Big blow up today for Arnold

Deirdre Newman

Arnold Schwarzenegger has never been accused of being subtle. And he

certainly won’t be today after he blows up a car to illustrate his

distaste for the car tax.

The pyrotechnics will be part of an afternoon rally in the parking

lot of the Orange County Fairgrounds sponsored by Schwarzenegger’s

campaign, said Tom Fuentes, chairman of the Republican Party of

Orange County.

The rally is designed for Schwarzenegger to help get out the

Republican vote and encourage volunteers to continue the work they

have been doing so far, Fuentes said.

“This is always the most exciting time because the attention and

focus becomes all the more intense and people who want to participate

in democracy seek venues to touch and be with the candidate they

support,” Fuentes said. “Tragically, so often, contact with

top-of-the-ticket candidates is limited to very expensive

fund-raising occasions.”

The goal of the local branch of the party is to either call or

knock on the door of every Republican voter in the county between now

and election day, Fuentes said.

The fairgrounds have been used frequently in the past for

Republican gatherings, Fuentes added. Candidates Bob Dole and Bill

Simon, for instance, held rallies there, he said.

The rally, referred to as “Arnold’s Car Tax Rally,” focuses on the

tax that restores car registration fees to the level they were at

before they were reduced in 1988 by Gov. Pete Wilson. Wilson included

a condition that the fee would automatically increase when the state

had insufficient funds. The increase went into effect this week, but

Republicans claim that Gov. Gray Davis never had the authority or the

justification to activate the trigger clause.

Special effects experts from “Terminator 3” will be blowing up a

donated car to electrify the crowd, said David Padilla, a “get out

the vote” coordinator at Schwarzenegger’s Orange County headquarters.

If elected, Schwarzenegger will work to get the car tax rescinded,

Padilla said.

“I think he’s going to take a look at the total budget and come up

with a comprehensive solution instead of a solution that’s very

onerous on the working poor,” Padilla said. “I think this solution by

Gray Davis is typical of his leadership. He just reaches for the

first lever and says, ‘What do I do next?’ And he reacts and panics.

Because raising your car tax in the state -- that itself is sort of

political suicide.”

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.