ARNOLD CALLS L.A. DEMS 'LOSERS'.

Byline: Steve Geissinger Sacramento Bureau

Baring partisan teeth again, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area Democratic leaders, and their tax-hike proposals, ``losers'' on Thursday.

The Republican governor's insult - reminiscent of his calling Democratic legislators ``girlie men'' - came as he appointed former San Jose Rep. Tom Campbell as the finance director who will forge the next deficit-plagued budget proposal.

Schwarzenegger's latest jeer was in response to a reporter's question about how he would react to Senate leader-elect Don Perata, D-Oakland, and other Democratic lawmakers, perhaps fighting for tax hikes to blunt spending cuts next year.

``Why would I listen to losers?'' Schwarzenegger asked. ``Let's be honest.''

He then, at length, talked about a host of failed, Democrat-backed local measures on Tuesday's ballot in the L.A. and San Francisco regions that would have boosted taxes and fees.

Perata declined comment. Spokesman Tom Martinez said the senator ``has taken some tough stances on legislation and been called a lot of names in the past, but he's never once responded to it.''

Schwarzenegger, at the end of his remarks that concluded the Capitol news conference, briefly attempted to recast the criticism to be aimed at just the idea of boosting taxes and not at the elected officials of the state's majority party. ``And therefore, why would we go and follow a losing formula?'' he asked. ``It doesn't make any sense.''

Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Margita Thompson offered the same clarification.

But the bulk of the governor's remarks about ``losers'' seemed clearly aimed at Democrats and their tax-hike proposals.

``The Democrats and all of those things that they've been proposing in tax increases have lost,'' he said at one point.

``They have lost every single ballot in the Bay Area. Everything. The big spenders wanted to go and increase taxes - many different taxes and fees and all kinds of things. They lost all of that. And in Los Angeles it lost.

``People don't want to be taxed. They feel like it's government's responsibility to live within the means of what they get rather than every single time to go out and say, Hey, let's spend more. We ran out of money, we spent too much, let's go and spend more.''

Schwarzenegger erred in his assertion that voters rejected all local tax measures in the L.A. and San Francisco regions.

Though most were defeated, L.A. city voters approved a property-tax increase to fund cleanup of the Los Angeles River and Santa Monica Bay, and Oakland voters agreed to a tax hike for more cops.

California Democratic Party spokesman Bob Mulholland said Schwarzenegger appears to have a split personality - one bipartisan, the other highly partisan. Mulholland referred, in part, to the governor calling Democrats ``girlie men'' during last year's budget fight.

``That was Arnold's evil twin talking today,'' said Mulholland.

Schwarzenegger's new finance director replaces Donna Arduin, who stepped down last month for personal reasons.

Campbell, who describes himself as a social moderate and a fiscal conservative, has served as a Republican state senator and congressman from the San Jose area.

He is taking a leave of absence from his current position as dean of the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley.

Steve Geissinger, [phone]

sgeissinger(at)angnewspapers.com