SACRAMENTO — After five months of failing to sway Democrats to his "year of reform," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has directed his political staff to prepare for a special election campaign that would attack the California Legislature and its union benefactors.
Escalating the governor's fight, chief political consultant Mike Murphy said Monday that Schwarzenegger would almost certainly call a special election that would include his package of reform initiatives, and possibly another measure that could disable the money-raising machine of public employee unions.
Murphy said the governor has asked him to conduct polling and voter focus groups on a so-called paycheck protection initiative that would require public employee unions to get permission from members before using their dues for political campaigns.
"Arnold has not touched the Legislature with a feather yet compared to what the real campaign will be," said Murphy, one of the governor's closest advisors. "It's a referendum on the governor versus the Legislature, and he will win."
With a deadline approaching to call a special election, Schwarzenegger is trying to refocus his efforts to pass a handful of voter initiatives that would strike at the heart of Democrats who control the Legislature and the public employee unions that fund their campaigns. The governor also is taking more control of the political efforts, Murphy said, now that his signature-gathering effort is complete.
The Republican governor unveiled his "year of reform" agenda during a confrontational State of the State address in January. Since then he has backed initiatives that would make it harder for teachers to receive tenure, take away the power of lawmakers to draw their own districts and install a government spending cap. He has until mid-June to call a special election, probably for Nov. 8.
If Schwarzenegger endorses the union-dues initiative, which is already headed for the ballot, it would pit the governor and his corporate contributors against Democrats and their union backers -- a politically defining moment for both sides.
"A special election is a very big deal for Arnold Schwarzenegger," said Elizabeth Garrett, director of the USC-Caltech Center for the Study of Law and Politics. "Going to a special election is his way to get back that reputation for succeeding with the people."
