Pete Wilson with Biceps (from email)

[Sequoia]

Cut and pasted from a email:

September 23, 2004

TO: Political Reporters
FROM: Steven Maviglio, Assembly Democrats, 916.492.4680
RE: Pete Wilson with Biceps

It sure didn't take long into the bill signing season for Gov. Schwarzenegger to morph into Pete Wilson with biceps. Was it the high-profile elbow rubbing with George W. and the right wingers at the GOP jamboree in New York? The millions of dollars in pay-to-play special interest money he's taken during bill signing season? Or was it spending time at fundraisers for the losing campaigns of Senate hopeful Bill Jones and Assembly candidate Dean Gardner (Assembly District 30)?

Whatever it was, the masquerade of being "bipartisan" and "the people's governor" is over.

"His support among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents in a Democrat-learning state is fragile," Mark Baldassare, director of the PPIC poll, told the Oakland Tribune today. And the poll was taken before the Governor pressed ahead with an agenda that puts him in the mold of a standard issue Chamber of Commerce Republican.

As the Ventura County Star put it yesterday. The "governor who came into office as a political unknown is revealing himself to be a partisan politician. In short, he's demonstrating that he's a Republican."

Just to recap his recent moves that will alienate large chunks of the California electorate, particularly Democrats and Independent voters:
Veto of the minimum wage. Strongly supported by Democratic and independent voters by whopping margins, this veto also will alienate blue collar constituencies and ethnic groups. "The veto will give legislative Democrats the opportunity this fall to say this about the fellow who called them "girlie men": (When it comes to the economic well-being of low-wage workers, Schwarzenegger doesn't want to pump them up," according to The Ventura County Star, 9/22/04.)

Veto of legislation extending maternity benefits for women. One of the top priorities of the women's caucus, this veto (SB 1555) will further harm his standing among women voters, a constituency he already has had his troubles with. Democrats plan to emphasize this veto in radio ads and mailings in the weeks ahead.

Expected veto of Assembly Majority Leader Dario Frommer's prescription drug bill. This veto will draw a sharp rebuke from the state's senior citizen and low-income advocacy groups. Seniors vote in disproportionate numbers, and Democrats will capitalize on this veto with a vengence.

Veto and double-cross on the undocumented citizens driver's license bill further damages his standing in the Latino community. Already, according to the PPIC poll released today, 51 percent of Latinos disapprove of his performance, the highest number of any demographic group in the state.

Endorsement of the Prop 72 (health insurance), hurting his standing among the voters that give the initiative a 45-32 percent edge in the PPIC poll. Both Democrats (55%) and Independents (49%) favor it. Interestingly, one in five Democrats said that if the governor endorses the NO vote, as he has, they are more likely to favor the measure.

Declaration of war on Bay Area voters with his threats to cut off funding for the Bay Bridge Construction and deal to build a casino five times the size of a Costco near an already congested highway. The PPIC poll recorded an eight point drop in the Bay Area, a sharp drop mirrored in only one other part of the state.

Advocating abolishing the Air Resources Board, loosening forestry regulations, coziness with power generators, and anti-environmental appointments to the Pesticide Board and other agencies have environmentalists questioning the governor's commitments to them.


These vetoes and actions -- all popular among Democrats and decline-to-state voters -- will hamper his ability to help Republican Assembly candidates that are also on the wrong side of all of these issues. Rest assured that Democrats will remind voters exactly who is on their side in the coming weeks.

[cheshire]

1. Again I'm ashamed to live here. Makes me want to leave and I love it here.