By Ronn S. Pickard
As a “Main Street Republican,” I feel some obligation to put forth the case for the recall of Gray Davis and the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger as clearly and concisely as possible.
Recalling an elected official should not be done casually. So, what are the exceptional circumstances that apply to Gray Davis?
There were three primary conditions that led to the re-election of Gray Davis.
First, he spent more in the Republican primary than either of the two major candidates. He did this to defeat Richard Riordan, who, polls showed, was most supported by the public for the general election.
The purpose of primaries is to enable political parties to select their best candidates for public office so that the public has the best choices. For one political party to prejudice the choices advanced by an opposing political party is a direct attack on the efficacy of democracy itself.
Given the closeness of the last election, it is reasonable to conclude that Gray Davis would not now be in office if he had not used this tactic. The same tactic is now being used to advance the candidacy of Tom McClintock. Hopefully, the Republican Party has learned to deal with it.
The second reason for the re-election of Gray Davis is that he claimed that Bill Simon’s analysis of the state budgetary situation was a lie. Davis asked Californians to trust him for his experience and judgment. It turned out that Simon had understated the problem. It is unimaginable that a person with Gray Davis’ experience could not have read the numbers. Davis lied to California voters about the state’s budget to get re-elected. It is perfectly reasonable that since his election was based on a lie that he should be recalled when that lie is exposed.
The third reason for the re-election of Gray Davis was his accusations that big business and the Republicans had conspired to generate the energy crisis. It turned out that the Republicans had warned of the impending crisis and fought for legislation to remedy it for years, and the Democrats not only refused to act but also counted on the impending crisis to build public support for more socialist governmental policies.
That the present Democratic Party leadership is this cynical was demonstrated when Jackie Goldberg and the other Democratic state legislative leaders accidentally broadcast their discussions of blocking approval of a state budget because the resulting crisis could be blamed on the Republicans.
Why now Arnold? The first issue to look at is competence regarding the budget. The gross incompetence of Gray Davis in this regard was accented a couple of months ago when he announced that his solution to the budgetary crisis would be his appointing a blue ribbon committee of five past state budgetary managers to review every aspect of the state budget to make sure this does not happen again, etc.
This solution as too much a reflection of the quality of Davis’ years of governmental leadership was quickly and quietly dropped. But, if we want to compare budgetary advisors, we can compare five unnamed past state budgetary bureaucrats to Wilson, Uberroth, Riordan, Schultz and Buffet.
Aside from Arnold’s building personal fortune in a wide variety of economic pursuitys, (sic) he is also a principal owner of a well respected nation investment firm that manages some $40 billion of investments, including public employee pension funds. Arnold already has a crew that far out shines anything that Gray Davis, let alone Bustamante, could offer.
When politicians tell you how much they care about “the people” but have no personal friends outside of political allies, there should be some questions. How can a person care about those they do not know when they do not care about those they know?
One of the things we see with Arnold Schwarzenegger is that folks who have known him from many walks of life like and support him.
Even when Arnold has played some pretty tough political games on individuals, he has still been diligent about leaving them better off than when he found them, and still overwhelmingly carries their support.
It is quite apparent that neither Bustamante nor Davis is personally liked by those who know them. They can barely even talk to each other. Neither would seem to have a potential job in any aspect of the private sector, except perhaps as a “consultant.”
Perhaps almost equal to the importance to straightening out the state government will be the impact of the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger on the political dialogue.
The vast majority of people stay out of political life on every level from neighborhoods to national service because they want to avoid the personal attacks. The example of Arnold Schwarzenegger standing up to and laughing off these attacks will be taken to heart by citizens throughout California and around the world.
Anyone familiar with Arnold’s movies knows that he does not advocate immorality and that he holds public service in high regard.
We should not expect to be in agreement with any human being on all points of policy. We should be willing to work hard for the policies we believe in. However, there can be little doubt that Arnold Schwarzenegger is a good and principled decision maker. We will be well served to have him as the governor of California. (Ronn S. Pickard hangs out on Main Street with the other republicans there.)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 6, 2003. Read the original PDF.