California budget passes

And while it looks good to finally have a budget passed, it seems to be that Governor Schwarzenegger lost to those he called "girlie men," which makes one wonder what we should now call Arnold.

To win Democratic support, Schwarzenegger agreed to reverse many of his most contentious cuts proposed in January. The plan welcomes back some of the thousands of qualified college students to the state's most prestigious university system, after the governor proposed diverting them to community colleges. In-home assistants for the elderly and disabled will not see their salaries pared to minimum wage as the governor had first planned.

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The new governor also came up short in his plans to wrest $300 million in salary concessions from the powerful prison guards' union and dropped demands that other state workers give up a scheduled 5 percent raise.

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GOP legislators also backed off immediate demands to rework another law that restricted school districts from hiring private firms for services such as busing students.

One of the thorniest issues tying up budget talks, however, had been funding for cities and counties, which had agreed to give up $1.3 billion to help narrow what was once a $12 billion budget shortfall. In exchange, local governments sought safeguards for their funds in the future.

For weeks, budget writers haggled over the right balance between protecting local governments from state tax grabs and allowing legislators flexibility to tap local money in tough budget times.

Schwarzenegger worked the phones through the weekend, calling mayors and county supervisors to reach consensus.

According to the outlines of the deal, the Legislature could tap local funds again starting in 2008 with a two-thirds vote -- not the higher margin Schwarzenegger and local leaders had been seeking.

A recent poll showed a drop in Arnold's approval rating already. I can't imagine local papers portraying the budget battle this way will be good for him. Next months poll should have him right around the 50% mark I think, nowhere near what the Bushie's would want from a convention speaker.