Bipartisan 'Reform' Plan Could Hand Victory to Both Sides
Sacramento — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's calling of a special election in November on his "reforms" was a sign, first and foremost, of failure.
But secondly, it was a sign of opportunity.
The failure was by the governor and legislators to compromise on issues they deemed important. Rather, the voters are being asked to settle quarrels that the politicians were elected to handle in Sacramento.
Not that this is anything new or the voters actually mind.
A recent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found that voters, by 2 to 1, oppose a special election and feel decisions on these "reforms" should be delayed until the next regular election in June 2006.
But, by 3 to 1, they also want to make those decisions themselves -- at least on "long-term budget and government reforms" -- rather than trust it to the governor and Legislature.
Our system of democracy is set up for voters to have the final say on long-term overhauls of government.
But having the final say is not the same as arbitrating every argument over change, such as extending from two years to five the probationary period before teachers get tenure.
That, pathetically, is the sole contribution to "education reform" that Schwarzenegger is offering voters.
One failure lies with the Legislature behaving like the proverbial deer in the headlights and not responding to the governor's call for negotiation on his proposed "reforms" -- most important, a state spending cap.
As his popularity plummeted, Democratic leaders became increasingly confident that they and their patron public employee unions could avoid compromising and steer voters away from the governor's proposals.
But the primary failure was Schwarzenegger's for being too preoccupied with initiative campaign photo-ops and nationwide fundraising to perform his role of governor.
This was the charmer, remember, who promised to "bring everybody together" and "end the politics as usual." He did for a while. Then he got into name-calling and demagoguing, as if looking for a fight -- a tuneup for a 2006 reelection campaign.
Like Popeye with spinach, Schwarzenegger thrives on crowd cheers. But lately they've turned to jeers.
His poll numbers have fallen, and voters aren't excited about his "reforms" either. They're particularly not excited about the special election cost -- even, presumably, a newly lowered price of roughly $50 million for the state's share.
