Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Recovery, Reform and Rebuilding
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, left, and Director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services Henry Renteria, right, leave a news conference in downtown Los Angeles, Friday, Sept. 2, 2005, after asking California residents to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
The San Jose Mercury News has Schwarzenegger hints at bid for re-election.
Stopping just short of announcing that he’ll seek re-election next year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday said that he’s someone who likes to finish what he starts and added that his plans will be clear within weeks.
“I will be talking about that this month,” Schwarzenegger told newspaper columnist Daniel Weintraub, who was guest-hosting on Sacramento radio station KTKZ. “But as you know, I’m a man that always goes and stays all the way through until we get done, so I’m looking forward to working for the people.”
Remembering the Governor has already won the election for reform this November, he is positioning himself well for the 2006 elections.
In a recent interview with KCRA television in Sacramento, Schwarzenegger also dropped re-election hints: “I’m a follow-through guy,” he said. “I don’t walk away from things that I think are unfinished.”
Several Republican strategists have urged Schwarzenegger to announce his intentions sooner rather than later. That would reassure donors concerned about backlash from the Democrat-controlled Legislature if they contributed to Schwarzenegger and his initiative campaign.
Listen to the lefties whine:
“What’s the drama? Either he’s going to run or he’s not,” said Gale Kaufman, campaign consultant for the union-backed Alliance for a Better California, which opposes Schwarzenegger’s initiatives. “Right now, I’d rather he act like a governor for awhile, doing important things.”
She added, “We like running against people with a popularity of 34 percent.”
The fact is the leftie public employee unions, including the Alliance will drop a whole bunch of money trying to protect their status quo this November.
The Alliance’s media campaign has been very effective in driving down Schwarzenegger’s polling numbers but his reelection is over a year away.
Will they have the money after November’s election, a contested June Democrat primary and with a division within the national labor movement.
Doubtful.
They have shot their wad and now must resort to free media plays while stalking the Governor’s travels.
Schwarzenegger is pushing special election initiatives to control spending and grant him new budget powers; empower retired judges, rather than legislators, to redraw the state’s political districts; and require public school teachers to wait five years, instead of two to become permanent employees.
So far he is neutral about what may be the election’s most significant issue — a ballot measure that would curb the ability of public employee unions (among Democrats’ biggest donors) to raise money from members for political purposes. But Schwarzenegger is widely expected to endorse it soon.
On Thursday, the California Teachers Union contributed $21 million to defeat the union dues measure and the governor’s spending limit and tenure measure.
$21 million raised from a special dues assessment of their members and $21 million that cannot be used in a media campaign agaisnt the Governor in 2006. The CTA should have cut a deal with
Schwarzenegger when they could.
Meanwhile the Governor is raising money and preparing his 2006 campaign themes.
Certainly, the governor has been talking longer-term. He has said that his three-step plan for California involves recovery, reform and rebuilding. With 2005 being his “year for reform,” aides say Schwarzenegger next year will focus on rebuilding some of the state’s crumbling infrastructure. The governor himself cited highways and ports as priorities.
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Cross-posted to the Bear Flag League Special Election Page