Californiacation ... Up the Tailpipe

I never thought I would need to chide readers on the hypocrisy and weak policy of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, but with the recent revelation that my colleague has spent too much time in New York and is thus badly out of the loop, I offer this post. Jerry said he saw "Meet the Press" and was hooked into endorsing the governator. The blog for Alliance for a Better California, the coalition of teachers, firefighters, police officers, health care workers etc. who are united almost solely against Arnold, notes that he "may have come off alright to the average viewer on 'Meet the Press,' but the more details you know about Arnold's shifting positions the worse it seems."

Schwarzenegger 2003 in the Chronicle:

Schwarzenegger has made it a point to say he won't be beholden to groups ranging from big business to labor unions, whom he characterizes as "special interests" getting whatever they want out of the state Capitol.

"I will go to Sacramento and clean house. As you know, I don't need to take any money from anybody," Schwarzenegger said last week. "I have plenty of money myself. I will make the decisions for the people."

Schwarzenegger 2006 on “Meet the Press”:

MR. RUSSERT: But you said when you ran at first, “I don’t need to take money from anybody.” But you’re going to be raising thousands and thousands of thousand dollars from people who do business and have contracts with the state government.

GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER: I want to correct you. I said I would never take money from unions, that I would never take money from Indian gaming tribes. I take money because you need to take money. The important thing here is, is when you take money that they buy into your philosophy and into your program, that you don’t buy into theirs. And that you never can be bought, that’s the most important thing.

Take it away, Alliance blogger! Let’s get this straight. You ran in 2003 as a rich outsider political neophyte who claimed he had enough money and did not need raise cash from special interests. You now define special interests as only working people and Native Americans. Corporations, business owners and lobbyists are in your definition, an acceptable class to receive $44,600 checks from. They don’t have any ulterior motives for giving your campaign money.

Then your former spokesman goes out and tells the LA Times that you are going to raise $120 million from all of these people who are not trying to buy you. They don’t want you to do anything for them. You will just give them time with your state paid staff, while you are asking for big checks. There is no conflict of interest whatsoever.

I just offer this as a throw-away -- He also apparently neatly dodged a question about levees and the National Guard -- but I think the Alliance said it well enough for me.