SACRAMENTO -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger came to office 16 months ago determined to shake the political system to the core, but few envisioned the boldness of his ambition. Today, he is girding for what could be the most contentious political confrontation the nation's most populous state has seen in years.
The battle, between the Republican governor and a coalition of public-sector unions and their Democratic allies in the legislature, might yet be avoided. Schwarzenegger maintained last week that his door is open to negotiation on an agenda that includes political, budgetary and education reforms.
But during an interview in his spacious Capitol office, the celebrity governor gave every indication that he relishes the opportunity to defeat, not compromise with, his opponents. When it was suggested that Schwarzenegger sounded as though he would be disappointed if a face-off were averted by compromise, he responded without hesitation. "There's something very attractive about it," he said. "You're absolutely right."
What is unfolding here has all the earmarks of a classic struggle, with clear national implications. The outcome will affect the future of the state, the legacy of the actor-turned-politician, the balance of power in Sacramento and possibly the politics of other states.
Schwarzenegger casts the contest in the same way he framed his gubernatorial campaign during the state's recall election in 2003. "They're going to spend $200 million this year to take me out and to keep the status quo," he said. "They're going to fight for the status quo and for their power, and the people in the end will make the decision: Do we want to be ruled by the unions and by the special interests of California, or do we want to go and take the power back?"
The governor said the battle is not Democrats vs. Republicans. But his opponents see him and his agenda as part of a partisan and ideological battle that echoes the priorities of President Bush and the Republicans in Washington. Schwarzenegger, they say, has turned from conciliator to partisan by embracing an economic agenda championed by wealthy corporate interests. They contend that he turned increasingly partisan after candidates he backed lost a series of legislative elections last November.
"He is at his best when he is trying to bring people together, like he did last year," said Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D). "But that rhetoric has changed. He now has shifted over far more to the Republican mantra of dig in your heels and fight for those things which ideologically position the party to be able to motivate its base."
The battle started in January, when Schwarzenegger used his State of the State address to aim a series of thunderbolts at the political establishment. He spent his first years grappling with California's budget deficit, which remains severe despite a rebounding economy. In January, rather than keeping his focus strictly on the budget, he opened up a multi-front war, to the surprise and consternation of his opponents.
Schwarzenegger is challenging the status quo and the Democrats' coalition on several fronts. He wants a rigid limit on state expenditures that would impose across-the-board cuts when spending exceeds revenue. He proposes to change the state pension system by replacing defined benefits with individual accounts for newly hired workers, patterned after private-sector 401(k) accounts and in the spirit of Bush's Social Security plan.
He is defying the education establishment and the California Teachers Association by backing merit pay for teachers and a change in tenure requirements. He is at war with the California Nurses Association over staffing ratios at hospitals. And in a battle other states are watching closely, Schwarzenegger wants to take the power to draw legislative and congressional district boundaries away from the legislature and put an independent panel of judges in charge of redistricting.
Schwarzenegger says the proposals are needed to fix the structural deficit facing the state and the way politics are practiced in Sacramento. His critics say they will do nothing of the sort and accuse him of lacking the courage to do what two of his GOP predecessors, Ronald Reagan and Pete Wilson, did when they were in Sacramento, which was to raise taxes to overcome deep deficits.
Schwarzenegger disagrees. "No one has ever raised taxes and solved the problem, nor will we solve the problem," he said. "We don't have a revenue problem; we have a spending problem."
Critics say the governor is avoiding the budget deficit, and even some of his allies question why he decided to take on so many fights. Schwarzenegger said he was elected "to create reform, to fix the problem, fix the broken system," not to move slowly. "Remember the greatest things that you can accomplish, the more risks you take," he said. "It's directly related to risk. Everything like this -- investments and everything else. If you're willing to take risks, then the upside can be spectacular."
Schwarzenegger has roused widespread opposition. Now when he travels the state, in addition to crowds of enthusiastic supporters, he is met with protesters: nurses, teachers, firefighters, police and correctional officers, PTA leaders. Schwarzenegger labels them all special interests and inflamed matters when he dismissed the protests of nurses at a women's event last December. "The special interests don't like me in Sacramento because I am always kicking their butts," he said.
