Maria Shriver, Valley’s Richman Bring Talks Back From the Dead

Neither played much of a public role in the deal struck this week on how to bolster California’s wobbly finances.

But in the end, talks that appeared to be dead just last week were resurrected in large measure because of two people: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s wife, Maria Shriver, and Assemblyman Keith Richman (R-Northridge), leader of a bipartisan group of moderate legislators.

Both pushed behind the scenes for action, insisting that negotiations resume and refusing to accept the verdict of legislative leaders and the governor’s office that the deal was dead.

Shriver says she is still trying to define her role as California’s first lady. But the delicate talks over the governor’s financial package -- a spending limit and a $15-billion bond measure that he signed Friday for the March ballot -- suggest that she is an influential player in policy matters crucial to her husband’s success.

A week ago today, the governor returned to the family’s Brentwood home, disappointed that talks had collapsed, according to aides. Shriver shared his unhappiness.

That weekend, she spoke to the governor’s chief lobbyist in the Capitol, Richard Costigan. She also joined her husband at a conference in Palm Springs for the California congressional delegation. There, she spoke about the budget impasse with Leon Panetta, the former chief of staff to President Clinton.

Both saw the issue the same way.

“I had a chance to talk to Maria afterward, and I just stressed the importance of the governor having to make a deal with the Legislature,” Panetta said in an interview Friday.

Other prominent people at the conference were also urging an accord. President Reagan’s former secretary of state, George P. Shultz, spoke to the governor and advised him to strike a deal.

On Sunday, Shriver took part in a conference call with the governor and his advisors in which they agreed to press for a resumption of talks.

The next day Shriver, who recently returned to work as an NBC broadcaster, stayed home in Brentwood with one of her daughters, who had a 104-degree fever. But she was back in the capital Tuesday, and her arrival fueled momentum for a deal, aides to the governor said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

She attended meetings in advance of the agreement that was reached late Wednesday between the governor and Assembly Democrats. She and her husband stayed in phone contact with Panetta, who “kept encouraging them,” saying a deal “would be a very important symbol to people in the state that maybe there is hope that we can govern ourselves.”

And the first lady scolded legislators for failing to find common ground in a speech that she gave in Sacramento on Tuesday.

“I say that if some of these legislators were children, we’d give them a timeout,” Shriver said. “... We would teach them that, with every person, you can find common ground; that you should play nicely with them, work to a common goal and work it out.”

Important though Shriver’s role proved, the talks might have languished indefinitely had Richman not pressed for more time.

Within the Capitol, the working assumption was that legislators had until Dec. 5 to act -- the date set by Secretary of State Kevin Shelley for sending the measures to the March ballot. When that Friday passed without a deal, legislators left the Capitol and Schwarzenegger’s office began planning its next move -- bypassing the Legislature and taking the spending cap to the November ballot.

Richman, a physician, also arrived home last Saturday upset about the impasse. He spent the weekend talking to centrist colleagues from both parties. Many shared his unhappiness and wished there were more time to negotiate.

Richman wanted to see if the deadline could be extended. He broached the idea with Costigan, the governor’s lobbyist. “I told him if they in fact had hit a wall dealing with the leadership, there were many members of the Legislature who felt it was very important to get this done and were not going to accept failure.”

During the Sunday conference call, the governor’s team signed on for the effort.

Richman drafted a letter to the secretary of state, asking for more time. He got 18 fellow legislators to sign it: Republicans and Democrats from both houses. There were so few legislators in the Capitol on Monday -- there was no reason to be there with the talks in hiatus -- that the signatures on the letter were primarily rubber stamps.

The letter was hand-delivered to Shelley’s office at noon Monday, and by the close of business they got a welcome answer: They had a few more days.

Richman took part in conference calls with Schwarzenegger and kept in close touch with Costigan. The governor’s lobbyist gave them a commitment that he would advise them on whether the negotiations were moving or stalled.

If the four Republican and Democratic leaders in the Legislature could not forge a deal now, Richman said, he and his rank-and-file colleagues were prepared to bypass them and negotiate with Schwarzenegger themselves.

“The leadership, I think, had gotten the message that we expected a solution,” Richman said. And he added: “The governor was very clear he wanted to continue to negotiate and also conveyed his willingness to be flexible.”

Schwarzenegger also held a conference call with the Legislature’s women’s caucus.

Sen. Dede Alpert (D-San Diego) told Schwarzenegger he needed to put his proposal in writing -- that he could not give the powerful Senate President John Burton (D-San Francisco) merely a vague outline of his intentions.

The governor’s office later shared with legislators a two-page summary of its plan.

In Sacramento’s hierarchical climate, where the four legislative leaders enjoy enormous clout, such efforts carry risks.

Alpert said that, when she spoke to Burton at one point, “As you might imagine, he yelled and screamed” at her because she was involved.

Richman’s letter triggered two full days of talks, building to a marathon meeting that started after 10 p.m. Wednesday between Schwarzenegger and three Democratic leaders. It ended well after midnight. Schwarzenegger offered his guests their choice of wine -- pinot noir or chardonnay. The governor did not drink.

He and Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson Jr. (D-Culver City) periodically retreated to Schwarzenegger’s inner office to hash out the final sticking points on the spending cap.

Then they would return: “We’re down to six” points of disagreement, Wesson would announce. Then, four; then two....

When they wanted to talk privately, the Democrats would huddle in the nearby office of Pat Clarey, Schwarzenegger’s chief of staff.

Occasionally, Schwarzenegger would ask for private time with his staff, and the Democrats would obligingly leave the room

A stubborn issue remained: What percentage of state revenue should go into a “rainy day” reserve fund. Schwarzenegger wanted 10%; the Democrats, 5%. Ultimately, they found middle ground, empowering the Legislature to raise the percentage when the state’s financial condition warranted.

When the last disagreement was resolved, Wesson and Schwarzenegger shook hands, then hugged, then returned to the group. It was after 1 a.m.

“We’ve got a deal!” Wesson announced.

“The speaker’s right,” Schwarzenegger said.

After 2 a.m., Wesson went home and turned on the television. He flipped to a movie: “True Lies,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. “I see the governor diving into an ocean and then something blowing up around him,” Wesson said later. “I’m there all by myself. All I could do was freaking laugh.”

Times staff writer Virginia Ellis contributed to this report.