ABC This Week with George Stephanopolous - Transcript
ABC
SHOW: THIS WEEK WITH GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (10:30 AM ET) - ABC
HEADLINE: INTERVIEW CALIFORNIA CANDIDATES
BODY:
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS
(Off Camera) And Arianna Huffington does, indeed, join us now along with Cruz Bustamante, the Lieutenant Governor of California and Tom McClintock, Republican state Senator. And I want to get each of you to respond to a central critique of your candidacy, and, Mr. Bustamante, let me begin with you. Supporters of Gray Davis say you betrayed him. You've hurt the Democratic party by getting into this race, and before this week, you had called the recall an expensive perversion, and vowed not to enter the race because, as you said, you didn't want to advance your career at the expense of the people you served. But what do you say to Democrats who now think that's exactly what you're doing?
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR CRUZ BUSTAMANTE,
DEMOCRAT, CALIFORNIA
Well, what I'm telling them is that we have a situation in which we tried just about everything. We tried to stop the recall. We tried to slow it down. We were all hopeful that the strategy that was being employed was going to work but it wasn't working and clearly there were quite a few people in the democratic party and around California that believed that we needed to figure out how to provide the second piece of a strategy, and that's why, when I announced last Thursday, I said we need to make sure and vote no on the recall but just in case, we have to vote yes on Bustamante.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
(Off Camera) But isn't that a tough, tough message for voters to get?
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR CRUZ BUSTAMANTE
No, it's not. In fact, people have two votes. So all we're suggesting is that they're gonna have one vote for whether or not they're gonna vote for the recall or not, and we're suggesting that they vote no, and they're gonna have a second vote, and we're just suggesting that we're going to be a positive second option for them.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
(Off Camera) Ms. Huffington, let me now go to you. You've been criticized for being all over the map ideologically. A Newt Gingrich Liberal, Conservative, excuse me, in the 1990s, now you're a Liberal, and I want to show you something from our focus group on Friday night, what one of the voters in that focus group, a woman named Lisa, had to say and get you to respond.
VOTER, FEMALE
I used to sort of admire her. She was, I liked her views. I think she's become a little more liberal in her old age and that bothers me.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
(Off Camera) What do you say to Lisa?
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR
Well, actually one of the central themes of my campaign, George, is going to be how many of the problems that we are facing here and their solutions are not right/left but right/wrong. For example, in order to solve the budget crisis, we will have to close major tax loopholes and tax shelters which have been bought by corporate interests and wealthy individuals through access and campaign contributions.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
(Off Camera) That's going to be called, excuse me, that's gonna be called a tax hike.
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON
This is not going to be called a left wing issue except by people who think that going against tax dodging is a left wing issue, so part of this campaign is going to be to redefine what is politically moral because right now the right wing has basically reserved the concept of morality to only deal with sexual morality, and we want to bring it back to the immorality of a lot of our priorities and our policy decisions because they're made by special interests and not for the public interest.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
(Off Camera) Senator McClintock, you've been one of the most outspoken Conservatives in the state legislature but your views are at odds with the majority of Californians on issues like environmental and education spending, abortion rights, gun control. Won't you have to compromise your principles in order to get elected and govern effectively?
STATE SENATOR TOM MCCLINTOCK,
REPUBLICAN, CALIFORNIA
Well, on the contrary, George. I was the top Republican vote-getter in last year's election despite being outspent by a five-one margin. The district that elected me to the state Senate legislature by a double-digit landslide margin was also voting for Al Gore in the same election. The 20 years that I've spent in the public arena proposing and fighting for the fiscal reforms that the public now realizes are absolutely essential to restore the state's finances and its economy and its public works I think are a very solid foundation to begin this campaign.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
(Off Camera) Let me ask you, Senator McClintock, the leader of your party, President Bush, on Friday said that he thought Arnold Schwarzenegger would be a good governor. Do you agree and do you think it was appropriate for President Bush to endorse Mr. Schwarzenegger in that way?
STATE SENATOR TOM MCCLINTOCK
Well, I'm not sure that was an endorsement. Obviously President Bush is not a Californian. I would say this, there's a great deal that I'm sure Arnold Schwarzenegger could teach me about making movies. There's a great deal I could teach him about the fiscal reforms necessary to set this straight, the state right. But there's no time for training. The next governor will take office as soon as the ballots are counted.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
(Off Camera) Mr. Bustamante, let me, let me pose a similar question to you. Schwarzenegger strategists hope that he's gonna appeal to Democrats by supporting, you know, Liberal progressive issues like after-school programs, abortion rights, other issues like that. What do you say to Democrats who are tempted to vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger?
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR CRUZ BUSTAMANTE
I think that if you believe in things that I believe in about providing admissions policies for every talented kid in California, if you believe in making sure that we're going to protect our coastal legacy, if you believe that we're going to make sure that the choice issue is protected and making sure that we're providing textbooks, then you're gonna vote for somebody that is like me, somebody who has toiled and who has made sure that we try to work on those things and be very, very clear about how we've done it. I'm the only person in this group, George, that has been in a leadership role in the legislature that has ever reformed anything in California.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
(Off Camera) But excuse me, sir, Mr. Schwarzenegger says he believes in all those things, as well. He said the other day that he's gonna fight for the environment.
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR CRUZ BUSTAMANTE
But there is a difference between saying something and actually having an opportunity to actually demonstrate leadership in it. I think I've demonstrated that kind of leadership.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
(Off Camera) Now, Ms. Huffington, you and Arnold Schwarzenegger also have very similar positions on the issues, you've had some of the same rhetoric talking about going into Sacramento and cleaning house in Sacramento. So why should an Independent-minded voter, who really wants to win, vote for you instead of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has a lot more money and is a lot better known?
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON
Well, first of all, George, I have been speaking about these issues and the control of special interests for years. I've written two books about them. I did not pick up this rhetoric on the way to my announcement speech, but, secondly, Arnold Schwarzenegger, charming though he is, is a Bush Republican, and my campaign is going to connect the dots between the disastrous economic policies of the Bush administration and the plight of California. And Arnold Schwarzenegger will not be able to attack Gray Davis for his fiscal irresponsibility while ignoring the orgy of fiscal irresponsibility going on in Washington. It's going to be a very tough argument to make.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
(Off Camera) Senator McClintock, do you agree that Arnold is a Bush Republican?
STATE SENATOR TOM MCCLINTOCK
Well, I don't know. He hasn't taken a position on any issues yet, so I think we have to wait and see on that.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
(Voice Over) Let me ask you, Mr. Bustamante, yesterday I heard Ms. Huffington say that she wouldn't rule out raising taxes to fix the budget mess in California. Will you rule out raising taxes or do they have to be on the table?
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR CRUZ BUSTAMANTE
I think everything has to be on the table. I think borrowing, I think cutting, I think raising, I think everything has to be on the table. We're in a situation right now where $38 billion is a larger deficit than just about every single state in this nation (inaudible) their general fund. Their entire general fund of most of the industrial sites in this country sit inside our deficit. We're gonna have to take bold, decisive action. It is too big, and the one thing that you can make sure about, is that we're gonna find a way of being able to do it in a fair way.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
(Off Camera) Senator McClintock, everything on the table?
STATE SENATOR TOM MCCLINTOCK
No, this state is not suffering from a revenue problem. We have seen a 25 percent increase in state revenues over the last four years with only a 21 percent increase of inflation and population combined. Our problem is on the spending side, a 40 percent increase in spending in the same period. This state is now spending a larger portion of people's earnings than at any time in its history and yet our public works are crumbling. Our schools are ranked among the lowest in the nation despite record levels of spending. That's not the fault of the taxpayers for not paying enough taxes, that is the fault of rampant waste and mismanagement in Sacramento.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
(Off Camera) Ms. Huffington, you said that California has to spend more on things like education and the environment.
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON
Well, it isn't spending more but it's also having the right kind of policies. I would be very much in favor of more charter schools and having the kind of regulations that would make that possible. But also I want to appeal to the 13 million Californians who did not vote in the last election. That's why this grassroots campaign that I'm running is very much based on our web-site, ariannaforgov.com, that has been flooded with requests to volunteer and we've raised over $100,000 just in the last few days.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
(Off Camera) But, but let me, excuse me for a second. And you know there has been some resistance to your campaign I have to say from your own family. Your ex-husband, Michael Huffington, said he was thinking about getting into this race but then didn't because your children were opposed to you getting into this race and he told CNN the other day that your children actually want you to reconsider and not run and he actually suggested that you weren't being a responsible parent. That's quite a family feud being played out in the media.
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON
Yes, George, I'm not going to discuss my children or my private conversations with my children during this campaign. Actually, I think that everybody's private lives, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, should be off the table. This campaign is about the crisis in California and that's what I'm going to be addressing. I'm going to be conducting no polls, I'm going to be running no negative ads. I really believe that the people of California are sick and tired of demolition derbies that pass as campaigns, and they are looking for a new way to connect with the candidates and to connect with the issues.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
(Off Camera) Senator McClintock, there's also a bit of a family feud in the Republican party. Both you and Bill Simon and Arnold Schwarzenegger are running. Would you consider dropping out of the race in order to give Bill Simon who won 44 percent of the vote in the last gubernatorial election a more clear shot for Conservative Republicans?
STATE SENATOR TOM MCCLINTOCK
Well, George, actually I received 103,000 more votes than Bill Simon did in the last election and I was running down ticket for state controller and as you saw in the CNN poll I'm actually leading him. Let me say this, I don't believe that the people of California once they have recalled this governor for policies that have bankrupted our state and devastated our economy are then going to turn around and elect a Democrat to carry on precisely those same policies.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
(Off Camera) Finally, Mr. Bustamante, a lot of Democrats were hoping that Senator Feinstein, Senator Dianne Feinstein got into the race. She said she didn't file before the deadline but there is still a possibility that she could file as a write-in candidate before September 23rd. Would you be willing to step aside for Senator Feinstein if she were to enter as a write-in candidate?
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR CRUZ BUSTAMANTE
At this point, I think our campaign is moving forward. We're coalescing the Democratic party. The gracious action of John Garamendi yesterday by dropping out I think provided an opportunity for us to provide consensus. I think that the party now sees that we have a two-prong strategy, a viable two-prong strategy. Voting no in the recall and yes on Bustamante is going to be able to give the voters two good options with their two good votes.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
(Off Camera) Did I hear a hedge there? You said at this point your campaign is going forward.
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR CRUZ BUSTAMANTE
No.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
(Off Camera) No, so you're not getting out.
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR CRUZ BUSTAMANTE
We're moving forward. Our campaign is moving forward. We're getting a tremendous amount of support. We're getting lots and lots of calls from around the state. The leadership of the state has started to call in and said that here we are and we are in a very good position I believe. I think that they clearly see that we are in a position where we're generating a tremendous amount of excitement within the state. And I think that we're going to be able to rejuvenate the Democratic party and be able to bring them to this, to this vote. I think we're going to get a very strong reaction because the basic principles of this recall are wrong. It's bad for the institution it's bad for government. It's bad for politics and it could set in motion perpetual politics in California, and, my goodness, haven't we had enough elections already?
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
(Off Camera) Well, we'll be watching all of you over the next 59 days. Mr. Bustamante, Mr. McClintock, Ms. Huffington, thank you all very much.
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON
Thank you.