The Blue Voice

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

A peek at the real Schwarzenegger

Bush's pal Schwarzenegger, after a series of high-profile events to pose as a "moderate", quietly executed a series of vetoes this past weekend that let the curtain drop and the real Schwarzenegger shine through.

For some reason, the resolution on my favorite photo here of the California Governor with one of his best buddies came out poorly. But that's okay. It gives them both a bit of a vampirish look, which is pretty much how they relate to working people's interests.

Be sure to check out Schwarzenegger Street, an animation that reminds us what Schwarzenegger and the Cheney Republican Party are really about. It's also clever and entertaining - if you're not a drooling-at-the-mouth Republican, that is.

Now, back to the past weekend. The San Francisco Chronicle editorialized today about the Governor's late vetoes 10/03/06.

Schwarzenegger pandered hard to the right wing of his party during his first two years in office, trying to bully the legislature with the threat of using his star quality to push through various ballot propositions to strenthen his office and to undercut unions. That pretty much came a cropper, thanks above all to the active opposition of various unions, especially public employees and nurses.

Among other things, that should be a big reminder to Democrats nationwide that the Democratic Party need unions and active union support more than it needs corporate donations. If the Democrats want to reverse the rightwing and anti-democracy trend in American politices, one of their highest priorities should be to push through legal measures to facilitate the forming of unions.

So this year, campaigning for re-election, Schwarzenegger switched roles like professional actors are accustomed to do and is posing as a "moderate" who cooperates with Democrats on some important issues. Which is fine as far as it goes. He signed into law a minimum wage increase and also leading-edge legislation to reduce global-warming emissions.

But even there, a closer look puts his "moderate" act in a different light. The global-warming law mainly sets broad goals and timetables, with the specifics to be filled in with later regulatory and legislative action. Plenty of room left for a Republican Governor, Republican legislators and a few Vichy Democrats to make plenty of mischief down the road.

But what did the new "moderate" Schwarzenegger veto? Here's the Chronicle's account:

But there were bills that mattered in the pile of last-minute vetoes by the governor. Perhaps his most perplexing veto was of AB1012, by Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael, which would have required half of all cars sold in 2020 to be powered by alternative fuels - a perfect complement to this state's new commitment to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

Behold the "moderate" Republican. High-minded declarations in speeches and vague legislation, pro-pollution actions when the rubber meets the road.

Another disappointment was his rejection of SB1521, by state Sen. Gloria Romero, D-L.A., that would have allowed more media access to the state's troubled prison system.

Secrecy, incompetence, misconduct: the unholy trinity of bad government that Schwarzenegger's friends Dick Cheney and George Bush have taken to new levels with the federal government.

He also vetoed legislation that would have allowed undocumented students, who graduate from California high schools, to obtain financial aid in college - effectively punishing children for the acts of their immigrant parents.

We can't have smart and disciplined Latino kids competing with nice lazy surburban Anglo kids, now can we? This is consistent with Schwarzenegger's xenophobic pandering to the hard-right anti-immigrant zealots.

He vetoed an industrial-hemp bill (AB1147 by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco) that would have been good for state farmers and good for the economy by reducing the importation of a popular product - and would not in any way have promoted marijuana cultivation or use.

That veto is mainly just dumb. But I suppose it can be marketed to Christian nationalists as a boost for their side in the so-called "culture wars". I mean, if it has to do with marijuana, it must be bad, right? What makes this so dingy a veto, though, is that this would have given California agriculture a legal outlet for the marijuana crops. And its a open secret that marijuana growing for consumption in other forms than hemp is a big business in the forests of northern California.

But the Democrats in the legislature are not providing the kind of support to their party's gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides that they should. It's things like this that make Dems wish we could have a little bit more of the party discipline on our side that the Rovian Republicans have achieved:

All in all, Republican Schwarzenegger and the Democratic Legislature showed as much bipartisan cooperation - and attention to big issues - as Sacramento has seen in many years. Just this week, the governor and Democratic leaders will be barnstorming the state together in support of the infrastructure bond package they approved. (my emphasis)

What the [Cheney]? Union leaders, who the Democrats should be more concerned about pleasing than the rightwing-wolf-in-"moderate"-sheep's-clothing Governor, are understandly irritated by this. As Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross reported on Sunday (Union chiefs cool to Dems' warm ties to governor San Francisco Chronicle 10/01/06):

As they celebrate bills to raise California's minimum wage and fight global warming, state Democratic leaders have been awfully chummy lately with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger - a bit too chummy, in fact, for some labor leaders.

They wouldn't be at all unhappy to see Democrat Phil Angelides knock off Schwarzenegger come Nov. 7, and they don't think grins and hugs for the governor are going to get it done.

Bob Balgenorth, president of the State Building and Construction Trades Council, shot off a letter to state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez last week, acknowledging that while "there is a need to cooperate with the governor in the spirit of bipartisanship ... there is a strong and pressing need to unite behind the Democratic candidate for governor."

Sometimes it just seems like the Dems keep getting rolled because while the Republicans are serious about getting and keeping power, the Democrats sometimes just don't seem to want to win as badly. At least not winning for the team. Matier and Ross quote Steve Maviglio, a spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Núñez saying, "We just delivered the most pro-labor agenda in a decade, and they're complaining about it?"

No, fool, they're complaining about Democrats who are in effect campaigning for the rightwing Republican Governor!

We're not talking about some back-bencher here. This is the Speaker of the Assembly, one of the top Democratic officials in the state government and one of the most high-profile.

Núñez, D-Los Angeles, the co-star at several recent Arnold signing ceremonies, isn't showing any signs of backing away from the governor.

I'm not big on party purges. The Democrats will never achieve the kind of lockstep discipline today's authoritarian Republican Party practices.

But Núñez and others who are in effect campaigning for Schwarzenegger are in Joe Lieberman territory with this kind of thing. The leaders of the Democratic Party should be supporting the Democratic Party and its candidate for Governor.

What makes it even worse is that Schwarzenegger came to power in a Rovian political coup through a recall election. The biggest beef against outsted Demcoratic Governor Grey Davis was that he spent way too much time and effort raising big bucks from corporate donors. Schwarzenegger came into office and quickly blew Davis' record of raising funds from big business completely out of the water.

The Democrats - especially the leaders of the Democratic Party in the state - should be holding Schwarzenegger's feet to the fire (maybe after the passage of the Torture Legalization bill last week that's not a good simile to use any more) on all the great things he promised to do and how he was going to be soo-ooo different from Gray Davis.

Because Schwarzenegger came to power in such unusual circumstances, he would be unusually vulnerable to charges that he failed to live up to those expectations.

But to make that stick, it would take Demcratic leaders who were willing to use every opportunity to point out his wretched failures to do so, his crass pandering to anti-immigrant bigots and his shameless, endless quest for corporate money. Insted of appearing at his grandstanding "bipartisan" events and running around the state doing joint campaign appearance with him for his bond issue.

It almost makes me want to write new lyrics to Pete Seeger's famous song:

Where have all the Democrats gone?
Gone to patsies every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

It's not quite that bad yet. The rank-and-file Dems would respond with enthusiasm to seeing more gumption and willingness to fight in our party leaders.

Also, Jerry Brown has a huge lead in his race to become Attorney General. In that role, he can not only make a high profile for Democratic anti-crime approaches and take the lead in consumer-protection, which will often put him at odds with Schwarzenegger's corporate donors and masters. He will also be providing an example and reminder to Democrats about what a "fighting Democrat" is all about.

posted at 1:37:00 PM by Bruce Miller

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