Deadlocks and Mindsets
VIEWPOINT
by John Campbell
Honeymoon?
I write this as I am heading home on Saturday morning, Dec. 6, after
another session that ran until nearly midnight. This session dealt with the governor’s requests for a bond issue and a spending limit. It would appear that rather than being over, the “honeymoon” between legislative Democrats and the new governor never started.
A week ago, the Legislature passed the repeal of the horribly dangerous drivers’ licenses for non-citizens bill. Many Democrats who had voted for that bill in September voted to repeal it in December. Why? Did they recognize the security risks or decide to work with the governor? No.
As the author of the original bill, Sen. Gil Cedillo said himself they feared that the referendum that was circulating for signatures would qualify for the November ballot and that Democrats might lose seats in November running on that very unpopular issue. So, the apparent “cooperation” was really driven by a greater fear of a ballot proposal.
Fast-forward to last Friday, as rhetoric on the floor of both the Assembly and the Senate heats up. The governor’s proposals on bonds and spending caps fail to garner Democrat votes and the Democratic alternatives fail to gather Republican votes or the governor’s support. So, as midnight approaches on Friday, both houses are deadlocked.
Governor Schwarzenegger then comes to talk to the Republican Assembly caucus. “Thank you for your support,” he says. “I now see how deeply addicted to spending the Democrats are,” he goes on.
He explains that he was willing to compromise beyond what most of us would have thought he should do, but it wasn’t enough for a liberal majority used to always getting their own way. He then pledges to take a much tougher “never again” spending limit to the people through the initiative signature-gathering process.
He is upbeat. He is lighthearted and humorous. He is inspiring.
During the floor debates, Democratic Sen. John Burton attacks Schwarzenegger’s proposal to give the governor authority to make mid-year cuts without legislative approval,a right every governor prior to George Deukmejian had.
In his speech, Sen. Burton goes on to say that he thought “we ended autocracy” (rule by one person which he claims midyear authority constitutes) with the “revolution of 1917.”
The revolution of 1917? That was the Bolshevik revolution! That was the revolution that created the Soviet Union and put Lenin’s communism in charge of Russia. He clearly did not make a slip of the tongue here. It is hard to confuse the revolution of 1776 with the one of 1917.
No, Sen. Burton clearly was praising the Bolshevik revolution as his example of where his values are and ours should be. And he is the most powerful Democrat in Sacramento. Does this give you some idea of the mentality that we are dealing with? No wonder they have lost touch with the average voting Democrat, not to mention other Californians.
Expect the governor to begin petitions for real workers’ compensation reform to put on the November ballot, in addition to the spending limit. It will take time and it will take money and hard work. But the will of the people will prevail,even over the Bolsheviks!
Campbell is the Republican assemblyman from Irvine.
