A little history lesson is in order here. The first two years of Arnold’s term, star-struck Republican Legislators and party members gave the Governor a free pass on about everything. In 2006, after a sharp turn to the far left, the governor ran a re-election campaign that completely ignored his downticket running mates. During the 2006 and 2007 legislative sessions he alienated Republican legislators and put no effort into forming the type of relationships he now needs to navigate the State’s budget crisis.
Arnold wasn’t done, though. He ran the State Party into the red in 2006 by millions, and then reneged on helping the Party repay its debt and reload for the 2008 cycle. All of these circumstances have created the current situation: an unpopular Governor, politically isolated, with nowhere to turn. Instead, he runs around mindlessly talking about climate change instead of confronting the worst fiscal crisis in California history. Like the Governor of Arizona, maybe he can get a Cabinet appointment and leave the financial crisis to his LG.
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:00 am
Mike, you stol my thunder. I will post up the resolution blasting Schwarzenegger’s proposed tax increases tomorrow — it passed the CRP Board 14-2.
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:00 am
Who were the 2? It should have been unanimous.
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:00 am
I think I know who the 2 are, but it would be good if the minutes of all Board meetings were made publicly available on the CRP website (except for closed sessions, of course). This would help us members of the State Central Committee hold our elected leaders accountable for their actions.
At the last convention we adopted a rule requiring the posting of draft platforms on the CRP website for public review. I think it would make sense to do the same for minutes of Board meetings.
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:00 am
Gentlemen:
“Survey USA” just completed a statewide poll showing the proposed Car Tax
increase is not just unpopular, but positively RADIOACTIVE.
By a margin of 74% to 17%, California voters said they oppose settling State
finances with a higher Car Tax.
Opposition spans all demographic groups, Republican/Democrat, Liberal/
Conservative, Black/White, young/old… everyone is against it.
The full Poll data (500 sample size) is at the link below. Kudos to Survey
USA for jumping on the topic:
http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=df71b94f-26e7-48b0-8cbe-7c8dd15c758d
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:00 am
Oh I wanna know who these two were as well. I’m a member of the state central committee as well, we deserve to know.
“The first two years of Arnold’s term, star-struck Republican Legislators and party members gave the Governor a free pass on about everything. In 2006, after a sharp turn to the far left, the governor ran a re-election campaign that completely ignored his downticket running mates.”
And Mike, you are right-on, 100% about this. And it bears repeating OVER and OVER again.