Governor still open to compromise on special election


Even as the ballot-initiative signatures are submitted, Arnold Schwarzenegger is still sending out explicit signals that he'd rather compromise than fight it out in a special election.

Governor turns in ballot petitions
((Long Beach Press-Telegram) Taking a big step toward a November special election, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday turned in the first of hundreds of thousands of petition signatures supporting ballot measures he wants to put before voters.

But even as he dropped off boxes of paperwork at a county office, Schwarzenegger said he is still interested in negotiating compromise solutions with Democratic leaders before a mid-June deadline for calling the election.

"Our doors are open for negotiation," the governor told reporters after braving dozens of vocal protesters in the parking lot.


It looks like Arnold's initiatives will all qualify, despite some initial indications that they wouldn't.

I'm not completely sure how I feel about whether we should maneuver for or against the special election.

On the one hand, the special election focuses a lot of attention on Arnold and his agendas at a time when Democrats might benefit from getting our house in order in anticipation of the 2006 vote.

On the other hand, running against Arnold's agenda by campaigning against ballot measures will give our gubernatorial candidates a chance to cut their teeth on a large number of substantive issues, well in advance of the time that Californians would normally be paying attention to them. If Arnold doesn't win all or even most of his pet initiatives, it will make him look weak.

On the other other hand, it's really expensive to have a special election ($70 million), there's no clear benefit to not waiting until the June 2006 vote, and the only thing that I know for certain is that a special election will make consultants rich.

When I put it that way, it suddenly becomes clear.

Posted: Thu - May 5, 2005 at 07:29 AM   | Category:     |   |   | |



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