Arnold Schwarzenegger faces recall effort, Can we do it? Options

[towntown2]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-re...0,7489433.story

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who won election in the first recall of a California governor, has now become a target for removal himself.

The state's well-financed prison guards union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., is initiating a recall effort against Schwarzenegger, a union spokesman said today. The governor and the union have been at odds for years; they have been unable to agree to a new contract for the guards, whose labor agreement expired in the middle of 2006.


The governor last fall invoked a rare provision of state law allowing him to unilaterally impose new working conditions on the union in the absence of a deal.

Lance Corcoran, a spokesman for the union, today said the contract dispute has nothing to do with the recall effort.

"This is a governor that has done absolutely nothing," Corcoran said in an interview. "We have the largest budget deficit in the history of California. We have one of the longest budget stalemates."

Schwarzenegger, reacting later, linked the recall effort directly to the contract. He said he would negotiate with the union but would not give in to its demands for higher salaries and changes in working conditions such as sick leave and job assignments, which he said would hamper the state's ability to manage the prisons.

"I'm not going to get intimidated by those guys," the governor told reporters in the Capitol after a ceremony honoring California's Olympic medalists. "The state should not spend more money than we take in, and their intimidation tactics will not make me change my mind whatsoever, because I happen to not represent the CCPOA. I represent the people of California."

Schwarzenegger, a Republican, won office in 2003 in the recall of Democrat Gray Davis, partly on promises that he would get state finances under control and rein in its heavy borrowing. The state now has a projected $15.2-billion deficit.

The governor's popularity has been sinking this year. His approval ratings, however, are still above 40%, according to recent polls.

"I think people recognize that this is a guy that spent his life posing," Corcoran said. "That's what he did as a bodybuilder, he posed, and that's what he's done as governor."

The union has been one of the state's most influential political players by spending more than $3 million in dues it collects each year from 34,000 members. Corcoran did not specify how much the union would contribute to a recall campaign. He said, "CCPOA's never been shy about spending whatever it takes to get the job done."

What do you all think?