Local leaders react swiftly to governor’s call for special
election
Gilroy – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s call for a special election in November to promote his budget agenda was greeted with partisan rancor Monday. Democrats decried the election’s $45-million price tag and what they called a move to usurp the democratic process while Republicans praised the election as a step toward true political reform.
So far, five initiatives have qualified for the Nov. 8 ballot, four championed by the governor, who said Monday from his Capitol office that he couldn’t just “stand around while our debt grows each year by billions and billions. I was elected to put California’s financial house in order and reform a government that no longer listened to the people.”
Schwarzenegger wants to amend California law to allow a panel of bipartisan judges to redraw legislative districts ahead of the 2010 census, extend from two to five years the time it takes for public school teachers to earn tenure, limit political contributions from unions, and most controversially, place a cap on state spending and allow the governor to cut the budget after it’s been adopted if expenses outpace revenues.
“We can’t continue with a budget system that spends $1.10 for every dollar it takes in,” Schwarzenegger said. “Without reform we are destined to repeat the mistakes of the past all over again. I didn’t come here, and you didn’t send me here, to repeat the mistakes of the past.”
Schwarzenegger first announced his intention to call the election during his January State of the State address. Since then, he has backed away from a promise to overhaul the state’s pension system, but has not been able to reach consensus with the Democrat-controlled legislature on the other issues. Monday was the deadline for him to call the election. Opinion polls initially supported it, but in a May poll by the Public Policy Institute of California , 62 percent of respondents said that the governor’s reforms could wait for the June 2006 ballot.
“This is something that could have easily waited until next year,” Mark Moore, president of the South County Democratic Club, said. “Legislation by proposition is a poor way to do business and the citizens of California are going to pay for it.”
The Secretary of State’s office has priced the election at $45 million. Santa Clara County’s share is $5 million, but only $2.8 million will be billed to the state because the county already had an election scheduled for Nov. 8. Don Gage, the only Republican of the five county supervisors, said he supported the election and the cap on state spending, even if it means less funding for the county.
“As the governor has said, we don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem,” Gage said. “Sooner or later you have to live within your means. And whether I agree or disagree, I believe in the democratic process. I believe that bringing it to the voters is the right thing to do.”
But Democratic Assemblyman John Laird of Santa Cruz said Monday that the complex initiatives will further divide an already partisan legislature and electorate and give the governor too much power over the budget.
“I think people would be voting on a level of detail that would create situations that would shock them if they actually happen,” said Laird, who presides over the Assembly Budget Committee. “I think the special election is waste of taxpayer money and doesn’t contribute to solving significant problems or bringing California together.”
Laird called the initiative to make it tougher for teachers to get tenure “treating a cut finger when you have a broken arm,” and said that capping the state budget will threaten funding for public safety and education and undo past voter initiatives that made it harder for the state to raid local coffers.
“We’re talking about having to recruit hundreds of thousands of teachers in California,” Laird said. “To make the hurdles even higher is no way to improve that. I think the governor has the right to sue his political consultants for malpractice.”
Republicans, on the other hand, view the ballot measures as a way out of the political deadlock seizing Sacramento. Democrats control both the Senate and the Assembly. State Senator Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, said that the Democrats’ refusal to work with their Republican colleagues forced the governor’s hand.
“Nobody was willing to sit down and negotiate get all this done over the last three or four months, “Maldonado said. “Unfortunately, there’ s been a lot of partisanship and we have no other choice but to go to a special election. At home, if you put something on a credit card, you get a bill in 30 days, but politicians don’t get a bill. They don’t ever see the bill. That’s what’s wrong with government.”
In addition to the Democrats, Schwarzenegger’s proposals have infuriated organized labor, nurses and teachers, who have held several demonstrations against the governor and have proposed spending union dues to fight the initiatives. Michelle Nelson, president of the Gilroy Teachers Association, said the state’s schools can’t afford to lose any more funding.
“Any further cuts in education will only hurt the situation,” she said. “This has nothing to do with salaries. It has to do with supplies and materials. It has to do with what money is available for the kids.”
Art Pulaski, chief officer of the California Labor Federation, accused the governor of betraying the platform that got him elected in 2003.
“Schwarzenegger ran for office as a nonpartisan, nonpolitical reformer,” Pulaski said. “In two years he has devolved into a Bush-lite conservative politician who breaks his promises and sells out working people to satisfy his special-interest corporate donors.”
The governor is supported by a variety of anti-tax advocacy groups, who say limiting spending will take away incentives to raise taxes. In his address Monday, Schwarzenegger said that the Democrats’ solution to balancing the budget would eventually involve raising car and property taxes.
“When you have a broken arm, you don’t wait until your next physical,” he said. “You get it fixed right away.”
As soon as Wednesday, Democratic leaders will introduce a budget for next year, which they say includes no tax increases. Republicans are not expected to support that proposal.
November election measures
Qualified for November election:
TEACHER TENURE: Would increase time required for public school teachers to gain tenure, from two complete consecutive school years to five.
CONGRESSIONAL AND LEGISLATIVE DISTRICTS: A constitutional amendment requiring congressional and state legislative districts to be drawn by a three-member panel of retired judges, rather than by lawmakers. The boundaries would take effect as soon as possible, rather than waiting until the next scheduled census in 2010 when redistricting is typically done.
STATE SPENDING CAP: Would change minimum school funding requirements and limit state spending to previous year’s total plus revenue growth.
PARENTAL PERMISSION FOR ABORTION: A constitutional amendment promoted by anti-abortion activists that would require girls 17 and younger to get parental permission to receive an abortion.
PUBLIC EMPLOYEE UNION DUES: Would prohibit public employee labor unions from using dues or fees for political contributions unless their members provide written consent.
