Voters OK Schwarzenegger's Budget Plan

[rodbarnett]

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Californians overwhelmingly approved a plan Tuesday to borrow a record $15 billion to bail out the state budget, handing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a crucial victory in his bid to turn around the world's sixth-largest economy.

A companion measure that would require a balanced budget also easily passed. Both measures had to be approved for either to take effect.

With 34 percent of precincts reporting, Schwarzenegger's borrowing plan - Proposition 57 - was favored by 61 percent of voters. The companion measure - Proposition 58 - had 71 percent.

"Californians have gone to the polls and flexed their muscles and let their voices be heard," Schwarzenegger said in his victory speech in Santa Monica. "California is back on track."

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040303/D812O0EG0.html

[liberalnurse]

1. Can we expect the same

voter turn-out for *bush in November? I fear so!

[Florida_Geek]

2. I am not sure,

I heard the voter turn out was low, and even Dems voted for this.

[abracadabra]

31. yeah -they didn't even send my my sample ballot in the mail

And last time I got my sample ballot in the mail no problem(recently when we voted on the recall---so there was no reason I should have not recieved it)--
I had to HUNT down my polling place and call an 800 h-a-s-s-l-e number to find out...completely new poll location!

I CAN see why there was a low turnout--
Some people probably slipped up and forgot(those w busy lives)!!

And here again there were multiple Diebold locations in L.A.
I luckily punched a card .

Here's the deal--
psychologically you put only 3 or 4 measures on a ballot--all bad and guess what--human nature strikes and you figure you gotta vote for "some" of them right??
otherwise you're being bad or something !!
an EZ in for any bad measures-

bound to pass a couple because we figure we feel negative to not contribute our support to some of these measures they worked hard to present to us--

Believe me I even felt bad voting aginst everything and I pride myself in being progessive (even radical)

So go figure..

[Mountainman]

3. I doubt that Bush will take this state.

Bush has support in the Central Valley and in Orange and San Diego counties but not much anywhere else. Arnald is more the anti Davis candidate more than he is a Bush candidate to most Californians.

[CreekDog]

4. I voted for both budget initiatives...

I vote liberally every chance I get and usually vote no when there is any doubt about an initiative. This time was different, I voted for every statewide initiative including the budget items.

I didn't want to support the governator, however, the state has major budget problems and nearly everybody was saying that the two budget measures were better than nothing.

I'd prefer they just raise taxes just a little and figure out a way to stabilize revenue and spending from year to year.

Don't interpret votes for these initiatives as Republican votes, they aren't.

[leesa]

5. Well, you just made a bigger budget problem. We have to pay this

back with interest, you know.

[WildWorldOfMan]

13. They passed another $12 billion School Bond too...

so they can upgrade the schools. The majority of California's fiscal budget is repaying freaking bonds. It may be for the schools, kindergarten and all. Hope the little kids enjoy it because they will be the ones paying for this when they grow up. March 2 was a massive victory for Arnold.

[LibDemAlways]

21. If they actually used the school bond money to improve schools,

I'd have no problem with it. Two years ago my local school district took bond money earmarked for school improvement and used it to build a new administration building with a plush principal's office. The kids got nothing. There is no accountability, and thus the money is wasted and frittered away by selfish, greedy administrators.

[CreekDog]

14. But there weren't good alternatives to the $15B Bond

There just isn't going to be a tax increase of that size during a recession --it's not going to happen. And the alternative, budget cuts of somewhere near $15B are unacceptable to me. I hate the idea of financing operating expenses, but I hate the alternatives that have a chance (budget cuts) even more.

As for the school bond, the schools need to be continually updated. I don't have a problem spending for improvements to school infrastructure. To bad school operating funding won't be increased by a commensurate amount.

Now that I'm being flamed for my votes, I just want to say...

I voted against Wal Mart yesterday!

[atreides1]

36. Good For You. I'm sure Wal-Mart will put your picture on a wanted poster.

A new administration building is not really part of a school's infrastructure. And that money should have went to the classrooms first, not so that some principal could get a new office with all the perks.

That seems to be the problem, people like you think of that brand new building as infrastructure, but what about the classrooms, and the kids that should have benefited from that bond money?

Updating a school, to me, means you get text books for the students, not a new office for an administrator.

But I hope you enjoy the $2000 extra a year you'll be paying to pay back this bond.

[UpInArms]

6. well darling Creekdog -

you just voted to increase your family's taxes by $2,000 a year forever.

[cboy4]

8. I voted no, mainly because I'm

apparently still more furious about the Republican
recall coup that Gray Davis is, judging from his
appearance on Leno.

Secondly, almost every quote from economists
that I've read have said the propositions will
not fix the long term budget crisis....

[shanti]

10. exactly

this money is ONLY for THIS budget year. look out for july:-(

[Athame]

12. Exactly, and a poor bargain

when it makes the Gropinator look like a leader.

:thumbsdown:

[shanti]

9. thanks for nothing

did you also vote yes on 56?

[eileen_d]

11. Yes, that's logical... not

Voting for an initiative supported by a Republican is not the same as voting for a Republican. But you knew that.

[David__77]

19. The Democrats supported this strongly, as did the unions.

There was NO opposition campaign against this. Both parties supported it and almost every legislator and elected official in the state, as well as all the unions. I voted no, but the 37% who said no did no in the face of a major bipartisan campaign. I think this is the expected result.

This has nothing to do with a partisan campaign. The 57 commercials featured him as well as Democratic Controller Steve Westly.

[rocktivity]

7. All I have to say is

rocknation

[pfitz59]

15. CA Tax Exemptions suck!

"Farm" tax rates for 12 orange trees in Fairbanks Ranch! (Raygun paid "farm" taxes on his "ranch" in Santa Barbara because he kept a few head of cattle.) I'm sure Bohemian Grove defers taxes because its a "tree farm". Don't forget Prop 13 carryover.... Remodel the house, but pay original tax rates! CA did not have to float a bond, just close loopholes and ENFORCE EXISTING CODE! This easy bond measure is an albatross for future generations. What ever happened to "pay as you go" government?

[Hell Hath No Fury]

16. Arnie "borrowed" this proposal...

from Gray Davis.

It was the very same plan Arnie slammed him for during the campaign.

Once Arnie got into office and say there really WAS no fat to trim (as he had claimed), he cut the budget (which effected the poor and handicapped) and pulled Davis' old proposal out and claimed it as his own.

If you noticed, all the major CA Dems called for it's passage.

It's a bad deal vs. a worse deal.

[frylock]

17. sometimes i even wonder why i bother to vote..

I mean, I'll continue to vote, but it's very dishearting when everything I vote in favor of is defeated while everything I vote against succeeds. Happens every election.

[LibDemAlways]

22. I feel your pain.

The voting public is so often swayed by the corporate media. They seem to make a habit of voting against their own self-interest, and we're all worse off as a result.

[shanti]

23. omg

that's me in a nutshell....nothing or nobody i vote for ever wins. i feel like i'm banging my head against a wall sometimes...:-(

[Piperay]

35. Same here...

maybe I should vote the opposite of what I want because no matter which way I vote I am always on the losing end. :argh: :-(

[L.A.dweller]

18. I voted no on all the borrow and spend initiatives.

Ideally taxes should be raised to help with the state budget.
These bonds are what get us in to a hole in the first place.

[shanti]

24. so did you also vote yes on 56?

this had no effect on the budget AT ALL, despite what the teevee ads had to say. in fact, it FORCED the legislature to actually do something instead of sitting on their fat a**es and making everyone else suffer. i am so upset about its not passing :grr:

[erpowers]

33. That's probably why...

there were ads against it. It actually called for politicans to do something. Some politicans probably wanted to continued to sit on their butts doing nothing while making the people pay the price.

[donsu]

20. did the voters win or did the voting machines win

nt

[tom_paine]

26. Impossible to tell in Imperial Amerika

Our voting systems are so corrupted and distrustworthy.

Trustworthy electoral systems do not exist to legitimize the winners but the LOSERS of an election.

Imperial Amerikan voting has little legitimacy (especially considering the lengths the Busheviks have shown that a ruthless party can go to block and stuff votes).

When Touchscreen "Stalin" Voting is 100% in use, Imperial Amerika will officially be a member of the Third World (if it isn't already).

Of course, it is ironic that the highest tech "solution" means the least secure and trustworthy.

It is that very irony, and the seeming impossibility of it which makes denial easy, that the Busheviks are counting on.

2004 will be the last even semi-trustworthy "election" in the Amerikan Empire.

[Kikosexy2]

25. Did anyone in L.A.....

during the 6pm News on channel 4 KNBC catch on tape Gov. Arnie voting but then telling a voter on TV to vote for his Prop. 57 & 58 AT A POLLING PLACE which is against the law??? Gov. Groper actually was caught politiking for his propositions on TV!! Time to call your congressman to complaint--were the votes tainted??

[tom_paine]

28. As we all know the Rule of Law does NOT apply to Imperials

And there is NO ONE more Imperial than our Bushevik Emperor-in-Waiting, Imperial Gouvernor-General OrangeHair Gropenfuhrer.

Don't hold your breath looking for Ahnold to be investigated.

Also, I think given his freakish persona (I mean, it is REALLY CREEPY the way he dyed his hair like Raygun, whether his Bushevik Psychoengineers told him to, or even more creepily, if he did it himself) and his admiration for brutal power and Hitler, that anyone who did would just sort of, you know...die.

[mbperrin]

27. Bankers celebrating today!

It's those small down payments and easy easy payments forever!

[Terran]

29. Apropos of nothing...

...how do you guys stand having that caricature as Governor? He makes me glad I'm not a CA resident any longer.

"Californians have gone to the polls and flexed their muscles..."

Oh gawd...

[Kikosexy2]

30. What's so funny...

is his promise that he'll not raise taxes---B**S**T! believe me he's
gonna "discreetly" raise taxes and then say Oh but I have no choice
but to since we've already cut so much--like Duh??? I hate to say this
about my fellow Californians but some out there are really star-struck blatantly STUPID!!

[erpowers]

32. To a degree...

he has already raised taxes on some people. He has raised the cost of education and raised fees for fishing and going to certain parks. So he has already discreetly raised taxes and he does not have to stand up a be accountable for it because he did not call the hike in costs and fees a tax increase but it actually was for some people.

[Kikosexy2]

34. Sneaky...

but not surprising. Calif. will expect more of this. Again, my fellow
Californians are sooo star-struck STUPID! Now if Dennis Miller becomes a senator....shoot me!

[pinto]

37. part of the CA budget "crisis" is government by Proposition.

Every year we are presented a series of props, usually well funded on both sides, by "shadow" groups with names like "citizens for clean water" "citizens for honest government" and such. They are billion dollar expenditures, removed from the legislative process, which absolves the legislature from any responsibility except figuring out how to pay for that "clean water" initiative that was really a pork barrell....Prop 13 left a gaping loophole for commercial properties, which no one seems able to address, let alone resolve.....So, props may "feel good" when you're in the polling booth, but we do have to pay the bill somewhere down the road.

[missile_bender]

38. Somebody please tell me who paid the TV ads for Arnold's props?

The article didn't say.

[pinto]

39. good question. Governor can't sponsor a proposition, and the tale is

usually in the funder...