Schwarzenegger's first 100 days feature action, fewer results

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- He repealed the car tax hike and revoked legislation allowing illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses, but most of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's first 100 days in office have produced little of the "action, action, action" he promised during the recall campaign.

California's budget problems, his focus since taking office Nov. 17, remain untamed and only part of the deficit would be closed if voters approve Proposition 57, the Republican governor's $15 billion bond measure that appears on the March ballot.

His legislative agenda -- from workers' compensation reform to midyear spending cuts -- is stalled in the legislature. Even Schwarzenegger's plans to streamline the bureaucracy appear months, if not years, away from formal introduction.

Still, many observers say they are willing to overlook Schwarzenegger's lack of progress in some areas because of his success in bringing together the Capitol's warring parties.

A unique political position

Indeed, through the force of his personality and his unique political position, Schwarzenegger was able early on to get Democrats and Republicans to agree on his two budget measures that voters will consider March 2: Proposition 57 and Proposition 58, a constitutional amendment that would impose new spending restrictions on the legislature.

In addition, Assembly leaders -- Speaker Fabian Nunez, a Democrat, and Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy -- have promised to work together on budget issues. And Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, a Democrat, has shown willingness to cooperate with the governor.

Schwarzenegger's communications director, Rob Stutzman, said the governor is "batting 900 percent."

Schwarzenegger pushed ahead with his ambitious promises during the campaign despite warnings that things wouldn't be as easy as he claimed.

Schwarzenegger said he would roll back the car tax and repeal the law allowing undocumented immigrants to get driver's licenses. He said he would renegotiate state union contracts and tribal gambling agreements to benefit the state. He promised to pass a jobs package with "real workers' compensation reform."

He pledged to cut spending, propose a budget that closed the existing $14 billion deficit, perform an audit, streamline the bureaucracy and pass campaign finance reform.

So far, however, only some of those promises have been fulfilled.

Schwarzenegger rolled back the tax increase immediately after taking office Nov. 17, and the driver's license law was repealed in early December. The governor also has reauthorized a spending and hiring freeze that former Gov. Gray Davis approved more than a year before, before he was ousted in the recall.

But he hasn't generated new revenue from renegotiated union contracts or tribal agreements. His workers' compensation reforms are still being debated in the Legislature. His campaign finance proposal was just floated last week and no jobs package has yet been introduced.

The audit of state spending isn't done. Even his budget for 2004-2005, some have argued, does not close the shortfall because it relies on more than $5.3 billion in borrowing and one-time savings -- meaning the state will face a budget gap the following year of more than $7 billion.

Mark Petracca, a political science professor at the University of California, Irvine, said most voters probably did not take Schwarzenegger at face value when he made all his promises.

"It's unreasonable to expect anyone could have come in and solved the state's budget problems very quickly," he said.

However, Petracca says Schwarzenegger is mostly relying on Proposition 57 to solve the crisis.

"That's hardly the kind of radical thinking that he promised the voters he would bring to Sacramento," Petracca said. "You look at his budget proposal for next year and there's not much that is different from what had been proposed last year by former Gov. Davis."