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Governor Starring in Tragedy of His Own Making |
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The State
(San Bernardino Editorial)
It’s hard not to see Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as a tragic figure. As the hero of a Greek tragedy, in which the protagonist’s fatal error in the first act winds up sending him and his endeavors to Hades in the final scene.
Schwarzenegger has been a good governor, to our way of thinking, in that he is not an ideologue like so many of today’s politicians. He’s perfectly willing to flip-flop when he sees that he was wrong or that a different approach would probably work better than the one he’s been trying. That bugs his fellow Republicans in the Legislature, and keeps the Democrats off balance. But the governor thinks more like an ordinary citizen would than like a career polit ician. He tries what he thinks will work.
And he came into office wanting to accomplish big things. H e wanted to end the state’s borrowing and overspending while mounting huge capital projects a la Gov. Pat Brown of the 1960s, who set up much of the state’s infrastructure that is crumbling today. Schwarzenegger wants to leave a legacy of big accomplishments.
But his fatal flaw, the error that doomed his governorship, was his first gubernatorial act - slashing the vehicle license fee as he promised he would when he ran to replace Gov. Gray Davis in the 2003 recall election.
Trouble is, without the $6 billion a year or so that the VLF would have been providing, Schwarzenegger and the Legislature have had to borrow more than ever, driving up the state’s interest Advertisement payments. Worse, just about his whole governorship has consisted of budget bickering and of one budget standoff after another.
Instead of accomplishing big things, the Dems and GOP do nothing but fight about how to deal with the perennial, structural deficit the state faces, which runs about $15.2 billion and counting.
The current impasse drags on, now six weeks into the fiscal year. Democratic legislators want to raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations; Republicans just say no to all taxes and say we should cut instead - but haven’t offered a plan of cuts that would close the deficit. Schwarzenegger plans to sue the state controller over the governor’s plan to pay state workers minimum wage until there’s a budget. (Then, of course, they would get their back pay.)
The governor has floated the idea of a sales tax hike for three years or so to raise revenue, to be enacted in concert with reform of the budget process that would restrain future spending. A temporary tax hike may be the best way to solve the current logjam, because the Dems would get more revenue while Republicans could claim credit for lower taxes in the future via spending restraints.
Whatever the outcome of all this, Schwarzenegger’s governorship has been given over too much to borrowing, deficit spending and arguing about it.
The big projects, like rebuilding the state’s sputtering water and transportation systems, and reforming its correctional system, are still waiting.
His promise to slash the vehicle license fee was a big factor in getting Schwarzenegger elected. But it was also the very act that wasted the tremendous potential of his governorship.
That’s the way it goes in Greek tragedies. (This editorial was published first in the San Bernardino Sun. For more Sun views and news: www.sbsun.com ) ◘
CityWatch
Vol 6 Issue 66
Pub: Aug 15, 2008
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