SACRAMENTO — As he rebuffed legislation with an intensity rarely seen in California's Capitol, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's commitment to boost business generally overruled his desire to help the environment and consumers this year.
He vetoed an increase in the minimum wage, he blocked consumer protections for used-car buyers, and he refused to impose new air pollution standards on the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. He killed all the top 10 "job killer" bills on the California Chamber of Commerce's list.
Even so, Schwarzenegger wasn't close to predictable, sometimes moving far from other Sacramento Republicans.
He created a land conservancy to protect the Sierra Nevada and banned .50-caliber guns. He agreed to let released felons receive food stamps. He legalized the sale of over-the-counter syringes -- something Gov. Gray Davis, his Democratic predecessor, had refused to do.
"I was prepared to see a more sustained and consistent veto message that was more traditionally Republican than what we saw," said Don Perata, the Oakland Democrat who is the incoming Senate president pro tem.
In vetoing a near-record 25% of the bills passed by the Legislature, the governor began to show how he was balancing the various promises he made in last year's recall election. He pledged to be "the people's governor," battling special interests. He also vowed to improve the state's economy.
But when economic and social concerns clashed in dozens of less-heralded pieces of legislation, Schwarzenegger's empathy for business worries usually came out on top.
Schwarzenegger opposed creating a state "green business" certification program for companies that operated in an environmentally friendly manner. He refused to provide state assistance to clean up emissions from metal-plating companies, and vetoed a plan to clamp down on air pollution at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. He quashed an effort to shift the focus of California's management of forests away from timber production and toward recreation and public enjoyment.
"There are any number of bills that the governor signed that are good environmental bills, but to my knowledge there are almost no major bills that were opposed by the Chamber of Commerce that were signed by the governor," said Michael Schmitz, executive director of the California League for Environmental Enforcement, a statewide coalition based in Oakland.
