Florez to Gov: Stop tweeting and get to work
Schwarzenegger mocks animal cruelty legislation in multiple on-line posts as IOUs loom

SACRAMENTO -- Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez, D-Shafter, called on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to “stop tweeting his obsession with cow tails and start tweaking the Budget to move us toward a solution.”

While Florez has been meeting with Senate leadership to negotiate a Budget that would allow the state to avoid issuing costly IOUs, Schwarzenegger has been repeatedly posting on Twitter to mock legislation aimed at ending animal cruelty -- which California voters identified as a high priority with their overwhelming support of Proposition 2.

The Governor even sent a camera crew to videotape the Assembly Agriculture Committee hearing at which Florez’s legislation to end the crude amputation of cows’ tails was presented by Assemblymember Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, who was already set to be present as a member of the committee. 

Senate policy committees for Wednesday were cancelled.

Florez derided the use of staff for the taping and subsequent YouTube posting as a clear waste of the state’s resources.

“I do not understand why the Governor would spend his time and the state’s resources mocking the prevention of animal cruelty.  For my part, I am proud to have introduced the bill, thankful that it passed, and continuing to focus on my work to help prevent the state from going to IOUs.  I can’t imagine the Governor doesn’t have better things to do with his time as well during this crisis,” Florez said. 

“We are still waiting for the Governor to sit down at the table with the State Senate and lay out what it will take to get him to support a Budget that does not hurt the most vulnerable citizens of this state.”

Below are the Twitter posts, which include a link to the YouTube video:

1.let me know what you think about this video: http://bit.ly/WbODz18 minutes ago from web 2.Instead of working on budget, the Legislature is about to debate whether cows can keep their tails while we're in a fiscal crisis.about 4 hours ago from TwitterBerry

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For Immediate Release                         Jennifer Hanson
July 1, 2009                                          916-651-4016