Gov. Donates $1.25 Million, Backs 6 Initiatives

As he put more than $1 million of his own money into the special election fight, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday endorsed a Nov. 8 ballot initiative that would ban abortions for underage girls unless their parents were notified at least two days in advance.

The Republican governor also said he would endorse a drug company initiative to provide voluntary discounts to the working poor and oppose a rival measure written by consumer groups. And he said he was opposed to an electricity regulation measure, Proposition 80.

Schwarzenegger’s endorsement of Proposition 73, the abortion measure, brought condemnation from abortion groups and his Democratic opponents. But it was not unexpected: Schwarzenegger has said for months that he supports the concept of parental notification.

“I wouldn’t want to have someone take my daughter to a hospital for an abortion or something and not tell me,” Schwarzenegger told the Sacramento Bee this week. “I would kill them if they do that.”

Under Proposition 73, a doctor could face civil penalties for performing an abortion less than 48 hours after a parent or guardian is notified.

Kathy Kneer, head of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, said the governor should realize “not all teenagers live in homes like his and that, in fact, many teenage girls who, for whatever reason, cannot go to their parents will be put at risk by Proposition 73.”

Schwarzenegger, offering few surprises, has now stated his positions on all eight initiatives scheduled for the Nov. 8 ballot. He is campaigning aggressively for four of the measures -- Propositions 74 to 77 -- and is not expected to take an active role in the others. “I don’t anticipate he’ll campaign at all” for the others, said Rob Stutzman, his communications director.

The governor’s initiatives would make it easier to fire low-performing teachers, curb the use of union dues for political purposes, install state spending restrictions and take away the power of legislators to draw their own districts.

Schwarzenegger opened his checkbook Friday for the first time in the current campaign, donating $1.25 million to the campaign for Proposition 77, the redistricting measure. The governor has spent heavily in the past on politics.

Besides his own contribution, Schwarzenegger has raised $25 million this year to promote his initiatives. But he is being outspent heavily.

The California Teachers Assn. contributed $2 million late Thursday to the campaigns against Schwarzenegger’s initiatives, pushing the union’s direct spending against the measures to $45.5 million. Other public employee unions have spent $20 million, primarily to defeat Proposition 74, the teacher employment measure; Proposition 75, on union dues; and Proposition 76, on spending restraints.

On Friday the governor endorsed Proposition 78, which would set up a program for pharmaceutical manufacturers to discount drugs for low- and medium-income residents. The measure was put on the ballot by the drug companies, which would negotiate any voluntary rebates with the Schwarzenegger administration. Schwarzenegger said he opposed the competing initiative, Proposition 79, which would allow a larger segment of the public to participate and would prohibit state Medi-Cal contracts with drug companies that refuse to participate in the program.

Anthony Wright, the chief proponent of Proposition 79, said the governor was siding with drug companies that have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaigns over consumer groups and senior citizens.

“We were surprised he would so publicly align himself with a special interest like the drug companies,” Wright said.

Stutzman rejected any notion that campaign contributions played a part in Schwarzenegger’s decision to support Proposition 78. The governor brought the drug companies to the table earlier in the year when they initially balked at negotiating a drug discount program, he said.

“If they are going to participate in a voluntary program that simply makes prescription drugs available to the working poor without a government mandate,” Stutzman said, “that is the better way to go.”

The governor also said Friday that he opposes Proposition 80, which would put electricity retailers under control of the Public Utilities Commission.