ARNOLD'S HARMONY: R.I.P.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO - California's new age of bipartisan cooperation and harmony suffered an abrupt death Friday night, caught in the crossfire between a movie-star's dreams and hard political reality.

It was 19 days old.

The cause of death was the return of gridlock, blame games and failure to agree on just about anything.

The bipartisan era died at midnight Friday as Democrats blamed Republicans for the death of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $15 billion plan for state fiscal recovery with tight controls to prevent future runaway spending. And Republicans blamed Democrats - ironically demonstrating how it died by their very bickering over who caused its death.

Schwarzenegger walked away from his first defeat since taking office with the intent to take his plan over the heads of the gridlocked Legislature and straight to the voters with a November ballot issue that would impose a tight cap on state spending in the future.

And he'll be barnstorming the state in search of voter support just as most of the same legislators will be up for re-election on a ballot topped by a presidential election.

``He will constantly go out and be with the people,'' said Schwarzenegger communications director Rob Stutzman. ``That is what gives him political capital in this (Capitol) building.

``As an institution, they (the Legislature) don't get it. And that's fine. If they had been on the ballot, many of us believe, they would have been recalled. Unfortunately for Gray Davis, it was him.''

The Legislature had until midnight Friday to adopt a recovery plan to deal with massive debt rung up in recent years and a looming budget shortfall that will put even greater pressure on the state government. Schwarzenegger's plan never even came to a vote in the Assembly, while the Democrats' alternative failed to get a two-thirds majority because of Republican opposition.

``I truly believe in my heart and my soul that the governor wanted to do a deal,'' Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson, D-Los Angeles, declared after daylong negotiations resulted in stalemate.

``I think the problem was with the line drawn in the sand by the Republicans in the Assembly and in the Senate. They are not used to being in a position where they could have real influence. They spent the last five years on the outside looking in, throwing rocks, and now all of a sudden they really have an opportunity to listen to the people and change. We have changed, and they did not take advantage of that opportunity.''

Republicans said Democrats failed to see the message of the recall election, that voters were sick of politics as usual. They said the Democrats offered counter proposals that were completely unacceptable and ultimately refused to even put Schwarzenegger's plan to a full vote in the Assembly.

``The people of California sent a clear message in the recall election last month: They're tired of the politics as usual that caused this fiscal crisis, and they want it solved now,'' said Assembly Republican Leader Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks.

``But, apparently, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle weren't listening. ... Democrats' arrogance once again has taken priority over the people's right to a solution.''

So, the state is left to go ahead with previously approved plans to sell $10.7 billion in bonds whose legality is being challenged in court. A separate bond issue for $1.9 billion has already been overturned, in part because it was approved without the voters' consent. Adding to the state's financial problems is Schwarzenegger's repeal of the tripled vehicle license fee, which would have brought in $4 billion.

When the legislature convenes for its regular session in January, it will begin taking up next year's budget as well as looking at midyear cuts in the current budget to make up for any shortfalls. State Controller Steve Westly has warned that, if the state is unable to sell any bonds, it could face a cash shortage of at least $7 billion by June.

Schwarzenegger, who has ruled out tax hikes sought by the Democrats, has already recommended several billion dollars in midyear cuts and, on Friday, ordered a clampdown in state spending on new contracts, equipment purchases and non-essential travel for conferences and seminars.

Even as they railed against their colleagues on the other side of the aisle, most Democrats remained complimentary of the governor. Schwarzenegger was friendly in his personal meetings with Democrats, they said, and continued to meet directly with them up until the morning of the vote.

His style in negotiations, they said, was charming, but also direct and persistent. He handed out cigars to some legislators and invited them to appear at his rallies in their districts, rather than making a hostile invasion of their territories.

With Wesson, for example, he had a running joke about their height differences. Wesson, who stands all of 5-feet-5 inches, started it when he brought a tape measure to their first meeting after the election.

When Wesson showed up in Schwarzenegger's office for a leadership meeting Friday morning before the Assembly vote, the 6-foot-2 governor had a present for the speaker: a customized seat cushion to boost his height.

``I knew he was up to something,'' Wesson recalled with a laugh. ``Even though philosophically we have some differences, personally we get along. I said, 'What's this? You put this doggone thing here so I could sit higher at the table?''

Telling the story, Wesson attempted a deadpan Austrian Terminator accent.

``Then he says, 'Pull out the chair.' And I pull out the chair, and it says 'Speaker Herb Wesson' on it. I said, 'Oh, shoot, that's cool.' Then he said, 'Turn it over.' And I turned it over, and it said 'Need a lift?'''

Some Democrats were less kind to the new governor.

Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, complained that the governor should have spent more time negotiating and less going to rallies.

``He was flying around the state having fluffy press conferences that didn't do anything to bring us closer to a solution to the life-and-death problems that face Californians,'' Koretz said.

``The people of California expected Arnold Schwarzenegger to show some leadership. He sure didn't do it. He let the voters down, he let us down and so far his claims of leadership and compromise have been just so much b.s.''

But Schwarzenegger aides and even some Democratic leaders said he directly participated often in negotiations, holding frequent meetings with legislative leaders either in a group or individually.

Some leaders, however, said Schwarzenegger at times had too many aides and advisers with differing viewpoints - a result of his effort at a diverse administration - to the point where getting a clear message in negotiations became difficult.

The last major meeting came Friday morning. At that time, hopes were still high that a deal could be reached.

But, Stutzman said, by the afternoon, the phones of the governor's staff stopped ringing, and it was clear the vote would go against him.

The parties ultimately stalemated over a few crucial issues around the spending cap - several key players said, if a deal had been reached on the cap, then differences in the bond proposal could have been worked out.

For Democrats, the spending cap gave the governor too much power to make spending cuts, upsetting the constitutional system of checks and balances. Another sticking point was the base year upon which to calculate the future restrictions in spending. The governor's formula started with a base year that equaled about $72 billion, while the Democrat's formula would have started with about $83 billion. The gap remained too far to bridge.

Republicans also said the Democratic counter offer was not a real spending cap, but something which would have allowed the state to spend almost as freely as it had in the past. By the end of the evening, the rancor grew so sharp that the Assembly couldn't even agree it was time to leave for the night, even as the clock approached the midnight deadline. A rare roll call vote on adjournment was held, and it was close: 38-32.

Barbara O'Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and the Media at California State University, Sacramento, watched most of the debate until it simply became too much for her. She said she was not certain that bipartisan cooperation was completely dead, but that, at least for now, it is in Purgatory.

She said it was clear to her that, even though some tried to overcome partisan differences, Schwarzenegger's three-week presence in the Capitol was not enough to change the old ways of doing business.

``It's the clash of cultures, the clash of retail politics - which Arnold does really well - and the kind of internecine partisan bickering that has so taken hold here,'' O'Connor said. ``I saw glimmers of it trying to go away last night. There were a number of people who were really trying to have it be different, but not enough.''

Harrison Sheppard, [phone]

harrison.sheppard(at)dailynews.com