Why was Gov. Gray Davis bad?

[BaliBabyDoc]

He accepted "donations" to his campaign from companies he passed bills to support...

President Bush is definitely a loser in CA in 2004.

Gray Davis pandered to unions and business interests in CA but he did not pander to minority voters en masse until the recall was announced. The recall proponents have themselves to thank for DL rights for undocumented residents.

Despite the apocalyptical proclamations about jobs and people leaving CA, the costs of providing healthcare and education to eligible CA has risen dramatically in CA over the past decade (much like the rest of the country). Furthermore, the incredibly wise citizens of CA have mandated a significant portion of the cost inflation . . . not to mention less than business-friendly citizen iniatives. CA is adamantly opposed to revising (if not scrapping) Prop 13 despite the fact it basically mandates excess dependence on sales/income tax and various fees.

Blaming Gray Davis for the structural flaws of the deregulation law and outright depravity of energy companies is ridiculous . . . it would be akin to Democrats blaming Bush for the 2001 recession (but he is certainly culpable for runaway spending and foolish tax cuts). Gray gets plenty of credit for his retarded response to the energy crisis AND for signing BS bills that made no sense considering the falling revenue stream from sales/income tax that was clearly evident in 2001 and 2002 (just like Bush).

On top of all that Gray had no friends other than his wife and his dog. He was not a liberal . . . certainly not by CA standards. He was basically Pete Wilson with less charisma . . . and that's an achievement. The GOP had a right to be bitter about the 2002 campaign . . . then again they chose to run a dog (Simon) instead of a legitimate leader for CA (Riordan).

 

[SuperTool]

There have been a lot of self inflicted wounds by Davis. I think most of the problems were a result of unchecked legislature and executive, similar to what we see nationwide. I think when the same party controls all branches, there are no effective checks and balances, and all ideas good bad or horrible go through unchecked.
I think that's one of the reasons Clinton was so successful was that there was a GOP congress to weed out the bad ideas, and Clinton would weed out bad GOP ideas, so that mainly ideas that most of the country could agree on passed. In CA, and currently in Washington, we don't have that.
I voted against recall, but for Swarzenegger, because I believe that as sad as it is, Arnold is the best candidate in the field, but it's not the appropriate way to elect governors. Had Swarzenegger ran against Davis last fall, he would have won, but the GOP probably wouldn't let him get that far, like they did with Riordan.

 

[SuperTool]

The irony is that Davis did all these stupid things like selling out on energy, driver licenses, gay marriage, etc. in his desparate attempt to stay in power, and now he still has been recalled.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

Nobody likes pandering . . . except religious conservatives . . . I wonder who they voted for in this election?

 

[AkumaX]

how did Bush screw CA?

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

FERC . . . he loaded FERC with "business-friendly, anti-regulators". Granted, Clinton's FERC declined CA requests to intervene in 2000 so it's not all that extraordinary that GWB didn't rush to CA's rescue in 2001. Various tax policies at the federal level have a direct effect on the states as well. I believe the feds kicked back 10% of the estate tax to the states.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc
Nobody likes pandering . . . except religious conservatives . . . I wonder who they voted for in this election?

or except certain "minorities" - I wonder who they voted for in this election.

CkG

 

[cumhail]

So, just to get this straight...

As chief executive of California:

- His policies caused and/or made worse an ecomic crisis.
- He spent too much of the government's/people's money on his special causes in the midst of such an economic crisis
- He made bad policy decisions which failed to fix the problems at hand.
- He lied to the people he represented about the state of affairs and the bases and consequences of his decisions.
- He seemed to be pandering to a small select group of people and special interests rather than looking out for everyone's best interests.


And yet he was recalled not after initially being elected, but after being re-elected... even winning more actual votes than his opponent in the process, no less. Funny... I knew lying about having sex with interns was a good reason to try to remove someone from office; but misleading the people and leading them into terrible economic slumps??? Who'd have thunk it...

cumhail

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

or except certain "minorities" - I wonder who they voted for in this election.

I haven't seen exit polling for Asians or Blacks but Hispanics were split 47/53 to keep Davis. I doubt religious conservatives were that ambivalent. And of course, the publicized endorsements (to my knowledge) by CA GOP were all for Schwarzenegger despite the solid conservative record (and somewhat detailed agenda) of McClintock.

Schwarzenegger is called a moderate b/c he talks about overtaxation and excess regulation but has liberal views on social issues. Peter Camejo talked about overtaxation . . . granted he only considered low to moderate wage earners as overtaxed and wanted to put the hammer on high wage earners and business. Schwarzenegger's social stands are left of center (granted close to center for CA b/c it's so left of center). If Schwarzenegger knew and told the truth (CA state government must dramatically curtail spending in non-initiative budget items and consider the repeal of popular initiatives) I doubt he would have won over Bustamante (who sux too). If Schwarzenegger was even in the ballpark of the National GOP platform he would not have won over Bustamante (who sux too).

The GOP "stalwarts" that were hammering McClintok to quit wanted to leave the social conservatives with no real choice other than Schwarzenegger . . . akin to the original Democratic ploy of not running any candidates so all Democrats would be forced to vote "no" or elect a Republican. In my eyes, Arnold won b/c he isn't a partisan Republican . . . he sounds like a CA moderate which in my part of the country (NC) is called a Democrat.

 

[chess9]

No one should run a state who won't use a real barber. He looks like he goes to Rodeo Drive to get his do.....

-Robert

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: AkumaX
how did Bush screw CA?

deregulation led to the largest robbery of california

 

[herkulease]

Tripling of the Car tax ticked me off. I find it ridiculous I have to pay a fee to drive my car already. but not I have to pay nearly 1/25th of my car each year. some people who have cheaper cars are going to face paying 10% of the value of the car.

the signing of bill allowing Driver's License for illegals. He was against this last year. BUt then agreed to sign it into law in hopes of getting votes. They get a standard issued driver's license. Not something that prints NOT FOR ID PURPOSE. Word is many states are considering not accepting California Driver's License as a valid ID. Obviously the Airport will now be a hassle as we'll have to carry a passport with us for domestic travels.

Bustamante is even funnier. Him and his cronnies want to "repeal" the car tax and tax our income instead. But they won't call it income tax hike. they call it a "tax shift". LOL

Arianna Huffington gets my vote for funniest. She paid 700 bucks in federal income taxes. Owns a 7 million dollar home and earned 1+ million last year. but during the "superbowl of debates" as arnold calls it, she complains about the "fat cats" not paying enough taxes. right...

I sure want to know how she pulled it off. My family and I'm sure lots of people want to know.