Ever since he began his leftward move in the immediate wake of his special election defeat last year, many Republicans have wondered aloud what Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was going to do for the party’s base voters. For months it continued as he promoted environmentalism, social spending, and the biggest infrastructure package in California’s history. Now he is pivoting to an area of “red meat” concern for the base, crime.
Even as he was quelling a rebellion on the right at last February’s California Republican Party convention, Schwarzenegger gave little rhetorical attention to issues that stir up more conservative voters. He mentioned his support for the “Jessica’s Law” anti-child molester initiative only in passing during his speech to convention delegates, for example. That’s changing now. With his centrism re-established, the former action superstar is zeroing in on the crime issue, taking advantage of having an opponent, Treasurer Phil Angelides, with little track record on crime and even less of a policy profile.
Team Arnold has been dogging Angelides on crime of late, having prominent law enforcement figures in the regions the Democratic candidate campaigns in challenge him to take a position on Jessica’s Law. He has yet to do so, and for liberal civil liberties reasons, is not seen as one of the initiative’s likeliest supporters.
Today Schwarzenegger appears at an event trumpeting his endorsement by six law enforcement organizations: The California Police Chiefs Association, the California State Sheriffs Association, the California Peace Officers Association, the National Latino Peace Officers Association, the California Narcotics Officers Association, and the Los Angeles County Police Chiefs Association.
Later in the day, his campaign will also announce its public safety coalition, consisting of prominent individuals such as various district attorneys around the state. Schwarzenegger struck up an alliance with county prosecutors when he intervened, with the assistance of former Governor Jerry Brown, to defeat the three-strikes sentencing reform initiative, which had enjoyed a wide lead in the polls, in November 2004. When he needed a friendly forum for his prison crisis speech on Monday, the California District Attorneys Association provided it.
Angelides is supported by the Peace Officers Research Association of California and only one district attorney, from liberal Marin County on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge.
In the event at Sacramento’s Sheraton Grand Hotel, the remarks of Schwarzenegger and others will, I’m told, focus on his policies, although references to Jessica’s Law and Phil Angelides are not unlikely.
Although Angelides supports the death penalty, he and his campaign are not making it difficult for Team Arnold to pigeonhole him as a classic liberal Democrat. Not only is his still vague program of closing corporate tax loopholes and tax hikes on the rich, not to mention past advocacy of a raft of broader tax increases, making it easy to type him as a tax-and-spend liberal, his lack of a profile on crime further outlines the picture.
Indeed, the issues page on the Democratic candidate’s web site remarkably makes no mention of Angelides’ views on criminal justice issues. His Republican foes need merely paint by numbers to fill in the blanks. It’s the sort of oversight one can get away with running for a down-ballot office, as the treasurer has three times in the past. But not running for governor, something he has planned for many years.
As Schwarzenegger pivots to “red meat” concerns for the base which are also popular with more moderate voters, we can expect to see more visuals of him with cops and other law enforcement figures. The former action superstar has told of his popularity with cops ever since his first Terminator movie in 1984, in which he first delivers his trademark line: “I’ll be back.” Which is intriguing, since he says the line in a police station, just before assaulting it and massacring every police officer in it.
But probably not a wave of such pictures. Unlike most politicians, the former Mr. Universe doesn’t have to do much to invoke a high-testosterone image. That’s why you may see more of him with the victims of crime, playing up his well-defined cinematic image as a protector. (By an odd coincidence, “Protecting The California Dream” is his re-election campaign slogan.)
In fact, Schwarzenegger is also this week, on the gubernatorial side of his operation, rolling out his new program for crime victims. Setting up a crime victims advocate in the Governor’s Office and pushing new rights for crime victims in a bill carried by Democratic Assemblywoman Nicole Parra of Bakersfield, ironically one of the legislators he unsuccessfully tried to unseat in November 2004.
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| Comments (29) |
I know where Schwarzenegger stands on issues.
I don’t know where Angelides is on crime issues or anything else except for more taxes to the people.
This makes it difficult for voters to support Angelides. Saying one thing and do another after elected is not……“Democratic”.
President Reagan once said: “The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant: It’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”
Oh how we miss Reagan….
Well, we will see if this works, via blackberry.
And thank you to my LA Weekly colleagues, for burning up another 20 minutes of my life.
If you do not know where a candidate stands – then you only have your own laziness to blame.
Go to either candidates’ website and look at position papers.
Do a Google search and read the extensive coverage from reporters.
And I for one do not miss the presidency of an Alzheimers-addled actor one bit.
Well, here we go, yet another newby handle.
As I just reported, there are no Angelides positions on crime on his web site.
… Posted via blackberry, given the latest LA Weekly technical failures.
There is a strange and I think unfair editorial in the Sac Bee today “ON HIS WATCH Governor Panders On Prison Ideas” It more or less takes Arnold to task for not his “aura of a scared politician”when dealing with the CCPOA… like he is the first! and like last year never happened!…it also accuses him of offering an “olive branch” to the union, another value judgment,I mean one cannot get around the fact that you have to deal with them you cannot pretend they are not a stakeholder…Then it asserts he is attempting to “curry favor with groups who believe that unlimited construction of prison cells is the only answer to crime.” This really makes no sense. These new prisons have to be built. Safety and security for both prison population and the guards cannot co-exist with the prison population doubled and tripled bunked, in cells, classrooms, auditoriums etc…nor can any education/rehab programs co-exist in such overcrowding. Then they write something very amusing…”and so the Governor wants to build two new prisons , at $500,000 million each , both of which will need to be staffed — more CCPOA union members! –at a cost of many more millions a year.” First of all, “hello” who else is going to staff these prisons! The Bee editorial board I assume is not volunteering! and yeah, these guards cost taxpayers a lot …but that did not happen on Arnold’s watch!
These daily newspaper ed boards not infrequently reveal themselves …
I suggest a tour of your local jail for the protesters of the three strikes law.The residents at the faciltiy will brief you on their opposition to the law. Make sure you strike up a conversation regarding pay and benefits as you walk through the intake facility. I think you will make some new friends that share you disregard for public saftey. Hint: make sure you mention Jessica’s Law it would be a good opportunity to discuss with all the fathers in attendence.
Good luck
P.S. Do you know what a Shank is?
It’s my hope someone finds these comments “bizzarely useful.”
Team Angelides is doing what a good campaign should be doing, not reacting, but trying to set the agenda. However, an incumbent governor, in this case an incumbent international movie star governor, can command a significant amount of media focus and set the agenda to greater effect.
The only alternative left to a challenger then is to alter the focus. Team Angelides should do events focued on crime, but a Phil twist.
What kind of twist? One of his major campiagn themes is a lack of funding for things Californians need. So, do events that highlight that lack of funding.
Phil should be touring crime labs and drive home the fact that if there was more funding, more crimes could be solved. He should tour police academies and say “we need more of you.” If we had more funding for police, our streets would be safer. Then he could visit places where they make bulletproof vests, watch a demonstration, check out the advanced models and say if we spend more, “we could save the lives of those who put thier lives on the line for us.”
And, as a developer (Arnold’s Team will bring up his development past anyway, so why not get ahead of it), Phil could take about altering enviromental conditions to deter crime (i.e. cul de sacs, lighting, etc…) and how as governor, he would work with local communities to help them “light up the streets.”
All the while, these events would force the media to ask the governor’s campaign, why hasn’t budgeted for this? Or that?
A line of attack would be “Arnold’s willing to spend to help his well-heeled friends, but not the flatfoots.”
Phil’s premise for this pivot should be something along the lines of “a budget is the biggest indicator of a governor’s priorities. This governor has the wrong ones.”
Or not, what do I know?
Oh, and Phil should say the governor’s red meat will give Californians e coli. All of his polices will be served well done.
The Angelides campaign has been entirely reactive since the primary.
I read AB1381 (LA school district governance) last night and I do not think Joe Scott or any of the media “critics” (or this Sherry Bebitch whatever her name is) of this bill had even read it before they wrote their articles or opened their big mouths …also, I have a little NWN newsbreak!…Antonio got 3 clusters! (as opposed to two!) now, I know you are thinking I have gone off topic!…But here’s my tie -in with your post…if Antonio does not get this reform plan going …a lot of these presently very ill-served kids in LA Unified could end up doing time in prison…so everyone should support this bill, especially the Sac Bee Editorial Board, because the Mayor’s education reform plan is the kind of “answer” to crime that in the Bee’s editorial of today, they contend is lacking in any discussion on crime…
P.S. I am also very happy that those terrible conservative REEPs in Congress did not get their amendment banning flag burning…if I cannot have comprehensive Immigration Reform w/ a citizenship track…they cannot be allowed anything they want!…I want them gone in Nov and if that does not happen everyone needs to ensure that they are impotent and miserable until 08.
Also, for those with Cal Channel AB 1381 is being heard NOW in Senate Education Committee
Beirko”Phil’s premise for this pivot should be something along the lines of “a budget is the biggest indicator of a governor’s priorities. This governor has the wrong ones.”
What!!! This is the DEMs budget as much as the GUv’s ….everyone should be proud of this budget it’s timeliness, and its content!
There is no Guv race Phil tax paln is in shambles, he has no crime policy…GO listen to Gloria Romero right now , she is putting in a stunning appearance before the Senate committee AND she said what I have been saying THIS BILLIS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING GOING ON IN THIS STATE .. The Mayor is speaking!!! Toodles!
Jack Bauer may have broken my neck, but my persepctive isn’t skewed.
For better or for worse the governor, whomever it may be, gets the blame or the credit. Whether he derserves either is up to the hack and flacks to debate.
“Yet another newby handle.”
Well excuuuuuuuuuusse me. Forgive me for having the nerve to post for the first time on your site. I guess that means my opinion is less worthy than some hack, working for some free newspaper best known for what it used to be.
I just looked at Angelides’ site for the first time, and found this:
http://www.angelides.com/issues/corrupt.html
I guess a seasoned hack – as opposed to a newby – would say that “crime” does not equal white collar crime.
Mr. Bradley!
News Break! AB 1381 is out of Education and on to Appropriations… vote 7 to 1 …only Maldonado voting “No”
McNary:
1. Ad hominem attacks are NEVER the correct way to advance an argument.
2. Yes, white collar crime is a form of crime. However, Angelides’ site still makes no mention of how to resolve issues relating to such crimes.
“Demanding New Standards of Disclosure”
“Enacting Toughest Standards in Nation for Mutual Funds”
“Fighting Expatriate Corporations”
“Recovering Taxpayer Losses from Corporate Fraud”
…
Blah, blah, blah.
… sounds a little bit less like fighting while collar crime and a little bit more like regulating business.
hmm…
Baseless accusations…(sniff)… ad hominem attacks…(sniff)… worthless rhetoric…(sniff)…
Yep, just as I suspected – a LIBERAL.
And since you decided that it was fair game to ridicule Ronald Reagan by referring to his alzheimers (which I take offense to), it should be appropriate to use the former President’s own words in reference to you:
(as provided above by Mr. Nguyen) “The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant: It’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”
Mr. McNary KNOWS that Angelides’ site refers to a stance on crime. However, and I’m sorry Mr. McNary, it just isn’t so.
For what it’s worth, the Reagan quote about liberals is actually a paraphrase of a Mark Twain quote, which goes “it’s not what people don’t know that hurts them, it’s what they know for sure that’s dead wrong.”
Ah, yes, the only crime is corporate crime …
Jared Says:
June 28th, 2006 at 1:57 pm
hmm…
Baseless accusations…(sniff)… ad hominem attacks…(sniff)… worthless rhetoric…(sniff)…
Yep, just as I suspected – a LIBERAL.
Right… because only liberals do that sort of thing. I highly doubt any one piece of the political spectrum has a monopoly on those three devices.
I should also note, the pot calling the kettle black with respect to your “worthless rhetoric” bit and then derrogatorily labeling the poster a “LIBERAL.” Shennanigans on that!
Well, surprise, shenanigans have no ideological boundary …
Nicole Parra is rather beauteous for a politician, I wonder if our governator has noticed.
You know, thinking about this, Phil Angelides is essentially NOWHERE on crime.
If Team Arnold is smart, they will follow the Bill Walsh doctrine with respect to the Democratic candidate.
Attack that vulnerability, over and over and over and over again, until they shatter the opponent.
… By the Bill Walsh doctrine, I’m referring to the Hall of Fame coach of the San Francisco 49ers. As an offensive strategist, he searched for the favorable match-up, involving a top player against a non-top player. When he found it, he exploited it until the opponent adjusted — which usually opened something else up — or died trying to defend it.
As opposed to the Karl Rove strategy of simply attacking an opponent’s strength…
One of Rove’s signature tactics is to attack an opponent on the very front that seems unassailable. Kennedy was no exception.
Some of [Mark] Kennedy’s campaign commercials touted his volunteer work, including one that showed him holding hands with children. “We were trying to counter the positives from that ad,” a former Rove staffer told me, explaining that some within the See camp initiated a whisper campaign that Kennedy was a pedophile.
From http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200411/green/3 about a 1994 judicial campaign in Alabama.
It seems that Phil’s campaign stopped engaging in the race once they compiled a few platitudes about all the major issues, or secured an endorsement where they needed to shore up his credentials in a subject area. Bill you are spot on to point out that there has been no mention of crime and punishment at any time by Angelides, except when he raises the specter of the vast corporate conspiracy to defraud us by…. earning a profit or something. As fricking if…
Phil ought to quit hanging out in the bunker in Sacramento waiting for incoming fire, and get out there and do something like perhaps what Vlade Bierko was suggesting earlier in this thread. Do something, Phil !! Flashing a picture of a cop and saying that PORAC supports your candidacy doesn’t mean anything to 90% of the voters, who don’t even know what PORAC is.
It isn’t too late for Phil to get out there and start talking about this issue. I am quite sure that the average person who votes in elections in this state cares a whole lot more about the threat of home invasion robbery or paroling felons into the neighborhood than he or she will ever, ever care about things that are by comparison pretty nebulous, such as corporate accounting or tax fraud, global warming, or Phil’s healthcare plan.
Besides, he is kind of a weenie (as most of us guys would be) when compared to Arnold, so he needs to start hanging with some cops and getting his picture taken with them. Still it is going to be tough even if he were to get out there and follow all of Vlade Bierko’s great suggestions, in that Arnold is out there talking about Jessica’s law and the crime victims’ bill of rights. If the AS campaign is thinking along the lines of Bill’s suggestion about using Bill Walsh’s football strategy, Don Meredith time might be coming soon.
Phil Angelides should have one of his staff rob a bank, and then he should be the one who aprehends them. Hey, creating good photo ops is part of their job description.
Reagan had Alzheimers during his presidency.
Fact.
Ad hominem attacks are bad.
Fact.
Wouldn’t sneering at someone for being a liberal be an ad hominem attack?
Not a fact, out in wacko conservative-land.
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