Arnold's 100-day agenda

While he may have been short on specifics, Arnold did leave us a blueprint by which we can judge him:

1. Repeal the car tax. This will raise the California deficit by billions, but will be popular nonetheless.

2. Freeze spending and launch audit of state budget. Audits are already mandated by state law. The freeze spending part will be difficult, with a budget due in January.

3. Call special session and make spending cuts to address current imbalance. This is where the honeymoon will end.

4. Get our fair share of indian gaming revenue. No one ever lost a thing demagoguing Native Americans (ask the Washington Redskins and Atlanta Braves with their asinine 'tomahawk chop'). The tribes will be tempted to fund the Recall Arnold effort. Hopefully they'll be smarter than that.

5. Renegotiate state employee union contracts to get better deal for taxpayers. Union households voted 50 percent for Arnold. Let them reap what they sowed.

6. Pass jobs package with real workers' comp reform. "Jobs package" is usually GOP code for a tax cut. But that's not going to happen here in California given the state's dire budget predicament. This will be interesting to watch.

7. Submit 04-05 budget that closes deficit and restructures inherited debt. Submitting a budget and getting it passed are two different things. Expect Arnold to whine about Democratic "obstructionism" in the state legislature.

8. Streamline bureaucracy and send more money to the classroom. Good luck on this one. Sounds great. Raise your hand if you love bureaucrats. Now raise them if you love children. More than any other of these promises, this is pure rhetoric.

9. Repeal SB-60, the law that gives driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants. Passing this law was a serious miscalculation by Davis. It's a good law, but one easily demagogued. And while it benefited Latinos most, that community didn't turn out in numbers large enough to make a difference. So repealing the law may turn out to be politically popular for Arnold, or it may energize Latinos who suddenly see Arnold as hostile to their community. I'm not going to predict which.

10. Pass open government amendment and ban fundraising during budget process. Sounds good to me, though no one really knows what "open government amendment" really means.

Arnold has 100 days, starting the second he takes his oath.

Posted October 09, 2003 06:52 AM | Comments (142)