Davis Denounces Loss of Jobs Under Bush
Calif. Governor Blames Tax Cuts for State Deficits
By William Booth
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 7, 2003; Page A06
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 6 -- Gov. Gray Davis (D), fighting for his political life, blamed President Bush today for the steep job losses and laggard economy affecting California and the nation.
National Democrats gave Davis, who faces a recall vote in one month, the radio spot to respond to Bush's weekly address to the nation, which was about tougher standards for teachers and students. Davis said Bush's tax cuts and failure to invest more in education and infrastructure were responsible for the deficits facing 46 states, including California.
"To be blunt," Davis said, "there's a vacuum of national leadership that is sucking up American jobs at an alarming rate. Despite all the sound bites, the president's jobs proposals can be boiled down to one and only one common denominator: tax cuts for the wealthy. But enriching the rich, at the expense of the rest of us, just isn't working."
Davis made scant mention of California's problems, and took no responsibility for the crushing budget deficits in Sacramento.
Campaign aides for the GOP candidates in the recall race quickly struck back. "It's vintage Gray Davis," said Rob Stutzman, a spokesman for gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger. "Blame everybody else. When, in fact, Gray Davis is a job-killing machine."
Bush used his weekly radio address to promote his "No Child Left Behind" education program, which he said "is raising standards for student achievement, giving parents more choices, requiring more accountability from schools and funding education at record levels."
Davis's response focused on the economy, instead, saying, "no president since Herbert Hoover has seen job losses like this over the course of his term in office."
Davis was referring to Labor Department figures released Friday that showed stubborn sluggishness -- 93,000 jobs shed in August -- with the national unemployment rate hovering at 6 percent. "Democrats in Congress have a plan that would put a million Americans back to work by focusing tax breaks on working families, and providing small businesses with incentives to invest in new technology and workers," Davis said.
In California, the governor said, "we're accelerating the flow of billions of dollars in bond money into our economy. We're building freeway and public transit projects one full year ahead of schedule, creating thousands of jobs now."
Baloney, said John Stoos, deputy campaign manager for Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock, a gubernatorial hopeful. "The irony is that California is a drag on the national economy. . . . Leave it to Gray Davis to say that government jobs will rebuild our economy."
This is the second time that Davis has given the Democrats' response to the president's radio address. "I'd say it's a double-edged sword," said Stutzman of the Schwarzenegger camp. "The Democrats feel obliged to do anything they can do hold on to the governor's office in California, but they're doing it with Davis, who is the most unpopular governor in the country."
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