ARNOLD TAPS INTO BACKING AT BREWERY.

Byline: - Marianne Love

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger came to town Thursday seeking support for two state ballot measures he says would keep California from fiscal ruin.

``We have to get out of this mess,'' Schwarzenegger told about 200 people - many of them business leaders and employees - at Miller Brewing Co. ``We have inherited a debt. We need to balance the budget to make

sure the politicians never get us in this mess again.''

The Republican governor, who displaced former Gov. Gray Davis in a recall election in October, took the stage with state Controller Steve Westly, a Democrat, in the middle of a warehouse surrounded by containers of beer stacked 20 feet high.

Proposition 57 would allow borrowing of $15 billion to pay off past deficits. Proposition 58 would require California politicians to balance the budget every year and prohibit bond financing to cover future deficits. It also would create what Schwarzenegger calls a rainy-day savings account to be used for paying the bonds off early and helping the state through future economic downturns.

California faces a $14 billion deficit for 2004-05. Schwarzenegger has proposed a $99.1 billion budget that slashes funding for health and human services, education and local governments, while increasing fees for public colleges and universities.

The budget doesn't raise taxes and relies on spending cuts, higher fees and Proposition 57.

Schwarzenegger said if Propositions 57 and 58 do not pass muster with voters by a simple majority on March 2, cuts to education and the elderly will be extremely painful.

``We don't want to do that,'' he said. ``Proposition 58 will make sure politicians never get us in this mess again.''

Although there appears to be no formal opposition to the two propositions, polls show two-thirds of California voters are against Proposition 57.

Schwarzenegger said higher taxes would damage the state's economic climate.

``This is a short-term solution. The economy is coming back,'' he said. ``In the next two years we must tighten our belts and make sacrifices. We need to share the pain in a fair way.''

His aides had arranged the visit to the Irwindale brewing company, where 700 people are employed in a working-class city of 1,446 residents.

``He has a strong commitment to retaining jobs, especially manufacturing jobs, and obviously our factory is a provider of a large number of highly skilled, high-paying jobs,'' said Julie Kubasa, public affairs manager for Miller, which contributed $10,000 to the governor's campaign in December.

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Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democrat state Controller Steve Westly, right, smile Thursday with beer brewers whose support they sought for Props. 57 and 58.

Ric Francis/Associated Press