Budget Negotiations a la Kindergarten Cop: No Potty Break for You!

It looks like Gov. Schwarzenegger has once again pulled out one of his movie roles as a model for governing.

The Kindergarten Cop-turned-governor now has decided it might be best to put everyone in timeout - together - and take away potty breaks.

The Sacramento Bee quotes him as follows: "All we have to do is lock ourselves in a room for three days and not go outside - and not even be allowed to go to the bathroom, (...) And then we’ll be getting upset because it starts smelling in the room a little bit. And all of a sudden, we will come to an agreement."

Oh well, if the end result would be no new taxes - fine by me (especially since I would not have to be in that room). However, with the governor getting cozy with the idea of higher taxes (he still refuses to call it that, but that's what it is) by closing "loopholes", or previous shell games of "call it what you want, I call it a fee," we're not so sure that taxpayers can rely on the governor to stand up for their best interests.

Luckily, signers of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge - all Republicans in the legislature with the exception of one (Roger Niello) - continue to rule out tax increases, and with the two-thirds supermajority requirement needed to increase taxes their commitment is truly meaningful. California taxpayers should thank them and urge them to continue to hold the line.

The governor once came to Sacramento "to clean house", to "blow up boxes." Now would be the time.

Cleaning house (according to all these shows on HGTV) is easiest when you put everything out in the open, and take stock of what you actually have in the house. Applied to governing, this would mean: Make government expenditures transparent - create a single searchable online database for state spending, like many states are in the process of doing right now. That way, you can get your constituents in on the conversation on whether their money is spent in the right places, and make sure that the right boxes are blown up.

Simply locking the door and shutting the taxpayer out sounds like a cop out to me.