Governor ready to fight back

OC Register

Editorial: The governor’s speech at the Saturday luncheon was long-awaited and much-needed.

Media analysts have chided Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for playing to his Republican base at the Republican convention in Anaheim over the weekend, rather than reaching out across party lines.

Those analysts are wrong. The governor’s speech at the Saturday luncheon was long-awaited and much-needed. His Republican supporters have been watching for weeks as the governor has been pummeled by labor unions who have accused him of everything short of stealing candy from children.

The governor’s speech was a signal that he is ready to fight back. Of course, a governor cannot win an initiative campaign with only the party base. But an activated base is necessary to win. He needs a group of core voters who will do the ground work.

On Saturday, he showed his characteristic good humor, waxing poetic about the good old days of his honeymoon period when everyone seemed to like him and what he was doing. “I don’t really care if I’m not a good politician,” he said. “But I do care about being a good governor.”

He reminded the gathered Republicans that the “only thing the recall changed was the governor.” He said that when he first became governor, the special interests approached him and said, “Just give us the money or else.” He considers the current campaign ads against him the “or else.”

The governor recalled his successes, including repeal of the car tax, repeal of driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants, fixing workers compensation, funding transportation improvements and balancing the budget without tax increases, albeit with bond financing. He kept the state out of bankruptcy and now he seeks permanent reform. The initiatives are part of that reform package.

His embrace of Prop. 75, the so-called Paycheck Protection Initiative, was the biggest news of the weekend, coming close to matching the news on Friday that he was running again for governor. Prop. 75 is simple, fair and gets to the heart of what is wrong with the state. Currently, public-sector unions can tap an almost unlimited pool of resources to mount political campaigns. Unions are hiking their dues to fund the current ads against the governor. Prop. 75 would simply require union members to give their OK before their dues are spent on political causes, which is likely to result in far lower funding levels for these campaigns. The governor had previously been neutral on the measure.

The governor also justified the reliance on initiatives as the means for reform. “The system cannot change itself so we the people must reform.” He also reiterated his support for Prop. 74, which would reform the teacher tenure system, Prop. 76, which would put some controls on government spending, and Prop. 77, which would reform the redistricting process so that legislators can no longer pick their own voters. The governor said the current districts are like “letting the poker player go through the deck and pick out his hand. Of course he is going to win.”

The unions who despise the governor because he threatens their dominance of the state government should not celebrate any victories quite yet.