Voter frustration behind Schwarzenegger's election

Frustrated Californians voted to recall Democratic Governor 
Gray Davis October 7 and replace him with Republican Arnold 
Schwarzenegger.

But, there is little sign that the vote represented a tilt to the 
right by Californian voters. An ultra-right ballot initiative 
held at the same time as the ballot for Governor prohibiting 
collection of data based on race, went down to a resounding 67 
percent defeat. "It's a great victory against racism and for 
diversity," said Dorothea Revell, statewide secretary of the 
California NAACP.

Schwarzenegger spent nearly $23 million, largely from big 
business interests, including $10.3 million from his own wealth, 
despite his hypocritical promise that he would take no money from 
"special interests".

Schwarzenegger's handlers hid his right-wing positions while 
transforming his campaign into a celebrity-driven extravaganza. 
Schwarzenegger, himself, posed as a "moderate" and an "outsider", 
a populist supporter of abortion rights and gun control.

In his victory speech, he thanked the television media for 
"always showing great shots and good pictures".

The Bush-Schwarzenegger connection

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, speaking to a rally on the eve of the 
vote, warned that Schwarzenegger is a "wolf in sheep's clothing." 
Schwarzenegger and his team cultivated a moderate image to hide 
the politically intimate "Bush-Schwarzenegger connection".

Judy Goff, head of the Alameda County Central Labor Council, 
noted "a lot of lies and confusion" both about the drive to 
recall Davis and about Schwarzenegger's true agenda, which she 
linked to the "far right" of the Republican Party.

Schwarzenegger's main campaign theme was that California has an 
"unfriendly business climate" and must slash taxes on banks and 
corporations, reduce workers' compensation and other employee 
benefits and terminate regulations to lure business back to the 
state.

Economy

A CNN exit poll revealed that the economic crisis was the 
overriding issue with 83 percent of those polled describing the 
economy as "not so good" or "poor".

US Presidential candidate Howard Dean, one of several leading 
Democratic Party candidates who came to California to help oppose 
the recall, said, "This recall was about the frustration so many 
people are feeling about the way things are going. All across 
America, George Bush's massive tax cuts for the wealthy are 
undermining state budgets, causing cutbacks in services and 
increases in local property taxes. Tonight voters directed their 
frustration with the country's direction on one incumbent 
governor. Come next November that anger might be directed at 
another incumbent — in the White House".

The California AFL-CIO (trade unions), the African, American and 
Latino communities, the women's movement, gays and lesbians and 
environmentalists waged a determined campaign against 
Schwarzenegger. There were dozens of spirited rallies across the 
state. Millions of leaflets, letters and e-mails were sent out.

Schwarzenegger captured just over 50 percent of the vote despite 
a last minute detailed report in the Los Angeles Times in which 
15 women charged that Schwarzenegger had physically molested 
them. On the same day the New York Times revealed that 
Schwarzenegger once admitted that he admired Adolph Hitler.

During the seven week campaign, the defeated Governor Davis 
signed a series of bills including a groundbreaking bill that 
will require employers to provide health care for their workers 
starting in 2006 or pay into a state health care fund. It would 
extend health care to one million workers. Davis also signed a 
bill to grant undocumented immigrants the right to obtain 
driver's licenses. Schwarzenegger has vowed to repeal the 
driver's license bill and may attempt to scuttle the health care 
bill as "unfriendly" to business.

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People's Weekly World pww@pww.org