Voters Reject Schwarzenegger's Bid to Remake State Government The governor's four ballot proposals, the foundation of his sweeping plans for change in Sacramento, are halted at the polls. By Michael Finnegan and Robert Salladay Times Staff Writers
9:17 AM PST, November 9, 2005
In a sharp repudiation of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Californians rejected all four of his ballot proposals Tuesday in an election that shattered his image as an agent of the popular will.
Voters turned down his plans to curb state spending, redraw California's political map, restrain union politics and lengthen the time it takes teachers to get tenure. Voters also rejected four other statewide initiatives, including one requiring parental notification for a minor's abortion.
The Republican governor had cast his four initiatives as central to his larger vision for restoring fiscal discipline to California and reforming its notoriously dysfunctional politics.
The failure of Proposition 76, his spending restraints, and Proposition 77, his election district overhaul, represented a particularly sharp snub of the governor by California voters. It also threw into question his strategy of threatening lawmakers with statewide votes to get around them when they block his favored proposals.
Also, Schwarzenegger's defeat on Proposition 75 was a major victory for his rivals in organized labor. It would have required unions for public workers to get written consent from members before spending their dues money on politics. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <../attachments/20051109/66543083/attachment.htm>