[Mb-civic] EDITORIAL Schwarzenegger's Gun

[Michael Butler]

latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-arnold29jan29.story
EDITORIAL
Schwarzenegger's Gun

January 29, 2005

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't above borrowing. And not just money. His
threat to put his whole government reform package on a special election
ballot in November is a gun to the head of the Legislature, straight out of
Clint Eastwood: "You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?'
Well, do ya, punk? " He has even called state Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez
(D-Los Angeles) a "punk," just as Dirty Harry would.

But is Schwarzenegger's message really, "Do it my way or I'll pull the
trigger"? In recent days, dueling he said-they said news conferences by
Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders seemed to narrow the possibility of
negotiation. On Friday, in a visit with the Times editorial board, the
governor was issuing a slightly more conciliatory message: The Legislature
"is part of the decision-making process," and "where there's a will, there's
a way" to come to agreement.

The governor is making his case to newspapers throughout the state. There's
every chance he is slightly tailoring his messages to what they want to
hear, but we can only take him at his more bipartisan words.

We agree with him fully on the need to take redistricting out of the hands
of politicians because they have built districts that are safe for one
political party or the other, preventing moderates from winning. If an
election is always won in the primary, no one needs to appeal to voters
across party lines. Reform of redistricting means a ballot measure because
it involves changing the state Constitution. If it's written honestly, with
a truly independent and bipartisan mechanism for drawing new legislative
districts, it will have our full support.

As for other reforms, from teacher pay to changes in government pensions,
the Legislature surely remembers that it was voters who put the gun in
Schwarzenegger's hand and invited him to call the lawmakers' bluff.
Legislators themselves can make good use of the governor's ballot threat in
fending off all-or-nothing demands from public employee unions.

And what the governor surely understands, even if he declines to say it, is
that he can't use ballot initiatives and across-the-board budget cuts as a
way to avoid taking on the substance of the state's problems. After all, he
can make nearly all the cuts he wants with his own veto pen if he's willing
to defend his own actions. California's governors have extraordinary power
to alter the state budget after it's passed by the Legislature.

Schwarzenegger should also start budging on revenue. Why defend to the death
a manufacturing tax credit that sends out millions of taxpayer dollars to
corporations that have paid not a cent in yearly taxes? Especially since
multiple studies, including some by respected state legislative analyst
Elizabeth Hill, have found that the tax benefit does not create jobs, as it
was intended to do.

To his credit, Schwarzenegger has refused to categorically exclude ever
raising taxes, though he says repeatedly that next year's budget won't
include any such thing. On Friday, he said that in a true state of
emergency, like after a big earthquake, he would be willing to consider new
taxes. We hope he also will be open to negotiation when multibillion-dollar
cuts reach the bone and the temptation to borrow more and defer more
expenses becomes strong.

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