Wage Law

Arnold Schwarzenegger thought that he needed to rebuild a broken California, and that the Democratic legislature was standing between his plans for a better, pro-business, California, and an eager population who wanted to see Arnold's plans come to fruition. So he took his most important ideas directly to the people in a $50 million special election. And last night the people gave Schwarzenegger a resounding "No, thanks."

Voters overwhelmingly defeated Proposition 76, the crown jewel of the special election, which would have restricted the growth of state spending. Proposition 77, which would have redrawn legislative districts, lost by an equally large margin. Closer, but also failing, were Propositions 74 (delaying teacher tenure) and 73 (restricting political spending by public employee unions).

In addition to the $50 million the state spent on this election, ballot proponents and opponents spent another $300 million or more. That's quite a bit of wasted money from a governor whose number one goal, allegedly, is to eliminate fiscal waste.

After calling his own election an expression of the people's will, one might think Schwarzenegger would view these election results as a statement of the people's will, and a criticism of the way he has run his administration. In fact, a poll released Monday, a solid majority of Californians said they would not be inclined to reelect Schwarzenegger, But Schwarzenegger says he is undaunted. "Tomorrow, we begin anew. ... I feel the same tonight as that night two years ago ... You know with all my heart, I want to do the right thing for the people of California." And by the right thing, he means, among other things, accepting huge money from business lobbyists, restricting employees' rights, and limiting the rights of individuals so that large corporations can make greater profits.

If you would like concrete examples, check out some of the bills the governor vetoed on one day just last month, according to CBS news:

Today on his website, Schwarzenegger.com, there is no mention of the election or its results.