POLITICS: Arnold's Secret Weapons
Fund, John H .
"OLITICS JOHN H. FUND Arnold's Secret Weapons OW EVERYONE IS ASKING: What kind of a governor will Arnold be? Some of his admirers are hoping he'll emulate Ronald Reagan. They should be careful...
...The recall has led to a public discourse about the problems of California on a magnitude that I have never seen," says A.G...
...No one has forgotten that Arnold's political debut came last year when he contributed seed money for an initiative to promote after-school programs...
...NOVEMBER 2003 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR 39...
...The governor may have to go the initiative route in other areas...
...He is known both for his meticulous planning and his ability to charm groups large and small...
...He will bring fawning coverage from the nonpolitical media that legislators can only dream of getting...
...But if the legislators block real reforms we will be on their case over and over...
...A news director of one L.A...
...Those guys [lawmakers] knew Reagan had the power to go to the people and they didn't...
...Sal Russo, a leader in the fight to recall Governor Davis, agrees: "The business community has been decimated by the bad economy, but if anyone can revive them and get them to contribute to initiative campaigns it's probably Arnold...
...station once told columnist Michael Barone, "`I suppose if anything happens up there, we could send a crew up for the day...
...Reagan raised taxes dramatically during his first year as governor to plug a massive budget deficit...
...Charisma "One of the things about celebrities is that people like to spend time with them," says Darrell West, a Brown University professor and author of Celebrity Politics...
...The legislature, in thrall to trial lawyers, may balk at his proposed reforms in the state's workers compensation system, which has seen many businesses saddled with annual increases in premiums that exceed 45 percent...
...This is a guy who can raise large amounts of money from non-traditional sources," says columnist Bill Bradley of the LA Weekly...
...His detractors hope he'll instead become another Jesse Ventura, who gave up being Minnesota's governor after one term and was generally viewed as an opportunist and publicity-hound...
...Perhaps the best stance for conservatives to take is to watch and verify, giving the new governor the benefit of the doubt in the early rounds but always with the understanding that they will place principle ahead of celebrity...
...The director of his much-touted audit of the state budget is Donna Arduin, the budget director for Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, who is best known for squeezing enough out of state government to allow her boss to keep his commitment to not raise taxes...
...The culture of Sacramento will also change with the return of major news coverage of politics by Los Angeles and San Francisco TV stations...
...Another state senator, Sheila Kuehl of Santa Monica, told the Sacramento Bee that the legislature will have to save California from "ignorance" now that the new governor is in town...
...Not likely...
...They should be careful what they wish for...
...The reason why Governor Schwarzenegger will be able to use the initiative process to do an end-run around the legislature is simple: money...
...I'm sure we'll do periodic checks on how he's handling a whole different kind of pressure," says Linda Bell Blue, executive director of Entertainment Tonight...
...For his part, Governor Schwarzenegger has made some good early moves...
...The Initiative California's economy is picking up, as evidenced by the fact that tax revenues came in over projections by more than $500 million in the most recent month for which figures are available...
...Now that Arnold has pulled off a political version of his film Commando and captured the governor's office in Sacramento, he has to come up with a second act...
...His aides are already talking about going to the voters next March with a bond measure that would allow the state to pay off its accumulated deficit over a long time period of up to 30 years...
...Arnold is slicker, smarter and smoother than his former Predator co-star...
...How else to explain his ability to capture half of the union vote, carry the votes of those earning under $15,000 a year, and get a third of gay voters...
...If his agenda is blocked, Schwarzenegger could go around legislators much as fellow actor Ronald Reagan did when he was governor...
...Schwarzenegger is likely to share the stage and the credit with state legislators if they cooperate with him...
...True enough, but it begs the question: What will he do...
...Arnold Schwarzenegger's flaws are as life-sized as his strengths, as shown by the extensively documented record of his boorish behavior towards women on movie sets in Hollywood...
...Governor Schwarzenegger will attract coverage like a magnet...
...Ronald Reagan knew he was far more popular and well-known than anyone in the legislature," Reagan biographer Lou Cannon told the San Francisco Chronicle...
...Given his success in life so far, I certainly wouldn't bet against his succeeding John H. H. Fund is a columnist for OpinionJournal.com, the website of the Wall Street Journal editorial page...
...He could use his great power to move things in a conservative direction or become a RINO —a Republican In Name Only," says former State Senator John Lewis...
...He has already promised to restore the Gann limit, a 1979 initiative that limited the growth of state government to increases in population and inflation but which was watered down during the 1990s...
...Talk radio stands ready to hold Governor Arnold accountable for his promises," says the talk show host most credited with spurring the recall on, Melanie Morgan of KSFO in San Francisco...
...Those days are over: "The state legislature will have to live with a new reality that the days when they can operate under a rock without any real coverage are over," says Tony Quinn, a co-author of the nonpartisan California Target Book, an analysis of state government...
...On the other hand, Schwarzenegger will also havethe ability to visit the districts of recalcitrant legislators and make his case before their local media...
...None of them has had a bureau in Sacramento for decades...
...So if he draws them into his orbit, he is more likely to have success...
...Talk radio hosts say that they reflected and amplified genuine citizen anger at such breathtakingly arrogant moves by Gray Davis as tripling the car tax, extending job discrimination protections to the transgendered and allowing illegal immigrants to obtain valid driver's licenses...
...No one in the legislature is unaware of the power of talk radio in a state where many people are stuck in traffic for hours listening to it...
...The Democratic Leadership 38 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR NOVEMBER 2003Council is already urging its members to cooperate with Schwarzenegger, if for no other reason than they should fear the secret weapons he brings to any confrontation with them...
...But no one can deny that his supersized ego brings with it a record of accomplishment...
...Senator John Vasconcellos, a 38-year-veteran of the legislature, declared the incoming governor "a boob" and someone unfit for him to deal with...
...But the state still faces a . FU daunting budget deficit, and if Schwarzenegger is going to avoid raising taxes he will likely have to turn to the initiative process...
...And if all else fails, don't forget that Schwarzenegger contributed some $8 million to his own campaign and could conceivably pony up some personal funds again...
...It won 57 percent of the vote, carrying 50 out of the state's 53 Congressional districts...
...But more moderate Democrats know that Schwarzenegger's victory was a repudiation of left-wing control of state government...
...Block, publisher of California Journal, a non-partisan magazine devoted to state government...
...But others disagree...
...They are in no particular order: Talk Radio Harold Meyerson, political editor of the LA Weekly, claims the state's "little Limbaughs" did incalculable damage in spreading "disinformation" about the state's fiscal crisis and tax burdens and turned the recall into a circus...
...Schwarzenegger has that, too...
...Like Ronald Reagan, Governor Schwarzenegger appears to be a man who knows how to find talented people to carry out the details while he tames the media and communicates with the public...
...If Arnold is serious about reforming state government, he will have willing and powerful allies on the airwaves...
...The early betting is that the Democratic legislature will oppose him...
...He enters office having issued only general position papers on issues, having made both promises not to raise taxes and not to cut education funding...
Vol. 36 • November 2003 • No. 6
