Schwarzenegger Is Dealt a Stinging Rebuke by Voters
By JOHN M. BRODER - NYTIMES
Published: November 9, 2005
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 9 - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was dealt a stinging rebuke on Tuesday by voters who rejected all four special election ballot initiatives that were the basis of his efforts to change the balance of power in Sacramento.
Voters turned down an initiative to cap state spending and grant sweeping new budget powers to the governor and a plan to transfer the power to draw legislative districts from the Legislature, which is controlled by Democrats, to a panel of retired judges also appeared to be failing. They also rejected Schwarzenegger-backed proposals to make it more difficult for public school teachers to win tenure and to force unions to get members' written permission before using their dues for political campaigns.
After the costliest ballot campaign in state history it was clear that the once highly popular movie-star-turned-governor had been politically humbled.
Californians also voted down four other ballot proposals that were not part of the Schwarzenegger agenda. They involved parental notification of teenagers seeking abortions, a plan to impose new regulations on electric utilities, and competing proposals for prescription drug discounts.
Mr. Schwarzenegger staked his time, his prestige and several million dollars of his personal fortune on the ballot campaign that he said was needed to fix a dysfunctional political system. The governor must now return to Sacramento and try to re-establish ties with Democratic leaders in the Legislature with whom he has been engaged in a bitter election campaign lasting for months.
Mr. Schwarzenegger appeared before all the results were in Tuesday evening and while not conceding defeat, he said he would meet on Thursday with Democrats and try to find new solutions to the state's political and economic problems.
"There is much, much work that has to be done," he said.
Mr. Schwarzenegger campaigned tirelessly for his ballot initiatives, particularly Proposition 76, which would give the governor power to unilaterally cut spending when revenues did not meet projections, and Proposition 77, a redistricting plan intended to break the hammerlock Democrats have had for a decade on the California Legislature and its Congressional delegation.
Both initiatives were losing by substantial margins with half the vote counted and The Associated Press declared that both had been defeated.
Two other proposals he supported, 74 and 75, would extend the probationary period for new public school teachers to five years from two years, and would force unions to seek written permission from members before their dues could be used for political campaigns.
Three other initiatives on the California ballot - two measures on drug discounts and a plan to impose new regulations on electric utilities - all failed by sizeable margins.
The governor's popularity has slumped in recent months because of his own political missteps and as a relentless barrage of critical political advertisements filling the airwaves. Mr. Schwarzenegger has said he intends to seek re-election next November.
In Ohio, voters soundly rejected a package of election revision measures pushed by Democrats after President Bush's narrow and disputed re-election victory in the state last year.
The four failed measures, backed by labor unions, government reform organizations and the Internet-fueled activist group MoveOn.org, would have stripped the secretary of state's office of the authority to conduct elections and made it much easier to vote absentee up to a month before Election Day. The package also included strict new limits on campaign contributions and the creation of an independent panel to redraw legislative districts.
seems to be a very stupid move on the californian electorate's part
all those measures were necessary and non were over the top at all - they may live to regret voting these down because of the pressure of greedy unions
