"The LA Times" is starting to update thoughout the day. A welcome move. Repeal the car tax and renegotiate Union contracts will be a good start.
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Schwarzenegger Offers 100-Day Plan
By Marisa Lagos
Times Staff Writer
2:09 PM PDT, October 1, 2003
To hear Arnold Schwarzenegger tell it, he's already the governor of California.
At a speech in Sacramento this morning, the Republican gubernatorial candidate outlined a plan for his first 100 days in the state Capitol, should he win the recall race Tuesday.
"I'm not here to talk about campaigning, I'm here to talk about governing," Schwarzenegger proclaimed to a cheering audience in the capital's Memorial Auditorium. And the speech, which outlined his "10-point program" for the state, sounded more like an inaugural address than more campaign stumping.
Many of the actor's points drew applause from the audience, including his promise to repeal the "car tax" his first day in office.
"I can kill that tax with one signature alone -- and I will do exactly that," Schwarzenegger said.
He also vowed to reverse the bill -- signed by Davis last week -- that allows illegal immigrants to apply for driver's licenses. Calling it a measure that would weaken law enforcement and harm national security, Schwarzenegger vowed to force the Legislature to repeal the bill, and if it would not, said he would "take it to the people."
"I would not let driver's license turn into fraudulent documents," he said to a standing crowd.
He said he also intends to renegotiate state employee union contracts and would get Californians what he called a "fair share" of Indian gaming revenues.
Schwarzenegger's confidence was in part fueled by the momentum he appeared to have gained since last week's debate. He leapt ahead in recent polls, including today's Times poll, which showed the Republican leading other gubernatorial hopefuls -- 40% of those asked were in support of him, compared to 32% for Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, who led last month.
The recall effort also appeared to have gained momentum, with 56% of likely voters polled supporting it.
But the Republican's governor-in-waiting attitude has angered recall opponents -- including about 100 people who showed up outside this morning's event to protest the ex-bodybuilder.
"Talk about the height of arrogance," said Art Torres, chairman of the California's Democratic Party. "The guy hasn't even been elected. Why bother with an election, Arnold, why not just take over?"
Schwarzenegger appeared unfazed. Hailed as an outline of his "governing agenda for the first 100 days of his administration," the actor's speech was not a large departure from the generalities that have marked his campaign, including promises to "audit" the state budget and call a special session of the Legislature to enact spending cuts.
Even though the latest poll was bad news for Gov. Gray Davis, the governor -- along with his wife -- continued to campaign heavily today.
Today, Davis was stumping in Los Angeles with one of the Democratic presidential hopefuls, retired Gen. Wesley Clark. The campaign stop was one of many appearances the governor has made in recent days with national members of his party.
At the rally, the governor again characterized the recall as a "power grab" by the right and urged Democrats -- 27% of whom told Times pollsters that they were in support of the effort -- to unite in order to defeat it.
Additional politicians were expected to campaign on Davis' behalf in the coming days, but a spokesman would not say whether President Clinton -- who appeared alongside the governor twice last week -- or his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, would be among them.
Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, for whom the poll results were bleak, also is scheduled to appear with Clark in Los Angeles this afternoon at a press conference. The lieutenant governor has taken a huge dive since the Times' last poll, and appears to have been hurt by the millions of dollars in campaign donations from casino-owning tribes he has accepted.
Also campaigning for the anti-recall camp, and in support of the governor, is Davis' wife, Sharon, who has taken a more active roll in this election than in the past. She planned to attend an anti-recall rally in Riverside, then continue on to a few stops in the Inland Empire, including San Bernardino and Victorville.
And McClintock, who has brushed off calls from his party to drop out of the race, has lost voters in recent days, according to the Times poll, but has retained his popularity. While voters said he has the best character and integrity and did the best job in last week's debate, nearly half said he was too conservative to realistically win.
Peter Camejo, the Green Party candidate, also refused to reconsider his candidacy, but his campaign has said he does not want to play spoiler and would understand if voters chose Bustamante to avoid a Republican victory.
Meanwhile, independent Arianna Huffington announced yesterday that she would drop out and urged voters to vote no on the recall. Huffington said she had made the decision after she realized it was the only way to keep Schwarzenegger out of Sacramento, and despite earlier railing against the governor, said she "always opposed the recall in principle."
Huffington, a former Republican, butted heads with Schwarzenegger on the campaign trail and traded insults with him at last week's debate. And while the columnist -- who has called him a "Bush Republican" -- said she would dedicate all her energy to the actor's defeat, she also had some conciliatory remarks today.
"I like him and Maria very much," she said on CNN. "I've known them for a long time."
But, Huffington said, she doubted that his centrist platform would prove viable in the Statehouse, and warned that California would end up with a politician like President Bush.
"He was supposed to be a moderate … we ended up with a warmonger," she said of the president.
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