The Governor's Wayward Broom (Arnold)

[realFedUp]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-court23nov23,0,4984573.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

The Governor's Wayward Broom
'Housecleaning' puts special interests first.
By Jamie Court

Jamie Court, author of "Corporateering: How Corporate Power Steals Your Personal Freedom and What You Can Do About It" (Tarcher/Putnam, 2003), is a founder of http://www.arnoldwatch.org .

November 23, 2003

Arnold Schwarzenegger's first act in office may have been to cut the car tax, but his second was to put on the chopping block hundreds of pending public safety regulations that were reviled by special-interest groups.

Among the scores of new rules that were frozen for six months — in order to be vetted for their effect on business — were regulations to limit pesticides, to create drinking water standards for arsenic and to publicly disclose on the Internet doctors' medical negligence settlements.

Schwarzenegger acknowledged when he ran for office that he wanted to promote business opportunities, but his freeze of already well-vetted regulations and his appointment of anti-regulation regulators to redraft them are beyond the pale.

In his first week, the governor who was going to oust special interests has managed not only to give them the keys to government, he's created a potential separation-of-powers crisis. At the very least, his Executive Order 2 is going to force government agencies to do their job twice.


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[realFedUp]

1. Arnold watch site

In the original thread was an Arnold Watch website
that is informative. Find out who gave $21,000 and
more to Arnie.
I'll be boycotting Ruby's Restaurants and Williams-Sonoma.

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/arnoldwatch/Default.html

[realFedUp]

2. Arnold and Enron

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/utilities/pr/pr003735.php3

NEWS RELEASE
Oct 14, 2003

CONTACT: Doug Heller - 310-392-0522 x309
Gov.-elect Schwarzenegger Should Come Clean About Ken Lay Meeting Or Face Inquiry, Group Says
Energy Deregulation Agenda Criticized
Santa Monica, CA -- Governor-elect Schwarzenegger must explain the substance of his private May 2001 meeting with Enron chief Ken Lay, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) wrote in a letter to Schwarzenegger today. Read the letter.

A copy of internal Enron e-mails confirming the Schwarzenegger-Lay meeting is available from FTCR. FTCR, which was the state's most vocal critic of Governor Davis' handling of the energy crisis, said that if the governor-elect did not recount the meeting by the time of his inauguration, the group would ask state lawmakers to open an investigation to uncover the substance of the meeting, including any information that might further the state's efforts to return billions of dollars that taxpayers and consumers overpaid for electricity during the energy crisis.

"A meeting with the biggest corporate crook in recent memory, while he and his firm were in the midst of ripping off the state, should not be taken lightly," FTCR wrote. "As Governor, you must explain to Californians what you were doing at that meeting, what information Ken Lay shared with you and how the meeting has influenced your thinking on energy issues."

In addition to calling on Schwarzenegger to come clean about the meeting with Ken Lay, the group highlighted key aspects of the governor-elect's energy program that reflect an Enron-perspective on energy policy. In the letter, FTCR asked Schwarzenegger to rewrite his energy policy and remove his push for further energy deregulation.
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[Democat]

3. The mainstream media will let him do whatever he wants

The same right wing media assholes that slammed Davis for anything and everything will now praise Arnold for the same things.