On Sunday, Robert took a look at Arnold’s water demands:

John Laird gives a truly excellent overview that explains that the only other dam built by state government, the Oroville Dam which is a key part of the State Water Project, had 97% of its cost paid for by the actual users of the system, with the other 3% coming from taxpayers in the form of financial support (low-interest loans, for example). Yet the current demand is that taxpayers pay as much as 50% of the cost of a new dam, despite the fact that many Californians will never see any benefit from that dam, a dam which likely won’t be built for a decade or more and which will, because it is likely to be built at low elevation, will not catch much water and will essentially be useless.

This point cannot be overstated.  For decades, the Western Central Valley has gotten subsidized water. It’s built the Westlands Water District area into the fruit and vegetable capitol of the country. It produces all this produce (haha!) in a region that needs irrigated water. Because while the topsoil is fertile, the under-layer of clay sucks up water.  And during all of this, while the cities along the coast pay top dollar for their water, the Westlands gets a cut rate for agreeing to be the first to be cut off.

But that doesn’t stop them from bitching when they do get cut off.

The contradictions involved in all of this are striking.  For those who claim to support Adam Smith’s invisible hand of the market, it makes for a remarkable statement.  They are arguing that water should be subsidized in order to interfere with the market.  So, the money is transferred from the pockets of Californians and into the pockets of agribusiness and out of state consumers.

Any water deal must retain the balance of payment that we’ve seen in the past. At most 5-10% of the payments should come from bonds or other general fund payments, the rest should come from revenue bonds. Those who use the water should pay for it. Yes, this will make produce more expensive, which is a regrettable consequence.  But it is the only equitable way to share the costs.

All of that said, even with all of this construction, there is no additional water. We are just playing shell games with what we have. At some point we have to look at sustainability giving the coming risk of climate change.

Big news, California hates its elected leaders:

The downward trend in voter appraisals of the job performance of both Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state legislature continues.

The most recent Field Poll completed last week finds that just 27% of this state’s voters approve of the governor’s performance, the first time in his nearly six-year tenure that his job ratings have dropped below 30%.  The governor’s disapproval rating has also reached a new high – 65%.

Voter appraisal of the state legislature is even lower, with just 13% of voters approving and 78% disapproving, the lowest rating The Field Poll has ever obtained for that institution. (Field Poll 10/13/09 (PDF))

This is the biggest surprise since the Raiders lost on Sunday.

I feel like I can’t help but get really, really shrill with Arnold Schwarzenegger.  See, the thing is that he’s now shown himself to be a petty, vindictive political animal. Nothing new, nothing post-partisan. He’s a politician who carries a grudge.

Case in point, Arnold vetoed the rather standard reauthorization of funding for the California State Bar. Basically, the State Bar is a quasi-governmental organization. Funding comes entirely from the dues of licensed attorneys.  And while you can find plenty of attorneys (this one included) that moan about the dues, it’s not like there are any tea parties organizing.

Yet, it is clear that this veto has little to do with the fees, and a whole lot more to do with an unqualified judge: one former state Sen. Chuck Poochigian.  If you’ve been reading Calitics over the past few months, you’ll have read about his nomination and subsequent confirmation as a judge on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal.  Thing is that the Bar rated him as “not qualified.”  But the part that really got them in trouble was the fact that the score got leaked to the press before the confirmation hearing.

Of course, I suppose it doesn’t matter that Chuck Poochigian isn’t qualified for the job. He was never a high-flying litigator with a vast record of trials. And he never served as a judge.  Ron George, the Chief Justice, for his part, castigated the bar for not considering his political experience (although they actually did).  The fact is that Poochigian really just doesn’t have the experience that you typically see for a judge. And the time in the Legislature? No, that’s really not the same thing.

This brings us back to Arnold vetoing the bill.  He was simply pissed that the Bar didn’t play along with his little game for Poochigian, and basically stated that:

In his veto message, Schwarzenegger cited a recent audit critical of the bar and questioned the group’s “impartiality in considering judicial appointments.” The July audit found rising costs at the bar and poor internal controls, which allowed a former employee to embezzle nearly $676,000.

“The conduct of the State Bar itself must be above reproach,” Schwarzenegger wrote in his veto. “Regrettably, it is not.” (LAT 10/120/09)

Interesting that Arnold didn’t mind letting the Chiropractic Commission or the body that licenses nurses fester as they failed to do their jobs, jobs that affect the very health of millions of Californians. Yet, you mess with his political agenda, and you’ll get the horns.

Post-partisan, huh?

Last week, Arnold threatened to veto every bill. Just like every other statement he has ever uttered, you have no idea whether it is just a line he is delivering, or if it actually means something. As Robert pointed out, he “released some of the hostages” yesterday morning, however, he has since decided that the whole vetoing everything was a waste of $@#^ing time.

Although he failed to win bipartisan accord on a sweeping, multibillion-dollar plan to address the state’s water problems, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday night backed down on his threat to veto hundreds of bills as punishment for legislative leaders’ inability to reach a deal.

As the midnight deadline for signing or rejecting 704 bills approached, Schwarzenegger said sufficient progress had been made in the water talks, and he planned to act on all of the bills. As negotiations concluded late Sunday, the governor had signed into law 230 bills and vetoed 221.(LAT 10/12/09)

But Torey Van Oot at CapAlert has the best catch. Last year, Arnold made fun of bills in the Legislature, including one that would ban the practice of tail docking of dairy cows. Yeah, you guessed it: he signed the bill.

“Well, it’s obviously very sad that we are in the biggest financial crisis and we are way overdue to get the budget done and we face a $26 billion deficit and I ask over and over and over the legislators upstairs to just focus on the budget and here they are, they’re debating over the definition of honey. And a week ago they debated over cow tails and, a few weeks before that, they debated over should we have a Blueberry Commission in the state of California and all those kinds of things,” he said at the time.

Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear pointed out that the criticisms came in the midst of the budget negotiations — when the “the Legislature should focus on the budget above all else.”

“At the time he wanted them to focus on the budget, he thought that the budget was the most important issue,” he said. “Obviously, the budget is done, and he believes these bills are worth signing.” (CapAlert 10/12/09)

Yeah, he signed the bill to regulate honey labeling too. These are both good bills, but the real point is these ridiculous games of brinksmanship. It is like he simply can’t resist pushing deadlines to the last possible minute, can’t resist using them for every possible tactical advantage. He is using them to the detriment of the state and of all Californians, no matter the political stripes.

The words that emerge from his mouth might as well be totally ignored. You can’t trust his words and you can’t trust him.  

So remember the last legislative year? Well, if Arnold follows through on his latest threat, you might as well forget it.  He’s threatening to veto every bill on his desk if he doesn’t get a water deal by, um, tomorrow.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger  today affirmed a looming threat to veto a large bulk of the bills that have been sent to his desk unless lawmakers can strike a deal on a package of water bills.

“I made it very clear to the legislators and to the leaders that if this does not get done then I will veto a lot of their legislation, a lot of their bills, so that should inspire them to go and get the job done,” he said at the end of remarks to the Association of Community College Trustees’ Leadership Congress, which is meeting in San Francisco today. (CapAlert 10/08/2009)

We’ve mentioned the water issue for a long time, but there is no way to overemphasize one critical point: No matter how many projects you build, you do not get any additional water. The rush about getting water for the West Central Valley is toxic to the state government and to the environment.

The West Central Valley is a relatively dry area. The soil is fairly fertile, but right underneath it lies a layer of clay that sucks water away from the topsoil.  That means lots of tilling and lots of water.  But in order for these farmers, most of which are big corporate operations, to make any real money, water has to be very, very cheap. Unnaturally cheap.

This, of course, is why there wasn’t much agriculture done in the area by the native peoples. It was too inefficient to bring water there. But once we built a slew of pumps, it could be done. The problem is that pumps are expensive, and the farmers of the Western Central Valley don’t want to pay for it.

The Westlands Water District has been getting cheap water for a long time, but they are the bottom rung on the water priority list. They are trying to use the crisis in Sacramento and the drought to get around the contracts that they signed last year putting them at a lower priority in exchange for a lower price.

And Arnold is trying to help them to do just that by threatening, intimidating, and generally being a jerk.  And of course, Susan Kennedy, his “Democratic” Chief of Staff, is right there with him.  Putting a gun to the head of not only the legislature, but some very important measures.

This is no way to govern.  Arnold, You Lie!

UPDATE by Dave: I just want to add to the chorus of how appalling this is.  We’re talking about legislative blackmail.

And incredibly, Arnold has an ally in palace courtier George Skelton:

It’s ugly. But it’s an available political tool that the governor would be derelict not to use when an issue as critical as water is at stake.

This isn’t about some narrow scheme important only to a narrow interest. Nor is it merely about a governor’s pet project — other than his legacy-building, which should be encouraged as long as it helps the state. It’s about finally resolving an acute, decades-old problem that is worsening and affects practically all Californians.

Here’s another old white man with health insurance who could give a crap if women get maternity care in their health insurance plans, to just pick one bill at random.  Or who could care less if people who have insurance get dropped from it when they want to use it, to pick another.  George Skelton would actively make the lives of Californians worse because he thinks it’s sporting to see the Governor “use his power.”  That the power is illegal is of no consequence.

Then there’s this whopper:

These and other arguments — such as details of a new governing system for the delta — have raged for years. Schwarzenegger apparently doesn’t much care what the Legislature decides. He just wants it to compromise and send him a bill.

Yeah, he doesn’t care at all.  He actually invented the Latino Water Coalition, the fake-grassroots group pushing all the Republican solutions in water negotiations, but he’s really just an innocent bystander.  An innocent bystander who would destroy women’s health and allow insurance companies to kill people for profit and a host of other things, all with an asshole like George Skelton cheering him on.

Assembly Member Tom Ammiano is a San Francisco Treasure. Always has been and always will be. But Tom Ammiano is special. He’s hilarious. He’s passionate. He’s progressive. He’s just Tom Ammiano.

And this brings me to the San Francisco Democratic Party annual gala, or the nerd prom as my friend Beth Spotswood likes to call it. All was going well, a smidge boring, but Former Assembly Speaker/Da Mayor Willie Brown got up on stage to really take it up a notch.  Brown let the crowd know that he had another offer on the same night for the President’s Cup dinner, a PGA event, that featured Tiger Woods, Bill Clinton and the Governor. The event just so happened to be in the same hotel.

The remark about the Governor being in the building brought a smattering of boos, as you might expect from a Democratic audience.  But the event continued on as expected, dinner was served. And as people were just finishing dinner, we began to notice something of a commotion.

And there he was, the Governator.  On our turf. In the San Francisco Democratic Party event. This wasn’t the Assembly Chamber. This was a raucous Democratic Party event.

He was talking with Willie Brown and his entourage for a while. And then, former SF Board of Supes President Aaron Peskin brought him up on the stage.  As he began to talk, Asm. Ammiano yelled out “You LIE.”

The Governor began to say a few words about how he heard that the Democratic Party event was in the same hotel as a chorus of boos and other random hissing noises rained down upon him.  I, of course, was taking pictures with my cell phone.  Apparently the Governor felt that he should visit the Democratic event because he “sleeps with one every night.”  And then proceeded to tell the room that he was “post-partisan” and that he didn’t care whether you were a Republican or a Democrat.

And as he continued, Asm. Ammiano still couldn’t believe this man was up on the stage at a Democratic event.  The San Francisco Assembly Member yelled something to the effect of “kiss my gay ass” as he left the room.

But the more interesting part was when Tom Ammiano accepted an award, the SF DCCC Trailblazer Award, from Willie Brown. Ammiano began by praising Brown’s excellent record on LGBT issues. And then continued by hinting at their differences in the past.  And then he proceeded to bludgeon the Governor’s record. He questioned why he was holding bills hostage to get a bad water deal. He questioned why a Governor who has vetoed the Harvey Milk Day bill would stand up in front of a room that was at least 25% LGBT. He politely asked Mayor Brown to send a message to the governor to sign the bills already.

And finally, Senator Mark Leno closed the proceedings for the evening.  Leno took a different tack than Ammiano’s passion. He simply stated the facts. He said that the events of this evening were all funny and stuff, but the fact is that this Governor had cut state workers salaries by 15% with the furloughs. This Governor wanted to cut IHSS salaries to minimum wage. This Governor illegally used the line item veto to slash funding for domestic violence shelters. And that he, and the Senate Democrats, were going to fight him tooth and nail.

And to a loud applause, Leno stepped off the stage and the crowd began to thin.  And everybody was saying, “um, wow.”

I’m still trying to collect my thoughts from the evening, so I apologize if the order is slightly skewed or I missed an important point. Feel free to add anything in the comments if you were there.