You might call it the downside to winning election as California’s chief executive. Advancing to one of the highest profile political positions in the nation requires you to move to Sacramento.
I once lived there for a summer and attended college nearby at the University of California at Davis. I know the area. It is flat.. cold (winter) and hot (summer). This isn’t to say that Sacramento is an awful place to live. It’s not. But even natives say one of the nice things about the city is that it isn’t far from nicer places such as San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite valley and the gold country.
The biggest problem with becoming Governor is it forces you to move here. But not Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Our Governor never liked the idea of living in Sacramento. So instead of buying a home and moving his family he simply would stay in a hotel suite at the Hilton across the street from the capitol or just fly home each night.
In a private jet.
Now it is laudable to want to see your family each night and to be a good father to your children. Of course you could do that by having them move to the city where you work. Mr. Schwarzenegger didn’t need to do that because of his ability to get corporations and friends to donate enough money so that he could jet around the state and stay as little time in Sac as possible.
The problem as pointed out recently by the Los Angeles Times, is that his “gulfstream lifestyle” does not measure up with his credentials as the nation’s leading “green” governor. I know.. he says he has purchased carbon “offsets” which allows him to pollute without guilt (often compared to the papal indulgences the catholic church use to sell several centuries ago.. allowing the rich to sin all they want in exchange for cash.)
Nevertheless credibility is your only currency in politics and when it comes to the environment he doesn’t seem to have much left. He signed the “million solar roofs” bill helping promote solar energy but the last time I looked there were none on his house in Brentwood. When he stays at the Hilton he is normally driven across the street in an SUV to the capitol. And the amount of CO2 he puts in the air per private flight is staggering.
Has he ever heard of Southwest?
He’s not the only one. There is an item floating around the internet comparing the environmental sensitivity of two homes.. one in Tennesse.. another in Texas.
House #1 is a 20 room mansion, gas heated, pool and pool house and separte guest house. It uses more energy in a month than most American households in a year.
House #2 was built with every green feature currently used in home construction. It captures rainwater as well as used water from showers and sinks for irrigation. The house uses no fossil fuels or oil for heating. Instead it uses geothermal water pumped from 300 feet below to warm the house.
The punchline? House #1 is that of former Vice President Al Gore and house #2 is that of current President George Bush in Crawford Texas.
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At least the Governor has kept his office in Sacramento. Doesn’t ex-Gov, ex- Oakland Mayor, and current Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown work out of his office in Oakland, near his residence?