Thursday, November 20, 2003

California Politics: Meet the New Boss - Same as the Old Boss?

The San Francisco Chronicle editorialists think that Gov. Schwarzenegger may not be such a drastic change from Gray Davis - in some ways.

Sacramento's same old songs

<< FOR A LEADER promising a "new day" in Sacramento, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has initiated his tenure with some disturbingly familiar political practices.

<< Schwarzenegger has already invoked two of the tactics that brought deserved ridicule on former Gov. Gray Davis: He is proposing to borrow billions of dollars to cover budget overruns and he is raising political money from special interests that have an enormous stake in gubernatorial actions.

<< He also seems to have a problem with math. Schwarzenegger instantly erased $4 billion a year in revenue by rolling back an increase in the unpopular vehicle license fee, and is talking about $2 billion in spending cuts -- and, even then, he suggested he would wait for legislators to serve up specifics.

<< Schwarzenegger did offer to forgo his $175,000 salary, which is nice symbolism, but not much of a down payment on a budget gap that is expected to exceed $10 billion.

<< It seems that Schwarzenegger continues to define "special interests" as groups that give money to his opponents. His claim of impeccable independence is undermined by his scheduling of at least five fund-raisers in December, just as he is drawing up his proposed state budget. ...

<< His actions will determine whether the recall election really produced a "new day" and genuine change -- or just a Gray Davis with charm. >>

The news media treated the recall more as a California sideshow and celebrity event than as a election about serious issues. But California is a big state with some big budget problems.

And Schwarzenegger's plan to use initiatives to bypass the legislature is likely to be much more problematic than he imagines.

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