Foes of governor emerge to fight his initiatives
PROTESTS ON RISE AS DEMOS 'ARE SORT OF FINDING A VOICE'

By Kate Folmar
San Jose Mercury News Sacramento Bureau
Mar. 17, 2005

SACRAMENTO - On one side, there's Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and his well-heeled business friends, backing a slate of ``reforms'' addressing political map-drawing, merit pay for teachers and a spending cap.

On the other, an increasingly effective group of teachers, nurses, firefighters and consumer groups has emerged to challenge the governor. Many of them plan to push issues they hope Californians will feel in their wallets -- the high cost of filling prescriptions, protections for car buyers and, potentially, a higher minimum wage.

Wednesday, their disputes collided at the posh Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, as both camps gear up for a (still undeclared) November special election, which is shaping up as a raucous, cash-drenched slugfest.

After more than a year of being bested by the popular governor, the opposition is coalescing.

``The big difference between this year and last is that the Democrats are sort of finding a voice,'' said Bruce Cain, who directs the Institute for Governmental Studies at the University of California-Berkeley.

Outside a fundraiser for Schwarzenegger's re-election, several hundred protesters rang cow bells, waved signs and loudly told the governor: If you want to fight at the ballot box over the state's future, bring it on.

``The workers of California are really upset with the way the governor is leading the state,'' said Lou Paulson, a fire captain from Walnut Creek and president of the California Professional Firefighters. ``The governor has had four fundraising events over seven days, all over the country. We're telling him, `Hey, stop! Go back to Sacramento and be the governor and lead the state.' ''

Last year, Schwarzenegger frequently divorced Democrats from their traditional backers with a series of clever budget side-deals that neutralized opposition, Cain said. By tackling pension and tenure changes that are anathema to unions, Schwarzenegger has reunited his opponents.

``This was manna from heaven for the Democrats. They have people with money, resources and organization on their side,'' he said. ``Not only that, Arnold has taken on some of the most powerful, influential and resourceful groups in California, in the form of teachers, nurses, firemen and policemen.''

The protests, which started quietly in December and have escalated over the past few weeks, took on a new urgency as the folks who blocked Los Angeles streets did more than rap Schwarzenegger for his record-breaking fundraising and coziness with businesses. This time, they were presented with a clear alternative.

Picking the issues

Members of the Alliance for a Better California, which includes public-employee, education and consumer groups, outlined what issues they will back if a special election is called. Hours earlier, the group backing Schwarzenegger's agenda, Citizens to Save California, expanded on its ballot picks, backing four initiatives on pensions, teachers and budget changes.

``We feel it's time for the people to speak,'' said Joel Fox, an anti-tax advocate and board member of Citizens to Save California. ``It's time to take a new look at how we do things.''

The governor and his friends want a cap on what the state spends; the alliance advocates lowering prescription drug costs. The governor wants to pay teachers based on performance, not just seniority; his opponents back protections for car buyers. Schwarzenegger favors changing costly public-employee pensions; his adversaries may well get behind a higher minimum wage or a ``split roll'' tax proposal, which would charge higher rates on non-rental commercial properties.

As some 80 potential ballot initiatives work their way through the pipeline, the dynamics are dizzying. It practically takes a spreadsheet to track who is supporting what version of which initiative.

But the culling process has begun, with different camps picking their strongest offerings. As the political machinery rumbles forward with public events, signature gathering and rallies, the governor and lawmakers insist they're open to negotiating a legislative package that could head off a ballot fight.

`I have hope'

At an event Wednesday near Sacramento, designed to encourage Californians to get high-polluting cars off the road, Schwarzenegger said he was heartened by a meeting Tuesday with top lawmakers. ``I have hope that the time is coming now that the legislators will come to the table and will start negotiating. How much we will be able to negotiate, and how much we will be able to settle legislatively vs. the ballot, I don't know yet,'' he said. ``But I have a much more positive opinion about the direction we are going now.''

And he seemed unfazed by the groups rallying to oppose him -- the sign-waving masses that have followed him to his recent events in Ohio, Washington and California.

``So no matter what you see out there, the protests and all of this, those are the people that have created the mess in the first place,'' he said. ``They're special interests. I am representing the people's interests, not the special interests, and not the unions' interests.''

Whether Californians agree with the governor or his opponents will unfold over the coming weeks and months, said Marty Kaplan, who directs the Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California.

But, he suspects, people's opinions are changing about Schwarzenegger.

``The state is waking up to the fact that the governor is a politician,'' Kaplan said. ``He's not just a movie star, or a brand or an iconic treasure. He's a politician. For the first time in his political career, he has to face opposition that has put him on the defensive.''