Tensions on Governor’s Staff

Tensions have begun to emerge between two camps within the administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, threatening to complicate his efforts to win over state lawmakers who are considering his controversial budget recovery plan.

An especially revealing episode occurred in recent days when an aide’s routine effort to build support for the governor’s financial package grew into something else: an aggressive series of statewide campaign rallies that appeared to target wavering lawmakers.

Schwarzenegger’s legislative secretary, Richard Costigan, had drawn up a list of Democratic lawmakers whose backing could decide the fate of the governor’s plan. The idea was for Schwarzenegger to court these legislators in hopes of getting the votes to put his spending cap and bond measure of up to $15 billion on the March ballot. Schwarzenegger is pressing the Legislature to act by Friday.

Two people who have spoken to Costigan about the matter said they were told the governor’s political team had used the list to arrange rallies that stoked fears of Schwarzenegger’s wielding his celebrity to intimidate legislators into voting for his plan.

To counter such worries, Costigan and some of his aides have been visiting the Democrats this week, trying to convince them that the governor was not working for their political defeat.

Unhappy about news reports last weekend describing the rallies, Schwarzenegger made his own gesture toward conciliation. On Monday, he invited the Democrats to join him at the appearances -- an overture that some turned down.

The rallies reflect a tension between Schwarzenegger’s more combative political operation and aides handling legislative relations, who are more schooled in the workings of the Capitol.

At times the differences have given rise to conflicting messages -- soothing one day, scorching the next.

In his inaugural speech, the governor pledged to revamp the political climate. In that spirit he met privately with Democrats his first few days in office and sent them off with souvenir cigars.

Yet on a later occasion, he told a radio talk show host that there would be “severe casualties” at the polls if legislators failed to follow his program.

For his part, the governor’s communications chief, Rob Stutzman, last week blamed “many” legislators for creating the state’s “terrible deficit.”

The dissonance has left lawmakers confused.

Sen. Denise Ducheny (D-San Diego) said that, when Costigan visited her office Monday, she told him she “didn’t think it was helpful to the cause of trying to work with us to do public rallies like that in the district. It isn’t helpful, and I wasn’t going to go....

“I appreciate that [Schwarzenegger] wants to talk to people, but in the 12 minutes that he spoke in San Diego” on Tuesday, she said, the governor failed to “explain his proposals very well. In the phone calls our office got, there was no sense that people understood what the proposals are about.”

Schwarzenegger used part of the rally to portray legislators as addicted to spending.

Sen. Dede Alpert (D-San Diego) declined the governor’s invitation to join him at the Tuesday rally so she could attend a hearing the same day involving his proposed spending cap. “It’s easy to go on the road and say, ‘I want a bond and spending cap ... ‘ “ Alpert said. “It’s a lot more difficult ... to figure out what it means down the road.”

Costigan denied in an interview Wednesday night that he blamed the political team. He said the press had created a misimpression with reports last weekend that Schwarzenegger was targeting legislators.

The legislative secretary said he did not plan the rallies and “didn’t know until Sunday what we were doing.” His message to legislators, he added, has been: “I feel for you. I’m sorry it showed up in the paper.”

Costigan said he respects the political team but does not know its members well or even how to reach them.

“I don’t even know the password to my voice mail,” he said. Costigan said his job was to do everything he could to build relationships with legislators, and he decried the nature of politics.

“God forbid you utter anything, because it becomes the gospel truth,” he said. “My job is to get votes. My job is to make sure that we have the relationships that we need. For folks to be out there trying to create some sort of strife between us.” He paused, then added: “Maybe I shouldn’t be so diplomatic.”

One person involved in planning the rallies this week said Costigan and his legislative staff sat in on conference calls putting the events together and did not object to the approach.

Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Margita Thompson said: “All along this governor has been committed to operating in a bipartisan manner.... In terms of any sort of targeting, I haven’t heard anything like that. I’ve heard these legislators were invited to make sure this was a bipartisan effort and to come out and listen.”

Assemblywoman Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) accepted Costigan’s offer to join the governor on the plane ride to the San Diego rally. While she and Schwarzenegger were at the event, Costigan visited Kehoe’s office to make sure no one was ruffled, said one person who was there.

Kehoe said in an interview Wednesday: “The governor was very friendly and relaxed during the flight.” But “there’s still a mixed message” from Schwarze- negger as he criticizes the Legislature while also saying he wants to work with it.

The pugnacious tone underscores the influence of Schwarzenegger’s political operatives, who are using campaign-style tactics to govern.

Rather than disband his campaign staff, the governor has kept on board a team of political consultants -- strategists Mike Murphy, Don Sipple and George Gorton, communications operatives Sean Walsh and Todd Harris, and political coalition builder Jeff Randle. Their goal has been to pressure the Legislature by taking the governor’s case to the people.

In this environment, if lawmakers oppose his programs, they may appear obstructionist.

Yet interviews suggest some are not prepared to capitulate.

Assemblyman Juan Vargas (D-Chula Vista) said Schwarzenegger’s office offered him a ride on the flight to San Diego. He declined, saying he wanted to stay in Sacramento to consider proposals about workers’ compensation and other issues.

Vargas said he has had difficulty trying to reach the governor’s staff to discuss policy. If Schwarzenegger wants to win over lawmakers, he should spurn confrontation, release more details about his financial programs and set up more face-to-face meetings, Vargas said.

“I think his approach is a little bit silly. First, it’s: ‘I’m going down there to put a lot of pressure on these guys,’ and then later, ‘It’s a love fest,’ ” Vargas said. “Come on. He’s doing it to try to muscle us. We’re all grown-ups. We understand that.”