ARNOLD SAYS HE MIGHT SUPPORT UNION DUES LAW FOR COMPANIES.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who recently endorsed a special-election measure that would restrict the ability of public employee unions to spend members' dues on political activities, said Tuesday he would also consider supporting a similar measure that would apply to corporations.

Schwarzenegger said he had not yet seen the corporate political-contribution measure now being circulated for signatures, but said that in concept it would seem appropriate to have the same standards apply to corporations.

``In principle, I think if you keep everyone out without asking for permission, (without asking) if they're OK with paying and contributing, I think in general it goes across the board,'' he said.

Schwarzenegger's comments came during a series of interviews with the Capitol press corps in his office Tuesday, his first since March 2004.

In his Daily News interview, he also expressed optimism that he can rebound from low job-approval ratings to win voter approval for his ballot measures in the November special election and might support driver's licenses for illegal immigrants if effective background checks could be made.

For the special election, Schwarzenegger recently endorsed Proposition 75, which requires public employee unions to get permission from individual members every year before spending a portion of their dues for political purposes.

The state's unions are fighting the measure, believing it to be an effort by Republicans to limit their political influence in California.

In response, unions are circulating a measure to restrict companies from spending money on political purposes without prior consent from shareholders, and limiting the amount that can be spent to the proportion of shareholders that voted in favor of the spending.

Unions need to obtain 373,816 signatures of registered voters to place it on the ballot next year.

But the California Chamber of Commerce, a strong Schwarzenegger ally that supports the union measure and opposes the corporate measure, believes the two measures are significantly different.

Chamber spokeswoman Sara Lee said the corporate measure would put publicly held corporations at a competitive disadvantage to privately held companies.

And, she said, the paycheck protection measure is about giving union members a choice on how their money can be used. Corporate shareholders, she said, already have a choice, in that they can choose not to invest in a particular company if they don't agree with its political activities.

Harrison Sheppard, [phone]

harrison.sheppard(at)dailynews.com