Sacramento — Maybe for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this year was inevitable, a preordained calamity written in the stars.
Sure, Schwarzenegger created most of his own havoc in 2005. He reaped what he sowed. But much of his trouble may have been fated.
I was reminded of this the other day while glancing at a column I wrote exactly one year ago when the governor's job approval ratings were in the stratospheric mid-60s. It began:
"If history were prophecy, [Schwarzenegger] now would be heading blindly into a dark chasm of trouble. Practically every California governor for nearly half a century has been afflicted with the sophomore jinx. Politically, they've tended to sail smoothly through their freshman years, then smack into a storm, if not an outright typhoon."
What Schwarzenegger plowed obliviously into definitely can be categorized as a typhoon, whipped up by public employees after he recklessly attacked teachers, police, firefighters and nurses unions.
All of his proposed "reform" initiatives were rejected by voters. He raised and blew roughly $50 million in campaign donations, mainly from special interests, and wasted $54 million in taxpayers' money on an unpopular special election. His job approval ratings plummeted into the mid-30s.
But a review of history may add perspective.
Gov. Pat Brown was elected by a landslide, but in his sophomore year, 1960, he was dubbed "a tower of jelly" for trying to save notorious "Red Light Bandit" Caryl Chessman -- another death row author -- from the gas chamber. At that summer's Democratic National Convention in L.A., Brown was tagged a "bumbler" for failing to control California's splintered delegation. His job ratings tumbled.
The derisive labels stuck for the rest of Brown's career, although he grew into a great governor, a "builder" Schwarzenegger now talks about emulating.
Celebrity Govs. Ronald Reagan and Jerry Brown caught Potomac fever during their sophomore years and ran lamely, prematurely for president. Reagan was humbled, but soon recovered. Brown never did fully, earning the image of ambitious opportunist, although he was resurrected into a new political life as Oakland's mayor.
Gov. George Deukmejian was surprised by an embezzlement scandal in his sophomore year, but deftly handled it and endured little popularity loss.
