Believe It or Not, Sacramento May Have Gotten the Message

Call me gullible, but I believe them all.

Of course, I’ve been fooled before.

But I believe Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger when he says, “I got the message.”

“The message we got from this special election was very clear,” he told a Capitol news conference, two days after the voters had delivered what the old Arnold might have called a butt-kicking. “The people want us to take care of the job right here in this building, and not to go to them if things don’t work out.

“We just have to, instead of trying three or four times, try 10 times or 20 times.... The people [said], ‘Don’t come to us with all your stuff ... work it out at the Capitol.’ And that’s what we’re going to do.”

Let’s hope Schwarzenegger got the message, which already had been inscribed in California history, if anyone had bothered to look. The ballot initiative was devised as a last resort for the people, a tool to counter the special interests and the political system. The public never meant it to be a tool of the governor. In recent decades, the initiative has been co-opted by special interests.

But a governor can’t craft an initiative to fight the system because he can’t separate himself from the system. He’ll just beat himself over the head. Schwarzenegger now joins Pete Wilson and Ronald Reagan as governors who got hammered with their own initiatives.

I also believe Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) when he says: “I don’t want to spend next year doing what we did this year. I’m getting too old to waste a year of my life. And I resent it, frankly.... What a dumb, stupid waste of time.”

Perata, 60, says that after the Legislature convenes Jan. 4, the governor and lawmakers will have “about six months” to get things done before they’re swept into the swirling swamp of election-year politicking.

“Forgive [the governor] and let’s move on,” the senator urges Democrats and unions.

I believe Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) when he also calls for cooperation. But he’s mostly calling on the governor to cooperate with Democrats. He’s a lot younger, 38, and angrier than Perata.

“In politics, you’re only as good as your last election,” the speaker told reporters, snidely referring to the weakened governor. “Before we get to the ‘Kumbaya’ stage, let’s stop for a moment and reflect on what just happened here.”

Nunez ticked off a bunch of items that could have been bought with the $54 million the state now owes for the special election. They include cost of living benefit boosts for 150,000 elderly, blind and disabled that were delayed to balance the budget.

Nunez and Schwarzenegger irritate each other, mostly with their mouths. They think the other guy is too confrontational. But although it’s unlikely they’ll soon be holding hands and singing “Kumbaya,” they’ll still try to cooperate and compromise.

Schwarzenegger must do that if he hopes to accomplish anything else as governor.

Nunez is ambitious and wants to build a legacy of achievement as speaker. He recognizes that the Legislature, which he co-leads, is even less popular than the governor.

The only way for him to shine is to work with Schwarzenegger and Perata -- and Republican lawmakers -- to polish all their images by solving state problems.

And if that helps Schwarzenegger get reelected next year over some Democrat, so be it.

Perata definitely feels that way. He isn’t very close to either Democratic hopeful, Treasurer Phil Angelides or Controller Steve Westly.

Nunez has endorsed Angelides. But he also must be sneaking peeks ahead to 2010, when his buddy, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, is likely to be running for governor -- if a Democrat isn’t already occupying the office.

I even believe Perata and Nunez when they promise to pass legislation placing another measure on the ballot to strip lawmakers of their redistricting power. Unlike the failed Proposition 77, they’d surrender the authority to an independent commission, rather than retired judges. And their proposal would not require the districts to be redrawn in mid-decade. It wouldn’t take effect until the next scheduled redistricting after the 2010 census.

Both Democratic leaders have conceded that it’s a conflict of interest for the Legislature to draw its own districts. Ridding themselves of the conflict and keeping their promise to do so, they realize, could help restore public trust in the Legislature.

But Perata sounded suspect when he casually told reporters that perhaps congressional districts still could be drawn by the Legislature “because there’s no conflict of interest.”

That won’t fly. U.S. House members would continue to dictate lines that protect themselves. Moreover, most legislators always have an eye peeled for their own possible House seat.

Perata later agreed.

“It wouldn’t work,” he told me. “It would look like we were trying to trick the people.”

Schwarzenegger invited the four legislative leaders -- Democrats and Republicans -- to a post-election reconciliation in his office. They agreed, the governor later said, to focus particularly on building things: roads, levees, classrooms, emergency rooms. Retrofitting hospitals.

“We should not wait for another disaster, for another earthquake

“And also work on education reform -- and really look at the future.”

I believe they’re all sincere. But, like most people, I still need to be convinced they’re capable.

George Skelton writes Monday and Thursday. Reach him at george.skelton@latimes.com.