Arnold: Wrong, and wrong again

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger got it wrong at least twice in his veto/sign decisions leading up to yesterday’s deadline.

Mistake #1: Schwarzenegger signed SB 264, “Transactions and use taxes: Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority,” which, thanks to Schwarzenegger’s ill-advised signature, will allow one agency, the badly troubled Valley Transportation Authority, to place 1/8-cent-increment sales tax measures on the ballot.

Despite two audits reporting massive troubles at the agency, and an upcoming state audit, Schwarzenegger signed the bill that will make it easier for the VTA to waste money on trying to bring BART to San Jose.

(Here’s an article detailing many of the problems with the BART-to-San Jose proposal.)

Mistake #2: Schwarzenegger vetoed AB 43, “Gender-Neutral Marriage,” sponsored by Assembly member Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), which would have legalized same-sex marriage.

Schwarzenegger’s insistence on playing to the Republican base on this issue is, in my view, a short-term political win, but a huge long-term political loss for him. It’s also simply wrong, legally and morally. It also puts him, as Leno said, “on the wrong side of one of the major civil rights issues of this generation.”

It’s just not a good record, Governator.