Good Government Resolutions

Published on

Here are a few New Year
resolutions ArnoldWatch would like to hear from the Governor as he
talks about reforming state government and cleaning up politics in
tonight’s State of the State speech.

1. I will stop raising money into multiple political accounts as a way
to get around the maximum contribution law (while state law limits
donations to the Governor to $22,300, Arnold keeps open a series of
accounts so he can take far more by splitting big donations into
multiple committees).

2. I won’t use taxpayer-paid state employees to staff my political
activities (Arnold’s recently released calendar indicates that the
Gov’s Communications Director, Legislative Director and Chief of Staff
staffed partisan fundraising events. The FBI is currently investigating
Secretary of State Kevin Shelley for sending state employees to
political activities).

3. I will collect debts owed to the state before I make drastic cuts in
state programs (an audit found that drug companies owe as much as $1.3
billion in prescription drug rebates, a lawsuit claims that Blue Cross
owes $500 million in unpaid taxes and dozens of corporations are asking
for millions in tax refunds even though they paid no state taxes. The
"Collectinator" has ignored this taxpayer money).

4. I will release my real calendar, not just a trimmed down version
that keeps Californians in the dark about my activities (the Gov’s much
touted publication of his calendar didn’t include most of the important
details about Arnold’s schedule, like who attended an "Energy Briefing"
or the "CRT Finance Meeting").

5. I will not allow my staff to accept gifts or trips from special
interests (last year Arnold’s staff received tens of thousands of
dollars worth of gifts from corporate interests with business before
the state).

6. I won’t stand for politicians who kill legislation by not-voting, a
practice which lawmakers use to protect special interests without the
consequences of voting against a popular bill (a recent USC study found
that one-third of the bills that die in the Capitol are killed because
politicians fail to vote, despite rules requiring otherwise).

7. I will close down the string of non-profit groups that I have
created to promote my political image, because these groups hide
contributors to me, and that doesn’t fit with my call for sunshine in
politics (Arnold has refused to make public donors to his "Jobs
Commission" and "Recovery Team" groups).

8. I will not write "emergency" regulations every time big businesses
want me to throw out public protection rules (see Dec 16, 2004 weblog: www.arnoldwatch.org/blogs/blogs_000530.php3).

9. I will not appoint any more donors or executives who work for donors into my administration.

10. I will not sign any legislation that did not receive a full public
hearing (smoke-filled tents, dead of night decision-making and bills in
print only a few hours before the final vote were characteristic of
Arnold’s biggest legislative deals during his first year).

Consumer Watchdog
Consumer Watchdoghttps://consumerwatchdog.org
Providing an effective voice for American consumers in an era when special interests dominate public discourse, government and politics. Non-partisan.

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