By NORBERTO SANTANA Jr. and MARTIN WISCKOL
The Orange County Register
March 23, 2005

IRVINE ­ Inside the Hyatt Regency hotel, people paid $1,000 a plate Tuesday to hear Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest reform pitch.

Outside in the parking lot stood Carolyn Byrnes, who shelled out $8.92 to ride a bus from El Toro High School to let the governor know what she thinks.

While she's no fan of unions, Byrnes was one of hundreds of parents who found themselves catapulted into one of the largest protests to ever greet Schwarzenegger.

A crowd police estimated at about 1,000 - union leaders said 3,000 - withstood pouring rain. The teachers, firefighters, police officers, nurses and PTA moms lined an entire block for hours.

"Any time he cuts, it means less for us," said Byrnes, 40, of Rancho Santa Margarita, an accountant and mother of three. "We get the pennies after the district and the teachers union fight it out."

While Byrnes, a PTA leader for seven years, still supports Schwarzenegger - and was clearly uncomfortable as the chants against him became more intense - she said she felt compelled to stand in the rain, hoping the governor would understand how angry she is with his education budget proposal.

Firefighters and police officers protested the governor's proposed pensionreform, saying it would cut survivor benefits for the families of fallen brethren. Nurses railed against his ideas for patient-nurse ratios,
saying they would literally kill people. Teachers argued that his ideas for tying their pay to student achievement were unworkable.

And as the night went on, the soaked crowd got angrier. After a few hours lining the nearby block, the crowd moved onto the circular drive in front of the main door and jeered guests yelling "Shame on you!" as they drove up.

Inside the hotel, the mood was starkly different.

Schwarzenegger arrived a little late, dispensed with prepared notes and was enthusiastically received as he delivered an improvised 15-minute talk on his proposed reforms and the obstacles they face.

"He did not back away from saying the unions and the Democratic Legislature beholden to the unions are the problem," said Dale Dykema, who belongs to both of the county's major groups of wealthy GOP donors, the New Majority and the Lincoln Club.

"He was probably as good as he gets."

Like most of the other 700 supporters inside, Dykema believes the governor's initiatives can turn the state around.

"If these pass, it will change politics here in California significantly," said Dykema. "This would be bigger than Proposition 13."

Schwarzenegger's role is crucial to the success of the initiatives, Dykema said.

"You wouldn't be able to accomplish what they're trying to accomplish without the governor behind it," he said.

The estimated money raised: $3.1 million.

As for the protesters, North Tustin's Mark Johnson, CEO of Chapin Medical Co., said they did not represent the public's best interest - and much of the public was still uninformed.

"Clearly the unions are behind this," he said. "The average parent doesn't understand how this is going to work.

"There is more than enough money going into the classroom to give every student a first-class education, if the teachers union and schools would get their program together. There is a lot of money, there is a lot of
opposition and there's a lot of ignorance."

Joan Rowe, whose child attends Smith Elementary in Huntington Beach, rejected that claim.

"I resent that," she said. "Nobody is pulling our strings."

Suzie Swartz, a board member at Saddleback Valley Unified and a Republican, said the governor should pay heed.

"We're scared. Our kids' educational future depends on the governor keeping his word," she said.