicly opposing President Bush's plan.

If influential officials like the governor let him, the president will eliminate the hugely popular Roadless Area Conservation Rule that protects unspoiled national forest lands from coast to coast.

From California's Sierra Nevada to the Appalachian Trail, from Alaska's Tongass to the Rocky Mountains, this historic measure protects some of America's greatest sanctuaries for wildlife and people so that their timeless beauty will remain untouched forever.

The Bush administration is trying to open the floodgates to massive timber and energy sales that would send an armada of bulldozers, chainsaws and gas rigs into these last untrammeled forests.

Please go to http://www.savebiogems.org/takeaction.asp
right now and tell Governor Schwarzenegger to stand up for California's and all of America's national forests.

Sincerely,

John H. Adams
President
Natural Resources Defense Council

[doodadem]

35. From the Fresno Bee

There was an editorial in tonight's paper saying the state democrats better get on board with the redistricting, or they could find themselves out of a job. That they just didn't realize how the "moderate" voters were feeling unrepresented, and you know this was how Gov. Gray got recalled. Pretty blatant.
Of course, the letters to the editor included one from a person that said all middle eastern folks are terrorists, another one pushing Bush's Social Security scheme and somehow working an anti-abortion gibe in, etc etc.
Did I mention this is a really RED area of Calif.??? Gov. Arnie is starting to seem to me like the storm trooper sent in to soften this state up for trying to turn it Repuglican. I mean, largest concentration of Dem voters........think about what a coup that would be. I still haven't been able to figure out how Arnie got this job in such a blue majority.

[not fooled]

37. "moderate" my ass

although perhaps not in full knuckle-dragging mode on some social issues, in terms of economic ones, Ahnuld is showing its true colors as another radical kook. Clearly parrots the line from the hard-right crackpot think tanks. And, it appears to be getting more and more RW on economic issues.

Wants to dismantle public employees' pension system, keep tax breaks for the wealthy, and screw the middle class. Even talks about starving government.

STOP CALLING IT A MODERATE 'PUKE. IT IS A RADICAL FAR-RIGHT KOOK like *

[mistertrickster]

18. When do we get to RECALL the bastard? Has he actually fixed any

of the problems that forced out Grey Davis?

[Trajan]

19. Herr Diktator would like to burn down the Reichstag ....

Imagine that .....

[Kerrytravelers]

25. I hate this guy...

but we have a couple of friends (who are pretty asleep at the wheel) who think because they got their car registration cut, this idiot walks on water.

Finally, I said that I'm glad they received their $200, and with that money, they bought budget cuts for disabled children who live below the poverty line, a number of country hospitols shut down, the budget that pays for nurses cut, education slashed, environmental measures vetoed...

...but, I'm sure glad you got your $200.

This guy has a spell on people. I don't know what we're going to do, but he is making a mess out of CA. And now, he wants to redraw districts until he gets the legislatures he wants? This is nuts.

Swchartznenazi is drving us out of CA and * is driving me out of the USA.

I'm thinking of heading towards Scotland, the native home of my people.

[sweetheart]

28. "I'm thinking of heading towards..."

As a california native living in scotland, i can assure you you won't
regret such a call. Its a bit colder (more like the northern california
coast), and politically its got proportional representation, and you
can exhale a giant sigh of relief to see liberal veiws actually
in government!! :-)

Funnily, it seems the reverse clearances are taking place and the
scots driven to the new world in the 1800's are getting the salmon
itch to see the spawning ground.

[bliss_eternal]

21. I hate him so much

as a Californian, I resent the way he got into office--by a greedy, impatient, Republican w/the money to bankroll a recall election.

I knew he would be an absolute nightmare for our state. :(

I also resent the fact that he isn't even someone that has lived the life of an average citizen in this state. He has lived here as a celebrity. His children have attended school as the children of celebrities. What does he really knows about schools here or life here for an average citizen? In my opinion his knowledge in this area is sorely lacking.

He's on some sort of power trip.

[SHRED]

22. arnoldwatch.org

http://www.arnoldwatch.org/

[Oversea Visitor]

24. Does it means

He is also willing to put his Gov. post up for the people to decide too????

[mitchtv]

26. Arnold's dream , "Texafornia"

.this is the fight for democracy in America

[Texifornia]

29. Hey, wait a minute...

I think I should be offended.

;-)

[mitchtv]

30. ha...not a wet dream hope

I should apologize

[Texifornia]

31. 'sOK, you spelled it differently

Swartzy (why does everyone call him by his first name?) is slipping here in Cali. This could absolutely backfire on him.

I'm unconvinced he will be re-elected.

[leesa]

27. This bastard has to go. Total GOP tool.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

32. Excuse me?

The people didn't elect the legislators?

[Kerrytravelers]

33. In Schwartzznazi's mind, the legislatures were forced upon him and

"the people of Cal-lee-for-nee-ya."


God, I hate this muscled-headed idiot.

[yurbud]

36. Arnold has the same definition of bipartisanship as Bush

When you do what I want, that's bipartisan.

[yurbud]

38. Arnold wants special election, and Dems want their sec. of state to resign

What is wrong with this picture?

Arnold is clearly confident in the initiative process because of past GOP rigging of voting machines.

Why are the Democrats trying to get rid of the only guy who stands between Arnold and Soviet style fake elections?

[Tacos al Carbon]

39. Um, because he's corrupt and abusive?

eom.

[yurbud]

40. shelley's resignation would do far more harm than good

whatever his sins, letting Arnold anywhere near choosing his replacement would be the end of real elections in California, and guarantee the next GOP presidential candidates wins in California the way Bush won in Ohio and Flordia.

[mitchtv]

42. right on yurbud

at least through the special resistricting election. Remember Davis? Here we go again. 55 votes from California for Jeb Bush.

[NuttyFluffers]

41. strengthen it by kicking ahhnold's ass out? sure i can support that.

cool, how can we start his recall? wish the process was cheaper...

[Democat]

44. Read this related article in LBN about Arnold's fading popularity

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1189060