With Halloween theatrics, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared at an Ontario junkyard Monday with a staffer dressed as "Count Cartaxula," who threatened to raise the state vehicle license fee from the dead if voters didn't approve Proposition 76 in next week's special election.
The governor rallied 50 to 70 supporters and costumed children to back his proposal to impose state spending limits. He spoke from a black stage draped with green and white cobwebs and pumpkins, including one carved with "YES" and another with "76."
Schwarzenegger said the four propositions he backs in the Nov. 8 election are gaining momentum. "The more people find out about it, the more they vote 'yes' on it," he said.
"Yes, the opposition is screaming; yes, the opposition is holding on to the status quo, and yes, they are scaring the people and telling them all kinds of horror stories about how we'd like to cut education and how we're trying to go after unions and after workers," the governor said. "But this is all a bunch of nonsense."
Schwarzenegger's first act after taking office in the fall of 2003 was to roll back former Gov. Gray Davis' $4-billion increase in the so-called car tax, an action widely popular with voters even in the face of a persistent state budget shortfall.
The governor has steadfastly refused to raise taxes since -- and the Democratic majority in the Legislature has balked at further spending cuts -- but he has begun to suggest that he might be forced to reverse course if Proposition 76 went down. Recent voter polls show the measure losing 2 to 1.
"The governor is now in sheer panic mode," said Steve Maviglio, spokesman for the Alliance for a Better California, which opposes Proposition 76 and the rest of Schwarzenegger's propositions.
"Perhaps if the governor stopped campaigning for five minutes and started governing," Maviglio said, "he would know that there have been no attempts to revive the [car] tax.... It's also important to remember that no tax increase can go into law without the support of two-thirds of the Legislature and the governor's signature."
Earlier Monday, a group including the Moveon.org political action committee said it would begin a television ad campaign today linking Schwarzenegger's policies with those of President Bush.
The Ontario event was light in substance but heavy on staging. Two skeletons and a pack of faux rats were parked in a Ford Escort next to the stage, whose other end was flanked by hundreds of beat-up cars in the Pick-A-Part junkyard. Speakers blasted "Ride of the Valkyries."
