Mr. Schwarzenegger goes to Washington

[Jobber of the Week 0]

 

Washington -- Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger will storm the nation's capital this week, and much like his grand entrance in Sacramento this past week, the visit is expected to be longer on symbolism than substance.

 

But beyond the flashbulbs and crush of political paparazzi, Schwarzenegger will face tough choices on a long list of federal issues that will help determine his success as California's 38th governor.

 

Will he side with California voters or the Bush administration on the distribution of medicinal marijuana? Will he try to stave off congressional efforts to weaken California's financial privacy law? Will he side with environmentalists or Republicans when it comes to protecting California's forests? Does he support automobile emissions standards favored by the Legislature or the auto industry?

 

On policy after policy, the self-styled centrist will have to choose either the more conservative position held by the White House and the Republican Congress, or the more liberal position taken by California voters or the state's Democratic lawmakers. It is an awkward position for a new political leader, who will not be able to use Washington as a scapegoat as easily as his predecessors did.

 

Schwarzenegger is the first California governor in nearly a quarter century to belong to the party that controls Congress and the White House. He must find ways to leverage more money for his state than Washington has been willing to spend and balance the competing desires of his state's Democratic leaning policy-makers and his Republican allies who hold the strings to power.

 

"He's betwixt and between. He's viewed as a spokesman for Republicans in California. At the same time, there is constant conflict between Washington and California on a number of issues," said Leon Panetta, who represented California in Congress for 16 years before serving as former President Clinton's chief of staff.

 

"He's going to have to decide very early on whether he can persuade Washington to be more receptive to California's problems, or whether he is going to have to take on members of his own party,'' said Panetta, a Democrat. "He's going to find out very fast that he has got to be in the position of defending California first.''

 

Schwarzenegger plans to meet with all 53 members of the state's House delegation, both senators, and several members of President Bush's cabinet during his 48-hour stay beginning Tuesday. There are no plans to meet with Bush, who flies to Texas on Wednesday.

 

"The governor-elect is looking forward to his meetings as an opportunity to lay the foundation for a solid, positive working relationship with members of the delegation and members of the Bush administration,'' said Schwarzenegger spokesman H.D. Palmer.

 

Yet many lawmakers and policy advocates in Washington won't wait long to demand that Schwarzenegger use his star power on a range of issues, from pressuring the administration to buy off-shore oil and gas leases to prevent drilling off the California coast, to demanding refunds from energy companies that gouged the state during the electricity crisis.

 

"We are hurting. We are short billions of dollars," California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer said. "If he really wants to help the state, the easiest way to do it without increasing the deficit is you order refunds from those companies and you order renegotiations of long-term contracts. That would be $10 billion to the state -- and justly so.''

 

Two top House Democrats -- Rep. Zoe Lofgren of San Jose and Rep. George Miller of Martinez -- sent Schwarzenegger a letter last week detailing 22 separate policy decisions and appropriations requests he could make, which they estimated would provide $30 billion in budget relief for the state.

 

"He said he would get money for the state ... and the voters believed him, '' said Lofgren, who leads the California Democratic delegation. "Let's see if he can produce what he said he'd do."

 

During the campaign, Schwarzenegger pledged to be the "Collectinator'' who would demand a bigger share of federal dollars for everything from highway building to incarcerating illegal immigrants. After his election, he vowed he would ask "a lot of favors'' of President Bush.

 

But the White House and Republican congressional leaders have quietly urged Schwarzenegger to tone it down, saying the deficit-strapped federal government is in no position to deliver a windfall to California.

 

"If he's looking for the federal government to bail out California to the tune of $8 billion, that's just not going to happen,'' said Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa.

 

Many of California's differences with Washington have nothing to do with money. Congress is poised, as early as this week, to adopt a bill that would significantly weaken new protections just adopted by the California Legislature to prevent banks from distributing their customers' personal information. Consumer advocates have already tried to enlist Schwarzenegger's help to insert California's protections into the federal law, a move opposed by bankers and many members of Congress.

 

Pressure from both sides

 

Schwarzenegger will have to decide how much muscle he puts behind issues where he and his more conservative allies disagree.

 

For example, Schwarzenegger said he supports the Sierra Nevada Framework, a Clinton-era blueprint for protecting old growth and wildlife on 11.5 million acres of California's national forests. But the Bush administration is rewriting the plan, which is opposed by timber companies, many rural counties and ranchers with grazing permits on forest land.

 

Environmentalists will demand that Schwarzenegger raise the issue with Forest Service officials, while Republicans say they will lean on the governor- elect to change his mind.

 

"We would like Arnold to be in sync with what the Bush administration is doing regarding the management of the Sierra Nevada forests,'' said Radanovich, who spoke with Schwarzenegger recently about his concerns. "He said he wanted to devote the time to find out more about the issue.''

 

Schwarzenegger has also pledged to defend California's landmark law to limit vehicle emissions of greenhouse gases. The auto industry is hoping that the courts will throw out the law, and the Bush administration sided with automakers in August by opposing efforts to limit vehicle emissions that contribute to global warming.

 

The governor-elect will be asked during the visit to join the state's bipartisan effort to eliminate a requirement in the proposed energy bill to double the amount of the corn-based fuel-additive, ethanol, in gasoline by 2012. The mandate is backed by Bush and Midwest lawmakers, but California officials claim it would increase the prices California drivers pay at the pump without reducing smog.

 

The incoming governor also said he supported California laws that legalize marijuana use for medicinal purposes, which is opposed by the Bush Justice Department. Federal authorities have cracked down on California pot clubs, and are appealing the one-day sentence of pot grower Ed Rosenthal, who defied federal law in order to grow medicinal pot.

 

"Obviously as governor of California he can't change federal law, but he can deliver a message that what they are doing is destructive,'' said Bruce Mirken, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project. "If anyone is going to be able to persuade the administration to back off, a popular, newly elected Republican is the person to do it."

 

Schwarzenegger's visit also will highlight the pitfalls and the potential payoff facing the president.

 

"It'll be a test not only for Schwarzenegger, but it'll be a test in many ways for George Bush as to whether he cares about what happens in California, '' Panetta said.

 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...MNG4L2JMJJ1.DTL

 

IMO, he should back the clean air act, request the oil leases and begin working with other border state governors to pressure Washington into doing something about the illegal/undocumented immigrants.

 

At the same time, I think he's going to bend to the feds on the privacy act and the medical marijuana stuff. A lot of Americans including Californians are generally uninformed about this stuff and believe the hype about how pot kills/supports terrorism/whatever and think the "war on drugs" is a Good Idea.

 

As for things like assault rifle ban where he clashes with the more conservative people in his party, forget about them. They chose to back McClintock during the election and a vast majority voted for Arnold's views instead of Tom's. So either those conservatives should come back and play nice on his terms or risk being ignored.

[Guest JMA]

It's nice to see a politician who isn't a whore for his party. It would be in the best interest of the Bush Administration not to oppose Arnold at this time, IMO. Maybe, just maybe, Arnold can bring the GOP closer to the center.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

"We are hurting. We are short billions of dollars," California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer said. "If he really wants to help the state, the easiest way to do it without increasing the deficit is you order refunds from those companies and you order renegotiations of long-term contracts. That would be $10 billion to the state -- and justly so.''

Wonder if ol' Babs had this same advice for Mr. Davis, and I wonder if the Davis adminstration made some of these deals?

 

Like I said before, there's no way Arnie is going to be able to cut anything because the state pols will never let that happen...

[NoCalMike 0]

It's nice to see a politician who isn't a whore for his party. It would be in the best interest of the Bush Administration not to oppose Arnold at this time, IMO. Maybe, just maybe, Arnold can bring the GOP closer to the center.

Well the verdict is not out yet on which side Arny will take though. It will be very clear soon if Arny was just blowing hot air, or if he is really going to take a stand ON HIS OWN TERMS. I will not knock him yet since we don't know what he is going to do, but lets not pretend he has already made his intentions clear POST-election.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Wonder if ol' Babs had this same advice for Mr. Davis, and I wonder if the Davis adminstration made some of these deals?

As the image says, the Feds wouldn't make the energy companies re-negotiate.

 

When Boxer & Co come back and say they can't get us crap in the way of federal help, it's not because she's lying or because she doesn't want to. It's because the rest of the country shockingly gave the keys for everything to the Republicans (unless you want to contest Bush/Gore results, and let's not go there for goodness sakes) so we kept sending Democrats off to RepublicanLand to get ignored and shoved out of the big picture. That's why I always thought a Republican could win big here without all the religious garbage and social baggage that Californian's won't vote for.

 

That's the appeal of Arnold, anyway. He knows the Secret Republican Handshake to get in Da Crew or whatever but wasn't a crazy bible thumper. Also, people like the guy and want to be seen around him, which can make him a good negotiator. It's gonna get weird and creepy soon enough though, simply because a large amount of people who don''t have a strong loyalty to the GOP in this state pretty much hate Bush.

 

I don't think he's the last man who could ever get elected for a public position here, except maybe Dogcatcher or something.