Fight over use of 'job killer' label

California Chamber of Commerce President Allan Zaremberg dates the phrase back to the early 1990s when Gov. Pete Wilson was blaming the Legislature and overregulation for driving companies out of the state or out of business.

Today, calling a bill a "job killer" is the kiss of death for legislation the chamber deems unfriendly. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed all but three of the chamber's 41 job-killer bills on his watch.

The chamber's job-killer list, a compendium of a dozen or so Democratic bills that would rein in businesses, has become the unofficial score card that industry and trade groups use to measure their success in beating back unfriendly legislation.

The chamber issues laudatory press releases – "From day one in office, Gov. Schwarzenegger has demonstrated his commitment to protecting California's economy and encouraging job creation," reads one dated Oct. 12 – and the governor takes a bow.

"Since I took office, California's business climate has dramatically improved," the Republican governor said after vetoing all 12 of this year's job-killer bills.

But critics charge the chamber simplistically tags as job killers all legislation that would improve environmental protections and consumer protection, including tort reform, insurance reform and landlord/tenant law.

"I think it's part of the whole movement by the free marketeers, extreme right-wing of the (Republican) party that has identified this as an effective phrase," said former Democratic Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson. "Unfortunately, it resonates with people in way that takes the focus off the real legislation."

Zaremberg counters that a review of the chamber's job-killer lists supports his contention that "we're very judicious in labeling a bill a job killer."

"If you look back, job killers make up a small percentage of the bills we've opposed," Zaremberg said. "There may be many things we don't like, but if it doesn't impact the economy, cost jobs or hurt competitiveness, it doesn't make the list."

The phrase evolved from a report issued in 1992 by the Council on California Competitiveness established by Wilson and chaired by former Los Angeles Olympics czar Peter Ueberroth.

The commission noted that nearly 350,000 jobs evaporated in the state in 1991. It acknowledged defense and aerospace cutbacks played a part but also blamed hostility in the Legislature to private enterprise.

"The state of California," Ueberroth said, "has developed the most highly tuned, finely honed job-killing machine that this country has ever seen."

At the time, Zaremberg, a former aide to Wilson, was the chamber's policy director.

"We took that (phrase) and played it up in our publications and communication," he recalled. "Then we tied it in 1992 to specific legislation."

In 1996, the chamber stepped up its use of the phrase "job killers" to campaign against eight ballot measures.

The campaign was so successful that in 1997, the year Zaremberg became chamber president, the organization began issuing its job-killer list. Wilson vetoed all nine bills.

It wasn't until Gray Davis, the first Democrat elected governor in California in 16 years, took office that the list lost its invincibility.

During his five years as governor, Davis, who was elected with broad support from labor, signed 33 bills and vetoed 16 that were still on the chamber's job-killer list at the end of the legislative sessions.

In 2003, after Davis signed 11 of the 13 bills the chamber had branded as job killers, the organization abandoned its long-standing no-endorsement policy.

While remaining neutral on the recall election, the chamber endorsed Schwarzenegger in the event Davis was booted out of office. Except for signing three environmental bills – including last year's AB 32, which calls for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions – Schwarzenegger has not disappointed the organization.

GOP consultant Allan Hoffenblum said that is not surprising, given Schwarzenegger's unstinting belief in the marketplace.

Hoffenblum said the chamber not only uses the job-killer phrase to defeat legislation, but also wields it effectively against ballot measures it opposes.

Critics contend the chamber often cries wolf when it charges that legislation or a ballot measure would drive business out of California.

Unemployment, they note, remains low in the state and only manufacturing and information industries are losing jobs because of the global reach of U.S. corporations.

In an effort to counter the chamber, Jackson joined other liberal activists, including past and current legislators, to establish Speak Out California.

The Internet-based group maintains that Schwarzenegger is moving the state in the wrong direction at the expense of people who don't have the chamber's political clout.

Jackson, who is running for the state Senate seat currently held by Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, said liberals have been losing rhetorical battles because conservatives are better at them.

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• Call Aurelio Rojas, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5545.