The Governorator Schwarzenegger Ads - Truthiness Lite

In a new television ad, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says his Democratic rival, Phil Angelides, will take the state backward "to a time we never want to see again," which the ad says was "when soaring taxes forced jobs and businesses to flee our state."

The problem is, there is no such time.

Campaign officials acknowledged Friday that the ad refers to the administration of former Gov. Gray Davis, who presided over the stock market bust and the recession and state budget crisis that followed.

But Davis did not raise taxes, except for suspending a few small credits, such as one for teachers -- which Schwarzenegger also suspended. Davis allowed the vehicle license fee to go up at the very end of his tenure, but Schwarzenegger rescinded it and refunded the money as soon as he took office.

The idea that the California has lost a significant number of jobs from businesses leaving the state was also debunked in a recent study by the California Public Policy Institute.