Fox On The Record with Greta Van Susteren

Title: FOX ON THE RECORD WITH GRETA VAN SUSTEREN
Date: 9/16/03
Location: Unknown

HEADLINE: Interview With Tom McClintock

GUESTS: Tom McClintock

BYLINE: Greta Van Susteren

BODY:
(NEWSBREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP - SEPTEMBER 15, 2003)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER ®, CANDIDATE FOR CA GOVERNOR: Everyone wants to protect California now. All the Democrats are coming out here to protect California, to make sure that Gray Davis stays in there, so that the next president is a Democratic president. They don't care about California that much. They care more about winning presidencies. That's what this is all about. And to me, it makes no difference. They can all come out here. The whole Democratic Party can come out there because it's between me and the people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAN SUSTEREN: A new development in the California recall. A full federal appeals court in San Francisco will re-examine yesterday's decision by a three-judge panel to postpone the election on October 7. One of the candidates, California state senator Tom McClintock, joins us from Los Angeles. Welcome, Tom.

TOM MCCLINTOCK ®, CANDIDATE FOR CA GOVERNOR: Hi, Greta.

VAN SUSTEREN: Never dull in your California politics, is it, Tom.

MCCLINTOCK: Well, we have the 9th circuit court. Anything can happen.

VAN SUSTEREN: And, indeed, it has. Tom, how does this—I mean, if the recall on October 7 is postponed, is that a good thing for your campaign? If so, why?

MCCLINTOCK: Well, it has nothing to do with the campaigns, Greta. This is a direct attack on democracy. It's a direct attack on our Constitution. For a federal court to indefinitely delay a constitutionally-called election is a terrible precedent in a society that values its democratic traditions.

VAN SUSTEREN: But I thought that the reason the court did do that, the original three-judge panel, was simply because they believed that the punchcard system in California was flawed and subjected 44 percent of the vote to risk, whether it is the true vote. So it was to sort of advance the constitutional notion of one vote per person.

MCCLINTOCK: Greta, the punchcard ballot was used just 11 months ago to re-elect Gray Davis, and there weren't any complaints. In that election, I was the closest race in the history of California, 16,811 votes. It was 23/100 of 1 percent of the vote. I didn't even consider demanding a recount because our faith in the accuracy of the punchcard ballot was that great. So this is not about punchcard ballots. It's about—and it has nothing to do with anything founded on the law. This is a political decision by the most outrageously political court in the country. It is the most reversed court, and I've got every confidence and every expectation that the U.S. Supreme Court will reverse this decision, as it has so many other of the political decisions of the 9th circuit court

VAN SUSTEREN: Does that mean, in your opinion, October 7 will be the recall vote, that California will be sort of back on track, for lack of better words, and so we can expect that on October 7?

MCCLINTOCK: I am certain of it. I am absolutely certain of it, and our entire campaign is geared for that.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. OK. Next week is supposed to be a big debate. And for the first time, we're going to see one of your opponents, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Any reason why he hasn't shown up at the other debates? Do you know?

MCCLINTOCK: Well, I think you'd have to ask him that, but it's pretty clear to me that he doesn't feel comfortable debating the issues that are confronting California. And if he's unable to debate them, how is he going to be able to act on them? We've actually had now one major televised debate that actually was tops in the Nielsen ratings in both the Los Angeles and the San Francisco markets. We've got another one coming up at the LA Press Club tomorrow. He's going to be absent from that. The only debate he's agreed to is the one where the questions are give to the candidates in advance. That's not much of a debate.

VAN SUSTEREN: What's the reasoning behind sort of tipping you guys off by giving you the questions? I mean, whose idea was that, to give the candidates sort of—you know, almost a crib sheet?

MCCLINTOCK: Well, it certainly wasn't mine. And from the other candidates I've talked to, it wasn't theirs, either.

VAN SUSTEREN: Is there anything—I mean, anything to convince you to sort of step out of the race, to—in the event the recall is voted and Governor Davis is out, it then in many ways becomes a race between you and Arnold Schwarzenegger on one side and Cruz Bustamante on the other. If you're both in the race on the Republican side, that guarantees—at least, it's suggested the Democrat's going to win. Will either you or Arnold step out at that point, do you think?

MCCLINTOCK: Well, the word "race" is a very important one. If the momentum that I've had in the first half of this race, we started from an asterisk behind Peter Camejo of the Green Party and moved to a solid third- place position at 18 percent, turning this into a genuine three-way race. If that momentum continues into the second half of the race, then I'll be winning it on election day. That's why we call it a race.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. And there's just a short time we have left. Why do you want this job? I mean, what's the attraction? California's a mess.

MCCLINTOCK: Oh, this is the historic opportunity of our generation to roll back the taxes and the regulations that are choking our economy, to restore our crumbling public works, to reign in our out-of-control bureaucracies. This is our generation's perhaps fleeting opportunity to restore to our children that Golden State that our parents gave to us.

VAN SUSTEREN: Tom, if someone votes for you on October 7 and you're elected governor, when can the voter of California expect things will be turning around? Because there's a lag point. It's not just going to happen on October 8. But give us—give us a time when they should test you. What's the date?

MCCLINTOCK: Oh, it will happen on October the 8th. Within moments of taking office, I'll sign the executive order to rescind the governor's tripling of car tax. I'll then act of void the 42 billion of outrageously overpriced electricity contracts that he locked us into. And then I'll call a special session of the state legislature to replace our workers compensation law with Arizona's and reduce our workers' comp costs by two thirds. All of those actions...

VAN SUSTEREN: All right...

MCCLINTOCK: ... can and will be done the first morning of the new administration, before lunch.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Well, if elected, we'll look forward to that. We'll see what happens on the 8th. Thank you, Tom, for joining us.

MCCLINTOCK: Greta, thanks for having me.

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