Arnold Schwarzenegger was a Terrible Governor: Go back to Hollywood, Mr. Governator
I was sitting watching television a couple of nights ago when a trailer for the upcoming action-adventure movie The Expendables came on. The announcer started naming off the leads: Stallone, Willis, Li, Schwarzenegger. What?!? Schwarzenegger, as in Arnold? As in our Governor? I think to myself that I must have heard wrong. This can't be true. California is in a continuing budget crisis of epic proportions, and our Governor is moonlighting making movies!
In an interview with ABC's This Week, Schwarzie reassured viewers that he did the filming long after the budget was finalized; thus, it didn't affect his ability to participate in negotiations in Sacramento. And besides, "I've done three other cameos in movies since I have been in office," he casually admitted. Oh great, so it should make me feel better that he has been doing it throughout his entire tenure, not just this one!
The Governor's office wouldn't confirm or deny if he is being paid for his movie appearances. But if he isn't, that is almost a double-whammy to the State. The tax revenue alone generated from his appearance in the 55-million-dollar The Expendables could dump a tiny treasure trove in the State coffers.
For those who don't live in California, perhaps you haven't heard how Arnold is doing. His approval rating is hovering around 22 percent, the lowest it has ever been. So low that it is the same as former Governor Gray Davis's who was ousted out of office in a recall election--only the second to be so in US history. At the time, voters blamed Davis for the California energy crisis and the dot com bubble burst.
Today Californians have so much more to be upset about than high energy bills and unemployment in the high-tech sector. Today California has 12 percent unemployment, a 19 billion dollar deficit, failing schools, and over-crowded prisons, just to top the list.
The reports get simplified into bite-sized headlines with soundbites to match. But the reality is a State whose citizens are suffering. Solutions to solve the deficit have included cuts in education, social services, police and safety, forced state furloughs, and pay cuts for state workers.
Imagine going to your job as a college-educated State worker where you have worked your way up the pay scale for years to have your pay slashed to near what fast-food workers earn.
Try going to the DMV to get your driver's license renewed on a Friday only to find the office is closed for the day. Non-essential government offices have been closed on Fridays for months.
Don't expect your child to be able to play an extra-curricular sport at school for free. Many school districts have been forced to charge parents a fee for their children to participate.
In-Home Support Services for people with disabilities has been on the chopping block for months.
When tax time rolled around, the State Controller urged taxpayers not to delay filing their returns because if they were due a refund, they might just get an IOU. Yes, seriously, an IOU.
I don't know which I found more unbelievable: the fact that Schwarzenegger had the arrogance to think he could be a successful Governor or that the people of California elected him into the office, trusting he could be. When I learned of his election in 2003, it reminded me of when I lived in Minnesota in 1998 and wresting celebrity Jesse Ventura was elected Governor. At least, in that case, Ventura had served as Mayor of Brooklyn Park. Even so, he only served one term.
Electing someone Governor with no experience in governance or public policy is just a bad idea. I wonder if Arnold had ever even been to a County or City Council meeting before taking the Governor's oath? Shortly after he had taken office, I remember seeing Schwarzie's wife, Maria Shriver (Kennedy), doing an interview with gal pal Oprah Winfrey, speaking words of encouragement and optimism of her husband's new career path. She spoke of it with a likeness of going to summer camp. Her tone was a mix of serious endorsement and wifely appeasement. Needless to say, she didn't convince me he was up to the demands of the office.
Which leads me to the question of who really is? The Governator is terming out this November, and we Californians have grim choices for electing his successor. Ebay's Meg Whitman is the Republican nominee, and Golden State career politician Jerry Brown is the Democratic nominee. Whitman has no political experience (and no voting record for 28 years). Brown says all the right things but makes you wonder how he's able to have accomplished so much for California to be as still messed up as it is.
Ah well, California's future and who will lead it can be a blog of another day. The only thing I am more thankful about than seeing Schwarzie vacate the Capital is that the US Constitution prevents him from running for President. Go back to Hollywood, Mr. Governator. As you were quoted recently in a news soundbite saying, "I'm not concerned with my approval ratings, I have all the time in the world to make lots of money after I am out of office."
True. But what about California?
