Today Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will launch a sweeping effort at reforming California, a campaign almost as audacious and ambitious as his 2003 race for governor. Signature gatherers are fanning out over the Golden State to collect 600,000 names on petitions on a redistricting initiative, the first of four measures the governor has submitted to the Democratic Legislature and promises to put before the voters this fall if the lawmakers spurn him, as they almost certainly will.
The battle may be even more expensive and contentious than the recall campaign. Mr. Schwarzenegger showed up at the tony Pacific Club in Newport Beach Wednesday to tell potential donors he planned a nationwide drive to raise $50 million to pass his reform package. One of them would allow merit pay for state teachers and tighten tenure laws. Another mirrors President Bush's Social Security plan by steering state employees into 401(k)-like personal pension plans. A third would allow the governor to make across-the-board budget cuts if the Legislature stalemates on passing a budget. The centerpiece is a measure that would do away with gerrymandering, the process by which politicians draw uncompetitive districts to ensure partisan advantage and, most of all, incumbents' survival...
Jeepers. He is something else. |