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2008
Why Schwarzenegger's Redistricting Plan
Won't Work
California Majority Report.com
May 13, 2008
Tony Quinn: Redistricting Reform OK, But
It's Only A Start
Sacramento Bee
May 11, 2008
Governor May Face Donor Fatigue
Contra Costa Times
May 11, 2008
Dan Walters: Competing Proposals For Remap
Sacramento Bee
May 7, 2008
Initiative On Redistricting Closer To
Ballot
San Francisco Chronicle
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Nunez Pushes Ethics Plan As Rival Petitions
Are Filed
Sacramento Bee
May 7, 2008
To Get Leadership Reform, We First Need
Redistricting
Los Angeles Daily News
May 1, 2008
Good Intentions Could Harm Redistricting
Ballot Measure
Los Angeles Times
April 28, 2008
Redistricting On Track To Qualify,
Consultant Says
New America Foundation.com
April 23, 2008
Why Are GOP Contributors Putting Big Money
Into Redistricting Reform?
California Progress Report.com
April 19, 2008
Gov's
Giving To Remap Measure Tops $1 million
Sacramento Bee Capital Alert
April 21, 2008
‘Due
Process’ Democrats Have Their Heads Buried in the California Sand
California Progress Report.com
April 20, 2008
Opinion: Seeing The Light
Los Angeles Daily News
April 19, 2008
California
Voters FIRST Presents A Balanced And Bipartisan Effort For Redistricting
Reform
California Progress Report.com
April 17, 2008
Schwarzenegger's
Redistricting Plan Comes Under Fire
Contra Costa Times
April 17, 2008
Group Says Plan Will Put A Stop To
Gerrymandering
The Simi Valley Acron
April 4, 2008
The Need For Redistricting Reform From
This California Democrat’s Perspective
California Progress Report.com
April 4, 2008
Labor Says No To
Schwarzenegger/Republican/Common Cause Redistricting Measure
The California Majority Report.com
April 02, 2008
Revenge In Attack On Legislative
Redistricting?
California Progress Report.com
March 31, 2008
Weintraub: Governor Gets Another Shot At
Redistricting Reform
Sacramento Bee
March 30, 2008
Editorial: Can't Legislature Do Better Than
Bills On Dogs, Donkeys?
The Fresno Bee
March 30, 2008
Walters: Voters Irate At Budget Posturing
Sacramento Bee
March 28, 2008
New Foundation To Campaign For More Efficient
California Government
Sacramento Bee
March 27, 2008
Editorial: California Voters Should Support
Redistricting Ballot Measure
Fresno Bee
March 24, 2008
Editorial: Redraw the Map
Los Angeles Daily News
March 22, 2008
Walters: Court Ruling Offers Hope to
Dysfunctional California Politics
Sacramento Bee
March 19, 2008
Supreme Court to Hear Major Redistricting
Case
The Thicket at State Legislatures (ncsl.com)
March 18, 2008
Editorial: Let Citizens Redraw the Map
The Torrance Daily Breeze
March 17, 2008
Walters: Redistrict Reformers Miss Mark
Sacramento Bee
March 10, 2008
Let Citizens
Redraw Map
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
March 9, 2008
Governor Proposes Redistricting Ballot
Measure
North County Times
March 8, 2008
Redistricting Initiative Has Strong
Republican Backing
San Jose Mercury News
March 6, 2008
Governor Gathers Signatures to Qualify
Redistricting Measure
San Jose Mercury News
March 4, 2008
Manipulative Lawmakers Playing To The Crowd
Fresno Bee
February 14, 2008
State Voters Need To Do What Lawmakers
Won't
Los Angeles Daily News
February 14, 2008
Editorial: What We Need In Sacramento,
Redistricting, Not Retaliation
San Jose Mercury News
February 14, 2008
Redistricting Reform, Not Longer Terms, Is
The Answer
California Republic.org
February 12, 2008
The Buzz: A Hardball Tactic Could Ricochet
Sacramento Bee
February 11, 2008
Wake Up, Sacramento Media! Wake Up! Wake
Up! Wake Up!
San Diego Union Tribune
February 8, 2008
Editorial: Passive Aggressive Lawmakers
Just Play to the Crowd
Fresno Bee
February 8, 2008
Nunez Takes Blame For Prop. 93 Loss
Los Angeles Daily News
February 7, 2008
Weingand: Voters Got A Whiff and Said 'No'
Sacramento Bee
February 7, 2008
Lawmakers Believe In Term Limits But
Oppose The Measure
North County Times
February 4, 2008
Good For Us
Los Angeles Times
February 4, 2008
Commentary: A Conversation with Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger
Sacramento Bee
January 20, 2008
Walters: Two Party Structure Under Fire
Sacramento Bee
January 18, 2008
Walters: Governor's Brownian Flip-Flops
Sacramento Bee
January 16, 2008
Editorial: Corruption of a Good Idea
San Francisco Chronicle
January 15, 2008
Governor Supports Term Limit Measure
Sacramento Bee
January 15, 2008
A Deceptive Prop. 93
San Francisco Chronicle
January 10, 2008
Use Prop. 93 To Say 'No"
dailybreeze.com
January 3, 2008
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Walters: Governor's Brownian
Flip-Flops
By Dan Walters, Bee Columnist
Sacramento Bee
January 16, 2008
When Proposition 13, California's landmark property tax limitation,
was awaiting the judgment of voters in 1978, then-Gov. Jerry Brown
denounced it as "consumer fraud" and added, "It's a
rip-off, it's a legal morass and it's a long-term tax
increase."
As soon as the measure won overwhelming voter support, however,
Brown – seeking a second term as governor – did a 180-degree
flip, declared himself to be a "born-again tax cutter,"
and pushed a state tax cut through the Legislature.
It was the most obvious, but by no means only, example of the
young governor's penchant for abrupt changes of position, or as his
critics put it, finger-in-the-wind politics.
Brown dismissed the criticism by quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson's
aphorism that "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little
minds" but it caught up with him eventually as voters rejected
his bid for the U.S. Senate.
Perhaps mindful of Brown's fate, the three men who followed Brown
into the governor's Capitol office were a fairly consistent lot –
sometimes stubbornly so – but the latest occupant, Arnold
Schwarzenegger, may be outdoing Brown on political pirouettes.
Schwarzenegger's action movie characters were models of resolute
purpose, and that image stood him in good stead when he ran for
governor in 2003. Schwarzenegger sold himself to voters as an
outsider who would solve problems regardless of the political
consequences. He talked about ending "crazy deficit
spending" and "blowing up the boxes" and reforming
the political system.
Four years later, however, he has morphed into Son of Brown, who
says one thing one day, says something else a day later and doesn't
even bother to explain why he changed. One example: Very early in
his governorship he proposed a state spending limit to close
deficits, but when Democratic legislators balked, he accepted their
much-weaker alternative, then peddled it to voters as a strong
measure that would "cut up the credit cards." Now,
however, having presided over tens of billions of dollars in
additional deficits, he says the 2004 measure was a failure.
Schwarzenegger's credibility took a big hit in 2005 when he
reneged on a promise to educators about restoring school spending
that they had agreed to cut to narrow budget deficits. When he
offered a package of "year of reform" ballot measures, the
California Teachers Association took its revenge with television ads
about his broken promises and voters buried his measures.
Ever since, Schwarzenegger has been a conventional, deal-making,
hot-air-spouting politician. Almost daily, he makes some sort of
public appearance somewhere in the state and says something about
something, but the value of his words continues to diminish.
The most recent flip-flop came this week, when Schwarzenegger
declared his support for Proposition 93, a measure to modify
legislative term limits, after often declaring that he supported the
current limits and would entertain a change only if legislative
leaders agreed to reform legislative redistricting as well. "If
(term limits) is done alone, don't go there," the governor said
last March in one of his many declarations.
Legislators said they'd do it, but they reneged after placing the
term limit measure on the Feb. 5 ballot and by rights,
Schwarzenegger should have either opposed it or remained neutral,
but this week he endorsed it, saying that the current limits go
"too far" and that the state would be better served by
allowing legislators to remain in their seats longer.
The reasons, whatever they are, notwithstanding, Schwarzenegger's
reversal on term limits undercuts his already shaky credibility even
more. Why should we believe anything he says any more, especially on
taxes and the budget, since he evidently places so little value on
his own words?
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