LOOKING REAL HARD FOR A SILVER LINING IN LAST WEEK’S DREADFUL election results, let me note that California at least didn’t take on any new problems as a result of the balloting,the bad props (78 and up) lost with the good ones (77 and down).
The biggest winner (besides commercial television and campaign consultants, enriched from a record advertising haul) was the status quo.
The same voters who swept Arnold into office apparently have had their fill of ballot-box revolutions.
The Democrats keep their gerrymandered lock on the Legislature. The public employee unions retain their lock on Democrat lawmakers.
Unfortunately, status quo in this state means a continuation of the awful government problems of runaway spending and a multibillion-dollar structural deficit.
And the message sent to businesses,and out-of-state corporate recruiters,is that California’s politicians and voters are incapable of exercising fiscal responsibility.
So where does Arnold,further weakened for the moment but perhaps wiser for the experience,go from here?
Let’s hope it’s not really, as he intimated while in the throes of last week’s defeat, in the direction of trying to make nice with a legislative leadership and its special-interest clients who now will turn their attention to undermining his re-election.
“Working together” as translated in Sacramento means “caving in.” If the governor turns his attention away from the budget to address his adversaries’ unfunded wish lists,more teachers, more nurses, more safety officers, more services,the state’s finances will continue their downward spiral. And his political base, such as it is, will continue to erode.
It’s not more that California needs in the worst way,it’s less. Less spending, less pension promising, less deficit-creation.
We don’t need cooperation, we need change. We don’t need apologies, we need action: Vetoes. Administrative reins on spending. Use of the bully pulpit. Appointments of fiscal conservatives. Continued pressure for reform.
I don’t think the voters were rejecting Arnold last week as much as they were rejecting his approach. I think the message was, “Governor, we put you in the game, get your team on the field and run your plays. But don’t ask us to change the rules for you, at least until you prove to us you can block and tackle.”
The fear here is that Schwarzenegger, left to his own devices and Maria’s persuasion, won’t have the “heart” to make the tough calls, especially on spending cuts.
Granted, revenues are projected to come in higher than expected next year. But with a massive structural deficit, he’ll be tempted to take the path of least resistance,more borrowing,and the path of secondary resistance,tax hikes.
Down those roads lies Gray Davis.
_________________________________________________________
The next Guv?
PHIL ANGELIDES, STEVE WESTLY, MOVE OVER.
There’s an aging star with name and face recognition who dogged Arnold in the just-concluded campaign that would seem to be a tailor-made Democratic gubernatorial candidate.
Warren Beatty? No, the guy I’m thinking of even has experience in office.
Judge Wapner!
,Rick Reiff
