csua.org/u/dz0 -> news.ft.com/cms/s/8fae022c-50f3-11da-ac3b-0000779e2340.html
Email article Main page content: Voters rejecting Schwarzeneggers bid to remake state government By LA Times staff writers - 11:17 PM PST, November 8, 2005 Published: November 9 2005 07:48 | Last updated: November 9 2005 07:48 Los Angeles Times Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggers ballot proposals to curb s tate spending and redraw Californias political map were headed to defea t Tuesday as millions of voters appeared to reject his most sweeping pla ns for change in Sacramento. Also behind, but by a smaller margin, was Proposition 74, Schwarzenegger s plan to lengthen the time it takes teachers to get tenure. Voters were almost evenly divided on Proposition 75, his plan to require unions for public workers to get written consent from members before spe nding their dues money on politics. The Republican governor had cast his four initiatives as central to his l arger vision for restoring fiscal discipline to California and reforming its notoriously dysfunctional politics. The failure of Proposition 76, his spending restraints, and Proposition 7 7, his election district overhaul, would represent a sharp repudiation o f the governor by California voters. It would also throw into question h is strategy of threatening lawmakers with statewide votes to get around them when they block his favored proposals. On stage Tuesday night next to his wife, Maria Shriver, Schwarzenegger pl edged to find common ground with his Democratic adversaries in Sacrame nto. The people of California are sick and tired of all the fighting, and the y are sick and tired of all the negative TV ads, he told supporters at the Beverly Hilton. For months, labor and its Democratic allies have called Schwarzeneggers agenda an assault on nurses, firefighters, teachers and other public emp loyees. Labors $100-million campaign against the governor this year has battered his public image as he prepares to seek reelection in 2006. Voters were narrowly defe ating Proposition 73, which would bar abortions for minors without paren tal notification. The state Republican Party promoted Schwarzeneggers e ndorsement of the measure among evangelicals and other religious conserv atives in a bid to boost turnout of voters who would back the rest of hi s agenda. By a wide margin, voters also appeared to be rejecting rival measures on prescription-drug discounts. The pharmaceutical industry spent $80 milli on on a campaign to defeat Proposition 79, a labor and consumer-group pr oposal, and pass its own alternative, Proposition 78. Anthony Wright, the chief proponent of Proposition 79, said he was sorry to see it losing but gratified that voters were rejecting the industrys measure as well. So consumers win, in that the drug companies effort to buy this election has been defeated, he said. Pharmaceutical industry spokeswoman Denise Davis said voters seemed to re cognize that Proposition 79 was unsound and that it would hurt poor peo ple. Voters also turned down Proposition 80, a complex measure to revamp rules governing the electricity industry, according to early returns. The ini tiative, sponsored by consumer advocates, tried to draw on public anger from the states 2000 energy crisis, but polls suggested that it confuse d voters. Overall, the special election called by Schwarzenegger to win public vali dation of his agenda sparked a campaign that became the costliest in Cal ifornias history. All told, the yes and no campaigns on the eight initi atives spent more than $250 million. That brings his tota l personal spending on political endeavors to $25 million since he ran f or governor in the 2003 recall race. Pete Wilson, a political mentor to Schwarzenegger, watched re turns with the governor at the Hilton. It took courage to do it, Wilso n said of the special election. Why run for office if youre not going to do anything with it? But state Senate leader Don Perata, a Democrat from Oakland, said Tuesday night that Schwarzenegger had sowed the seeds of his own demise by ta king on the full gamut of public workers, who make up more than half of the union members in California. By the time voters started lining up at neighborhood polling places Tuesd ay morning, 22 million Californians had already cast their ballots by m ail. The vote came after months of heavy television advertising, often w ith back-to-back spots prodding voters in opposite directions on a bewil dering set of initiatives. At a Rancho Palos Verdes polling station, David Berman, a 46-year-old doc tor, captured the feeling of many fellow Democrats when he threw up his hands and declared the election pointless. In Baldwin Park, Renee Martinez, 50, spoke for the governors Republican loyalists, saying her goal Tuesday was to back Arnold. The election followed a steep political slide for Schwarzenegger. He sust ained stratospheric popularity ratings in his first year as governor by maximizing his appeal as an outsider with a fresh take on the state capi tal. Facing a severe fiscal mess, he favored bipartisan compromise over pitched battles with Democrats and their union allies. But late last year, he set in motion a cascade of political misfortunes b y aligning himself more closely with the Republican Party, a costly move in a state that strongly favors Democrats. He championed the reelection of President Bush, widely disliked in California, in a prime-time speec h at the Republican National Convention in New York. Days before the div isive national election, he campaigned for Bush in Ohio, a crucial swing state. In California, meanwhile, Schwarzenegger led the GOP push to capture seat s from Democrats in the Legislature, hoping to bolster his position ther e Republicans failed to win any new seats, but the governor succeeded i n antagonizing the Democrats who control both the Assembly and Senate. In January, he deepened his troubles by taking on public-employee unions in his State of the State speech, further annoying the Democratic lawmak ers who rely heavily on labor support. He demanded state spending limits and new districts for legislators, along with an overhaul of the state pension system. He threatened to call a special election if Democrats bl ocked his plans, saying voters would heed his call to rise up and refo rm Sacramento. Further isolating himself, he went on to break his deal with educators to restore $2 billion taken from public schools to balance the previous ye ars budget. At the same time, he kept his pledge not to raise income ta xes, a popular stand with Republicans. By winters end, unions had launched a punishing television ad campaign, pounding Schwarzenegger for breaking his promise on schools. The ads als o exploited a bungle by the authors of the governors pension proposal: It would have denied survivor benefits to the families of firefighters a nd police officers killed in the line of duty. He called Democratic la wmakers girlie men for bridling at spending cuts. When nurses heckled him, his response provided fodder for a scathing union television ad: T he special interests dont like me in Sacramento, because I am always ki cking their butts. To gain publicity as a champion bodybuilder and film star, Schwarzenegger had often made fun of people, but in politics the tactic backfired, sai d Laurence Leamer, author of Fantastic: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegg er. It began to turn against him, because his opponents were very, very shre wd and calculating in the way they exploited it, Leamer said. Unions made nurses, teachers and firefighters the face of their anti-Schw arzenegger campaign, which only intensified after lawmakers rejected his demands, leading him to call Tuesdays special election. By last week, his job approval rating had dropped to 40% of likely voters in a Los Ang eles Times poll, down from 69% a year earlier. Schwarzenegger framed the election as a sequel to the recall, a package of proposals that would reform state politics and government. But the centerpiece of his agenda, Proposition 76, offered political gris t for the unions: It would give more budget authority to the governor a power grab by labors account and make complex changes in the minimu m school-spending rules that California vot...
|
http://csua.com/feed/