Arnold Schwarzenegger has uttered a gazillion words since becoming California's governor five years ago, but none has achieved the fame – or infamy – of a two-word epithet he hurled at Democratic legislators eight months into his governorship.
"I call them girlie men," Schwarzenegger told a rally at an Ontario shopping center.
It was, in a sense, an inside joke, since the term originated in a "Saturday Night Live" skit that poked fun at Schwarzenegger.
But there was an undercurrent of anger because he was locked in a confrontation with a recalcitrant Legislature over the state budget.
"If they don't have the guts to come up here in front of you and say, 'I don't want to represent you, I want to represent those special interests, the unions, the trial lawyers, and I want them to make the millions of dollars,' if they don't have the guts, I call them girlie men," Schwarzenegger shouted.
Four-plus years later, the budget is hemorrhaging even more red ink, Schwarzenegger is still battling with Democrats over what to do about it, and a powerful subtext is his scarcely concealed desire to compel them to adopt policies that public employee unions find noxious.
Despite all the media attention given the centrist governor's ideological conflicts with his fellow Republicans, his struggles with the unions and their Democratic allies have been more important factors in his governorship.
The "girlie men" episode marked the end of Schwarzenegger's brief semi-honeymoon with Democrats and unions and the beginning of an all-out power struggle. It culminated in the governor's "year of reform" ballot measures that would have trimmed union political clout, but were rejected by voters in 2005 after unions spent more than $100 million attacking him personally.
Schwarzenegger won re-election in 2006, but the past two years have seen a steady re-escalation of the mutual animosity between the governor and the public worker unions, especially the California Teachers Association and the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. He's locked into perpetual battles with the former over school finances and with the latter over a new contract for prison guards and control of the prison system.
Currently, while Schwarzenegger appears to have a broad agreement with Democrats on a plan to reduce the budget deficit by $18 billion, they've balked at his insistence on measures that public unions abhor, such as furloughing state workers, privatizing some functions and trimming unionized in-home health care services.
Publicly, the governor says the steps are needed to balance the budget and improve the economy, but there's no doubt that he wants to compel Democrats to defy the unions and thus crack, even slightly, their alliance.
And having won voter approval of legislative redistricting reform, he plans to challenge unions again by championing "open primaries" that could reduce their power even more.
Call The Bee's Dan Walters, (916) 321-1195. Back columns, www.sacbee.com/walters.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.