FROM SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is concerned the public may be confused about Proposition 1A, the spending control measure he's backing on the May 19 ballot.
That's because the Republican right, he asserts, is being "disingenuous" in spinning 1A as a tax increase.
It's also because people like me, he says, write about how complicated the measure is.
"It's already complicated as it is," the governor says, "but the more you write about how complicated it is, the more complicated you make the complication."
"Explain it a little bit simpler," he urges in a phone chat.
And how would he explain it, I ask.
"We should just simply describe 1A as a measure that will fix the broken budget system once and for all so that you never have to make those severe cuts again," he answers. "And you never have to go back to the people for tax increases again. That's it."
OK, that's a stretch, but it gets close to the measure's intent.
There is a tax element, however, that can't be ignored and is widely known because of news reporting and talk radio. And it should have been addressed candidly by the Prop. 1A campaign weeks ago.
It's that if Prop. 1A passes, separate legislation -- not on the ballot -- automatically will continue sales, income and car tax hikes for up to four years.
The governor explains that when he and legislative leaders were negotiating how to fill a $42-billion deficit hole, they agreed to raise taxes for four years. But they inserted "a little tweak" to discourage public employee unions from pouring money into a ballot fight against the negotiators' spending cap proposal. They decreed that if 1A lost, the tax hikes would be cut off after two years.
"It's not fair, really, to say that [1A] raises taxes," he insists. "I understand that the right spins it that way. But it's disingenuous."
In fact, however, the tax hikes will last longer if Prop. 1A passes than if it doesn't. What's he tell people when they point that out and complain? He answers:
"You ask people if they want to take that money instead from education. They say 'No.' Well, then, do you want to let out prisoners. They say, 'No, no, no. We don't want to do that.' You want to take it from law enforcement? 'Oh, no.'
"I say, 'There's only so much money to go around. You've got to make a decision.' They say, 'I'd rather pay a little extra in sales taxes and those things.' "
