Did Arnie cave in to the special interests or
were the DIMRATS in the legislature toooo powerful to get something effective done?
It was more a Mexican standoff..
True reform can't begin until the majorities or quite a few Rats are tossed out of office this November.
That is priority 1 right now besides getting more and more folks back to work in California with decent paying jobs.
Arnold caved in on pensions and other labor issues (such as restoring $4 million in funding to a union-run "university thinktank"), borrowing heavily rather than cutting spending, especially to agencies that duplicate services provided by others. This would be undoubtedly difficult to achieve, but under the CA Constitution the Governor has line-item veto in budgetary matters, which Arnold has been unwilling to use thus far. The Dems would not be able to override his line-item vetoes.