[rdl]

I'd be sad to lose him from YC, although he would probably do enough good for the state overall to make up for it.

If he were at all effective, I'd consider ending my California boycott. I'm concerned that unless the rest of state government is fixed, including Prop 13 and the voter initiative system in general, California is just too fucked to be fixed even by a great Governor, though.

[idlewords]

The governor is not a proconsul. To be effective, they have to work with the state legislature.

[rdl]

In California you could probably have a popular governor who appealed directly to the people (abusing the initiative system), even with a mostly-dysfunctional legislature.

[SamReidHughes]

Schwarzenegger tried that.

[CalChris]

Yeah, Schwarzenegger tried that and failed because his 2005 ballot initiatives (including his non partisan redistricting) were in an unnecessary special election and attached with some hard right propositions. All 8 went down in flames.

He then fired his chief of staff and replaced her with a Democrat and governed from the center, even from the center left. I preferred him to Gray Davis since Davis was so in bed with the prison guards union that he never used his clemency powers for fear it would cost a prison guard job.

A few years later, in 2010 Schwarzenegger dusted off the redistricting initiative and it passed.