GOVERNOR STOOPS TO SCARE TACTICS AND SUGGESTS OVERDUE DEBATE ON LEGALIZING POT

The campaign to frighten California voters into approving their
second significant tax increase in only three months ratcheted up
this week as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other initiative
supporters claimed thousands of firefighters and police jobs will be
eliminated unless voters approve propositions on the May 19 special
election ballot.

"I don't like to use scare tactics," the governor said unconvincingly
Tuesday. Notice he didn't say he is opposed to using scare tactics to
push voters into a $16 billion increase in income, sales and car
taxes, the largest increase in state history even larger than the
$12.9 billion for the same taxes he and the Legislature imposed in February.

Schwarzenegger's latest threat is that 1,100 seasonal state
firefighters and 600 permanent firefighters will be eliminated unless
voters approve May 19's propositions. A new TV ad campaign claims as
many as 24,000 local firefighters and police could lose funding from
the state. Both claims are unlikely as legislators and local
officials are more likely to find less vital services to cut and
other ways to reduce costs when they have no other choice. And the
governor knows it. This is Politics 101.

It seems obvious the governor isn't interested in saving taxpayers'
money to cover necessary government expenses. Instead, he wants to
collect ever-more taxpayer money to spend on ever-more government operations.

Former Santa Barbara County Supervisor Mike Stoker recently recalled
when Schwarzenegger first ran for governor: "Then we had a budget
just over $70 billion. Today it is almost $130 billion."

That isn't a sign of an administration funding the most important
services, and cutting spending on the less important. It's the mark
of an administration that stoops to scaring voters to glom onto as
much of their money as possible, to pay as many government workers as
possible, even while private sector employers are drastically cutting
payrolls. Now that's scary.

Support for a more common-sense approach to marijuana has been
quietly building for years now, virtually unseen by most politicians.
Gov. Schwarzenegger's comment Tuesday that "I think it's time for a
debate" on the subject of legalizing, regulating and taxing marijuana
in California seems to have elevated the topic to a much more serious
level. In addition to a Field Poll survey showing that 56 percent of
Californians favor legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana
similarly to alcohol, a nationwide Zogby poll commissioned by the
O'Leary Report found 52 percent of Americans nationwide favor
something similar.

Obviously many Americans are ready for more than a debate, although
that would be welcome. Given that the federal government estimates
that 15 million Americans smoked marijuana in any given month,
prohibition is obviously not working. A serious discussion of
alternatives to prohibition is overdue.

It is clear that legalizing marijuana would provide a certain amount
of relief in California's budget crisis, eliminating about half a
billion in enforcement costs and bringing in tax revenues that have
been estimated at $1.3 billion. That alone makes such a reform worth
considering.

Thanks for mentioning the idea, governor. Now it's time for some
serious follow-through.