Dig Out the Peace Pipe

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hopped into his trusty military Humvee on Tuesday and set out again to save the people from injustice. After assailing the Legislature for sitting on its hands, the governor zoomed to an Applebee’s restaurant in Sacramento to get customers’ signatures on initiative petitions to put his government reform proposals on a special state election ballot this fall. It was a great photo op and a powerful message to the Legislature to get moving.

Back at the Capitol, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) responded with a press conference to protest that lawmakers weren’t being obstreperous and were just trying to balance the budget that Schwarzenegger presented to them in January. Nunez said Schwarzenegger’s reform plans were so “half-cooked, half-baked” that there was nothing to negotiate, at least not yet.

Both were a little bit correct. But they’re talking to the cameras, not each other.

On the major point of contention, Schwarzenegger is on the right side. His proposal to take from the Legislature its ability to redraw legislative districts after each census needs doing. It is the only way to get rid of district lines that harden political divides and prevent good government.

You’d never know it from the photo ops, but progress is actually being made toward sending a bipartisan proposal to the ballot. The reform group Common Cause has endorsed Schwarzenegger’s concept and worked with Assembly Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield on refining his legislative version.

Nunez, seeing the support the governor is collecting, said Monday that lawmakers would accept a plan like McCarthy’s as long as it did not go into effect until after the next census, in 2010. Schwarzenegger wants it to be in effect for next year’s elections.

At Applebee’s, Schwarzenegger’s tone was right on, but he made one serious misstep. The petition he handed voters was for an initiative proposed by Ted Costa of People’s Advocate, the same group that put the recall of Gov. Gray Davis on the ballot in 2003 and got Schwarzenegger elected. The Costa plan is the worst of at least eight now circulating. For instance, it would require statewide voter approval of the redrawn districts. If rejected, the process would start again. The cost would be astronomical.

We strongly support Schwarzenegger in his redistricting effort. But by catering to Costa, Schwarzenegger needlessly raises Democrats’ hackles.

Democrats can sit down and talk with the governor now. Their plans need not be carved in stone before they meet. But the conversation has to start now, and it can’t just be aimed at the cameras.