Arnold Schwarzenegger, Budget

The Two-Faces of Arnold Schwarzenegger

2 Comments

PhotobucketAs I scroll through my inbox, I’m looking at a series of emails from legislators and their various staff members. Lots of them.  Every one tells me a story of a pretty good bill. I’ll pluck a few out randomly: Nancy Skinner’s AB 758 is a win-win with both labor and business supporting it. It would facilitate the greening of California’s businesses.  And Asm. Evans’ AB 154 would conform California’s foster care system to some relatively minor federal requirements for matching dollars.  The bill could result in $50 mil in federal dollars by 2018.

Why do I bring this up? Because Arnold hasn’t signed any of the bills yet. Dan Walters thinks it might have something to do with a lack of a deal on water, but at this point it is all just reading tea leaves. He hasn’t said that he’s going to veto everything, as he frequently does when he’s throwing a temper tantrum.

But the lack of bill signings doesn’t really have to do with a lack of time on his hands.  He has time enough to play on the national field by releasing a statement saying that he generally supports the concept of health care reform.  While it might be useful for prominent Republicans to say these sorts of things for the health care debate, that isn’t his job. (Fmr. Sen. Majority Leader Frist and Former SecHHS/Gov. Tommy Thompson have also indicated support for the milquetoast health care reform bill from the Finance Committee.)

But this is Arnold’s MO.  Come out in the national press for the Mom and apple pie, and then proceed to slam the apple pie in the face of mommy dearest when he gets back to Sacramento.

So, perhaps the Mr. Freeze character wasn’t the right one for Arnold in the Batman story. It seems he would have been perfect for Harvey Dent.

2 thoughts on “The Two-Faces of Arnold Schwarzenegger”

  1. Those of us who deal with the issues of the Delta all them time have taken to calling the Guv “Fish Terminator.”  This is just the latest in a long string of actions that are more geared to having a legacy of activism than they are at achieving anything rational.

    This is just another grandstand stunt in a long list of previous performances.

    My comments today at California Greening.

    It started with a Twitter update from Matt Weiser of the Sacramento Bee. He noted that the Big 5 was meeting on water.

    Then, thanks to Aquafornia, I was pointed to story of that meeting as told by the LA Times.

       So as the clock ticks toward a Sunday deadline for signing or rejecting more than 700 bills on his desk, Schwarzenegger has engaged legislative leaders in a game of chicken, threatening a mass veto if lawmakers don’t strike a deal to upgrade the state’s water system.

    Imagine that, almost every bill out of the Legislature left to rot on the Bill Terminator’s desk. To think that I took the legislature to task for not passing what should have been a no brainer bill, AB 560.

    Aside: At one time, I had hopes that the constitutional convention would help structure a way out of this mess. Now, I am not sure. Waiting for an update which I hope to get today.

    Our friends at Restore the Delta did not let this go by without comment.

       Where are the adults in Sacramento?

       Yes, the Governor has told Legislative Leaders that he wants a water package on his desk by Friday night before he will act on the 700 bills sitting on his desk. But with a significant portion of the Legislature not in town, and members scattered all over the world presently, can that really happen?

    I only see one legislator in Sacramento whom I trust to deal honestly with water, to require the type of regional water planning that Martin ardently and articulately champions. That is Lois Wolk. She may be the only adult that got elected.

     That is the reason I added Martin Zehr as an author.  Martin has over a decade of experience as a citizen member of the commission that crafted a new regional water compact for the Middle Rio Grande in New Mexico.  He now lives in California and we will use his experience.  It is a lot more than the Fish Terminator has.  

  2. Those of us who deal with the issues of the Delta all them time have taken to calling the Guv “Fish Terminator.”  This is just the latest in a long string of actions that are more geared to having a legacy of activism than they are at achieving anything rational.

    This is just another grandstand stunt in a long list of previous performances.

    My comments today at California Greening.

    It started with a Twitter update from Matt Weiser of the Sacramento Bee. He noted that the Big 5 was meeting on water.

    Then, thanks to Aquafornia, I was pointed to story of that meeting as told by the LA Times.

       So as the clock ticks toward a Sunday deadline for signing or rejecting more than 700 bills on his desk, Schwarzenegger has engaged legislative leaders in a game of chicken, threatening a mass veto if lawmakers don’t strike a deal to upgrade the state’s water system.

    Imagine that, almost every bill out of the Legislature left to rot on the Bill Terminator’s desk. To think that I took the legislature to task for not passing what should have been a no brainer bill, AB 560.

    Aside: At one time, I had hopes that the constitutional convention would help structure a way out of this mess. Now, I am not sure. Waiting for an update which I hope to get today.

    Our friends at Restore the Delta did not let this go by without comment.

       Where are the adults in Sacramento?

       Yes, the Governor has told Legislative Leaders that he wants a water package on his desk by Friday night before he will act on the 700 bills sitting on his desk. But with a significant portion of the Legislature not in town, and members scattered all over the world presently, can that really happen?

    I only see one legislator in Sacramento whom I trust to deal honestly with water, to require the type of regional water planning that Martin ardently and articulately champions. That is Lois Wolk. She may be the only adult that got elected.

     That is the reason I added Martin Zehr as an author.  Martin has over a decade of experience as a citizen member of the commission that crafted a new regional water compact for the Middle Rio Grande in New Mexico.  He now lives in California and we will use his experience.  It is a lot more than the Fish Terminator has.  

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