W()()T! The govenator!

[DemoCoder]

You're right, but you also forgot to mention that odds will be good that Issa will fund another recall, provided a Democrat or Independent wins. Ask yourself would he recall Arnold if Arnie pulls the same thing as Davis did? I don't think so...

Be nice to have some Californians turn the table on Issa and recall *him*. They should put that on the ballot as a proposition.

There have been recall attempts against every governor since the recall system was instituted, or atleast 1936. Reagan was nearly recalled. I'm sure the democrats will have their say. Don't forget the nasty trick the Davis campaign did during the Republican primary by urging Democrats to vote out the moderate Republican in favor of the extreme one.

California has a peculiar system that allows anyone to vote in a party primary, so opposing parties can sabotage the results. As a result, the Democrats got rid of Davis's primary challenger, a moderate, pro-gun-control, non-religious, pro-abortion republican. This meant he faced a more extreme republican in the final election.

Isn't direct democracy wonderful? Californians can legislate directly by collecting a few signatures and putting unfunded spending initiatives on the ballot. (we never see any referenduums put forward by the people to raise taxes) Then the people get pissed off when they find out they have to pay for this pork. Meanwhile, Davis and his buddies, threw a big party through the 90s when tax receipts were bursting from exercise of stock options in all those startups and an overheated economy.

Now those same people who reelected Davis to continue the party, and those same people who like putting billions of unfunded initiatives directly into law, are now recalling Davis.

Arnold's first job should be to amend the California constitution and remove or limit public initiatives. Secondly, is to take a buzz saw to the California budget.

 

[RussSchultz]

Arnold's first job should be to amend the California constitution and remove or limit public initiatives.

That would certainly get a lot of democrats squealing that the republicans are fascist pigs who are anti-democratic.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

That would certainly get a lot of democrats squealing that the republicans are fascist pigs who are anti-democratic.

Oh but we are! Haven't you heard? We're hijacking this very governorship....

On a semi-related note, though Arnie is a Republican, he's certainly a "moderate" or perhaps even liberal one. Haven't heard much on his views / policies myself, but of the few sound bites I heard this morning, I'm not overly confident that he's eager to do what must be done.

Paraphrasing: "Businesses are leaving California in record numbers. Tax revenue goes with them."

(good so far)

"We've got to get the businesses back so that we can support all these government programs we need and deserve."

Um...having all these "government programs", (and the tax revenue required to support them) is, just a hunch, what's driving out businesses in the first place.

Sounds like Arnie might want to have his cake and eat it too. Hopefully, that's not the case...

 

[DemoCoder]

Russ, they are, after all republicans, and not direct democrats.

Joe, part of the problem in CA was taxes, but most of the leaving businesses left for two other reasons:

1) the surge of businesses and people into California drove up the cost of doing business. Commercial real estate became way too expensive. Many businesses simply couldn't afford the rent. And they could not afford workers salaries, which also more than doubled.

The rate of new construction or land development could not react fast enough, so prices went up.

2) Much of the reasons for going to CA: the venture capital environment, being close to partner companies, tapping into the pool of worker talent, all of these evaporated when the market went south, partner companies went bust, and workers left.


It will be hard to reignite the "california dream" gold rush by manipulating a few taxes. The overall economy and markets have to recover first. Secondly, there needs to be a new tech boom. It's unlikely that it will be IT spending that drives it this time. I am predicting that the next boom will be in biotechnology and bioinformatics, and this is more likely to center around Boston and D.C./Maryland (I-270 corridor) do to the location of good medical schools, government funded institutions (National Institutes of Health), and the presence of many big bio-firms in the area, like Celera.

The other potential candidates: micro fuel cells and energy technology, MEMs/microtech (before nano). Booms/bubbles happen when something reaches critical mass, and everyone falls into line very quickly on the bandwagon. It requires a "killer app". For the IT boom, it was the concept of networking and automation. For biotech, it might be some kind of industrial production of materials or chemicals, or it could be food.

There was a break through in producing carbon nanotube fiber this year, for example. CNT's are a disruptive technology in some respects.

 

[Willmeister]

There have been recall attempts against every governor since the recall system was instituted, or atleast 1936.

Learn something new everyday.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

Isn't direct democracy wonderful?

More pointed thoughts along that vein...

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/2709.htm

 

[Ty]

I laughed when I heard about Issa on the TV crying and saying that he decided to pull out so he can concentrate on Middle East peace! Just a day after Arnold announced he was going to run. Who is this guy kidding?