We have really come full circle. When I campaigned vigorously for Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 
2003 special recall election, I was supporting a candidate who boldly campaigned as a fiscal conservative. Heck, I remember his waving the broom in the air, to talk about "sweeping out" the special interest groups that have a firm control over California’s bureaucracy. It was true then and it is true today. Public Employee Unions and other interests have prevented any major substantive overhaul to how state government functions. The Governor’s California Performance Review is gathering cobwebs in a file cabinet somewhere.
Of course, the Governor went through a rather famous (or infamous, depending on your perspective) ‘reinvention’ of himself after the multiple (and important) ballot measures that he championed in 2005 fell short at the special election polls. Still, in his re-election in 2006, which I supported, again the Governor campaigned as a fiscal conservative.
So now, here we are, where legislative Republicans in the State Senate are making bold stand for a few very modest reforms that any fiscal conservative would applaud, and the very Governor whom I supported is now barnstorming around the California, attacking those very Republicans who are standing for fiscally conservative programmatic changes in order to reduce projected budget deficits in outlying years.
What happened to the Governor who stumped as a fiscal conservative?
Make no bones about it, the legislation that has been proposed is not the state budget. It is a proposed state budget, and it is one that is not acceptable to 2/3rds of the legislators in both houses.
What needs to happen here is not having the top Republican officeholder in the state traveling the state, berating legislators of his own party, but the Governor should be working with legislative Republicans and negotiating a budget that works for everyone – yes, even Senate Republicans.
Governor Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders know full well that Republicans have proposed passing necessary legislation to allow for the ongoing funding of those very at-risk facilities in front of which the Governor is appearing today. No one wants them to have to shut their doors.
So the first step should be an agreement to pass this temporary funding measure, and then the Governor should, again, be working to find consensus on a budget — which is better done with a carrot than with a stick, when dealing with legislators of his own party.
I guess my disappointment comes primary from the fact that Governor Schwarzenegger should actually be applauding Senate Republicans for sticking to their guns, and asking for substantive programmatic changes that perhaps, because of his relationships with Senate President Perata and Speaker Nunez, he didn’t feel comfortable introducing himself.
Perhaps we should all take the most umbrage with the fact that the Governor and Senator Abel Maldonado, the Gov’s new buddy, out there feigning that they don’t understand what it is that keeping Senate Republicans from approving a budget. Senate Republicans have made their case very clearly.
Ahh, well. Someone does get the last laugh, and we all know who it is…
August 14th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Perhaps we can convince the governor to hold a special election to promote his liberal ideas. When they fail, perhaps he will become a Republican again.