SACRAMENTO — The broad policy changes that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled with a flourish in his State of the State speech in January have foundered amid a series of missteps, compromises and clashes with a well-organized opposition.
Portraying 2005 as the "year of reform," Schwarzenegger shocked the political establishment with a menu of far-reaching proposals: a new method of drawing legislative and congressional districts; spending restraints aimed at averting future deficits; an end to spiraling public pension costs; and better pay for the best teachers.
He said he would take his ideas straight to the voters in a special election if necessary.
One by one, however, his proposals have proved all but unsalable. "The whole special election ... and direct democracy is looking more complicated to his people than maybe a few months ago," said Dave Gilliard, a Republican political consultant.
Schwarzenegger remains publicly optimistic about his agenda and insists that when he is done, California's finances will be stronger, its political system more accountable.
He told a news conference Thursday: "I have said to you many times that it makes no difference to me if someone says, you know, 'This was not as good as it could have been, and he pulled it back.' ... What is important to me in the end is what's best for the state of California."
But in quiet forums -- closed-door meetings with opponents and private discussions between his aides and lawmakers -- the governor has retreated from the ambitious government overhaul he outlined.
A Flawed Initiative
The most dramatic instance came Thursday when the governor, facing the united opposition of public safety officials and families of slain police officers, abandoned an initiative that would have stripped death and disability benefits from the pension system, according to an analysis from the state attorney general's office.
Schwarzenegger admitted he had supported an initiative unacceptably flawed because of perceptions that it would eliminate such benefits for deserving families of future public employees.
He had been using the measure to gain leverage in negotiations with lawmakers over his plan to curb pension costs. Now that club is gone, and Schwarzenegger is scrambling to reach a deal with lawmakers.
In his State of the State speech, he said California "must move" from a pension fund that provided guaranteed benefits to one modeled after the private sector 401(k) accounts that hinge on stock market returns.
