Thread: The Difference is Clear

http://www.sacunion.com/pages/state_cap ... cles/8574/

The Difference is Clear
By JULIET WILLIAMS, Associated Press Writer
Published: October 9, 2006

SACRAMENTO (AP) - In a spirited exchange, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic state Treasurer Phil Angelides clashed Saturday over taxes, the middle class, college fees and which candidate will be more trustworthy after the November election.

The gubernatorial candidates used their only debate to draw sharp contrasts on issues of wide importance to California voters, including education, roads and government spending.

Schwarzenegger rekindled an attack his campaign has leveled on Angelides for months _ that if elected, the treasurer would increase taxes by billions of dollars.

“I can tell by the joy I see in your eyes that you love to raise taxes,” the governor said to Angelides. “Why don’t you just say right now, ‘I love increasing your taxes.’”

Angelides countered that Schwarzenegger favored tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations. In contrast, he said he would raise taxes on the rich and close corporate tax loopholes, in part to help California balance its budget and fully fund education.

“I’m going to close those corporate tax loopholes that are big enough for you to drive your Hummer through,” Angelides said.

Angelides contrasted the California in which he grew up with the one he sees now, where middle class families struggle to pay health care, college and other costs. He vowed to provide “a different vision” from Schwarzenegger and “put the government back on the side of working people.”

He noted that Schwarzenegger has taken millions of dollars from the oil industry, pharmaceutical companies and other big businesses.

“Who can you trust to do the right thing by middle class families in this state?” Angelides said.

The governor noted the difference between California’s economic situation today and three years ago, when Democratic Gov. Gray Davis was ousted and the state faced a record budget deficit.

Schwarzenegger said he has worked to reduce the deficit, strengthen the state’s credit rating, improve the business climate and “make us shine again.”

He said the previous administration kept “spending and spending and spending.”

“If it’s education or transportation, the key thing is we live in our means,” Schwarzenegger said.

The debate, coming on the third anniversary of the historic gubernatorial recall election that swept Schwarzenegger into office, provided the campaign’s first direct exchange between the candidates.

It also allowed a format in which the candidates could question each other. Those exchanges provided periodic fireworks, although both remained largely on-message.

After Angelides spoke about an array of issues _ against the Iraq war, accusing Schwarzenegger of failing to spend the state’s homeland security funding, criticizing the governor for plans to overhaul state pensions _ Schwarzenegger shot back with a family reference.

“I feel a little bit like I’m having dinner with Uncle Teddy at Thanksgiving,” he quipped in a reference to Sen. Ted Kennedy, the uncle of Schwarzenegger’s wife, Maria Shriver.

“He’s a great man,” Angelides shot back. “If my grandmother could hear me being compared to a Kennedy ...”

Angelides, trailing by double digits in public opinion polls, approached the debate as a way to gain momentum in the final month before Election Day.

In recent weeks, Angelides and the state Democratic Party have repeatedly tried to link Schwarzenegger to President Bush, who is deeply unpopular in California.

He emphasized that tie on Saturday, reminding voters that Schwarzenegger campaigned for Bush’s re-election in 2004.

The treasurer said he would “do the same things Bill Clinton did for this country,” by reducing taxes for middle-class Californians.

“Your policies are the Bush polices,” Angelides said to the governor, “and I prefer Clinton to Bush any day.”

Countered Schwarzenegger: “If you want to talk about Bush, go to Iowa,” he said, referring to the upcoming presidential campaign.

Angelides has spent months trying to overcome Republican attack ads portraying him as a tax-happy partisan and has struggled to gain traction with voters outside his core Democratic base.

The Republican governor, meanwhile, has been trying to woo moderate Democrats and independents after a year in which he drew sharp partisan lines with his failed special election.

Angelides repeatedly noted that discrepancy in Schwarzenegger’s governing style, saying the governor could not be trusted if re-elected.

When asked about his biggest mistake, Schwarzenegger cited last year’s special election in which voters rejected all his ballot measures. But he said some of the proposals were “good ideas” that he rushed too soon.

Angelides used the comment to portray the governor as inconsistent.

In a news conference after the debate, Schwarzenegger referenced two of the four initiatives he had promoted last year _ an attempt to make legislative races more competitive and another that would have instituted a state spending cap.

The governor sought to chip away at Angelides’ attempt to paint himself as a champion of the middle class.

He reminded voters that Angelides was in office during the Davis years, when the state budget deficit ballooned, the state car tax was tripled and college fees and tuition increased. Schwarzenegger forced a repeal of the car tax increase after taking office.

“It is very important to know, Treasurer, you’ve got to let the people know, during the most incredible decline, you were part of that,” Schwarzenegger said.

The governor said Angelides now will “promise the people everything.”

“How are you going to pay for all of this without raising taxes?” the governor said.

The two did not differ sharply on immigration, with both calling for some kind of path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who already are in the United States.

Angelides rejected the idea of a fence along the border, instead saying he would lobby the Bush administration to provide more border guards. Schwarzenegger said the country needed a way for companies to “legally hire people from outside the United States.”

The state treasurer has been the underdog since emerging in June from a bruising Democratic primary fight against state Controller Steve Westly. The race drained his campaign funds, making him unable to compete initially with an immediate onslaught of advertising from Schwarzenegger and the state Republican Party.

He has battled ever since to redefine himself, in part by trying to fashion a pro-middle class image.

Schwarzenegger also has shown a huge fundraising advantage, outspending Angelides by more than 4-to-1, according to campaign finance reports filed within the past few days. Schwarzenegger spent $14.4 million in the July to September reporting period, while Angelides spent $3.4 million.

The debate, sponsored by the California Broadcasters Association, came before an audience of about 300 people at Sacramento State University.

How much influence the debate will have on voters is unknown, in part because of its timing.

Saturday evening is traditionally a low-viewer timeslot, and this weekend presented particular competition. The hour-long forum was up against the Los Angeles Dodgers-New York Mets playoff game and Pac-10 football.

Angelides countered that Schwarzenegger favored tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations. In contrast, he said he would raise taxes on the rich and close corporate tax loopholes, in part to help California balance its budget and fully fund education.

“I’m going to close those corporate tax loopholes that are big enough for you to drive your Hummer through,” Angelides said.

Angelides contrasted the California in which he grew up with the one he sees now, where middle class families struggle to pay health care, college and other costs. He vowed to provide “a different vision” from Schwarzenegger and “put the government back on the side of working people.”

First off, what does this idiot think that raising taxes on the people who create wealth in the state will accomplish? It will cause them to reduce the number of employees if they can even afford to stay in the socialist state. More likely, it will drive even more businesses and real taxpayers across the border to Nevada or to other states that have a significantly lower tax burden. A huge number of such people and businesses moved from Gray Davis' Taxtopia, draining state coffers.

As for the difference between the "California in which he grew up with the one he sees now," I can explain that in a nutshell, given that I spent time in the state as a child, lived there off and on for about a decade, and still travel there at least a time or two each year. The difference is that it used to be a state of mostly middle class taxpaying Americans. It is now a state of lower class non-Americans who cosume vastly more benefits than they pay taxes. I knew that I had to get out of the Granola State once and for all when it got to the point that every time I went to the grocery store I was lined up behind one after another non-English-speaking hispanic family paying for groceries with food stamps.

Are you saying, Crockett, it is no longer the golden state?