VETO

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his power as governor to veto a proposed $6 million in state funding to a Big Labor institute that trains political operatives.

Kevin Korenthal, the Executive Director of the Associated Builders and Contractors of California, commented:

For the last 2 years, Governor Schwarzenegger has allowed the taxpayers to shoulder the cost for the operation of a special interest group training program that has long been used to train operatives on the finer points of defeating Republicans and conservative initiatives at the ballot box. The 6 million taxpayer dollars that the Miguel Contreras UC Labor Institute was handed each of the last 2 years is also responsible for the composition of a bogus “study” supporting a union Project Labor Agreement (PLA) for the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency immediately before the agency’s commissioners voted on it. This was done with YOUR money – misusing the name and academic reputation of the University of California to advance the union political agenda.

So it was to our pleasant surprise to learn today that the long sought 2008/09 budget did not include this special interest payment. In this era of budget deficits and decreased tax revenues, Schwarzenegger’s line-item veto of this giveaway denies its beneficiaries much needed public funding. Yes, the unions will somehow come up with the money to keep the Big Labor training program in operation, but denying the program public money sends the right message and the Governor should be applauded for killing the funding.