Arnold Schwarzenegger became governor of California with a bang, toppling Governor Gray Davis in 2003 in a historic recall election seizing on voter anger over the state government’s finances. Now the Hollywood icon and former body builder is preparing to leave office bruised and battered by the state government’s ongoing financial woes and warfare with lawmakers he bashed with gusto and famously called “girlie men”. But they have the last laugh.
Lawmakers may be unpopular with voters but they have focused their disappointment on Mr Schwarzenegger, a cautionary tale for incoming governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat elected last month over Republican and former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman. Mr Schwarzenegger could not run again for governor because of term limits.
Mr Brown takes office today and already is busy addressing the ugly fiscal situation that helped slash Mr Schwarzenegger’s standing with voters to the same dismal level as that of Mr Davis before they gave him his pink slip.
It is in sharp contrast with the goodwill Mr Schwarzenegger had when he strutted into the state capital in Sacramento vowing to take down its special interests and blow up its bureaucracies. A Republican who had never held public office before becoming governor of the most populous US state, Mr Schwarzenegger also pressed for the state government to rein in spending, putting the Democrat-led legislature on its heels.
A fan of the late economist Milton Friedman, he called for California to cut up its credit cards. But instead, its government has – with his blessing – borrowed tens of billions of dollars for public works, as well as to plug a budget gap, bankroll stem-cell research and build a high-speed rail network.
The momentum of Mr Schwarzenegger’s offensive did not last long because like Mr Davis, he did not appreciate how much he would need lawmakers as partners in hard times. “He thought the legislature would do just what he told it to do,” said Larry Gerston, a political scientist at San José State University.
“Schwarzenegger’s arrogance was remarkably parallel to the arrogance of Davis. At one point Davis said the job of the legislature was to implement the vision of the governor,” Mr Gerston said. “People often fail to appreciate political office requires a specific skill set . . . Schwarzenegger came into office with none of the tools.”
Analysts say Mr Brown would do well to avoid his predecessor’s early combativeness and make nice with lawmakers to win their help for a special election he is said to be planning to seek voter approval for temporary tax increases. Its result could definitively guide long-term plans for stabilising the state’s finances with existing or more revenue.
“Arnold did talk about the problem but it ultimately got lost in a political, partisan blur,” said Bill Whalen, a Hoover Institution fellow and former aide to former California governor Pete Wilson.