Breaking The Media Filter On The Governor

Many have remarked upon the new PPIC poll, which shows a trend downward for the Governor's job approval. Brian claimed that the budget impasse is to blame, and the fact that in the last couple days Schwarzenegger has urged in the media for Republicans to pass the plan suggests that's his calculus as well. But I'm not so sure. Considering that the Governor's environmental approval ratings are tracking his overall approval, I think it was the dustup over the California Air Resources Board that dragged him down in recent months. Of the two stories, only the resignations of Robert Sawyer and Catherine Witherspoon got national attention, and it was a direct hit to the issue which Schwarzenegger is trying to use to define himself.

So let's ask ourselves, a propos of Julia's question about blogs and influence, how this seeped into the consciousness of the public, and what role we could play in continuing such, er, seepage.

The Air Resources Board is important and influential, but not exactly a household name. I believe that it was Democratic lawmakers' extreme focus on the situation, to the extent of holding hearings and threatening subpoenas, that got the press' attention, or at least what little of it is left. Schwarzenegger sought to quickly defuse the issue by hiring an environmental stalwart, Mary Nichols, to take over, and indeed her first major act, cracking down on diesel pollution, is a good sign. However, that ruling does not address the implementation of the Global Warming Solutions Act, which of course is the major issue that Democrats in the Legislature were defending when they picked this fight which I believe had an impact on the Governor's approval ratings. We haven't heard a lot about those subpoenas for Susan Kennedy or Dan Dunmoyer lately. Obviously the budget battle is all-consuming right now, and the Assembly is in recess.

So there may come a time shortly to press that issue. The Governor's record on the environment is frankly spotty, and CARBgate actually points to his misuse of the office to push for implementation different from legislative intent. Somehow, this got through the PR filter, and people understoof that Schwarzenegger was trying to slow-walk the global warming issue. So how do we replicate this? Obviously the ferocity of our electeds forced attention on the issue. If and when the governor line-items the heck out of the budget, as appears likely, will they be just as loud? Will that be another opportunity to fill in this image of the Governor as all talk about "post-partisanship" but in the end, a reliable supporter of corporate cronyism? There clearly is potential here but state blogs aren't big enough to drive it; the electeds have to get tough and call the governor out for attacking our environmental future, or programs for the poor.