Arnold Schwarzenegger refuses to demonize immigrants

I have a love/hate relationship with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. I was not happy when he recently fired two state commissioners because they oppose the extension of the 241 tollway. I was happy however when I found out today that Schwarzenegger had a nice thing to say about immigrants. Unlike his CA GOP counterparts, Schwarzenegger is refusing to blame them for the state’s budget mess.

Here is an excerpt from the Sacramento Bee:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, responding to the mother of a Republican state legislator, said Wednesday it would be a “big mistake” to blame illegal immigrants for the state’s looming $8 billion budget problem.

The Republican governor was in San Luis Obispo to pitch his budget proposal to local officials and business leaders when he was asked by Diane Blakeslee, mother of Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, how the state should handle fiscal burdens created by illegal immigrants.

“There is, you know, always a time like this where you start pointing the finger at various different elements of what creates the budget mess, and, you know, some may point the finger at illegal immigrants,” Schwarzenegger said. “I can guarantee you, I have been now four years in office in Sacramento, I don’t think that illegal immigration has created the mess that we are in.”

Amen Arnold! Well said. The budget mess in California belongs to our State Legislature and the lame Democrats who run it. If only the Republican legislators would spend more time on fiscal issues and less time angering the voters regarding gay marriage, abortion and immigrants…

The Republican legislators are on the state endangered list precisely because, unlike Schwarzenegger, they rather waste time on social issues instead of focusing on the REAL problems we are facing.