Bribe ‘Em, Governor
Gov. Schwarzenegger often has expressed a distaste for political horsetrading, the kind of threats and favors that are political currency. Want an appointment for a friend in exchange for a vote? Arnold wasn’t your guy. He often has described such deals as corrupt, the sort of behavior he was sent to Sacramento to stop.
The governor’s attitude is admirable. But given the state’s difficulties and the unwillingness of legislators to take action, it’s time for the his attitude to change. The state’s fiscal future demands pragmatic action, even dishonorable pragmatic action. We can’t afford a rerun of the same old movie: the budget deficit grows, the governor offers a compromise plan, the legislature doesn’t act and the problem gets pushed into the future. That’s not good enough anymore. Schwarzenegger has done his best, sought compromise, threatened initiatives, cozied up to lawmakers, begged, pleaded, etc. He’s tried just about everything, and nothing has worked. So it’s time for some good old-fashioned corrupt deal-making.
That’s right. Bribe ’em, governor. Offer them judgeships. Promise to cast them in the next Terminator movie. Put their friends and relatives on the payroll. Whatever it takes.
The Long Count
Mention the Long Count and those with a sense of sporting history will immediately think of the Gene Tunney — Jack Dempsey heavyweight title fight in 1927. Say the Long Count to those with a sense of California politics and they might think of Tom McClintock.
State Senator McClintock is waiting out a Long Count of votes in the Fourth Congressional District. As of this writing he currently leads his Democratic opponent, Charlie Brown, by 928 votes out of 320,334 counted. McClintock’s race for Congress is one of three candidate races in California that have yet to be resolved over a week after the election.
What is odd about this is that McClintock is not only a veteran legislator—he’s a veteran of the Long Count. This is the third time he has had to wait out election results in a nip-and-tuck election. In both the state Controller’s race of 1994 and 2002 McClintock had to wait until after Election Day to see if he won the job. He lost both times, first to Kathleen Connell by 2.3%, then to Steve Westly by less thee-tenths of one percent, a mere 16,811 votes out of over six-and-a-half million cast.
It’s just the Old Shell Game
This just in on the afternoon NYT feed: “Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. announced a major shift in the thrust of the $700 billion financial-rescue program on Wednesday.”
Remember back in September – I know, it seems like a long time ago – when we were breathlessly told that, if Congress didn’t pony up the $700 billion immediately (sometimes reported as $750 billion; sometimes $700 billion – a billion here, a billion there . . . pretty soon you’re talking about real money) – all hell would break loose, the world as we know it would end . . . and lots of bad stuff would happen?
Well, here it is November and I think the old shell game is being played. I first watched a friend get his clock cleaned – financially that is – on the streets of Berkeley in 1971 by an old man who looked like he couldn’t walk across the street. The old man had a board with a green felt cloth stapled to it and three shells and one pea. My friend swaggered up and took the old man’s bet because my friend was young and foolish and thought like the young that nothing could hurt him and he knew everything.
Youth is truly wasted on the young. Well, that old man kept taking $20 bills from my friend and that pea kept showing up under different shells and you would swear that it was magic.