[progchat_action] Schwarzenegger Moves Left Date: Sat, 7 Jan 2006 00:19:30 -0600 (CST) the Terminator who declared war on the state's unions a year ago. Chastened by a humiliating electoral defeat, he is now taking a different tack. Certainly no governor of California, Democrat or Republican, has done any thing as ambitious as Governor's public works plan since the days of Governor Pat Brown in the 1960s It remains to be seen whether Schwarzenegger has truly changed course or whether this is public relations hype. One wonders how the Democrats will respond. There are a number of liberal and progressive Dems in the state legislature these days. On the other hands there are New Dems are also represented. Sadly, the first impulse seems to be to attack Schwarzenegger from the right, arguing that the state can't afford such a massive public works program and that it is financially responsible. (IMO this public works proposal is something that must be supported. It will provide jobs to many who need them and will stimulate the economy, in turn producing even more jobs (and paying off the bonds). This is not radical stuff, but old fashioned Keynesian economics which everybody in the mainstream once professed, even Republicans, not all that long ago. It may well be that Arnie doesn't mean it, that he only has ulterior motives etc. So what? Take him up on it. This is the fruit not of any conversion by Arnie, but of the mass movement and the electoral defeat he suffered last year. As bad a governor as the Terminator has been in a lot of areas, you would never have heard such a proposal from Gray Davis or Jerry Brown. Nor, without pressure upon the State Dem organization, will it get out of the State legislature.SR) Call to rebuild state $222 billion plan: Governor offers wide-ranging program to repair crumbling infrastructure Mark Martin, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau Friday, January 6, 2006 Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called for a building spree that he said would unclog freeways, modernize schools and revamp the state's fragile levees in a State of the State speech Thursday that mixed contrition for past mistakes with a bold call to upgrade California during the next decade. Both humbled and full of hubris, Schwarzenegger declared that he was wiser after his special election defeat last year but quickly changed the subject and unveiled a plan, jaw-dropping in scope, to build or rebuild highways, schools, levees, courthouses and jails that would amount to more than $222 billion in public works projects. The proposal's size and scope caught many lawmakers off guard, and the plan clearly will be the central issue this year in Sacramento -- and potentially at the ballot box for years to come. Under Schwarzenegger's proposal, voters would be asked to authorize the state to issue billions in bonds during the next five elections. In stating his case, Schwarzenegger referred to governors of the 1950s and 1960s who he said "built the foundation of California's prosperity.'' Noting that the state's population is expected to grow by the equivalent of three new cities the size of Los Angeles during the next 20 years, the governor said the time was right to "build a California eager to meet the challenges of the 21st century without reluctance or fear.'' "Let me ask you, what kind of California do we want in 20 or 30 years?'' he asked. "What kind of highways will we drive on? What kind of schools will our children attend? What kind of jobs will we have? What kind of air will we breath?'' Outlining a laundry list of potential construction projects to fix the state's needs -- from new prisons to new classrooms -- Schwarzenegger underscored each proposal by declaring, "I say build it.'' Speaking inside the chambers of the state Assembly, Schwarzenegger delivered an address that was in marked contrast to last year's. Then, Schwarzenegger essentially declared war on legislative Democrats and the unions that often back them as he declared the state's schools an educational disaster, complained that the Capitol was in the grip of the special interests and promised a big political fight as he unveiled policies that would later serve as the template for his special election. Thursday night, Schwarzenegger invited the past two Democratic governors -- Gray Davis and Jerry Brown -- to sit in the audience with his wife, Maria Shriver, and ended his speech with praise for Sen. Martha Escutia, a Democrat from Los Angeles who worked with the governor on a law to crack down on the sale of junk food in schools. "If we work together, there is no problem we cannot solve," he said. Last year, Schwarzenegger pushed for government reforms that many contended had little to do with Californians' everyday problems. This year, in proposing what he called the Strategic Growth Plan, Schwarzenegger talked about adding 1,200 miles of new highway and carpool lanes to ease traffic, using technology to clean unhealthy air in the Central Valley and strengthening levees to protect homes and farmland from Hurricane Katrina-like flooding. That agenda is far more relevant to voters than how labor unions collect dues or than complicated state budget issues, political observers said. "Schwarzenegger's critics last year argued that voters didn't care about what he was trying to fix,'' said GOP political consultant Dan Schnur. "You can't say that this year.'' And in a year in which he faces poor poll numbers and a re-election campaign in a Democratic-leaning state, Schwarzenegger's agenda touched on several issues that have been pushed by Democrats. Saying it was "time for those who often work the hardest and earn the least to benefit from California's growth,'' he called for increasing the state's minimum wage of $6.75 by $1. He proposed eliminating a planned tuition hike at California universities this year and said he would provide K-12 schools with $1.7 billion above the guaranteed minimum next year. And he called on the federal government to let the free market work by allowing Americans to buy cheaper prescription drugs from countries like Canada. "If I would have closed my eyes, I could have believed that speech was being given by a Democrat,'' said state Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough. Schwarzenegger also apologized for November's special election, spending the first part of a 25-minute speech alluding to his past mistakes. "I have absorbed my defeat,'' he said. "I have learned my lesson. And the people, who always have the last word, sent a clear message -- cut the warfare, cool the rhetoric, find common ground, and fix the problems together. To my fellow Californians, I say: Message received.'' Applause for Schwarzenegger was light during much of his speech -- the Democratic-dominated Legislature appeared to clap hardest during his concession that the special election was a mistake. But even though he is politically wounded, the governor clearly demonstrated he can still grab the spotlight and shake up the Capitol. Democrats found themselves complaining that the Republican governor was proposing to spend too much money on the infrastructure plan. "You can't get too giddy and wild-eyed on excessive projects that will kill other worthy projects,'' said state Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco. "We don't want to have some supermarket sweep where we pay for every pork project.'' Republicans also were wary. Saying he supported the general idea of an increase in building, Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Riverside, said, "the real hard decision is, how are you going to pay for it?'' Schwarzenegger's plan calls for issuing $68 billion in bonds during the next 10 years. Combining the bonds with other funding sources, like federal money, administration officials say they will spend $222 billion. The proposal also calls for new fees, among them a water fee on every California household and a dramatic increase in the use of toll lanes on freeways. Despite the fee increases, Schwarzenegger said in his speech that the plan can be enacted without a tax increase. And despite the move to the left, Schwarzenegger's proposals still have opposition. Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer, California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, said labor groups would oppose Schwarzenegger's minimum-wage proposal unless it included automatic increases in the future tied to inflation rates, something the governor has opposed. Still, Schwarzenegger's past adversaries said the change in tone this year could lead to accomplishments that will lessen last year's acrimony. "What I liked is what I didn't hear, which were attacks on teachers and on public schools,'' said Barbara Kerr, head of the California Teachers Association. "He's looking at trying to work with others, which is a change." This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm