Governor Schwarzenegger Should Be Terminated
WSJ
John Fund
Last month Mr. Brokaw interviewed him for “Meet the Press”
He began by asking just how much had really changed in California. “When you ran for governor in 2003, you ran as a fiscal conservative who would change the system, who would bring business-like techniques,” the host said. “Now, you are facing a $15-billion deficit here in California. Unemployment is running at about 6.8%; you’ve got the worst housing crisis since the Great Depression. If you were the CEO of a public company, the board would probably say, ‘It is time to go.’”
California’s state government has taken on billions in new debt to pay for infrastructure projects. It also faces massive new obligations.
“Before you came in, governor, you said the spending was out of control. Your rate of increase in spending is about the same as your predecessor, Gov. Gray Davis. It has grown at about 34% since you took office.”
A startled governor, who rode into office during the 2003 recall campaign excoriating the spending record of Democrat Davis, insisted: “The numbers are misleading. We have paid off a lot of debt. . . . I am very proud that we paid off a lot of debt and that we got the economy going again.”
California’s tough times have led to a slide in Mr. Schwarzenegger’s approval ratings to about 40%, a fact the NBC host dryly noted by saying: “It is tough to govern under those circumstances.”
But the governor was unfazed. “Not at all. I’m having a great time.”
No one doubts that. Arnold has the role of a lifetime. But Californians aren’t having a great time. The millions of Californians who voted for the Terminator five years ago in part because of his pledge to “blow up the boxes” of state government are wondering why their state is once again in the same fiscal fix as in 2003.
Here is another shining example of California politicians that want to be ‘Governor.’ Our very own Gavin Newsom, the Mayor of San Francisco.
Does San. Fran. Mayor Gavin Newsom want to run for Governor?
