Gov. Jendal was calling their bluff. He didn't want to give the Leg an excuse to dodge the ethics reform. He trusted that the people would shout down the Leg.'s pay raise move. And they did. He knew he would catch flack from the "glass is half full" crowd like you, but he knew that the larger goal was to clear out the dead wood from the Leg. and the rest of LA government.
You saound like you have been reading a sound bite!