Governor Readies for Crucial Speech

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spent much of the day Monday refining his first State of the State speech, a 20-minute address that will call for revamping California’s troubled workers’ compensation system and creating jobs as a recipe for reviving the economy, according to people who have seen the speech.

Schwarzenegger, who returned Friday from a 10-day vacation at his home in Sun Valley, Idaho, shuttled between his office in the Capitol and his hotel across the street, rehearsing a speech that will set out the broad themes of his new administration.

The address is set for 5 p.m. today in the Assembly chamber. While Schwarzenegger discusses general issues today, he will leave many of the difficult details of how he intends to close a $14-billion deficit for Friday, when he is scheduled to release his 2004-05 budget.

Schwarzenegger’s office consulted hundreds of people in preparing the speech and worked through multiple drafts, according to people who took part. In the address, the governor will reiterate his call for more bipartisanship in Sacramento’s political culture. But the heart of the speech will be the importance of boosting the economy -- a goal that, the governor will contend, hinges on an overhaul of the mechanism for providing health care to employees injured on the job.

Workers’ comp rates are twice the national average and are often cited as a reason employers are moving jobs out of state. A special legislative session called by Schwarzenegger to improve the system thus far has yielded few results.

Shawn Steel, the immediate past chairman of the California Republican Party, said: “You’re going to hear a lot of talk about growth, of opportunity and jobs. You’re going to hear a lot of talk about a prospering economy.”

Sal Russo, a Republican consultant who worked for former California Govs. Ronald Reagan and George Deukmejian, said the first state-of-the-state speech is crucial for any governor, but more so for Schwarzenegger.

“I think it’s important for Schwarzenegger to define his administration because it’s still not well-defined,” Russo said. “I think the tone he sets is going to be really important. The theme of the speech will be change, that he’s going to be a change-oriented governor.”

The speech has been largely complete for about two weeks, though aides have made revisions since.

With advice from staff, the text was written by Landon Parvin, the longtime Reagan speechwriter who was the main architect of the governor’s inaugural address.

After reading an early draft last week that focused on stimulating the state’s economy, Schwarzenegger asked his advisors why there was scant mention of his positions on the environment and education, according to one person familiar with the discussions.

The aides got the message, the source said, promptly asking the governor’s education and environment appointees to help broaden the governor’s political message to more closely tailor the one he had put forth during his winning recall race. The reworked speech will now cite some of the aggressive environmental promises Schwarzenegger made during the campaign, as well as his commitment to protect education funding, the source said.

Specifically, the governor will tout his “Hydrogen Highways” proposal, a plan to build from 150 to 200 filling stations for the alternative fuel along major roadways throughout the state by 2010. In addition, he will declare that he wants to speed up the state’s efforts to require utilities to make renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power a sizable part of their portfolios. He will also announce plans to provide incentives for homeowners and developers to add environmentally friendly technologies such as solar panels to more of the state’s homes.

Since Schwarzenegger was inaugurated in November, some of the news media’s interest in his administration has ebbed, as the focus has veered from his dramatic entry into California politics to the state’s troubled finances. But the state-of-the-state speech appears to have rekindled interest.

The Assembly has fielded more than 250 requests for media credentials, some from journalists in Japan and Austria.

An Austrian journalist on Monday approached the governor’s spokeswoman, Margita Thompson, with a question: Is the governor -- a native of Thal, Austria -- rehearsing his speech in German?

Thompson: “I have a feeling he’s practicing in English.”