Is California better off with Arnold? Counterpoint: Bill Boyarsky

As for Bill Boyarsky,Arnold is no Pat Brown or Ronald Reagan.

I thought the 2003 recall was a bad idea. But once it succeeded and put Schwarzenegger in the governor's office, I tried to be a good sport and see what he could do.

You are right, Bill, in your analysis of his laudable efforts on environmental issues and his working with Democratic legislative leaders on the infrastructure bonds. But these are not uniquely unattainable goals in Sacramento. Builders, contractors, manufacturers, labor unions, financial institutions and other powerful Capitol interest groups and campaign contributors will benefit hugely from the badly needed upgrades of highways, levees and other aging portions of the state's once-grand infrastructure. So will cities, counties, towns and many local agencies.

It's a win-win situation. So is renewable energy, a long anticipated industry now coming into its own with the prospect of real money being invested. The prospect of money being made -- and contributed to political campaigns -- seems to bring lawmakers and Capitol special interests together.

But I don't agree that the governor has, as you put it, "stabilized the state's finances." All he has done is delay disaster until another day, presumably after he leaves office. The budget deal crafted over the weekend by legislative leaders does nothing except put off problems. It's worthless, and the state Legislature's leaders and Schwarzenegger should be ashamed.

Actually, it doesn't seem as though the governor had much to do with it. As reported by The Times' Evan Halper, the governor "appears to have been left out of the final deal-making."

That brings me to Schwarzenegger's greatest failing. He doesn't seem to know how to play the frustrating, sometimes disreputable, game of Capitol politics. Why can't he push around or persuade a few Assembly Republicans? I know they act as though they were members of a cult. But isn't there something a few of them might want? Doesn't a law partner or a relative want a judgeship or something else? Or couldn't he twist an arm or two? Even though they are cultists, I doubt that every Assembly Republican is impervious to fear.

Our last actor-governor, Ronald Reagan, knew these things -- and he also understood how to negotiate, as he showed later in life in his dealings with the Soviet Union. His predecessor, Pat Brown, had these skills, as did other successful governors.

I understand that the structure of government works against Schwarzenegger. Term limits deprive the legislature of skilled, experienced leaders such as former Assembly speakers Jesse Unruh and Willie Brown.

Schwarzenegger is smart, and he's got a great personality. He is confident and he understands politics. But he has yet to focus his skills, as various pundits and other critics have been saying since he took office.

On the whole, however, the governor's sunny optimism and can-do attitude has improved the atmosphere in Sacramento. At least that's how it looks to me, living a few hundred miles south.

That's why the prison guards union's threat to recall him is a terrible idea. It is the product of a group of pampered political bullies. The prison guards treat us taxpayers as if we were prisoners, and I like the way Schwarzenegger is standing up to their union.

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