Countdown with Keith Olbermann on Gov. Schwarzenegger's Commonwealth Club Speech

Last night on his program, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, MSNBC's Olbermann featured extended excerpts from Monday's speech by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on the anniversary of the passage of AB32, the state's climate change law.

Speaking at The Commonwealth Club's Climate One program in Silicon Valley, Schwarzenegger took off his (rhetorical) gloves and sharply criticized the forces that have pushed a repeal or freeze of AB32. Watch the video yourself from MSNBC.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Schwarzenegger, AB32, and the Future of California's Environmental Commitment

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is coming to The Commonwealth Club September 27 to highlight the anniversary of AB32, the state's landmark climate-change legislation.

Schwarzenegger will be heading up a program of The Club's Climate One series, which focuses on bringing together people from across the political spectrum, from business to environmental movements and beyond, to address climate-change issues.

He has spoken at The Club for each of the past few years to mark AB32, but this year the discussion should be most poignant. The climate-change bill is the subject of withering criticism from conservative politicians who are arguing that the state should focus on jobs first, then the environment. But Schwarzenegger has been a vocal proponent of using climate-change initiatives to create green jobs and industries.

What does he think of his party's candidates in the fall election who are campaigning on plans to restrict climate-change legislation? Will they undo his legacy? What about Proposition 23?

This is a don't-miss program.

Today Copenhagen, Tomorrow ...?

The Commonwealth Club has been bringing together thought leaders from around the world for more than a century -- it'll be 107 years this February -- but it has now expanded its reach. For the first time ever, The Club held an event outside of the United States this past Tuesday when it presented a high-level program in Copenhagen, Denmark, featuring California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (pictured, center), Himin Solar Founder and CEO Huang Ming (photo left), Nobel laureate and IPCC Chair Rajendra Pachauri. The event was moderated by Climate One Founder and Commonwealth Club Vice President Greg Dalton (photo right).

KQED Radio broadcast the event as a special program the following night. If you missed that broadcast, it will also be aired on KRCB FM on Dec. 17, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. Excerpts will air on KRCB TV in January. The program will also be podcast. 

For more on The Club's visit to Copenhagen, see our photo reports.

Copenhagen Summit Site of Climate One Event with Gov. Schwarzenegger, Nobel Laureate Pachauri, & More

The Commonwealth Club's Climate One project will host a radio and television conversation with key players in Copenhagen during the UN Climate Change Summit on December 16th. The two-part event will feature California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband, Himin Solar founder & CEO Huang Ming, and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Chair Rajendra Pachauri. Greg Dalton, Commonwealth Club vice president and director of Climate One, will moderate the event that will take place on the sidelines of the UN climate summit currently going on in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Even if you couldn't make the trek to Denmark, you can follow the Club's reports from the summit -- and you can tweet your questions for the participants -- at:
http://www.facebook.com/climateone
http://twitter.com/climateone
http://climateone.blogspot.com/
The deadline to tweet your questions is Tuesday at noon -- so prepare your questions now for our expert panelists and send them in!

The two-part Climate One program, which was underwritten by The ClimateWorks Foundation, will be broadcast on KQED FM, Dec. 16, 2009, at 8:00 p.m. and on KRCB FM Dec. 17, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. Excerpts will also be broadcast on KRCB TV in January. Also, the program will be podcast, and brief video clips will be posted to the blogs of The Club and Climate One. 

California's Solar Power Leadership Role -- An Economic Strength?

Things are shaping up to look a lot brighter in the Golden State. Going against a downward national trend, clean energy leader California is on a streak to more than double installation of solar energy systems during 2009, far more than any other state in the nation.

Even during the worst phases of the economic downturn, installations in California have risen. Taking full advantage of federal stimulus money and the Solar Investment Tax Credit, California holds the majority of solar patents and has proven to be committed to clean up its act and lead the country on sustainable energy. Installations are projected to jump 120 percent this year, compared with a 27-percent global decline.

Technology research house iSuppli expects 350 megawatts worth of solar systems will be installed in California during 2009, while the rest of the country is expected to install only 132 MW in that same time. The trend is expected to continue to 2010, when California photovoltaic installations, in terms of megawatts of power generated, would increase another 68 percent, while solar panel installations around the world grow 54 percent.

In a late September visit to the Club, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger expressed his support for solar energy and outlined key strategies that are keeping California ahead on energy issues, touting the state as a national and global leader on environmental politics. The governor’s visit marked the third anniversary of AB32, legislation that catapulted California to worldwide leadership in green economics.

"Leaders from around the world are coming to California to see all the innovation and excitement that is going on in our state," Schwarzenegger told the audience during his speech at the Fairmont hotel. "A wave of green innovation is washing over our state now."

The governor also recently signed an executive order to direct the California Air Resource Board to adopt regulations increasing California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard to 33 percent by 2020. The order upholds the state’s leadership in environmental policies and builds on AB32 goals by ensuring California will have the ability to use renewable energy sources.

And all that clean technology could be helping to pull California out of its economic slump as well. "Fighting climate change is not just about the environment; it’s also about seizing an incredible economic opportunity," said Schwarzenegger. "Since 2005, green jobs in California have grown 10 times more than any other jobs.”

President Obama has expressed the desire to pass a climate bill that not only creates new American jobs but also continues offering incentives that spur innovation, so California can serve as an example of how such goals are implemented.

"One hundred fifty years ago, it was the industrial revolution that changed the world and ushered in a new era of prosperity," said the governor. "But now, today the green revolution will do exactly the same."

--By Heather Mack

(Photo courtesy NASA.)

Video of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Big Speech at The Commonwealth Club

Last week, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke to Climate One at The Commonwealth Club. The occasion was the third anniversary of the signing of AB32, California's historic climate law.

The governor covered a great deal of ground in his discussions about green public policy in his speech and in his Q&A with Climate One director Greg Dalton. True, his comments about making sure his children didn't waste hot water in the shower got a lot of attention -- but even that served to illustrate his views that environmental policy touches all parts of our lives. Might not make his kids happy, but that's for him to worry about.

Watch the video to see it all.

Schwarzenegger Tells Commonwealth Club California Must Lead on Energy, Never Follow

In his third appearance at The Commonwealth Club of California in 13 months, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told a room of nearly 500 attendees that the state must always be a leader on fighting climate change and on generating economic growth from environmentally friendly activity.

Though his appearance focused on the third anniversary of AB32 -- legislation that set California on a path of being a national and global leader in green economics -- Schwarzenegger also touched on a wide array of topics, particularly during his question-and-answer session with Greg Dalton, director of The Commonwealth Club's Climate One program. When he was asked by a member of a fourth-grade class that was in attendance what advice he gives to his own children regarding the environment, the governor related his own upbringing in postwar Europe, where his family lived in a home without running water. As a result, he closely monitors the length of his children's showers and threatens to cut off the hot water after five minutes. He also makes his children make their own beds and do their own laundry.

From Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman's recent comments about rescinding some of his green policies, to discussing his desire to do anything possible to make the Obama administration (and future administrations of either party) successful, the governor shied away from no topic. He gave an impassioned explanation about the necessity of painful across-the-board budget cuts when an audience member questioned reductions in higher education funding.

To end the program, he was asked if, after he leaves the governor's office, he would consider holding a post in the Obama administration, being an international ambassador for green issues, or starring in a TV series about a California governor ("...like West Wing, only better..."). Schwarzenegger said he was open to all three.

We'll post the full video of the program here when it's available.

(Photos by John Zipperer)

Late-Breaking Event: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at Commonwealth Club This Week

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will be appearing at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco this Thursday. He will be talking about what California is doing to bring together states and countries together to cooperate on addressing climate change.

For additional details and to reserve tickets, click here.

Thinking Ahead - Two Commendable CA Budget Outcomes

The details of California's budget compromise are just coming to light, and I have heard good news on two fronts. Both demonstrate some laudable long term thinking by our State legislators. I thought I would share the details of these two compromises, as I have been informed about them.

First, a college on whose board I serve reports that Cal Grants, which provide scholarship money for college students who need some financial help, will not be cut (or even eliminated) as had been anticipated in this year's budget. This is of course a relief to colleges that would have either had to spend some of their already diminished endowment money to make up the difference, or cut back on accepting qualified but less financially capable students.

Since education is at the core of California's ability to innovate and solve its problems, cutting back education is cannibalizing the State's future capacity for a vibrant economy, and is truly short-sighted. The cuts that are taking place in the state university and college system are bad enough without eliminating the assistance that supports capable students across both private and public educational institutions.

Just as important, especially for Northern California, the planned high-speed rail system connecting the Bay Area with Southern California will proceed on schedule. A back-door effort to derail the system's planned route down the peninsula south of San Francisco through San Jose, by sending the State's High Speed Rail Authority back to re-study other possible routes, was foiled in the final budget compromise.

The story of this imbroglio has been to some degree reported in the press, but here is perhaps a slightly more detailed version. After extensive study, the northern California route for the system was approved last year, and our region was allocated a first traunch of the $10 billion in state bond money provided through last November's Prop 1A High Speed Rail ballot initiative, AND at least $1.3 billion in federal stimulus money to match and augment the state funds. All of this would go to design, engineering, technology and construction jobs in the Bay Area, and the spillover economic activity that provides throughout the community - which we very much need right now.

But a few residents of Atherton, Menlo Park and Palo Alto decided that they didn't want this system running down the CalTrain corridor near their homes. Never mind that their cities had endorsed it last fall, or that part of the project would improve CalTrain including converting it from diesel to electric and putting its grade crossings under ground, making the system quieter and less polluting. This is the same kind of thinking that ensured, back in the 1970s, that BART did not serve the peninsula and South Bay as it does the East Bay.

So just before the 4th of July, someone slipped the directive to restudy the routes in Northern CA into the budget bill, in the closed-door conference committee in Sacramento. No state legislators or their staffs acknowledge being the source of this provision. Had this stayed in the budget bill, the State would have had to go back to restudy the route, delaying the project for at least a year, and in the process losing Northern California's place as first in line to receive bond funds and stimulus money - probably putting the section of the High Speed Rail system from Anaheim to LA in Southern California ahead of us in line to receive the funding. And of course, the jobs and economic benefits would move south right along with the project.

It took an incredible amount of effort rallying HSR supporters and a letter signed by every member of the Bay Area state legislative delegation to get this killer provision out of the budget bill, and it worked. Now it's High Speed Rail (and economic stimulus) for Northern California - full speed ahead!

Of late, one of the elements most lacking in our political process is the ability of our leaders to take actions that will produce desired results in the long-term. If we undercut our own capacities by not building infrastructure and not adequately educating our population, then we are definitely shooting ourselves in the foot, inhibiting our own progress.

I see both of these outcomes as good for the public interest. I commend both our state legislators, and Governor Schwarzenegger, who when he is allowed to do so, provides excellent leadership for the state, for these outcomes.

--Gloria Duffy

Schwarzenegger Makes a Big Splash at The Commonwealth Club

"The Commonwealth Club brings me luck," joked California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger when he spoke at The Club last week. He used his appearance (his second in 12 months) to kick off an energetic campaign to fight for a handful of ballot initiatives that he says will help California stave off another brutal budget fight like the one we just endured; he said that the initiatives, if approved by voters in a special May 19 election, will make the state take money from the boom years to help smooth out the bust years.

If the governor wanted to attract attention with his speech and the audience question-and-answer session (see photo below of Schwarzenegger being asked questions by Commonwealth Club VP Greg Dalton), he succeeded wildly. Press coverage of the event, beginning with a live broadcast over KQED radio in the Bay Area, was extensive, and we've collected just a sampling of it here.

1. The Christian Science Monitor: California's Voters Get Next Say in Budget Battles

2. The Los Angeles Times: Schwarzenegger Begins Campaign for Ballot Measures

3. Bloomberg: California Teachers Plan Rally as 26,000 Warned of Job Cuts

4. The Guardian (UK): Schwarzenegger Urges California Voters to pass Budget Reform Measures

5. CBS 5 (San Francisco): Poll: May Election Nears, Few Focus on Props

6. LAist: Battle Over May 19th Election Props Begins Heated Race

7. San Diego Union-Tribune: State Budget Springs a Leak

8. KQED Capital Notes: "It's the System," Says Guv



(Photos by Amanda Leung)

Remembering the Recall: What Didn't Change

On October 5, 2003, Commonwealth Club President and CEO Dr. Gloria C. Duffy wrote the following article for the San Francisco Chronicle. The topic was the state's special election to recall Governor Grey Davis. Her comments about the structural problems inherent in the state's governance system regardless of the governor, have proven prescient.

Recall symptomatic of political ills/Recall the system
By Gloria C. Duffy

Those who back the recall election in California do so with understandable
frustration at the magnitude of unsolved problems our state faces. But the
risk is high that if we simply change the occupant of the governor's
office, it will be a change without a difference for the challenges we
face.

Our basic problem in California is our inability to address effectively
the serious issues confronting us -- the budget crisis, transportation,
immigration, housing, environmental protection, job creation, the energy
crisis, health care and the deterioration of our educational system and
our parks -- because our decision-making is hamstrung by a statewide
system. Changing the way any elected governor or other state officials
operate is highly unlikely until we address the flaws in our system. Most
seriously, campaign financing is out of control in California. The last
governor's race cost $130 million. Only candidates who are personally
wealthy or spend most of their time raising money can achieve statewide
office in California. An elected official makes decisions about thousands
of issues every year, virtually all of which touch the interests of groups
that are past or prospective contributors. This requires public officials
to walk extremely narrow lines between legitimate decisions and ethically
questionable ones, and to shun hard decisions that might affect a certain
sector -- say the utilities or unions -- because they know they will need
to raise money from them in the future.

Through redistricting, Republicans and Democrats in the state Legislature
have created safe legislative districts that favor incumbents. This has
excluded would-be challengers to inadequate representatives and formed
strangely shaped districts that have little in common other than voters
who habitually make the same party choice. Term limits for legislators
were well intentioned, but they have resulted in elected officials who
have little time to accomplish goals or obtain seniority and are always
positioning themselves for the next office, to the detriment of doing
their legislative job effectively. The joke going around is that a
first-term assembly member is a freshman, a second-termer is a speaker,
and a third-termer is senator-elect.

The initiative process, created by Progressive reformers a century ago,
was meant to be the citizens' method of direct legislation. But it has
turned into a huge money operation, where many initiatives are backed and
opposed by special-interest groups who pay large amounts of money to
professional signature collectors to gather the support necessary, and
engage in often misleading advertising about what the initiative is and
what its impact will be. The voters are left trying to guess what it's all
about.

The primary system promotes those who are at the extremes of both parties
-- liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans can most successfully
navigate the state primaries because interest groups at the extremes
support candidates in the primaries. When those elected collide in the
state Legislature, not much gets done because there is little overlapping
framework of common philosophy or desire to cooperate. The requirement of
a two-thirds majority in the California legislature to pass a state budget
also makes efficient decision-making very difficult. Many states require a
simple majority.

Largely because of voters' cynicism about their ability to have any impact
on this system, we experience extremely low voter participation in
California, around 30 percent in recent elections, which magnifies all
these problems by essentially removing the citizenry from the governing
process. An inattentive citizenry, uninvolved in the governance process,
gives rise to a system and elected officials who do not serve their needs
-- witness the popularity of the recall.

Abuses by political consultants and lobbyists are rampant. Richie Ross,
the king of negative campaigning, is reputed to refuse to work for
candidates unless they endorse all the other candidates for whom he is
working. As reported recently by The Chronicle, Ross combines campaign
consulting with lobbying, allowing him to get a candidate elected and then
have that person's ear to lobby for his clients. As the wheeler-dealer
behind Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante's campaign, Ross engineered the donations
from Indian casinos, which he also represents as a lobbyist. And one
wonders whose strategy it was to put this money into anti-Prop. 54 ads,
enabling Bustamante not to return most of the contributions after a judge
ruled them illegal?

In sum, in California we have a system of governance that is not fair, not
accessible to citizens, not clean and in which the public has thus lost
confidence. This is a problem that won't be solved by a recall election.

One hundred years ago, Progressive reformers in California organized to
help citizens take back state government from what they perceived to be
corrupt officials. Led by Gov. Hiram Johnson, they instituted the
initiative process and the recall, as well as other wide-reaching reforms
of state and local institutions. The Commonwealth Club is proud to have
been a vehicle for debate and pursuit of these reforms. It is time for a
new reform agenda in California, removed from the personalities and
short-term debates of the current recall episode. The reforms of the early
20th century need to be re- examined for their current effect, and many
new issues, such as the impact of private money on statewide elections,
must be addressed. California's problems are not unique, but they are a
bellwether for those in other states and on the national scene. If we
address these issues here, California will once again provide its
leadership to the nation as a whole.

Gloria C. Duffy is CEO of the Commonwealth Club of California.

Experts: After Spill, Local Bureaucracy is Still Lagging Behind Clean Up

Though the ill-fated cargo ship Cosco Busan trudged through the San Francisco Bay one dense, foggy morning a year ago today, the consequences of the oil spill still reverberate not only ecologically, but at all levels of government.

Despite a bevy of bills signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a far greater amount of awareness about the issue, critics complain that the region is still not sufficiently prepared to deal with another large-scale spill.

California Assemblyman Jared Huffman along with an environmental activist and local emergency manager, speaking today at the Commonwealth Club found that problems still exist in the areas of response.

Huffman, who represents Marin County, which suffered oil damage to the coastline at Bolinas Lagoon, wonders whether private contractors are the best choice for clean up. “Is it a good idea to rely on folks who wold make more money if the spill is allowed to worsen?” said Huffman.

He also questions whether the proximity of such responders, nearly all unfamiliar with the terrain and surf of the Bay Area are best equipped to handle situations.

Some out-of-state responders needed to be rescued from the ocean by volunteer fire fighters, he said.

“They have adopted at the Federal level this system of private contractors." said Huffman. "I think we ought to be questioning the effectiveness and the efficacy of relying on contractors who may be very good at what they do but are not located nearby when you need them."

Also problematic to the panel is the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 that, in effect, gives ship owners the first right to cleaning any spill.

"It is the culture of the oil spill response community to make best use of primary resources -- contractors that specialize in oil spill response. They have elaborate mechanisms and pieces of equipment as well as highly trained personnel that specialize in how to get heavy black stuff off the water into the boat," said Chris Godley, manager of emergency response in Marin. "That said, though, there are other resources that may be useful for such a response that are available from local and even state governments that were initially declined.”

These include the use of aviation, communication systems and local volunteers.

Godley noted the throng of volunteers itching to help clean Bay Area beaches was unprecedented in the United States. Most places where oil spills occur are in areas away from large metropolitan area as opposed to the leak in the greater Bay Area.

“Someone literally poured oil on your doormat, you’re going to want to go out and take care of it,” said Godley.

Sejal Choksi, the director of programs at Baykeeper, a local group striving to preserve the bay waters, believes the key to preventing a large scale disaster is too work quickly after the initial accident.

(For more, read Choksi's article in the opinion section of the San Francisco Chronicle.)

One problem facing the bay's unique geography is that technology does not yet exist to clean up some local coastlines. According to Choksi, the current in Bolinas Lagoon is too swift to operate safely; Angel Island is too rocky; and both Richardson Bay and the mudflats near Emeryville are too shallow to protect.

In the big picture, though, the speakers said that everyday pollution is a more manageable and growing problem than shipping containers floating in and out the bay.

"Oil spills are not the biggest threat to the bay," said Choksi. "They are a tremendous threat to the bay, but our everyday activities do pose more pollution problems for the bay’s health and water quality.”

Though he said that local officials were not ready to respond to the oil spill in the bay a year ago, Godley thinks some of the measures taken since then would have lessened the damage to the ecosystem. “Things may have been different had the provision now in place as a result of the Cosco Busan been in place at the time of the event.”

Complete Video: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Climate Change, Finance Crisis

Above, courtesy of our video partners at Fora.tv, is the complete video of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's sold-out speech to The Commonwealth Club. He spoke on the anniversary of AB32, the state's landmark global-warming legislation, and in a wide-ranging Q&A with Club Vice President Greg Dalton he discusses the global financial crisis, dealing with Detroit, his expectations for the next president, and much more.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Offshore Drilling

Gov. Schwarzenegger and The Commonwealth Club

In his opening remarks to The Commonwealth Club Sept. 25, 2008, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger cited his past appearances at The Club and explained why he associates The Commonwealth Club with good luck.

Gov. Schwarzenegger on the Federal Government Action on Wall Street

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Global Warming

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tells The Commonwealth Club that people need to take a serious look at the global warming problem.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Tells Club Credit Crisis Can't Stop Climate Change Initiatives

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told a Commonwealth Club audience this afternoon that budget battles and financial crises should not be used as excuses to back away from the leadership position the state has taken to reduce greenhouse gases.

Touching on some of the hot-button issues of the day, he also promised to uphold his pledge to resist oil drilling off the coast of California. Part of the solution, he said, would be better, more fuel-efficient cars from Detroit. Schwarzenegger said Detroit complains about his moves to get a federal exemption that would allow California (as in years past) to set its own fuel economy standards; he recommended that the rest of the country adopt California's higher standards and that Detroit stop complaining and begin innovating and rolling out alternative energy cars.

Speaking on the second anniversary of AB32, California's landmark Global Warming Solutions Act, the Republican governor told a packed audience of more than 500 people that the state has benefited greatly -- and will continue to do so -- from investment in green technologies. He praised the bipartisan state leaders who created the bill, and he said his administration will continue to focus on areas ranging from cleaning up its shipping ports to building the hydrogen highway.

In a wide-ranging audience question-and-answer period moderated by Club Vice President Greg Dalton, Schwarzenegger responded to the ongoing talks in Washington, D.C., aimed at crafting a large-scale government intervention into the markets to try to calm worldwide credit and investment markets. The governor offered his support for government intervention in cases where the markets have failed, but he urged that the government "not try to pick the winners" when it invests money or tries to direct economic development.

Keep visiting this Commonwealth Club blog for more reports from the governor's speech, press reaction, and photos and videos.