SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's rejection last week of the tax hikes and service cuts the Democrats rammed through the Legislature seemed frivolous to many in the Capitol: He had put the state's solvency on the line over items normally considered too marginal to derail an emergency spending plan.
But the experiments in privatization, tweaks in environmental laws and trims to state welfare programs the governor has demanded are laden with symbolism. They have been on his agenda for years. Signing a budget without them would signal capitulation to Democrats, especially at a time when whatever standing the Republican governor has left in the GOP is being undermined by his support for billions of dollars in new taxes.
"I don't see how the governor could have signed that package and saved face with the people of California," said GOP political consultant Bill Whalen.
But rejecting the plan carries big risks for Schwarzenegger. It shifts responsibility to him if things get bad enough that the government has to shut down or go into default. He must get the Democrats to blink to keep the situation from careening out of control.
The governor hit the stump Friday -- a day after spurning the latest fiscal plan -- with rhetoric that positions him to declare victory if Democratic lawmakers get on board with his proposals, even if the things he wants do little to change the Democrats' package.
At a Fresno news conference, he complained of the lawmakers' incompetence. He said they are controlled by special interests. He groused that they live lavishly on the taxpayers' dime. He called the situation in Sacramento "sad."
"They passed legislation with a whole bunch of high taxes, to punish you, as if they didn't do anything wrong -- you did something wrong," Schwarzenegger told a group of students and supporters gathered at a high school. "But they passed a whole bunch of legislation of high taxes, but no real spending cuts, no real jobs package."
The governor gave no indication that the additional cuts he is seeking amount to less than 1% of state expenses. Nor did he let on that a day earlier, he had told the Capitol press corps the tax hikes were not what stopped him from signing the Democratic package; rather, he wanted lawmakers to incorporate more of his ideas.
