SACRAMENTO — His ultimatums rebuffed by lawmakers, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday ordered a Nov. 8 special election that could trim the power of California's Legislature and dampen the influence of the public employee unions that help finance its Democratic majority.
Along with Schwarzenegger's agenda, the ballot is expected to include initiatives that, if approved, would change the way minors obtain abortions, electricity is sold and prescription drug prices are set.
But at its heart are three measures that Schwarzenegger hopes will alter -- in his favor -- the way Sacramento operates. The centerpiece initiative would give him much more power to cut state expenditures, a change he said was essential for California's fiscal health.
"Without reform, we are destined to relive the past all over again: $22-billion deficits, higher car taxes and the threat of bankruptcy," Schwarzenegger said in a 3 1/2 -minute address broadcast from his Capitol office. The speech was bypassed by many television stations consumed by the Michael Jackson acquittal.
Coming a year before he is up for reelection, the speech was a blunt acknowledgment of how much Schwarzenegger's relationships with state lawmakers and many groups have eroded in the 1 1/2 years since he took office.
Other initiatives he endorses would delay teachers from gaining tenure -- a slap at one of Sacramento's most powerful interests -- and stop legislators from designing districts that ease their reelections.
Schwarzenegger had demanded in January that the Legislature act on his proposals, but Democrats dismissed them as partisan power grabs that would not improve the lives of Californians.
"I still hope the Legislature will join me, and we can go to the ballot together with a bipartisan plan," Schwarzenegger said in his speech. "But one way or another, with the people's help, there will be action this year."
The election promises to be an expensive bare-knuckles fight between the two most powerful lobbies in Sacramento: the business interests and Republican activists that have been filling Schwarzenegger's campaign coffers all year, and the unions that are at risk of losing much of their political clout if the governor succeeds.
In anticipation, the California Teachers Assn. raised dues over the weekend to collect $50 million more from members. The state prison guards union has moved to raise its dues as well, hoping to gather $18 million extra. Schwarzenegger and his allies are preparing to spend more than $40 million.
