Experts Expound

“Gov. Schwarzenegger, who threatened to veto all the bills on his desk, signed hundreds into law and vetoed hundreds, too. Did he just wimp out or did this reflect good political sense?”

Legacy building will mess with your mind.

Every governor should veto hundreds of bills.  It’s preposterous how many pieces of legislation are pumped out every year.  Maybe this will start a trend for future governors.

It was classic B.F. Skinner.  He rewarded legislators for progress on water and at the same time was able to get a few bills that he wanted and a few that members wanted and a few that the citizens actually wanted.  Positive and negative reinforcement was heralded as a way to train children and animals by Skinner.  Appropriate.

“Good political sense” and Gov. Schwarzenegger should never be used in the same sentence. He played chicken with the Legislature and they called his bluff. Period.

He gets points for facing the facts. It was a war he couldn’t win. Every legacy dream he has depends on the Legislature.
Where’s the water deal?

This was good political sense. If the legislators had ignored him and done nothing on water at all, maybe the strategy would have made sense. But it looks like they were making some progress, so he did the right thing to keep them moving forward.

You can’t fault him for trying to get things accomplished. But, the real question is: should he have made the threat in the first place? Once he did, the governor needed to be prepared to follow through, which he didn’t do. Therefore, not only did he wimp out, he became a lame duck with two broken legs: zero credibility and no clout. Can you see the tread marks on his shirt yet – with a slightly smoked cigar smoldering in the gutter?

Wimped out… He is just a girlie man.

Too bad the “Wizard of Oz” will never be remade, because the Governor could play the role of the Wizard SO WELL when he leaves office!

It was an important move to keep water negotiations moving forward with Democrat legislators. He already established credibility for his threat last year by his blanket veto and this year when he vetoed the veterans bill.

It was a pragmatic move that hurt no one and only helped him and the Legislature.

He secured a special session on water, so he got what he needed.

Andrew Acosta, A.G. Block, Mark Bogetich, Barry Brokaw, Morgan Crinklaw, J Dale Debber, Peter DeMarco, Jim Evans, Kathy Fairbanks, Jeff Fuller, Rex Frazier, Ken Gibson, Evan Goldberg, Deborah Gonzalez, Sandy Harrison, Bob Hertzberg, Jason Kinney, Greg Lucas, Mike Madrid, Nicole Mahrt, Steve Maviglio,  Adam Mendelsohn, Barbara O’Connor, Bill Packer, Kassy Perry, Jack Pitney, Adam Probolsky, Tony Quinn, Matt Rexroad, Matt Ross, Roger Salazar, Dan Schnur, Will Shuck, Ralph Simoni, Sam Sorich, Ray Sotero, Garry South, Kevin Spillane, Robin Swanson, Angie Wei, Rich Zeiger.