After the fall

WHAT NOW? THAT’S THE question Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders will address in their first post-election meeting today. Tuesday’s fiasco, in which every item on the state ballot was rejected by voters, could at least have one positive effect if it prompts both sides to sit down and get serious about negotiating. The thing California needs most now is strong governance and leadership, something that was missing for nearly all of 2005 because of the bitter partisanship stirred by Schwarzenegger’s special election.

The governor once again is holding out the olive branch to his Democratic foes. It’s a welcome change for Schwarzenegger, who has been in conservative attack mode for so long that there was some question whether he could ever return to being the negotiator and facilitator who worked so well with lawmakers in 2004.

The first priority is to fix the state’s budget problem. Each year, California spends billions of dollars more than it brings in. This has to stop. Democrats and Republicans understand that but have clashed over how to do it. Everything must be on the table as the governor and leaders of both parties negotiate a solution. That includes a possible tax increase -- perhaps a temporary one. The GOP must swallow hard and accept that. In turn, Democrats must be willing to restrain growth in some entitlement programs and public employee pension systems.

Democratic leaders must exercise some independence and demonstrate that they do not march in lock step with their allies, berated all year by Schwarzenegger as the “union bosses.” In turn, the governor must make the agenda his agenda, not that of the state Chamber of Commerce and anti-tax groups.

Some claim that nothing is likely to get done in 2006 because it’s an election year. Not necessarily. Some election-year legislative sessions have been remarkably productive. And the governor desperately needs some successes going into his reelection campaign. His popularity with voters already had dipped to 40% before the election.

The Legislature’s public image is even worse than the governor’s -- only 21% approval in the most recent Times Poll. Most individual lawmakers will have no problem getting reelected. But Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) should be interested in improving the Legislature’s overall image with a year of achievement.

Both legislators and the governor should remember that voters tend to curse all equally when things are going badly. And it’s clear now that Schwarzenegger needs much more than his movie-star image and popularity to be an effective leader. The governor was at his best while negotiating with legislative leaders in his smoking tent on the Capitol patio in 2004, not while putting on staged campaign events to tout his agenda to voters.

Break out the tent poles again, Governor.