SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is preparing an assault on the institutional power of California legislators after a month of contorted state budget negotiations in which his clout was questioned and his ideas were rejected.
The Republican governor may call a special election next year asking voters to, among other things, convert the Legislature to part-time status, strip legislators of their power to draw their own districts and restrict campaign contributions, his spokesman said Tuesday.
Schwarzenegger spokesman Rob Stutzman said this month's contentious budget negotiations hardened the governor's resolve to move forward with all or part of this plan, although a final decision has not been made. Stutzman compared the governor to a global superpower much like the U.S. -- compassionate and benevolent at times -- but "if you cross it, it's fierce."
Schwarzenegger's intentions are often difficult to gauge -- he occasionally mixes threats with flattery and is well known for trying to get a psychological advantage over his adversaries. His new resolve to restructure the Legislature may be leverage he can use in exchange for cooperation on other issues, such as his plan to revise the state's bureaucracies.
Schwarzenegger emerged from a meeting late Monday with legislative leaders striking an optimistic note that "by working together -- Democrats and Republicans -- we can make the impossible happen." The governor celebrated the accord by offering a glass of schnapps as a congratulatory toast.
But negotiations over the now-$105.3-billion budget -- expected to be approved today by the Assembly and Thursday by the state Senate -- appear to have renewed the governor's resolve to change the structure of government, much as he promised during the recall campaign but set aside.
During budget talks this month with Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez -- a former boxer and Los Angeles labor activist serving his first term in elective office -- the governor made it clear that he felt Nunez was challenging him. Schwarzenegger's attitude was that he would "teach this punk a lesson," according to a person familiar with the conversations.
In an interview earlier this week, Nunez said Schwarzenegger's weekend road show in which he cast legislative opponents as "girlie men" amounted to "a turning point in his tenure as governor." To that point, Nunez said, Schwarzenegger had shown "strength that comes from bringing out the best in people -- that's what it means to clean up Sacramento."
