LA WEEKLY
Arnold Schwarzenegger could well be a one-term governor. Unbelievable as that seemed at the beginning of the year, which the action superstar entered as arguably the most popular governor in CalifornInsiders acknowledge that the governor has not established a “template for overall reform,” as one puts it.
In the absence of that, Schwarzenegger looks like he is scapegoating a popular profession for education problems. Fingers are pointing at Education Secretary Dick Riordan, the former L.A. mayor. “Name one thing he’s done besides insult that little girl,” says a top Arnista, referring to the bizarre incident last year in which Riordan told a child at a reading-promotion event in Santa Barbara that her name meant “stupid, dirty girl,” then told the shocked crowd that he was joking.
Riordan is expected to leave his post in the near future. The reapportionment initiative is also on the dealing block, with the governor now said to be content to have redistricting done by an independent panel after the 2010 Census (which Democrats are agreeable to), rather than mid-decade as he originally demanded after his embarrassment in last November’s election, in which he failed to take any Democratic legislative seats.
The reality, as some insiders admitted weeks ago, is that it would have been impossible to do any new redistricting before 2008, and reapportionment was always the least-popular issue in Schwarzenegger’s “reform” basket. Only the spending-control initiative seems at all sacrosanct for Team Arnold. But even there, insiders acknowledge that the ballot description of it as a measure that could cut education funding makes its prospects perilous, as Schwarzenegger polling indicates. ia history, it may end up that way.
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