If there was any doubt that
Arnold is the Chamber of Commerce’s Chamber Maid, it was erased today
when the Gov stood outside a private home in San Diego to stump against
changes to Prop 13.
No one in the statehouse has suggested Prop 13 be changed for
residential homeowners. The only serious discussion in the Capitol over
the last few years has been about forcing big businesses to have their
commercial real estate reassessed so they pay a fairer share under Prop
13. Those proposals would not hit a single homeowner, whose property is
already reassessed every time it’s sold. It would close a loophole
found in Prop 13 that big business exploits so their property values
are never reassessed. Estimates are that these big commercial entities
— that are among the Chamber of Commerce’s largest members – could be
forced to cough up as much as $4 billion that they owe.
It’s no wonder the California Chamber of Commerce’s CEO is authoring
the initiative to give Schwarzenegger huge budget powers to cut school
funding rather than force big business to pony up. But it is revealing
that Arnold’s first salvo in the special election is cleaning up the
Chamber’s dirty laundry.
