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Polls take revenge on tough guy tactics Financial Times Arnold Schwarzenegger began 2005 with a pledge to make it the "year of reform". California's celebrity governor was going to lay it on the line with a series of ambitious proposals aimed at strengthening the state's wobbly finances. Nearly four months later the only real change has been a significant decline in the Republican governor's once-lofty public opinion ratings. Some recent polls show Mr. Schwarzenegger's approval numbers below 50 per cent, down from almost 70 per cent last year. The former body-builder and action hero, whose pledges to shake up the political establishment helped carry him into power in 2003, suddenly appears surprisingly vulnerable. "He is becoming less and less the action hero and more and more of a politician. The aura of invincibility is gone," says Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, senior scholar at University of Southern California. Mr. Schwarzenegger can blame himself for his woes. Elected amid high expectations after the recall of Gray Davis, the previous governor, Mr. Schwarzenegger tried to use his rare combination of charisma and abrasiveness to cow opponents into submission and break the partisan stalemate that gridlocked the state capitol. But his take-no-prisoners approach, which seemed to work early on, has alienated opponents and become a liability. In one memorable moment last year he dismissed his Democratic rivals as "girlie men". He also antagonized state employee unions, calling them "special interests" blocking much-needed changes in a state that has lived far beyond its means for decades. The trouble began in January when he announced an ambitious reform agenda to redraw legislative and congressional districts, introduced spending restraints to avert deficits and provide merit-based pay for teachers. He also proposed reining in the state's spiralling public pension costs by privatizing the system and cutting death and disability benefits - a change some feared would have left widows of police officers and firefighters without support. Moreover, he vowed to call a special election to allow voters to approve his measures if the Democratic-controlled legislature blocked his reforms. But in attacking public employee unions, Mr Schwarzenegger seemed to be taking direct aim at teachers, nurses, police officers and firefighters. At one point, he even vowed to "kick the butts" of nurses campaigning for better nurse-patient ratios. "Part of it has to do with the fact that he really is politically naive," says Ms. Jeffe. "He didn't make a distinction between the union bosses and those Californians who save our lives, protect us and educate our children." Moreover, she says, the public union leaders are strong political organisers who can raise huge sums of money. The teachers' union alone aims to raise $54m (€41m, £28m) from its 335,000 members to fund a campaign against the governor. They have already launched an aggressive campaign that includes street protests and scathing commercials blasting the governor and his proposals. Some adverts accuse him of short-changing schools by $2bn, while others note that Mr. Schwarzenegger has accepted millions of dollars in "special interest" donations from pharmaceutical and insurance companies. Mr Schwarzenegger's missteps have also fired up California's Democrats, now challenging him in ways unimaginable only a few months ago. At the party's annual state convention over the weekend, Democrats from Sacramento and Washington launched a frontal assault that heralds a return to partisan battles. "The governor has dec-lared war on the state of California. He declared war on us, and I declare war on him," said Judy Chu, a Democratic state assemblywoman. A spokesman for California's Republican party says Democrats are riled merely because the governor is living up to his promise to reform a state government that is beholden to powerful public employee unions, which he said used to get a "free ride" from Mr Schwarzenegger's Democratic predecessors. The official says Democrats are dismayed that the governor is "serious" about his platform and that his reform agenda still has "bipartisan appeal". Yet Mr Schwarzenegger's missteps have forced him back on his heels. In a surprising about-face, the governor two weeks ago withdrew his plan to put pension reform on a public ballot. It is not clear whether the other reform items will be put to the public.
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