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A New Kind of Crowd for Gov.

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Times Staff Writer

Everywhere Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger goes these days there’s a crowd. But they’re not looking for his autograph.

As he darted across the country in the last five days, raising campaign money and dropping in at the fitness exhibition he co-founded, Schwarzenegger was shadowed by demonstrators protesting his plans for overhauling state government.

Loud and nervy, the protesters crashed his major events in three cities, playing cat-and-mouse with him as he tried to elude them and keep his agenda at center stage. Demonstrators are infiltrating public appearances.

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And even when they’re kept outside, they’re getting heard. He has been forced to alter his routine and to acknowledge the protesters in his stump speeches.

The core group consists of nurses upset about Schwarzenegger’s attempt to scale back hospital staffing requirements and firefighters worried about pensions. They’re getting support from out-of-state colleagues, who turned up at Schwarzenegger’s East Coast events this week and heckled him fiercely.

“Screw Arnold!” protesters shouted from the street as the governor dined with donors Monday at the tony 21 Club in Manhattan.

Schwarzenegger had ducked into the establishment through a service entrance to escape about 100 demonstrators; New York Gov. George Pataki had gone in the front door. But there was no sanctuary for Schwarzenegger inside.

A Santa Clara firefighter had flown in for the appearance at his own expense, put on a coat and tie and reserved a table for dinner. He walked up to the reception on another floor and confronted Schwarzenegger about his plans to cut costs by converting the state retirement system to a 401(k)-style plan.

“He said, ‘I’m a friend of the firefighters and I would never take anything away from them,’ ” recounted Jeremy Ray, secretary of Santa Clara Firefighters Local 1171. “I said, ‘No, you’re not a friend to us, sir. And what you’re doing is wrong.’ ”

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After discussing the issue with Ray for a couple of minutes, the governor turned and walked off, Ray said.

Schwarzenegger is unused to such displays. For most of his career he has been a beloved bodybuilding champion and movie star identified with the heroic characters he has played on screen.

But with his attempt to revamp state government, and with his support for what critics say is a predominantly pro-business agenda, Schwarzenegger is making enemies.

Nurses marched outside an auditorium in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday as Schwarzenegger honored champion bodybuilders at the annual Arnold Classic competition. When the governor left Columbus, so did the nurses, following him to New York.

At times he ignores the demonstrators. On other occasions he mentions them in his speeches, casting them as “special interests” fearful of reform.

“All kinds of protests, left and right,” Schwarzenegger said in a speech at a New York Republican dinner Monday. “They’re following me. They think I’m going to say, ‘Oh, my God! There are protests. Maybe I should change my remarks.’ ... I don’t care. 2005 is the year of reform.”

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On one point, Schwarzenegger and his antagonists seem to agree. Both suggest that the governor’s agenda could have national repercussions, making the outcome in California that much more important.

Schwarzenegger says that if his plans for spending restraints, new voting districts, pension changes and teacher merit pay succeed they could have a domino effect, spreading to other states.

“As California goes, so goes the rest of the nation,” he said at the New York event.

Jeff Zack, a spokesman for the International Assn. of Fire Fighters, said firefighters from California and elsewhere who were dogging Schwarzenegger didn’t want to see other governors mimic his approach.

“If Schwarzenegger gets away with it, others will try,” Zack said.

Protesters are tracking Schwarzenegger’s private fund-raising calendar as well as his public events.

They were waiting for him when he arrived Tuesday at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington for a luncheon and “business roundtable” with donors who had given the maximum contribution of $22,300 to his reelection fund.

With about 75 people marching outside the front entrance, Schwarzenegger’s police escort drove up to the side of the building.

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The governor got out and walked down a flight of stairs to an underground entrance.

Demonstrators heckled him en route, crowding around the stairwell and shouting, “Hey, hey, ho, ho. Schwarzenegger’s got to go.”

“A lot of people put a lot of faith and hope and trust in Schwarzenegger, and they feel he’s let them down,” said Leora Sage, a nurse who works at UC Davis.

“Instead of being for the people he’s for corporations and his friends.”

The protesters vow not to quit until Schwarzenegger changes course. And they say they’re gaining recruits as they go.

Ray said that as he was being led away from the reception, one of the New York police officers escorting him introduced himself and offered a word of thanks.

“He said, ‘God bless you, brother. We’re on the same team,’ ” Ray recalled. “ ‘Thanks for doing what you did.’ ”

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