Schwarzenegger is finally starting to get some press like a real politician, not as a movie-star curiosity. For instance: His open mind San Francisco Chronicle editorial 01/16/05.
Schwarzenegger fails to see contradictions between his populist-reformer rhetoric and the reality of the way he is governing. He excoriates the "irresponsible" Sacramento politicians who have been spending more than the state takes in, but his own 2005-06 budget does exactly that: achieving "balance" by borrowing an additional $3 billion and deferring $1.3 billion in voter-required spending on transportation. He cheerily explains that he is slowly weaning the state from deficit spending, and then will force it to "live responsibly after that."
And he's not getting the hero's press in his native country that he has previously enjoyed: Arnie Outrages Austrians Der Spiegel (Germany) 01/24/05.
Despite his famous promise, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger may not be back after all. To his home country of Austria that is. By allowing the execution of 61-year-old Donald Beardslee in California on Wednesday, Schwarzenegger may have violated the Austrian law which prohibits the application of the death penalty. Now the country's Green Party is attempting to strip him of his Austrian passport.
Saying that Schwarzenegger's rubber-stamping of the execution, the first in California in three years, "massively damaged the image of his home country," a founding member of the Austrian Green Party, Peter Pilz, has formally requested that the country's Interior Ministry launch an investigation of the former action-movie star. He also demanded that his passport be seized and said that he is no longer worthy of being Austrian. As Austria's most famous export, Schwarzenegger has a deep influence on the image of his native land abroad, Pilz said, and that image should not be tarnished by someone who supports state-sponsored murder. A provision in Austrian law allows people to be stripped of their citizenship if they damage the image of Austria in the service of another country.
The following three articles are all from the San Francisco Chronicle. But they give an idea of the ways in which Schwarzenegger's glamorous air is wearing a little thinner these days.
Governor may trip if he goes to voters by Tony Quinn San Francisco Chronicle 01/16/05.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is itching to take the steps he outlined earlier this month in his State of the State message to the voters. He's at his best as a political campaigner -- he proved that in both the 2004 primary and general election by persuading the voters to follow his lead on contested ballot measures. His political team is convinced the only way he can achieve major change is to go to the people, so the likelihood he'll call a 2005 special election.
The problem is, however, that the governor does not control the ballot. Measures qualified for the next regular election would appear on any special election ballot. Schwarzenegger wants to battle over budget reforms, state spending caps and new legislative districts; the last thing he wants right now is a battle over illegal aliens and driver licenses.
But he may not be able to avoid it. A group calling itself Save Our License and led by the California Republican Assembly is circulating a constitutional amendment to prohibit illegal aliens from obtaining driver licenses, college fee exemptions, or any other public benefits not required by federal law. ...
That Schwarzenegger's political team does not want this on the ballot goes without saying. It would mean a rerun of 1994's Proposition 187, and although that measure passed handily, it turned a growing Latino vote strongly against Republicans and helped lead to their dismal showings in the 1998 and 2000 elections. (my emphasis)
When Scwarzenegger ran for governor, his biggest pledge to Latino voters was on the issue of undocumented immigrant driver's licenses, which he said he would support. it's an important issue in itself, but the symbolism is also particularly important for Latino voters. Schwarzenegger sandbagged them on this one. And an election like this would be a big reminder of that.
Pumping him up by Carl Marinucci San Francisco Chronicle 01/16/05.
The headline writer used a common bad habit of referring in a cutesy way to Schwarzenegger's movie career. But the article is about some ethical questions raised by the governor's formal connection to two body-building magazines.
Expect governor to be taught a political lesson by San Francisco Chronicle 01/23/05
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is ready to test his popularity against the California Teachers Association in a fight that's likely to rival any battle the movie-star-turned-politician fought during his action hero days. And in this script, he might not finish as the winner.
For years, California governors have challenged the teachers' union, only to be steamrolled by the educators' well-organized and very well-funded political machine.
An important bit of California history is also given in this article:
The California Teachers Association was formed in 1863, but for more than a century its leaders could do little more than lobby local districts and the state on behalf of its members. By law, the association was able to "meet and confer'' with school boards about teacher pay and working conditions, but had little choice but to accept what they were given.
That changed in 1975, when Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Rodda Act, which required school districts to bargain with employee groups. Almost overnight, the teachers group changed from a professional association of educators into a labor union representing dues-paying members.
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