Schwarzenegger Lunch Ends East Coast Visit

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wrapped up a four-day spree of meetings and fundraisers Wednesday with a luncheon for more than two dozen Wall Street investors, where he sought to boost confidence in California’s troubled finances and ensure the state would find a market for future bond sales.

Sitting next to his friend and advisor Warren E. Buffett at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, the governor also used the occasion to make another campaign pitch for the two measures on Tuesday’s ballot -- Proposition 57, a $15-billion deficit bond, and Proposition 58, a balanced budget amendment. Passage of both, the governor says, is crucial to weathering an immediate cash crunch without painfully deep spending cuts or tax increases.

“For the rest of the country, March 2 means Super Tuesday,” said the governor, who split his trip between Washington, D.C., and New York. “For us, of course, it means ‘Super Comeback Tuesday.’ ”

In giving Buffett, a renowned investor, so prominent a role at the luncheon, Schwarzenegger seemed intent on conveying a message to the financial community that a state that has endured huge deficits and seen its bond rating plunge to the lowest in the nation was now mounting a resurgence through competent leadership.

Buffett did his part, likening Schwarzenegger to another political leader who assumed office during an economic crisis.

“It was 71 years ago that one of the most famous, most important 100-day periods in history was taking place,” Buffett said, going on to compare Schwarzenegger with former President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

“Arnold has just finished 100 days ... and he has replicated in Sacramento what Franklin D. Roosevelt did in Washington.”

After meeting privately, the group, which included Donna Arduin, the governor’s finance director, filed into a dining room to be offered a choice of beef carpaccio, cheese ravioli, beef angus tenderloin, salmon topped with horseradish crust and champagne sauce or free-range chicken.

Lunch was paid for by Chris Jeffries, the owner of the hotel, according to the governor’s staff. Afterward, Schwarzenegger emerged to say he was pleased with the discussion.

“All the bond experts that were there were very happy that I included them,” he said. “They were very happy that we talked with them, answered all the questions they had. They’re much more optimistic about our state than they were a year ago -- that I can tell you.”

One participant, a bond underwriter who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said later that he had been encouraged by the session and that there would be “a market for the bonds” if the $15-billion ballot measure passed.

“It’s encouraging to hear the governor and his staff thinking through the various alternatives if one plan doesn’t work,” he said. “The important thing is, is the course being set for better fiscal management? The problem is not going to be solved overnight. But what I heard today was some pretty good steps.”

Arduin would not comment beyond saying: “Really, the governor just wanted to meet them and talk with them.”

Soon after the meeting, Schwarzenegger flew home. He was expected to give several TV interviews today promoting Propositions 57 and 58 before leading a rally at Universal City on Friday. The following day, he is planning a bus tour ending in Fresno -- echoing the bus caravan he led at the end of his successful campaign before the recall election that put him in office.

“The big show hits the road,” said Rob Stutzman, his communications director.