RECALL SCHWARZENEGGER
We are embarked on a remarkable journey to secure the signature of over a million registered voters to rescue the 2006 legislative session and save our state from a catastrophe.
|
RECALL SCHWARZENEGGER We are embarked on a remarkable journey to secure the signature of over a million registered voters to rescue the 2006 legislative session and save our state from a catastrophe. |
|
In addition to below, there is a new posting on UPDATE, dated January 15th. Be sure to visit our new section, And Now? (accessible from the Home Page). Last postings there on June 9th and November 7, 2007. ATTENTION EVERYONE! Starting in February, 2007, most postings are made at this website's new section called "And Now?" accessible from the home page. January 9, 2007 Happy New Year, Everyone! I decided to post in advance of my announced monthly posting date of the 14th because there has been such a surge in visits to our website since the inauguration speech a few days ago, it is obvious people are wanting our feedback. In the immediate days following Gov. Schwarzenegger's landslide re-election, there was a tremendous drop in visits to our website, I assumed naturally that there was less interest in what we say here. I decided to post only once monthly, mainly to keep our recall volunteers together, for that "just in case." However, since late November, the analysis of our website visits and visitors revealed that there remains a great deal of interest, like before the election. Most noticeably, our website continues to be of considerable interest to folks who want the best for Gov. Schwarzenegger. If what we say here continues to influence Governor's actions, I say, "Great!" and we will keep up the posts. On March 10, here on Weblog, we posted the following: "Governor Schwarzenegger - you ARE a very powerful man. We the volunteers of Recall campaign call on you to change your ways - learn to sow happiness. History has never praised leaders who protected the wealthy. History remembers those who helped the disadvantaged, those who are poor. How history will remember you - remains YOUR choice. Do the right thing. You can still be remembered and respected for the right thing you did before leaving the office. Maria and Susan, help him." I think these words dug deeply into Gov.Schwarzenegger's heart. These words together with the story I told over and over on radio and television when I launched the recall, about the plight of the working poor without health insurance have left an indelible mark on the governor. Thank you for remembering my story about one working family I knew whose daughter had to drop out of UC to support the family when an illness completely bankrupted the family. And about Mr. D. who kept cutting back on his blood pressure medicine to make it to the next payday. He subsequently died from a stroke, but I see this fine hardworking man in his daughter's eyes. I take care of her now. Thank Goodness that Gov. Schwarzenegger has made universal health his foremost goal for California. He has courageously even proposed to cover the children of the undocumented immigrants. I have many volunteers in the South who have serious concerns about the flow of undocumented immigrants into their midst. I have come to understand their feelings and I do not think bigotry drives those feelings. However, children should not bear the punishment for what actions their parents took. I applaud Gov. Schwarzenegger for his willingness to deal with the sour faces of his more conservative supporters.You can tell them that an epidemic spread from an untreated undocumented child may threaten the lives of their precioius grandchildren. I have come to believe that healthcare is a right, not a privilege that comes with money. Too many people are without an insurance and are forced to get really sick before they get medical attention. The hardest hit have been the working poor, the number one contingent of my Recall Campaign. Thank you Governor Schwarzenegger for coming to their aid. As many of you know, I express much amazement in a book I wrote on the Recall (Arnold Remade) about how much the changes we have seen in Gov. Schwarzenegger was brought about by our launch of the Recall. With the exception of one other thing I am still waiting for, this Universal Health coverage for our working poor completes the Recall Campaign's program. Having expressed my praise and gratitude for this and other lofty goals Gov. Schwarzenegger proposed both in his Inaugural Speech (Congratulations, by the way, Gov.!!) and his State of the State speech tonight, it is my duty now to express my concerns, that unless handled right, these lofty goals will remain just that, goals, or even if they get carried out they will soon fall apart. It is proposed that different segments of our society will share in the "burden" of providing health coverage to the 6.5 million uninsureds in California. I can see the legislature bog down deciding who will bear the greatest burden. As more details become clear, I will undoubtedly have more comments to make. Somehow, I trust that the legislature and the governor sincerely intent on leaving a legacy will reach some agreement on this matter. My worry about the universal health plan (this one is far more realistic and pallatable to the ordinary citizens of California than the Kuehl Bill, I believe) is the same one I have for all health plans nationwide. They are all slated to go into the stratosphere because there are some inherent design flaws that actually started with the Medicare Program, as wonderful as Medicare is. Prior to Medicare, we had 50, 60 million households across the country who on many weekends inspected the medical bills for their properness. These "auditors" were not paid and unlike auditors currently working for government and private health insurance carriers, these "auditors" actually knew first hand what services were actually rendered by providers sending the bills. The doctors and hospitals, knowing that many of the patients will be bringing the money at their next visit and paying them face to face, did not dare "try billing" for higher services than they rendered. For an office visit that lasted 4 minutes, a doctor wouldn't think of slapping the family with a $250 bill. A hospital bill wouldn't come with a charge of $25 for a plastic bedpan. On the other hand, when a doctor conscientiously got out of bed for a dear patient suffering in an emergency room, she knew that when she tendered a bill for $45, she could count on being paid, graciously, and with much gratitude on the patient's face. She would not face what I faced as a physician in 1974, when I got out of bed out of courtesy to expedite a care of an elderly patient at an emergency room, and I billed $45, and the state Medi-Cal program sent me a check for $2.35. Then when I took 40 minutes to dictate a letter why I should have been paid more, I received $1.33 on the supplemental check. A system where the person paying isn't the person receiving the service leads to abuses and utter ridiculousness. I can see that the entire American medical care system is headed to an explosion, or worse -- sub-par services caused by inadequate payments, payments that are inadequate because most of the money is going to other people than those providing services. My local hospital in Berkeley was called Herrick. In 1960, the hospital administration consisted of a 14 by 16 feet office of the hospital director and an 8 by 16 feet office of his administrative assistant in the fore-room. Yes, there was a billing office, one room, in the basement, but the rest of the hospital had patients in them, or had diagnostic equipment in them. Herrick did well for the community - a first class service, first class doctors. About two decades later, as more and more "third party payors" became common place, my hospital who proudly took care of the poor and the minorities fell on hard times and was enticed to "merge" with another Berkeley hospital which many doctors called the "country club." This second hospital, Alta Bates, promised our Herrick staff that they would keep Herrick running. Afterall, Herrick was located centrally, near downtown, and was the firefighters' choice for the location of the city emergency room. Guess what, it was just a few years later, without even a sense of embarrassment, Alta Bates concluded that the city can only afford one hospital and despite the protest of most people in Berkeley, Herrick was closed. Oh, Hollywood often came to make movies there because the new hospital Herrick had built before the "merger" looked so nice. This was probably before you were making movies, Governor. Alta Bates is now, as a result of a series of other mergers, Alta Bates-Summit Corporation, which is a division of yet bigger Sutter Health. Even before such mergers, Alta Bates' administration consisted of thousands of square feet of office space in a skyscraper far away from the hospital itself. Its chief or some head honcho got into trouble when the newspapers reported that every junior executive of this "corporation" - a non-profit one, mind you - was to be given a brand new BMW! Do you see why we are using our credit cards to pay our health insurance premiums? But you think I am blaming business-oriented hospital administrators for all our troubles. No, not at all. This monster was created in response to the stupid way the Congress and other government officials set up Medicare, and this led to private insurers copying the flawed designed for their use. Just as I was paid something outrageous like $4.00 for providing caring services to a sick patient at 3 AM (I got home at 7 AM just in time to shower and go to my hospital rounds), hospitals were also encountering problems with payments from third party carrier like Medicare and Blue Cross. It was a survival necessity to hire an office full of clerks, each bunch of twenty supervised by a junior exec, to write protest letters to the carriers. Then the well-meaning legislatures, both federal and state, began passing dumb laws on their last day before recess, and so then to defend against outrageous regulations, hospitals recruited from other industries expensive hired guns to strategize, lead in lobbying campaigns, and do other necessary things to keep hospitals from going under. The result is what you see today, and this process is in continuous evolution, getting worse and worse. It is vitally important that we recruit some real geniuses to figure out a real fix. I can assure you that the solution is not a single payer system. Sorry RoseAnn. Talk to dissatisfied patients of the Kaiser HMO, like me. Kaiser is touted as the model for a nationalized system. God forbid! (And I'm not even religious.) I am sure the governor and the legislature will figure out a way to make everyone pay something out of their pocket to make this universal health coverage happen. I hope so. However, I have far less confidence that such a universal health plan will become your legacy, Governor. It may be lucky to last through your administration - note I am not predicting our need to recall you in 2008 (Breath a sign of relief, because we are such a well-oiled machinery, I'd hate to be a target of group like ours!). Maria and Susan, you have got to plan a Phase II - review and revision of any state-sponsored health services by a blue ribbon committee of geniuses not beholden to special interests, to correct the flaws in our third party payor system that lead to spiraling of costs. Governor Schwarzenegger. I am beginning to appreciate your great talent and magnetic personality that enable you to bring about things that men and women not like you are incapable of. I also can see the important role that your dear wife Maria plays in helping you stick to successful strategies. I also see that you have surrounded yourself with people who have good hearts and know politics, like Susan Kennedy. There are others that most people would not recognize and so they are not mentioned but know that I do appreciate their presence. You have a good team. It will be important that you avoid the pitfalls that I can see in the road. I have more comments to make, which will be posted as my time allows in the future, but I think I should get off my soapbox before someone yanks it out from under me. For those who patiently read to this point, I have a special treat. Charlie Bright of South Carolina sent a very funny cartoon to me. It does not relate to California politics, but it is funny even to Bush supporters if they have any sense of humor, and many of our volunteers are dying to have an installment of cartoons from Charlie, and so I have decided to post it below. Thanks, Charlie! Have fun.
Kenneth Matsumura, MD (since this past Summer, most of the postings are strictly my own opinion) from the Republic of California December 14, 2006 Everyone's taking a break. Our volunteers are keeping busy with different tasks. Mainly we are monitoring for any indication of troubles ahead. Actually, I think most of us realize that we have such a well-oiled machinery that we don't want to let it get rusty for possible use in the future. Many of us have also formed probably life-long friendships and those of us who live close by are getting together socially cementing our relationships. The rest of us keep in touch often by e-mail. What is clear is that if there is any significant deviation from the new direction that we have coaxed our governor to take, we will know it quickly, and this time, we won't let it go so far down the hill like the last time. I will personally be working on the formation of a cohesive coalition that can act and vote in a unitary way. Those of you who are new to this website can review our comments about such a coalition in the postings of December 2005. Actually, our volunteer force is a microcosm of such a coalition, and the fact that we were able to act together for so long gives me encouragement that we can form such a coalition in a even bigger way. Happy Holidays, and thanks, Volunteers, for all that you did and accomplished.
November 16, 2006 (Posting here will now become monthly, before the 15th) A few days late. We all needed a break, right? First, my congratulations to the governor and Maria. And you're welcome. This year was just a taste. We have much work ahead, if we are to continue making progress. First, let me get something out of the way. Yielding to much coaxing from many of our volunteers, I have written a book about our experience and it is hot off the press: Arnold Remade: How the Fear of His Own Recall Transformed Him & Reshaped California. You can read more about it on the publisher's website for this book, at www.ArnoldRemade.com. It is written giving the governor as much credit as possible for taking our Recall effort seriously. Indeed, we all know, if he had not, we would have a different governor as of last July. The fact is Arnold Schwarzenegger took some bold steps, that not anyone would have taken, even facing all the facts last December. I think the book makes for an interesting reading and people who have read it find it very inspiring and many are planning to give it as gift this Holiday Season. It is available through your bookstore who can get it from the large wholeseller Baker & Taylor. It is also available at the above website. Now, back to our business. This website stays up by the consensus decision of our volunteers. Many frankly do not trust that our "transformed" governor will stay that way. I personally think that he will, but I have gone along with the preparation for taking the necessary steps should our governor revert to his old ways. I was disappointed to hear that he still has interest in redrawing our districts. Regardless of the merit of this idea, it is very divisive and any goodwill he has generated over this past, carefully conducted year will evaporate in an instant. Why, ask yourself, Governor, when you are enjoying so much adulation not only in California, but in New York and elsewhere, would you want to end it and make us start drawing those viper cartoons again? Charles Bright, the loyal cartoonist from South Carolina, is still with us. Did you like all those unflattering renditions of yourself we had to draw here on our website? It must have hurt Maria's heart to no end to see what we had to say about the old governor, here on our website a year ago. Do not go back. Anyway, we are telling you, we are well-greased, experienced, and ready to make sure California goes only forward, not backward. I'm going to try to make this the last time I talk about our readiness, but what we will do the next time will be quite different. But that won't be necessary, I am sure. I do see some troubles ahead. We are all counting on the economy upping our revenue, but we could face up to five billion dollars in deficit. Because the governor hates to raise taxes, we are instead borrowing, borrowing, borrowing. The legacy he will leave California may not be the wonderfully freshened infrastructure, but an albatross on the young of public debt. I too would like to avoid new taxes, and so I will have new ideas in terms of improving our state revenue from an economic upturn. Well, governor, you and I know you still have one more thing to do, to complete the planning of the last year. Don't let me hold you up. Kenneth Matsumura, MD October 26, 2006 This will be brief. Much is happening at our campaign headquarters, as will become evident soon. We are preparing for the inevitable four years of Schwarzenegger administration, unless a Truman-surprise happens again. I think that the left wing groups in this state needs to reconsider how decisions were made this past year. Every prediction and warning I made came true. It was like I had the crystal ball. Some of the volunteers who dropped off after the November 2005 elections also made some tragic mistakes in their judgment.If we continue like we did, you can bet that the causes we support will suffer. Socially progressive causes must form a coalition of the sort I advocated in December last year with other good causes. (1) The poor, many of whom have surprisingly conservative social ideas, (2) the unions, many of whose members also have trouble with ideas of the social progressives, (3) advocates of strong public education (teachers and parents, whose political spectrum is also quite broad), (4) advocates of healthcare reforms, must all come together. Together, we control 68% of the future votes. It is an invincible coalition that can control our future, regardless of how many Arnies they send. Divide this group, like they are now, and each group will be taken apart. For the first time in history, these members worked side by side, on the recall. On issues they could not completely agree, they were willing to compromise so that each group can get at least their minimum goals achieved. If it could happen once, it can happen again. True, it will mean watering down every group's most extreme goals. But isn't it better to water down your goals than to have the near opposite happen? Our analysis, which will be published and widely circulated shortly, shows that it was only because of the Recall Campaign that we achieved so much this year. We moved a mountain. While we are now preparing ahead, don't count on us to keep achieving so much for California. The coalition that came together for the recall was of the rank and file members. Most were disgusted that their groups' leadership did nothing to foster the strong wishes of the rank and file. "Disgusted" was about as strong as they felt; I heard them. Rest assured that we are now taking many innovative steps to prevent back-sliding of all that we achieved this year. Governor should take note that all the good will that he has generated this year, thanks to us, can evaporate in a month. Stay with us, Governor. Stay with Susan and Maria and others who moderated you. I personally respect some of your ideas and concerns; I too am a fiscal conservative. As you have seen lately, I for one am not taking you to the edge. But don't go back to the other edge. I have the pulse of the Californians. Stay with us, even after your re-election. Treasurer Angelides, we sincerely wish for your victory on November 7th; keep working until the end. I'm only sorry you didn't join us last December, but I guess hindsight is cheap. Kenneth Matsumura, MD, Recall Founder
September 28, 2006 Our routine, running commentary and advisory on the conduct of the election campaign follows the entry of September 13, and out of chronological sequence. Because we are so proud of our achievements described in the entries of September 13th and 28th, they will remain at the top of the Weblog section for the near future. Hello, Volunteers! Hurrah! Congratulations, again!!!! We got global warming! I mean to say, the recall campaign has successfully gotten our governor to proudly join the battle against global warming, making California the leader in environmental protection. He signed the legislation which he worked on with the legislature that will more aggressively seek to reduce carbon dioxide emission here in California. I know we have volunteers whose causes are still short-changed and our work is not complete by any means, but I have to say I am breathless with the transformation we are bringing to California (better breathless this way than from carbon dioxide, right?). Governor Schwarzenegger, thank you!! Now, be sure to read our regular weblog entries that begin below the entry of September 13. Kenneth Matsumura, MD September 13, 2006 A Time for Celebration! Our usual weblog posting commenting on the conduct of the election campaign will be delayed by a few days in order to allow our groups to celebrate. We are letting it sink in that our campaign made the raise in the minimum wage possible. Nothing else did that. There was a clear cause and effect pattern from the time of our announcement that a recall against Gov. Schwarzenegger was launched, the feeding frenzy by the media over that announcement, the avalanche of e-mails from volunteers all across the state promising to gather at least 40 recall signatures, our near-daily postings about why we were recalling him, including a frequent mention of how much the veto of the raise in the minimum wage had to do with our launch of the recall, and finally the Governor's speech on the State of the State, in January, in which he sounded like it was his idea to raise the minimum wage! Volunteers, all across the state, who worked long hours; especially our Sacramento chief Jaime Feliciano who worked incessantly to gather signatures from January to May; the many dedicated volunteers who kept sending hundreds of signatures each week. This is YOUR payday, today! You made this happen. You made it possible now for our working poor to buy health insurance, or adequate nutrition for their children. You did this!!!! Enjoy the good feeling you deserve to have in your hearts! The working poor got somewhere between 2.5 to 5 billion dollars a year in raise!!! This governor had starved them for two years! BUT HE DID LISTEN! Thank you Governor Schwarzenegger. When I with much anger couldn't restrain myself from launching the recall, I had no idea that it could have such a major effect. As those of you who read the blog here know, the governor has not only listened to us about the working poor, he has joined our fight against global warming, and has assured continuous water supply to the South by working to fix the delta levees. Thank you for those things, too, Governor! Kenneth Matsumura, MD, Recall Proponent September 28, 2006 If I weren't seeing the new Arnold Schwarzenegger, who champions the raise in the minimum wage and proudly fights global warming, I would be plenty depressed around now. The recall campaign warned early this year that the predictions of the State Democratic Party, the large unions, the teachers, and the nurses were dead wrong! Many didn't want to join the recall because they said, "Why do the hard work of a recall when Angelides or Wesley is a shoo-in." We said that our studies indicate that we needed to hold the recall election by March or April because we predicted that the governor would rehabilitate his image by the Summer. The State Democratic Party and others need new advisors! They only talk to themselves, slap each other on the back and congratulate themselves. I for one, went up and down the state and listened to our volunteers who represented a good cross section of the California voters. The governor has good advisors, who took us seriously and read our postings avidly. They transformed their platform and remade their candidate in our mirror image. The Democratic side, at least those in control in Sacramento, were a bunch of know-it alls. Look where they are now. I say, "they" and not "us" because I do not feel "they" are "us." Remember, the weblog postings lately have been my personal views, not necessarily those of our volunteers, but I do not believe I deviate much from the core postions of our volunteers. I still talk to quite a few of them regularly and they give me feedbacks. Let me comment on the recent Democratic-Angelides campaign ads. One can tell they are completely out of touch with the reality of the California voters. Trying to associate Governor Schwarzenegger with President Bush is, for lack of a better word, dumb. Even many liberals don't buy it. An outside liberal, a visitor from Ireland, said to me, "Is this all that the Democrats have now against Schwarzenegger?" It is pathetic. I tell you why also it is dangerous to hinge political support on anti-Bush sentiments. I was going to say this around the middle of September before the polls came out corroborating my thinking, but it would not be surprising to see an increasing support for not running out of Iraq, like we did disgracefully out of Vietnam. The remembrance of 9-11 can bring a strong reminder as to who would gain from America's retreat out of Iraq - Islamic extremists who mistreat women, who don't believe in a diversified world, who don't even believe in modern science or accepted practice of justice. There's no one who was more disgusted than I with the way Bush was "elected" in 2000, like those Presidents "confirmed" by judges in undemocratic South American countries. I was one of the few who flew to Washington to protest his swearing in. So listen to me when I say don't connect to anti-Bush sentiments. Most of us are very American and very patriotic. We believe in protecting the ideals enumerated by our country's founding Fathers. Trying to embarrass the governor about a casual comment made in private also makes Angelides forces look desperate. Also, when there is some question about how those comments were made public, the Democrats risk looking like the Watergate burglars. Yes, I know the taped comments were not "stolen."That is besides the point.It is a matter of the public's perception. Kenneth Matsumura, MD
August 31, 2006 Angelides Improving His Positions Those who are avid readers of weblog here will recall that on July 13th, I presented some friendly advice to the Treasurer about his positions on issues and how they were likely to be viewed by the voters who will determine the outcome of the November election. I had misgivings about the large ten billion dollars 'tax the rich' plan and about his support of the universal healthcare Kuehl's Bill, based on what our volunteers think. I suggested that he should say that the economy has taken a surprising upturn which has enabled him to roll back his tax plan.I also suggested that he should move cautiously on the universal healthcare plan. In June, his spokesperson had said he supported the Kuehl Bill. Treasurer Angelides has adopted a tax 'rebate' plan for the middle class thereby returning some of the tax taken from the very rich. It is a strategy that worked for Clinton, although if I recall correctly, Clinton didn't roll out his plan in two steps like Angelides, and therein lies the problem. Angelides could be seen to have added his second step as a political move. His advisers will need to prepare Phil for that attack from Arnie. If I am hearing this correctly, I understand that Angelides has now withdrawn support of the Kuehl Bill. This will have taken away an important attack position from Arnie. That is a relief! Let me tell you what I have heard repeatedly from my volunteers who worked to recall the governor. Even after the governor remarkably adopted the Recall Campaign's main demands, many of our volunteers wanted to keep going to recall him, because of the character issue. I believe the man who will win in November will win based on the voters' perception of the candidate's character. The governor, helped by postings here on this website, has really cleaned up unpopular positions on various issues. It still amazes me that he is now the foremost champion of the raise in the minimum wage, when afterall I decided to recall him after he vetoed for the second time the raise voted by the Democratic legislature. He has stopped ignoring the deterioration of California's infrastructure, such as the levee which I said threatened the water supply of Southern California. He is helping California become one of the first states to adopt measures to stop global warming, in contrast to his Republican buddy in Washington.He petitioned to prohibit constructing roads into some of California's last wilderness. He has closest to him the former head of the California Abortion Rights Action League. This Susan is also expected to guide him on gay rights issues. We can keep listing the ways in which he has gone down our list of demands and grievances of last December and met them. Therefore, with these issues putting the governor now much more together with the voters, it is a challenge for Angelides to demonstrate why the voters should vote for him, not Schwarzenegger. In the previous, recent posts, I have railed against playing politics as usual and reaching the budget pretty much on time was just what the doctor ordered. Angelides' recent move to separate himself from a position taken by a union on a proposition is the kind of things that can assure the voters that Angelides is not 'bought' by the union or any special interest group. His recent move, perhaps following our advice, to not back the Kuehl Bill placed him independent of yet another union to whom he had been seen beholden. However, suspicions will continue in the minds of voters that Phil is with "special interest groups." Remember that Schwarzenegger rode successfully on the tide of voters' disdain of special interest groups. The voters have NOT changed. Angelides' advisor will need to carefully work on dispelling any notion that he will not act in the best interest of California because he owes too much to the various special interest groups that are so powerful in Sacramento. Remember, even in 2006, Sacramento-outsiders are in, Sacramento-insiders are out! So back again. Three most important things in this election. Character. Character. Character. I believe Arnie has really done a splendid job the whole of this year in being consistent in support of certain issues that we outlined, while still maintaining fiscal conservatism. Voters who will decide the next governor are like me, fiscally conservative. Idealists, maybe, but fiscally conservative, for sure. Angelides will need to assure the voters that he has a plan to deliver a caring and productive California, without bankrupting it. Angelides will need to be consistent, lest he will be seen as another politician, who promises to get elected but renegs quickly. He who shows that he is strong and capable of delivering what is promised, but fiscally cautious, will win. You can bet that Arnie's people will have read my post today and when the date of the debate arrives, Arnie will attack Angelides as being a Sacramento politician. It is incumbent on Angelides' supporters who read here to prepare him for this attack. Kenneth Matsumura, MD, Recall Founder August 14, 2006 Lessons well learned & the Latino Vote Showing confidence in a November victory, Schwarzenegger has announced a trip in 2007 to India. It will actually be a trade mission, which is aimed at bringing more business to California. Those who read our website avidly will recall that I criticized the governor for spending 90% of his time making sure that taxes are not raised for his wealthy friends, and failing to do anything to stimulate the California economy, which by the way, would have benefitted his rich friends even more. Apparently, this trip to India was Maria's idea. She is one smart woman and could have figured out by herself that the governor needed to do more of these trips, but I wouldn't be surprised if reading our website resonated with her. On another topic, the governor's advertisements are mainly in SoCal. He is concerned about the Latino vote. You recall when he ran the first time, he used the undocumenteds as his focus. He did build up a lot of resentment in the Latino community. One such recall volunteer in fact translated our home page to enable us to reach out to the Spanish speaking community. On the issue of the Latino vote, Angelides must be very careful. He appears oblivious to how the issue of illegal immigration bothers even the most liberal Democrats, who live in SoCal. It's one thing to back a funding of emergency health care of children of undocumented aliens, but another to not have some serious but practical solution to the continous flow of aliens across the southern border. If Angelides were to come up with an innovative approach that meets the heart of the liberals and the concerns of decent (not just biggoted) citizens in SoCal, he could seriously for the first time threaten the re-election of Gov. Schwarzenegger. As for the governor, he lost a lot of Latino votes when he showed no care for the working poor. His accepting our criticism has taken a big step towards rehabilitating his image before the Latino community. We believe his demonstrating that he has had a genuine awakening on this issue can do much to gain votes in the Latino community. I started this quest when I saw the plight of our working poor. They are the backbone of our society. We must work to reward them for their hardwork and provide them with a health net. More than a revolutionary universal health care that will re-engineer health care of everyone (which scares more people than comforts them), we need to extend Medi-Cal to our working poor with increasing deductibles for those earning more. I personally believe this takes priority over additional funding to our public schools. Such a program shows a genuine care for the working poor and will result in many votes for the governor. Kenneth Matsumura, MD (My next weblog may be delayed by as much as a week) July 23, 2006 An Opportunity for Angelides - the One Thing Arnie missed We were not scheduled for another post here until the end of the month, but we felt it was important enough to add this note at this time. By the way, weblogs since late June have been by me Ken Matsumura. While the top leaders of the Recall Campaign and I communicate still quite often, we no longer have a formal schedule of meetings and we no longer have mechanisms for timely review by all of posts at this website. Rest assured, however, that postings here reflect many views I am hearing from my volunteers and I think for that reason my reports are valuable. For those who are wondering, we point out that we are aware that our weblog is being followed carefully by people who should care what a large segment of the California voters are thinking. Just two days after my last post here, Schwarzenegger did a line item veto of something that reflected his continued lack of concern about our injured workers. Let me give you a background on how we came to support the cause of California's injured workers. Readers here will not find any comments from us about the plight of the injured workers in any of our early postings that explained why we were recalling Schwarzenegger. Our grievances dealt primarily with the governor's breaking of promises - many of them. A governor should not be recalled just because he is voting conservatively or differently than some of us would vote. We have an election every four years to give our feedback on his voting record. A recall should be reserved for egregious offenses where the governor was elected on a platform but which once elected he refuses to implement. This governor promised to make it a priority to protect public education, and then once elected he robbed the schools of 3 billion dollars. When we announced our recall campaign, we heard from many volunteers who wanted a new governor because of the passage of the "reform" of the Workmen's Compensation Act. The contingent of such volunteers was large and these volunteers were particularly driven. They were not only the injured workers and their families who were suffering horribly after the "reform" put through by both the Democratic legislature and the governor, but also their caretakers and their attorneys. Probably, they represented voters that numbered in the millions. In fact, many of these volunteers were Republicans, so that we knew that if once we had enough signatures to qualify the recall on the ballot, we would have the votes to oust Schwarzenegger. We had the votes of the millions of the poor, for the governor's two cruel vetoes of the raise in the minimum wage, we had the millions of voters affected by the theft of the public school money, and the millions of voters angered by the veto of the gay marriage bill that our legislature so bravely passed last year. Not only could we count on their votes, but we also knew the emotions were so strong that we could count on them to go and vote. The votes of those affected by the cruelty afflicted on our injured workers cinched the "deal," as our study indicated. Particularly sensitive to critics tired of one recall after another as if it had become a habit, I was careful to list only reasons that reflected actions that betrayed the voters. However, prompted by so many dedicated volunteers representing the injured workers, late in December we began to talk about it on Update and included the injured workers' cause. The governor amazingly made the cause of the poor his first item in his State of the State speech, then soon thereafter began to return the money to the schools, and he appointed an open lesbian, and a Democrat!, as his important Chief of Staff. These actions, which embraced our own platform, successfully pacified our volunteers and assured that the recall campaign would not secure enough signatures. Our other main concern, the repair of the levees that he neglected while helping his wealthy friends, became his own battle cry. It was as if he became the Recall Campaign's candidate. However, perhaps sensing some kind of hesitation of mine, he steadfastly ignored our demand that he work on yet another reform of the Workmen's Compensation Act. Our Assembly Chief Nunez, in the meantime, began to call public hearings on this issue. Now, the Democratic candidate for governor, Phil Angelides, who had been losing support from even our volunteer Democrats, has finally done something that could cinch his victory. He has embraced the reform of the revised Workmen's Compensation Act. Our volunteers are mobilizing to support him and for the first time I see a glimmer of hope that a Democrat will recapture the governor's mansion in November. We are glad someone has listened. I have heard atrocious stories from our volunteers, who were injured at work. It is time changes are made. The governor has a chance to make these changes in the next few months before the November election, but we believe he is too beholden to the business interest, and we believe the businesses are too one track minded to release their man on this issue, to ensure his return to office in 2007. Well done, Phil. Now, if you would modify the idea of a ten billion dollars tax on the rich and the businesses, "because the state's tax revenue picture has considerably brightened," Phil, you have a chance to win. Our spies tell us that our website is reviewed more avidly by the Schwarzenegger forces than the state Democrats; someone should clue-in Phil that he could look into the hearts of the California voters (not just the dyed in the wool Democrats) by reading here as avidly as Maria and Susan. Like we said before, many of our volunteers are willing to accept Schwarzenegger's re-election IF he has sincerely embraced our platform, but if this is just a political game he is playing, he can be sure that his second term is no longer than Gray Davis'. The following Weblog is signed by Kenneth Matsumura, MD, Founding Proponent of Recall Campaign July 13, 2006 Is Schwarzenegger trying to be the candidate for the Recall coalition There is a lot of ‘tongue in cheek’ in my posting today, but I did take note of the fact that Schwarzenegger has petitioned the feds to extend the original Clinton ban on constructing roads into certain California wilderness. After Bush took over, he allowed roads to be constructed unless a state specifically petitioned to continue the ban within their state. Clearly, Schwarzenegger is on the right side on this issue. June 19, 2006 Democrats will have to be as clever as Schwarzenegger. If they want to oust him in November, that is. The reason he was not recalled by us is that all of his people, the Campaign Manager, his wife Maria, and his Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy, took in seriously what we wrote here in December. Remember, Democrat Kennedy took over in December. Since then, everytime we spoke and advocated something, we saw it in print, often as headlines, parroted by Schwarzenegger as his own idea. We inadvertently fashioned him into a winnable candidate. We represented and reflected most of Californians, Democrats, Republicans and Greens, and more. That's who were in our Recall coalition. Schwarzenegger's campaign strategy was to listen to what people were saying (we said a lot here at this website), and turn himself into someone people can support. Now it behooves the Democrats, particularly the Central Committee, to ensure that their gubernatorial candidate's position is one that majority of Californians can support. I have traveled up and down California and have talked to a lot of people. Be warned that most Californians haven't changed much in their view about their state government when they voted in Schwarzenegger who promised to "clean up the house" in Sacramento. They do not want politics as usual. The popularity of the Recall for Schwarzenegger last October should not mislead the Sacramento Democrats who did not support our Recall into thinking the voters want to go back to the way it was a few years ago. They chose a more dyed-in-the wool Democrat, with a lot of IOUs collectable from many decades helping others, over someone who looked more independent. The risk of losing to Schwarzenegger is higher and therein lies the challenge. I see some troubling things which are so public I don't think my mentioning them here will focus more attention on them. I talk about them here because there are important Democrats reading our website who, like Maria and Susan Kennedy listened in December, will take it seriously and bring it to the attention of those who can modify the strategy of the Democratic Central Committee as they face November. First, while the Recall Campaign advocated annual inflationary adjustments to the raise in the minimum wage, when the legislature saw that the governor was intent on raising the minimum wage by his own action (despite his vetoes in 2004 and 2005), they should have passed a raise in the minimum wage promptly in January (like the governor asked) rather than play politics with poor people's lives and pass a bill with annual indexing that Schwarzenegger promised to veto again. Now, Schwarzenegger will raise the wage administratively, without annual indexing, and will be able to claim that he thought of it. Second, the legislature could have made it but missed the deadline for the budget, wanting to use it as a leverage for passing some favorite legislation, regarding a universal healthcare. Our Campaign Platform of December 15 mentioned the need for a serious improvement in affordable healthcare for Californians; However, only dyed-in-the wool Democrats and people like Rosanne of the California Nurses Association are definitely in favor of replacing our current private-based healthcare system with universal healthcare or some form of socialized medicine. Missing the budget deadline just reminds people that Sacramento needs housecleaning and pegging the miss to a controversial megahealth plan that many feel can bankrupt the state or reduce our mostly excellent healthcare into rubbles, is simply bad politics. I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard that the state workers' union reached an agreement with Schwarzenegger. While we narrowly defeated the anti-union proposition 95 last November, thanks to our help, the firefighters say, Californians are worried about the inflationary pressures of the union and we do not want that matter to be foremost in the minds of the voters when they cast their ballot next November. It behooves everyone who has an expensive program or project or who want to spend a lot of money, to cool his/her heels. I sense that the voters are fiscally conservative, like me. Because of over-confidence, not based on talking to Californians up and down the state like I have, Democrats may allow Schwarenegger to be re-elected, but also cause a legislature to return next year that is a lot more somber and less progressive. Kenneth Matsumura, MD June 3, 2006 Please note that we have changed our lead statement (boxed) at our home page. We have some concerns at this time. The poor are sandwiched in the middle of politics and they may once again be shortchanged. As you know, after we posted that one of our lead demands is the raise in the minimum wage (Dec 15, 2005 UPDATE), the Governor made that item his lead message in his State of the State Message in January. Despite the fact that he vetoed the raise in September, which prompted Dr. Matsumura to launch the recall, he has been doing everything possible since January to institute a raise for the poor who have alread lost 10 billion dollars over the past two years due to his vetoes. The Democratic controlled legislature wants a raise plus annual adjustments making future raises automatic. The Governor feels such a provision to be inflationary and refuses to sign any law with automatic adjustments. The legislature has proceeded to pass a bill (Lieber) with such adjustments. Clearly, the governor will now veto it. We would like to see the legislature then pass a bill without the automatic raise, so that the poor aren't used by the Democrats or the Republicans for political purposes. Allow the Governor to claim that during his administration he raised the minimum wage of the poor. The Democrats have other issues that will resonate with the voters. The Recall Campaign is not partisan. We have members of most parties. In fact, we were deliberately NOT supported by the state Democratic Party. We are tired of politics as usual. Many Californians voted for Schwarzenegger in the mistaken belief that he would end politics as usual. We want leaders who will act according to their conscience, not calculated based on votes the action will capture. Do the right thing. Raise the minimum wage NOW!!!! Our movement is growing. So is our power. May 7, 2006 We are receiving many inquiries from our volunteers about the choice for the Democratic candidate to face Schwarzenegger. As you know, we cannot afford to lose supporters of either of two leading candidates and therefore we will not be endorsing either. This position is however not to disappoint supporters of Wesley who have been particularly hardworking in our campaign. We must acknowledge that early in the campaign most of the influential members of the state Democratic Party were supporters of Angelides, but because the Party felt that the Recall was not in the Party's best interest, we were disappointed to learn that many such members were blocked from working officially or actively in our campaign. This campaign then became a truly grassroot one, perhaps one of the largest such efforts this state has ever seen. We do believe the organization that has formed out of the disdain for our governor will continue to be an important political force regardless of the outcome of the recall campaign, but we must refrain in the next 30 days from taking sides. We hope you understand. April 29, 2006 We have some real gung-ho volunteers. Look at what we received from Jaime Feliciano, our Sacramento coordinator: The governor was fund raising again today in Sacramento at the
Hyatt were he was TEACHERS, NURSES, UNION MEMBERS: THIS MAY BE YOUR LAST CHANCE TO GET RID OF THIS MAN. TALK TO YOUR COLLEAGUES. RE-ORGANIZE YOUR GROUPS TO REDOUBLE YOUR EFFORTS. THE RECALL IS YOUR MOST EFFICIENT WAY TO GETTING YOUR GRIEVANCES RESOLVED. TALK TO YOUR GROUPS' OFFICERS. FOUR MORE YEARS OF ARNIE?????
April 15, 2006 We have been quietly watching this man, analyzing his moves. What is troubling is that we conclude that his moves have been merely calculating, mainly to thwart the Recall effort. His moves to the left are not genuine. Their purpose is only for show and that they are meaningful only to the extent that he is fearful of the recall. Our careful study shows that he has no fear of the unions afterall, nor of the teachers. He is likely to go after them if there is no other impartial force defending them, like the Recall. The fact that they have scrupulously kept a clean record in not helping with the Recall, our study also indicates, will not keep him from turning on them when he has finished nursing his wounds. Therefore, should the Recall fall short by just a handful of signatures from qualifying, there will be a tragic footnote in history books about their blunder in not joining the Recall in full force. Let the record also show, however, that our analysis of the recall signatures indicates that it is the ordinary citizens of California, not any special interest like the nurses, the unions, or the teachers, who are disgusted with this pretender of a human kind. There is a hardcore of Californians who are not as gullible as some to be fooled by his moves who stand ready to work to oust him from public life. We form a formidable force that can swing any election, like we did in November. He and his campaign manager are right to be concerned only about us. Keep sending us those signatures. Forget that we are buried in them or that we have hardly any time to write at this website. Remember, we have until June 20! That is still many months! Redouble your efforts! California counts on you. April 7, 2006 Many of you have read or heard that Gov. Schwarzenegger has called for a conference on global warming. Aside from the delta levee, the environment was another main topic of discussion on Christine Craft's interview with Dr. Matsumura on statewide KGO program in January. Dr. Matsumura pointed out that the environment was another area where Gov. Schwarzenegger has broken his promise. Instead of protecting the environment, he had appointed lobbyists for the pollution industries to sensitive boards controlling the environment. Although the governor's interest in global warming is admirable, we just don't know how sincere he is. We do believe that both Maria Shriver and Susan Kennedy are both having major influences, but for how long? Back in December, when it appeared that the Governor was signaling his intent to accede to virtually ALL the demands of the Recall Campaign (see the December 15th demands on UPDATE, plus the December 20th entry), we asked if the Recall should continue. THose volunteers who took the time to write all said that the recall was not for any specific program we disagreed with, but because he had forfeited the right to be the guardian of Californians' health and welfare by breaking so many promises.The issue was his character and still is. April 3, 2006 We are so busy at the headquarters that we are falling behind, but not seriously. The Mercury News published an article in which the columnist stated that in a "recent poll" it was "learned" that 76% of Californians actually "like" Schwarzenegger and 58% of Democrats like Schwarzenegger! On the other hand, I had heard that another poll showed very few Californians "approved" of Schwarzenegger's handling of the governorship. Well, Arnold, if the polls are correct, you can still return to the movies and make your millions IF YOU DO IT NOW! I have to check the date of the Mercury News article. Was it April 1st? We have heard from a few volunteers confused because they thought that the deadline for gathering signature was in March and here we have posted we have until June 21. The March deadline, had we made it, would have enabled us to hold the recall election together with the June Primaries. Schwarzenegger and his Republican Sec of Delay made it certain that we could not meet the March deadline. Schwarzenegger loves "special" elections. We have analyzed the cost of such a special recall election and, as reported to you earlier, the cost is only $1.22 per Californian. Since the working poor have been deprived of 10 billion dollars in the past two years from his veto of the raise in the minimum wage. Injured workers have lost billions under Schwarzenegger. Public school children have lost billions also. It would be an insult for us to deny them a special election that will cost us $50 million dollars. March 25, 2006 How time flies when we are engaged in productive activities! We are pleased that probably due to the work we did at the beginning of the month to assist Southern California activities, we are seeing more and more petitions from the South. We are however very impressed with some of our regulars who send in dozens of sheets on a weekly basis. It represents hours of dedicated work hitting the pavement. On behalf of the Californians suffering under Schwarzenegger, thank you! THis week brought more news reminding us why we are doing this recall. I think many of you caught the news reporting on the study that showed that California ranked towards the bottom of all the states in the proportion of high school seniors who go onto college. THis is not surprising since California spending on our pupils ranks 48th in the nation. Is this a disgrace? Schwarzenegger is fully responsible for our sorry state. He got elected on a promise to put public education high on his list of priorities. We didn't know until he got (mis)elected that he placed wealthy taxpayers even higher on his list of priorities. He is a disgrace and no amount of "sorries" can ever take back the harm he has done. Arnie, what are you going to do to remedy the sorry state of public education? We also haven't heard from you about how you plan to remedy the oppressive situation facing our injured worker! March 20, 2006 Thanks for all the good work of our volunteers, from San Diego to Mendocino! Here's a treat from Charlie Bright!
March 14, 2006 We are amazed that now we are receiving more petitions from new volunteers than those who registered. This is good, because we would like to reach the strength of 20,000 volunteers. Towards this end, we would like you to write a letter to any California friends who have been concerned about what Gov. Schwarzenegger has been doing. We have begun to focus our attention to the recall election campaign. Californians will also vote for a replacement candidate in the event that Gov. Schwarzenegger is successfully recalled. The replacement candidate selected by the electorate will take office soon after the recall election. We have received numberous letters lately about how we regard our prospect of getting the majority of voters to vote to oust the Governor. We believe this recall election will be quite different from so many other elections. Usually, about forty five per cent of the people are for something, and forty five per cent are strongly against something.The election is decided by the 10 per cent who are regarded as undecide until a week or so before the election. If the recall election is like the usual, we would lose. Those who are on the fence until the last minutes will vote conservatively always. We believe that the upcoming recall election will be different from the usual. Rarely in our history have we seen so many groups so badly affected by any one as much as by Gov. Schwarzenegger. The feelings within these groups are also not mild, but very polarized. Feelings within these groups cross party lines. As you know, we have quite a few Republicans signing to recall this man. We have added up the number of voters each such group represents and conclude that we have the votes to carry the election for recall. The groups that we are talking about include the nurses, the teachers, workers who belong to unions, the poor who were deprived of $5 billion dollars thanks to the Governor, and others. We venture a guess that the election will be landslide. Therefore, please do not let up in your gathering of signatures! We need a new governor THIS SUMMER! March 10, 2006 The Aftermath of Schwarzenegger: grief, destroyed families and battered bodies. A Message from Kenneth Matsumura, MD, Chair, Recall Campaign Gov. Schwarzenegger rode into power using his movie image of an All-powerful Terminator who can solve any problem instantly. Eager to get elected, he even misled the electorate into thinking that he will transform the state with its myriad of problems. He made promises if it was expedient. A thought-actor, he may even have thought he could perform miracles as in his movies. Running a state turned out to be more than he could have imagined; people were looking at him, expecting him to do his Terminator thing. He began to do things, anything that would not betray his confusion, certainly not his heartfelt indecisiveness. What resulted is tragic. He ended up destroying lives, destroying happiness; he sowed grief everywhere he rampaged. He will become the governor who accumulated the most amount of grassroots signatures for recall in the history of California. One more expedient thing he did was to push for putting corporate bottomline ahead of the welfare of workers who get injured. The state is now littered with battered bodies of workers who can't get medicine or therapy - they lie in bed in excruciating pain, their arms and legs frozen for lack of proper physical therapy. Corporate executives go home, have lavish parties, laugh and play, marveling at how they were able to declare such great dividends for their shareholders. Perhaps one of these vice presidents will be touring one of his factories when a conveyor belt mishap mangles his hand - he will get a taste of his own medicine. He will learn how little the state now values his right hand. Governor Schwarzenegger - you ARE a very powerful man. We the volunteers of Recall call on you to change your ways - learn to sow happiness. History has never praised leaders who protected the wealthy. History remembers those who helped the disadvantaged, those who are poor. How history will remember you - remains YOUR choice. Do the right thing. You can still be remembered and respected for the right thing you did before leaving the office. Maria and Susan, help him. February 28, 2006 Advisory to All Volunteers collecting signatures First, thank you! No, that should be THANK YOU!!!! Every day, more petitions come in than the day before. We are delighted that we are getting several dozen sheets at a time from volunteers that did not register with us. THis means we have far more than the 10,000 volunteers we started with in January. Now, we would like to ask everyone to review his/her collection procedures; 1. Please be sure to always put the county name at the top right above the signers. 2. Please tell signers to write out fully the city name, and not use abbreviations. 3. Please double check to fill in every part of the circulator's declaration. 4. Please avoid confrontation with anyone who disagrees with you. Just avoid them. 5. Please use only white paper to print the petition on and keep the back blank. Although we have been pushing to ask you to get the signatures in by sometime in March, legally, we have until June 20th to gather the 1,038,000 signatures. We just need to get a new governor while the 2006 legislature is in full steam in the Summer so that we can begin reversing the horrible changes this dysfunctional governor made to California VERY SOON (sic), not February a whole year away! February 10, 2006 Just four months ago, we didn't exist. Today, our headquarters is a busy hub that deals with over 10,000 volunteers in every county of this Great State of California. We are picking up our pace of processing the many petitions that are coming in. We are having to return very few of the petitions. Some have signatures of residents of more than one county (each sheet can contain only one county residents), and a few were missing either the city name or the street address. Just one had the signature of the circulator missing. The error rate is about 0.3%. We saw one disturbing problem. Someone had copied the instructions onto the back of the petition, which will disqualify the petition. We will be promptly notifying the volunteer because we fear many such petitions are being distributed by that volunteer. Two sheets came in having been copied crooked. We are beginning to see more and more large manila envelopes containing many, many sheets of signed petitions. We are very, very far from our goal, but it is a good beginning. Our volunteers are developing their spiel that works and becoming more efficient. We have encountered some previously gung ho volunteers who tell us that we've won and they are just going to wait for November. We have the following message.
|
