Alan Greenblatt is a GOVERNING correspondent.
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Love Your Enemies
We've written a lot about Arnold Schwarzenegger's tendency to veer in policy approach -- conciliatory in even-numbered years, confrontational in the odd ones. Now that's he's been reelected running as a conciliator, will he again turn confrontational in 2007?
So far, the signals say no. Schwarzenegger has made many statements suggesting he will continue to make nice with Democrats. Now he's sent an even stronger symbolic message. He's chosen Willie Brown, a former Democratic speaker of the Assembly, to chair his inaugural festivities.
That's right, the same Willie Brown who bedeviled Sacramento Republicans for decades and was the prime target of their ire during his 14 years as speaker. Brown did go out of his way to predict Schwarzenegger's landslide win and didn't shy from dumping on his Democratic opponent.
"I think that Mayor Brown's choice shows the governor's commitment to bipartisanship," Reed Galen, executive director of the inaugural committee, told the Sacramento Bee. No kidding.
Written and compiled by staff writers and editors, GOVERNING View is an on-the-ground, and sometimes behind-the-scenes, look at the topics we're covering in print and online. From notes on what's up in statehouses, county courthouses and city halls, to encounters with people, places and things, GOVERNING View is a window into the side of state and local government you don't always see.
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