CAMPAIGN 2003
The Vicarious Conservative
Tom McClintock could get Schwarzenegger on the right path.
BY JASON L. RILEY
Sunday, September 14, 2003 12:01 a.m. EDT
URL:http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110004012
TEMECULA, Calif.--So often is State Sen. Tom McClintock asked about when he will quit the governor's race and "release" his supporters to back the leading Republican candidate, Arnold Schwarzenegger, that he no longer even waits for the question. "Let me just say this," he tells this interviewer, unprompted. "I mean what I say. I do not break promises. I'm in this race to the finish line. That is a promise."
The resolve is welcome, and anyone who cares a whit about the future of the nation's most populous state should hope he sticks to it, at least for the time being. Derelict stewardship has left California not just broke but broken, and Mr. McClintock's intelligent conservatism would go a long way toward repairing the damage. His presence in the race keeps Mr. Schwarzenegger mindful of Republican-base voters, whom the big guy has tended to neglect in his efforts to court star-struck Dems and Independents.
On Oct. 7, Californians will decide on replacing Gray Davis, whose policies have turned a $12 billion budget surplus into a $38 billion deficit and left the state with a credit rating teetering on junk status. The state and local tax burden is the sixth highest in the nation. Businesses--the ones that aren't leaving for friendlier environments practically anywhere else--toil under the second most onerous tax system (after Mississippi). The sales tax tops off at 8.75%, and a 9.3% income-tax rate kicks in at $38,000, which means bus drivers in Fresno are paying the top marginal rate.
Mr. Davis will not acknowledge that fiscal mismanagement--or his fealty to unions and special interests--is why the state and he are in trouble. Never mind rolling blackouts, job-killing workers' compensation costs, and the tripling of car-registration fees. He'd rather blame the recall on "a handful of disgruntled Republican consultants" and the deep pockets of Darrell Issa, the California congressman who helped fund it.But undermining this theory is the stubborn fact that two million California voters signed the recall petition--and 152,000 volunteers participated in gathering these signatures. Clearly, the recall's backers are tapping into a deep dissatisfaction. The governor's approval ratings have hovered in the low 20s for months, and polls show that well over half of voters (including nearly one in four Democrats) want him out.
Neither is Mr. Davis's right-wing cabal argument helped by the presence of Cruz Bustamante, the lieutenant governor who's leading the Democratic effort to replace him if the recall succeeds. Just don't expect much of a change in the statehouse if that happens. Mr. Bustamante, a Latino, is running a campaign that highlights class warfare ("It's about time we had a governor . . . who is going to work on behalf of working-class people") and ethnic identity ("Arnold doesn't share our values. He doesn't have the worries that we have"). The lieutenant governor's economics--he'd raise taxes by another $8 billion--are indistinguishable from the governor's. And he's every bit the slave to special interest that his boss is, only Mr. Bustamante prefers Indian casino money to the tort bar's.
Between a rally and a fund-raiser last week in Temecula, a friendly Southern California town located halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, Mr. McClintock spoke enthusiastically and precisely about a new direction for the Golden State. As a state legislator for 20-plus years, he understands that the underlying problem is a liberal political elite whose currency is mandates, regulations and taxes. This has led to a dampening of entrepreneurship and job losses consistently in excess of the national average.Starting with the things he'd do "before lunch" on his first day as governor, Mr. McClintock mentions repealing the increase in car registration fees (essentially a $4.5 billion tax by another name) and voiding $42 billion in energy contracts of questionable legality signed by Mr. Davis. Other priorities include replacing California's wage laws and its workers' comp system--among the most burdensome and litigious in the country--with Arizona's. "That's about $2.5 billion in direct savings to state and local government before you even begin to calculate the positive impact it would have on businesses and the job market and tax revenues," he says.
Next up would be a marked reduction in state spending. Expenditures have grown 40% in the past four years and some 44,000 individuals have been added to the state payroll. But most importantly, tax increases are off the table. Mr. McClintock is convinced that the state can do more with less if fraud and redundant agencies are targeted and the state is willing to contract out services best left to the private sector.
This sort of detail often is missing from Arnold Schwarzenegger's candidacy, but it's what California conservatives want to hear before they support him. As you would expect from a child of Hollywood, Mr. Schwarzenegger is a social liberal with a soft spot for abortion, gays and gun control. He opposes Proposition 54, an effort to get state government out of the business of collecting racial data, which will share space on the recall ballot. And last Sunday, the Los Angeles Times reported that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., cousin of his wife and an environmental extremist, is Mr. Schwarzenegger's new point man on the politics of logging and global warming.
In general, Mr. Schwarzenegger is saying the right things, particularly with regard to his desire to keep businesses from leaving the state. But if he's fishing for conservative votes, he needs to do more than mention Ronald Reagan. Holding fast on the fiscal issues--the recall's raison d'être--would be a good start. And there's evidence that Mr. McClintock's presence in the race is helping him do that. Indeed, when Arnold is appealing to the right, he's usually cribbing the state senator's ideas. He has begun embracing the Arizona model for workers' comp reform, for instance, and his handlers are starting to stress his conservatism. One adviser bragged, "The [radio] interview that Arnold just gave could have been delivered by Tom McClintock."
If Gov. Davis is recalled, his successor need only win the most votes, not a majority. Polls have Mr. Bustamante leading with 30% and Arnold at 25%, where he's been since he entered the race. Mr. McClintock, at 13%, is up five points since the last poll and probably more now that Republican Peter Ueberroth has dropped out. Still, his chances of winning remain small. He has neither name recognition nor money to compete down the stretch. What he does have are the right ideas and leverage. And the longer he toughs it out, the better for everyone, including Arnold, who shouldn't at all mind having someone in the race to keep the conservative base ginned up. If and when Mr. McClintock does pull out--possibly after extracting campaign promises from his rival--his supporters are likely to gravitate the actor's way.
But Mr. Schwarzenegger isn't entitled to these votes; he should have to earn them. Tom McClintock is making sure that he does.
Mr. Riley is a senior editorial page writer at The Wall Street Journal. |
