The L.A. Times report of the Angelides – Schwarzenegger debate last night does a fine job of leaving out the facts when it comes to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s record. Phil Angelides’ blog fills in the blanks with a long, very long list of Reality Checks. Here’s a few of the facts:

He promised not to cut education funding: “not over my dead body”. (Los Angeles Times, September 5, 2003)

But he’s cut $3 billion from our schools…and reneged on repaying his debt to our kids.

In 2004, Schwarzenegger brokered a deal with education groups whereby the state could delay paying $2 billion of what was owed to schools until revenues picked up. Educators were shocked when, the following year, he reneged, declining to pay the schools what was by that time some $3.1 billion owed. (Ventura County Star, June 1, 2005)

He’s raised the cost of a teaching credential, making it harder to recruit and hire the 100,000 new teachers we will need in the next decade.

Enrollment in teacher preparation programs is declining in part because of sharp increases in the fees imposed on teacher trainees. Rolling back Schwarzenegger’s hikes would save a CSU teacher trainee over $600 a year. (see LAO State Spending Plans 2004-05 and 2005-06 for cost of CSU degree)

In 2004, Schwarzenegger suspended the tax credit for teachers who buy school supplies for their students, costing teachers $585 million over three years. (Alameda Times-Star, September 6, 2004, Associated Press State & Local Wire, June 10, 2006)

All we’ve seen is cuts to education and attacks on teachers, and now we’re 48th out of 50 states in student achievement and 43rd in what we spend to educate each child (Education Week statistics).

California has spent only half the state’s allocated federal homeland security funds. As a result, the state may lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants which could expire if not used.

California State Auditor, Emergency Preparedness: California’s Administration of Federal Grants for Homeland Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness Is Hampered by Inefficiencies and Ambiguity, September 2006
California has been slow in spending federal funds awarded to improve homeland security in the State. As of June 30, 2006, the State had spent only 42 percent of the $954 million in homeland security funds awarded to it from 2001 through 2005.

The truth: Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have required half of new cars produced by 2020 to run on alternative fuels. Associated Press State & Local Wire, October 4, 2006:

Finally, over the weekend, Schwarzenegger finished his work on the 1,172 bills that reached his desk. He ended up signing 910 and rejecting 262. Once again, the Legislature’s approval of an enormous batch of routine and even trivial bills raised the issue of whether there should be tighter limits on how many measures each member can introduce.

PROPOSITION 187

Flip – In 1994, Schwarzenegger voted for Proposition 187.

Flop – Now Schwarzenegger admits it was a mistake.

Arnold couldn’t keep his promises during his first term, How could we trust him to do it in a second?

Schwarzenegger told us he’d “end the crazy deficit spending” (Associated Press Online, September 5, 2003) and tear up the credit card (The San Francisco Chronicle, December 5, 2003). But he’s borrowed billions (www.treasurer.ca.gov/publications/2005dar.pdf), and the LAO estimates his deficits will continue at $5 billion a year (“California Spending Plan 2006-07: The Budget Act and Related Legislation: Summary”, Legislative Analyst’s Office, September 2006).

Schwarzenegger says “no to more taxes” (Fresno Bee, September 14, 2003), but he’s raised more than $2 billion in taxes and fees on the hard-working middle class: he suspended the teacher retention tax credit, which raised more than $500 million in taxes on teachers over three years. He raised fees at community colleges, the CSU and UC systems levying $1.7 billion in fees on students and their families. And he’s raised fees for parks and government programs including Healthy Families.

Schwarzenegger said he’d take on special interests and didn’t “need to take money from anyone.” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 30, 2003). But he’s raised over $100 million from special-interests including millions from oil companies, HMOs and pharmaceutical companies (Secretary of State records).

Schwarzenegger told us “We have to make sure that every child in California is insured. That is the most important thing.” (San Gabriel Valley Tribune, September 25, 2005 Sunday) Yet he tried to slash Healthy Families, which would have eliminated coverage for over 100,000 kids (Ventura County Star, December 2, 2003). And he vetoed a bill that would have provided health coverage for all the state’s children (Chan AB 772, see leginfo.ca.gov).

When Angelides ran for treasurer, he made clear promises, and he’s done what he promised:

Angelides promised that he’d invest in California communities (San Jose Mercury News, May 19, 2000), and his Double-Bottom Line Initiative has directed more than $14 billion to California’s inner cities and underserved communities.

Angelides promised that he would fight for our schools, and as treasurer he has financed the building and repair of 8,100 schools (Office of Public School Construction, School Facility Program Statistical and Fiscal Data December 16, 1998 through September 27, 2006), expanded financing for charter schools, (LA Times, October 31, 2003) helped teachers willing to teach in inner cities to buy a first home (San Diego Union Tribune, August 24, 2005 and Los Angeles Times, April 9, 2000), and led the fight to protect funding for schools when Schwarzenegger was cutting them (Sacramento Bee, December 14, 2003).

Angelides promised that he would protect the taxpayers’ dollars, and as treasurer, he’s lead the fight against Enron-style fraud that ransacked pension savings (Los Angeles Times, July 10, 2002), and he did it while reducing the size of the treasurer’s office staff by 9 percent (Department of Finance. Comparison of State Treasurers Office FTE within FY98-99 and FY05-06).

Angelides kept his word as treasurer, and he’ll keep it as governor.

As George Skelton put it in the Los Angeles Times, when it comes to taxes, Governor Schwarzenegger is either “misinformed” or “flat-out fibbing”, and “that’s the gentle way of putting it.”

George Skelton / CAPITOL JOURNAL; Gov. Taxing the Truth in Attacks on Angelides

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger must be misinformed about his reelection opponent’s tax proposals. Because if he weren’t, he’d be flat-out fibbing.

The misinformation, it’s logical to assume, is being fed to the governor by his campaign attack dogs, the biggest ones trained in the political kennels of President Bush.

…Schwarzenegger’s strategists must have thought Angelides’ plan had some voter appeal because they immediately began trashing it with distortion. (Distortion, a too-gentle word, but printable.) (Los Angeles Times, August 24, 2006)

Phil Angelides will CUT taxes on the Middle Class: He’ll cut $800 million in taxes by providing $660 in tax relief to families earning less than $46,000 and increasing the child tax credit by $200 for families earning up to $100,000.

Phil Angelides will CUT taxes on Small Businesses: He’ll cut up to $500 million in taxes by exempting property taxes on $500,000 worth of business personal property. This will save small businesses up to $5,000 per year and eliminate mountains of paperwork.

Phil Angelides will CUT taxes for Seniors: He’ll increase tax assistance for low income senior homeowners and renters by 50% – Expanding a program that Governor Schwarzenegger tried to eliminate. (Sacramento Bee, January 30, 2005)

Phil Angelides will CUT tuition and fees for Students: He’ll immediately roll back the 22% fee increase Governor Schwarzenegger imposed on UC and CSU students. (Inside Bay Area, August 30, 2006) Phil Angelides will reduce costs for UC students by $5,000 and for CSU students by $2,000.

Schwarzenegger increased college tuition. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently said that he thought college tuition in California was “too low” so he increased tuition and fees at UC, CSU, and community colleges, placing yet another burden on middle class families.

Schwarzenegger said that he raised tuition and fees “up a little bit” (KXTV, August 18, 2006), but most families wouldn’t consider $1,000 be “a little bit.”

In 2003, Schwarzenegger promised to cut up the state’s credit card (The San Francisco Chronicle, December 5, 2003). Tonight, in his opening statement he claimed that he had reduced the structural deficit. This is flat out wrong.

But Schwarzenegger now admits that “No, there really is no plan to end the deficit” (KCRA, June 30, 2006).

“Despite much stronger-than-expected revenues, 2006-07 expenditures exceed revenues, with the difference being covered by the drawdown of carryover reserves available from 2005-06. Based on our out-year estimates of revenues and expenditures, we estimate that this imbalance will continue in 2007-08 and 2008-09 absent corrective action, with annual operating shortfalls in the range of $4.5 billion and $5 billion projected for this period.” (“California Spending Plan 2006-07: The Budget Act and Related Legislation: Summary”, Legislative Analyst’s Office, September 2006)

The State’s debt for deficits, which was $18 billion when Governor Schwarzenegger took office, will reach $25.7 billion by the end of this fiscal year, more than $2,750 for each California family of four. By the 2007- 08 fiscal year, the State will spend around $3.5 billion in that year alone repaying deficit borrowing, more than it spends on the entire University of California system. (http://www.treasurer.ca.gov/publications/2005dar.pdf, see also http://www.lao.ca.gov/2004/cal_facts/cal_facts_state%20budget_2004.pdf)

California voters need to see their way through Arhnold’s lies and rhetoric and vote the actor out of office in November. His policies are bad for California, bad for working families, bad for our kids… the list goes on and on. Arhnold can invoke all the “bipartisan agreements with state lawmakers” in the world, but the facts speak for themselves. Once voters think Arhnold will do the right thing, he turns and stabs them in the back.

Don’t be fooled — Arhnold is a Bush tool — a Bush Buddy.

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