Angelides Launches Advertisement Criticizing Governor’s Budget Policies, Including Effects on Health Care
Treasurer Phil Angelides (D) on Tuesday launched a television advertisement accusing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) of "failing to deliver on his promise to balance the state's books and running up more debt than ousted Gov. Gray Davis (D)," leading to potential funding cuts in health care programs, the Sacramento Bee reports. Angelides, "who likely will challenge Schwarzenegger if he runs for re-election next year," said during a press conference at a Sacramento health clinic that the state faces a $26 billion deficit in part because of the governor's reluctance to raise taxes and his support of last year's $15 billion bond measure, the Bee reports.
Angelides launched the campaign, which will include a one-week tour to criticize the governor's budget policies, one day before Schwarzenegger's State of the State address, in which the governor is expected to outline aspects of the budget proposal his administration will submit to the Legislature on Monday.
The $200,000 ad campaign, financed by an Angelides political committee, will run this week in major television markets statewide. The ad, which does not carry Angelides' image or name, features comments from Schwarzenegger's first State of the State address, in which he said the government would not "be allowed to spend money it doesn't have," and it criticizes the governor for approving additional borrowing measures (Bluth, Sacramento Bee, 1/5).
Angelides said that if the governor seeks to reduce spending for public health care programs, he also should propose to increase taxes for state residents with annual incomes of at least $500,000 (Chorneau, AP/Contra Costa Times, 1/5).
"It is time for Gov. Schwarzenegger to abandon his fiscal policies, which have been about debt and budget deception. Because of the governor's policies, we face a tsunami of devastating budget cuts to education and health care that will hurt our children," Angelides said (Sacramento Bee, 1/5). Angelides said recent reports indicated the governor is planning "devastating cuts" in health care and "shifting the focus away from our budget, from the critical issues about how to balance the budget while protecting education and health care like he promised" (Gledhill, San Francisco Chronicle, 1/5).
He added, "What the governor promised and what the people expect is a balanced budget that protects education and health care. The operative word here is 'fairness.' ... No matter what the governor says on Wednesday night, he cannot mask the fact that he is setting us up for a tsunami of budget cuts to education and health care that will not be good for the state" (AP/Contra Costa Times, 1/5).
H.D. Palmer, a spokesperson the Department of Finance, said that Angelides has supported past bond measures that increased the state's budget deficit, that voters approved last year's $15 billion bond issue and that Wall Street credit-rating agencies increased the state's rating in response to last year's bond measure and the governor's budget choices. "Take all that together and it's clear that the treasurer is on the wrong side of the people, he's on the wrong side of Wall Street and he's on the wrong side of his own record," Palmer said (Sacramento Bee, 1/5).
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