Courage Campaign Issues Launches "A California Carol"

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 23, 2008

LOS ANGELES – Criticizing Governor Schwarzenegger’s desire to use the budget crisis to destroy vital public services, Courage Campaign Issues today released an animated video online to illustrate how the governor’s right-wing priorities are doing serious harm to California.

“We need leadership from the governor, not short-sighted and Scrooge-like cuts to education and health care funding,” said Rick Jacobs, founder and chair of the Courage Campaign. “Schwarzenegger’s scattershot and scatter-brained approach of blaming legislators for his own failures has brought nothing but gridlock to budget negotiations. The governor needs to work with legislators and help the people recover from this economic crisis, not hold solutions hostage to stroke his ego.”

In “A California Carol,” Schwarzenegger is visited by the ghosts of Golden State’s past, present and future in an attempt to teach the meaning of “The California Dream” to the governor.

The video can be viewed at:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/CaliforniaCarol

Viewers of the video are asked to send an online holiday card to Schwarzenegger demanding he work with legislative leaders to embrace Ronald Reagan’s and Pete Wilson’s legacy of finding new revenues to support core government services.

This video project was funded entirely by donors to Courage Campaign Issues, including Cheri and Naren Shankar of Los Angeles. Jacobs said his group was motivated to create the video after watching Schwarzenegger’s interview on “60 minutes” this past Sunday. 

“Instead of talking to the press to pump himself up, the governor should be working with legislators to protect schools and health care and solve the budget crisis,” added Jacobs. “Thanks to Schwarzenegger we are worse off than we were five years ago. That’s not leadership – that’s an out-and-out failure by any measure.”

 
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