Santa Rosa protesters jeer governor
About 250 rally in opposition to ballot initiatives

Paul Payne and Kerry Benefield
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
April 8, 2005

Protesters jeered Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday as he rolled into Santa Rosa to tout his proposals and meet privately with a group of people who could be most affected by his controversial plans.

The visit came as a new poll showed support for Schwarzenegger is eroding as critics step up their attacks on his agenda.

The poll, conducted by the Survey and Policy Research Institute at San Jose State University, said the governor's job-approval rating has sunk to 49 percent, down from 59 percent in January. The survey has a 3.6 percent margin of error.

In a news conference at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek hotel, Schwarzenegger scoffed at the suggestion he is losing touch with the state's voters.

"I don't pay much attention to polls," Schwarzenegger told reporters. "I don't pay much attention when my numbers were at 70 and I don't pay much attention when they are at 50."

"We are very committed to going all the way with our reforms," Schwarzenegger said.

Earlier in the day, Schwarzenegger announced he was backing off a proposal to privatize public employee pensions.

But Schwarzenegger is pressing ahead with other initiatives, such as cuts to education and capping hospital nurse-to-patient ratios.

In Santa Rosa, he was greeted by angry union representatives and other protesters.

As his entourage approached the hotel, about 250 teachers, nurses and public employees lined West Third Street, waving signs and chanting slogans.

The crowd surged into the hotel parking lot but were met by dozens of CHP officers, some in riot gear.

Sandra Lowe, a California Teachers Association consultant and Sonoma Valley School Board member, said Schwarzenegger's plan to cut Prop. 98 funding was an ill-conceived measure that will hurt schools.

She said Schwarzenegger broke a campaign promise to restore more than $2 billion in education cuts, proving "he can't be trusted."

"We now realize there's nothing fair about this guy," Lowe said. "He's broken every promise to us."

Sue Gadbois, a registered nurse at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, objected to the governor's effort to reduce the number of nurses in California hospitals.

Gadbois said failure to implement a nurse-to-patient ratio of 5-to-1 makes hospitals unsafe.

"We need to put patient safety first," Gadbois said.

Others, like Don Whitaker, a Petaluma machinist and member of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 1596, said Schwarzenegger used his celebrity to get elected and now serves the interests of the most wealthy residents.

"It's obvious he's a phony," Whitaker said. "He used his star glamour to pull the wool over the eyes of voters."

Fairfax City Councilman Frank Egger came to protest Schwarzenegger's public safety pension proposal, not knowing it had been dropped.

He carried a sign that said "Keep your 'roids off our retirement."

"He's after our public safety retirement money," Egger said.

Schwarzenegger met with reporters for about 20 minutes in a hotel conference room. The public was not invited.

Standing at a podium with the governor's seal, Schwarzen-egger took questions about polls and his overhaul plans.

He repeated oft-used lines about fixing a broken state and returning California to its glory days.

Schwarzenegger said special interest groups airing TV attack ads that say he is stealing from schools are "spreading a lot of lies."

"Their message gets out because they have millions to spend," he said.

He defended his handling of labor unions.

"At the capital, no one is there to speak up and to say 'there is something wrong here,'" Schwarzenegger said. "They are afraid of the unions."

On the protesters, he said, "These very same people who have created the mess are the people who are still here."

Schwarzenegger left in a procession of police motorcycles.

Public officials felt snubbed Schwarzenegger didn't give them a chance to talk to him.

County Superintendent of Schools Carl Wong said he showed up at the Hyatt to shake Schwarzenegger's hand but was turned away.

"It's unfortunate," said Wong. "It was a non-partisan gesture. They flat out said, 'No.'"

Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, a Santa Rosa Democrat, said she made the trip from Sacramento, less to meet the governor than to join the chorus questioning his policy and tactics.

Evans said Schwarzenegger only talks to people with money.

"I want him to come out and talk to the real people," said the former Santa Rosa city councilwoman.

After the news conference at the Hyatt, he later held a "kitchen cabinet" talk at a Skyhawk home where he spoke to a school employee, a police officer, a banker, a medical worker and a businessman