EDITORIAL SACRAMENTO HYPOCRISY ARNOLD USES SYSTEM HE ONCE REVILED.

ONCE upon a time, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won the hearts and minds of Californians with talk of blowing up boxes in state government. He advocated streamlining the bureaucracy and rooting out wasteful jobs and commission positions typically filled through political patronage.

Right thinking, but the governor seems to have lost some of his idealistic notions. Instead, he's rewarding his cronies with those same overpaid jobs he once promised to eliminate.

An Associated Press review has found that the governor has transferred more than 40 former staffers into cushy -- and mostly better-paid -- state jobs. Worse, it seems as if many of his appointees have little or no experience for their new positions.

Watching politicians sell out their ideals and the public good shatters voters' faith in the system -- and adds to belief that sooner or later, they all become hypocrites.