From the moment he declared himself a candidate in the 2003
recall election that drove Gov. Gray Davis from office, so-called
experts have warned Californians never to underestimate Arnold
Schwarzenegger.
Now it’s beginning to look like they got it all wrong. They
should have been cautioning voters not to overestimate the
muscleman actor, an admitted former steroid user and serial groper
of women. It’s not just that Schwarzenegger has now been revealed
as something short of a political genius, but also that he’s gone
back on his word so often no one can trust him anymore. On almost
anything.
From the moment he declared himself a candidate in the 2003 recall election that drove Gov. Gray Davis from office, so-called experts have warned Californians never to underestimate Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Now it’s beginning to look like they got it all wrong. They should have been cautioning voters not to overestimate the muscleman actor, an admitted former steroid user and serial groper of women. It’s not just that Schwarzenegger has now been revealed as something short of a political genius, but also that he’s gone back on his word so often no one can trust him anymore. On almost anything.
Some observers have used the term “buffoonery” to describe his clumsy and heavy-handed August attempts to negotiate a state budget: A series of threats and promises and attempted executive orders, none of which produced the slightest movement among legislators. It now appears that Schwarzenegger will sign almost any budget handed to him just to get the whole matter out of his hair so he can go spend weekends at his place in Sun Valley, Idaho.
First he “ordered” state Controller John Chiang to cut the pay of many state workers to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 per hour. Chiang refused, Schwarzenegger sued, but workers got their August paychecks in part because Schwarzenegger’s legal effort did not bother to include a try for a temporary restraining order on Chiang’s check-writing. Not exactly a brilliant attempt at exercising gubernatorial authority. The case is set to be heard Sept. 12, but might be delayed beyond that, which could ensure another month’s full paychecks.
Next, he suggested a “temporary” one-cent increase in state sales taxes, ignoring the fact that almost all previous temporary taxes later became permanent. That went totally counter to his oft-repeated campaign promise of “no new taxes” and further alienated him from Republicans who already resent his efforts to fight global warming, which in fact have been far more tepid than his rhetoric on the subject.
Then he threatened to veto all proposed laws that reach his desk until a budget is signed, warning that “some good bills will die because of this.” Less than two weeks later, he reneged and signed a bill making changes in the Proposition 1 high speed rail initiative on the November ballot and converting it to Proposition 1A. Plus, he said he would sign a few other bills he apparently considers better than good.
Then he demonstrated the ultimate in political hypocrisy by ripping a $577,000 contribution from the state prison guards union to outgoing state Senate President Don Perata’s campaign committee, earmarked to fight the Proposition 11 attempt to change the state’s legislative redistricting process.
“First of all, let me just say that this money exchange is terrible for the people of California,” he said. That’s true, but was it any worse than Schwarzenegger taking money from SBC Corp. just before his appointees approved that firm’s merger into AT&T? Or worse than his taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from Sempra Energy and its executives and then killing two attempts to stage full-fledged public hearings on the need for liquefied natural gas terminals in the state? Or worse than his taking millions of dollars from automobile dealers and then rolling back the car tax, costing the state about $6 billion a year and creating much of the revenue problem behind this year’s budget battles?
Of course, it was clear from the first days after Schwarzenegger declared for office that he couldn’t be trusted. That’s because immediately after swearing he would never accept a penny from a special interest, he began taking record amounts of special interest money.
A few weeks later, he promised to hire a private detective to look into his past groping behavior, but never did.
The broken promises and hypocrisy have continued year after year, and Schwarzenegger simply assumed few would notice or care.
That seemed smart for a long time. It won him reelection, but now has his public approval ratings in several polls down around 40 percent, not much higher than those suffered by the unfortunate Davis before his political demise.
Yes, Schwarzenegger blithely continues as if his Teflon were intact and his reputation undamaged. “I made great decisions,” he told a Los Angeles radio talk show audience in mid-August. “I have no regrets at all. It’s just the regret I have is that not everyone is seeing it exactly as I see it.”
Yes, Arnold apparently still sees himself as a political genius, someone who can do almost anything he wants. But he may be the only one who sees things that way anymore. For the rest of the world now realizes neither brilliant nor honest are adjectives that apply to this governator.
