Fresno State institute helps bring extra voices to town hall meeting

By Morgan Steger
The Collegian

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger traveled to Fresno Friday night to take part in local ABC affiliate KFSN Channel 30’s “Town Hall Meeting with the Governor.” The focus of the televised discussion was the governor’s support of Propositions 74-77.

The forum was organized in part by the Kenneth L. Maddy Institute at Fresno State, a public policy institute dedicated to increasing citizen participation, improving government leadership and providing fact-based policy analysis.

Executive Director Mark Keppler said the institute participated in the town hall meeting by facilitating the involvement of key figures, such as Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante, who came to provide a portion of the opposition analysis to the propositions.

The institute also helped draft some of the questions for participants, Keppler said. He said the institute participated in organizing the meeting to help create a well-informed electorate.

“Our responsibility is to make sure the voter has accurate information,” Keppler said.

The town hall meeting was sponsored by ABC 30 and The Fresno Bee and moderated by ABC anchor Warren Armstrong and Fresno Bee columnist John Ellis. A selected studio audience, along with the moderators, asked the participants questions about the potential impact of the propositions.

Schwarzenegger provided support for the propositions. Bustamante and Kevin Hall, a member of United Healthcare Workers and a representative of The Alliance for a Better California, were the opposition.

The forum began with discussion of Proposition 74, the Teacher Tenure Initiative, which would increase the probationary period for new teachers from two to five years. During this probationary period, a teacher could be fired for any reason at any time. Governor Schwarzenegger argued in favor of the increased probationary period, saying it is needed to improve the quality of education children in California receive.

“We have to be able to have the right to get rid of the failing teachers,” Schwarzenegger said. The purpose of the initiative, he said, is “to have teachers work successfully for five years” before they are guaranteed a job for life.

Bustamante responded to the governor’s call for a five-year probationary period by saying teachers already spend more time on probation than any other employee in any other job sector. Bustamante said Proposition 74 does not provide more money to classrooms, improve teacher training or encourage people to take up teaching as a vocation.

“To stop young people from wanting to become teachers is not the way to get rid of old bad teachers,” Bustamante said.

After addressing Proposition 74, the town hall meeting shifted its focus to Proposition 75, which would require public employee labor unions to obtain yearly consent from union members before using their dues to fund political campaigns.

The governor centered his support of the measure on his belief that union dues should be used to protect and benefit union members, not augment the campaign funds of politicians. The governor acknowledged that union members can already request not to have their dues used to fund political campaigns. However, he argued it should be the responsibility of the unions to obtain permission to use members’ dues, not the burden of members to request their dues not be used.

“It puts the responsibility to the union bosses, rather than to the government employees,” he said.

Hall said since union members can opt out of political contributions under the current system, Proposition 75 is unnecessary. He argued that the point of the measure was not to give union members a better say in where their money goes but to silence the unions altogether.

Next examined was Proposition 76, which would allow the governor to cut state spending in the event of a budget deficit.

Under this proposition the governor would first be required to declare a fiscal state of emergency, which would result in the state legislature being called to the capital for a 45-day emergency session dedicated to balancing the budget. If the legislature failed to balance the budget, the governor would be able to make across-the-board budget cuts without legislative approval to all sectors, including education.

Schwarzenegger argued the initiative “will create stability in education funding” by averaging out state revenues over a period of three years, thus avoiding lavish spending in times of plenty and draconian cuts during times of economic decline.”

Bustamante said his opposition to Proposition 76 boils down to the question of how much control any one person should have over the creation of the state’s budget. He argued the initiative would give the governor too much power.

“You’re giving sole authority of state government to one person,” Bustamante said. “Democrat or Republican, I don’t think that’s good.”

The final initiative discussed was Proposition 77, which would change the way California’s electoral districts are drawn up. This initiative would create a panel of three bipartisan judges, appointed by the state legislature, whose job it would be to redraw voting districts. The redrawn districts would have to be submitted to a vote of the people for approval.

At the meeting the governor cited the irregularly shaped districts created during the last redistricting process as an example of a broken system, in which legislators purposely draw districts to their own electoral advantage.

“Democrats and Republicans got together and said ‘let’s carve out our own districts,’ and therefore, we lost competition,” Schwarzenegger said. He argued the measure would reinvigorate competition for seats that are currently drawn to be safe for the incumbent party.

Bustamante said the initiative would give an advantage to republicans: “We’re allowing one group to try to get constitutional advantage over another group.”

Hall pointed out that any redistricting done as a result of its passage would be based on data collected in the 2000 census, which he argued was old and thus wouldn’t accurately represent the current population of California.

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