Arnold Schwarzenegger, Climate Hypocrite

Schwarzenegger loves to talk about how concerned he is about climate change.  And talk he does — mostly at meaningless press events like the Governors Climate Summit.  But when it comes to, you know, actually doing his job, he’s decided that he’d rather side with the wingnuts in his party.

A couple of hours ago, he vetoed SB 406 (DeSaulnier), which would have provided funding for the smart growth bill that the Legislature passed last year by allowing regional planning agencies to raise the vehicle license fee by a confiscatory $1.  You can read his veto message here: he claims disingenuously that the voters need to do this, which lacks any legal basis.

Earlier in the day, he vetoed Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg’s bill to mandate 33% renewable portfolio standards, arguing that he had already mandated this standard via executive order.  Once again, he’s getting some lousy legal advice: an executive order is not law and can be unilaterally repealed by any future governor (say, Meg Whitman, who thinks that mitigating climate change is just too expensive).

A couple of weeks ago, I asked Schwarzenegger whether he is on the planet’s side, or the Tea Partiers.  We now know the answer.