When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for governor in 2003, he promised to veto any bill that had not gone through the policy committees of the Senate and Assembly. This pledge, he said, was aimed at ending the practice of gut-and-amend bills – bills rewritten in the wee hours of the Legislature to avoid public scrutiny. "Bills are passed in a rush, in the middle of the night," Schwarzenegger said at the time. "There is no such thing as democracy in the dark." Schwarzenegger swept into office in 2003 because of such promises. Ever since, he has selectively gutted and amended...
