Another Odd Down Ticket Race in California: Schwarzenegger vs. McClintock

Yesterday, Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law AB 1381 (Nunez) to reform the Los Angeles Unified School District, yet another piece of historic legislation that Tom McClintock opposed in the State Senate.

This is only the most recent example of Schwarzenegger and the Republican Tom McClintock, who wants to run for Governor in 2010, parting ways on critical state issues. To just pick a few of the many areas of stark disagreement:

• Schwarzenegger signed AB 1835 (Lieber), to increase California’s minimum wage for the first time since 2002. McClintock voted against it and from statements he has made as a legislator, there is reason to question whether he believes in the minimum wage at all..

• Schwarzenegger signed SB 1 (Murray), the landmark Million Solar Roofs legislation. McClintock was one of only four Senators to vote against it.

• McClintock voted against AB 32, the landmark bill Schwarzenegger says he will sign to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In the Senate floor debate, he disputed whether global warming was caused by anything other than climatic changes that will be reversed when the next ice age arrives.

• Schwarzenegger supports all four of the historic bipartisan bond proposals (Proposition 1B-1E) to rebuild California’s infrastructure, including schools, roads, highways, levees and emergency shelters. McClintock voted against and opposes all but one (1E).

• Schwarzenegger has supported increased funding for outreach and enrollment for children’s health care. McClintock has opposed the successful Healthy Families program for children (created by Governor Wilson) since its inception and has repeatedly voted against its expansion.

• Schwarzenegger has supported prescription drug discounts for low-income Californians and seniors. McClintock has repeatedly opposed prescription drug discount programs.

• Schwarzenegger supported Proposition 71, the groundbreaking Stem Cell Research Initiative. McClintock signed the Official Voter Information Guide argument opposing it.

• Schwarzenegger is pro-choice. McClintock strongly opposes a woman’s right to reproductive choice and once compared publicly-financed abortions for poor women to “providing scotch for the wino lying in the gutter” (Los Angeles Times, May 27, 1990).

Jason Kinney, a consultant to the John Garamendi for Lieutenant Governor campaign has it right when he says:

It’s hardly a secret that Tom McClintock’s views and votes are far outside the mainstream. But Tom McClintock is not just hopelessly out of touch with a vast majority of Californians. He’s also out of step with his own running mate, a Republican Governor, on core California values and fundamental issues.

Schwarzenegger Republicans should take a long, hard look at the Tom McClintock voting record. Nearly every bipartisan step Republicans and Democrats have taken together, Tom McClintock has opposed, objected and obstructed. While the rest of the state is stepping boldly toward a brighter future, Tom McClintock is still partying like it’s 1899.

In case you think it is not important who gets elected to the position of the Lieutenant Governor consider McClintock’s environmental record and the fact that the winner of this race sits on the California Coastal Commission and the State Lands Commission. The Lieutenant Governor sits on many other important bodies including the Regents of the University of California. This man, who honestly holds these arch conservative views, could become Governor if anything happens to whoever is elected in November—and he is being positioned by some pretty scary right wing forces for a run for Governor in 2010.