New Online Video from Courage Campaign: "Gov. Schwarzenegger: Don't Let California Go Up In Smoke"

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 16, 2009

New Online Video from Courage Campaign: “Gov. Schwarzenegger: Don’t Let California Go Up In Smoke”

Calls on Members to Tell Governor not to Balance the Budget on the Backs of the Most Vulnerable

LOS ANGELES – Saying Governor Schwarzenegger is out of touch with everyday Californians who are suffering through the worst fiscal crisis in a generation, the Courage Campaign today released an online video blasting Arnold for his lack of leadership on the budget.

“Millions of ordinary Californians are on the brink of losing health insurance for their children, care for their sick, elderly or disabled parents, experiencing deep cuts to school funding and struggling to put food on their tables,” wrote Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Executive Director of the Community Coalition of South Los Angeles, in an email to Courage campaign members. “The one person who should be providing the most leadership to guide the state out of this unprecedented fiscal crisis seems to be the person least concerned.”

Harris-Dawson is referring to Arnold’s recent boast to a New York Times reporter that he was “perfectly fine” and that he could still go home and “sit down in my Jacuzzi” and “lay back with a stogie.”

“Unlike Gov. Schwarzenegger, Marqueece Harris-Dawson is witnessing first-hand the suffering that cuts to public services are causing across California,” added Rick Jacobs, founder and chair of the 700,000-member Courage Campaign. “Arnold’s callous remarks show a lack of genuine empathy to the effects of the fiscal crisis is having on ordinary working families.”

The Courage Campaign produced a video that highlights Gov. Schwarzenegger’s priorities at this dire moment. The video can be viewed at:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/UpInSmoke

The video urges Californians to contact the Governor and tell him to oppose balancing the budget on the backs of the poor and instead to bring in new revenue, including closing the corporate tax loopholes.

“With rumors of a budget deal happening soon,” added Jacobs “it’s critical for Californians to contact the Governor now, before he lets our state go up in smoke.”