Government by Sledgehammer

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and California Democrats are arming themselves for the battle of ballot initiatives instead of struggling, as they should, at the boring old negotiating table.

Schwarzenegger threatens to call a special election this fall so he can take his proposed reforms -- like cutting back bureaucrats’ pensions, requiring merit pay for teachers and imposing budgetary spending limits -- to the voters. Democrats promise to counterattack with a flood of their own ballot proposals, including the promise of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada and a used-car lemon law. The result is “political anarchy in the streets,” as Times columnist George Skelton put it.

To finance his campaigns, Schwarzenegger promises to raise $50 million or more. Because his plans are strongly backed by business interests, he probably won’t have much trouble coming up with the money. Democrats will counter with support from the public employee unions, which are a main target of the governor’s proposals.

The empty rhetoric and posturing are bad enough, but a special election would cost taxpayers as much as $70 million. And it’s mostly unnecessary. Except for constitutional changes like redistricting reform, Schwarzenegger and Democratic leaders in the Legislature can fix perceived problems without battling ballot initiatives, always a poor way of writing law.

Working out legislative details is gritty, slow work. But the details matter. Initiatives often are written for popular appeal and skip important particulars. For example, the governor’s merit pay measure fails to say how the estimated $2-billion cost would be financed. Schwarzenegger says local school districts would set their own merit pay requirements. But there must be some statewide standard of measurement.

Schwarzenegger says the people sent him to Sacramento to reform state government. A statewide Field Poll survey released Thursday indicates that voters see other issues as more important: the well-being of children and seniors, education, healthcare, the cost of living, the war in Iraq and law enforcement. The state budget deficit ranked eighth on their priority list, the economy ninth, taxes 13th.

What’s not reflected on that list is that the state budget affects, if not the Iraq war, all the other issues. The governor and legislators ought to be making that point instead of ginning up a titanic political struggle.

The basics aren’t that complicated for either side. Keep hunting for waste but protect the core of the social safety net. Stop robbing infrastructure funds (better-maintained roads would not have disintegrated so easily in this year’s rains). Don’t call the closure of outrageous tax loopholes a “tax increase.” Quit bowing to labor and tighten state employee raises and benefits. Outright tax increases, at least temporary ones, can’t be summarily removed from the table.

Responsible governors and state lawmakers nationwide manage to do their principal job year after year. Struggling states that made awful budget cuts (Oregon) and raised taxes (Illinois) a few years ago now prosper under more-or-less balanced budgets.

California missed the boat and still is floundering under growing billions in debt, both current and future. Crude, unnecessary ballot initiatives intended to show who’s boss will only make things worse.