Governor Schwarzenegger has unveiled a tough new 60 second television commercial in which he looks straight into the camera and makes it clear to Californians that the Governor is committed to rejecting any budget that includes tax increases, that does not curb waste fraud or abuse, or that "kicks the can" into the future. It’s a great commercial, and in sixty seconds provides and much stronger message to the public than the weak California Teachers Association ads that ran last week. You can see the Governor’s new commercial below.
I want to take the opportunity to thanks and commend Governor Schwarzenegger for uniting Republicans in this particular budget negotiation. The State is facing and unprecedented financial shortfall — and the unions that control the Democrats in the legislature are desperate to avoid the kinds of real cuts that it will take to balance the books.
The public employee unions would like to portray Republicans in a negative light. Let’s set the record straight. Republicans are for helping people who really need it, just not union special interests. The Democrats use emotional rhetoric as fact, yet their actions betray them. Democrats cry ‘protect the safety net’ yet they act to protect salaries and pensions for union workers by cutting programs for the needy instead of reducing union salaries. How does that protect the elderly, the frail or the sick? It doesn’t, but it does protect union interests first.
If California cut taxes and regulations so that small businesses can once again grow and prosper here, we would generate more tax revenues to actually help people. Instead, the opposite is true. The Legislature kills jobs that provide the tax revenues for the programs that Democrats say help people.
The unions have been pulling the strings of the Legislative long enough. They’ve broken the bank and run off with the money. In fact, the hole is $26 billion and counting.
Government jobs cannot be sustained without growth of the private sector. Where do they think revenues come from? Business taxes, income taxes, taxes on sales of goods. When people have no money to spend, they cut back; they don’t spend on taxable goods and services. You can’t collect taxes on nothing!
Every taxpayer dollar is precious. It’s one less dollar the taxpayer himself has to spend. As stewards of other people’s money, government can’t just throw it around like confetti at a New Year’s Eve party.
The very survival of a business demands a performance-based process that carefully evaluates expenditures to maximize profit. Businesses cannot afford to waste money. They cannot afford to tolerate employees who commit fraud and embezzle. Instead they look at ways to be more efficient so they can grow and hire more workers to generate more profit.
Somehow, Democrats perversely see business profits as evil and greedy. Why should those businesses have all that money to invest and grow when the state can extract a sum and give it away? It’s time for common sense and accountability in government. The people spoke loud and clear on May 19th. Use the money you have and stop reaching into our wallets to fix your problems.
By operating government programs efficiently and combating fraud in special programs, more people could receive assistance they truly need. It’s only reasonable and prudent to act now and do everything possible to end the cycle of fiscal crises. The people of California deserve no less.
We commend the Governor and our Republicans in the Senate and the Assembly for holding the line against higher taxes.
And as for the Democrats. Well, to paraphrase what Assemblywoman Audra Strickland famously said on the Assembly Floor a week ago Sunday, the Democrats clearly don’t care about the most vulnerable in our society. This is a time when the needs of those people diverge with the agenda of the unions, and I have every faith that the unions ($$) will prevail with their Democrat lackies.
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