Sacramento — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is back on script -- on the Ronald Reagan script.
Much of this movie is familiar: Actor runs for governor. Star-struck crowds elect him, figuring at least they'll be entertained. Novice takes over state government as it teeters on bankruptcy. What will our hero do?
Here, the Reagan and Schwarzenegger story lines part.
In the original, the new leader courageously raises taxes, repulses the red ink and is never threatened again.
In the remake, the lead character borrows billions -- some of it from the next generation -- and survives. But the maneuver buys only a brief respite. Within months, he is back under siege.
What now?
Suddenly, the plots again run parallel. There are similar scenes involving the state finance director.
Let's pause here for context: A finance director has the muscle to be the second-most powerful person in state government when taxpayers' dollars are spent. In any well-functioning administration, the finance director exercises clout second only to the governor.
Back to the script:
For his first finance director, Reagan picks a dud. He's a management consultant, Gordon Paul Smith, who has no experience in government and is not up to the job. Legislators ridicule him. He lasts one year, resigning "for personal reasons."
Then Reagan wisely appoints the finance director he should have in the first place -- and would have if conservative backers hadn't viewed the man as a dangerous liberal, one who had committed the sin of supporting Nelson Rockefeller against Barry Goldwater in the watershed 1964 presidential primary.
But Caspar W. Weinberger has impressive credentials. As a moderate Assemblyman from San Francisco, he helped stamp out corruption in state liquor control. He ran for attorney general, losing to a Richard Nixon protege. He was a state Republican chairman, host of a popular TV public affairs show and chairman of the government watchdog Little Hoover Commission.
And as finance director, Weinberger is hardly a liberal. He shows the traits that later, in Washington, will earn him the nickname "Cap the Knife." He gives credibility to Reagan's cost-cutting efforts. The pair click and, eventually, Weinberger becomes President Reagan's Defense secretary.
