LAT: Schwarzenegger's Travel Spurs Tussle Over Power

Gov.'s Travel Spurs Tussle Over Power
A lawmaker's bill would allow Schwarzenegger to retain control when out of state, restricting the authority of the lieutenant governor.

By Robert Salladay, Times Staff Writer


SACRAMENTO — California's globe-trotting governor has spent nearly three months out of the state since being inaugurated, state records show, and the trips have become a political issue.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has traveled to Washington, D.C., Israel, Germany, Austria, Jordan, New York, Ohio, New Mexico and Japan. He has taken vacations in Maui and Sun Valley, Idaho, where he owns a 10,000-square-foot lodge and spends most Christmas and New Year's holidays.

Now, a Republican state senator is attempting to remove the lieutenant governor's power to run the state whenever the governor leaves California airspace.

Schwarzenegger is required by law to inform Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante when he travels outside California. Bustamante becomes acting governor in Schwarzenegger's absence....


***

"When you have somebody who is out of state as often as this governor, it shows you need someone there in the event of an emergency," said Steve Green, a spokesman for Bustamante. "There was a time in the early 1990s when Pete Wilson had to take personal responsibility for the National Guard during the riots. Arnold would have a hard time doing that from the Cannes Film Festival."...


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gov17mar17,0,4805876.story?coll=la-home-local