NEW YORK – Excerpts from Arnold Schwarzenegger (search)'s first press conference as governor-elect of California:
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"My daughter brought me coffee this morning to my bed and she woke me up, whispered in my ear and says, 'Mr. Governor, your coffee's ready.'"
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"The legislators up there have gotten this message last night, that the people of California want change."
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"The people of California want me to be their governor, and I will do that and nothing else. I will work as governor. I will work as much as I can, even if it is around the clock. There will be no time for movies or anything else. I will pay full attention to this job."
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"I will, as soon as I get into office, I will rescind the car tax, I have my legal advisers now working on that, so we can figure out exactly how to do that.
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"We don't know exactly what the current operating deficit is. ... So the bottom line really is, is what we have to do is, open up the books first of all like I said, do the audit and find what the waste is. And then we have to just go through step by step."
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"It doesn't matter where the oil comes from. The bottom line is that we need alternative fuel, hydrogen fuel. We need to clean our air, we have to clean our pollution. I campaigned on that issue. I said that everybody wants to enjoy clean air and clean water. And so I think we can fight for that. I don't believe in what people say that you can only fight for the environment or for jobs. I think we can fight for both. I think that we can create jobs, more jobs, and at the same time and provide a clean environment."
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"There's a bill that Sen. John McCain (search) (R-Ariz.) has introduced that I think is terrific. It gives temporary working permits to immigrants so they can come in and out of this country, out of this state, and also, you know, there's another idea. Undocumented immigrants who come here before August 2003 can apply for visas especially if they don't have a criminal background. And if they have a job right now, they can apply for that visa. So there are different programs I want to push in that direction to help undocumented immigrants."
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"As soon as I get into office, and soon as I become officially the governor and get sworn in ... I will sit down with the Indian gaming tribes and start working together with them so we can figure out ways of getting additional funds because we are in a financial crisis now and I want them to participate."
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"I don't want to talk negative anymore about this administration. The election is over."
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