The Ghost of Gray Davis

“He knows nothing and thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.” George Bernard Shaw

He tripled the car tax and was presiding over a budget hole of around $38 billion when the voters of California ran him out of office and into early retirement. Gray Davis was a wimpy political operator, a bland character in the pocket of his political benefactors, but he never broke the law or misappropriated public funds or had carnal relations with a minor, male or female – some of the usual reasons a sitting governor is recalled.

No, Gray Davis was simply unpopular and he never stood a chance to survive the Recall, not with action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger waiting in the wings with a highly calibrated PR machine pumping out photo ops of the would-be governor throwing “Join Arnold” t-shirts to enthusiastic crowds. The story line quickly developed and solidified: Arnold was an outsider with a personal fortune, beholden to no special interest, and therefore perfectly positioned to tame the political monster that is California.

Arnold won at the polls, of course, and brought his slick style to Sacramento, promising to end gridlock, partisan wrangling, budget deficits, freeway congestion, lousy air quality, and every other ill facing the Golden State. Arnold exuded confidence and soundstage charisma. He was the mighty Governator now, riding in to restore order in the capitol. The time was right, the role was meaty, and the script held intriguing possibilities for a sequel or two.

The media lapped it up, and voters were taken in – particularly when the Governator rescinded the hated car tax. Never mind that local governments depend on car tax revenue to fund essential public services; the state’s general fund would make up the difference, somehow. Budget technicalities could not be allowed to interfere with Schwarzenegger’s feel-good show. Arnold’s people erected a big tent on the capitol lawn, and the new Governor invited legislators in to smoke cigars and bask in his limelight. Excluding pols from Los Angeles and San Francisco, most legislators had never been this close to a real live action hero before and orbiting in Arnold’s atmosphere made them giddy and reverential. Imagine an assembly member from Amador County suddenly rubbing shoulders with the Terminator! What a thrill!

And Arnold’s “Can-Do, Anything is Possible in California!” rhetoric was invigorating after Gray Davis’s pinched and uninspired pronouncements. It was like 1980 all over again, Ronald Reagan’s sunny optimism versus Jimmy Carter’s dour pessimism.

At least until reality took hold. After the initial euphoria faded, Arnold discovered the hard, unpleasant truth of Sacramento: the state’s budget problems were real, structural in nature and impervious to easy resolution. Moreover, the state’s budget process was dysfunctional. Faced with a flood tide of red ink, Arnold studied his hand and did what any self-respecting politician would do – he deferred the reckoning to another day. But give Arnold due credit. He at least had enough savvy to realize that proposing a $15 billion bond initiative to fund everyday government operations flew in the face of his campaign promise to end Sacramento’s business-as-usual ways. The bond had to be packaged carefully and presented properly and stumped for enthusiastically, which played to Arnold’s strength. With a tight script, a friendly audience and appropriate props, Arnold could sell the illusion that he was a different kind of politician.

And he did. The Governator criss-crossed the state, telling voters that this was the last time he would plunk Sacramento’s Mastercard down. To prove he meant business, and to the delight of gullible audiences, Schwarzenegger cut up giant credit cards with oversized shears.

Fast-forward three and a half years. The political monster that is California has won. Arnold’s big tent on the capitol lawn is gone, quietly taken down and returned to the prop warehouse. California’s budget is deep in the red, with the potential deficit estimated in the range of $42 billion. The state’s bond rating is junk. Vital construction projects are on hold to conserve cash. Debt service costs $6 billion a year. Partisan bickering and legislative gridlock still rule the day; Democrats refuse to cut popular programs and Republicans nix any tax increases. Absent ideological concessions from both sides and decisive action soon, the state may go bust by spring.

Arnold’s scriptwriters suffer from writer’s block Getting out of a jam in Hollywood was so much easier.