Tomorrow, Arnold Schwarzenegger, reminded that he's the governor of California and not the governor of Time and Newsweek, will walk up to a dais in Sacramento and claim that now, four years after he was elected to enact reform, the time has come to reform the budget process. But it's a curious use of the term "reform," since it will be an attempt to resurrect a policy that was soundly defeated by voters in 2005.
Heading into a week in which he's expected to deliver grim news about the state's fiscal health, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is also preparing to propose changes to the budgeting process.
The Republican governor will offer a "budget reform" plan when he outlines his goals in his State of the State address Tuesday. Such a proposal, if successful, would likely give the executive office more authority in making cuts even after the Legislature has passed an annual spending plan.
First of all, California already gives the governor the ability, through the line-item veto, to make plenty of spending cuts. Schwarzenegger oughta know, he used it to terminate mentally ill homeless people from getting treatment. What Arnold really wants to do is something that Pete Wilson was denied as far back as 1992. He wants to be able to subvert the will of the voters through Prop. 98 (so much for "let the people decide") and eliminate spending baselines for education, health care, and other government services. This is nothing but a wank, an effort to eliminate the revenue side of the budget equation and solely solve a $14 billion dollar problem with deep spending cuts. He's also trying to essentially defund education right at the beginning of the already-D.O.A. "Year of Education".
What this will also do is shield Schwarzenegger's corporate buddies, who finance all of his travel, from the possibility of actually having to pay their fair share for access to the California market.
Considering that this is the third time Schwarzenegger has sought the ability to defund education and health care, I don't know how you can see his legacy as anything but that. This has been the very public agenda from day one. Everything else is window dressing. Let's hope the Legislature understands that, even if the media doesn't. |
