Dan Walters is on the Mark!

Columnist Dan Walters is currently doing a 10-part series on Governor Schwarzenegger's missteps since assuming office. I commend these columns to your attention.

Today Mr. Walters talks about the on-again-off-again love-hate relationship the Governor has had with the Legislature (primarily Democrats).

Summing up today's column, Mr. Walters writes...

"He and the state would have been much better served had he portrayed the state's fiscal and political crises in the stark language they deserved, prescribed harsh medicine to cure them and confronted the Capitol's dysfunctional status quo at the onset of his governorship. The recall had primed voters for such a confrontation, but by making nice and then abruptly changing course later, Schwarzenegger undermined his own credibility."

Dan Walters could not be more correct. Had the Governor made the decision to honestly address California's fiscal crisis (that continues to plague the state) he could have done so by using the line-item veto. The Governor could have reduced spending and made his case to the people of California. He could have hung a lantern on the outrageous charges that would be levied by the spending lobby - thereby inoculating himself from the spurious attacks that would surely be made. He could have boldly stated that the legislature has the authority to overturn his responsible budget by over-riding his vetoes. He could have plainly told the voters, "You hired me to fix the problem, I am. If you think that what I am doing is wrong, then you can fire me in 2006." I believe the voters in California would have rewarded such honesty with broad support.

Such a move by Governor Schwarzenegger would have required one thing: the courage of his own convictions. Of course, to have courage of conviction one must sincerely be grounded in a belief or philosophy. And, as previously stated, this Governor is a ship lacking a rudder and as such is given to drifting in odd, even erratic, directions.