California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger immediately vetoed the majority vote budget bills Tuesday.  Critics have made claims that the Governor either is too chicken to stand up to special interests or that he simply changed his mind.  The Governor released a letter to Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg explaining in detail the flaws in the Democratic plan and what stimulus measures he required to pass a budget.  Schwarzenegger shows both his commitment and understanding of the great challenge facing California in the budget crisis.

Read Schwarzenegger’s letter to Speaker Bass and Senator Steinberg.

According to Schwarzenegger’s letter:

This afternoon you sent me legislation intended to address California’s budget crisis and stimulate our state’s economy.  Unfortunately, this package is deeply flawed and, as promised I vetoed it the moment it landed on my desk.

The letter explains in detail his reasons for not supporting the plan.  Among his reasons are a refusal by the Democratic leadership to make changes to public employee compensation policies, refusal to accept public-private partnerships or change environmental standards, and refusal to allow design-build bidding for construction projects.  He also cited a lack of foreclosure relief for his veto.

Analysis: What about the huge Prop 13 violation?

Schwarzenegger needs to go on the record regarding the circumvention of Proposition 13.  The majority budget concept is clearly illegal yet the Governor has yet to comment on it.  His letter could have been significantly shorter if he had merely declared that he doesn’t want to set the precedence of circumventing Prop 13.

Despite this, it is refreshing to hear the Governor talking about budget specifics.  The Democratic leadership has been framing the situation as Arnold refusal to be reasonable and contantly “campaigning” rather than sitting at the negotiation table.  This letter, while the pen of Schwarzenegger rather than the word– probably drafted by his office instead of directly by him– gives the public some evidence that he has been negotiating with Bass and Steinberg rather than being aloof and disconnected as they portray him in their interviews.