Sacramento (November 8, 2005) – After a furious campaign to the last minute, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is finally facing off with the entrenched state Democrats and the powerful public employee unions on several ballot fronts in today’s election. His slate of four initiatives are designed to better “control state spending” and “undercut the power of public employee unions and the state’s Democrats.” With his popularity at an all-time low, and his opponents outspending him 2:1 using a 100 plus million war chest, Mr. Schwarzenegger is fighting an uphill battle. He has forcefully campaigned for Proposition 74, which would extend teachers’ probationary period from two to five years and make it easier to fire veteran teachers, Proposition 75, which requires public employee unisons to get written permission from members before using their dues for political purposes, Proposition 76, which would set a state spending limit and Proposition 77, which would let retired judges instead of lawmakers to draw legislative boundaries. He also supported Proposition 73, which requires parental notification of a minor child’s impending abortion. Latest polling indicated that the Governor would lose on all fronts, but he remained optimistic. “Give me the tools so I can make the changes in California,” Mr. Schwarzenegger said trying to recapture the popular magic that propelled him to the Governor office in 2003.Update: Governor Schwarzenegger did lose on all fronts, all propositions he supported were rejected. No good omen for his re-election chance next year.
