Gov. Tries to Soothe GOP Discontent

Seeking to calm an uprising among conservatives, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger began sketching a rationale for his reelection for fellow Republicans on Friday by portraying himself as a bold leader who can rise above partisan squabbling to meet California’s critical needs.

The governor reminded 650 Republicans of the times he has stuck to a conservative line: slashing the car tax, rejecting calls for higher income taxes, blocking a move to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. But in a hotel ballroom dinner speech opening the state party’s weekend convention, Schwarzenegger also confronted conservative outrage at his vast new public-works spending proposal, arguing to delegates that it fits Republican traditions dating to the Civil War.

“We Republicans have a history of boldness,” Schwarzenegger said in an address punctuated by frequent cheers and applause. “I love that. Abraham Lincoln struck down slavery. Teddy Roosevelt fathered the environmental movement. Dwight D. Eisenhower built the interstate highway. And Ronald Reagan tore down the wall and defeated communism.

“This is a time in California’s history that calls for similar boldness.”

Earlier, Schwarzenegger also tried to win over the party’s rank-and-file in a series of private meetings to tout his proposed $222 billion in public construction projects, including schools, highways and prisons. In some cases, such as his speech to the California Congress of Republicans, he appeared to succeed.

“Maybe some of the members here needed to be reassured,” said Carl Burton, the group’s president. “If they did, he reassured them.”

But signs of trouble for Schwarzenegger still abounded.

“Most of the conservatives are just depressed,” said Jon Fleischman, a former executive director of the state party who now publishes a widely read blog on Republican politics. He called Schwarzenegger’s construction plan a “massive spending proposal” that “doesn’t excite a Republican grass-roots base.”

“He’s taking a leftward turn on fiscal issues,” Fleischman complained.

The Young Americans for Freedom group took aim at Schwarzenegger in fliers showing his face superimposed on a photo of kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst holding a machine gun. The message: Schwarzenegger is a victim of the Stockholm syndrome, adopting Democratic ideology in the same way that she embraced the radical cause of her Symbionese Liberation Army kidnappers in 1974.

“The governor’s been embracing a wholehearted Democratic agenda,” said Brandon Powers, the group’s chairman.

In his speech, Schwarzenegger gave a nod to his 2005 special-election proposals, which appealed to conservatives but were roundly rejected by voters. His tone marked a sharp departure from his earlier statements of profound regret for calling the election, and he urged Republicans to rally behind the construction plans that form the foundation of his reelection run.

“We will continue to fight for recovery and for reform, whether it is pension reform, education reform, redistricting reform or if it is budget reform,” he said. “But here is where I believe we Republicans must begin to change our outlook. We cannot just fight; we must build.”

Schwarzenegger has tried to use the proposal to reach out to independents and Democrats whose support is crucial, in part through reasserting his image as a nonpartisan outsider by rallying leaders of both major parties behind the spending plan.

“You see how we work together here?” Schwarzenegger asked reporters at a Sacramento River levee Wednesday in a joint appearance with U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat. “Isn’t that nice? Democrats and Republicans working together to get more money. I love it.”

Schwarzenegger also took a mild swipe at the Bush administration when he used his arrival at the convention to declare a state of emergency for California’s deteriorating flood protection system. The governor has proposed rebuilding levees as part of his infrastructure plan.

“We cannot wait for the federal government to take care of that job,” he said.

At the convention hotel, Schwarzenegger aides took pains to minimize any sign of the conservative unrest. They organized young Republican activists to shout “Arnold, Arnold, Arnold” as he made his way between meetings. Over the last several weeks, they have succeeded in quashing an effort to yank the party’s endorsement of Schwarzenegger -- a move triggered by his selection of Democrat Susan Kennedy as his chief of staff. “We won’t be rescinding the endorsement,” said Doug Boyd, treasurer of the state party. “And people are working overtime on all sides to make sure we have a love fest.”