Don’t Terminate Arnold

Governator’s record on stopping liberals

By James Fullmer
From the November 2006 Print Edition

Live with any other human being long enough and chances are you’ll be able to compose a long list of little things they do that annoy the heck out of you. Parent, sibling, roommate — it doesn’t matter. No one can avoid getting on your nerves.

Unfortunately, we often lose our perspective in this process. The annoying things our loved ones do, small and trivial as they may be, usually end up completely obscuring all the wonderful things the person in question has done. We take them for granted.

There are at least fourteen people reading this right now who are nodding and saying, "It’s about time he realized this." Fair enough, but I actually wanted to talk about Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. We’ll leave the personal repentance for another time.

I’m not going to argue that the governor has been perfect, because he hasn’t. Like you, I cringed when he supported funding stem cell research with a $3 billion bond. Like you, I watched in horror as he supported massive debt financing after defeat in the 2005 special election. And like you, I shudder every time I hear him favor Al Gore and his ilk in the global warming debate.

But are these offenses enough to warrant sitting out the gubernatorial election, or voting Libertarian, as many conservatives have suggested? Let’s sit back and take a deep breath. While not forgetting his shortcomings, let’s examine Arnold’s record.

California’s ever-improving bond rating is one success story. Back when the recall election took place, in 2003, Gray Davis’s mismanagement had brought us to the cusp of junk bond status. Standard and Poor’s ranked our bonds at BBB in June of 2003, which is just about as low as you can go. Now, as of May 2006, we’re at an A+ rating, which is as good as it sounds. (And just so you know I’m not engaging in any partisan hackery, my source for these numbers is from the state treasurer’s Web site — that’s Phil Angelides, folks.) A better bond rating shows that Wall Street has more confidence in our economy, and on the practical side lowers the cost of borrowing.

Anyone remember the energy crisis and the subsequent rolling blackouts? I sure do — I vividly remember writing an English essay when, without notice, a rolling blackout began. The ensuing computer shutdown eliminated my hours of hard work. I will never forget this traumatizing event. Schwarzenegger helped lead California out of the energy crisis, and we haven’t had massive rolling blackouts even on hot summer days.

I could go on and on. There was his repeal of Gray Davis’s car tax increase, a regressive tax that would have hurt many families and done little to raise revenue. There was his strong support for Three Strikes and other tough-on-crime legislation, his staunch opposition to higher taxes, and his reformation of worker’s compensation, which saved the state money and helped keep small businesses in California.

We have had it pretty good in California over the past few years. Does anyone truly believe Cruz Bustamante would have done any of those vital things that Arnold did, or that Angelides would continue them?

There’s one more reason we must do all we can to bring Arnold a second term: his veto pen, which has been used to halt liberal legislation throughout his tenure as governor.

In September of 2005, he vetoed a bill that would have legalized gay marriage in California. Although Schwarzenegger is hardly a conservative on the issue, he realized that the bill directly contradicted the wishes of California voters as expressed in Proposition 22.

In September, he vetoed a bill that would have forced large employers to either fully fund employee health care or pay the state a fee. The bill basically targeted Wal-Mart and was modeled after a similar law that was passed in Maryland. If passed, the law would have greatly increased the cost of doing business in California for large companies. Good for those who rail against the evils of big-box stores, but bad for the rest of us who save a heck of a lot of money by shopping at them.

Also this past September, he vetoed a bill that would have given drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants. Mind-bogglingly, these licenses would have a special mark on them to show that the bearer was in the country illegally, thus removing all pretenses we have left of enforcing our immigration laws.

If you think Bustamante or Angelides would have vetoed these bills, you’re dead wrong. We need a Republican in the governorship to counter the lunacy that comes from our state legislature, and Arnold is our man.

So before we take Arnold’s governorship for granted, let’s remember all the good things he has done for the state of California. He’s not perfect, but few politicians are (and Tom McClintock is already running for lieutenant governor). I can cope with his annoying peccadilloes for four more years, as long as he keeps a firm hand on the reins of government and a ready veto pen in his pocket. Let’s send Governor Schwarzenegger back to Sacramento.

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