Simon says: Schwarzenegger an 'unknown'
 |
Bill Simon, a Republican candidate in the California recall, calls Arnold Schwarzenegger a political "unknown."
Story Tools
|
SANTA MONICA, California (CNN) -- Republican Bill Simon, the recall candidate who lost to Gov. Gray Davis in the governor's race last November, said Tuesday that Arnold Schwarzenegger is a household name but a political "unknown."
"He's known from the standpoint of name identification, but... from the standpoint of where he stands on the issues, from the standpoint of what his priorities are, he's a blank slate," Simon told CNN's American Morning. "We need to hear from Arnold." (Read the transcript)
A Schwarzenegger victory would be a victory for Republicans depending "on what he wants to accomplish," Simon said.
Simon said he would like a Bush endorsement, which he got last year, but he said he believed "the White House is hands off for the time being." On Friday, President Bush said he thought Schwarzenegger would make a good governor.
"Of course you want the president by your side. He was by my side during the last campaign. He made many nice comments about me as a potential governor of California. Anybody would want the endorsement of the president of the United States."
Simon contended he is running against Gray Davis and not front-running movie star Schwarzenegger.
The "recall is about the performance of Gray Davis first and foremost; he's been a flawed governor. ...We will draw comparisons between what I had predicted on the campaign trail, namely a historic budget deficit, continued failure of our school system and the deterioration of our quality of life," said Simon.
"This election really needs to be about an agenda. It needs to be about ideas, about a vision" for the state, which he said is on the verge of a "fiscal meltdown, to be quite honest, not unlike what New York City went through in 1975-'76."
Simon said he will challenge candidates to debates and will campaign on issues such as the $38 billion budget shortfall and problems in public schools.
Concerning a report that the Democratic legislature may repeal an automobile tax, possibly giving Davis a boost, Simon said, "It's just a shell game. What they're going to do is just swap taxes. You're talking about taxing the rich and talking about other forms of fees. So we'd have to campaign on full disclosure.... I plan, if I'm elected governor, to repeal the car tax my first day in office.
"But you're going to have to come up with $4 billion of savings that you had from the car tax revenues another way than by taxing the wealthy or taxing in other forms."
