Post by crudo on Nov 9, 2005 10:30:29 GMT -5
Schwarzenegger's 'year of reform' down in flames
LOS ANGELES — In a sharp repudiation of Gov. Schwarzenegger, voters rejected his most sweeping ballot proposals Tuesday in an election that shattered his image as an agent of the popular will.
Voters turned down his proposals to curb state spending, redraw California's political map and lengthen the time it takes teachers to get tenure.
But with most of the votes counted, Californians were almost evenly divided on Proposition 75, his plan to require unions for public workers to get written consent from members before spending their dues money on politics.
The Republican governor had cast the four initiatives as central to his larger vision for restoring fiscal discipline to California and reforming its notoriously dysfunctional politics. The failure of Proposition 76, his spending restraints, and Proposition 77, his election district overhaul, represented a particularly sharp snub of the governor by California voters. It also threw into question his strategy of threatening lawmakers with statewide votes to get around them when they block his favored proposals.
On a Beverly Hills stage Tuesday night next to his wife, Maria Shriver, Schwarzenegger pledged "to find common ground" with his Democratic adversaries in Sacramento.
"The people of California are sick and tired of all the fighting, and they are sick and tired of all the negative TV ads," he told supporters at the Beverly Hilton. He did not concede, saying instead that "in a couple of days, the victories or the losses will be behind us."
Dogging the governor, as it has for months, was the California Nurses Association, which organized a luau party at a Trader Vic's in the same hotel. As Schwarzenegger's defeats mounted, giddy nurses formed a conga line and danced around the room, singing, "We're the mighty, mighty nurses."
At another labor celebration downtown at the Biltmore Hotel, cheers erupted as election returns rolled in.
"You have stood up to the power of the big money donors on the right," actor Warren Beatty, who campaigned alongside the nurses, told the crowd. "You have made this abuse of the special election backfire on the people who had the power to call it."
Labor unions spend $100M
For months, labor and its Democratic allies have called Schwarzenegger's agenda an assault on nurses, firefighters, teachers and other public employees. Labor's $100 million campaign against the governor this year has battered his public image as he prepares to seek re-election in 2006.
Also on the ballot were four other initiatives. Voters were narrowly defeating Proposition 73, which would bar abortions for minors without parental notification. The state Republican Party promoted Schwarzenegger's endorsement of the measure among evangelicals and other religious conservatives in a bid to boost the turnout of voters who would back the rest of his agenda.
By a wide margin, voters also rejected rival measures on prescription-drug discounts. The pharmaceutical industry spent $80 million on a campaign to defeat Proposition 79, a labor and consumer-group proposal, and pass its own alternative, Proposition 78.
Voters also turned down Proposition 80, a complex measure to revamp rules governing the electricity industry, according to early returns.
The initiative, sponsored by consumer advocates, tried to draw on public anger from the state's 2000 energy crisis, but polls suggested that it confused voters.
Overall, the special election called by Schwarzenegger to win public validation of his agenda sparked a campaign that became the costliest in California's history. All told, the "yes" and "no" campaigns on the eight initiatives spent more than $250 million.
Schwarzenegger put in $7.2 million of his own money. That brings his total personal spending on political endeavors to $25 million since he ran for governor in the 2003 recall race.
Former Gov. Wilson, a political mentor to Schwarzenegger, watched returns with the governor at the Hilton. "It took courage to do it," Wilson said of the special election. "Why run for office if you're not going to do anything with it?"
But state Senate leader Don Perata, a Democrat from Oakland, said Tuesday night that Schwarzenegger had "sowed the seeds of his own demise" by taking on the full gamut of public workers, who make up more than half of the union members in California.
"He got a lot of really bad advice," Perata said.
'Governor, you've already voted'
Schwarzenegger's Tuesday got off to an inauspicious start: When he arrived at a polling place near his mansion in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles, poll workers said he already had voted.
He hadn't.
A quick call to the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder office turned up the problem: an unexplained mix-up involving an early voting test. After voting — for real — Schwarzenegger flashed a thumbs-up sign but didn't speak with reporters.
The election followed a steep political slide for Schwarzenegger.
He sustained stratospheric popularity ratings in his first year as governor by maximizing his appeal as an outsider with a fresh take on the state capital. Facing a severe fiscal mess, he favored bipartisan compromise over pitched battles with Democrats and their union allies.
But late last year, he set in motion a cascade of political misfortunes by aligning himself more closely with the Republican Party, a costly move in a state that strongly favors Democrats. He championed the re-election of President Bush, widely disliked in California, in a prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention in New York. Days before the divisive national election, he campaigned for Bush in Ohio, a crucial swing state.
In California, meanwhile, Schwarzenegger led the GOP push to capture seats from Democrats in the Legislature, hoping to bolster his position there. Republicans failed to win any new seats, but the governor succeeded in antagonizing the Democrats who control the Assembly and Senate.
In January, he deepened his troubles by taking on publicemployee unions in his State of the State speech, further annoying the Democratic lawmakers who rely heavily on labor support. He demanded state spending limits and new districts for legislators, along with an overhaul of the state pension system. He threatened to call a special election if Democrats blocked his plans, saying voters would heed his call to "rise up" and reform Sacramento.
Los Angeles Times staff writers Noam N. Levey, Dan Morain, Jordan Rau, Hemmy So and Kelly-Anne Suarez and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
LOS ANGELES — In a sharp repudiation of Gov. Schwarzenegger, voters rejected his most sweeping ballot proposals Tuesday in an election that shattered his image as an agent of the popular will.
Voters turned down his proposals to curb state spending, redraw California's political map and lengthen the time it takes teachers to get tenure.
But with most of the votes counted, Californians were almost evenly divided on Proposition 75, his plan to require unions for public workers to get written consent from members before spending their dues money on politics.
The Republican governor had cast the four initiatives as central to his larger vision for restoring fiscal discipline to California and reforming its notoriously dysfunctional politics. The failure of Proposition 76, his spending restraints, and Proposition 77, his election district overhaul, represented a particularly sharp snub of the governor by California voters. It also threw into question his strategy of threatening lawmakers with statewide votes to get around them when they block his favored proposals.
On a Beverly Hills stage Tuesday night next to his wife, Maria Shriver, Schwarzenegger pledged "to find common ground" with his Democratic adversaries in Sacramento.
"The people of California are sick and tired of all the fighting, and they are sick and tired of all the negative TV ads," he told supporters at the Beverly Hilton. He did not concede, saying instead that "in a couple of days, the victories or the losses will be behind us."
Dogging the governor, as it has for months, was the California Nurses Association, which organized a luau party at a Trader Vic's in the same hotel. As Schwarzenegger's defeats mounted, giddy nurses formed a conga line and danced around the room, singing, "We're the mighty, mighty nurses."
At another labor celebration downtown at the Biltmore Hotel, cheers erupted as election returns rolled in.
"You have stood up to the power of the big money donors on the right," actor Warren Beatty, who campaigned alongside the nurses, told the crowd. "You have made this abuse of the special election backfire on the people who had the power to call it."
Labor unions spend $100M
For months, labor and its Democratic allies have called Schwarzenegger's agenda an assault on nurses, firefighters, teachers and other public employees. Labor's $100 million campaign against the governor this year has battered his public image as he prepares to seek re-election in 2006.
Also on the ballot were four other initiatives. Voters were narrowly defeating Proposition 73, which would bar abortions for minors without parental notification. The state Republican Party promoted Schwarzenegger's endorsement of the measure among evangelicals and other religious conservatives in a bid to boost the turnout of voters who would back the rest of his agenda.
By a wide margin, voters also rejected rival measures on prescription-drug discounts. The pharmaceutical industry spent $80 million on a campaign to defeat Proposition 79, a labor and consumer-group proposal, and pass its own alternative, Proposition 78.
Voters also turned down Proposition 80, a complex measure to revamp rules governing the electricity industry, according to early returns.
The initiative, sponsored by consumer advocates, tried to draw on public anger from the state's 2000 energy crisis, but polls suggested that it confused voters.
Overall, the special election called by Schwarzenegger to win public validation of his agenda sparked a campaign that became the costliest in California's history. All told, the "yes" and "no" campaigns on the eight initiatives spent more than $250 million.
Schwarzenegger put in $7.2 million of his own money. That brings his total personal spending on political endeavors to $25 million since he ran for governor in the 2003 recall race.
Former Gov. Wilson, a political mentor to Schwarzenegger, watched returns with the governor at the Hilton. "It took courage to do it," Wilson said of the special election. "Why run for office if you're not going to do anything with it?"
But state Senate leader Don Perata, a Democrat from Oakland, said Tuesday night that Schwarzenegger had "sowed the seeds of his own demise" by taking on the full gamut of public workers, who make up more than half of the union members in California.
"He got a lot of really bad advice," Perata said.
'Governor, you've already voted'
Schwarzenegger's Tuesday got off to an inauspicious start: When he arrived at a polling place near his mansion in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles, poll workers said he already had voted.
He hadn't.
A quick call to the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder office turned up the problem: an unexplained mix-up involving an early voting test. After voting — for real — Schwarzenegger flashed a thumbs-up sign but didn't speak with reporters.
The election followed a steep political slide for Schwarzenegger.
He sustained stratospheric popularity ratings in his first year as governor by maximizing his appeal as an outsider with a fresh take on the state capital. Facing a severe fiscal mess, he favored bipartisan compromise over pitched battles with Democrats and their union allies.
But late last year, he set in motion a cascade of political misfortunes by aligning himself more closely with the Republican Party, a costly move in a state that strongly favors Democrats. He championed the re-election of President Bush, widely disliked in California, in a prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention in New York. Days before the divisive national election, he campaigned for Bush in Ohio, a crucial swing state.
In California, meanwhile, Schwarzenegger led the GOP push to capture seats from Democrats in the Legislature, hoping to bolster his position there. Republicans failed to win any new seats, but the governor succeeded in antagonizing the Democrats who control the Assembly and Senate.
In January, he deepened his troubles by taking on publicemployee unions in his State of the State speech, further annoying the Democratic lawmakers who rely heavily on labor support. He demanded state spending limits and new districts for legislators, along with an overhaul of the state pension system. He threatened to call a special election if Democrats blocked his plans, saying voters would heed his call to "rise up" and reform Sacramento.
Los Angeles Times staff writers Noam N. Levey, Dan Morain, Jordan Rau, Hemmy So and Kelly-Anne Suarez and The Associated Press contributed to this report.