Schwarzenegger’s Gun

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t above borrowing. And not just money. His threat to put his whole government reform package on a special election ballot in November is a gun to the head of the Legislature, straight out of Clint Eastwood: “You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk? “ He has even called state Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) a “punk,” just as Dirty Harry would.

But is Schwarzenegger’s message really, “Do it my way or I’ll pull the trigger”? In recent days, dueling he said-they said news conferences by Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders seemed to narrow the possibility of negotiation. On Friday, in a visit with the Times editorial board, the governor was issuing a slightly more conciliatory message: The Legislature “is part of the decision-making process,” and “where there’s a will, there’s a way” to come to agreement.

The governor is making his case to newspapers throughout the state. There’s every chance he is slightly tailoring his messages to what they want to hear, but we can only take him at his more bipartisan words.

We agree with him fully on the need to take redistricting out of the hands of politicians because they have built districts that are safe for one political party or the other, preventing moderates from winning. If an election is always won in the primary, no one needs to appeal to voters across party lines. Reform of redistricting means a ballot measure because it involves changing the state Constitution. If it’s written honestly, with a truly independent and bipartisan mechanism for drawing new legislative districts, it will have our full support.

As for other reforms, from teacher pay to changes in government pensions, the Legislature surely remembers that it was voters who put the gun in Schwarzenegger’s hand and invited him to call the lawmakers’ bluff. Legislators themselves can make good use of the governor’s ballot threat in fending off all-or-nothing demands from public employee unions.

And what the governor surely understands, even if he declines to say it, is that he can’t use ballot initiatives and across-the-board budget cuts as a way to avoid taking on the substance of the state’s problems. After all, he can make nearly all the cuts he wants with his own veto pen if he’s willing to defend his own actions. California’s governors have extraordinary power to alter the state budget after it’s passed by the Legislature.

Schwarzenegger should also start budging on revenue. Why defend to the death a manufacturing tax credit that sends out millions of taxpayer dollars to corporations that have paid not a cent in yearly taxes? Especially since multiple studies, including some by respected state legislative analyst Elizabeth Hill, have found that the tax benefit does not create jobs, as it was intended to do.

To his credit, Schwarzenegger has refused to categorically exclude ever raising taxes, though he says repeatedly that next year’s budget won’t include any such thing. On Friday, he said that in a true state of emergency, like after a big earthquake, he would be willing to consider new taxes. We hope he also will be open to negotiation when multibillion-dollar cuts reach the bone and the temptation to borrow more and defer more expenses becomes strong.