Donna Arduin: Arnie's Budget Advisor Has Jeb's Seal of Approval

by Steve Soto

Those of you who feel that too much is made about Arnie's takeover of California have an ally in me. I don't plan to keep writing much more about what happened last week except to talk a little about the Democrats and their future, which I will shortly. Instead of commenting on the fluff and spin from the political and entertainment media surrounding Arnie right now, I plan to wait and comment instead about his actions in the coming months.

Governor Elect Schwarzenegger put a good spin out in the last several days by naming a large, bipartisan and impressive transition team. What should get more notice however is the person Arnie selected to be his primary budget advisor and auditor-in-chief of the state books between now and the presentation of his first budget in January.

Instead of selecting someone experienced in California budget history for the job of doing his audit, Arnie reached outside the state to someone with direct ties to the Bush family, and chose Donna Arduin, who is currently working for Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Again, Arnie could have chosen from numerous people within the state, such as former staffers for the Legislative Analyst’s Office, Bureau of State Audits, legislative members or their staffers who were well versed in state budget history and issues. But instead he chose to put someone in this critical task who has the mark of approval of the Bush brothers and specifically the White House. Who exactly is Donna Arduin?

Well, she currently Director of Jeb Bush’s Office of Policy and Budget in Florida, who was previously deputy budget director in both New York (under Pataki) and Michigan. She is considered a tough conservative who cuts pork out of budgets so that taxes don’t have to be increased, but she is also deemed autocratic by her critics.

As Florida’s Budget Director, she is an advocate of supply-side tax policy, and has already come under fire for her economic growth and revenue assessments in Florida, while flacking Jeb Bush’s accomplishments. She has also earned the wrath of Florida GOP Senators for a lack of credibility in touting the soundness of Bush’s tax and economic policies, with the senators claiming that neither she nor Bush fully and accurately account for the insufficient revenues base Florida has to meet future needs, instead touting how swell things are in the here and now.

She is apparently a party to Bush’s refusal to close sales tax exemptions for certain groups in order to fully fund Bush’s education reform promises, something which rankles the Florida GOP Senate moderates, who claim that Bush underfunds his education reform program. Ominously, she has a track record already of someone who is more willing to raid special funds and trust fund surpluses to redirect revenues into the general fund to finance deficits, rather than raising taxes.

And to cap it off, she is a strong supporter apparently of former Florida Secretary of State Kathleen Harris.

Now these things, in and of themselves, are not disqualifying about Ms. Arduin. But you are judged by the company you keep, the decisions you make, the reputation and integrity you have (or don’t have), and whose water you carry. So while Arnie tries to get good headlines for the people he has named to his high-gloss, bipartisan advisory committee, keep an eye on who is combing through the books and coming up with the recommendations on how to deal with the budget problem.

Those of you who think that Arnie will go a long way because of his rhetoric and his ability to spank Gray Davis and an overrated state Democratic establishment might be better advised to wait and see what actual actions he takes and whose interests he actually serves several months from now. Starting off right out of the gate with a revival of an Enron deregulatory scheme and the appointing of a budget guru who serves at the right hand of Jeb Bush will be of more consequence in several months than the glossy treatment given to Arnie and Maria now.