Or,
How I See The Stark Differences Between Phil Angelides And Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I met Phil Angelides today. He came to Santa Barbara and held a town hall meeting in the backyard of a volunteer's home. There were about 50 or 60 people there, and they all had a chance to ask questions and mingle with Phil. There were a few tough questions - about immigration, education, and the negative campaign ads that came out during the primary election.
I "met" Arnold Schwarzenegger back in October.. He came to Santa Barbara and held an invitation-only meeting for a pre-screened audience in a garbage processing facility. There were about 50 or 60 invited guests allowed to actually see Arnold, and the rest of us were forced to wait outside. Arnold didn't face any unscripted questions, and he didn't have to meet anyone who might have disagreed with him.
Now, as a non-partisan organization, the Courage Campaign would never tell you whom to vote for. But allow me to run through the very stark differences that exist between Arnold and Phil Angelides, differences I saw very clearly for myself today.
Today, showing stark contrasts with Arnold, Phil Angelides talked about his plans for making California better. He talked about the need to support hardworking, middle class families with tax breaks for people living month-to-month, and by rolling back the cost of health care and higher education.
Schwarzenegger has spent more time in recent weeks talking about Phil then he has talking about his own plans. Probably because Schwarzenegger's plans have fallen flat. While Arnold has been in office, the average California family has seen a rise in annual costs of about $4,422 - this is taking into account rising health care costs, tuition and fees, and the rising cost at the pump. In the same time period - since Arnold took over - corporate profits have skyrocketed.
Phil spoke plainly about the need for major, multinational corporations to pay their fair share in California. Right now, some 46 major multinationals pay zero dollars in California taxes. Meanwhile, the burden on middle income families has increased. Phil has a better, courageous plan.
Arnold is more interested in protecting his contributors in big business. When Arnold promises "no new taxes," what he really means is that he won't ask multinational corporations to pay their fair share. He has coddled the HMO's and the oil companies while breaking his promise to fully fund education.
On immigration, Phil got some tough questions today. He was asked what his position is on giving driver licenses to undocumented people, and he was asked what he would do as governor about undocumented workers and illegal immigration in general. Phil said, simply, that the driver license issue shouldn't be political - that it's better to have trained, insured, and licensed drivers on the road. As for immigration, Phil said that the border needs to be enforced, but certainly not with the National Guard. As governor, Phil would make the federal government do what it promised to do, and he would keep the National Guard available for rapid deployment in the event of a disaster - he'd never use the Guard as a political symbol along the border. And, finally, Phil said that as governor, he'll work with Senators Feinstein and Boxer to craft a path to citizenship for undocumented workers already here.
Over the weekend, Arnold had very different things to say about immigration. Arnold did his best to whip up his right-wing base - first by criticizing Phil's plan, and then making lots of inflammatory statements about the need to be "tough" on immigrants. Rather than detail a better plan, Arnold just has just done his best to fan the flames of the right-wing, going so far as to appear on conservative talk radio to offer praise for the Minutemen.
Phil's campaign for governor has been about showing a better way for California. Arnold, in the meantime, has already spent $20 Million dollars on negative attack ads. When asked about the negative primary campaign, Phil noted that he spent 90% of his campaign cash on positive ads. Phil warned the crowd that Arnold will continue to saturate the airwaves with lots of negative messages.
At the town hall today, Phil closed by acknowledging that he personally would continue to get hit hard by Arnold and his Republican allies. Arnold has already brought in the Bush/Cheney election team to help run his campaign. But Phil emphasized that no matter how hard the Republicans personally hit him in the campaign, it's nothing compared to the hit that the Republicans make every day on working people in California with their broken plans, broken promises, and busted budgets.
From The Courage Campaign