Bad Relationships: Arnold and Congress

Post-partisan is an illusion, as are Arnold's efforts to work with our Congressional delegation. The governor is very good at PR these days, but when reporters scratch the surface they don't find much down below. Take Arnold's heralded meetings in DC the other week. Turns out he skipped out of a meeting early, and in general his relationship with Congress pales in comparison to his predicessors.

On his recent trip to Washington, the governor met with the state's congressional delegation to discuss ways to get more federal money for California and to urge members of both parties to work together. Some members left disappointed.

Schwarzenegger had promised to stay for an hour. He left after 45 minutes, saying he needed to make his flight home.

Arnold flies private jets everywhere. There is no way that he was rushing to make a commercial flight. Even so, wouldn't you think that this meeting was important enough to stay the full time, simply for the sake of building up personal relationships with the Congressmen/women? He showed a huge lack of respect for our representatives and they aren't happy about it.

U.S. Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice) said the meeting yielded little in the way of concrete accomplishment; she described it as more cosmetic than substantive.

And she noted that Schwarzenegger's last visit with the delegation in Washington was more than two years earlier.

"It's not new news that the partisanship in Washington is toxic," Harman said. "But to fix the problem requires more than a 45-minute meeting every two years."

(emphasis mine)

Arnold was all talk and little substance and the whole thing was designed to get a nice media cycle, but not much else. The rarity of this meeting makes his attitude all the more distressing.

She contrasted Schwarzenegger's treatment of the Washington delegation with that of former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, who, in the 1990s, set up bipartisan congressional working groups devoted to securing more federal aid for California.

Harman told the governor's chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, that Schwarzenegger needs to spend more time in Washington if he is intent on changing the political climate and getting better results for California.

"I've suggested that he come in for two or three days and be part of the solution — not just tell us to fix it," Harman said.

It sounds like Harman has a much better relationship with Susan Kennedy than the governor. That should not be the case. We need a real partnership between our governor and our representatives. They have to work together to solve our most pressing problems. We will need to ensure federal funding for any major health care overhaul and this was not the way to get that process started. Judging from Harman's remarks, California may be worse off from him even having gone to that meeting, aborted as it was.