I will be on KRXA 540 AM at 8 this morning to discuss this and other California politics topics.

George Skelton holds Arnold responsible for the worsening political climate in Sacramento in his column in today’s LA Times:

Overrides of any bills are humiliating and extremely rare — the last one was 29 years ago when Jerry Brown was governor — and generally are regarded as symptoms of gubernatorial weakness.

Schwarzenegger has vowed to retaliate by vetoing “hundreds of bills” passed by the Legislature in the closing days of its session, measures close to many lawmakers’ hearts.

At that point, the Capitol would be heading into nuclear winter.

But rather than write the easy column – blaming everyone for the crisis and calling for some moderate solution – Skelton digs deeper and takes Arnold to task for his posturing and particularly his tendency to increase his demands once the Legislature has given him what he wants:

And what’s this all about? Besides the governor trying to escape any blame for a bad budget and position himself standing up to an unpopular Legislature?

The state already has a rainy day fund. The Legislature agreed to increase it significantly and to transfer into the pot unexpected “April surprise” revenue exceeding 5%. The dispute is over when and how the money can be extracted from the fund. At least, that was the dispute.

Democrats agreed Wednesday to Schwarzenegger’s demand that the fund be tapped only when the state is collecting insufficient money to pay for current services, according to one source familiar with the negotiations. But then Schwarzenegger — seemingly itching for a fight — asked for more.

It’s clear to me what’s happening here. Arnold took one look at the Field Poll that showed 15% approval for the Legislature and decided now was the time to play hardball. Knowing that legislators would not be interested in prolonging budget fight that causes Californians suffering so close to an election, he is pushing hard, shock doctrine style, for his right-wing reforms.

The Legislature has its share of blame for this crisis – Republicans who used the 2/3 rule to hold the state hostage are the prime culprits here – but Skelton is right to refocus our attention on the role Arnold has played in helping break California’s government at a time when strong, decisive government action is needed to save us from the economic abyss.

Of course, the problems with our government are structural. Perhaps it’s time for more fundamental forms of change – changes to the way our state’s government operates. We can’t keep doing this any longer.

This was kind of a no-brainer for the Governor.  While his popularity has stumbled during the budget crisis, the legislature is worse, and the early reviews of the budget are very negative.  By vetoing it, Arnold sets himself apart from the failed budget process and gets to say that “I did all I could” when he is inevitably overridden.  

A budget veto would be a first for California, but legislative leaders in both parties said early this morning that it is likely the Legislature would override it.

“I’m pretty confident we are not going to have any difficulty” overriding a veto, said Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles). “We would do it in rapid fire.”

The last bill override was in 1979, when Jerry Brown was governor (the bills concerned state employees and insurance).

That last bit of information should tell you all you need to know about the dysfunctional state political system.  No veto overrides in 30 years?  What a farce.

Now, the flip side to this political move by the Governor is that he will be shown to have essentially no power in Sacramento.  He’s been completely divorced from the Yacht Party, having no ability to move them on any significant issue.  And now the budget will be passed over his veto (I’m guessing this eliminates his ability to blue-pencil anything out of it, too).  Schwarzenegger’s power is at its lowest ebb now.

But he’s playing a post-partisan game, and he’ll hope to regain some of that relevancy with the presumed March ’09 special election.  Wherein there will be no talk of the slashing of the vehicle license fee which contributed mightily to this mess, of course….

…adding, there’s one other wrinkle to this, and that’s this:

If lawmakers vote to override the veto, Schwarzenegger said, he will veto all the bills awaiting action on his desk.

This gives a measure of leverage to the Governor, but it looks to me like he’s learned from his Republican friends how to hijack… amazingly, at his press conference he immediately backed off this “tough guy” tactic when challenged on it, revising that he would “look closely” at those bills which involved spending, and veto an unspecified number of them.  In other words, what he does every year.  What a girlie-man.

UPDATE: Karen Bass’ statement is here.

They were only some of the victims of a chronic budget problem in California that has been going on for decades. Over the past few months it became clear that California’s chronic budget problems couldn’t be resolved in a single session of the legislature. Not when we have a 2/3 requirement to pass a budget and raise revenues – a disastrous tyranny of the minority that other states have sensibly avoided. Not when we have a revenue system based on what made sense in the 1930s – a system that careens from year to year with no long term stability.”

If the people of California are the victims in the chronic budget crisis, the 2/3 vote and the outdated revenue system are the villains. Because of the two thirds vote requirement when legislative Democrats made cuts and supported taxes– and when the governor made cuts and supported taxes-a small Republican minority was still able to hold the budget hostage for almost three months.”

If Governor Schwarzenegger had been able to convince even a handful of legislators from his party to support a budget – AS EVERY OTHER GOVERNOR IN HISTORY HAS BEEN ABLE TO DO – we wouldn’t be in this situation. But Governor Schwarzenegger was not able to produce a single vote — and the people of California were hurting — so we stepped in to pass a compromise budget that, while ugly in many aspects, at least buys us time to make progress on the real reforms we need.

I think she’s interested in changing the 2/3 requirement.

UPDATE by Robert – Garamendi supports the budget veto:

The Governor is correct to veto the proposed budget as it does not meet the minimum investment that California must make to maintain its economic competitiveness. All levels of education remain on a starvation diet that is sapping the strength of tomorrow’s workforce and leaving California employers with insufficient skilled workers, ill-prepared to compete in the world’s economy. Furthermore the most vulnerable in our society, the poor, the aged, the blind and the disabled are denied the basic needs that they deserve. We are the sixth wealthiest economy in the world – we can and we must do better – for our future and our children’s future.

This budget “kicks the can down the road” because it does nothing to solve the structural deficit, nothing to fund or to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our poorly performing education system, the prison system or address the need for affordable health care. It uses accounting gimmicks and borrowing to plug the hole, a hole that is guaranteed to be only bigger and deeper next fiscal year.

It’s time for Californians to take a stand together. We must modernize our economy, stabilize our budget, reform and fully fund our education programs, establish a universal health care system, address the threat of climate change and adapt our water and transportation systems to the reality of the new and changing environment.

We must reestablish the successful California tradition of investing in both the public and the private sectors. We cannot allow a continuation of the gridlock caused by the Republicans’ refusal to adequately fund those investments that create economic growth and social advancement. The two-thirds vote requirement must end along with the ideology that we can continue to cut essential services and education and end up with a vibrant economy and a peaceful society.

The Legislature should return to serious daily negotiations and adopt a budget that invests in California’s future. The Republican’s have already agreed to a tax hike for every Californian who receives a pay check and for every California Corporation. A 10% increase in tax withholding is nothing more than a tax increase. This flawed budget affects those least able to put food on the table. California’s working families deserve real solutions and vital investments which ensure a better tomorrow.”