Dan Walters: 2005 legislative session underscores need for basic political reform

Sacramento Bee ^ | 9/11/5 | Dan Walters

[SmithL]

The looming special election battle that pits Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and business leaders against Democrats and unions doubtlessly affected - and obviously distorted - the Legislature's just-concluded session.

The Legislature's handling of any issue of more than ephemeral weight was programmed with its potential effect on the governor and the special election campaign in mind. Democrats sidetracked anything they calculated would improve Schwarzenegger's battered image - his solar power initiative being a prime example - while lavishing votes on measures that their allies supported, many of which will be vetoed.

The session's dynamics provided new evidence that the Capitol is a dysfunctional institution, intrinsically incapable of dealing with the issues created by a fast-growing, fast-changing state, and needs fundamental reform.

Throughout the year, but especially in the final days of the session, the Legislature's stark ideological division asserted itself. Time after time, both in committees and on the two legislative floors, Democrats would line up unanimously on one side of a bill, usually in support, and Republicans would vote as a bloc the other way. There was little or no give and take, almost no inclination to compromise or negotiate, nothing that resembled a true deliberative process.

This confrontational, black-and-white, us-vs.-them atmosphere was exemplified by the practice in some committees of simply declaring most bills to be passed or rejected on an "A" roll call or a "B" roll call - meaning everyone was voting for a noncontroversial measure or Democrats and Republicans were lining up, robot-like, on opposite sides.

Partisanship and ideological debate have always been pieces of the legislative process, but anyone who has been around the Capitol for more than a decade knows that the division has become much more corrosive of late.

Majority Democrats push through their liberal agenda, ignoring even the most reasonable Republican criticism,

[EagleUSA]

The low-life socialist Dems that have a choke-hold on California, need to be cleaned out. They are typical liberal-socialists that DO NOT care one iota about the state and its people. It is strictly about power and control.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

2005 legislative session underscores need for basic political reform

Most basic reform: throw the Demo-rats out...