Santa Monica, CA — “Air Arnold,” two banner planes pulling messages for the governor, flew over the Oscars ceremony criticizing Schwarzenegger as a “bad actor” for breaking his promise to remove big money from politics and raising $80,000 a day in his first year in office. Schwarzenegger has raised twice as much as his predecessor Gray Davis, whom Schwarzenegger replaced for being a cash register politician. One of the banner messages over the Oscars read, “Arnold: Bad Actors Make Worse Governors – Arnoldwatch.org / Calnurses.org”
The flights were organized by the California Nurses Association (CNA) and the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) to draw attention to Schwarzenegger’s betrayals of the public trust, including raising more money that any other politician in California after running on a political reform agenda.
At a press conference before the Oscars, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) criticized Schwarzenegger for bad acting in his fundraising practices and called on the governor to cancel his planned special election this November. Nurses with the CNA discussed their concerns that Schwarzenegger was targeting nurses, teachers, patients and students as special interest while raising more than $40 million in his first year from the biggest industries in California.
“Schwarzenegger is a bad actor because he has broken promises he made to get big money out of politics and protect the public interest. Instead, Schwarzenegger has raised more money in a single year than any other governor in California history,” said Jerry Flanagan of FTCR which runs Arnoldwatch.org. “The public is beginning to see through the governor’s rhetoric of reform. Schwarzenegger should pull the plug on his planned $70 million special election for November that will only benefit his big industry contributors and for which he has pledged to raise another $50 million.”
A Field Poll released last week found that California voters overwhelming oppose the estimated $50 – $70 million cost of the special election Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed for this November.
Another lighted banner message, set to fly over the Vanity Fair post-Oscars party, reads “Governor: Please Stop the Fundraising – the People.” Governor Schwarzenegger recently told the Los Angeles Times about his excessive fundraising: “The people don’t see it as a negative. Maybe the press does, but the people don’t. I have never seen anyone come up to me and say, Governor, please stop the fundraising.”
Despite promises that Schwarzenegger made to voters to clean up cash-register politics, the governor has raised $40 million since taking office and has announced plans to raise another $50 million from big industry for his re- election campaign.
* To watch a TV ad protesting the governor’s repeal of rules requiring hospitals to have enough nurses on duty go to: http://www.ArnoldWatch.net or http://www.calnurses.org
* To read web logs chronicling Schwarzenegger’s pandering to the real special interests go to: http://www.Arnoldwatch.org
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The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) is the state’s leading nonprofit and nonpartisan consumer advocacy organization. For more information visit us on the web at http://www.consumerwatchdog.org
