Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger addresses the California Republican Party convention in Sacramento last February in this NWN video. Then he gave a survive-the-moment speech. Tonight he addresses the party convention in Indian Wells.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks tonight at the convention of the troubled California Republican Party in Indian Wells. Will he be more candid about the party’s declining fortunes tonight than he was at the Sacramento convention last February?
Seven months ago, when Schwarzenegger addressed a ballroom full of activists at the hotel he lives in when he’s in the Capitol, the former action superstar’s goal seemed to be to get in and get out as painlessly as possible. It was five weeks after his post-partisan second Inaugural Address, which was hailed nationally and internationally but hated by the hyperpartisan types who narrowly took control of the state party apparatus at the Sacramento convention.
A lot’s happened since then.
The hyperpartisans, centered around a few blogs whose readers have proved, let’s say, remarkably reticent, i.e., there are virtually no comments — quite curious for political activists — and a small faction of state senators from gerrymandered districts, have provided a steady drumbeat of attacks on Schwarzenegger’s popular centrist agenda. This, despite the fact that, as I’ve reported for the past year, polls consistently show Schwarzenegger’s policies on the infrastructure, the environment, health care, minimum wage, and so forth to be popular with most actual Republican voters. But if you think, as the hyperpartisans do, that the minimum wage is socialism and that the climate isn’t changing, then you don’t worry about such things.
Meanwhile, the state party, as NWN revealed, has run up a huge operating deficit since February. State party chairman Ron Nehring, a longtime employee and consultant for controversial Beltway conservative power broker Grover Norquist, has had a bigger foreign travel itinerary than the globe-trotting Schwarzenegger, also revealed here. And in addition to harboring Schwarzenegger’s hardcore critics, the party’s executive board voted to exclude independent voters from participating in next February’s presidential primary. The Democrats, needless to say, are happy to have this most important new group of voters — fastest growing in the state — participate in their primary.
The other, much more dramatic development, was the lengthy state budget stall engineered by state Senator Tom McClintock, a four-time loser for statewide office, and several others. In the turbulent politics of the minority party caucus in the state Senate, a small group, which for months refused to say which budget cuts it wanted — as a matter of purported strategy — held up the state budget for a month. During that time, most legislators were out of town, as the Assembly, having passed a bipartisan budget, took its summer recess. While they were gone, the right-wing Republican holdouts fancied themselves in the fashion of the recent hit movie 300, as the Spartans who held the line against the Persian hordes.
Actually, however, as soon as the “hordes” returned, these Spartans folded. When the Democrats returned a few weeks ago, the budget stall quickly ended, with the holdouts getting the same deal they could have had a month earlier.
There’s much for Schwarzenegger to deal with, if he is so inclined. As there has been for some time. It was clear when he was elected in the 2003 recall election that California had both an ultra-government faction and an anti-government faction, and that both were out of control. The former is harbored in the Democratic Party, of course, and the latter in the Republican Party, an institution badly in need of becoming acquainted with the 21st century. The curious events of this year make that assessment even more timely.
So Schwarzenegger may not be repeating his experience of the February convention.
There, five weeks after his “post-partisan” second inaugural address, the former action superstar was politely if tepidly received by the mostly conservative activists and politicians attending the dinner honoring outgoing state party chairman Duf Sundheim, the effective moderately conservative Republican Silicon Valley lawyer. The lukewarm response from a crowd chock full of hyperpartisans was no surprise because Schwarzenegger actually gave the audience relatively little partisan red meat.
Schwarzenegger then called himself “a proud Republican” in the vein of being “A proud member of the party of Abraham Lincoln and the values of everyone having an equal opportunity to reach the American dream. A proud member of the party of Teddy Roosevelt and the values of protecting the environment and our economy. And a proud member of the party of Ronald Reagan and the values of individual responsibility and personal freedom.”
The many times Mr. Universe ran through what he sees as the accomplishments of his administration — a growing economy, greatly improved budget situation, keeping a lid on taxes. And his massive infrastructure bonds plan worked out with Democratic legislative leaders that passed last November after drawing continual fire from the hyperpartisan right. But it was only when he talked about his plan to help alleviate the prison overcrowding crisis by sending some prisoners out of state that he brought the crowd roaring to life.
Intriguingly, and to his credit, Schwarzenegger then segued into a pitch for his comprehensive health care plan, which includes employer mandates to offer health insurance or pay into an insurance pool. Which, however, Schwarzenegger didn’t mention directly, instead pledging to bring down what he calls the “hidden tax” of unreimbursed care to the uninsured. He reminded the audience that over 70% of Californians said they favored his approach in a recent poll, along with a big majority of Republicans. Then he went into the environment, discussing his fight against greenhouse gas emissions and his pleasure about winning a half billion dollar grant from BP, the former British Petroleum, to establish the first biofuels and alternative fuels research institute at the University of California at Berkeley. To be sure, not the normal fare for these conventions.
Schwarzenegger accomplished his objective. He survived. There were no boos, no catcalls, no demonstrations, and not much news.
But to survive is not to lead, and this governor has done a mostly good job of leading on other fronts.
If the California Republican Party apparatus is not ready for the 21st century, perhaps it is ready for the 20th century. The hyperpartisans constantly cite Ronald Reagan, without really understanding the history of Ronald Reagan. As I confirmed when my column on Ronald Reagan’s birthday this year won the “Golden Pen Award” on the right-wing Flash Report. Perhaps they just liked the Reagan videos I ran on NWN.
Here is something Reagan, then the new and “surprisingly” pragmatic governor of California, said to a party group 40 years ago, speaking of the dangers of hyperpartisanship in attempting to appeal to the voters: “Because this is the great common denominator – this dedication to the belief in man’s aspirations as an individual – we cannot offer them a narrow sectarian party in which all must swear allegiance to prescribed commandments. Such a party can be highly disciplined, but it does not win elections. This kind of party soon disappears in a blaze of glorious defeat, and it never puts into practice its basic tenets, no matter how noble they may be.”
The blaze of glorious defeat, no matter how actually inglorious, as in the case of the state budget stall — which resulted in yet another victory over the right-wing by its bete noire, Jerry Brown — is what lights the path ahead for the hyperpartisans. Since California needs two credible political parties in order to succeed, Schwarzenegger and others need to bring this party back from the brink.
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We are going to collapse fiscally if we do not reform the state public employees pension system. I support Keith Richman’s initiative.
Then you will contribute to the victory of the next Democratically elected President and Governor. Thank You in advance.
Along with water policy, health care and energy policy, pension reform is one of those long festering issues that the Gordian knot of interest group politics has kept meaningful reform off the agenda. Matt is absolutely correct, and so is carole w.
Along with water policy, health care and energy policy, pension reform is one of those long festering issues that the Gordian knot of interest group politics has kept meaningful reform off the agenda. Matt is absolutely correct, and so is carole w.
Politics is all about knuckle dragging management.
Shutting down aquaducts to save a Delta Smelt fish is ridiculous. Mr. Brown’s suits to force city planning proposals to help cool the world are also ridiculous. Both of these seem designed to bring out the knuckle-dragging comments from Republicans where they sound like they advocate hating the environment. The reason to oppose Mr. Brown’s suits is not because global warming doesn’t exist. It is because, regardless, the affect they have on the total amount of C02 in the atmosphere will be indistinguishable from zero.
The reason to be against the stem cell research is $6 billion is way too much to spend developing magic potions. Like snake oil, these potions are promised to cure everything imaginable and unimaginable – except for the stratospheric charges that show up on today’s hospital bills. The real reason we have this junk is it forces Republicans to show they are knuckle-draggers on abortion.
Schwarzenegger’s recent comments to CRP were way too kind.
re: Richman’s pension reform:
State salaries, particularly for professional, managerial and highly skilled classifications, are markedly below market. DPA’s own studies, while skewed of course to enhance their bargaining position, nonetheless bear that out, as do studies and reports by Little Hoover and Arnold’s big blow up the boxes effort which fizzled and the name of which I forget at the moment.
While salaries sorta suck, the tradeoff, and the most powerful recruitment and retention tool the state has, is the safety net benefits of retirement and health care. Whack those severely and the state will have horrific problems recruiting and retaining.
What is needed, but is probably even less viable politically, is a comprehensive overhaul of the public employment paradigm, which is driven by the lowest common denominator. Public employees are perceived as less productive than private sector employees because the civil service system makes it near impossible to prune deadwood, and punishes rather than rewards managers who try. The perception that public employees are not “worth” as much as their private sector counterparts is quietly accepted as a good reason why they should be less compensated. As a result the productive and talented are undercompensated and the slackers are overcompensated. Civil service imposes a “one size fits all” template which enforces this: annual “merit” step increases within a class are de facto automatic because SPB makes it excruciatingly painful for managers to dare to deny a “merit” step.
Richman’s proposal, taken alone, would simply deter the productive and talented from undertaking or sticking with public employment, and make it only attractive to those who can’t do better elsewhere. To Grover’s minions who seek to drown the system in the bathtub, that may be fine. To those who don’t want their bridges to fall in the river, that should be cause for some concern. I believe the right answer is to maintain or improve total *potential* compensation levels, while reintroducing true MERIT principles as a condition of the higher ranks of compensation and restoring the ability of managers to prune deadwood. It may be that pension compensation needs to be transitioned to defined contribution, but those contributions together with salaries and health benefits must be substantial enough to at least equal the value of what is currently offered. If you want quality people you’ve got to offer a competitive compensation package and quit punishing the productive for the slackery of the unproductive, and instead focus upon pay for performance restraint upon overcompensation of underperformers.
But reforming civil service to rationalize the relationship between performance and compensation would take more political courage than I have ever seen displayed on the block, so I’d expect everything to stay SNAFU.
Are your public pensions of out of control or not?
Wilbur,
I remember saying this once before…
I worked for a large county, the administration incorrectly thought that if they two tiered safety employees,they would reduce costs. I was stunned at how quick, the negative results appeared. Overtime skyrocketed due to open positions. The new two tiered(cheaper) employees stayed around long enough to be trained and then left to find a better job with higher compensation. The results were clear, someone made a uneducated error and the taxpayers picked up the tab.
Does Richman earn a salary from organizations by creating these petitions? Does he himself collect a pension or health benefits. Someone needs to address this issue. If any taxpayer money is spent, via elections or state issued pens and paper…the money should come from his pension and or bank accounts. I am getting tired of voting on the same old regurgitated issues every other election cycle. Maybe one of the fine attorney’s on this web site should write a petition that FINES politicos for repetitive failed measured that are similar to one another.
Wilbur every time you comment , I learn something new about Ca state politics that pushes my moderation to the left.
Have a lovely Sunday.
“The corruption,the spending out of control, the lack of ability to handle Katrina,our failures in Iraq”…
“We lost the trust and confidence of the American people”….
“And we’ve got to get it back”
This from the LaTimes article taken from McCain’s speech this weekend.
Good Luck, I have no confidence in the Reeps ability to lead especially in California.
I heard some “knuckle dragging” up there. lol
Jonas, the state’s pension fund is quite well funded and just fine. Some local governments got themselves way in over their heads by making promises to labor that they couldn’t/wouldn’t responsibly fund. The only problem the state really has re: the PERS pension fund is that it currently has fairly high employer contributions because prior governors and legislatures raided (shortchanged) the fund rather than have the guts to raise taxes or cut elsewhere. The demagogues always forget to mention that for some reason.
Thank you, Carole. What you describe is precisely what I would expect to result from implementation of Richman’s grand plan.
Richman screwed up Schwarzenegger’s pension reform in ’05.
There is a certain concern about how this gets paid for …
>carole w :
Wilbur,
I remember saying this once before…
I worked for a large county, the administration incorrectly thought that if they two tiered safety employees,they would reduce costs. I was stunned at how quick, the negative results appeared. Overtime skyrocketed due to open positions. The new two tiered(cheaper) employees stayed around long enough to be trained and then left to find a better job with higher compensation. The results were clear, someone made a uneducated error and the taxpayers picked up the tab.
I suppose you could say that taking away benefits from the survivors of cops and firefighters killed on the job was something of a mistake …
>Capitol Boy :
Richman screwed up Schwarzenegger’s pension reform in ’05.
Sep 9, 2007 03:17 PM
Of course, those jobs are far more secure than private sector jobs, as I’m sure you’re aware.
>Wilbur :
re: Richman’s pension reform:
State salaries, particularly for professional, managerial and highly skilled classifications, are markedly below market. DPA’s own studies, while skewed of course to enhance their bargaining position, nonetheless bear that out, as do studies and reports by Little Hoover and Arnold’s big blow up the boxes effort which fizzled and the name of which I forget at the moment.
Of course, those jobs are far more secure than private sector jobs, as I’m sure you’re aware.
>Wilbur :
re: Richman’s pension reform:
State salaries, particularly for professional, managerial and highly skilled classifications, are markedly below market. DPA’s own studies, while skewed of course to enhance their bargaining position, nonetheless bear that out, as do studies and reports by Little Hoover and Arnold’s big blow up the boxes effort which fizzled and the name of which I forget at the moment.
Well, there was the murder thing, plus the founding of the one of the bloodiest gangs in America …
>toddsaed :
The Governator approved the execution of a black man who had written childrens books only because he did not repent of his sixties radicalism, the authoritarian follower is not comfortable thinking, real humans are.
Sep 8, 2007 06:29 PM
In an economy in which there is little job security and unions are weak. You’re kidding.
>While salaries sorta suck, the tradeoff, and the most powerful recruitment and retention tool the state has, is the safety net benefits of retirement and health care. Whack those severely and the state will have horrific problems recruiting and retaining.
Through magical realism?
>Matt from California :
Arnold could talk about health care and the environment all he wants, but he has to do it the Republican way without increased governmental intervention.
It’s not even a serious question. Those folks have no clue, and less real interest.
>Unfortunately Arnold and the hyperpartisans at the Flashreport and the CRA have some self discovery they need to realize before the Republican Party can succeed again.
Sep 8, 2007 07:16 AM
Actually, the Flash Report began and was developed during Jon Fleischman’s tenure as the PR man for Orange County’s sheriff.
>Dana :
This all goes back to one of the questions I have posed several times–are the Republicans about electing officials or pushing an ideology?
The thing about Spence and Fleischman and other true believer types is they have never had to govern. Plus McClintock and other reighthueing legislators have districts created to preserve incumbents.
… Just to be clear, the Flash Report was the product of, wait for it, a public employee.
>Dana :
This all goes back to one of the questions I have posed several times–are the Republicans about electing officials or pushing an ideology?
The thing about Spence and Fleischman and other true believer types is they have never had to govern. Plus McClintock and other reighthueing legislators have districts created to preserve incumbents.
Considering that the original version of the song was about Jerry Brown, and the remake version is about Arnold Schwarzenegger, it’s getting to be about time to program it on NWN.
It being “California Uber Alles.”
>Auros :
Capitol Boy: “Democrats Uber ALLES!”
Brasky: “A lot of DK fans on this blog.”
And for them, we have:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iNh6BVZgJ0
I’ll get into this tomorrow.
>Barbara :
very interesting piece Mr. Bradley. The only thing that I would add is that Arnold should take some responsibility for this disaster presently called the California RP. I expected him to do a “Sarkozy” when he was originally voted in. As a moderate non ideological Republican, I expected him to suround himself with moderate non ideological problem solving Reeps. Instead, he hired nothing but former Wilson employees…and no one can call Wilson’s administration terribly productive or creative.
Is that all Brown and Schwarzeneger have in common?
The dead Kennedys sound like screeching.
That might be why I’ve put off playing the videos.
That might be why I’ve put off playing the videos.
Perhaps.
>Ann :
Is that all Brown and Schwarzeneger have in common?
Sep 9, 2007 08:54 PM
Incidentally, NWN passed 39,000 comments sometime in the past week.
Incidentally, NWN passed 39,000 comments sometime in the past week.
“39,000 comments”
Then we are past due for a NWN’s party…
Ah, but with a couple additional career developments, announcements to follow, party planner doesn’t look like it’s in the cards.
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