(cross-posted on the
BetterCA blog)
The California legislature is not in session, but Arnold has a full week. He is meeting today with Republican lawmakers to talk over a few things, including his legislative priorities for next year. This is most likely an attempt to repair some frayed relationships, but it appears that many legislators are not making it a priority to meet with Arnold. They just can't be bothered to make the trip to Sacramento. This is the latest in a long line of bad news for Arnold's political future.
Jon Fleichman called and emailed a number of them.
Here is what he was hearing, straight from their mouths.
- "I'll be out of the state..."
- "I've got a big in-district fundraiser the next day..."
- "We only had a week's notice. I had other plans."
- "I'm not going to leave my family and fly up there to hear him try to justify hiring a Democrat Chief of Staff..."
- "Why couldn't he talk to us when we are up there anyways."
- "All I would do is yell at him, or try. It wouldn't be productive. He's tacking left and I want no part of it."
- "I've got a district-office holiday open-house."
- "He wouldn't know me from a hole in the wall."
Fleichman does chide them for their refusal to meet with the governor, especially where travel is concerned. I would go one further. This is not about laziness, but a disinterest in engaging with this governor. This is a horrible sign for the governor that his own party's legislators won't make the effort to meet with him. How can conservatives make demands for him to toe their line, if they refuse to sit in the room with him? How can they call for the governor to veto every piece of legislation that does not have the majority support, from his own party, if they aren't willing to meet with him now? Could you imagine members of the House of Representatives bugging out on a meeting with President Bush because they have a fundraiser the next day? Yeah, me neither.
They are going nowhere, if they dig in to these entrenched positions. Male egos are dominating, instead of working cooperatively together, for the Californians that elected them to office. If they think they will teach Arnold a lesson by staying home with their families, then only lesson he will learn is to not work with his own childish party.