Terminated: Arnold's reign of error leaves legacy of chaos (Feature)

By Andy Goldberg Oct 22, 2010, 4:02 GMT

Sacramento, California - He rode into Sacramento seven long years ago like an action movie hero - vowing to send California's inept politicians packing and restore the country's most populous state to its place as the shining symbol of the American dream.

Shame, then, that nobody read his script.

After two terms in office, Arnold Schwarzenegger is heading back to Hollywood, his cupboard almost bare of accomplishments. His legacy: a political system as chaotic as the one he found, and a state financial system that remains mired in deep crisis.

Schwarzenegger's failure has been so resounding in many ways that the governorship of the richest and most populous state in the US is now 'the job that nobody wants,' according to Marc Ambinder, chief political correspondent of The Atlantic.

Still, whether you attribute it to the ruthless ambition or generous altruism of the political species, two unusual candidates are battling to succeed Arnold.

One, Democrat Jerry Brown, was once the youngest governor of California. He now wants to become the oldest, too, so he can bring his know-how to fixing the state.

The other, Republican Meg Whitman, is the former chief executive of eBay, a woman who has spent 150 million dollars of her own money in a bid to get to the governor's mansion, where she promises, she will run California like a business.

But Whitman's massive investment is unlikely to win her the race, political analysts and polls indicate.

California is staunchly Democratic, and its powerful Latino and African-American minorities are historically opposed to many Republican policies.

Adding to those handicaps is the fact that Californians have just experienced seven lean Schwarzenegger years. They've heard Whitman's mantra of the rich mogul working only for the good of the people - and realize that it doesn't actually work that way.

Brown has used this parallel to devastating effect in his latest campaign ad, which shows Whitman in split-screen with Schwarzenegger, repeating The Terminator's hackneyed phrases almost word for word. Since then, the San Francisco Chronicle has even started calling her the Meg-inator.

But not all California's problems can be blamed on Schwarzenegger.

The ambitious movie star came to power in 2003 after organizing a special recall election against Democratic incumbent Gray Davis. The state had been thriving in the dot-com boom but found itself with a record 23.6-billion-dollar budget deficit following the crash in 2001.

Making matters worse was a disastrous energy deregulation crisis triggered by the policies of the previous Republican administration. These rules allowed private energy companies to cut their supply of electricity to California, forcing rolling blackouts and exorbitant prices for power.

Schwarzenegger's resounding victory made him a national political star.

But he found it hard to translate his popularity with voters into influence over the entrenched political powers in Sacramento, where he encountered strong opposition from conservative Republicans, the Democratic majority and the state's powerful labour unions. He found it hard to deliver on his two key promises - to reform the dysfunctional political and budgetary system, and to cut back the state pension agreements that were at the heart of California's budget shortfall.

Eventually, Schwarzenegger decided to go over the head of the legislators in a 2005 special election, in which he put his proposals to the voters in four ballot initiatives. Yet all of them were defeated, signaling the end of his love affair with voters.

While the state is still mired in chaos, Schwarzenegger can claim credit for a few glimmers of progress.

On Saturday he managed to pass a pension-reform bill that he claims will save the state 100 billion dollars over the decades to come. He also championed a landmark climate-change bill that included strict emissions controls and alternative energy requirements.

The ongoing financial gridlock may also finally be cut. A ballot initiative is attempting to restore a simple majority vote to get the budget passed, rather than the two-thirds majority that is currently required.

But that is far from a glowing record for a candidate who made the sweeping promises that Schwarzenegger did.

'There was a sense in the fall of 2003 that California was headed off a cliff,' says veteran Sacramento correspondent Nannette Miranda. 'We still have problems - systemic budget problems, an electorate that feels like it's going off the cliff. It feels like deja vu.'

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