Stop Arnold Weblog

From The Mixed Up World of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger

Remember that book?  From the Mixed-up World of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler?  Maybe that’s a better metaphor for Schwarzenegger’s administration than anything from Hollywood.

Item One: Governing by statecraft. Actually, it's hard to know if this is really news.  Schwarzenegger holds a staged media event and all the media point out how fake it is.  Oh well, at least they have a Danny Elfman soundtrack.  Carla Marinucci wrote about if for the SF Chronicle and reports:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was playing leading man in a new piece of political theatre when he took the stage to the theme from "Beverly Hills Cop" Wednesday in Menlo Park: what his handlers call town hall meetings.

The term suggests real discussions, in a real town hall, or at least a place where doors are thrown open to real people. But in his most recent "Conversations with Californians" on Wednesday, Schwarzenegger's appearance before an invited crowd of 150 company employees at Sun Microsystems again appeared more relevant to a movie set than any town hall.

Item 2: The California Nurses Association put Arnold Schwarzenegger for sale on eBay.  Why should the corporations have all the fun?  Kate Folmar wrote about it for the Mercury News.

Item 3: Schwarzenegger, and his special election, and most of his initiatives are still strikingly unpopular.  I'll say it again--when you're Governor of California, it's bad news when George Bush has a higher approval rating than you.  Harrison Shepard in the LA Daily News carries this story.  He writes:

With just six weeks before the special election, California voters remain unimpressed with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reform measures and would rather not go to the polls this fall, a survey released today says.

A majority of California voters opposed all three of Schwarzenegger's special-election measures, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, and continue to strongly disapprove of his performance as governor.

p>Los Angeles residents take the dimmest view of his performance among respondents polled in all regions of the state.

The event was carefully staged, complete with props (a 1982 Sun computer and a 2005 model), advertising (posters proclaiming Reform/Rebuild California), invited guests (mostly by company VP's), soundtrack (catchy disco-style theme song) and a carefully rehearsed script ('They sent the Terminator up to Sacramento to fix those problems").

Beatty Terminates the Disgracinator

Progressives lose when they don’t say what they think.  Quick: what was John Kerry’s position on the war?  I didn’t think you knew.

In a speech Thursday at the California Nurses Association’s House of Delegates, Warren Beatty showed how progressives can win: stand up and speak out about the values that the majority of Americans hold—better healthcare, clean politics, social justice, etc.

He’s not running for Governor, yet, but Schwarzenegger better be looking over his shoulder.

Beth Fouhy from the Associated Press was one of many reporters covering the event.

Also interesting, the Fresno Bee editorial page leans right they like Schwarzenegger’s corporate agenda.  But their editor Jim Boren has a piece that catches Schwarzenegger square on the nose.  Thus:

In exactly 44 days, Californians will vote in an election that they never really wanted on ballot measures that they don't seem to understand. If nothing changes, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could get clobbered in an election that he never should have called.

The Nov. 8 special election is so ill-conceived that Schwarzenegger's political future has become hostage to it. The governor reluctantly had to announce that he would run for re-election next year just to be able to raise money for this year's ballot measures.

…

Schwarzenegger's consultants were so good at their craft that they took a politician with an approval rating well over 60% and dropped it to 36%. Their advice was so helpful to the governor that they made enemies of everyone from police officers and firefighters to the state's nurses.

The only difference is they hope he can turn it around, while we hope he turns around and leaves.

Arnold's Gift to the People of California?

I've figured out what Schwarz's gift to the people of California: permanent, endless, negative campaigning.  Perhaps he intends to disgust so many voters that come Nov. 2006, he's the only who can stomach actually voting, and wins the Governorship on a 1 to 0 count.

Actually the LA Times figured it out.  Bob Salladay points out...

It's after Labor Day and the campaign has begun: endorsements, dueling news conferences, TV ads, a rowdy party convention and the requisite release of a candidate's tax returns.

Only it's the wrong Labor Day.

Californians won't choose a governor for 14 months, but thanks to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the state is experiencing a gubernatorial race far earlier and more intensely than in previous years.

Schwarzenegger has called a special election for this November, not next year when he is up for reelection. That has added heat at a time when politicians traditionally would be trying in vain to get attention while also quietly filling their war chests.

So if it's campaign season, what happens now? Lynda Gledhill from the SF Chronicle reports: TV ads.  Up and running.  They kinda suck.  You can see them at JoinArnold.com.  Gledhill gets a quote from political analyst Barbara O'Connor:

"Even though people don't really start paying attention yet, he needs to stop the hemorrhaging."

True.  However, Schwarz has been advertising for months through the Rep party and various interest groups.  His spokesliars have been claiming otherwise in order to explain his problems.

And if it's campaign season, we have the sit-down interviews, which he did earlier this week.  What'd he say?

He told Carla Marinucci in the SF Chronicle that George Bush should cancel an Oct. 22 fundraiser in Cali.  Why?

""In the next two months, it would be better if we just do the fundraising," Schwarzenegger said in an interview with The Chronicle. "Then let us go (past) our special election -- and then they can pick it up again, the (Republican) national committee."

Also because he doesn't want to remind voters here that he helped put Bush back in office!

Oh and this quote speaks for itself:

"What I always said is politicians, in general, are raising money and have to do favors back," he said. "I never said raising money is not necessary ... everybody does fundraising."

He told Kate Folmar and Laura Kurtzman in the San Jose Mercury News that he's delusional:

``I never thought this would be a fight where I play David,'' the governor said. ``In my whole life I always played Goliath. And now I'm being put in the David category, the little guy fighting the big monsters out there.''

He told Beth Fouhy from the AP that Warren Beatty--WHO IS SPEAKING TONIGHT AT THE CALIFORNIA NURSES ASSOCIATION'S CONVENTION!!!!--is 'silly' and 'jealous' for criticizing him.  And that he supports the proposition for parental notification of abortions. 

But the worst news for him came from Paul Pringle in the LA Times.  Schwarz's attacks on workers has managed to piss off the cops.  Not smart.

Remember When?

Remember when Arnold Schwarzenegger was a reformer?  Kate Folmar in the Mercury News sure does.   He had all these good ideas.  What's not to love.  For instance:

Schwarzenegger once famously said, ``I don't need to take money from anybody. I have plenty of money myself,'' and then became a prodigious fundraiser -- collecting more than $6 million for initiative campaigns in July and August alone.

He vowed that he would be more transparent and there would be ``no more decisions in the dark,'' but he has learned the value of privately hammering out some major policy decisions in the amber cigar-smoking tent erected near his offices. He declined his state salary so as not to burden taxpayers, but accepted a $1 million-a-year contract with two muscle magazines (a contract he later ended after its details became public).

But in the end, Folmar concludes,

"Now, as Schwarzenegger campaigns for a special election and a second term, most of his political reform pledges stand as unfinished promises, ideas that were pursued but have withered amid political reality"

Just as his career has withered.

Big Weekend for the Disgracinator.

Arnold announced this weekend he's running for re-election in 2006.

Of course no one's sure he's really running.  It was just something he had to do to help out his special election this fall.  And he has to do well on the special this fall in order to run for reelection.  It's like he needs a chicken and an egg.

Two other big things happened as well.  Schwarzenegger had to tie his fortunes to the CA GOP.  He's having to run to the right of the California electorate.  Probably been in the cards since he faced vs. Bruce Springsteen in the Bush vs. Kerry proxy was in Ohio.

Schwarzenegger also drew a new line in the sand: "paycheck deception," the initiative that would limit the ability of unions to participate in policy and political debates; for nurses, hush up on the healthcare policy; firefighters, why do you need to complain publicly about shuttering firehouses, etc.  He did this because it's leading and if he can pull it out, despite all his other foibles, it might make him look like a winner.

The problem?  It reinforces his history of attacking nurses, firefighters, teachers, and cops for political gain.  And THAT is a tough place to be.

Many articles out this weekend.  Here are 3 good ones.

Michael Finnegan in the LA Times points out that the GOP is not much of a base, and Scharzenegger's going to have to move beyond it for real power.  Like he used to do.  Finnegan notes:

"I think they ought to move to South Carolina some place where you can sell that stuff," said {Democratic Consultant Bill} Carrick, a native of that politically fierce Southern state. "Union bashing has never worked in

California

."  As a Republican in CaliforniaCarrick added, Schwarzenegger must distance himself from his party in the same way that Democrats in the conservative South run from their party's "tax-and-spend" stereotypes.  "He's got to do the functional equivalent from the opposite ideological perspective," he said.

Carla Marinucci and John Wildermuth in the SF Chronicle point out the problems with Schwarzenegger's plan:

But the strategy carries significant political risk. If Schwarzenegger can turn around his declining approval ratings and gain victory for all or most of his initiatives on Nov. 8, he can once again become the bipartisan political superstar Democrats fear most. But if the measures fail, the governor's prestige could sink along with them.

Kate Folmar in the Mercury-News looks at Schwarzenegger and his attacks on unions, and wonder how we got here.  She writes: 

Endorsing Proposition 75 will ignite a political bonfire, predicted Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst at the University of Southern California. Schwarzenegger is ``giving red meat to the Republican faithful,'' said Jeffe, who attended the convention and the governor's speech. ``And Democrats will go sky-high. It will be Armageddon.''  This year, unionized teachers, nurses and firefighters have been the governor's most effective critics, using protests and millions of dollars in critical ads to seriously diminish his standing. Several have hiked dues to oppose him, including the California Teachers Association, which raised annual dues by $60 per member for three years to raise $50 million.  Endorsing Proposition 75 is viewed as another tack to the right by Schwarzenegger, who is seeking to shore up his base support from Republicans and business donors if he is to win any of the four initiatives that he is pushing in the Nov. 8 special election.

Kindergarten Governor

Let's see...it's already been weird; it's already been bizarre; it's already been ridiculous.

I'm searching for new adjectives here to describe just how screwed-up  Schwarzenegger's political work is.

Start with today's LA Times.  George Skelton reports that Schwarzenegger is about to announce his plans for re-election and writes that:

"His strategy is to fire up the faithful this weekend and inspire them to work for a conservative-skewed voter turnout Nov. 8. But voters elsewhere will be reminded that the special election, at its core, has become a fight between Republicans and Democrats. And there are more Democrats in California."

Skelton calls it putting the cart before the horse.

The Capitol Weekly points out that Schwarzenegger has to run in order to save his dying initiative campaign in this November's special election.  True, but its still hard to wrap your head around that, no?

Mark Barabak in the LA Times reflects how Schwarzenegger has managed to annoy Latino voters.  Whoops.  He reports:

"As he prepares to launch his reelection bid, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is facing attack from a group of fellow Republicans who condemn his record on Latino appointments and assail the state GOP as "morally wrong and politically stupid" in its treatment of Latino candidates.

In an unusual open letter drafted for release today, the activists offer a litany of political grievances and assert that "the California Republican Party and its key leaders are systematically excluding Latinos from any kind of meaningful role in the state party or state government."

Several reporters covered Schwarzenegger dropping big fat hints yesterday about his plans, including Soraya Nelson in the OC Register and the SF Chronicle's team of Carla Marinucci and John Wildermuth.

Mixed Messages. Or Missing?

Campaigns are supposed to have clear, simple messages that they communicate to voters.  It's the <blank>, stupid.

But not Schwarzenegger.

While most of California is still thinking about Katrina, Schwarzenegger is kicking off his special election drive with staged media events.  Of course, he's so afraid of the nurses, firefighters, and teachers dogging him that most media aren't given any advance warning of the events, so that limits their effectiveness.  Oh, and rumor has it that Friday he's going to kick off his re-election drive...even though he denies that the special election is a referendum on him.  Why Friday?  So that he can do it before this weekend's Republican convention, because while he wants the Republicans to be energized, he apparently doesn't want to announce his re-election in front of them because it would give the wrong message.

What? What's the message again here, Mr Schwarzenegger?  Other than the fact that your message shop is still screwing it all up?

Anyway lots of good stories covering this melo- drama.  Robert Salladay in the LA Times went to the Governor's speech and so did Kate Folmar from the Mercury News and John Maurelius in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Does He Know They're Linked?

Does Arnold Schwarzenegger have any idea what's happening to him?

Two articles today could make it clear.

First off, the latest round of polls show how unpopular he's become.  Only 36% of voters want him back.  That's terrible.  That's his Republican base and no one else.  That's worse that Bush.  In California!!

Read, for instance, Andy Furillo's take in the Sacramento Bee.

Christian Berthelsen in the SF Chronicle can help explain to Schwarzenegger why he's so unpopular: he has sold the state out to his special interest donors.  I'll let Christian's words speak for themselves:

"Within hours of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's inauguration in 2003 -- a day on which he pledged to devote state government "to your interests, not to special interests" -- business lobbyists began urging the nascent administration to weaken a law guaranteeing the right of workers to meal breaks.

In the months that followed, new court records show, a receptive Schwarzenegger administration worked intimately with the lobbyists -- particularly those for the California Restaurant Association -- to craft "emergency" regulations that would fulfill their agenda: end obligatory meal breaks and place new limits on employers' liability for violating the law in the past.

The lobbyists repeatedly reviewed drafts of the proposed rule change, at least once at the Schwarzenegger administration's request, and gave government officials what one lobbyist called "the official 'green light' " to move forward with the final version, according to the documents.

But I will say it again: the most corrupt Governor in America.

Voters Don't Like Arnold's Election or His Initiatives--And Are Starting to Turn Against the Drug Companies, Too.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's year of failure is getting worse.

Mark Z. Barabak and Michael Finnegan in the LA Times point out that more and more Californians are saying they don't want Arnold's special.  They write:

"Two years after Californians made history by ousting their governor in an eruption of populist anger, voters are approaching the latest special election with a mix of reluctance, irritation and, most of all, confusion.

Many ask why they are being summoned to the polls yet again, for the sixth statewide vote in just over 3 1/2 years. They lash out at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, from different points on the political spectrum, with the same cynicism and frustration that undercut his predecessor, Gray Davis. "

The irony is that Schwarzenegger's ill-conceived special election is causing voters to turn against all the initiatives he supports--the budget cap, mis-term re-districting, and the attack on teacher tenure.  In fact, his centerpiece initiative, which would end guaranteed funding for schools and give the Governor more power over the budget, is only supported by 19% of Californians.  19%!!  You could probably 19% of people in this state to agree to  a ban on John Maurelius in the San Diego Union-Tribune carries the story and writes:

"Two months before the Nov. 8 special election Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called, the governor's political agenda is in serious trouble as none of the three initiatives he qualified for the ballot enjoys majority support, a new Field Poll shows.

The most stunning finding shows the centerpiece of what the Republican governor calls his reform agenda trailing by more than 3 to 1.

That is Proposition 76, the Live Within Our Means Act that ties state spending to a three-year average and allows the governor to make midyear cuts when revenues fall behind expenditures, if the Legislature does not act. "

So how does Schwarzenegger respond? By virtually promising to raise taxes if Prop 76 fails. 

Finally, excellent news for seniors and low-income people who need to buy prescription drugs.  The drug companies have been pushing Proposition 78, a cynical manuever that will pad their bottom line and shortchange sick people in this state--while forestalling genuine efforts to expand access for poor people.  Despite early TV commercials, Prop. 78 is only checking in at 49% in the polls, meaning it has an uphill battle.   Greg Lucas in the SF Chronicle has the story.

Hamlet on the Delta?

Will he or won't he?

The corporate crowd in California is terrified that Schwarzenegger won't run for office again and they won't have his girth to hide behind anymore.  On the other hand, Schwarzenegger himself must not be having a good time--in this Year of Discontent, he has turned into a widely-reviled figure, accomplished nothing, and life just isn't so fantastic anymore.

Will he or won't he?  Beth Fouhy of the Associated Press reports he's been dropping a number of hints that his re-election bid is right around the corner.  For instance:

""I don't walk away from things that I think are unfinished," Schwarzenegger told KCRA-TV in Sacramento last week, urging the reporter to get in touch with him in about two weeks.

However she also notes that:

""I think he needs to do it for two good reasons," said Bill Whalen, a fellow at the Hoover Institution who worked for former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson. "It will invigorate the Republican base, which he sorely needs to do if he has any chance to win the special election. And it sends a positive message to the donor community that he's not going to cut and run."

Which is motivation for him to at least pretend to run, and try to blow a little life into his pathetically weak special election.

I'm betting he doesn't do it.  He just cannot be proud of his permormance...or look forward to spending years 59 to 64 of his life (were he to win) dealing with more of this misery.

Like the nurses say on the front lines of this fight:  "Go on back to Hollywood."