A Rocky Start to Legislative Love-In

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, still picking rice out of his hair from the inauguration, has already hit a couple of bumps on the road to the Golden Dream he talked about Monday.

State Sen. John Burton of San Francisco, the reluctant bridegroom and Democratic leader, heeded the new governor’s call for bipartisan cooperation by skipping Schwarzenegger’s big day and hitting the golf course. Then he grumbled that if the new guv wants program cuts to pay for his repeal of the car tax increase, he can find them himself.

A rocky start for the newlyweds.

Schwarzenegger apparently isn’t ready to dirty his own hands, telling legislators to get to work on the problem. So much for all that fraud, waste and abuse he promised to ferret out. I’m beginning to wonder if the private eye Arnold hires to investigate himself will be any more productive.

“We are instructing the Legislature to act” on budget cuts, Schwarzenegger said after his very first news conference, which was staged in an auditorium to accommodate all the Hollywood reporters and foreign press.

On Tuesday, the celebrity candidate who boasted about teaching his children an obvious lesson -- DO NOT spend money YOU DO NOT HAVE -- morphed into the governor who called for a $15-billion credit card purchase.

The bond proposal -- which he wants to put to voters -- had partisans on both sides grumbling, prompting Schwarzenegger to encourage all good citizens to ream legislators who don’t catch the teamwork spirit, and setting up the possibility that we’ll do virtually all the state’s business by ballot measure from now on.

Kids need books? Let’s go to the polls.

Workers’ comp? Road repair? Air quality?

Put it to a vote.

State government will work on the same schedule as church Bingo; we’ll all meet the first and third Tuesdays of every month and vote.

It might be easier to eliminate the Legislature altogether, or to form two separate states: One ruled by Burton that runs along the coast, providing universal health care to everyone, household pets included; and one ruled by Schwarzenegger and Rob Lowe, with no taxes on anything that happens after lunch, and monthly audits of everything.

Some readers wondered if I was soft in the head for suggesting on Tuesday that an allegedly moderate Republican like Schwarzenegger has the potential to broker a few deals among a famously divided and notoriously inefficient Legislature.

Maybe so, but listen to this:

Tuesday afternoon, when 13 compromise-minded legislators got together for their regular bipartisan meeting, Schwarzenegger legislative secretary Richard Costigan popped in to cheer them on.

“He absolutely wants to work with us,” said Assemblyman Keith Richman (R-Northridge), who formed this group almost a year ago with Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla (D-Pittsburg). “I thought it was a very positive statement.”

Costigan, former California Chamber of Commerce lobbyist, dropped by as the bipartisan dreamers were polishing off a proposal that would require balanced budgets and spending caps. Ten legislators agreed to be co-authors -- five Rs and five Ds.

To be frank, this little bipartisan group has been roughly as popular and influential in Sacramento as the Bee Keeper Club was in high school. But Richman figures it’s about time legislators grow up, find common ground and win back some of the public’s respect.

Antonio Villaraigosa, the L.A. city councilman and former speaker of the state Assembly, says Richman is exactly the kind of centrist Schwarzenegger needs to court.

But if the new governor wants everyone to meet in the middle for a legislative love-in, Villaraigosa said, he ought to consider moving there himself. And he ought to remember that earlier this year Richman and Canciamilla had proposed a combination of taxes and cuts to balance the budget.

“He repeals the car tax, fine,” said Villaraigosa of Schwarzenegger, “but he won’t impose any new taxes. So what’s it going to be, all cuts? That’s not the middle.... Yes, he can forge a middle, but he’s got to deal with the real world.”

And with the reluctant groom.

Burton, who may prove to be harder to tango with than any man or beast Schwarzenegger ran into in the movies, told me he’s willing to do business with the governor.

But there’ll be a short lease on the honeymoon suite if Schwarzenegger doesn’t come up with some of his own budget solutions to cover the scaling back of the car tax.

“Why don’t you give him a week to do it and, if at the end he hasn’t said anything, then the press can have at him,” Burton said. “Or you can have at him today. I don’t [have printable feelings about it]. I’m willing to cut the guy a little slack until he gets his feet on the ground.”

That might be as close as Burton ever gets to an olive branch.

“It’s gonna be a wonderful time,” he said. “You’ll have more fun than you can imagine.”

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Steve Lopez writes Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.