Angelides Emerges as ‘Anti-Schwarzenegger’

Few Democrats could top state Treasurer Phil Angelides in crafting a nasty description for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first budget: He called it “morally and economically bankrupt.”

But few Democrats tried. The blast of cold rhetoric from Angelides came at a time when most Democrats are taking a more cautious approach to the Republican governor whose towering presence has no match in the capital.

For Angelides, however, the aggressive posture jibes with his ambition to run for governor in 2006, when Schwarzenegger would be up for reelection.

“The political calculation that Phil made is pretty clear: He is the anti-Schwarzenegger,” said Democratic strategist Darry Sragow.

For the holder of an obscure state office, the temptation to step into the “Terminator” star’s media swarm is an obvious one.

The vacuum of vigorous Democratic opposition to the governor has made it easy for Angelides to seize the role of No. 1 critic.

Although hard-edged tactics might draw attention, many of Schwarzenegger’s would-be opponents in the Legislature fear the consequences of taking him on.

State Sen. Mike Machado, a Central Coast Democrat who faces a tough reelection race, captured the conciliatory mood in his reaction to Schwarzenegger’s budget.

“He’s made some bold proposals that I think we have to look at in earnest,” Machado said.

Some liberal lawmakers have been less friendly.

But among statewide Democratic officeholders preparing to run for governor in 2006, none has matched Angelides’ punch in challenging Schwarzenegger.

“He is a voice of the people who think that everything that Arnold Schwarzenegger says and does is terrible,” Sragow said.

Outspoken tactics like Angelides’ often serve to rally political support in an otherwise floundering party. Presidential front-runner Howard Dean has galvanized liberal Democrats with his vociferous opposition to the war in Iraq -- which, like Angelides’ criticism, has been particularly obvious given the more ambiguous stands of competitors.

“Dean took some bold positions when the other Democratic candidates were following behind one another quivering,” said Wayne Johnson, a Republican strategist in Sacramento. “It was a big risk, but it turned out that it paid off.”

But by using a harsh tone with Schwarzenegger to raise his own profile, Angelides runs the risk that voters could see him as thwarting a popular governor’s agenda that other, more pragmatic Democrats embrace.

In his opening weeks as governor, Schwarzenegger cut through partisan rancor in the Legislature and won lawmakers’ approval of two budget measures that will be on the March ballot.

And he struck a deal with the state teachers union and other education groups to back his plan to slow the growth of school spending -- a move that could save the state $2 billion next year and ease the fiscal crisis.

“It may be that Arnold Schwarzenegger has truly redefined the nature of politics in California,” Johnson said. “I think there’s a lot of evidence that he has.”

If anything, Angelides’ political career has been marked by uphill struggles.

He became state Democratic Party chairman in 1991, when his credentials were limited to being a major fundraiser for two losing candidates -- the party’s presidential nominee, Michael Dukakis, in 1988, and future U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein in her unsuccessful campaign for governor in 1990.

Then a real estate developer, Angelides took over a party that had lost the last three contests for governor and, nationally, five of the last six presidential races. Relentlessly raising money, he presided over the beginnings of a state resurgence that saw Democrats control both U.S. Senate seats and -- until Schwarzenegger’s recall victory -- every other statewide office.

Angelides himself swept into office in 1998, and was reelected handily as treasurer in 2002. Even as the state’s fiscal and energy crises have dominated his tenure, his thirst for higher office has been evident.

Last year he needled his own party’s governor, Gray Davis, when Angelides laid claim to his party’s liberal base by traveling to schools around the state calling on lawmakers to raise taxes and spend more on education.

His job as treasurer gives Angelides a natural line of attack against the new governor on policy grounds.

He faulted Schwarzenegger for proposing billions of dollars in new debt to extract California from its fiscal crisis without raising taxes. The burden of interest payments in the years ahead, Angelides argued, would siphon sorely needed money from schools, transportation and other areas vital to California’s economy.

Schwarzenegger budget spokesman H.D. Palmer dismissed the attacks as “partisan polemics.”

“Trash-talking the state’s budget before you go to Wall Street to explain how you’re going to get out of the budget crisis is clearly not a wise course to take,” Palmer said.

While Angelides has aggressively denounced Schwarzenegger, another potential Democratic candidate for governor, state Controller Steve Westly, has pursued a strategy of accommodation.

Westly, who cuts the state’s checks, agreed to Schwarzenegger’s plan to circumvent lawmakers and repay local governments the money they lost when the governor cut the car tax. A longtime Democratic Party activist, Westly agreed to co-chair the campaign to pass Schwarzenegger’s budget measures on the March 2 ballot.

On Friday, though, Westly took some distance from the governor, voicing concerns about health-care cuts in the Republican’s budget proposal and disappointment that Schwarzenegger had not done more to root out waste.

Another leading Democratic contender for governor, state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, had no reaction to Schwarzenegger’s budget, and a spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Angelides, explaining his more pointed approach, said he would not be “part of a fraternity where we’ve got to go along to get along.”

“This is about what I think is right for the people of California,” he said. “I’m not going to bend to the political moment.”