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San Jose Mercury News
Posted on Tue, Jul. 12, 2005 Trailing the governor like the exclamation point trails ``Yahoo!,'' a group of demonstrators marched outside the Sunnyvale Internet giant's headquarters Monday afternoon while he spoke to employees inside. Protesters unhappy with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's policies and proposals ``are trying to meet Arnold at every place we can,'' said Donna Vinita of the California School Employees Association office in Concord. ``He calls us a special interest? He's taken more money from special interests than anyone -- including from Yahoo right here.'' Yahoo executives have given several donations to Schwarzenegger's fundraising committees. On June 30, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang gave $100,000 to the governor's California Recovery Team. Vince Sollitto, a spokesman for the governor, said the visit Monday was unrelated to any donations. ``The governor has been pretty clear that he does what he does because he thinks it's best for California, plain and simple,'' Sollitto said. Although the talk was closed to the public and press, Schwarzenegger was expected to touch on the issues that have moved protesters to dog him across the state: his reform agenda as contained in three ballot initiatives he's pushing in the Nov. 8 special election. Those initiatives would lengthen from two to five years the time it takes teachers to get tenure; empower retired judges, rather than lawmakers, to draw legislative and congressional districts; and give the governor sweeping new budgeting powers, including the ability to unilaterally cut programs mid-year if the budget falls out of balance. Earlier Monday, the governor signed off on a budget deal with state lawmakers, avoiding what some observers had feared would be a summerlong stalemate over state spending. And in the past month or so, he has softened his rhetoric about incompetent teachers and overpaid public employees, especially after public-opinion polls showed his approval rating dropping sharply. Still, outside Yahoo headquarters Monday, about 100 protesters marched and chanted. (One example: ``Arnold, Arnold, you're no good; go on back to Hollywood.'') They were a mix of mostly teachers, firefighters and nurses, but it seemed any issue was fair game. ``Some public health care would be good,'' said Brad Joyce, of the Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 393 in San Jose. ``Also, unemployment should be straightened out.'' Most Yahoo employees on their way to the speech from satellite offices worked their way through the crowd looking bemused and a little wary. They did not all avoid contact, though. Amy Kassenbrock of San Jose asked a rally organizer for a sheet of several red stickers reading ``Stop Arnold!'' She wanted to hear the governor's talk, even though she doesn't like him, she said. ``He doesn't support the people who make communities run -- teachers in particular,'' she said. But she didn't get a chance to hear the governor. By the time she and scores of others arrived about 3 p.m., they were turned away because the room was full.
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