Schwarzenegger Has to Show He Wants More Than Just Title

Sacramento

Arnold Schwarzenegger won a historic election with ease. Now he has a historic opportunity -- because of a rebellious public and a charismatic personality -- to bring landmark change to California.

That will be much tougher than getting elected to replace a despised governor, especially when his principal rival was a weak-running lieutenant governor falsely linked, in voters’ minds, to the guy being bounced. (Gov. Gray Davis and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante probably didn’t have five minutes’ total conversation in five years.)

But making big change won’t be as tough as pundits are predicting, if Schwarzenegger takes the right steps.

One thing he must do is show voters that he doesn’t look upon the governor’s office as just another trophy, like a Mr. Universe title. People admire an immigrant who fulfills the American Dream, but they’ll eventually turn on any politician -- and that’s what Schwarzenegger is now -- who doesn’t help them achieve their own dreams.

He’ll soon not be thought of as the Terminator or Conan. He’ll be known as the governor, and be expected to provide happy endings for real-life problems.

One of Davis’ failings was that he seemed to want only the title of governor, not the responsibility. He wanted to be governor, but not to govern -- not to lead the governed. He was notoriously indecisive, one reason fellow Democrats in the Legislature didn’t respect him.

Unlike Davis, who squandered many months putting his administration together five years ago, Schwarzenegger can show he’s sincere about changing Sacramento by quickly changing the top hands.

Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas), his campaign chairman, will lead the transition team. Dreier is both sharp and smooth, but knows little about Sacramento. So he and the next governor soon will need to fill the two most important posts in any administration: gubernatorial chief of staff and finance director.

Two names being bandied about are Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, a former Assembly speaker, for chief of staff, and Dean Andal, a former state Board of Equalization member and Assemblyman, for finance director. Both are solid conservatives, but pragmatists who can deal with Democratic legislative leaders. They are policy wonks, but also skilled pols.

Such appointments would send a signal that Schwarzenegger is serious about both learning and achieving -- and isn’t coming to Sacramento, as he kept saying over last weekend, just to “kick some serious butt.”

“It’s imperative to get your people in early, people who are loyal to your priorities,” says attorney Steve Merksamer, who led the transition for Gov. George Deukmejian when he succeeded Gov. Jerry Brown in 1983, and then became chief of staff.

“Two days after the election, Jerry Brown told George, ‘I’m going to give you the best advice you’re going to get: The decisions you make now about the people you appoint are basically going to determine the success or failure of your governorship.’ ”

Slightly less than half the electorate voted for Schwarzenegger, but the overwhelming majority clearly was seeking systemic change. The new governor will be strengthened by that voter demand, whether in fighting Capitol Democrats or in promoting ballot measures to change the political system, relax business regulation, restructure taxes or limit government spending.

But first, Schwarzenegger must learn what he doesn’t know. Right now, he doesn’t know much.

He can’t procrastinate until the completion of a so-called audit before getting up to speed on the budget. If nothing else, he should go to the Web site of the nonpartisan legislative analyst office and read up.

And the sooner the governor-elect stops promising not to raise taxes -- as he did once again Wednesday at his first post-election news conference -- the less painful it will be to raise them when he finally understands that he must.

Schwarzenegger is blissfully ignorant of the ins and outs of Sacramento, but he benefits from a more important asset, the same thing Ronald Reagan had: Star quality and charm.

Like Reagan -- and unlike Deukmejian, Pete Wilson or Davis -- Schwarzenegger has the potential to go over the heads of recalcitrant legislators and appeal directly to the public. Then the public will pressure the lawmakers. “If they won’t see the light, make them feel the heat,” Reagan used to say.

What usually happens is that legislators melt under the heat -- if they haven’t already in anticipation.

Unlike Davis, Schwarzenegger could have Democrats capitulating to him, leery of a popular governor possibly raising campaign money for their opponents. Republicans never feared Davis because he didn’t do squat for Democrats.

Republicans will be in a much stronger legislative position now because they’ll have an ally as governor.

Call it Schwarzenegger: Rise of the Republicans.