Obscurity Allows Westly to Shape His Own Image

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is looking increasingly beatable if he runs for reelection next year. But as the old adage goes: You can’t beat somebody with nobody.

The best recent California example of that was in 2002. Gov. Gray Davis managed to win reelection by 5 points despite being widely despised. He was the devil that voters knew. His opponent, Republican Bill Simon, was unknown and ran a horrible race.

The two most likely Democratic nominees to challenge Schwarzenegger are state Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly.

Not that they’re nobodies -- they do hold statewide office, unlike Simon -- but the pair hardly are household names. And neither is creating a groundswell.

In a nonpartisan Field poll last month, 37% of Democratic voters had no opinion of Angelides and 43% had no view of Westly. Only 37% were “inclined” to vote for Angelides and just 27% for Westly.

Still, Angelides and Westly both beat Schwarzenegger by 4 points in hypothetical general election matchups, indicating the extent of unhappiness with the current governor.

Angelides has the clearest message: He’s the anti-Arnold.

“I stood up and said Schwarzenegger was wrong and I didn’t care how high his poll numbers were,” Angelides told me in March. “Too many other Democrats laid down.”

Democrats, he implied, like Westly. The controller cozily stumped side by side with Schwarzenegger in early 2004, pushing the governor’s $15-billion deficit-reduction bond that piled bushels more debt on the state credit card.

“I would do it again,” Westly says. “Absolutely. The state literally was running out of money. There was no political will to raise taxes. The Democratic leadership supported [the bond].”

Political will or not, Angelides long has advocated raising income taxes on the rich -- as Republican Govs. Ronald Reagan and Pete Wilson did temporarily to plug deficits.

Angelides’ message is concise and consistent: “The state needs to roll up its sleeves again and be willing to invest in the next generation like previous generations invested in us.”

But I’ve written about Angelides before. The rest of this column will be about the even lesser known Westly.

“I’m the only Democrat who can beat Schwarzenegger,” he insists. “Because of my profile.”

Westly, 48, was raised near Palo Alto, graduated from Stanford, built a dotcom fortune at EBay and returned to Stanford to teach business.

“I created thousands of jobs in a new economy company,” he says. “It’s a background that resonates with people.”

He was a longtime Democratic activist before being elected state controller in 2002 -- by just three-tenths of 1% over state Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks).

“When I got to Sacramento, people asked which side are you on?” he says. “Are you on the side that wants massive tax increases that will drive every business out of the state and destroy our economy? Or are you on the side that wants to simply cut our essential programs, lay off teachers and close down health facilities?

“It’s like, time out. There’s a smarter way.”

The smarter way, he says, includes paring waste and imposing efficiencies. And, of course, we’ve heard that before -- including from the current governor.

Westly takes it another step or two. He wants to crack down on the “gray market” -- the cash economy, where people avoid paying taxes.

“I don’t want to clamp down on individual workers,” he says, “but people who are hiring in mass, violating the law. And also go after offshore tax scams.”

The controller claims credit for successfully implementing Legislature-passed tax amnesty programs that have netted the state $1 billion-plus. He believes another $1 billion could be seized from similar programs.

He’d also take a hard look at all the program expansions Davis and the Legislature approved during the dotcom boom. Most of that money went for education and healthcare.

“I’m not saying there aren’t some popular programs or effective ones there,” he says. “I’m just saying you’ve got to ask some tough questions. Can the Democrats who have been missing in action do it?”

Westly is positioning himself in the center -- between Schwarzenegger, who vows “no new taxes ever,” he says, and Angelides, “who wants to raise taxes at the drop of the hat. That’s the last place you want to go.”

There’s a bit of a contradiction here: Westly supports filmmaker Rob Reiner’s initiative to raise taxes on high earners -- above $400,000 for individuals, $800,000 for couples -- to finance universal preschool. It’s a good investment in the future, he says, sounding Angelides-like.

Westly also wants to lower the vote threshold for raising local taxes earmarked for schools. He’d reduce the requirement to 55% from the current 66.7%.

Another liberal position: Westly supports same-sex marriage. “It’s a matter of basic civil rights,” he asserts. “I oppose discrimination in any form.”

Westly has hired a veteran political team: former Davis strategist Garry South; ad-makers David Doak and Tom O’Donnell, who produced L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s TV spots; longtime consultant-confidant Darry Sragow; and campaign manager Jude Barry.

Most important: Westly is super-rich and capable of financing his own campaign. He already has ponied up $10 million.

That means, with a salable message and appealing ads, he has the money to become relatively known.

The advantage of obscurity is a blank slate. Westly’s task will be to paint an attractive self-portrait before opponents start heaving mud.

Reach the writer at george.skelton@latimes.com.