CA: Governor's pledge could collide with prison union's power (Dan Walters)

Sac Bee ^ | 1/21/04 | Dan Walters

[NormsRevenge]

As Arnold Schwarzenegger acknowledged the cheers of supporters and claimed the governorship last October, he pledged to shake up the back-scratching, corrosive politics that had made the Capitol a well-deserved laughingstock.

"For the people to win, politics as usual must lose," Schwarzenegger declared.

[NormsRevenge]

Schwarzenegger is the first recent governor not beholden to CCPOA. He has told legislators that he wants to clean up the prison system and pointedly changed the top management of the Department of Corrections and the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency. His new corrections secretary, Roderick Hickman, told legislators that he was "sad and appalled at what I read" in the federal court report and will not tolerate cover-ups of wrongdoing.

But last week, just as the hearings were to begin, Schwarzenegger fired the independent inspector-general who is supposed to investigate allegations of prison wrongdoing, and has said he wants to move the investigative office into the official hierarchy. Those actions leave many wondering whether Schwarzenegger's definition of "politics as usual" will somehow exempt the CCPOA's hegemony.

[NormsRevenge]

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[Seruzawa]

QUIS CUSTODIET IPOS CUSTODES?

[tubebender]

I hope Arnold doesn't cave to this union and reins in the expense...