Arnold Says He’s No ‘Lame Duck’

Even though his term of office expires in a few months, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger denied he was a “lame duck” while speaking to a group of 20-30 movers and shakers in the business community and vowed to “charge to the finish line.” In this case, the finish line is an approved state budget. This year—as in years past—the budget is languishing in the political dog days of statehouse politics. Schwarzenegger vowed not to raise taxes again. The gov, sporting an astonishing tan, said he didn’t want to leave the new governor—“whoever he or she may be”—with this year’s budget mess. He did that last year, he acknowledged, when the deficit hovered at $60 billion. With this year’s deficit weighing in at $20 million, he said new taxes are not in order, and figured half the deficit could be finessed by cutting waste.