This will probably never happen...
Oct. 8th, 2003 12:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sethrakbut it'd be fun to see if it did.
As you know by now, Ah-nuld won the race. No, I'm not upset. I may be a Democrat, but I don't automatically assume that electing a Republican to public office results in plagues of locusts over-running the land. Nor am I surprised. He had the biggest name recognition of the entire field of candidates. Unlike Lt. Gov. Bustamante he had no association with Davis to taint his character in the voters' eyes. He also had the most money, both in campaign contributions and in his own personal coffers. I don't have anything against rich people running for office. Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) is a prime example of how being considerably richer than your opponents can secure you a solid hold on whatever office you care to have without making yourself beholden to the special interests. Arnold Schwarzenegger is considerably richer than Kohl.
That's where I come to my idea for something I'd like to see happen but don't really expect to. Arnold is so very rich that he can afford to do things most candidates couldn't. Things that will save CA a certain amount of money - nowhere near enough to fix their budget problems certainly, but enough to make a nice gesture, and to guilt other politicians into doing more than they might otherwise do to cut costs.
For example, as governor he gets occupancy of the Governor's Mansion. Normally the upkeep of the building is paid for by the state budget, as are (I think) the salaries of the servants who take care of the property. Arnold can reimburse the state for these expenses. By his standards that kind of money is almost nothing.
I think the state also pays for groceries bought by the governor's family, separate from the governor's salary. He can offer to pay for all their groceries himself.
He can decline to accept his salary. If for some reason CA law doesn't allow him to do that, he can simply donate it back to the state after receiving the checks. I seem to recall hearing about a state legislator somewhere who wanted to do thaty because he made a fair amount of money with his law practice, but couldn't simply decline the checks for some legal reason. So he deposited them and then wrote checks to the government for the amount of his salary.
He can pay for upkeep and gas for the cars and buses that come with the job. I'd suggest he ask the legislature to sell some of them off, but the next person in office might not have their own small fleet of vehicles. Or he can just pay to have them all place in storage and use his own. If Arnold doesn't have his own limo - in better condition than anything the governor's vehicles are in - I'll be astonished.
He can reimburse the state for all airfare on business trips.
Heck, if he wanted to really go all out he could offer to pay for a substantial portion of the office supplies he and his immediate staff and aides will be using during his term.
None of this will be enough to save him from the grim necessity of telling Californians that he will need to raise taxes. But doing this will cushion him against the anger of people dumb enough to think you can dig a budget that big out of the red without raising taxes.
Sadly, I don't think it *will* happen. Things like that just don't happen in real life, especially not with Republicans. No offense guys, but your members aren't noted for acts of altruism like that.
As you know by now, Ah-nuld won the race. No, I'm not upset. I may be a Democrat, but I don't automatically assume that electing a Republican to public office results in plagues of locusts over-running the land. Nor am I surprised. He had the biggest name recognition of the entire field of candidates. Unlike Lt. Gov. Bustamante he had no association with Davis to taint his character in the voters' eyes. He also had the most money, both in campaign contributions and in his own personal coffers. I don't have anything against rich people running for office. Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) is a prime example of how being considerably richer than your opponents can secure you a solid hold on whatever office you care to have without making yourself beholden to the special interests. Arnold Schwarzenegger is considerably richer than Kohl.
That's where I come to my idea for something I'd like to see happen but don't really expect to. Arnold is so very rich that he can afford to do things most candidates couldn't. Things that will save CA a certain amount of money - nowhere near enough to fix their budget problems certainly, but enough to make a nice gesture, and to guilt other politicians into doing more than they might otherwise do to cut costs.
For example, as governor he gets occupancy of the Governor's Mansion. Normally the upkeep of the building is paid for by the state budget, as are (I think) the salaries of the servants who take care of the property. Arnold can reimburse the state for these expenses. By his standards that kind of money is almost nothing.
I think the state also pays for groceries bought by the governor's family, separate from the governor's salary. He can offer to pay for all their groceries himself.
He can decline to accept his salary. If for some reason CA law doesn't allow him to do that, he can simply donate it back to the state after receiving the checks. I seem to recall hearing about a state legislator somewhere who wanted to do thaty because he made a fair amount of money with his law practice, but couldn't simply decline the checks for some legal reason. So he deposited them and then wrote checks to the government for the amount of his salary.
He can pay for upkeep and gas for the cars and buses that come with the job. I'd suggest he ask the legislature to sell some of them off, but the next person in office might not have their own small fleet of vehicles. Or he can just pay to have them all place in storage and use his own. If Arnold doesn't have his own limo - in better condition than anything the governor's vehicles are in - I'll be astonished.
He can reimburse the state for all airfare on business trips.
Heck, if he wanted to really go all out he could offer to pay for a substantial portion of the office supplies he and his immediate staff and aides will be using during his term.
None of this will be enough to save him from the grim necessity of telling Californians that he will need to raise taxes. But doing this will cushion him against the anger of people dumb enough to think you can dig a budget that big out of the red without raising taxes.
Sadly, I don't think it *will* happen. Things like that just don't happen in real life, especially not with Republicans. No offense guys, but your members aren't noted for acts of altruism like that.
