At a Los Angeles press conference this morning, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger pleaded with the press to write a complete story about the budget stand-off.
Challenged by a reporter’s question on why he wouldn’t raise taxes during this budget crisis while his Republican predecessors going back to Ronald Reagan raised taxes, the Governor seemed surprised. With a short laugh, Schwarzenegger reminded the reporter that California had raised taxes a record amount, $12.5 billion, just four months ago.
The Governor went on to lecture the reporters at the conference on the importance of presenting a complete story in their papers or broadcasts — Tell the tax increase side of the story when they report on the budget cuts.
While there were budget cuts in the February budget plan along with the tax increases, many of those “cuts” were for projected budget increases, not actual cuts as measured against the previous year’s spending.
The campaign to oppose the Governor’s budget plan asks for a common sense approach of budget cuts and tax increases — then forgets to mention the record tax increases from just four months ago.