Torrico on Schwarzenegger: ‘I'm tired of this guy kicking sand in our face'

In what could be the first signs of a growing political revolt, members of the California Legislature have started to publicly express their extreme displeasure of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent vetoes of more than 400 bills.

On Thursday Democratic Assembly Majority Floor Leader Alberto Torrico vowed to figure out a way to override many of the governor's 415 rejections.

"Frankly, I'm tired of this guy (Schwarzenegger) kicking sand in our face," Torrico, (D-Fremont) told PolitickerCA.com. "He killed a lot of good bills - bills that were needed to help the people of this state. His actions show me just how out of touch he is with the majority of working, tax-paying Californians."

Torrico added that the governor's actions in rejecting the bills from both Republican and Democratic law makers has "severely damaged" his working relationship with the legislature.

"Frankly, on that issue, the ball is in his court," Torrico said.

Torrico added that he and many of his colleagues were particularly upset by the governor's use of a standard "boilerplate" passage in some 136 of his 415 veto letters.

Torrico said that he will soon be meeting with other legislative leaders to decide how they might proceed in bringing the vetoed bills back to life.

One approach would be to re-send exact duplicates of the bills that received two-thirds or better support in the legislature back to Schwarzenegger before the end of the current session on Nov. 30 or perhaps wait for a similar effort when the new legislative session convenes in January.

Later Thursday, at a press conference in downtown Los Angeles, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass was joined by Assemblyman Dave Jones (D-Sacramento) and Assemblyman Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) in echoing Torrico's frustrations.

"Here in California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger just set a record of vetoes. It's not a record to be proud of. In the middle of a financial crisis and a mortgage meltdown that's hitting California particularly hard, Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed bills to reform the mortgage industry and stimulate the economy," the Los Angeles Democrat said. "He vetoed bills to aid troubled veterans, increase access to healthcare and implement education reform. There are more than 130 bills that the Governor didn't even bother to give real consideration to."

Assemblyman Ted Lieu said he lamented the governor's actions.

"He vetoed a lot of very good bills. Particularly disturbing was he vetoed over 130 bills because he didn't have time to read them. Under the California Constitution Article four, Section 10, the Constitution gives the Governor the authority to look at bills, veto them if he doesn't like them, or sign them into law if he does. And the following charge I'm going to make I don't make lightly, but it is a dereliction of duty for the California Governor to veto over 130 bills without even looking at them," Lieu said.

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