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Monday, November 2, 2009

Vulgar Veto Leaves California Laughing While State Collapses - Daily Nexus


Vulgar Veto Leaves California Laughing While State Collapses - Daily Nexus:

"By now you’ve probably all heard about Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recent veto message spelling out a big “fuck you” to Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco. If you haven’t heard about this, you might want to start paying more attention to state politics.

Ammiano’s bill, AB 1176, would have given the Port of San Francisco expanded powers to capture and use certain tax revenues to fund infrastructure projects and set aside a portion of the money for stuff like waterfront parks and environmental cleanup. The bill received unanimous approval in both the Assembly and state Senate, which is pretty incredible in our increasingly partisan state legislature."

Schwarzenegger vetoed this bill not for what it was, but for what it was not; it failed to address issues his administration considers most important, such as water reform, prison reform and health care. And, let’s be real, Ammiano probably didn’t help his cause by telling Schwarzenegger to “kiss my gay ass” at a San Francisco Democratic Party fundraiser last month.

The carefully penned veto message is full of bizarre language and doesn’t fit the standard pattern of most veto messages, which tend to justify the veto by detailing problems with the bill itself. Of course, Schwarzenegger’s spokesman swears up and down that it is just a “strange coincidence” that the first letters of each line combine to spell out “fuck you.” Yea, right.

Aside from a few bloggers, the media and, presumably, Californians, most have reacted with nothing more than a laugh and a wink. The Wall Street Journal said Schwarzenegger “just likes to have fun” as governor and went on to list other funny “pranks” he’s pulled during his time in office.

Am I the only one bothered by this?