Posted on 03/15/2005 7:23:16 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders met Tuesday for the first time this year, discussing numerous issues including ballot measures the governor wants voters to approve in a special election this fall.
Although both sides have traded biting comments for weeks, Tuesday's events were more conciliatory, including Schwarzenegger kissing Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez during a bill-signing ceremony.
Nunez, a Democrat from Los Angeles, called the meeting productive and joked about Schwarzenegger's embrace, which came only a few minutes after he had lashed out at the governor during a rally with education supporters on the Capitol steps.
Such mixed messages could be a sign of things to come, as tensions over the special election come to dominate legislative attention - including the upcoming budget talks.
"I don't think the governor is spoiling for this kind of a fight," said Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland. "I don't think he wants to take any of those things to the ballot if he doesn't have to."
The Republican governor has been busy pushing a statewide petition drive to get his proposals on the ballot in the fall and also raising the $50 million he said needs for the campaign.
Already the governor's supporters are running TV ads supporting his efforts, while opponents - nurses, teachers and labor groups - are attacking him in radio ads.
The governor has proposed constitutional amendments that would impose across-the-board spending cuts when revenues failed to match spending and lawmakers cannot agree on an alternative plan; give authority for drawing legislative and congressional districts to a panel of retired judges; reorganize the pension system for state employees into a 401(k)-like plan; and set teacher pay on merit rather than tenure.
Schwarzenegger had asked the Legislature to pass his measures so they could be put before voters. The governor also vowed to circulate petitions himself to qualify them through the initiative process if they failed to act - which he is now doing.
Despite the conciliatory talk, those policy differences loomed Tuesday, including the rally by teachers and education leaders that Nunez addressed before joining the governor inside the Capitol.
That tone, some analysts said, could continue into budget negotiations this summer, particularly if Schwarzenegger's more partisan proposals reach the special election ballot.
"It's ironic that by declaring war on the Legislature, the governor has removed any incentive for the Democrats to cooperate with him on the budget," said Garry South, a Democratic consultant who was also a senior adviser to former Gov. Gray Davis.
Schwarzenegger's $111.7 billion budget plan closes an estimated $8.6 billion deficit next year largely through spending cuts, borrowing and reliance on increased tax collection from a recovering economy. Schwarzenegger made some tough funding choices - such as deciding not to give public schools $2 billion in money educators believe they are owed under a minimum funding law and he has targeted public health and welfare programs for cuts.
Democrats have yet to produce an alternative spending plan, although Nunez has said he wants to get more money to schools and transportation programs. Republicans goaded him Wednesday to produce a budget.
In 1992, Republican Gov. Pete Wilson lost support in the polls after lengthy fight with Democratic legislators over the budget. South said Republicans employed a similar strategy on Davis in 2002 and again in 2003, when a late budget helped fueled dissatisfaction with Davis during the campaign to recall him.
"No governor can withstand a budget impasse, I don't care how many hit movies you've made," South said.
Democratic stalling on the budget could hurt Schwarzenegger this fall and also knock down his popularity before his expected re-election campaign next year, South said. If his overhaul package fails in the special election, Schwarzenegger may even decide not to seek re-election, South said.
In an interview this week, Nunez said Assembly Democrats don't plan to hold up the budget but acknowledged that a special election would make negotiations difficult.
"It is simply not in our nature to ignore the needs of Californians - we know we have to negotiate a budget," Nunez said. "It would seem to me somewhat deceitful to say, 'Let's set up the governor over the budget.'"
Assemblyman Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, the Republicans' leader in the Assembly, said such stalling is indeed possible. "The actions that the Democrats are currently taking, that's the pattern we going on. They want to stall, they want to fight, they want to delay."
H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the governor's Finance Department, said delaying the budget "would not be in anyone's interest" and believed talks up to this point have been productive.
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On the Net
http://www.governor.ca.gov/state/govsite/gov-homepage.jsp
Gov.'s home page
http://www.sen.ca.gov/
California Senate
http://www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/defaulttext.asp
California Assembly
The Democrats are doing the same thing in Sacramento that they are doing in Washington, DC--being massive roadblocks.
Soon to be massive roadkill, if they don't watch out ...
Politics makes strange bedfellows.
Hey, if he had to kiss the guy to get him to shut up (Shut up and kiss me you fool!) well, better him than me I suppose.
Go Arnold!
Careful, Arnie! They'll only agree long enough to block the reforms and then double-cross you. Terminate 'em at the ballot box.
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