Angelides Debates Schwarzenegger

Democratic Treasurer of California Phil Angelides had a TV debate over the week-end with the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger. The polls say the Austrian-born Californian will win re-election, but voting is a month away, and that’s a really long time in politics. Mr. Angelides didn’t score a knock-out, but he did lay out a much different vision for the Golden State than MR Schwarzenegger has delivered. Still, the race is "Ahnold's" to lose.

The entire debate seemed to turn on a simple word, “taxes.” The governor told the treasurer, “You have been so far for every single tax increase since you have been in public office. I can tell by the joy you see in your eyes when you talk about taxes, you just love to increase taxes …. Look out there right now and just say, ‘I love increasing your taxes’.” He is a performer by trade, and it shows.

According to the Los Angeles Times, “Angelides has proposed raising taxes by $5 billion a year for corporations and Californians who make more than $250,000 a year. In August, he offset that proposal with a plan for $1.4 billion in tax cuts, mainly for middle-income Californians and small businesses.” He’s a native Californian who remembers Pat Brown’s California, where kindergarten to PhD was free, where there was affordable housing in LA and San Francisco, where things were just a whole lot different, in the sense of better, for most people. He asked, “Who can you trust to do the right thing by middle-class families in this state?” The truth is, if one wants services, one must pay for them, and that means taxes.

The debate did hinge some on personalities. Mr. Angelides said, “The fact is, when you speak like this you sound just like Newt Gingrich. You sound like Speaker Hastert. You sound like George Bush attacking me on taxes.” The governor retorted, “No, no, don't talk about Bush, because if you want to do that, go to Iowa.” The treasurer cracked, “You went to Ohio, governor; I didn’t. You stood with President Bush and you helped him get reelected. And we didn't even get a T-shirt!”

Still, Mr. Bush’s unpopularity doesn’t seem to affect Mr. Schwarzenegger. Indeed, he compared his opponent to a bogey man of the right, Ted Kennedy, to whom he is related by his marriage Maria Shriver. “I feel a little bit like I’m having dinner with Uncle Teddy at Thanksgiving.” Mr. Angelides, like too few Democrats, stood up for a fellow liberal, “He’s a great man. If my grandmother could hear me being compared to a Kennedy....”

Meanwhile, Jerry Brown is leading in his race for attorney general over Chuck Poochigian, a Republican state senator. One can’t help but wonder if Governor Moonbeam (this journal is allowed to call him that as he remains, in its opinion, the best president America never had) is finished thinking about higher office.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

Home